Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Sound of Hollywood could soon be virtual
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)
Software engineers are working on a system that would replace the traditional effects of the so-called Foley artists, who have been plying their trade ever since the 'talkies' hit the screens, with the omnipresent computer. A team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have succeeded in replicating the sound of water flowing and splashing. William Moss and Hengchin Yeh modelled the splashing and gurgling of water by building a '3D grid' of sound, the same technique used in computer generated film graphics.
Related Link:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10662344
Having friends could increase your survival odds by 50 per cent
The Star (Toronto, Canada)
Not having friends or a social network may soon be considered as much of a risk factor for early death as bad eating or smoking or high cholesterol levels, , according to a new meta analysis. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, an associate professor at Brigham Young, as well as researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, carried out a meta analysis of 148 studies that evaluated the role that friends or social networks plays when it comes to longevity.
National Coverage
Stayin’ Alive: That’s What Friends Are For
U.S. News & World Report
A new Brigham Young University study adds our social relationships to the “short list” of factors that predict a person’s odds of living or dying. …Brad Layton worked on the study as an undergrad at BYU and appears as a co-author on the new study. Layton’s involvement in this project helped him secure a spot as a Ph.D. candidate in the highly ranked epidemiology program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Thomas Day: A Master Craftsman, With Complications
"All Things Considered" National Public Radio
In the decades before the Civil War, it was a mark of distinction and prestige for a wealthy tobacco farmer to own furniture made by a North Carolinian named Thomas Day. Now, there's renewed interest in this master craftsman's legacy and personal history — in part because of the quality of his work, and in part because he was a black man who appeared to own slaves. …(Bartlett) Yancey wasn't Day's only prominent customer; he did work on commission for a former governor, and filled a big order from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Day's method was to take designs that were popular up North and add his own touches — such as that S-shaped newel post.
State and Local Coverage
Officials meet to discuss oil spill preparedness
News 14
Scientists at UNC Chapel Hill say the odds of oil from the Deep Horizon Spill reaching our coast are very slim, but state leaders are working to be ready just in case. On Thursday, more than 100 public health officials and emergency personnel from around North Carolina came together in a forum to discuss preparedness plans. …Dr. Rick Luettich with UNC Marine Sciences agreed it was important to be prepared, but he had good news about the likelihood of oil reaching our beaches. "It's very, very small. We were very fortunate that some of the currents that protect the Gulf and the east coast were actually broken,” Luettich said.
Related Links:
http://wunc.org/programs/news/audio-archive-2/TBG0728.mp3/view
http://orange.mync.com/site/Orange/news/story/53926/nc-state-expert-gulf-oil-
unlikely-to-reach-east-coast/
UNC Media Advisory:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3782/74/
Restaurateur: Culture at stake in Gulf
The Chapel Hill Herald
Joe Tullos is passionate when he speaks about friends and family who earn a living fishing off the coast of Louisiana. For them, the massive spill is a major threat to a way of life that has sustained Louisianans for centuries, Tullos explained Thursday during a conference to discuss North Carolina's readiness in the unlikely event oil from the Gulf Coast washes up on this state's coastline. …Tullos was one of several invited speakers at the daylong conference held at the William and Ida Friday Center. The event was hosted by the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in conjunction with the N.C. State College of Veterinary Medicine.
Mural at UNC School of Government celebrates African-Americans
The Citizen-Times (Asheville)
A creative interpretation of the Greensboro lunch counter sit-in of 1960 is the first in a series of murals that will commemorate the contributions of African-Americans and Native Americans to the state. Titled “SERVICE,” the 5-by-50-foot painting by Charleston, S.C., artist Colin Quashie was dedicated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Government this week. “We serve all of North Carolina’s public officials and all North Carolinians,” said Michael Smith, dean of the School of Government. “This painting not only represents the full breadth of our work, but also the value we place on the accomplishments of African-Americans in North Carolina.”
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3793/68/
UNC granted $3.3M for prostate cancer study
The Triangle Business Journal
Researchers at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have received a $3.3 million grant to study the best treatment options for prostate cancer. There are several options to treat prostate cancer and the costs for each treatment vary greatly. The study is intended to determine what treatments are “most effective or best able to preserve patients’ quality of life,” says Dr. Ronald Chen, a professor of radiation oncology and one of the lead researchers on the project.
UNC Release:
http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2010/July/3.3-million-to-fund-study-of-comparative-effectiveness -of-prostate-cancer-therapies
Runge to lead lab-to-therapy fast track push
The Chapel Hill Herald
Marschall Runge has been named director of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS) and will oversee efforts to speed up the time to move laboratory discoveries to treatment procedures. Runge also will be principal investigator of UNC's Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Employers tackle exploding costs
The Triangle Business Journal
Tired of dealing with rising medical costs for employees, some employers are taking matters into their own hands. …For years, insurers and employers lacked good data on quality of care, but recent efforts to track readmission and mortality rates have changed that. Sandra Green, a health management professor in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill, says that data is now available to identify the health care providers with the best outcomes. Insurance companies and employers are better able to funnel patients in those directions.
Anxious about future, physicians turn to hospitals
The Triangle Business Journal
Doctors may be the reason patients visit hospitals, but in the past physicians often only had visiting rights to hospitals and were not considered employees. …Currently, nearly 22 percent of the state’s nearly 20,000 licensed physicians cite hospitals as their place of primary practice on their licensing form filed with the North Carolina Medical Board. That’s up slightly from 2003 when nearly 21 percent of physicians connected themselves to hospitals, according to data compiled by the UNC Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
UNC Professor to Create New Science Program
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
A UNC professor received a $20,000 grant to create a graduate nanobiotechnology certificate program for N.C. State and UNC. Roger Narayan is a professor working on a joint nanobiotech program between N.C. State and UNC. He will lead the creation of a certificate program with grant money given by officials at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
Issues and Trends
N.C. Research Campus work hinges on S&P bond rating
The Triangle Business Journal
Backers of the North Carolina Research Campus, in which the state and some of its major universities have invested millions along with Dole Food honcho David Murdock, are waiting day by day for a Standard & Poor’s bond rating considered key in moving the project forward. …The University of North Carolina System, in an agreement negotiated by now outgoing President Erskine Bowles, committed to staffing the facility with scientists from N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill and currently makes rent and salary payments of $23.5 million annually, according to UNC Research Director Steve Leath.
Giving at Duke soars; flat at UNC, NCSU
The Triangle Business Journal
…N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill each saw their fundraising totals dip slightly during the recently ended fiscal year. UNC took in $268 million, down from $271 million the year prior, while NCSU took in $89.4 million, down from $90.8 million in 2008. …Scott Ragland, UNC’s director of development communications, says the economy continues to be tough, but he feels good about UNC’s haul, “all things considered.” Indeed, UNC posted its third best fundraising total ever. The university’s best year, $300 million in 2008, came at the end of a major fundraising campaign.
How To Fix Crooked NCAA Players
Bloomberg News
Alabama Coach Nick Saban last week infamously referred to them as "pimps," and apparently the NCAA agrees with this shady characterization of agents trying to lure its "student athletes." In the past few weeks, the NCAA has instituted a serious crackdown on college athletes interacting with agents. Allegations of improper benefits from agents, financial advisers, and runners, which started with Reggie Bush at the University of Southern California and led to harsh penalties imposed on USC, have made their way across the U.S. to Florida, South Carolina, UNC Chapel Hill, and Georgia.