From November 23 to November 30, Carnegie Mellon Media Relations counted 181 references to the university in worldwide publications. Here is a sample.

National

The threat is out there
Popular Mechanics | December 2006
Friday the 13th of April 2029 could be a very unlucky day for planet Earth. At 4:36 am Greenwich Mean Time, a 25-million-ton, 820-ft.-wide asteroid called 99942 Apophis will slice across the orbit of the moon and barrel toward Earth at more than 28,000 mph. The huge pockmarked rock, two-thirds the size of Devils Tower in Wyoming, will pack the energy of 65,000 Hiroshima bombs—enough to wipe out a small country or kick up an 800-ft. tsunami. On this day, however, Apophis is not expected to live up to its namesake, the ancient Egyptian god of darkness and destruction. Scientists are 99.7 percent certain it will pass at a distance of 18,800 to 20,800 miles. ... "People have a hard time reasoning with low-probability/high-consequence risks," says Michael DeKay of the Center for Risk Perception and Communication at Carnegie Mellon University. "Some people say, 'Why bother, it's not really going to happen.' But others say that when the potential consequences are so serious, even a tiny risk is unacceptable."
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4201569.html

 

Why we worry about the things we shouldn't... ... And ignore the things we should
Time Magazine | November 26
It would be a lot easier to enjoy your life if there weren't so many things trying to kill you every day. The problems start even before you're fully awake. There's the fall out of bed that kills 600 Americans each year. There's the early-morning heart attack, which is 40 percent more common than those that strike later in the day. There's the fatal plunge down the stairs, the bite of sausage that gets lodged in your throat, the tumble on the slippery sidewalk as you leave the house, the high-speed automotive pinball game that is your daily commute. ... It's not impossible for us to become sharper risk handicappers. For one thing, we can take the time to learn more about the real odds. Baruch Fischhoff, professor of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, recently asked a panel of 20 communications and finance experts what they thought the likelihood of human-to-human transmission of avian flu would be in the next three years. They put the figure at 60 percent. He then asked a panel of 20 medical experts the same question. Their answer: 10 percent. "There's reason to be critical of experts," Fischhoff says, "but not to replace their judgment with laypeople's opinions."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1562978,00.html

 

Despite fewer lockups, NYC has seen big drop in crime
Washington Post | November 24
It is one of the least-told stories in American crime-fighting. New York, the safest big city in the nation, achieved its now-legendary 70-percent drop in homicides even as it locked up fewer and fewer of its citizens during the past decade. The number of prisoners in the city has dropped from 21,449 in 1993 to 14,129 this past week. That runs counter to the national trend, in which prison admissions have jumped 72 percent during that time. ... The debate about the degree to which the United States' record rate of imprisonment has driven down crime is more than a dance on the head of a statistical pin. FBI data released in September showed that violent crime -- rape, homicide and robbery -- edged up by 2.2 percent last year. ... No one, not even reformers, doubts that locking up enough people can drive down crime. Nor does anyone question that many felonious types belong behind bars. Alfred Blumstein, a criminologist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, cites a study that found that the growth in imprisonment during the 1990s accounted for about 25 percent of the national decline in crime.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/23/AR2006112301015.html

 

You're not alone
The New York Times | November 23
Home, sweet home is becoming, finally, home, smart home. The family group is becoming the family network: computers and appliances and services are shared and distributed through the house. Nesting has gone digital as Americans bring the world home to work and play. People know to lock their doors and close the blinds, but most, security experts agree, haven’t developed the same habits in the rapidly expanding digital world. ... In its annual threat report, released in September, Symantec, an information security services company in Cupertino, Calif., reported that 86 percent of all targeted attacks against computers were now directed at home users, "a fertile resource" for thieves. ... Yet roughly 80 percent of those using electronic devices on a home network don’t activate any of the safety features, he said. To most people, home is the safest place you could be, and digital convenience is't want a high state of alertness," said Lawrence R. Rogers, a senior member of the technical staff at CERT, Carnegie Mellon University’s center for Internet security. "They just want to veg."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/23/garden/23hackers.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Education for Leadership

Quick Takes: Laptops' educational value questioned
Inside Higher Ed | November 29
A study at Carnegie Mellon University of sophomore classes in its School of Design has found that using laptops changes the way students work — but not all of those changes are positive. Among the positive findings: Students spent more time on assignments and interacted with different kinds of people (in this case, people outside of design courses) in seeking help on assignments. Among other findings, however, were that the longer hours spent working didn’t translate into better quality of work, and that students were more likely to be isolated and working alone.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/11/29/qt

