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NCSU wins grant for Middle East minor
undergraduate minor in Middle East studies to be offered by the College of Humanities and Social SciencesCollege operation nets alcohol, drug arrests
New Granville high school takes top priority
Agents centered the enforcement operations around N.C. State University, Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill.
An institute at N.C. State University that helps school systems with their planning is expected to use new enrollment figures and population growth figures to suggest a general area.
Key stop
for bus merger
NC State opted out of transportation merger
Diversity
at UNCP not found in faculty
Minorities
faculty members outnumber whites at three of the universities, Fayetteville
State and North Carolina A&T, which are both historically black colleges,
and N.C. State University.
Latina
author to kick off library series
Readings will be attended by Duke, UNC, NCCU and NCSU students,
faculty and staff.
BOTTOM
LINE: Industry bearing fruit, jobs in Piedmont
Upper Piedmont Research Station
Not-So-Spotty
Material Breakthrough
Jagdish Narayan and Ashutosh Tiwari, material science and engineering
Researchers
Look for Affordable Lagoon and Sprayfield Substitutes
Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center
KLA-Tencor
and Seiko Instruments Partner to Bring Innovative Surface Metrology
Solution to New Markets
Phillip Russell, materials science and engineering
SePRO
purchases 410-acre North Carolina research facility
cooperative research opportunities
Editorial:
Conservation-tillage becoming even more important
Greg Hoyt, soil science
New Granville high school takes top priority
Sept. 1, 2004
Henderson Daily Dispatch
By CHARLIE RICHARDS
© Copyright 2004
OXFORD - The priority picture for new school building projects in Granville County began to come into focus Monday when the School Board reviewed ratings drafted by the administration.
And a schedule for decision making was projected that would have decisions made by October.
The one and only project rating a "tier one" status was the proposed new high school, expected to be centrally located and designed to relieve South Granville and J.F. Webb high schools, both overcrowded.
Beyond that rating, unquestioned by board members, the picture was less clear, but comments by board members gave the administration some direction, probably leading to additions at three or four elementary schools as the other projects in the first phase.
Building to be funded with the $35 million in bonds approved by the voters in July will be in two phases, $25 million to be issued early in 2005, and another $10 million in 2007.
The new high school will require more than $15.5 million, leaving about $10 million to be allocated to other projects in the first round.
Board Chairman Leonard Peace appeared to sum up the board's attitude with his comments that "classrooms will be at the top of my priority" and "we should look at the ones with all factors," a reference to the rating system developed by Superintendent Tom Williams.
Applying those two criteria to the list of 14 schools produces a list including Butner-Stem Elementary, Creedmoor Elementary and Stovall-Shaw Elementary, plus South Granville High.
South Granville, however, has no room for an addition until 14 mobile units are removed, which cannot be done until the new high school is in use. That means South Granville must fall in the second phase.
The three elementaries on the list would require more than $8 million, which might leave a few dollars for other projects.
But a number of questions remain to be resolved by discussions between Williams' administration and the architects.
The firm of Smith Sinnett of Raleigh will handle the design of the building program, and representatives will be in Granville this week. Factors to be discussed that could affect priorities include escalating building costs, contractor response, and staging of construction work.
Williams expects to have staff recommendations by the time the School Board has its Sept. 13 meeting. It could be expected to adopt priorities at its October meeting, leaving time between the two meetings for public education and reactions.
Sound planning and decision making appeared to be important to the board members. Pat Cox said he wants the public to "see that we did the best we could with what we had," and Peace indicated he considers allocating the dollars approved by the voters to be a serious challenge.
As presented to the voters, the bond program projected building projects for all 14 schools, but by far the largest is the planned new high school. In that regard, the School Board also has to make a decision about the location.
An institute at N.C. State University that helps school systems with their planning is expected to use new enrollment figures and population growth figures to suggest a general area. The board also will consider land costs, transportation and utilities in selecting a site.
No new land acquisition is anticipated for any other building projects.
Aug. 31, 2004
Durham Herald-Sun
By GINNY SKALSKI
© Copyright 2004
DURHAM -- It took more than two years to piece together a plan to merge several of the Triangle's bus lines, and tonight the Durham Area Transit Authority Board is set to recommend whether the Bull City should climb aboard.
Under the proposal, bus lines in Durham and Raleigh along with the regional Triangle Transit Authority would unite under one name, logo and workforce.
The City Council must approve the final plan. Mayor Bill Bell said the council will consider the DATA board's suggestions and likely discuss the issue later this month. The DATA board meets at 7:15 p.m. today in the committee room on the second floor of City Hall.
The Raleigh City Council and the TTA board also plan to discuss the proposal this month. Last year, Chapel Hill decided not to participate in the merger. Cary and N.C. State University have both opted out for now but may join later, TTA officials say.
Supporters say merging would be a cost-effective way to boost bus ridership. The plan calls for fully consolidating the routes by December 2007, when the TTA's proposed regional rail service between Durham and Raleigh is expected to be in place.
"It allows citizens to have more choices in transit systems that they don't have today," TTA General Manager John Claflin said.
Although the merger is designed to improve service, a group that represents Durham's bus riders is not so sure. The Pride Ambassadors say they have unsuccessfully pushed for service improvements -- new routes and improved connection times -- for three years.
"We're concerned that a merger at this point is just going to provide one more layer of people and things to go through to get the services that we need," said Sue Breed, an ambassador who began riding the bus in 2002 after a near-fatal car wreck.
Officials maintain that Durham's bus routes would not change under the plan because the city would still select which routes it wants to run. The proposal says Durham, Raleigh and the Triangle Transit Authority would use existing money to pay for the routes they select.
"You don't lose anything that you're willing to pay for," Bell said. "If Durham is willing to pay for the services it has now, then we will continue to receive them."
Consolidating the area's transit system would not affect Durham's plan to provide free bus service to senior citizens 65 and older. On Tuesday, the council will decide whether to approve a $5 motor vehicle tax that would pay for the new service, as well as for extending bus routes to six elementary schools.
