No need to make up ice storm day
The
Office of State Personnel made a special provision to the
state's Adverse Weather Policy allowing Carolina employees
to not have to make up work time lost Dec. 5, 2002, because
of the ice storm.
Under the special provision, in cases where power or heat
was out in a building on Dec. 5, time lost by employees working
in that building may be considered an "evacuation."
Because the entire campus was closed officially on the workday
of Dec. 5, employees here can consider the entire campus under
"evacuation" that day, regardless of whether specific campus
facilities had power or heat. As a result any employees who
were not able to work on Dec. 5, either on or off campus,
do not have to account for those hours.
Those who did work on Dec. 5 at a campus location may be compensated
with paid time off on an hour-for-hour basis not to exceed
a total of eight hours. Employees must use this paid time
off by Dec. 31, 2003, or they will lose it.
Employees who were required to work overtime will be compensated
in accordance with the policy on Hours of Work and Overtime
Compensation.
The special provision to the adverse weather policy affects
only Dec. 5. If, on subsequent work days, facilities were
not available during regular work hours due to power or heat
outages, individual departments may consider the provisions
and procedures available under the Administrative Absence
policy as found in Section 11 of the HR Manual for SPA Employees.
Employees should consult their HR Facilitator for more information.
Weather hotline number changes
A
Jan. 16 snowfall resulted in the first use of a new telephone
number members of the campus community can call for up-to-date
information about University operations during adverse weather.
While Carolina maintained normal operating hours during the
modest snowfall, employees and students for the first time
could call the Adverse Weather Hotline at 919-843-1234, a
special line with recorded information and announcements about
schedule delays or closings.
The hotline, established several years ago, was knocked out
of service by December's ice storm since the power outages
affected a Research Triangle Park-based firm that had been
leasing the telephone service to the University. The new number
is tied to the campus telephone and electrical supply systems.
The campus lost power for only a few hours on the first day
of the ice storm.
Besides the hotline, the University communicates information
about its operational status during adverse weather using
communication channels including:
* Postings at www.unc.edu,
the main University web page;
* Radio broadcasts on university's Traveler's Information
System, 1610 AM;
* Postings with details on the condition of campus parking
lots and the status of Chapel Hill Transit at the Department
of Public Safety web site, www.dps.unc.edu;
and
* Listings on local radio and television stations.
Auction
raises funds for N.C. Children's Hospital families
The
UNC Dance Marathon is hosting an online auction until Jan.
30, with all of the proceeds benefitting the For the Kids
Fund to serve patients and families at the N.C. Children's
Hospital.
Items up for bid include something for everyone. There are
sports packages, ski weekends, lake condominium rentals, home
décor pieces and date packages with tickets to the
Carolina Ballet and the N.C. Symphony. Items were donated
by businesses across the country. The auction can be accessed
until Jan. 30 at the marathon's web site at www.uncmarathon.org.
The dance marathon is a year-long fund-raiser run entirely
by students. In its fifth year, the marathon has raised more
than $320,000 for the N.C. Children's Hospital. The fund is
distributed to families who need help covering costs related
to medical care, but not covered by insurance.
For example, the fund has helped families cover the cost of
parking, food, utility bills, rent payments and much more.
Just recently the fund paid for a boy to have air-conditioned
housing at his dream college. The fund paid the difference
for his air-conditioned room because it was a necessity for
his medical condition.
"The
silent auction is one of the major fund-raising opportunities
for the marathon. Each year the auction has grown. I am hoping
that this year's auction will be able to contribute even more
to the For the Kids Fund," said Haley West, 2003 Dance Marathon
Community Events chair.
The auction will close Jan. 30 at 8:30 p.m. during a benefit
reception at the Carolina Inn. Chancellor James Moeser will
serve as the keynote speaker for the event.
For more information, contact Brittney Reardon at 933-1994
or 336-266-4555.
First
doctoral hooding to take place May 17
A
new tradition will become part of this year's commencement
weekend when the inaugural Graduate School Doctoral Hooding
Ceremony takes place at 10 a.m. on May 17 on Polk Place --
the day before spring commencement.
The ceremony will honor a long-standing tradition in graduate
education that symbolizes the completion of doctoral training.
It is designed specifically to recognize students who receive
their doctoral degree through the Graduate School, said Linda
Dykstra, the Graduate School's dean.
Each graduate who participates in this ceremony will be called
to the stage and will have the hood of the commencement regalia
conferred by his or her adviser or dissertation committee
chair. Family and friends will be invited to attend this ceremony.
Dykstra said she has been interested in initiating a hooding
ceremony at Carolina for several years. "I believe a ceremony
such as this would bring greater visibility to a very important
aspect of Carolina's education mission, i.e. doctoral training,"
she said. "Almost a third of our students are graduate students,
and the contributions they make to the University are significant.
Since each doctoral student will be hooded by their major
faculty adviser, this ceremony also provides a way to acknowledge
the central role that our faculty play in doctoral education."
The Graduate School will be celebrating its 100th anniversary
this year, Dykstra pointed out, and "therefore it is particularly
appropriate that the inaugural hooding ceremony be held this
year."
The decision to hold a hooding ceremony was a cooperative
effort, she said. Chancellor James Moeser's support moved
the initiative forward; Executive Associate Provost Bernadette
Gray-Little carried the proposal to the Dean's Council and
to faculty across campus; and the Executive Committee of the
Faculty Council endorsed it.
"In
addition," Dykstra said, "there was a great deal of support
from individual doctoral students as well as from the Graduate
Student Federation and its current president, Branson Page."
The hooding ceremony will include all students who receive
their doctoral degrees from the Graduate School and will include
all Ph.D. and Dr.PH students.
The School of Public Health also offers the Dr.PH degree,
and these students will be included in the hooding ceremony,
she said, but professional doctorates will not be a part of
this ceremony as these degrees are not awarded through the
Graduate School.
All students who plan to receive their doctoral degrees during
the spring semester will be contacted and asked to provide
the name of the faculty member who will join them at the ceremony.
In the meantime, faculty are asked to discuss this event with
students and to encourage them to participate in it.
For more information about the ceremony, contact Cheryl Thomas,
director of admissions and enrolled students in the Graduate
School, at 962-6312 or Cheryl_Thomas@unc.edu.
Brits
seek pointers on economic cooperation
The
British have come to campus.
It seems the Old Country was looking for some pointers on
the New Economy. More specifically, they were looking at the
role the Triangle's three research universities -- Carolina,
N.C. State and Duke -- have played in first igniting and then
fueling it.
It was a crash course, of sorts. There was only one 90-minute
class, held Jan. 16 in the South Building. The instructor
was Mark Crowell, who for the past two-and-a-half years has
served as an associate vice chancellor and as director of
the University's Office of Technology Development.
The students were members of the British Parliament's House
of Commons, or more specifically eight of the 12 members of
the United Kingdom's House of Commons Trade and Industry Select
Committee.
Crowell, in his allotted time, tried to cover the topics they
came here to learn about: genomics, bioinformatics, technology
transfer, capital formation, technology-based economic development
and business incubation.
Crowell also told the group about the preliminary discussions
he has had with three universities in the northern United
Kingdom.
The talks centered around the idea of collaborating with the
universities on a program that would recruit newly minted
Ph.D.s from the Kenan-Flagler Business School for a one-year
post-doctoral experience teaching about technology transfer.
The committee's chair, Martin O'Neill, said the United Kingdom
was quite good at running old industries. What it wasn't so
good at, he said, was finding ways to grow and nurture new
industries.
More precisely, he said, the group wanted to understand better
the interplay between the universities, the government and
the private sector in spurring new, research-driven and research-led
businesses within the Triangle region.
The group had been visiting universities up and down the East
Coast, O'Neill said, including MIT and Boston College. The
day before, the group had met with federal agencies in Washington,
D.C.
"We
were intrigued by the concept of the Triangle and the cooperation,"
O'Neill said.
To understand how far North Carolina's economy has come requires
knowing something about how far behind it used to be.
In the 1950s, civics textbooks in North Carolina boasted about
how more hose, towels and cigarettes were produced here than
in any other state.
Back then, the state's per capita income stood at next to
the last in the country and the joke was, "Thank God for Mississippi,"
the one state that stood between North Carolina and the bottom
of the cellar.
North Carolina was known for other things, too, back then,
from Pepsi Cola to barbecue to Krispy Kreme doughnuts to a
fledgling backwater sport that called itself NASCAR.
But it was also known for cheap labor and cheap land and low
taxes -- a matrix that would produce bad schools and poor
public services. But the state also had something that many
other states lacked: vision and leadership.
The vision was to use the concentration of intellectual capital
from the three universities to spur the development of a new
industrial park that would become Research Triangle Park.
Crowell has a unique position to discuss the role that the
three universities have played in technology transfer and
economic development, having worked in these areas at all
three over the past 15 years, first at Duke, then at N.C.
State and now at Carolina.
Within this spectrum of time, Crowell said, there has been
a shift in attitude about technology transfer that has allowed
the universities' role in economic development to become even
more vital to the state.
There are superficial indicators of just how much the state's
economy has progressed over the past 15 years, too, Crowell
said. He can see it in such things as the upscale neighborhoods
that have sprouted along what was once the countryside. He
has seen it in the number of luxury cars that cruise roads
where tractors once sputtered. He has seen it in the rising
cost of housing, particularly in towns such as Chapel Hill,
where young professors sometimes do not earn enough to buy
a home.
