Alabama professor creates carbon-capturing system
Sacramento Bee – Aug. 28
A Colorado company has licensed a method of capturing carbon dioxide pioneered by a University of Alabama assistant professor, with the hope of developing the method as a more energy-efficient way of reducing emissions at fossil-fuel power plants. ION Engineering in Boulder, Colo., has licensed a carbon-capture process using imidazole solutions, or solvents, developed by Jason Bara, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at UA. The clean energy company funded Bara’s early work on a more energy-efficient solution through a sponsored research agreement, according to CEO Buz Brown. Bara started working with solvents and carbon capture as a doctoral student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, but said he did not begin working with imidazole, a commercially available organic compound, until after arriving at Alabama in 2010. “The imidazole stuff just kind of clicked when I was at UA,” he said. “It’s been under my nose the whole time. And it never clicked.” Alabama was granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Aug. 13, based on Bara’s work on imidazolium-based solutions for capturing carbon dioxide.
Science Daily – Aug. 27
‘God Particle’ researcher to discuss find at UA today
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 28
A scientist on the research team that discovered the subatomic particle nicknamed the “God Particle” last year will discuss the find at the University of Alabama at 3:30 p.m. today. Albert de Roeck, a senior research scientist at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva, is scheduled to speak in Gallalee Hall, Room 227, on the UA campus. CERN houses the particle accelerator used during research that led to the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson particle, a subatomic particle that gives other particles mass, according to a release from UA. De Roeck’s talk is sponsored by UA’s department of physics and astronomy.
Consumers Look to ‘Functional Foods’ for Health, Lower Care Costs
Indiana Ag Connection – Aug. 27
Rising health care costs and people’s increasing desire to take more control of their health are reasons consumers purchase and consume products that potentially offer health benefits beyond “basic nutrition,” according to a newly updated position paper of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Chicago. The Academy’s updated position, “Functional Foods,” has been published in the August Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and can be found on the Academy’s website. It states: “It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to recognize that although all foods provide some level of physiological function, the term functional foods is defined as whole foods along with fortified, enriched or enhanced foods that have a potentially beneficial effect on health when consumed as part of a varied diet on a regular basis at effective levels based on significant standards of evidence. The Academy supports Food and Drug Administration-approved health claims on food labels when based on rigorous scientific substantiation.” (The Academy’s position paper was written by registered dietitians Kristi M. Crowe, PhD, RD, LD, assistant professor at the University of Alabama, and Coni Francis, PhD, RD, assistant professor at the University of Northern Colorado.)
The Munchausen Mom: How one woman fabricated the pregnancy – and deaths – of imaginary twins
FoxNews.com – Aug. 27
On November 13, 2008, the Wilfred family gathered to mourn a tragedy. Three days earlier, mom Leslie Wilfred had called the family from the local hospital in Thomasville, Ga., with devastating news: The twins she had been carrying for the past five months had been stillborn…The grief stricken mother told her husband that the twins had been cremated, and she wanted to come home to plan their funeral…But while family members and friends mourned for the two babies whose lives had been cut short, little did they know how tremendously fooled they all had been. For the twins had not died during childbirth. They had never existed at all…The entire pregnancy had been a complete fabrication concocted by Leslie – and she knew exactly what she was doing…Leslie’s actions were the result of two bizarre and astonishing medical conditions known as Munchausen syndrome and Munchausen syndrome by proxy…Munchausen syndrome patients tell falsehoods about themselves, but in scenarios of Munchausen by proxy, a caregiver invents medical conditions for his or her children, often inducing symptoms in them to better illustrate the lie… “With Munchausen by proxy, there’s a mortality rate of 9 to 10 percent among published reports, so it’s the most lethal form of child abuse there is,” Dr. Marc Feldman, a clinical professor of psychiatry and adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa who collaborated on Leslie’s case, told FoxNews.com.