With the increase, the motor vehicle license tax would become $10 starting Oct. 1, and the free service and added bus routes would be put in place in January. Bell said those new services would not be possible without a tax increase.
The city has not been able to afford all the service improvements the ambassadors have sought, said Bell, a TTA board member and former board chairman.
"I would hope that [the Pride Ambassadors] would not think that their approval of consolidation would be the thing that would make us provide more services," Bell said. "We still have to look at it in terms of things we can and cannot afford."
Still, the ambassadors contend the city will never improve existing services or add more routes under a merged system. Instead, they say the city should work to upgrade its current system before considering consolidation.
"If we can't do anything while we're acting as an independent, then once we get into a collective body our needs will be swept under the road," said Michael Lyons, a DATA mechanic who has been a pride ambassador since the program started more than five years ago.
DATA buses carry about 13,000 riders a day.
The DATA board was scheduled to make its recommendation to the City Council in mid-August, but the group postponed its decision because it had not received paperwork that outlined details of the agreement.
"We desperately need it and we should have had it some time ago," said DATA board Chairman Patrick Hannah. "It is totally unfair to expect this board to make a recommendation to the city without the tools that are necessary to do so."
Hannah did not have the paperwork early Tuesday afternoon, but Vice Chairwoman Donna Frederick said she received it several days after the last meeting. Bell said he was disappointed the materials were not distributed sooner.
Under the projected consolidation, the DATA board could still exist as a City Council advisory board. It would be up to the city whether to continue to have Pride Ambassadors, but their future looks bright, according to city Transit Administrator Stephen Mancuso.
"Administratively we really take what they have to say and try to make improvements where improvements are needed and even try to make refinements where things are going well," Mancuso said. "They're a good sounding board."
Diversity at UNCP not found in faculty
Aug. 31, 2004
Robesonian
By Mark Locklear
© Copyright 2004
PEMBROKE - The student population at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke is hailed as one of the most diverse in the country, but that doesn't extend to the institution's instructors.
Chancellor Allen Meadors acknowledges the low number of minority faculty members, but he says it's not the university's fault.
During fall 2003 semester, there were 204 full-time instructors. Of those, 174, or 85 percent, were white; nine were black; eight American Indian; seven Asian; and six Hispanic.
Reginald Oxendine, an adjunct professor at UNCP, says the university is discriminating against minorities, especially American Indians. Oxendine is a Lumbee.
"American Indians don't expect to be an exclusive employee base but we do expect common decency and expect that the full time teaching faculty and administrative positions be proportional to the student enrollment," said Oxendine, who lives in Pembroke.
In the maintenance department, American Indians represent the majority, Oxendine said. Of the 77 workers, 65 are Indian and five are white.
American Indians make up 22 percent of the student body. Oxendine said that percentage should also reflect the teaching faculty.
"We have more than 1,000 Lumbees in Robeson County and adjoining counties with education degrees," Oxendine said. "More than 25 percent of these educators have master's degrees and we probably have at least 25 with doctoral degrees in education within a 40-mile radius of UNCP."
Meadors said that may be true, but adds, "They're not applying."
Since 1993, as few as 15 American Indian and blacks have applied for teaching positions there, according to Bill Gash, associate vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.
"Some applied for positions in which they didn't hold a doctorate degree in the area we were looking for," Gash said. "We definitely try to hire American Indians and African Americans when they meet the doctorate degree in the specific discipline. All minority groups are heavily recruited. We attend conferences nationwide to research the best way to attract them to the campus. I attended a recruitment fair in Atlanta in 2002. Collie Coleman (associate vice chancellor for outreach) attended another in Miami in 2003."
Lack of role models
Oxendine has taught part-time for four years at UNCP. He applied for a full-time position in the Sociology Department, but was turned down.
"He didn't meet the requirements the committee was looking for," Meadors said.
Oxendine insists that rejection isn't the reason he decided to speak out against the university's hiring practices.
"It is very important to our American Indian students that they have positive role models," Oxendine said. "American Indian professors at UNCP could be an excellent motivational tool for our students as role models."
Meadors said the university hires the best qualified and most experienced applicant, regardless of race. University officials offered to place Oxendine in another position, but he turned it down, Meadors said.
Meadors said three American Indians were added to the faculty this year and its three Indian vice chancellors represent the most in the history of the university.
Meadors said the numbers at UNCP reflect the other 15 campuses in the UNC system. Of the 8,319 full-time faculty members system-wide, 6,638 are white; 945 are black; 37 American Indian; 507 Asian; 52 Hispanic; and 40 other. Minorities outnumber whites at three of the universities, Fayetteville State and North Carolina A&T, which are both historically black colleges, and N.C. State University.
Gretchen Bataille, senior vice president for academic affairs with the UNC System, said human resource officers at each campus pays close attention to the pool of applicants to assure diversity. Some disciplines just doesn't produce many minorities, like physics or chemistry, Bataille said.
"You find more whites in the chemistry field, where as, you'll see more blacks with Phds. in history."
"We are committed to diversity and we expect our campuses to be paying attention to, not only hiring minority faculty, but retaining them and providing them with mentoring and support services. Some of our campuses focus on minority graduate students so eventually they can be hired."
Latina author to kick off library series
Aug. 31, 2004
Durham Herald-Sun
By reporter name, staff writer
© Copyright 2004
DURHAM -- Isabel Allende, one of Latin America's best-known writers, will visit Durham next month in the first in a series of major author visits being planned by the Durham County Library.
Allende, 62 and a native of Chile now living in northern California, is the author of "The House of the Spirits," "Of Love and Shadows," "Eva Luna" and other works. She went into exile in Venezuela two years after her uncle Salvador Allende, the president of Chile from 1970 to 1973, was overthrown in a coup.
"This will be it; this will be the biggest [author's visit] we have done," said Nancy Blood, adult services librarian, who earlier this summer learned that Allende would be speaking in October in Charlotte and proposed that she visit Durham, as well.
In approaching Allende's agent, library director Philip Cherry cited Durham's growing Hispanic population.
During the 1990s, the county's Latino population grew 730 percent to more than 18,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census. At least a part of Allende's Oct. 30 program will be conducted in both English and Spanish.
The Durham Library Foundation, Duke University, Duke's John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute and The Herald-Sun are sponsoring the visit, which is expected to cost $25,000. But the organizers still need more money and are seeking additional sponsors.
Organizers are tentatively planning a bilingual event on the Duke campus aimed at high school and college students and a larger free event open to the public at a location to be determined.
Allende often writes about strong female characters in Latin America's patriarchal society. Her historical novel "Daughter of Fortune" made Oprah's Book Club and was called "storytelling at its most seductive" by Publishers Weekly.
Her appearance demonstrates the significance of Durham's cultural diversity and the library's role in celebrating that diversity, said Deborah Jakubs, director of collections at Duke's Perkins Library.
"Isabel's readings will be attended by Duke, UNC, NCCU and NCSU students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the growing Latino community and other area residents," Jakubs said. "Her visit will bring together a wide variety of people."
Sandy Sweitzer, development director for the library, said Allende's visit also ushers in "a new era in public programming" as the system prepares to build three new branches, as well as renovate the Stanford L. Warren branch.
Two years ago, local businesswoman and Durham Library Foundation board member Grace Nordhoff challenged the community to donate to a Special Programs Fund, specifically "to bring nationally acclaimed authors and other artists to Durham to promote intellectual and cultural conversations." More than 200 library patrons contributed a total of $10,000, which Nordhoff matched. Allende is the first visit from an author being made possible by the Foundation's Special Program Fund.
Additional supporters of the visit include the Durham Public Schools, La Conexión, the N.C. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, The Regulator Bookshop, El Centro Hispano and the Durham Marriott.
---
Allende ...
-- ... on the difference between families in the United States and Latin America:
"One of the characteristics of North American culture is that you can always start again. You can always move forward, cross a border of a state or a city or a county, and move West, most of the time West. You leave behind guilt, past traditions, memories. ... For most people in the world, that is totally impossible. We carry with us the sense that we belong to a group, a clan, a tribe, an extended family, especially a country. Whatever happens to you happens to the collective group, and you can never leave behind the past. What you have done in your life will always be with you. So, for us, we have the burden of this sort of fate, of destiny, that you don't."
-- Mother Jones
-- ... on her favorite book:
"I don't have a favorite book because I don't think of the book as a product. It's almost like an ongoing experience. It has an echo of something that has happened in my own life. But I would say that the most important book in my life is and will be "Paula" [about the death of her daughter]. Because it saved me from suicide. It saved Paula from oblivion. In a way, it's a celebration of life. A celebration of the things I care for: family, life, love. It's not about death, really."
-- January magazine
NCSU wins grant for Middle East minor
Aug. 31, 2004
Triangle Business Journal
By staff writer
© Copyright 2004
North Carolina State University has won a two-year, $177,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop an undergraduate minor in Middle East studies.
The program, titled Globalizing the Middle East, will expose students to the language, history, culture and politics of the Middle East through a series of new course offerings, events and study-abroad opportunities. The program also will offer an interdisciplinary minor in Middle East studies that will be offered through the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in the fall of 2005.
The program will emphasize Middle Eastern language and literature offerings.
Part of the grant money is expected to be used to hire a new professor of Arabic literature to supplement the three years of Arabic language courses already offered at NCSU. Middle Eastern language course offerings will then include Arabic, Farsi and Hebrew.
BOTTOM LINE: Industry bearing fruit, jobs in Piedmont
Sept. 1, 2004
Associated Press; Charlotte Observer; WCNC; Wilmington Morning Star; Winston Salem Journal; Akron Beacon Journal, OH; Biloxi Sun Herald, MS; Bradenton Herald, FL; Centre Daily Times, PA; Contra Costa Times; Duluth News Tribune, MN; Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN; Fort Wayne News Sentinel, IN; Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX; Grand Forks Herald, ND; Kansas City Star, MO; Kansas.com, KS; Kentucky.com, KY; The Ledger, FL; Miami Herald; Monterey County Herald, CA; Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC; Ocala Star-Banner, FL; Philadelphia Inquirer, PA; San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA; The State, SC; Tallahassee.com, FL; Times Daily, AL; Worcester Telegram, MA; WVEC, VA
By CARLA BAGLEY
© Copyright 2004
GREENSBORO, N.C. - North Carolina's grape-growing industry is spreading its tendrils into the eastern Piedmont, driven by an increase in the number of wineries buying grapes and farmers who want to diversify their crops.
The state now boasts 300 commercial vineyards and 40 wineries. Half the wineries were established in the past two years, according to the N.C. Grape Council in Raleigh.
Five wineries are open or will open in the next few months in Alamance and Guilford counties, and at least a dozen farmers in Guilford and Rockingham counties are growing grapes.
Others are clearing land for vineyards in Rockingham, where more than 100 people have indicated an interest in growing grapes, said Kathryn Holmes, horticulture agent with the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service in Wentworth.
"It's a hot topic," she said.
The number of commercial vineyards may increase if Congress passes a bill to buy out farmers' tobacco allotments, said Larry Somers, a Reidsville grower who helped start the N.C. Winegrowers Association in 1985.
"A lot of these farmers are going to be sitting around getting nice checks over the next five or 10 years, and they are going to want to do something with that money," Somers said.
"Grapes are the only thing with which you can replace tobacco, dollar for dollar."
The industry will range east to Interstate 85 and west into the lower mountains, he said. Its center will continue to be the Yadkin Valley, northwest of Winston-Salem, which already has been named an American Viticulture Area because of its combination of temperatures, rainfall and soil.
Grapes won't replace tobacco as the state's cash crop, but they offer another opportunity for farmers to diversify, said Margo Knight, executive director of the Grape Council.
Grapes demand a sizable investment in time, money and patience. They are finicky about where they will grow well and don't yield a full harvest for about four years. Vineyards also cost $10,000 to $12,000 an acre to establish.