And all of it is evidence of how much the technology-based
and knowledge-based economy has taken hold throughout the
state, Crowell said.
Krispy Kreme doughnuts and NASCAR are bigger than they ever
were, but now the state is known for other things, too --
from biotechnology to microelectronics, from advanced materials
to information technology. Charlotte is still home to that
famous motor speedway, but it's also headquarters for Bank
of America, the country's largest bank. And Research Triangle
Park, 7,000 acres of land eight miles long and two miles wide,
has become a fountain of prosperity that has spilled across
the entire region.
In 1989, 30 years after it opened, RTP employed 30,000 people.
Today, the number of employees is 45,000 -- and still growing.
Even more impressive is the average salary of $55,000 a year,
Crowell said.
Today, North Carolina's per capita income stands at 31st in
the country. That's not as high as state officials want to
get, but the jokes about Mississippi stopped years ago.
The members of the committee peppered Crowell with questions
on a range of topics, from the role state government has had
in this interplay between universities and the private sector
to Carolina's plans to develop a venture capital fund that
would serve as a bridge of funding to get promising research
out of the lab and into a position to attract the interest
of private venture capitalists.
Crowell said the stock market bust over the past three years
had dramatically altered the business climate. Back in 1999,
it would have been possible with a few phone calls to raise
a few million dollars to help develop some hot new idea. Today,
venture capital firms are more cautious. They are not only
looking for promising new ideas but for a solid business plan
and an experienced management team already in place as well.
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Robert Shelton told
the group that the Triangle region is distinct in that it
has three research universities located within easy driving
distance of each other -- and the Research Triangle Park.
People in RTP know what the interests of the universities
are, and the universities know what the interests of companies
in RTP are as well.
And it is this understanding of the other's needs and goals
that has made it easier for the three universities and private
corporations to attract the best and brightest scientists
-- and students -- here.
While the three universities compete against each other fiercely
on the athletic field, there is a great deal of collaboration
going on in vital areas of research. The idea here is not
to compete directly by duplicating or matching the other's
efforts but to find ways to combine the various parts each
university has to offer to create a larger whole.
Robertson Scholars thrive in first semester
By
Brian MacPherson, Gazette Student Assistant
Colleen
Owen, Chris Paul and Crystal Sanders are not your typical
Duke students.
And, for one semester, they are not your typical Carolina
students, either.
As part of the Robertson Scholars Program, a unique exchange
program between two of the finest universities in the United
States, they are among 15 Blue Devil sophomores spending the
spring semester living, learning and immersing themselves
in life at Chapel Hill.
"These
schools complement each other so well," Owen said. "They are
both so close and so well endowed. Why not share?"
Traditional negative stereotypes, perpetuated by an intense
athletic rivalry, have always hindered collaboration between
the two schools. The Robertson program, which selected its
first class in March 2001, provides students, faculty and
staff at both schools with a means for taking advantage of
the numerous opportunities available only 11 miles away.
Students matriculate into either Duke or Carolina, but are
encouraged to take classes, attend performances and access
resources at the other campus whenever they desire.
"It
brings the best of both worlds," Sanders said. "We get to
experience what both institutions have to offer."
The Robertson program features several important aspects:
monthly dinners with speakers and discussions, a retreat for
first-year students, and both domestic and international summer
service programs.
One of the key experiences of the Robertson program is the
switch during the second semester of sophomore year. Each
Robertson Scholar moves to a residence hall on the opposite
campus, enrolls in classes on the opposite campus, and is,
for all intents and purposes, a Tar Heel or a Blue Devil for
one semester.
"We
ask a lot of the students," said Eric Mlyn, director of the
Robertson program. "This is the first time that anyone, anywhere,
has done this."
To make matters more difficult, the switch this semester is
the first in the program's history. As members of the first
class of Robertson Scholars, each of the sophomores is blazing
a new trail for subsequent classes to follow -- and enduring
the travails that come with the new territory.
Dining and health services had to be arranged, housing accommodations
had to be found and UNC ONE Card accounts had to be set up
-- challenges for both students and staff at both schools.
But while logistical hurdles have appeared, the road should
get smoother as the program matures.
"The
top levels at both schools are committed to making this work,"
Paul said.
Though the Robertson program creates a unique experience by
itself, each participant has faced different challenges and
crossed different boundaries since entering Carolina or Duke.
Owen, a resident of Vermont, spent last summer in New Orleans
working at an urban farmer's market as part of a small-scale
sustainable economic development program. A group of scholars
lived together but worked in different areas of the city,
which made for a wider learning potential.
"It
was an incredible learning experience," she said. "Every day,
the different placements would come back together and we could
ask each other, `How was your day? What did you learn today?
What kind of barriers did you encounter?'"
