Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Cloud computing's security pitfalls
BBC News
…Researcher Yingian Zhang at the University of North Carolina and colleagues from Wisconsin and security firm RSA have already shown how this can provide a route to attacking and hacking a cloud. The technique developed by the team is complicated, but involves finding out how hard servers are being worked in a particular cloud. "Because we're sharing the resources there's a possibility some information will leak," Mr Zhang told the BBC.
National Coverage
Rebuilding our schools, literally
"Marketplace" American Public Media
…“Kids who study in a rotten environment where the toilets don’t function and windows are broken and the paint is peeling on the walls are going to do worse,” says Maureen Berner, a professor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In a study published in the early 1990s, Berner found the average test scores of students learning in buildings deemed to be in poor condition were ten percentage points lower than those in excellent conditions — even when controlling for other factors, like income, neighborhood, or race.
A Bumpy Road to a Soda Ban (Blog)
The New York Times
…The restriction, which was one of the first in the nation to address portion size, had value even if it did not survive in court, said Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition and economics at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, because it had added to the public conversation about how to address the nation’s obesity problem. “There’s been in increase in national awareness of the role of sugary drinks and large portion sizes,” he said. “Either way, we’ve had a victory.”
Love is … not what a lot of us think
The Chicago Tribune
The classic comic strip "Love Is …" would carry some surprise endings if Barbara L. Fredrickson were writing it. Her decades of research into positive emotions has led her to some unsentimental conclusions. Among them, that love is … not lasting … not unconditional … not exclusive. But Fredrickson, director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, defines love more broadly, meaning it's not as elusive as some of us think.
State and Local Coverage
UNC-CH medical school ranks No. 1 in primary care
The Triangle Business Journal
The UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine ranks as the No. 1 school in the nation in terms of primary care, but the Duke University School of Medicine beats out UNC-CH in research and internal medicine. That’s according to U.S. News & World Report, L.P., which released its latest graduate school rankings on Tuesday. …“Our vision is to be the nation’s leading public medical school,” said Dr. William Roper, dean of the UNC School of Medicine and CEO of the UNC Health Care System, in a statement.
Related Link:
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/2013/03/campbell-law-school-ranks-nationally.html
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5918/68/
The Story Of Medgar Evers Through Collective Memory
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill)
Medgar Evers’s assassination was a spark that motivated social activists and inspired writers, poets and journalists. Artists like Bob Dylan, Eudora Welty and James Baldwin have contributed to the collective memory of Evers through their own works. Minrose Gwin, professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, talks to host Frank Stasio about her new book, “Remembering Medgar Evers” (University of Georgia Press/2013).
Raleigh company says its safety cap reduces concussions
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
…The University of North Carolina’s Kevin Guskiewicz, one of the nation’s top concussion experts, said there are several ideas being considered but it was too early to endorse any of them. “There are questions about whether these devices have an impact on the protection provided by the helmet,” Guskiewicz said. “We don’t endorse them. There is a tremendous amount of testing that needs to be done.”
No office space? No problem
The Charlotte Observer
…Don’t show favoritism: For companies with only a portion of employees working virtually, it’s important to maintain a level playing field for raises and promotions. “Ensuring people that out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind…is important,” says Dr. Arvind Malhotra, a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
The latest diet fad: 5-2 fasting (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The next big diet fad may be here. It’s from Britain, where a best-selling book, “The Fast Diet,” advocates intermittent fasting. Some call it alternate day fasting or a 5-2 plan, meaning you eat what you want to for five days each week and restrict for two. (Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical associate professor in the department of health policy and administration in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Who’s right? Hodding Carter III or Aaron Nelson? (Commentary)
The Chapel Hill News
A March 2 article in the Chapel Hill News cited Professor Hodding Carter III, the distinguished journalist and former Assistant Secretary of State, and Aaron Nelson, president of the local Chamber of Commerce, as having reached such diametrically opposed conclusions about student housing in Chapel Hill. According to the article, Professor Carter said the town does not have an undergraduate housing crisis saying “It is utter and total baloney.” (Matt Czajkowski is a member of the Chapel Hill Town Council.)
No end to the bad news coming out of UNC; no openness either (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Despite disturbing reports by The News & Observer over the last three years regarding athletics and academic scandal at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, some alums and athletics boosters still want to believe there’s no real scandal, that the university has been unfairly picked on and that the problems will blow over.
Related Link:
http://www.news-record.com/home/890885-87/story
UNC-CH paid heavily to review and spin scandal (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The bills speak for themselves, and what they say is that officials of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have demonstrated an incredible disconnect with the public they are supposed to serve. The university used funds from the UNC-CH Foundation to pay the Baker Tilly consulting company nearly $490,000 for the so-called Martin Report, a review of problems with phony courses in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies.