 |
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
| |
||||||||||||||
|
Maryland Moments, November 2009 UM, Community Time magazine presents its best inventions of 2009. At No. 6 is Teleportation: "Inching our reality ever closer to Star Trek's, scientists at the University of Maryland's Joint Quantum Institute successfully teleported data from one atom to another in a container a meter away. A landmark in the brain-bending field known as quantum information processing, the experiment doesn't quite have the cool factor of body transportation; one atom merely transforms the other so it acts just like the original. Still, atom-to-atom teleportation has major implications for creating super-secure, ultra-fast computers." UM Institute for Technology in the Humanities: New Shakespeare Archive Launched From Oxford University: "The Shakespeare Quartos Archive has been officially launched today with a complete digital collection of rare early editions of Hamlet. For the first time, all 32 existing quarto copies of the play held by participating UK and US institutions are freely available online in one place (www.quartos.org). This initiative is jointly led by the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, and the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC, through a joint transatlantic grant from JISC in the UK and the National Endowment for the Humanities in the US. Quarto is a technical term describing the format of a book, referring to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multiple pages of text were printed to form the individual sections of a book. The new website features high-quality reproductions and searchable full text of surviving copies of Shakespeare's Hamlet in quarto in an interactive interface. ... Functions and tools -- such as the ability to overlay images, compare them side-by-side, and mark and tag features with user annotations -- facilitate scholarly research, performance studies, and new applications for learning and teaching. ... The Shakespeare Quartos Archive contains texts drawn from the British Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Huntington Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the University of Edinburgh Library, in addition to the Bodleian Library. These six institutions worked in conjunction with the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities at the University of Maryland, and The Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham, to digitize and transcribe 32 copies of Hamlet." Philanthropy News Digest: "The University of Maryland has announced a $1 million grant from the Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation to support the technology and equipment infrastructure of the university's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Awarded as part of the university's $1 billion capital campaign, the grant will enable the center to replace and enhance the equipment necessary to present nearly a thousand annual performances by guest artists and UM's music, theater, and dance departments as well as workshops, artist residencies, panel discussions, and master classes. Each year, the center is visited by some 100,000 residents of the Greater Washington area." Chronicle of Higher Education: "Some colleges are sticking with a traditional model but looking for ways to build more lab with less money. For Jeffrey J. Cunningham, director of information services for the department of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Maryland at College Park, that meant using low-cost virtual computers in a physical lab setting. Last year Mr. Cunningham bought about 80 devices made by Pano Logic. On their own, these little cubes have no operating system, no memory, no processor. But when hooked up to a server over the Internet, they function like any other computer (just attach them to existing monitors and keyboards, get some new mice, and they're ready to go). It meant that instead of buying computers for $1,000 per unit, Mr. Cunningham could buy each Pano Device for around $350, while also giving students access to the service from their own computers. The transition was also a boon in some unexpected ways. 'We used to have to blast the air conditioner in our computer labs because the machines did so much work and got so hot,' Mr. Cunningham says. 'But when we put these in, they used so little energy that all the students started complaining about how cold it was.' " Business Gazette: "The Prince George's County Planning Department of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission has released its study on the viability of building a biotech incubator within the county, determining that such a facility could generate as many as 1,900 jobs and $4.4 million in annual tax revenues. ... The Prince George's study recommends locating its biotech incubator at M-Square in College Park, the upcoming Konterra Business Campus in Laurel or near the Prince George's Plaza Metro in Hyattsville. Job and revenue numbers depend on the location, with the Plaza Metro site presenting the greatest possible benefits. Limited space for startup biotech and a perceived lack of focus on the industry has made it difficult to retain the companies graduating from the University of Maryland, College Park's incubator programs, the study showed. To date, the county has eight biotech companies, encompassing about 1,500 employees. ... Some organizations have their own preferences on the incubator's potential location. 'The proximity to other institutions is the leading way to do tech transfers,' said Brian Darmody, associate vice president of research and economic development for the university, referring to collaborations between the university and a county incubator. While Darmody said the university would prefer a county incubator to locate near M-Square, he said the university partners with state incubators wherever they are." Washington Post: "The University of Maryland has suffered a setback in its plan for East Campus, a proposed district of upscale restaurants, shops and housing that it hopes will build a stronger sense of a college town in College Park. The university and developer Foulger-Pratt/Argo Investment have ended their exclusive negotiations, the two organizations said in a joint statement released Friday. 'Despite best efforts, the current economic downturn and difficult financial and real estate markets preclude an East Campus development on the schedule and scale the parties envisioned,' the release states. The university selected the developer in 2007 to build East Campus, billed as a $700 million project covering 38 acres, twice the size of the corridor first redeveloped in downtown Silver Spring. There were plans for an upscale grocery store such as Whole Foods, a 500-seat music venue, an art house movie theater, a luxury hotel, a bookstore and assorted sit-down restaurants. The area, east of U.S. 1 near the university's fraternity row, includes old student housing, abandoned research greenhouses and maintenance buildings. University officials pledge to press on with East Campus." At UM: New Wave of Student Activism Inside Higher Ed: "Students at California public universities have been staging protests against budget cuts and fee hikes all fall, capturing local and national attention with administration building sit-ins, 24-hour library occupations and large outdoor rallies. Though they've been the loudest this fall -- and in particular, over the last few weeks, as the University of California Board of Regents voted to raise tuition by 32 percent -- California's students aren't the only ones organizing to protect their financial and educational interests. As institutions and states take red ink to their budgets and green ink to their tuition bills, students in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York have begun speaking out. Students in Canada, Germany and Austria are also agitating against tuition hikes.Elsewhere, the targets have been more mixed. ... At the University of Maryland at College Park, 600 students gathered last month to protest the elimination of the position of associate provost for equity and diversity, which President Dan Mote justified as an appropriate cost-cutting measure. Thirty students at the State University of New York at Geneseo spent three days camped out on a campus quad, taking aim at Paterson's proposed cuts. Bob Hayes, a junior at Maryland, said he and other activists on his campus are looking toward California and New York as they build their own efforts and plot a path for the spring semester. 'I think there is a growing movement of students fighting against privatization, fighting against cost increases, and trying to keep the education as high quality as possible.' " Brown Honors Veterans in Ceremony at the University of Maryland Capital News Service: "Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and the University of Maryland honored student, staff and alumni veterans in a memorial service on campus. 'It is because of your service,' Brown said in remarks at the university's Memorial Chapel, 'that our nation remains the greatest nation in the world, and we owe you debt and gratitude that we will never be able to fully repay.' Brown also thanked the university for its outreach programs to veterans, which include scholarships and the community support group TerpVets. ... Brown was a fitting representative for Wednesday's ceremony. He is a colonel in the Army Reserves, and has deployed on tours of duty in Germany and Iraq. He is the highest-ranking elected official who has served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff and student veterans appeared at the event to share stories and remembrances of their tours of duty." UM Partners: Tillman Foundation Helps Veterans Pursue Degrees Business Journals: "The Pat Tillman Foundation awarded $642,000 to more than 50 veterans who wish to pursue educational goals. This is the first year for the Tillman Military Scholars program, which aims to support veterans and their families by filling the financial gaps in the post-9/11 G.I. Bill. The program helps with direct study-related expenses, such as tuition, fees, books, room and board, and other basic needs, including child care. The foundation received 480 applications and awarded more than half a million dollars to 52 veterans who are pursuing education from freshmen undergraduate to doctorate degrees. Recipients are attending 21 institutions and represent 16 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. In addition, four partner universities were chosen to help circulate information and educate eligible students about the program, including Mississippi State University, University of Idaho, University of Arkansas, and University of Maryland." Gazette Newspapers: "County health officials and the University of Maryland, College Park's School of Public Health launched an outreach effort Tuesday at the University of Maryland, College Park that they hope will address high rates of HIV, AIDS and other health ailments in Prince George's County. The university's new Prevention Research Center will team with residents, businesses and the county's Department of Health to develop programs to encourage healthy lifestyle changes and proper medical care in the county and along the Washington, D.C., border. The center was founded with a $2.5 million grant from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the PRC's primary investigator, Professor Brad Boekeloo. It will serve an area that is medically underserved and suffers from exceptionally high rates of HIV, syphilis and diabetes, said county Health Officer Dr. Donald Shell. ... The center hosted free HIV testing Tuesday along with the county Department of Health at the University of Maryland, College Park. Boekeloo said the center is also compiling a database of local organizations that could assist in AIDS and HIV outreach." A Culture Clash over Confucius Institutes USA Today: "Just as the philosopher Confucius sought in ancient times to promote mutual understanding between cultures, China is stepping up efforts to do the same today. Over the past five years, the Beijing-based non-profit Confucius Institute has established nearly 300 centers in 87 countries around the world. The goal: to offer local communities opportunities to learn Chinese language and culture. And, some observers say, to soften China's image as an aggressor as it grows stronger economically and politically. ... The first U.S. Confucius Institute was established in 2004 at the University of Maryland, and the centers seem to be popping up faster. Last month, Chinese dignitaries visited Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo for the grand opening of its chapter, which campus officials say is the 61st in the USA. But it's hard to keep up. Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro signed papers Dec. 1 detailing plans to launch an institute next spring. Several other colleges, which must apply to be considered, have said they are in talks with Chinese officials." Hagerstown Herald-Mail: "The University System of Maryland at Hagerstown is gauging interest in potential Master of Library Science and Master of Information Management programs that could be introduced in Hagerstown within the next few years, USM-H spokeswoman Erin L. Harman said Wednesday. If there are enough students interested, the programs could be offered through the University of Maryland at College Park's College of Information Studies, Harman said. Depending on the level of interest, the programs could be taught by faculty on-site or through an interactive video network that would link USM-H classrooms to those at the college's Shady Grove location, USM-H executive director C. David Warner III said. Blended classes that use online and classroom elements also are a possibility, Warner said. About eight people attended an information session Wednesday evening at USM-H led by Diane L. Barlow, associate dean of College Park's College of Information Studies." Washington Post: "Regents of Maryland's state university system voted ... to defy a legislative order to regulate pornography on campus, concluding that any such rules would be impossible to enforce. The legislature gave Maryland's state-funded universities until Dec. 1 to submit policies on 'the displaying or screening of obscene films and materials,' language written into the state budget in April. Maryland's General Assembly asked for the rules in response to a dust-up over the proposed screening last spring of the adult film 'Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge' at the University of Maryland. State Sen. Andrew P. Harris (R-Baltimore County) threatened to deny state funds if the university allowed a full screening. Instead, portions of the film were shown on campus. The university system consulted with the attorney general's office and with Robert M. O'Neil, a First Amendment expert at the University of Virginia. Researchers determined such a rule would make the University System of Maryland the first higher education entity in the nation to adopt rules for the acceptable use of pornographic films on campus. Upon further review, they decided it would be legally indefensible." Gazette Newspapers: "A student group at the University of Maryland, College Park, is pushing a tax credit program to bring green businesses to the city, but its plan might prove easier said than done. Representatives from UM for Clean Energy presented their plan to the College Park City Council at its Nov. 17 work session. Their proposal would give property tax breaks to businesses that provide energy-efficient products and services, as well as those that reduce their own carbon footprint. It could take several years to implement, and city officials appear willing to listen. But the plan faces several obstacles, one of which is that it is not currently legal." Washington Examiner: "University of Maryland School of Music, under the direction of professor Edward Maclary and his graduate teaching assistant, Nicole Aldrich, will present the University of Maryland Chamber Singers and the University Chorale in its annual fall concert Sunday at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the school's campus. The program is an ambitious one that features the music of Bach, Barber and contemporary composer Adolphus Hailstork. 'This is music in a variety of styles and languages from diverse cultures and eras,' said Aldrich, who also is the director of the University Chorale. 'The program runs the gamut from the German High Baroque to 20th-century American works; from Finnish folk song to modern Mongolian art music. It will be a feast for the ears!' The evening's repertoire begins with excerpts from Bach's Mass in B Minor, a piece both the chorale and chamber singers (approximately 80 voices total) are preparing in its entirety for a later performance with the National Symphony." Washington Times: "Among the unsung heroines of American textile design is Detroit's Ruth Adler Schnee. During the 1940s and '50s, she designed upbeat, patterned fabrics with names like 'Slinky Shadows,' 'Humpty Dumpty' and 'Pits and Pods.' Current fascination with mid-20th-century modern design has sparked renewed interest in Mrs. Adler Schnee's work, leading to a cheerful survey of her vibrant work at the University of Maryland's Kibel Gallery. Organized by architecture professor Ronit Eisenbach, who runs the gallery, the show is encircled by large hanging samples of fabrics, pattern sketches and a few carpet designs. As described in accompanying texts, inspiration for the lively