In her short time at Carolina, Owen has discovered a climate
here that is very different than that at Duke. She has found
that the negative attitudes at each school about the other
can lead to overlooking the appealing characteristics in both
Durham and Chapel Hill.
She described being invited into a game of four-square at
10 p.m. in the Pit, "something that never would have happened
at Duke," she said. "The energy here is particularly inviting."
Paul, who was born and reared in Chapel Hill -- "a Tar Heel
born and bred, you could say" -- has had his own unique experience.
He spent his service summer in Atlanta as an intern for the
Wilderness Society, an organization focused on environmental
research. Paul spent much of the summer hiking and studying
in the Appalachian Mountains and wrote an article for an encyclopedia
on the impact of recreation in that range.
"My
boss really tried to push my comfort zone," Paul said. "She
was looking for a professional level of writing and research."
Paul has also found pleasure in the energy and vibrancy of
the larger campus. He has become involved with SURGE as well
as some of the recent anti-war teach-ins. He takes part in
these activities on top of his five Carolina classes and single
half-credit class back at Duke.
As a Chapel Hill resident and Duke student, this is not the
first time Paul has had his allegiances tested. His parents,
still die-hard Tar Heel fans, often complain in jest about
their mixed loyalties with a son at Duke.
"There
is finally a moment when my parents can be proud of me," said
Paul with a smile. "They're proud of me for being at Duke,
too, but my dad joked that I'm not allowed to be seen on TV
with my shirt off, painted Duke blue."
Sanders, a Clayton resident, used her summer last year to
teach history to children in Sunflower County, Miss. The experience
was a world away from her original college plan -- working
for a congressman in Washington, D.C. Since the summer, she
has changed her political focus to education policy in an
effort to help the underprivileged area in which she taught.
"Those
eight weeks changed my life," she said.
In her semester at Carolina, Sanders hopes to participate
in Campus Y and the NAACP. She has found a welcoming environment
despite the fact that she and the other scholars are entering
Carolina at mid-year.
Each of the Robertson Scholars on the Carolina campus lives
separately -- they were not permitted to room together --
but their common bond has helped ease the transition.
"It's
like being a freshman at a new school," Sanders said. "I'm
truly trying to meet other people and to make this work."
"They
are joining student organizations here while sustaining involvement
in organizations on their old campus," said Margie Strickland,
assistant director for external relations for the Robertson
program. "They do make a point to get involved [on their new
campus]."
The true test of the transition may come as the intensity
of basketball season peaks in February and March. When Carolina
and Duke collide on the court, however, Owen, Paul and Sanders
intend to stay neutral during the games.
"Whichever
team wins, it will be my school," Sanders said.
Understandably, however, the newcomers to the Carolina campus
have not left their allegiances behind completely.
"UNC
has a good team," Sanders added, "but if I had to guess, I
think Duke will win."
Ackland
exhibits to include faculty art
The
work of faculty and students from the University's art department
will be showcased at the Ackland Art Museum in three upcoming
exhibitions: "The Biennial UNC-Chapel Hill Studio Art Faculty
Exhibition," "Journey into the Past: Ancient Mediterranean
Art in Context" and "New Currents in Contemporary Art: Master
of Fine Arts Exhibition 2003."
The first two exhibitions will run concurrently, from Jan.
26 to March 23. The third will be displayed from April 13
to May 18. All will be free and open to the public.
From photographs to installation and paint to clay, the biennial
faculty exhibition will feature a wide range of media, shaped
by artists devoted to their art and their pedagogy. Faculty
members with work in the show will be Beth Grabowski, Jim
Hirschfield,
Juan Logan, Kimowan McLain, Yun-Dong Nam, Jerry Noe, Pamela
Pecchio, Joyce Rudinsky, elin o'Hara slavick, Rebecca Tolley,
Jeff Whetstone and Dennis Zaborowski.
Among the many highlights will be selections from Grabowski's
"Residuum" print series; Logan's mixed-media artworks that
combine painting, printmaking, drawing and sculpture; McLain's
paper photo-tapestry, measuring 8 feet by 10 feet, titled
"Zen Satan Haiku"; and a selection from slavick's photographic
series "Travel Posters."
"Journey
into the Past: Ancient Mediterranean Art in Context" will
feature new research findings in art history as well as 176
art works on display. For two years, Art History Professor
Mary Sturgeon and her graduate students have worked to catalog
and study the Ackland's collection of ancient Mediterranean
art. Their findings will constitute information accompanying
the exhibition of the objects, most of which have not been
exhibited for more than 20 years.
"Even
objects previously on view are shown in a new context," said
Timothy Riggs, assistant director for collections at the Ackland.
"For example, a Greek bronze sculpture of a woman's head,
previously shown against the wall, has been remounted as a
free-standing sculpture. The new mounting gives a clue as
to how the sculpture was originally assembled."
The exhibition includes sculpture in stone, bronze, clay and
even silver and gold, Riggs said. The latter are miniature
portraits and figures on ancient coins and jewelry. Useful
objects such as cups, bowls and other vessels are in a variety
of shapes, some simple and rustic, others elegant and richly
ornamented.
"The
exhibition has been organized to provide a window on various
aspects of life in ancient times: the processes used in fabricating
works of art, the pleasures of feasting, the differing roles
of men and women and the practice of religion," Riggs said.
For Sturgeon, the exhibition created "a terrific teaching
and learning opportunity. This project has given students
the experience of close examination of original objects, one-on-one
as well as in group teaching and active learning. Because
the Ackland's ancient objects are mostly unpublished, they
have given us the challenge of applying what we know and creating
an appropriate methodology so that we can interpret these
objects and place them in their art historical and cultural
contexts."
Cathy Dorin, a student involved in the research, said that
investigating the art works gave her practical experience
for jobs in the museum field.
Photography, drawing, painting and sculpture will be among
the media represented in "New Currents in Contemporary Art,"
the spring exhibition by nine candidates for master's degrees
in fine arts at Carolina. Themes such as secrecy, emotion,
social issues, nature and more will be represented by the
artists, students David Antle, Jim Cicatko, Tracy Cilona,
Severn Eaton, val h h martinez, Gary Pohl, Beth Sale, Jeremy
Taylor and Paul Valadez.
Ackland hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays
and 1-5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free. For more information,
call 919-966-5736 (museum office) or 919-962-0837 (TTY), or
visit the website at www.ackland.org.
FYI
Research: Law professor studies legal reforms in Niger
When he's there he usually gets sick. It's unbearably hot.
And he gets around by catching rides on bush taxis -- overloaded
pickup trucks that race over the rutted dirt roads.
So why is Tom Kelley so anxious to get back to Fandou Berri?
Summer 2001, when he last visited this small village in Niger,
Africa, officials had begun proposing national legal reforms
that would impose Western-style standardized laws on even
the smallest villages. Kelley, associate clinical professor
of law, isn't sure the reforms are such a good idea. But to
learn more, he must return. In Fandou Berri, talking to people
and listening is the only way to gather information. Their
local language, Zarma, exists only in spoken form. "A lot
of what I learned about legal reform in Niger was just from
asking people, interviewing people," Kelley said.
Officials say the law reforms will prepare the country to
compete in the global economy. But Fandou Berri is about as
far out of the global economy as a place can get. The villagers
grow mostly millet, often just enough to feed themselves.
Demand for Niger's main export, uranium, has slipped since
the 1980s. So, Kelley is asking, how much will standardized
laws help the country, especially people in poor, rural villages?
These people's customary laws, which rely on cooperation,
public consensus and even spirit guides, help hold the community
together, he said.
For example, under Western law, dispensing justice for a robbery
is simple. A police officer conducts an independent investigation
and identifies the thief, who is sent away to jail. But under
Fandou Berri's customary law, villagers attend a ceremony
in which they use a spirit (most villagers practice a combination
of Islam and indigenous spirit worship) to help identify the
guilty. The thief -- or his family -- reimburses the victim.
Then the thief is publicly accepted back into the community.
When Kelley asked villagers, "What about punishment for the
thief?" most just shook their heads. To these people, sending
a villager away to jail would hurt the community. Instead,
customary law heals the village and brings the thief back
into the fold. "You realize how complicated and how elegant
these traditional ways of dealing with things are," Kelley
said.
Law reforms would also drastically alter land ownership, making
it more fixed. Regional officials would settle a dispute by
looking up a name on a deed. But traditionally, villagers
settle disputes in public by drawing upon their memories of
borders and farming rights. And exclusive possession of land
is rare. Families and communities often share land; a young
man may farm his father's or uncle's field, but each year
he asks permission to do so.
Kelley wants to return to Niger to learn more about how these
law reforms may benefit or hurt the country. "It's not realistic
that in my lifetime Niger will be able to profit from the
global economy," he said. On the other hand, the more standardized
laws may improve human rights. For example, women and lower
castes, who under customary law have few rights, would in
theory gain equal rights. "That's something that shouldn't
be discounted," Kelley said. "But what I'm looking at are
the costs [of standardized laws]." Maybe the good will outweigh
the bad. But Kelley said that officials don't seem to be even
considering the possible negative effects of imposing Western-like
law on Niger's people. And that's what he wants to change.
It's definite that Kelley will return to Fandou Berri this
summer, using a Junior Faculty Development Award from the
office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.
If he wins one of the Fulbright awards that he's competing
for, he plans to go for an academic year. He will sell his
car, pack up his wife and children and live for a while in
Fandou Berri -- heat, bush taxis and all.
Provided
by Graduate Studies and Research
Writer:
Angela Spivey
Editor:
Neil Caudle
Baby boomers may not break the Medicare
bank as feared, study shows
Baby boomers will increase Medicare and other medical expenditures
as they age but not nearly as much as some analysts have feared,
according to a new University study.
The study, which appears in the January issue of the Journal
of Gerontology, suggests that by living longer, many baby
boomers will pass the ages at which the most "heroic," and
hence expensive, efforts are made to prolong their lives.
Once members of that generation survive into their mid-80s
or so and beyond, many medical procedures will become too
risky for their older bodies and will be avoided in many cases,
the School of Public Health researchers say. The result of
living longer will yield because many will not get sick at
ages when costly surgeries and other invasive treatments are
still reasonable possibilities.
Authors of the report are public health doctoral student Zhou
Yang and Edward C. Norton and Sally C. Stearns, both associate
professors of health policy and administration.
"As
people age, it's only natural that health-care costs go up,"
Norton said. "We found, for example, that nursing home expenditures
are highly correlated with age, as one would expect, and the
probability of going to a nursing home rises steadily with
advancing years. Except near the end of life, the costs of
inpatient care rise only slightly over time, however."
On the other hand, if one is relatively young during the last
two years of life, much steeper rises in health-related costs
occur because doctors and others try so much harder to save
lives, he said.
"In
contrast, when we looked at expenditures for people in their
90s, say, we saw higher costs -- largely due to nursing home
care -- but the cost run-up was not nearly as high for medical
treatment," Norton said.
The research involved detailed analysis of monthly data on
25,954 elderly people from the federally funded 1992-1998
Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey cost and use files. Information
on both people who died and those who survived illnesses was
examined to gauge cost trends over time.
Overall, the average monthly health-care expenditure per person
in 1998 dollars was about $720, of which Medicare paid $429.
Among those who died, the cost was about $3,170 monthly, while
those who survived incurred about $590 in health expenses.
In the month before death, the cost for people aged 65 to
74 averaged about $7,580, while the cost for those 85 and
older was $5,254, the analyses showed.
"Our
results offers good news in terms of future expenditures being
less burdensome than previously thought," Stearns said. "At
the same time, we need to be cautious about predicting the
future of health-care expenses since technological changes
will occur in drugs, surgery and high-tech equipment. While
those advances are good, they are going to cost money that
we can't estimate yet."
The National Institute on Aging supported the continuing Carolina
research.
Researchers find lobsters know how
to get around
Spiny
lobsters possess a remarkable navigational sense based on
an ability to read small variations in the Earth's magnetic
field, experiments conducted by University scientists show.
The new work is the first to demonstrate that at least some
invertebrate animals, which many people consider primitive
underachievers biologically, possess navigational skills rivaling
those of sea turtles and homing pigeons.
"After
spending daylight hours inside coral reef crevices, spiny
lobsters emerge at night to forage over large areas before
returning in darkness to the same den," said biology doctoral
student Larry C. Boles, first author of a scientific paper
about the study. "Something in a lobster's nervous system
allows it to monitor the invisible magnetic field that exists
throughout its underwater habitat and to exploit small differences
in the fields found at different locations to chart a course
back home."
That seemingly uncanny mechanism -- something like nature's
own global positioning system -- mirrors what baby sea turtles
and birds can do as shown by earlier studies at Carolina and
elsewhere, Boles said.
Spiny lobsters are a tropical species and are not the clawed
lobsters most people are familiar with from restaurants and
grocery stores, he said. In the past, many have assumed that
a complex navigational ability would require a fairly sophisticated
nervous system and that the brains of invertebrates might
not be up to the task.
A report on the findings appears in the Jan. 2 issue of the
journal "Nature." Kenneth Lohmann, L. G. Hoggard distinguished
associate professor of biology and Boles' mentor, is co-author.
The project began when the two began wondering how lobsters
find their way back to their dens at night in complete darkness.
To test the animals' homing abilities, they captured lobsters
at various sites in the Florida Keys and transported them
to a marine laboratory about 10 miles away.
"During
the trip, we tried to confuse the lobsters by keeping them
in sealed boxes, turning them constantly and following indirect
routes to the lab," Boles said. "When the trip was over, we
tethered the lobsters to an electronic tracking system that
monitored the direction toward which they tried to walk."
"We
couldn't believe it," said Lohmann. "The lobsters had never
been to the lab, and we expected them to be completely lost.
Instead, they walked each time in directions that pointed
toward home. They somehow knew where they were."
To determine if the crustaceans used the Earth's magnetic
field to determine their position, the researchers built a
large magnetic coil around the lobster tank. The coil allowed
them to produce magnetic fields identical to fields found
at other locations away from the test site.
"We
tried to trick the lobsters into thinking they were somewhere
else," Boles said. "We put them in magnetic fields found at
locations a considerable distance from where they were actually
being tested."