Ninenties babies get chance to vote
Swazi Observer (Swaziland) – Aug. 28
The year 2013 has been an historic year for those born in the 1990s as this is the first year we have been eligible to vote. As the future leaders of the country, these elections were pivotal in helping us shape the country into the well-oiled machine it’s destined to be. His Majesty the King is a goal-oriented man. The Kingdom of Eswatini’s long term goal is attaining First World Status, and this goal has clear secondary goals mainly. The country’s legislators need to be people that realise that the decisions made in the Houses of Parliament are trees to a forest, and need to be relevant to the people of Eswatini and the Kingdom’s Millennium Development Goals… (Derek Carter, an economics, mathematics and finance major at the University of Alabama, conducted research for this article.)
Gallery on campus to showcase award-winning artist
Crimson White – Aug. 28
Each semester, the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art in Garland Hall showcases exhibitions from a variety of artists who work in different mediums, providing students with the opportunity to view art from cities across the nation. Beginning Thursday, the gallery will display “Starcraft,” an exhibition from award- winning artist and New York City native Beverly Semmes. The exhibition first opened in 2011. “We wanted to bring Beverly last year, but we had a flood in the gallery. We decided to get the show and let it be our first show of the season,” Vicki Rial, the exhibitions coordinator at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, said. The excitement for Semmes’s “Starcraft” exhibition stems from her unusual and interesting combinations of color and art media, Rial said.
New cultural arts center connects community
Crimson White – Aug. 28
The Tuscaloosa art scene continues to prosper and grow with the unveiling of The Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center Aug. 29 at 6:30 p.m. The Arts Center, a new space to be used as a venue for rotating art exhibits, live music performances, rehearsal space for the Tuscaloosa Community Dancers and wedding receptions, will host its opening night event Aug. 29 at the corner of Greensboro Avenue and 7th Street in downtown Tuscaloosa…The University of Alabama has its own gallery at the center and will open with the exhibit “A Magic Carpet Ride: Rugs from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. William T. Price.” It will stay at the CAC until Oct. 24.
Congrats to … Taylor Pinckney
Anniston Star – Aug. 27
Taylor Pinckney of Bynum was recently awarded the 2013 Bojangles’ Scholarship award. The $1,000 scholarship will support Pinckney’s continued education in a second year studying social work at the University of Alabama this fall.
Students finish in less than 4
Crimson White – Aug. 28
With The University of Alabama’s increasing costs of attendance and the continually shrinking job market, many students try to speed up their graduation process to save money and get a jump on students who may be entering the same field. Ashley Austin, a senior majoring in psychology, is one such student who came to the University last year as a freshman with junior hours and will graduate in May 2014. Austin said the University took 75 of her dual enrollment credits from high school, a specialized regional school where she took college classes for advanced high school students in her area. “I knew I wouldn’t get all of my college paid for, so it was a good opportunity to get some of it out of the way,” Austin said. “I knew it would knock off a semester or two, but I didn’t think it would knock off two years.” The University’s website projects cost of attendance per semester for an in-state student to be $12,303, covering various costs like tuition itself, fees for each college, books and other supplies, a parking pass and a meal plan. Over the course of four years, the cost averages out to be $49,212 for a student’s four-year undergraduate education. Austin’s 75 transfer credits cut her undergraduate costs in half.
Alabama AD job keeping Bill Battle young, he tells Huntsville Quarterback Club
Al.com – Aug. 27
When Bill Battle was lured from retirement to become the director of athletics at the University of Alabama, “it was either gonna keep me young or it was gonna kill me,” he said. “I really believe it’ll keep me young.” Battle, five months into the job and reveling in the challenge, spoke to the Huntsville Quarterback Club Tuesday night in the club’s inaugural meeting of the year. He was introduced by Mayor Tommy Battle, who said of his older cousin, “he left big shoes to be filled by all the younger cousins.” It was 50 years ago Wednesday when Bill Battle, his playing career ended at Alabama, embarked on his coaching career.