prints often came from the Detroiter's surroundings." Washington Business Journal: "Foreign students and their dependents contributed about $17.6 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2008-2009 academic year, according to a study from NAFSA Association of International Educations. The annual report estimates the amount of money foreign students collectively bring into the U.S. to pay for their education and support themselves while they -- and in some cases, their families -- are here. Figures are based on enrollment, tuition, fees and living expenses, adjusted for support received. ... In D.C. alone, the economic impact was almost $304.1 million during the 2008-2009 academic year. The 2,406 international students enrolled at George Washington University contributed $92.3 million to the local economy, which is more than any other institution in D.C. Second on the impact list was Georgetown University, which said its 1,804 students contributed $59.7 million. Prince George's Community College in Largo and University of Maryland - University College in Adelphi had more than 880 international students who together contributed $25.7 million to the local economy. University of Maryland, College Park said its College Park campus's 3,480 international students -- the most among all higher ed institutions in the state -- contributed $76.1 million." Associated Press: "The young invincibles. That's what the insurance industry calls them. They're the 13.7 million Americans under 30 who don't have health insurance because, they firmly believe, they just don't need it. Why waste money on something they're too healthy to ever use? In the debate over health care, lawmakers and industry agree that persuading this statistically healthy demographic to jump into the insurance pool would bring down costs for the broader population. But for young adults to make the leap, health industry experts and youth advocacy groups say, Congress needs to focus more on affordability than invincibility. Young adults are more likely than other age groups to work low-wage, entry-level jobs that don't offer health insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. As a result, Americans aged 19 to 29 have the highest uninsured rate in the United States. ... Many of the health care overhaul provisions in Congress would affect young Americans, and a few were drafted specifically with that demographic in mind. Young adults would be able to piggyback on a parent's insurance through age 26 in the proposed Senate bill, or age 27 in the House-passed bill. 'I think that takes a load off a lot of college students' shoulders,' said Brittany McGrath, 22, a senior at the University of Maryland. McGrath said she'll be dropped from her father's insurance shortly after graduating in December, but said being able to stay on his plan longer would ease her mind as she begins job hunting." People PBS series about Gordon Prange, one of the most popular professors in College Park history: "Series Description: One man's obsession, 37 years of his life, 10,000 pages of historical documentary, and the book he authored, are the focus of PRANGE & PEARL HARBOR: A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION. This program explores the work of Gordon Prange, a University of Maryland professor who researched and wrote, At Dawn We Slept: The Untold History of Pearl Harbor, a book The New York Times called 'impossible to forget.' His other major works on the war in the Pacific include Tora! Tora! Tora! , which was made into a feature film in 1970. PRANGE & PEARL HARBOR follows Prange's life from chief historian in occupied Japan under General Douglas MacArthur to his professorship at the University of Maryland, through his unceasing journey to publish what is hailed as the definitive book about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Typically Spanish: Spanish and Portuguese Emeritus Professor José Emilio Pacheco is awarded the Premio Cervantes. "The award, given by the Spanish Ministry for Culture, is worth 125,000 Euros ... Mexican writer, José Emilio Pacheco, has been named as the winner of the Spanish top literary prize, the Premio Cervantes for 2009. The announcement was made by the Minister for Culture, Ángeles González Sinde, and the Mexican proved victorious over the other finalists Nicanor Parra, Ricardo Piglia, Isabel Allende and Fernando del Paso. President of the jury, José Antonio Pascual, commented that to define Pacheco was to define a whole language, and said that he had been chosen by a majority of the jury after several deliberations. He said that José Emilio Pacheco is 'an exceptional poet of daily life with depth and the ability to recreate his own world'. The Cervantes Prize, created by the Spanish Ministry for Culture in 1975, and now worth 125,000 Euros to the winner, has so far been given to 18 Spanish writers and 17 Latin Americans." BlackAmericaWeb: "A traditionally pro-Cuba group comprised of prominent black American academics, clergy, entertainers and activists blasted the Havana government for the first time for its 'callous disregard' towards its black Cuban population and challenged Raul Castro's regime to combat racism on the communist Caribbean island. 'We know first-hand the experiences and consequences of denying civil freedoms on the basis of race,' the group said in a strongly-worded declaration. 'For that reason, we are even more obligated to voice our opinion on what is happening to our Cuban brethren.' The harsh declaration was released last week and signed by 60 people that read like a 'who's who' in black America: Princeton University professor Cornel West, actress Ruby Dee Davis, film director Melvin Van Peebles, former Rep. Carrie Meek (D-Fla.), the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the controversial former pastor of President Barack Obama's church in Chicago; former Essence Magazine editor-in-chief Susan Taylor, retired University of Maryland political science professor Ron Walters and Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux." Business Gazette: "Having bounced from business journalism to educator to dean of graduate studies for Baltimore's College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Carolyn Karlson thinks she has finally found her home helping aspiring entrepreneurs at the University of Maryland. 