One group was exposed to a field that exists in a location
north of the test site, he said. A second group was tested
in a field comparable to one found at an area to the south.
Sure enough, the crustaceans were not fooled.
Lobsters tested in the field measured at the northern location
walked south, while those exposed to the field from the south
walked north. Thus, lobsters responded to each field by walking
in a direction that would have led them home had they actually
been at the location where each field naturally occurs.
The results show that lobsters can tell where they are by
using the magnetic fields they encounter, Boles said. In essence,
they have a magnetic "map" that enables them to navigate over
long distances.
"Our
findings will surprise a lot of people," Boles said. "They
provide some of the strongest evidence yet that animals have
and use magnetic maps. That's the reason "Nature," one of
the world's top scientific journals, accepted our paper for
publication."
It is hard to convey what a leap it is to go from something
like a migratory bird to a lobster, which is like a big ocean
insect, he said.
People do not generally ascribe much mental ability to invertebrate
animals.
Lohmann, who several years ago showed that baby sea turtles
have a similar ability, said the work probably would spur
other scientists to investigate animal migration and navigation.
"This
is an exciting area of research right now," he said. "The
picture that is emerging is that magnetic positioning systems
are real, and they may be widespread among animals."
Study
reveals extent of residents' ice storm woes
Study
reveals extent of residents' ice storm woes
Seventy-one percent of all full- and part-time working North
Carolinians responding to a new survey about December's ice
storm reported missing work -- typically at least one full
day.
Most of those respondents could not work because their offices
were closed, survey results showed. Nineteen percent said
they could not physically get to work. And half of those responding
said downed trees or electrical wires blocked roads in their
neighborhoods.
And although most North Carolina households in the path of
the storm might have been shivering in the dark, at least
most of them could talk to cross-town friends and relatives
about it.
Those results are among new analysis coming from a survey
conducted by researchers at the Howard W. Odum Institute for
Research in Social Science and RTI International. Investigators
telephoned 457 households in the 36 counties included in North
Carolina's application for federal disaster relief to assess
the impact of the ice storm.
"We
hope our findings will provide decision-makers in business
and government and citizens in general with a more complete
knowledge of the storm consequences," said Kenneth Bollen,
director of the institute. "This, in turn, should enable communities
to better prepare for the next ice storm or hurricane."
Nearly 80 percent of the households in the 36 ice storm counties
lost power, survey results showed. About 58 percent lost heat,
but only about one out of four of the households reported
losing telephone service. Roughly one out of five households
went without water. Although only about 55 percent of those
with wells were without water, of those households that did
lose water, most -- nearly 92 percent -- rely on wells for
their water supply. Most households that lost one of these
services did so for two or more days.
"People
are very resourceful," Bollen said. "While four of five households
lost power and 58 percent lost heating, two-thirds of all
those surveyed had alternative ways to heat at least some
part of their household. On the other hand, if we look only
at those who lost the use of their primary heating system,
about 38 percent had no alternative way of heating at least
part of the house. That's especially critical for very young
children and for frail or medically fragile adults."
Among the households that reported losing electric power,
slightly less than one out of three of them also reported
losing their telephone service. (Households with only cordless
phones would not be able to use them without electric service
-- even if they did not lose telephone service or service
had been restored.) While only 14 percent had access to a
back-up generator, two-thirds of those surveyed had alternative
ways of heating their household. Slightly more than 80 percent
of those with other sources of heat relied on gas or wood
fireplaces or kerosene heaters.
Overall, researchers said, these results show the great extent
to which households in the ice storm area were affected by
the storm. The overwhelming majority lost power; a clear majority
lost heat; and significant percentages of households lost
phone service or water access.
"The
results of the survey quantify what we have been hearing in
anecdotal reports in the news media and elsewhere," said Paul
Biemer, who holds joint posts at RTI and the Odum Institute,
where he directs survey research. "We hope the results help
state and local officials, business leaders and others have
an even fuller understanding of the storm's impact on North
Carolina."
More than a quarter of the responding households -- 28 percent
-- reported spending nights away from home; the median stay
was three nights, researchers said. Fourteen percent of the
respondents said their homes were damaged with a $400 median
estimate for repair costs. Only 2 percent of the respondents
reported any storm-related injuries. About 50 percent of households
without power reported spoiled food. The median estimate of
the value of the lost food was $100.
Researchers also asked survey respondents what they would
do to reduce damage from a future storm. Eighty percent said
they were supportive of proposals to trim back trees further
from power lines. Less than half -- 47 percent -- were willing
to pay extra on their monthly bill to bury power lines in
their communities. About 24 percent of those asked said they
would pay $1 to $5; 12 percent would pay $6 to $10, and 11
percent would pay more than $10 monthly.
