It’s a low-cost method of reaching voters

Winston-Salem Journal – In political campaigns, reaching voters is key.

Local candidates knock on doors, attend church cookouts and organize phone banks. If they can afford it, they might run ads on local TV or radio.

This year, more of them are taking their messages to the Web.

“It is a growing trend, there’s no doubt about that, in both local elections and those for higher office,” said William Cassie, a political scientist at Appalachian State University. “If people are interested, it’s a very inexpensive way to get a message out there. It can be used for positive reasons or it can be used for negative reasons.” Read the full article

Health24.com (South Africa) - Older women who walked for a half-hour daily for a year reported half the number of colds as women of similar age who didn’t exercise, US researchers report in the November issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

The study’s lead author is Cornelia M. Ulrich, an associate member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle. Her team’s study is the first randomized clinical trial to look at the impact of moderate physical activity on the actual number of colds contracted, she said.

The study results make sense to David Nieman, a professor of health and exercise science at Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C., and a veteran researcher of the exercise/colds link. In his own research, Nieman found that walkers experienced half the number of days of cold symptoms as non-exercisers. Read the full article

It’s a low-cost method of reaching voters

Winston-Salem Journal
More and more politicians are using the Web as part of their campaign strategy, says
William Cassie, a political scientist at Appalachian State University. Read the full article

CBS News Canada – Moderate daily exercise can help fend off the common cold, new research suggests.

Older women who walked for a half-hour daily for a year reported half the number of colds as women of similar age who didn’t exercise, U.S. researchers report in the November issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

“There’s been a lot of anecdotal evidence that exercise prevents infection, and colds in particular,” said the study’s lead author, Cornelia M. Ulrich, an associate member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Her team’s study is the first randomized clinical trial to look at the impact of moderate physical activity on the actual number of colds contracted, she said.

The study results make sense to David Nieman, a professor of health and exercise science at Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C., and a veteran researcher of the exercise/colds link. In his own research, Nieman found that walkers experienced half the number of days of cold symptoms as non-exercisers. Read the full article

U.S. grant to help develop program

Winston-Salem Journal – Boone isn’t Bordeaux, true.

But the college town in the North Carolina mountains and the southwestern French port city might have more in common in the coming years if a few wine lovers at Appalachian State University have their way.

ASU announced last week that two of the school’s chemistry professors got a $65,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a degree program in wine science.

The program centers on a yearlong exchange at universities in Udine, Italy, Lisbon, Portugal, or Bordeaux, France, to study the European wine business.

ASU offers a handful of classes in viticulture and enology. It does not have a degree in viticulture right now and lacks a vineyard for hands-on training, said Grant Holder, who teaches a course called “Cellar Science” and is one of the grant’s recipients. Read the full article

Effects of steep fall in gasoline prices spread through economy

Raleigh News and Observer – Drivers are richer than they were in August. The reason? They’re burning less money in their gas tanks.

Consumers dumped less money into their tanks, raising disposable income. Consumers gain an additional $100 million a month for every sustained penny decline in gas prices, the Global Insight calculations show.

Perhaps as important, though, is the psychological effect.

“People feel a lot better when prices are going down for gas,” said Harry Davis, a professor at Appalachian State University and economist for the N.C. Bankers Association. “You’re reminded of it constantly.” Read the full article

Cybergrass.com – Over its 19-year history, MerleFest has contributed $7.28 million to Wilkes Community College, while some fifty non-profits organizations net around $350,000 at MerleFest each year. Using guidelines recommended by the College of Business at Appalachian State University, the total regional economic impact of MerleFest 2006 is estimated at more than $16,000,000. Read the full article

The Appalachian
Dr. Marian J. Peters of the Department of Physics and Astronomy is partnering with the Watauga County Hunger Coalition and others to provide a free medical clinic for those who can’t afford primary care physicians or diagnostic tests. Read the full article

Many `ideal’ students lack inventive, restless and self-reliant spirit
MARK PRUETT
Special to the Observer

Charlotte Observer – A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics stresses the importance of childhood playtime. It reinforces my own belief that many young adults have been cheated by years of excessive schoolwork and teamwork, too many extracurricular activities, and a straitjacketed “just say no to anything risky” upbringing. I am convinced that modern childhood generally does not build enough independence and thirst for knowledge. Mark Pruett is an assistant professor in the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University. Read the full article

Winston-Salem Journal – One of the best leaf seasons in years will peak under sunny skies this weekend in the Northwest North Carolina mountains, according to area experts and weather forecasts. Gary Walker, a biology professor at Appalachian State University, said that a cold and dry spell in September helped create particularly good colors.

“That’s good because it stresses the trees to shut down early before all the sugars are transported out (of the leaves),” Walker said.

Cool weather now will help lock in the colors, he said, while pushing those leaves that are still green to move into their colors. Read the full article

WRAL-TV – This appears to be a good weekend to go leaf-watching in western North Carolina.
Appalachian State University biology professor Gary Walker says a cold and dry spell in September helped create particularly good colors. He says that’s because it stresses the trees to shut down early before all the sugars are transported out of the leaves.

Walker says cool weather now will help lock in the colors while pushing those leaves that are still green to move into their colors. He says it’s the best fall leaf colors he’s seen in years. Read the full article

Students see history from 2 distinct views

Charlotte Observer/Catawba Valley edition - For years, Peter Petschauer and Zohara Boyd didn’t discuss what they and their families experienced during World War II.

In the years that followed, each came to America, went to college and graduate school and became a professor at Appalachian State University in Boone. Despite the pain of their pasts, they became friends more than a quarter-century ago. Read the full article

Charlotte Observer – Appalachian State University has received funding from the Small Business Administration and the GoldenLEAF Foundation to focus on wine and grape analysis and high-altitude viticulture. ASU is currently teaching courses in wine appreciation, wine chemistry and others while it develops structures to support undergraduate and graduate programs that should launch in 2007 and 2008. Read the full article

Access, affordability can be addressed, but push for more accountability could backfire
By Todd L. Cherry

Winston-Salem Journal – Education Secretary Margaret Spelling recently announced a wide range of proposals aimed at improving accessibility, affordability and accountability of higher education.

Do we really need more accountability measures? Universities are already spending valuable time and resources manipulating processes to rank highly, according to the measures used by accreditation agencies and, of course, U.S. News & World Report.

Todd L. Cherry is the Harlan E. Boyles professor in the department of economics at Appalachian State University. Read the full article

New York Times – FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD Joe Hospodor parts his hair like Gregory Peck and plays surf music on an old-fashioned Telecaster guitar. This retro-minded teenager from Los Gatos, Calif., says he admires the Pink Floyd legend David Gilmour, but draws the line at Green Day: “I detest Green Day.”

At 12, he told his father, Andy, a computer engineer and skilled guitarist, that he didn’t want to continue basic guitar lessons with him at home. The turning point? “I saw my dad reading tab one night,” Joe said. By his own admission, Joe is now “deep into tab” downloaded off the Internet.
Tabs are now a controversial part of online guitar learning, with music publishers threatening copyright lawsuits to shut down sites offering unauthorized (and often inaccurate) transcriptions of songs.

The roots of informal musical training go back centuries. The Renaissance produced tablatures for the lute and other plucked-string instruments. According to Gary Boye, an early-guitar specialist at Appalachian State University, the earliest printed tablature for guitar appeared in a book for the vihuela, a Spanish lute-guitar hybrid, published in 1546. Read the full article