 

Laptops change how students work, but do not improve their performance, study finds
The Chronicle of Higher Education | November 29
To the hundreds of colleges that require students to buy or lease laptops, it may seem like a no-brainer: Supply a student with a portable computer, and surely he or she will reap some educational benefits. But a laptop's value isn't so cut and dried, according to a study conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. The study, which is described as one of the first systematic efforts to figure out how students use their laptop computers, came up with the uncontroversial finding that the machines give users more flexibility in choosing where and when to study. But the researchers found no evidence that the computers improved students' work. ... The research team, led by Anne L. Fay, director of assessment at Carnegie Mellon's office of technology for education, observed several typography classes held at the unnamed research university. In some of the sessions, students were given laptops; in others, they got access to a dedicated computer lab. Students in the courses answered surveys, participated in focus groups, and filled out logbooks describing their experiences. The study is not meant as an indictment of laptops, said Ms. Fay in a written statement. "It's not that laptops are good or bad for learning," she said. "It depends on how they are used."
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/11/2006112901t.htm

 

Architecture students to present Herron Avenue designs
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | November 29
Students of the Carnegie Mellon University Urban Lab will unveil designs for improvements to Herron Avenue. ... Both Herron and Brighton Road on the North Side have vacant and abandoned land that coalitions for each neighborhood sought to upgrade under the same grant application. The Urban Lab architecture students have spent months collecting public input and ideas.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06333/742072-42.stm

 

Two North Side architecture proposals to be presented
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | November 28
Carnegie Mellon University's Urban Laboratory architecture students will show the results of public input for two North Side projects when they present their designs at two events, tomorrow and Thursday, both at 6:30 p.m. Tomorrow, at the Childrens' Museum, a lab team will unveil its ideas for making the North Side's various neighborhoods and attractions more cohesive and highlight them to create a "family district."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06332/741822-53.stm

 

Helicopter parents
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | November 28
The call to the career center at Carnegie Mellon University's H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management left adviser Gerald Tang speechless. "Why is my son not going to the career fair?" the caller demanded. Dozens of companies would be attending the career fair looking for graduates to hire, but the caller's son was a freshman. ... He can laugh at the incident now, but the increasingly common image of a "helicopter parent" hovering above her or his child through college is a hot topic on campuses. Schools are being forced to adjust to parents who won't let go, according to university student affairs personnel and career advisers. ... Judith Mancuso, [associate director of Carnegie Mellon's career center], says one thing different about parents' relationships with this generation's "millennium kids" -- those born in the 1980s -- is that they include more friendship and openness than in decades past. "Parents are a resource for students now." But she thinks the balance between friend and meddler can be a "fine line." ... "Parents have moved obstacles out of the way," says Renee Camerlengo, director of student life at Carnegie Mellon. "We've begun to see students who have scripted their entire life," and who act out the plan together with their parents. John Hannon, director of student development at Carnegie Mellon, says he wouldn't mind if some helicopter parents backed off. "'My son or daughter didn't call today -- can you check to see if they're OK?' " is one unusual call to his office these days, facilitated by constant calls home by cell phones, he says.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/living/family/s_481693.html

 

Carnegie Mellon study says laptops give flexibility, but don't improve academic performance
Pittsburgh Business Times | November 24
A newly completed Carnegie Mellon University study found that the use of laptop computers gives students more flexibility than those not using laptops, but doesn't improve their academic performance. Researchers at the Pittsburgh university's Office of Technology for Education and Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence monitored sophomore classes for two years to investigate their use of laptops inside and outside the classroom. Though the use of laptop computers on university campuses is growing nationwide and some colleges and universities require students to have them, little is known about how laptops affect the lives of students or classroom culture. The Carnegie Mellon study examined whether laptops affect the nature of instructor-to-student or student-to-student interactions in and out of the classroom; how students conduct their out-of-class work in terms of location, time-on-task, and physical and social setting; and the process and quality of student work.
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2006/11/20/daily26.html

Arts and Humanities

Lost in space
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | November 30
Stepping into "Nebula," Hilary Harp and Suzie Silver's latest installation project on display at the Pittsburgh Glass Center in Friendship, is a bit like traveling on the Starship Enterprise. All around you are glittering glass sculptures that look like the remnants of an exploded asteroid. Glowing images of space dust line the walls, and off in the distance an astral show like no other churns on a massive screen to the sound of the most eerie sci-fi music to come along since Attilio Mineo's groundbreaking 1962 album "Man in Space with Sounds." ... Silver, an associate professor of art at Carnegie Mellon University, found her friend's works so fascinating she created a 25-minute-long, digitally manipulated animation that features Harp's sculptures filmed through the use of the old-fashioned stop-motion technique. The result, Silver says, is "sort of envisioned as what you might see out of the viewport on the original 'Star Trek's' Enterprise."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/living/arts/museums/s_481937.html

 

Theater: Three-ring lives
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | November 30
Two lives, one body, is the core dilemma of the musical "Side Show." Loosely based on the life of conjoined twins linked at the hip, "Side Show" takes audiences into the Depression-era circus world where Daisy and Violet Hilton became vaudeville stars. In "Side Show," the sisters negotiate the pressure of fame and romantic entanglements while attempting to lead individual lives with one body. One sister longs for fame and fortune, while the other desires a domestic existence with a husband and family. Director Ramoom Maharaj, founder of the Rebel Theatre Company and resident at the New York Shakespeare Festival directs the cast of students from Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama. Composer Henry Krieger and lyricist Bill Russell created the score for this near-opera musical that played on Broadway in 1997. "Side Show" opens today and continues through Dec. 9 in the Philip Chosky Theater on Carnegie Mellon's campus, 5500 Forbes Ave., Oakland.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_481931.html

Information Technology

Smart spaces: If these walls could talk
Computerworld | November 27
Scott Hudson’s studies of human behavior are aimed at making smart environments more acceptable to their occupants. Hudson, a professor of human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, says people have traditionally thought that the interruptibility of an office worker depends primarily on two things: how deeply the worker is engaged in an important task, and whether the worker is socially engaged with another person, as in a phone call. "But it turns out in our studies that it’s much more about social engagement," Hudson says. He says his experiments with voice detectors in workers' offices show that a system can predict the workers' willingness to be interrupted at any given moment with 85 percent accuracy. Asked about machine learning and statistical models that might eventually tune smart offices to the habits of each unique occupant, Hudson says he has been surprised by how well certain techniques work across groups. "But in the end," he says, "I think we'll want to go to individual models for that extra 5 percent or 10 percent of accuracy." But isn't 90 percent good enough? "Well, you can say it's pretty good, or you can say no, it's wrong one time in 10," says Hudson. Many users find that kind of experience frustrating and unacceptable, he says.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=18&articleId=272806&intsrc=hm_topic

 

Virtual training's no game
Marketplace | November 23
Jessica Trybus: This scenario is a pulseless patient. Jessica Trybus is director of Edutainment at Carnegie Mellon. Her medical training system's called Crisis Team Simulator. Trybus: His chest is not moving, clearly he's not breathing. Trybus says situations like this are typically chaotic, but this kind of training helps medical teams learn to work together efficiently to give the patient the right treatment fast, in this case a shock to the heart. ... Laura Kusumoto of Forterra Systems says with her company's game, hospitals, police, fire departments and emergency medical teams can all practice together. Kusumoto: What we have here is a massively multiplayer online environment in which first responders can practice mass casualty disasters. Kusumoto says real life exercises for all these professionals cost thousands of dollars to stage, so the game's cost-effective. But that doesn't mean it'll sell. At least two other companies have a competing product, including Hazmat Hot Zone. Carnegie Mellon developed that with the New York Fire Department and they plan to give it away to every fire department in the country.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2006/11/23/PM200611234.html