The survey also touched on a variety of topics related to
the ice storm such as perceptions of power companies' response
to the ice storm, its impact on families and work, and how
residents coped in its aftermath.
Findings on these and other topics will be released after
further analysis. Survey respondents were randomly selected
from households in the 36 counties affected by the ice storm,
reaching as far west as McDowell and Rutherford counties and
as far east as Halifax and Edgecombe counties. Most were clustered
along the Interstate 85 corridor. The survey was conducted
between Dec. 21-29. The margin of error is 4.7 percentage
points.
Odum Institute, founded in 1924, maintains one of the nation's
largest archives of polling and census data and supports social
science research at Carolina through statistical and survey
consulting, short courses and colloquia, and a state-of-the-art
computing lab.
RTI International, an independent, nonprofit organization,
is dedicated to conducting research that improves the human
condition. With a staff of more than 2,050 people, RTI offers
innovative research and development and a full spectrum of
multidisciplinary services in health and pharmaceuticals,
advanced technology, survey and statistics, education and
training, social and economic development, and environment.
Flexible
work arrangements enhance life's balance
Many
of us are aware that the composition of the American workforce
has changed dramatically in the last 30-40 years. However,
some of us may not be aware that the way in which we work
is changing just as rapidly. As more dual-career couples and
families enter the workforce, there is an increasing need
to provide employees with flexible work options to enable
them to tend to family and work responsibilities. More and
more, men and women who do not have family responsibilities
are seeking flexibility in their jobs to achieve more balance
in their lives.
Companies and universities are increasingly offering flexible
work options because of the resulting benefits to the employee
and the employer. Flexible work arrangements enhance an employer's
ability to attract and retain a better qualified, more diverse
workforce that includes those who cannot work full time or
within standard hours, and to reduce recruitment and training
costs by retaining staff, lessening absenteeism and encouraging
more committed, motivated employees. Additionally, employers
can offer flexible work arrangements for relatively little
cost.
In spite of the numerous benefits to companies, however, there
remain some barriers to implementing flexible work arrangements
across professions and job sites. From the standpoint of some
organizations, flexible work schedules are difficult to implement
because of the antiquated belief that people have to be present
at certain times and on certain days in order to be effective.
Some organizations may be hesitant to implement flexible work
arrangements for fear of causing a perception of unfairness
among employees who have or do not have variable schedules.
Other organizations fear losing control of their workforce
if they allow flexible work arrangements.
Carolina, however, recognizes that people have different work
styles and needs that may preclude them from working the standard
(8-5, M-F) workweek. As a benefit to employees, the University
offers the option of a variable work arrangement. A variable
work arrangement may allow for an employee to vary the days
or times of work, within the standard, 40 hour work week.
Departmental supervisors are responsible for establishing
and adjusting work schedules and may approve variable work
arrangements as long as departmental operating needs are met.
Operating needs may prohibit a department from offering the
option of a variable work arrangement.
If you would like to examine the feasibility of developing
a variable work schedule, it is important to consider the
following issues. You will need to develop a proposal for
your supervisor that includes a description of your proposed
work hours, a plan for adequate coverage in your department,
a timeline for implementation that includes a trial period
and an inventory of tools and materials (computer, supplies,
etc.) that you will need to continue to perform your job effectively.
You also will need to consider any cost of a variable work
arrangement to the department or organization and account
for it in your proposal. Finally, include a plan for evaluating
your new work arrangement in terms of impact on your colleagues
and the organization as a whole, as well as on the quality
of your work and your effectiveness as an employee.
For more information about variable work arrangements, you
can access the SPA Manual online at www.ais.unc.edu/hr/;
click SPA Manual at the top of the page; Select Section 14
from the drop-down menu; at Table of contents click on Related
Subjects; then choose Variable Work Schedule. Or contact me
by calling 962-6008 or e-mail Leslie_Bacque@unc.edu.
Stay Balanced!
Writer:
Leslie Bacque
Work-Family
Manager
Employee
Services, Office of Human Resources
Carolina
Hurricanes hockey discounts
The
Carolina Hurricanes Hockey Club and the University's Employee
Services are offering the opportunity for all Carolina faculty
and staff to catch the "Coolest Game in the Carolinas" at
a special reduced rate: $42 for lower level north seating
(regularly $52) and $17 for upper level corner seating (regularly
$21).
The rates are for these games:
* Boston Bruins, Feb. 19, 7 p.m.;
* Columbus Blue Jackets, March 10, 7 p.m.; and
* Ottawa Senators, March 18, 7 p.m.
Download order form at:
* www.ais.unc.edu/hr/discounts/flyers/hurricanes0203b.doc;
or
* www.ais.unc.edu/hr/discounts/flyers/hurricanes0203b.pdf.
For other employee discounts, go to:
* www.ais.unc.edu/hHurricanes
tickets