Nonetheless, the prospect of growing grapes has residents peppering Extension Service agents for advice and signing up for new viticulture classes at Rockingham Community College in Wentworth.
Anne Lanning, the college's occupational extension coordinator, received 20 phone calls about the class before the fall brochure hit the streets.
Lanning even plans to take the class herself -- if there's room.
Rockingham growers don't seem to be interested in opening wineries now. But Lanning thinks that when enough farmers grow grapes, wineries will come, just as they have in the Yadkin Valley.
As of 2002, the latest year for which figures are available, the industry employed 855 people and pumped nearly $80 million into North Carolina's economy.
North Carolina wineries attracted about 1 million tourists in 2002, and every 100 tourists generates 134 jobs, the Grape Council says.
"People with some money are going to say, 'We have grapes in this county,' and that's another economic opportunity for us," Lanning said. "They are going to be the ones who start the winery."
Count among them the owners of four new wineries in Alamance County and Max Lloyd, 40, of Chapel Hill, who is building The Grove Winery in northeast Guilford County, about two miles south of the Rockingham County line.
Lloyd plans to invest $500,000 in the winery and bottle up to 6,000 cases of wine by 2005.
In addition to the 6 acres of grapes he grows, Lloyd is buying grapes from farmers such as Bryce and Sara Richardson of Mayodan, who grow niagara and lambrusca varieties.
The Richardsons harvested 3,500 pounds of grapes from their half-acre of vineyards this month and sold them to Lloyd and to the Germanton Winery north of Winston-Salem, which makes a light, sweet wine from the niagaras.
"All the little whiteheaded ladies like to buy it," Sara Richardson said.
A successful vineyard can yield 3 tons of grapes an acre for up to 40 years, and good grapes can bring up to $4,500 a ton, said Somers, who has been growing grapes since 1991.
Matt Cardwell, 31, recently put in an acre of grapevines on the 1,500 acres he and his father farm west of Stoneville. The Cardwells, whose ancestors began farming in the 1700s, raise about 60 acres of tobacco, as well as corn, watermelons and tomatoes.
Cardwell turned to grapes because his rolling land, like much of that in Rockingham County, is well suited for a vineyard.
If Congress buys out Cardwell's tobacco allotment, he'd like to purchase some cattle and invest in more grapes, perhaps getting out of tobacco farming altogether.
"This tobacco business is like a cloud over our heads that we just really can't get out of," Cardwell said.
He plans to sell his grapes to the Old North State Winegrowers Cooperative Association, which is opening a winery in Mount Airy.
Helping the farmers grow better grapes is one goal of the Upper Piedmont Research Station near Reidsville, where North Carolina State University is demonstrating vine training systems and testing management practices to speed up production and get better yield.
"If a grape is going to fail, it needs to fail here and not at a farm," said superintendent Joe French, who is tending 45 varieties of wine grapes.
The researchers want to know what varieties grow best in a warm, humid climate, which are least susceptible to cracking and rot, and which yield the best balance of sugars and acids, research technician Rocco Schiavone said.
The tannat grape may be successful here, said Scott Lawrence of Greensboro, a psychology professor, grower and winemaker who is bottling wine from some of the test grapes.
The heavy, rustic grape makes a flavorful, strong wine and seems to withstand humid weather better than Bordeaux grapes, Lawrence said.
If vineyards, wineries and research all come together, the grape industry could help keep farming alive in a region with a long tradition of it.
"We want to keep our land. ... Maybe these grapes are one way to do it," Cardwell said.
Paralysis not keeping teen from living well
Aug. 31, 2004
Associated Press; Charlotte Observer; News & Observer; WCNC; Wilmington Morning Star; Winston Salem Journal; Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL; WVEC, VA
By JEAN GORDON
© Copyright 2004
RUTHERFORDTON, N.C. - If Joseph Maimone had it to do all over again, he wouldn't have gone skiing with a group of his friends from North Carolina State University in Februrary. That was the day the college sophomore skied into a tree at Snow Shoe Mountain, W.Va., suffering injuries that left him paralyzed.
He remembers the moments before the crash, losing control on a curve and he recalls how close he came to hitting another tree, before actually slamming into one.
"I remember telling myself I'd better be careful when I got up because I knew I had to finish that slope to get to the bottom. The next thing I knew, I'm in the helicopter," Maimone recalled.
In retrospect, he knows the slope was too difficult for him.
Six months after the accident, Maimone, 19, is doing everything in his power to continue the adjustment to being paralyzed and being in a wheelchair. But he believes therapy will lead him "eventually" to the time when he'll be out of the wheelchair and walking and moving again.
Maimone, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Maimone of Green Hill, remained at a West Virginia hospital for a month after the accident and was a patient at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Ga., for two months before returning home.
Now, Maimone is taking an astronomy class at Isothermal Community College, which is one of the natural sciences required for his political science major.
Working at Chimney Rock Park in Rutherford County is nothing new for Maimone, although the job duties have changed radically. Last summer his primary job was to park cars.
"When it wasn't that busy, I was doing everything and anything that needed to be done in the park," he said.
He loves the park and is very knowledgeable about all the trails.
When his mother took him to the park after returning home in May, he saw park owner and General Manager Todd Morse.
"Todd was joking around with me and asked me when I was coming back to work," Maimone said.
"I told him that right now all I could do was to sit in the wheelchair at the tunnel and say 'hi' to people. Todd said that was a great idea."
Maimone went to work in guest relations where he sits in his wheelchair, greeting the public, explaining the park's trails and answering questions for tourists.
He wasn't sure if he would actually be hired there again. After all, his job wouldn't necessarily bring business to the park.
"But the human resources director, Jennifer Hensley, has told me that guest relations is really a service they needed," he said. "The whole business of the park is to show people how to have a good time. Everyone tries to reach out to the customers or the tourists, but sometimes others get so caught up with their jobs, that it's hard to find time to do that.
"But I don't just greet people. I'll ask them how I can help and I'll tell them about the park," he said.
On a recent Saturday, as a Weaverville couple arrived they asked Maimone several questions about the hiking trails.
