uncnews.unc.edu

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:

International Coverage

Knee ligament injuries may be more common in men: study
Reuters
Men have a greater number of knee ligament injuries than women, despite research suggesting that women's knees are more prone to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears and surgeries to fix them, according to a Swedish study. ... Darin Padua, director of the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he was not surprised by the findings.

China: One-child policy is a threat to growth
Financial Times
... The gender imbalance may not be as bad as it seems. Cai Yong, a demographer at the University of North Carolina, says many girls’ births were simply never registered. “School enrolment data suggest that the number of school-aged boys is not as high as the number of male births registered, suggesting that a considerable number of girls are ‘hidden’ in the population,” he says.

Ancient synagogue uncovered in Israel
UPI
..."This discovery is significant because only a small number of ancient (Late Roman) synagogue buildings are decorated with mosaics showing biblical scenes, and only two others have scenes with Samson," said Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina, who is conducting the excavations with David Amit and Shua Kisilevitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
UNC Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5411/73/

National Coverage

How Do We Prevent Banks from Behaving Badly?
MSNBC "Up" With Chris Hayes
"The problem is the sort of concept of meritocracy," said Karl Smith, assistant professor of economics and government at UNC-Chapel Hill and contributor to the Forbes blog Modeled Behavior. "Because what it tells people is you're in charge of these institutions, you're making this money, you're doing these things because you're good and you're the best. But this is actually opposed to privilege. Because if you said that you are here and it is a privilege and you are here because you have a social responsibility to take care of other people, that creates a different society and it is those meritocratic values that cause people to be indifferent to the plight of the poor."

College Kids Aim to Make 52 Apps a Year in South Carolina
Bloomberg/Businessweek
...The technology incubator offers workspace and mentorship opportunities to dozens of companies, including 52apps. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has offered to fund the development of a mobile application that uses university research.

Employers Warm Up to Online MBAs
Bloomberg/Businessweek
Nowak recruits students from the top 50 MBA programs but says she will occasionally consider students from online MBA programs, provided they have excellent grades and a strong job history. She prefers candidates who come from schools where the online core curriculum is closely aligned to the school’s full-time MBA program and a short residency is required, such as the online MBA program dubbed MBA@UNC at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Links between Autism, Schizophrenia, and Bipolar Disorder
Ivanhoe (Newswire)
...Dr. Patrick F. Sullivan of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, along with his colleagues, used registers in Sweden and Israel to examine whether family history of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or both were risk factors for ASD.
UNC Release: http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2012/july/autism-schizophrenia-and-bipolar-disorder-may-share-common-underlying-factors

Regional Coverage

Pair from Trinity help uncover ancient mosaic
The San Antonio Express-News
... The excavation of the ancient village of Huqoq, led by experts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Israel Antiquities Authority, just wrapped up its second season but is expected to continue each summer for the next five years.
UNC Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5411/73/

State and Local Coverage

CMS survey finds suicidal thoughts, bullying, binge drinking on the rise
The Charlotte Observer
Depression and suicidal thoughts may be more widespread among Charlotte-Mecklenburg students than parents realize, with nearly 25 percent of middle-schoolers reporting that they seriously considered suicide in the previous year, according to a new local survey of risky youth behaviors. ... UNC Chapel Hill’s Mitch Prinstein, a psychology professor, says the results are consistent with other research. By the time girls hit their 20s, he said, one in four has gone through a major depressive episode.

Study: Child Diabetes Higher In China Than In US
WFMY-TV (CBS/Greensboro)
A study shows Chinese teenagers have a rate of diabetes nearly four times greater than their counterparts in the United States.. ... The study, from the UNC School of Global Public Health, used data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, the longest ongoing study of its kind in China.
UNC Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5418/71/

UNC Receives Digital Humanities Grant
WUNC-FM
The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill has received a nearly 1-point-4-million-dollar grant to expand digital humanities research. Asma Khalid reports.
UNC Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5419/73/
Related Links: http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/19222380/article-Initiative-expanded-with--1-39M-Mellon-grant
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/morning_call/2012/07/unc-gets-grant-to-digitize-humanities.html

New website dedicated to UNC’s celebration of ‘Rite of Spring’ at 100
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
A new website created for Carolina Performing Arts will showcase the many aspects of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s centennial celebration of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” The site, www.theriteofspringat100.org, highlights the performances, new commissions and world premieres that are part of UNC’s “ ‘The Rite of Spring’ at 100” celebration.
UNC Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5412/66/

Advertising executive named new Knight Chair at journalism school
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
JoAnn Sciarrino, executive vice president for BBDO North America, has been named Knight Chair in Digital Advertising and Marketing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
UNC Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5420/107/

At UNC, no-show classes were mostly for athletes
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Students looking to enroll in a summer class at UNC-Chapel Hill taught by Julius Nyang’oro were likely to hit a roadblock as soon as they went online. Of the 38 courses the university says he was responsible for over five summers, 26 of them listed a maximum capacity for just one student. For many students, that would be a sign to go look for another course.
Related Link: http://www.chapelboro.com/UNC-Academic-Fraud-Investigation-Continues/13660095

UNC Professor Paul Frampton Could Be On His Way Home
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
UNC Professor of physics and astronomy Paul Frampton says he intends to return to UNC to teach this fall, but his release from jail and trial are still pending. According to The Daily Tar Heel, Frampton has been held in an Argentine jail since late January. He has requested to be released claiming his innocence, but no such request has been granted in more than five months.

The Southern side of health coverage (Opinion-Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
I begin with a word of unfeigned praise. Readers of these pages can attest I’m no consummate fan of John Roberts. I’ve greeted his opinions with a fair share of criticism. Perhaps more than a fair share. Still, I’m pressed to say that his decision to provide the fifth vote to uphold the Affordable Care Act was a move of unforeseen and almost unparalleled statesmanship. (Gene Nichol is the Boyd Tinsley distinguished professor at UNC’s Law School and director of the UNC Center on Poverty, Work & Opportunity.)

Gutted? Good (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As I told the House Select Committee on Racial Discrimination in Capital Cases, there are few political issues that Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam and I agree on. As a liberal and long-time member of the ACLU, I oppose prayer in the legislature and the public schools; I opposed the gay marriage amendment; while not an advocate for abortion, I favor a woman’s right to choose. (Elliot M. Cramer Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology)

Issues and Trends

Technology at home in some college classrooms (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
While I agree with most of the observations made by Jeff Selingo in his June 27 op-ed article “Universities’ fix, and how to fix it,” he needs to be careful about unsubstantiated generalities. Selingo’s perception that academics resist the use of technology in the classroom is completely at odds with my 40 years experience in design education, and it is a common prejudice that I have heard voiced over the years. Both our faculty and students are skilled in the use of computer-aided design, and have been for the last two decades.

N.C. needs to lead in arts education
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When it comes to arts education, North Carolina has a proud history of leading the pack. A half-century ago, the administration of Gov. Terry Sanford was preparing to launch the N.C. School of the Arts, which opened in Winston-Salem in 1963 as the nation’s first public arts conservatory. In the decades since, it has consistently attracted and developed first-class artistic talent.