Environment

Signature office building garners national attention
Denver Business Journal | November 24
The Signature Centre office building under construction in the Denver West Office Park has captured the attention of one of the foremost building design experts in the world. Volker Hartkopf, director of the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics at Carnegie Mellon University, said Lakewood-based Aardex Corp. is one of a handful of U.S. firms that are challenging conventional approaches to office building construction that often emphasize cost control, profits and expedience. Instead, the Signature Centre is built around user comfort and the prudent use of energy and construction resources, Aardex said."I've seen the [building] plans, and I'm impressed by what Aardex is doing," Hartkopf said. "This is breaking the mold in development." Aardex, he said, is going far beyond recent trends in energy efficiency and recycling by making human comfort the cornerstone of the Signature Centre's design. Hartkopf and Vivian Loftness, a colleague at Carnegie Mellon, were two of the first architects in the country to study how different buildings -- from minute layout details to environmental factors -- affect human performance and productivity. Hartkopf and Loftness founded the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics at Carnegie Mellon in 1982 as a research and teaching institute unlike any other in the United States. It includes the Robert L. Preger Intelligent Workplace laboratory that's birthed some of the most cutting-edge commercial buildings in the world, all designed to conserve energy, incorporate recycled materials and improve the long-term workplace environment. By designing buildings that cater to workers' comfort and well-being, employers can save millions of dollars each year by reducing absenteeism and increasing productivity.
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2006/11/27/story11.html?b=1164603600^1380490

Biotechnology

Vitamin C Plastics
AAAS Science Update | November 29
Bob Hirshon (host): Why some plastics should take their vitamins. I'm Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update. A dose of vitamin C could be just what the plastics industry ordered. Scientists at Carnegie Mellon report it greatly improves a manufacturing process called atom transfer radical polymerization, or ATRP. Chemist James Spanswick says the process allows engineers to build new materials molecule by molecule. James Spanswick (Carnegie Mellon University): What it would allow people to do is to think of the properties of the material that you want, and then target those properties by controlling all of the aspects of the polymerization process. Hirshon: Until now, the process required a lot of copper, which created impurities that were environmentally risky and costly to remove. But Spanswick says that adding vitamin C reduces the need for copper, which could lead to a whole new class of designer materials, from self-cleaning windows to injectable sealants for healing bones. I'm Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.
http://www.scienceupdate.com/show.php?date=20061129

Regional Impact

MBIA debt backed by crack houses perpetuates Pittsburgh blight
Bloomberg | November 29
No one has lived at 217 Dinwiddie Street, the gray, three-story, Victorian row house in Pittsburgh, since the owner died in 1995. "I just keep the shades shut and don't look at it," said Imogene Boyd, referring to the front porch that draws a regular crowd of crack addicts who sneak through the weed-covered chain link fence for a smoke. The 90-year-old retired cleaning lady, who has lived on Dinwiddie since Dwight Eisenhower was president, has seen the city lose half its population. The dilapidated home in the Hill District is among 11,000 derelict properties that Pittsburgh officials say can't be rescued because their tax liens are controlled by MBIA Inc., the Armonk, New York-based bond insurer. MBIA, whose 44 percent annual profit margin makes it beloved on Wall Street, controls 8 percent of the land in the city and uses the liens as collateral for almost $200 million of bonds, according to company data and the Pittsburgh Neighborhood and Community Information System, a project partially supported by Carnegie Mellon University and the Heinz Endowment.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aq6BH9DMuXmQ

 

City faces uphill pedestrian challenge
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | November 27
Pittsburgh police know the challenges pedestrians often face when trying to cross busy intersections -- even when vehicles are supposed to be stopped at traffic lights. ... City officials hope a public meeting next month in Oakland will yield ideas to improve pedestrian safety throughout the city. The meeting on the "Make Pittsburgh More Walkable" project is scheduled for 2 p.m. Dec. 9 in the auditorium of the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health, between DeSoto and Bouquet streets. ... In a separate effort, city Councilman Bill Peduto in August asked researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh to investigate measures used in other cities that might work to improve Pittsburgh's most dangerous intersections.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_481504.html

Local

Carnegie Mellon film fest offers global take on democracy
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | November 30
The birth of a notion at Carnegie Mellon is called "Faces of Democracy," the highly ambitious Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival debuting this week and continuing through Dec. 10. It's an important new addition to the city's motion-picture smorgasbord: the Pittsburgh premiere of a dozen award-winning features and documentaries, plus 10 short student films, in as many languages from around the world, under the topical umbrella of democracy and its contemporary global dynamics.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06334/742258-254.stm

 

Newsmaker
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | November 30
Chris Hendrickson. Residence: Point Breeze. Age: 56. Family: Wife, Kathy; sons, Drew, 23, Tommy, 20, and Peter, 17. Occupation: Duquesne Light Professor of Engineering and head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University; faculty director of the school's Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research and co-director of the Green Design Institute. ... Noteworthy: Named a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The association, which publishes the journal Science, awarded the distinction to Hendrickson for work ranging from environmental design to computer applications. The association began naming fellows in 1874. Quote: "This is a tremendous honor, and I welcome being part of such a time-honored tradition with such a group of distinguished peers."
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_481969.html