"It will take you at least three hours to hike the Skyline Trail, back on the Cliff Trails and return to the parking area," he said.
Maimone plans to work as long as needed this season.
"I'm planning to work through October because that is really a big month for them. After that, it will settle down and they won't need me as much, so I'll probably take a break in October and come back next summer.
"It's such a great place to work," he added.
Hensley said Maimone shares creative ideas, is always smiling and joking.
"He continues to improve every day, and I like to think that by him being here and working at the park, we are contributing a small bit to that improvement. I know he is contributing a lot to our associates and our guests," Hensley said. "It is such an awesome experience having him here and a true inspiration for everyone. Joseph is, and always will be, successful at whatever he does. We are just fortunate to have him be successful with us, right now," she added.
Although Maimone has no use of his wrists or his hands and legs, he does have strength in his arms and they continue to grow stronger and stronger.
He has an electric wheelchair, equipped with a "sip and puff," an apparatus that allows him to use his breath to move the chair. When the chair is in the driver mode, a strong puff will move the chair forward. A soft puff moves the chair to the right and a soft sip, moves it to the left, he explained.
"I think I will get my hands back. Nothing says that I won't get everything back eventually. I have more life in my legs than in my wrists. I may walk before I can use my hands," he said.
Maimone said the skiing accident could have happened to anyone, anywhere.
"It was totally an accident. God didn't stick a tree in my way, the tree was there. I should have been wearing a helmet," he said. "But today my health is phenomenal. I am not on one medication and am probably the only spinal cord victim who is not on medication," he said.
"I've been so fortunate not to have any chronic pain. Some people live in constant chronic pain," he said.
"They still do not know exactly what happened to my spinal cord. It was not severed, and it wasn't just my spinal cord. Unfortunately, I wasn't wearing a helmet and I had a big gash on my head. I actually had a hematoma that was between the brain membrane and the skull. Thank God, it didn't get through my brain membrane or I would have had brain damage or it would have killed me.
"The doctors had to take a big section of the skull off, drain the blood in order to get that taken care of first. That set me back a lot," he said.
For about a month, Maimone had tubes down his throat and couldn't talk. There was a possibility that he would have never been able to eat again and would have been on a respirator for the rest of his life. He breathes on his own.
The impact with the tree caused Maimone's C5 vertebrate to explode and C6 to sustain a fracture, doctors believe.
"At first when they did the X-rays, it showed a piece of my vertebrae in the spinal column and they thought the spinal cord was severed," Joseph said.
Had that been so, Joseph said, he would have virtually no medical or scientific hope of getting better.
But when he underwent surgery for doctors to remove the bone, the spinal cord was completely intact without a bruise or a scratch.
"It wasn't even swollen," he said. "As far as we can guess, it was compressed. We really don't know. We don't know about the spinal cord. We just know it functions, that it transmits signals to the brain and the body and back, but we don't understand it all. But because it wasn't severed, I have some feeling below the C5 injury," Maimone continued.
Maimone doesn't have regrets about the accident, trying to figure out the whys and what ifs. He does admit he wished he had not gone skiing that day.
"I would have had a little better of a summer. But it has happened. You can't go back in time. I honestly think it has made me stronger," he said.
College operation nets alcohol, drug arrests
Sept. 1, 2004
News & Observer
By Staff Reports
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- State Alcohol Law Enforcement agents have charged 212 people in connection with alcohol and drug violations, authorities said.
The 263 charges were a result of the agency's "Back to School Operation," according to a news release from the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. The arrests were made during the past few weeks as universities around the Triangle started the fall semester.
Agents centered the enforcement operations around N.C. State University, Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill. Of the 212 people charged, 162 were arrested in Raleigh, according to the news release.
ALE officers charged 123 people with underage possession of alcoholic beverages. Four illegal house parties were shut down in Raleigh during the operation. Agents charged 30 people in Chapel Hill, 21 of whom possessed fake identification.
North Carolina State Selects RightNow Over Competing Vendors
Aug. 31, 2004
PR Newswire; TMCnet; StockHouse U.S; Yahoo! Finance
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
BOZEMAN, Mont., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- RightNow(R) Technologies , a leading provider of on demand CRM software solutions, today announced that North Carolina State University's Virtual Advising Center has achieved a 7500:1 ratio of students to advisers as a result of implementing RightNow Service(TM). The effective use of RightNow Service has enhanced the quality of service that students receive by freeing advisors from answering the high volume of simple, redundant questions-ultimately allowing advisors to devote more time to providing personal counseling to students who really need it. This extraordinary efficiency has enabled the Center to fulfill its mission despite significant budget constraints.
RightNow was chosen over other competing products, including Remedy -- which, under the University's site license, would have been available to the Center at no cost. The Center selected RightNow because of its robust knowledge base management capabilities, user-friendly online search functions, integrated email, excellent reporting and assessment tools, and backend privacy and security among multiple user groups.
The Virtual Advising Center was created in 1999 to provide a single, common information resource for students to get answers to their questions about all of the University's programs. This is a particularly important mission at North Carolina State, because the undergraduate student population is divided at the outset by their areas of interest. The fact that there is no general college at NC State presents difficulties to students who are undecided or who want to change majors-since, for example, the Agriculture Department adviser to whom a student is assigned isn't likely to be able to answer questions about the University's Business Management program.
Using RightNow, the Center has posted more than 330 online "Answers" that address about 87 percent of all queries without staff intervention. The Center's online Answers are viewed more than 1,500 times per month. RightNow also provides the email management necessary to ensure students receive prompt, accurate responses from appropriate subject matter experts to the questions they submit via the Internet.
"By empowering us to leverage both the expertise of our advisors and the popularity of the web, RightNow has enabled us to bring tremendous efficiency to our communication with students," Andrea Irby, the Center's director, said. "RightNow has also been extremely responsive to our needs-whether we've had a simple technical question or were trying to determine how to optimize a business process."
North Carolina State University joins a list of more than 70 leading higher education institutions that have implemented RightNow to improve student services and reduce operational costs. Other RightNow customers in the higher education market include University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma, Washington State University and Australia's University of Southern Queensland.