'I feel like I've landed where I'm supposed to be,' said Karlson, 47, of Baltimore. 'I love working with students. I love taking someone's idea and helping it take form, building it in such a way that it becomes real.' Karlson is the new director of the Hillman Entrepreneurs program, the College Park university's program for fostering entrepreneurship in Prince George's Community College students who complete their bachelor's degrees at the University of Maryland. The program, which was established in 2006 through a $1.7 million gift from David and Suzanne Hillman, is operated through the university's Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute. Karlson said that she has inherited many exceptional stories from former director Karen Thornton, who had been with Hillman since it began. 'I think I can meet them where they are. I've worked with students at every stage of business,' Karlson said. 'I'm not discouraged by someone who doesn't know what they want to do but just knows they want to start a business.' " Frederick News-Post: "Without the University of Maryland baseball program, Bob Smith might not have become a successful businessman and vice president of two Fortune 50 companies. 'If I had not gotten a scholarship to Maryland then I might have ended up digging ditches,' the 69-year-old Smith said last week. 'These guys gave me a chance. My passion is the University of Maryland.' And he and his wife Carol are doing their best to pay Maryland back. In December of 2007, they established the Robert W. and Carol B. Smith Family Endowed Baseball Scholarship, the first fully funded scholarship for the exclusive use of the Maryland baseball program. Then in November he and his wife went a step further. They made a seven-figure commitment to Maryland athletics. In honor of the gift, the Maryland baseball stadium has been renamed Shipley Field at Bob 'Turtle' Smith Stadium." Gazette Newspapers: "Most days, you can find Chris Vadala at the University of Maryland. As the Director of Jazz Studies, he guides young musicians and helps emerging woodwind players learn the finer elements of their instruments. ... Vadala doesn't just teach; he also works as a mentor with the Strathmore Artist in Residence program. The brainchild of artistic director Shelley Brown, the institution began in 2005 under the direction of retired elementary vocal music teacher Betty Scott. ... The two artists Vadala is guiding are as different as they are talented. Lena Seikaly is a jazz vocalist and Ari Allal is a classical bassoon player. Both graduated from Maryland, but didn't study directly with Vadala. Seikaly, a 23-year-old from Falls Church, began singing in clubs at age 16. Although she studied opera at Maryland, she kept a foot in the jazz world throughout college. 'It was kind of an interesting dual life I was leading,' Seikaly says. 'Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I would perform jazz gigs around D.C. And then I did my classical studies during the day.' Allal switched from saxophone to bassoon in sixth grade and never looked back. 'I've always loved the sound that it makes,' the 27-year-old says. 'It's such a versatile instrument in terms of the orchestral setting and colors it creates -- anything from mellow and sad to silly and aggressive.' " Science & Technology New Scientist: "Forget the complex choreography involved in putting on a spacesuit: astronauts will one day be able to get suited and booted in seconds by stepping through the neck of an overlarge, part-robotic spacesuit. So say engineers David Akin and Shane Jacobs at the University of Maryland, College Park. Once you're inside the baggy suit, its upper torso contracts using pneumatic artificial muscles to ensure a perfect fit. Its morphing design means it should be less unwieldy than today's suits and allow astronauts to be more efficient, both during spacewalks and in planetary exploration, Jacobs told the recent International Astronautical Congress in Daejong, South Korea. 'Our research shows that of the physical work astronauts actually do on a spacewalk, only one-quarter of it is mission related. The rest goes into just moving the spacesuit around,' says Akin. Robotic actuators are also being applied to the suit's gloves." Subrahmanian, Dickerson: Using Virtual Worlds To Build Real Security UM Newsdesk: "Advances in computerized modeling and prediction of group behavior, together with improvements in video game graphics, are making possible virtual worlds in which defense analysts can explore and predict results of many different possible military and policy actions, say computer science researchers at the University of Maryland in a commentary published in the November 27 issue of the journal 'Science.' 'Defense analysts can understand the repercussions of their proposed recommendations for policy options or military actions by interacting with a virtual world environment....They can propose a policy option and walk skeptical commanders through a virtual world where the commander can literally 'see' how things might play out. This process gives the commander a view of the most likely strengths and weaknesses of any particular course of action,' write authors V.S. Subrahmanian, a Maryland computer science professor and director of the University's Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), and John Dickerson, a UMIACS computer science researcher." WTOP Radio: "A five-week study of a two-mile stretch of Md. 100 will be used to see how well new Variable Speed Advisory technology works to gradually merge lanes and prevent sudden traffic stops and backups. The study on the westbound stretch of Md. 100 between Ridge Road and Coca Cola Drive begins Monday. The Maryland State Highway Administration will use roadside sensors, a digital display and vehicle recognition software to lower the speed limit when backups occur. The aim is to cut congestion on this heavily traveled road. 