 

New voting machines' debut rocky, study says
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | November 30
American democracy survived the Nov. 7 general election without any major voting machine disasters, but there were far too many problems to call it a real success, according to a report released yesterday by a nonpartisan election reform group. ... Marybeth Kuznik, a longtime poll worker in Westmoreland County and executive director of VotePa, estimated that several hundred people in the county didn't get to vote because of the programming troubles with the Election Systems & Software iVotronic touch-screen machine. ... She also argues that officials have no way of knowing if technical malfunctions led to the loss of votes because the touch-screen machines don't print paper trails that voters can check before they finalize their choices. Common Cause, along with many computer experts, supports such equipment upgrades. More than two-dozen states already have a paper-trail requirement. Michael Shamos, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and a voting machine examiner for Pennsylvania, said that touch-screen machines already can reprint every ballot for a full recount, making a "voter-verifiable" printer an unnecessary complication and a threat to voter privacy. Also, he has noted that the paper printers didn't function well in Ohio's Cuyahoga County in the May primary.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06334/742415-84.stm

 

Asian influence molds old steel town
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | November 27
Ananda Gunawardena might well typify the kind of immigrants flocking to Pittsburgh. The native of Sri Lanka left Houston, a more culturally vibrant and diverse city, about eight years ago when his physician wife, Sriya, landed a job at an Oakland hospital. Now, they live in McCandless with their two children, one of whom attends a private girls school. Sriya is a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh; Ananda is an associate professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. Drawn by Pittsburgh's thriving universities and high-tech and medical sectors, a small but growing number of Asian immigrants are helping to revitalize the economy and change the face of the city as its majority white population has been aging and shrinking. In 2001, Ananda Gunawardena founded a small business, a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff providing technology that allows publishers to customize textbooks to be delivered by print or electronically. Textcentric employs about 45 people in Pittsburgh and Colombo, Sri Lanka. ... Sunil Wadhwani received his master's degree from Carnegie Mellon in the 1970s. He returned to his native India but came back to Pittsburgh in 1987 to start iGate Corp., an information technology services and business process outsourcing company, in Robinson. Today, iGate has annual revenue totaling more than $270 million and employs about 6,500 people in 32 offices in 14 countries. Wadhwani, 53, said he could have opened shop anywhere. "I just came to love this area," he said. Also, "being close to Carnegie Mellon has been a huge plus," Wadhwani said. "They are doing some of the leading-edge stuff in terms of software and we're able to tap into research and researchers." ... "Clearly, that is a major draw. Otherwise, I would have gone somewhere else," said Koka, 56, who visited Carnegie Mellon as a scientist in 1984, lured here by Raj Reddy, the university's award-winning and renowned professor of computer science and robotics.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_481492.html

 

Police seek alternatives to high-speed chases
KDKA | November 27
Police call high-speed police chases a necessary evil. They can put innocent people in danger. But without them, criminals would have a license to do whatever they want. ... "Recognize that there may be innocent people injured," said Professor Alfred Blumstein of Carnegie Mellon University. "You might kill someone unintentionally." Blumstein says, because of the dangers, chases should be a last resort -- on a par with an officer deciding to shoot someone. He agrees that you can't ban chases all together but advises a policy of limited chases. He adds that the policy should also be kept confidential -- so the possibility of a chase at any time remains a deterrent. "You want to operate with great restraint just as you would when firing your weapon," said Blumstein. "But you never want to announce that you're not going to chase because that would mean a free license to steal."
http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_331211653.html

 

Carnegie Mellon professor details evolution of human traits
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | November 26
Think about all of man's accomplishments, from the greatest symphonies and works of art to the exploration of space to the feats of skill on athletic fields. Then think about the most mundane of situations -- walking across the street to the local coffee barista, holding that cup of java in your hand, then sipping the coffee. None of these things would be possible without the big toe. Yes, the little piggy that went to market, the captain of the toes, as "Seinfeld" character George Costanza called it, is responsible for the advance of mankind beyond primitive creatures. "Around six million years ago, we began to develop this large appendage at the end of our feet that enabled us to stand up," says Chip Walter, the author of "Thumbs, Toes and Tears -- And Other Traits That Make Us Human." " Every time you take a step, 40 percent of your weight is supported by your big toe. That means it would be very, very difficult to walk on these long stilts of articulated bone that we call legs if we didn't have that toe." Walter, an adjunct professor of writing at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, and senior manager of strategic communications for UPMC, has worked as a science journalist, documentary filmmaker and bureau chief for CNN.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/print_481005.html