"Universities and other educational institutions around the world continue to discover new ways to use the web to serve tech-savvy student customers more effectively and cost-efficiently," Sean Forbes, vice president of Marketing and Business Development at RightNow, said. "RightNow fits this strategy perfectly by enabling institutions to gather knowledge from across their diverse functional departments and make it available in a single centralized, easy-to-use service portal."
The Virtual Advising Center's RightNow-based system can be viewed at http://ncstateadvisingcentral.custhelp.com/cgi- bin/ncstateadvisingcentral.cfg/php/enduser/home.php.
About North Carolina
State University
Located on 2,110 acres in Raleigh, the state's capital, North Carolina State
University serves just over 30,000 students with outstanding degree programs
in the humanities and social sciences, design, education, natural resources,
physical and life sciences, agriculture, business, engineering, textiles
and veterinary medicine. The university has an annual budget of approximately
$820 million and an endowment valued at more than $312 million. It is ranked
eighth among national research universities in non-federal funded research,
13th among national research universities in industry-funded research, and
31st nationally in total expenditures for research and development.
About
RightNow Technologies
RightNow Technologies is a leading provider of on-demand software solutions
designed to optimize customer service operations for businesses of all sizes.
RightNow's comprehensive customer service solution features a self-learning
knowledgebase that is designed to seamlessly support multiple communications
channels including web, interactive voice, email, chat, telephone and proactive
outbound email communications. RightNow offers its solutions through a multi-tenant,
hosted on-demand model to reduce the cost and risk associated with deploying
traditional enterprise customer relationship management, or CRM, software.
RightNow also provides business process optimization and product tune-ups
throughout the lifecycle of its client relationships. Founded in 1997, RightNow
is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, with offices in Europe and Asia. For
further information visit http://www.rightnow.com/.
Not-So-Spotty Material Breakthrough
Sept. 1, 2004
Innovations-Report, Germany; Azom.com; AZoNano.com, World; ScienceBlog.com; PhysOrg.com, United States; EurekAlert, DC; Newswise
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Using pulsed lasers, researchers have coaxed the metal nickel to self-assemble into arrays of nanodots – each spot a mere seven nanometers (seven billionths of a meter) across – one-tenth the diameter of existing nanodots.
Because the method works with a variety of materials and may drastically reduce imperfections, the new procedure may also bolster research into extremely hard materials and efforts to develop ultra-dense computer memory.
The researchers are working with an industry partner to apply the technique to development of next-generation light-emitting diodes (LEDs) – the small, bright lights seen in traffic signals and luxury automobile brake lights. The experimental LEDs are already more efficient than existing devices, potentially lasting decades and using a fraction of the power of fluorescent bulbs.
Jagdish Narayan and Ashutosh Tiwari, both of North Carolina State University and the National Science Foundation’s Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures, invented the new materials and manufacturing processes.
They announced their findings in the September, 2004, issue of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.
Narayan and Tiwari used a pulsed excimer laser to create conditions under which nickel self-assembles into 3-D, ordered arrays within aluminum oxide and titanium nitride matrices. Applying similar techniques to gallium nitride and zinc oxide, the researchers are hoping to further improve the efficiency of their LED devices.
Computer applications are further away, as many additional hurdles need to be cleared before the nanodots become actual chips. However, since every nickel-metal nanodot could theoretically store a single bit of information, the researchers believe that a one-inch chip using that technology could eventually store 10 Terabits of data.
According to the researchers, the chip would theoretically have several hundred times more storage than conventional microchips of the same size. Five Terabits could fit on, coincidentally, a nickel. If nanodot memory chips eventually succeed, the entire contents of the Library of Congress could fit onto a pocket full of "change."
From the researchers:
"The grand challenge is to build, efficiently and reliably, a nanostructure using nanounits. But nature doesn’t like to create nano-sized units of uniform size—they are at a higher energy state." – Jagdish "Jay" Narayan, John C. C. Fan Family Distinguished Chair in Materials Science at North Carolina State University and Director, NSF Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures
"Controlled processing and self-assembly in three dimensions are required because you cannot create these structures and then assemble them. They are too small. So to be able to use this technology, you must have self-assembly and it must be 3-D." – Jagdish "Jay" Narayan
"In the past we could make only one-layer structures and 3-D self-assembly wasn’t possible. We couldn’t control the medium. Now, with this development we can control the medium and do 3-D self-organization. More importantly we can change the size in different layers and can change the functionality at different depths." – Jagdish "Jay" Narayan
"The research provides the basic framework for nanostructured materials for information storage, spin transistors, single-electron transistors and hydrid devices, superhard coatings, and novel biomaterials." – Jagdish "Jay" Narayan
"In the 6-10 nm dots created so far, we have the ability to control the spin patterns – the spin is what stores the bit of information. Assuming a 7nm magnetic nanodot will store one bit of information, we can achieve over 10 trillion bits per square inch, which is close to 500 times the existing storage density." – Jagdish "Jay" Narayan
From experts at NSF:
"Narayan has used the basic concepts of self-assembly to create a 3-D array of nanodots which may have significant applications in lighting, lasers, spintronics, and optical devices. If developed for practical applications in the next 2-3 years, the nanodot lighting systems may have significant environmental, economic and energy-saving advantages." – Mihail C. Roco, Senior Advisor for Nanotechnology, NSF
"The study shows the importance of basic research and encouraging technical innovation. This device is part of the first generation of passive nanostructures and illustrates how one might exploit new phenomena and behavior of materials at the nanoscale for economic advantage." – Mihail C. Roco
"In a way, this is an illustration of a general objective of United States’ National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) – the systematic control of the nanoscale in order to obtain new properties and functions." – Mihail C. Roco
"We are creating infrastructure: NCSU has established a strength in the area of nanostructured materials, and at this moment, we can see several results that weren’t initially planned." – Mihail C. Roco
"The expansion of infrastructure for nanoscale research has created a huge base of scientific discovery and potential technological development. A similar trend can be seen in education. From 5 universities with graduate programs in 1999, we now have about 270 academic institutions with undergraduate and graduate programs related to nanoscale science and engineering." – Mihail C. Roco
Researchers Look for Affordable Lagoon and Sprayfield Substitutes
Sept. 1, 2004
Pork Magazine, KS
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Much is being learned about manure treatments from wide-ranging, exhaustive research underway in North Carolina. But, to date, no effective and economical alternative to lagoons and sprayfields has been identified. Investment, maintenance and operating expenses make the technologies costly to varying degrees. This may change by altering technologies and developing income-generating by-product uses. They mainly are solids, which are separated from liquids by most of the technologies.