'If we can be having traffic flowing at a more uniformed rate of speed, we can actually get more vehicles through, less delay and most importantly, safer conditions,' says SHA Administrator Neil J. Pedersen. Pedersen says the 55-mph speed limit will be reduced to about 35 mph to 40 mph. The $70,000 project is a partnership effort with the University of Maryland's Traffic Safety and Operations lab." Nature: "The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans has been one of the most important biological model systems for more than 30 years. But now growing numbers of researchers are abandoning the stalwart species to investigate closely related worms that offer better insights into the origins of complex biological traits. 'C. elegans is still the best experimental system, but if you want to know something about evolution then you need to wade out into these other species,' says Eric Haag, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Maryland, College Park. For instance, C. elegans reproduces via self-fertile hermaphrodites, but is descended from a species with separate male and female sexes. In fact, self-fertilization has evolved at least three times independently among the 20-odd species in the worm's genus that have been identified." Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News: "The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded a two-year, $908,280 grant to Virginia Tech and the University of Minnesota to complete sequencing the genome of the domesticated turkey, Meleagris gallopavo. The funding will be used by the Turkey Genome Sequencing Consortium to complete the genome sequencing using next-generation sequencing platforms, assemble the genome sequence, and identify genes and functions in the final genome sequence by use of a sophisticated annotation pipeline. The award will also help put in place a bioinformatics and comparative genome resource for both chicken and turkey.... Otto Folkerts, associate director of technology development at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech, commented: "A year ago we announced the start of this project, and since then we have expanded our original consortium by addition of other community stakeholders and experts. Most importantly, two groups, one at the USDA Agricultural Research Service's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center led by Curt van Tassell and Julie Long, and the other at the University of Maryland Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology led by Steven Salzberg and Jim York, have made substantial contributions to this project. As a result of this combined effort, we have now generated about 90 percent of the genome sequence and we plan to release the preliminary data to GenBank at the earliest opportunity to make it available to the scientific community." WebMD: "Cigarettes are massive germ factories that may expose users and passersby to a swarm of disease-causing bacteria, a study shows. It's well known that cigarette smoke harbors hundreds of toxic chemicals that are bad for your health. But a University of Maryland environmental health researcher says that's not the only danger. DNA examination of four cigarette brands shows, for the first time, that cigarettes are 'widely contaminated' with hundreds of different types of bacteria. In fact, there appears to be as many bacteria in cigarettes as there are chemicals. 'The commercially available cigarettes that we tested were chock full of bacteria, as we had hypothesized, but we didn't think we'd find so many that are infectious in humans,' says researcher Amy R. Sapkota, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland's School of Public Health. Sapkota and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France examined the bacteria content in four major cigarette brands: Camel, Kool Filter Kings, Lucky Strike Original Red, and Marlboro Red and found similar types of bacteria in each one." Space.com: " 'Intermediate-mass black holes contain between 100 and 10,000 times the sun's mass,' said Tod Strohmayer, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. 'We observe the heavyweight black holes in the centers of galaxies and the lightweight ones orbiting stars in our own galaxy. But finding the 'tweeners? remains a challenge.' The new study used the European Space Agency's orbiting XMM-Newton observatory to observe the candidate, called NGC 5408 X-1, in 2006 and then again in 2008. It found further proof that the signal is a medium-sized black hole. Black holes are infinitely dense objects that trap matter and even light with their gravity. Though astronomers can't see them directly, they detect a black hole's presence by its gravitational pull on other objects, and by the light that's emitted when massive things fall into it. NGC 5408 X-1 emits more X-rays than a typical star, but less than supermassive black holes, which can weigh as much as a million suns. Strohmayer and colleague Richard Mushotzky, an astrophysicist at the University of Maryland, College Park, found that NGC 5408 X-1 flickers, getting periodically brighter and dimmer over time. Scientists think this pattern reflects hot gas piling on to the accretion disk of matter swirling around a black hole." Society & Culture Business Gazette: "Maryland would more than double its network of oyster sanctuaries that are off-limits to fishing and expand areas open to aquaculture leases under a plan announced Thursday by Gov. Martin O'Malley. The announcement was cheered by environmentalists and scientists as groundbreaking and criticized by the president of the state watermen's association as a threat to the men who make a living on Maryland's waters. The three-part plan to restore the state's oyster population would expand oyster sanctuaries from 9 percent to 24 percent of the remaining quality habitat in the Bay and its tributaries and would step up enforcement against poaching using radar and cameras. Within five years, the restoration efforts could create up to 225 jobs and provide a $25 million boon to the state's economy each year, said Doug Lipton, an associate professor and resource economist at the University of Maryland, College Park, who attended the announcement event. 