 

As Carnegie Mellon Internet experts discover, China's growing prosperity abets more freedoms, but there are limits
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | November 26
Among computer scientists and brainy college students in China, the bespectacled Kai-Fu Lee has rock star-like status. Not only did the former Carnegie Mellon University student and professor receive $10 million to start Google's lab here, but at 44, he is a hot ticket on the lecture circuit, speaking to thousands of university students at a time, some willing to pay scalpers more than $50 for a seat. ... Aware of his celebrity, Mr. Lee is encouraging young Chinese to be free -- free to make the most of their lives, to be individuals, to think creatively, to pursue their passions and not just material gain. ... As China speeds along economically, Mr. Lee's old school, Carnegie Mellon, is being asked to help the country train this next generation to compete against the rest of the world, and for the last few years university officials in Oakland have been toying with the idea of a campus here. The request is straight from the Chinese government, where many of the top leaders are engineers -- a Carnegie Mellon specialty. Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon has discussed the idea with Chinese officials, and Carnegie Mellon would like to do it "if we can find out a viable way to do it," said Professor [Hui] Zhang, who is involved in the planning. The thought of building a school there and training a new generation of students "is a huge opportunity."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06330/741110-28.stm

 

Tax study commission eyes options, data
Gateway Newspapers | November 22
Only about 10 district residents and several school board members attended a public hearing held by the Woodland Hills tax study commission last week on the question of shifting the tax burden of school district residents. The commission, which was appointed by the school board, held the hearing to get input from residents as to whether the district should provide tax relief to homeowners by raising the earned income tax (EIT) or adding a personal income tax (PIT). ... "We think there are a number of good reasons to move away from property taxes," said [commission chairman, Stephen]Spear, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University. "We have 60 percent of the people paying 90 percent of property taxes .... This puts tremendous pressure on the district, given this cap."
http://www.gatewaynewspapers.com/woodlandprogress/68157/

International

Big plans for robot microsurgery
The Age | November 27
Researchers at Monash University are developing micro-robots they hope will be able to swim through the human body and perform medical tasks. James Friend's aim is to build a tiny machine no wider than two human hairs side by side to do the job. But such a device, 250 microns in diameter, seems unimaginable. ... During a conference last year he met Dr. Metin Sitti, a scientist from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who is now collaborating with him. "Jim was looking for very small motors that could be used in medicine," he says. "I know how to make the motors but didn't have a good idea of how they might be used. And that is why we decided to collaborate."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/education-news/big-plans-for-robot-microsurgery/2006/11/24/1164341402343.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

 

Money breeds misers surprising study finds
Toronto Star | November 25
One of the most comforting notions in the capitalist system is that success brings not only riches, respect and glamour, but also generosity — a spirit of philanthropy. But if a paper published last week in the journal Science is any measure, that impulse to share does not come naturally to anyone who is thinking about money, even unconsciously. In a series of experiments, psychologists found subconscious reminders of money prompted people to become more independent in their work and less likely to seek help from others or to provide it. They became reluctant to volunteer their time and stingy when asked to donate to a worthy cause. ... "We know there is a civilizing side to money, that people acting in a self-interested fashion depend on fellow humans in a community and tend to treat them fairly," says George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "But this study shows its pernicious side, how the pursuit of money can be isolating."
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1164235812023&call_pageid=991479973472&col=991929131147

 

Stalin opens restored library
The Hindu | November 23
Local Administration Minister, M.K. Stalin, inaugurated the renovated Connemara Library here on Wednesday evening. The 110-year old building of the Library was restored by the Archaeological Survey of India, spearheaded by the Superintending Archaeologist, Chennai Circle, Sathyabama Badrinath, and Senior Conservation Assistant, Bhagwan Sarathy. ... Rare books, back issues of periodicals and government documents are now housed in the building that Mr. Stalin described as "an object of pride for the state of Tamil Nadu." ... The digitizing is being carried out by the library in collaboration with the Carnegie Mellon University and the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthana Sree Venkateswara Digital Library.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/23/stories/2006112317980300.htm