At current costs of the “alternative technologies”, pork production costs in North Carolina would escalate considerably, and it would greatly harm the state’s competitiveness with other pork-producing states, say researchers. As a matter of fact, economists have projected each technology’s potential impact on North Carolina’s pork-industry competitiveness if all of the state’s producers adopted it.
Eighteen alternative technologies are being evaluated in a 15-step process. Thousands of hours have already been devoted by scores of specialists in various fields. The reviewers are with North Carolina State University, other institutions and technology suppliers. In the process, they may combine features of multiple technologies to create a more cost-effective option.
The study is receiving $15 million from Smithfield Foods and $2.5 million from Premium Standard Farms under agreements with the North Carolina Attorney General. An organization of contract hog producers in eastern North Carolina, Frontline Farmers, also signed on to help in non-financial ways.
Research goals, as pre-specified in the agreements, are to find technologies that will accomplish all the necessary tasks. These include: substantially eliminate odor emissions, ammonia emissions into the atmosphere, release of disease-transmitting vectors and airborne pathogens, nutrient and heavy metal contamination of soil and groundwater.
Additional considerations are being identified for each candidate technology. These include: necessary land acreage, operator time, operator expertise and reuse of waste water
Environmental performance data has been collected on eight of the 18 technologies being farm-tested. Already, two definitely comply with state permitting requirements and others are expected to qualify. Economic analyses are being conducted on all of the technologies.
North Carolina State economists are developing models to project each technology’s cost when used in hog operations of 21 different types and sizes, with existing and new facilities.
Under the agreement with the state’s Attorney General, Smithfield and Premium Standard are committed to implement one or more approved technologies on company-owned farms. Together they own about 10 percent of the hog farms in North Carolina and about 15 percent of the state’s swine.
A 1,000-page progress report on the research is available on North Carolina State University’s Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center Web site at www.cals.ncsu.edu/waste_mgt/
KLA-Tencor and Seiko Instruments Partner to Bring Innovative Surface Metrology Solution to New Markets
Aug. 31, 2004
PR Newswire; StockHouse U.S.; Yahoo! Finance
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- KLA-Tencor (Nasdaq: KLAC) and SII NanoTechnology (SIINT), a subsidiary of Seiko Instruments, today announced they have formed a partnership to distribute SIINT's Nanopics 2100 high-speed, high-resolution atomic force profilometer to markets outside of Japan. Under the terms of the agreement, KLA-Tencor will sell the Nanopics 2100 as a joint product in North America and Europe with the full backing of its best-in-class system characterization and applications support -- enabling broader access to this innovative surface metrology solution. The Nanopics 2100 is a compact tabletop system that combines the high resolution of an atomic force microscope (AFM) with the ease of use and speed of a surface profiler to enable non-destructive, absolute measurements of surface roughness, step height and surface contour. It is used to help ensure product quality for applications in a wide variety of industries, including data storage, semiconductor and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), as well as polymer science, optics, biotechnology and general industrial research.
"KLA-Tencor's global distribution network and three decades of experience in semiconductor process control will prove invaluable in helping us proliferate our AFM technology into new regions and new applications," stated Dr. Hiroyuki Funamoto, president and chief executive officer of SIINT.
"Together, KLA-Tencor and SII NanoTechnology will leverage each company's leading-edge expertise to continue to meet the increasingly demanding measurement and analysis requirements of advanced manufacturing processes."
Nanopics 2100: Providing the best of two worlds Surface profilers have traditionally been used to measure surface roughness and step height. However, for many of today's innovative industrial and electronics applications, higher resolution is needed to measure the nanometer-scale variations in surface topography and step height that can affect product quality. AFMs can achieve the resolution required by these applications, but often at the expense of scan length, which restricts the applications that AFMs can address. The Nanopics 2100 overcomes these limitations, combining nanoscale 3-D surface imaging with a maximum scan size of 0.8 mm x 0.8 mm, and a vertical range an order of magnitude greater than that of traditional AFMs. The vertical range enables the system to measure the surfaces of objects as diverse as thin-film heads and small optical lenses, with nanometer-scale precision. The wide lateral scan range enables the system to characterize large structures, such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) craters.
"Measurement of the depth of the sputtered craters for calibration of the depth scale for quantitative SIMS depth profile analysis is critical," stated Dr. Phillip Russell, professor of materials science and engineering, and director of the Analytical Instrumentation Facility, at North Carolina State University. "While stylus profilometers are traditionally used to measure the depths of most of these craters, they cannot accurately measure crater depths less than a few nanometers and they are unable to characterize the topography of the crater bottom, which can correlate to SIMS data quality. Until now, we have had to use both a stylus profilometer and an AFM to obtain complete crater measurement information, a time consuming and cumbersome process. Using the Nanopics 2100, we have been able to acquire highly accurate depth and surface profile measurements of very shallow craters with one instrument, providing the complete data set significantly more quickly and easily."
The Nanopics 2100 provides the fastest time to results of any scanning probe instrument on the market. Small-area scans can be acquired in as little as 30 seconds, while the largest scans can be completed in five minutes. In addition to having significantly smaller footprint than that of competitive systems, the Nanopics 2100 is far easier to operate and maintain. The tip exchange process, an often difficult and time-consuming task with AFMs, has been streamlined through the use of self-sensitive and self-calibrating cantilevers. On-board probe analysis minimizes the chance that scan artifacts will drive incorrect decisions.