'You're buying supplies from other Maryland industries,' he said. 'You're selling product to Maryland processors. It's getting into the Maryland restaurants.' " Philadelphia Inquirer: "With the unemployment rate on everyone's mind, University of Maryland economist Carmen M. Reinhart had some bad news. In a presentation to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's annual Policy Forum, Rinehart said her research showed that the historical average increase in the unemployment rate was 7 percent following a banking crisis. The duration of the elevated unemployment rate was, on average, 4.8 years. The current crisis in the United States began in mid-2007, suggesting a possible weak employment market for two more years. Rinehart also warned against complacency in dealing with the toxic assets remaining on bank balance sheets. 'Complacency has been a killer in this crisis,' she said." "As world leaders meet in Copenhagen for a climate summit, Earth Sky interviews professor Herman Daly. "Scientists are quick to point out that there is much unknown about climate change. But ecological economist Herman Daly, of the University of Maryland, believes that focusing on the uncertainties of climate change may cloud the need for immediate action." Herman Daly: "We're spending a lot of time with very complex climate models trying to measure and model effects of climate exactly, and what's going to happen when and so forth." "He's referring to the uncertainty about the rates of polar melting, or sea level rise, for example, or unknown ecological damage -- all possible effects of climate change. There are questions about how much fighting climate change will cost." Herman Daly: "This is seen as, we can't do anything until we have all these precise measurements. No, I don't think so. I think we know very well the basic principles -- we can't just continue to put more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. At some point that will provoke unacceptable climate changes." "Daly believes policymakers shouldn't require conclusive models in order to start cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change. He believes the reality is that climate change will have negative consequences on humans and ecosystems." Baltimore Sun: "Here's the speech President Obama should give when he meets President Hu Jintao" -- written by Xiaorong Li, research scholar at the Institute for Philosophy & Public Policy in Public Policy: "My administration has put climate change at the top of our diplomatic agenda. This is especially true when it comes to our relationship with China. Our two large nations share the title of top consumers of energy and the biggest polluters on earth. None of us can escape the impact of climate change. The security and stability of our nations and our peoples -- our prosperity, our health, our safety -- are in jeopardy. Yet, we cannot meet this challenge unless all the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, including China, act together. The U.S., as one of the developed nations that caused much of the damage to our environment over the last century, has a responsibility to lead. China, as a rapidly developing nation that will produce a large share of global carbon emissions in the decades ahead, must do its part." New York Times: "So why do some people buy warranties anyway? Three business school professors -- Ajay Kalra at Rice University, Baohong Sun at Carnegie Mellon and Tao Chen at the University of Maryland, College Park -- think they know why. You are in too good of a mood as you buy the object of your desire. In a study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, the three professors looked at the customers of a major retailer who bought extended warranties. They found that people were more likely to buy warranties on products that brought them pleasure -- what they call hedonic purchases -- than on ones that are merely useful. 'Consumers tend to overestimate the odds when they really like a product,' Mr. Kalra said. (That may help to explain why washing machines, which typically have a far higher failure rate than television sets, carry extended warranties that are about 8 percent of the product's price.) They also found that people were more likely to buy an extended warranty if they received a discount on the product, especially an unexpected one. The windfall makes people feel good. And a positive mood makes people more risk-averse because they are afraid of losing that good feeling, which makes potential losses look greater. The lesson is simple: Stay grouchy while shopping." Agence France-Presse: Strong majorities around the world back action to fight climate change, with enthusiasm especially strong in developing nations, a World Bank survey said Thursday. The 15-nation survey, released four days before a high-stakes climate summit opens in Copenhagen, found widespread worries that global warming will eventually harm people, although also some cynicism about the science. Eighty-eight percent of people surveyed said their country should take action against climate change, with the figure soaring to nearly 100 percent in growing Asian economies China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, the poll said. The United States, the sole industrial power to shun the current Kyoto Protocol requiring cuts in carbon emissions, saw 82 percent approving of action in the future, it said. ... The World Bank commissioned the survey from WorldPublicOpinion.org, a global project run at the University of Maryland (Program on International Policy Attitudes)." Agence France-Presse: "Support was highest in the US (81 percent) and Western Europe, particularly Germany (79 percent), Britain (76 percent) and France (74 percent). But support was divided among former Warsaw Pact countries. Most Russians (61 percent) and Ukrainians (54 percent) said the Soviet breakup was a 'bad thing'. In contrast, four in five Poles (80 percent) and 63 percent of Czechs felt the disintegration of the USSR was a 'good thing'. Conducted between June 19 and October 13, the survey was jointly carried out by the University of Maryland's programme on international policy attitudes. An average of 23 percent across all nations said capitalism is fatally flawed, and a new economic system is needed -- including 43 percent in France, 38 percent in Mexico, 35 percent in Brazil and 31 percent in Ukraine." PR Newswire: "As the UN General Assembly prepares to debate a proposal calling for nations to take action against the defamation of religion, majorities in 13 of 20 nations polled around the world support the right to criticize a religion. On average, across all countries polled, 57% of respondents agree that 'people should be allowed to publicly criticize a religion because people should have freedom of speech.' However, an average of 34% of respondents agree that governments 'should have the right to fine or imprison people who publicly criticize a religion because such criticism could defame the religion.' WorldPublicOpinion.org (Program on International Policy Attitudes) conducted the poll of 18,487 respondents in 20 nations." Book gift ideas, Tablet Magazine: "Here's a moderately implausible idea: during a wave of pogroms in the 1880s, ship thousands of vulnerable Eastern European Jews to the Argentinian pampas and transform them into cattle-rustling gauchos. Thanks to the magnanimity of the Baron de Hirsch, that's history, not fiction; more than a hundred thousand Jews populated his vast land holdings by the early decades of the 20th century. Judith Freidenberg, a University of Maryland anthropologist native to Buenos Aires, tells this story in 'The Invention of the Jewish Gaucho: Villa Clara and the Construction of Argentine Identity' (Texas, December), focusing on one immigrant settlement and how Jews found their place in Argentine culture." Chronicle of Higher Education: Jeffrey Herf, professor of history, links Nazi anti-semetism to present day Middle East politics by reviewing a decades old trend. The release of his book, 'Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World,' sets off a controversy. He and City University of New York professor Richard Wolin argued the book's premises in a Chronicle print debate. Taiwan Review: "While historians are chiefly concerned with the what, when and where of events, political scientists concentrate on the why. And to get at the why, a political scientist will begin with a puzzle -- a counterintuitive trend, an apparent aberration in the interaction of states, or the illogical behavior of a particular government. When done well, the solving of this puzzle can rejigger the conceptual framework used to understand a particular phenomenon and at times provide a retelling of events in a manner so thought provoking as to make a historian envious. In 'Political Conflict and Economic Interdependence Across the Taiwan Strait and Beyond,' Scott L. Kastner, a professor in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park in the United States, provides an intriguing reading of the recent history of cross-strait relations in his attempt to address the puzzling aspects of a trend at the heart of political debates in Taiwan today -- the growing levels of trade across the Taiwan Strait. He asks why economic ties with mainland China have continued to grow despite the intense political rivalry over Taiwan's sovereignty. By focusing on trade, which has been increasing for two decades, he sheds some light on the domestic influences in both Taiwan and the mainland that have resulted in policies generally favorable to economic interaction." Entrepreneur Magazine: "Home-based entrepreneurs have always suffered under a kind of second-class citizenship in the small business world. It was sort of code for "hobby business." But in recent years, as technology made virtual teams easier, I've increasingly come to wonder if that status was warranted. I've often found myself interviewing the CEO of some hot new multi-million dollar company, only to have it explained to me almost offhandedly that the chief exec lived in Maryland, while other team members lived in San Francisco, Israel, Boston and New York. And they all worked out of their homes. Apparently it's not my imagination. A new study conducted by Emergent Research and commissioned by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business documents the surprisingly strong financial impact home-based businesses have on our economy. In 'Homepreneurs: A Vital Economic Force,' researchers combed the Network Solutions Small Business Success Index survey to learn more about the realities of home-based businesses today."
|
 |
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
 Information provided by the Office of University CommunicationsEmail University Communications at emailum@umd.edu |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