"Nanometer-level process variations can affect product quality for advanced manufacturing processes across a wide variety of industries," stated Sergio Edelstein, vice president and general manager of KLA-Tencor's Films and Surface Technology Division. "The Nanopics 2100 unites the best attributes of AFMs and surface profilers, enabling our customers to cost-effectively and reliably meet their surface metrology requirements, and achieve greater profitability on their cutting-edge products."
"For sputter craters and many other applications, we have been seeking a system to fill the wide gap between AFM and traditional stylus profilometers," added Dr. Russell. "The Nanopics 2100, with its 800-micron XY range, 20-micron Z range and near-AFM Z-resolution all in a very compact package, is a welcome solution."
The Nanopics 2100 was introduced one year ago in Japan, where more than 100 systems have been sold to date. Leading U.S. companies have already installed the Nanopics 2100 in their advanced manufacturing facilities, and KLA-Tencor has received multiple orders for the system.
About SII NanoTechnology: SII NanoTechnology (formerly the Scientific Instruments Division of Seiko Instruments) was established as a wholly owned subsidiary in December 2003 with a strategic focus in providing integrated and user-friendly products and services for nanoscience and technology research and development worldwide. SII NanoTechnology is a leading supplier of high-grade advanced analysis and measurement instrumentation. For more information, visit http://www.siint.com .
About KLA-Tencor: KLA-Tencor is the world leader in yield management and process control solutions for semiconductor manufacturing and related industries. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with operations around the world, KLA-Tencor ranked #6 on S&P's 2002 index of the top 500 companies in the U.S. KLA-Tencor is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol KLAC. Additional information about the company is available on the Internet at http://www.kla-tencor.com .
SePRO purchases 410-acre North Carolina research facility
Aug. 31, 2004
Landscape Management, OH
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Carmel, IN — SePRO Corp. announced it will purchase the 410-acre former Zeneca research facility at Whitakers, NC, 60 miles northeast of Raleigh.
The SePRO Research and Technology Campus will include a six-building aquatic research and technology complex, complete with laboratories and 11 acres of specialized aquatic research ponds and mesocosms. In addition to the aquatic facilities, the campus site includes 296 acres of tillable land, 79 acres of woodland, and a 15-acre lake. Over the next five years, SePRO plans to invest approximately $7 million into their new facility
"We are extremely pleased to acquire a facility so ideal for advancing the science of aquatic plant management and for this facility's ability to provide high quality technical support for SePRO's future growth," said William H. Culpepper, president and CEO. "This new Research and Technology Campus greatly expands our laboratory capabilities and allows for additional cooperative research opportunities with such institutions as North Carolina State University."
Editorial: Conservation-tillage becoming even more important
Aug. 31, 2004
Southeast Farm Press
By Cecil Yancy
© Copyright 2004
In agriculture, conservation-tillage is a foundational practice, but not all conservation-tillage is the same, says Lane Price, USDA-NRCS, North Carolina assistant state conservationist for technology.
In fact, in North Carolina, some farmers are getting a glimpse of things to come. The use of long-term no-till, already a cost-shared practice in EQIP, will also be an important part of the new Conservation Security Program, Price told a group of scientists at this summer’s Southern Conservation Tillage Conference for Sustainable Agriculture held in Raleigh. “It’s the concept of ‘reward the best, motivate the rest,’” Price says. Southeast Farm Press was the technical sponsor of the conference.
Currently, there are three residue practices used in North Carolina. Seasonal Residue Management, which involves planting the crop using conventional-tillage, insures that adequate residue exists to protect the soil surface during winter months. This residue is from a cover crop or from the previous crop.
Conservation-tillage, the second form of residue management, adds the practice of planting the crop using special equipment into residue, which covers at least 30 percent of the soil’s surface.
The most intensive form of residue management is called long-term no-till.
In a nutshell, it involves having a residue cover of at least 80 percent of the soil surface, and maintaining this practice for at least five consecutive years. It’s at this level that the biology of the soil starts to take on the characteristics of a forest.
“Conservation-tillage is somewhat unique in that it affects soil, water, air, plants and animals,” Price says “In addition to the obvious soil savings, it keeps water in the field where it can be used by crops.
As a district conservationist in Macon County, N.C., more than 20 years ago, Price said, “we were not nearly as knowledgeable about the benefits of conservation-tillage as we are today. In one part of the county where a lot of cabbage is grown, we were losing 200 tons of soil per acre due to the high rainfall and highly erodible soils. We put in diversions and contour rows and got their soil loss down to 15 tons per acre. Greg Hoyt (North Carolina State University horticulturist) introduced no-till vegetables to the area.
“There’s not a lot of crop situations in North Carolina that we shouldn’t be thinking about conservation-tillage,” Price says.
In the short 15 years since some form of residue management has been a requirement to participate in cost-share programs such as EQIP, conservation-tillage has become second nature to many farmers.
“We depended on conservation-tillage in the 1985 farm bill,” Price says. “That practice alone took us to an acceptable range of soil loss for many North Carolina highly erodible fields.” Conservation-tillage saves more than 1 billion tons of soil each year, Price says.
The two subsequent farm bills in 1996 and 2002 have taken the concept of conservation further.
The EQIP program indicated a shift to look at conservation in the “whole farm scenario,” Price says. “While EQIP does not cost-share on the expense of directly purchasing conservation-tillage equipment, it uses an incentive payment to get the farmer to start using long-term no-till.”
Price reports that the NRCS gets “three times the amount of applications than we have money for.” Long-term no-till is a serious commitment by the farmer, as it requires a change in the way business is done. There’s a $125 per acre incentive paid up front, Price says. The North Carolina Agricultural Cost Share Program also offers cost-share for a variety of conservation-tillage practices.
A survey in 2002 showed that farmers use some form of conservation-tillage on 36 percent of row-cropped land in North Carolina. Price notes that most of the practice is in no-till. “There are really just not a lot of crop situations in North Carolina that we shouldn’t consider conservation-tillage.”