SoCal Minds

3 takes on how new technology could touch, alter lives

From USC & the Keck Graduate Institute

While technology doesn't always make the heart flutter or go all a Twitter, there's no denying its advances and potential.

• In Exposition Park, for example, one group of engineers envisions a day soon when flexible and transparent carbon films could be part of new kinds of solar cells, devices that would employ expanses of lab-created, graphene-polymer materials woven in ordinary-looking curtains or even T-shirts to convert sunlight into power. The new materials aren't as efficient yet as standard silicon solar cells in creating electricity. But because they're cheaper to make and so much more flexible, they could be mass-produced and worked into common products such that, experts say, those curtains could light the living room or that T-shirt might power a smart phone or MP3 player.

Could those curtains light the living room or that T-shirt power a cell phone?

• Of course, at the same time, some other Trojan experts have taken note of both the ubiquity and limits of social media and our so-called Web 2.0 lives. They've tracked for a decade the American public's burgeoning use of the internet, where more than two thirds of us have bought stuff, where most of us hook in via broadband and where most of our homes have at least two or more computers tied in. While we've become huge users and consumers of net services, however, we Americans expect lots of what occurs online to be free; while half of us said in a survey that we have tried the micro-blogging and messaging service Twitter, no respondents said they would pay for it if there were a charge. While online users may be inundated with blinking, winking and prominently placed ads, half of those responding to researchers' surveys said they never click on net ads and 70% deemed them annoying.

Will Americans pay for Twitter or click on internet ads? No way, net survey finds

• If some folks in Southern California say they're on the brink of shrinking powerful microscopes into cell-phone-sized electronic applications, why can't sprawling mechanisms that provide crucial diagnoses about the global scourge of drug-resistant tuberculosis be downsized, too? Researchers in Claremont have won a $3.6 million National Institutes of Health grant to work on key processes that could lead to a compact, hand-held device that costs less than $100 and could be used in far-flung parts of the planet where an important step in caring for impoverished sick people is determining if they suffer from strains of TB resistant to commonly used drugs. While these challenges prove huge in Africa, Haiti and other parts of the poor and developing world, concern about drug-resistant TB also grows in the industrialized world where the disease, for example, has been detected in Los Angeles and has caused scares such as a 2007 incident in which an infected individual criss-crossed continents on jet flights.

Can experts shrink, cut costs of devices to detect drug-resitant TB?

 

   

Boorish behavior? It really is harmful to businesses

From USC

Here's a message for companies and employers: Rude behavior, however it occurs and as long as it is somehow visible and open, really rubs customers the wrong way and it can cause them to turn against enterprises even if the boorish actions aren't directed at them, Trojan researchers say. They say businesses need to work with workers to restore and ensure the highest levels of workplace civility not just for employees' benefit but because it's good for business. They base their findings on experiments in which, for example, a jerk-weed boss jumped on a worker, calling him an 'idiot' in front of customers, or when an employee snubbed customers to gossip on the phone but then got a royal, public chewing out for doing so, even as he sought to help some patrons; in these cases, even if a rude worker had gotten to assisting them, the incivility shown led customers to negative, potentially harmful views of the business.

Customers can't stand incivility, directed at them or among workers, studies show

For U.S. parents, relations often unhappy with grown kids

From USC

Watch out, mom and dad: That circle of life inevitably will turn and how seniors get along with their grown children has a big effect on their quality of life, Trojan researchers remind, especially after concluding a six-nation study of family life and relationships. 'Disharmonious' relationships, with strong negative emotions and sans strong positive ones, were twice as likely to occur among Americans than any of the studied nations, including in Israel, Germany, England, Norway and Spain. American parents were twice as likely as their English or German counterparts to have negative reactions to their kids. The Germans rated as cold fish, with neither strong positive nor negative emotions and a measurable detachment between elders and their offspring, while the Israelis had both strong positives and negatives, indicating emotional intensity and ambivalence. When asked to rate whether the parent-adult child relations were 'amicable,' 75% of Brits said yes, while 51% of Americans agreed and 49% of Germans affirmed. If parents said they could not climb stairs, indicating a declining physical condition, their ratings of their relationships and detachment with their kids declined across the board, indicating just how freighted family life becomes when seniors get frail and dependent.

• And by the way, for those who have ideas, thoughts or comments on the Older Americans Act, the Trojans will host a session Tuesday with the public and experts, policy-makers and leaders in the field to discuss how this key national legislation might be improved or adjusted before its impending re-authorization. The law was enacted in 1965, along with Social Security, and details how the U.S. should undertake services, training and research to better the lives of American seniors. Reservations are required and a light lunch will be provided for participants after the 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. program.

Click here to RSVP for program on 'Older Americans Act'

Six-nation study finds 'disharmonious' relations 2x more likely among U.S. parents, grown kids

From Northridge to Fullerton, a focus on the environment

From USC, UCLA, CSUN & Cal State Fullerton

It will be interesting to see whether the considerable efforts in academia to be foward looking and environmentally conscious will spread into society at large, especially via students as next-generation leaders. So what kinds of green stuff are schools from Northridge to Fullerton taking on:

• In Exposition Park, a Trojan expert has joined with colleagues at Johns Hopkins to push for new policies on greenhouse gas emissions, which, if put in place, they argue, could create as many as 2.5 million jobs and lead to $134 billion in economic activity. The researchers based their findings on an analysis of and projections from existing greenhouse gas regulations in 16 states, which they praised for their transparent, consistent and formal procedures to quantify and measure their actions and policies in keeping with peer reviewable and accepted methods. The experts call for plans to develop greener power sources for heat and power, greater energy efficiency in business, smarter transit and land use, farm and wild area conservation and more recycling and waste energy recovery.

16 state models for a national greenhouse gas policy to create jobs, boost economy

• Legal scholars who are both Bruins and Bears say that local communities must bear down on their thinking and planning about land use if the state ever has any hope to reduce global warming and environmental pollution related to unnecessary travel by energy guzzling cars, trucks, buses and other carbon fuel-burning vehicles. Experts from Berkeley and Westwood, in the latest part of their joint studies on climate change's effects on the economy, argue for new efforts to create sustainable development in California communities through vastly improved land-use planning, most importantly at the local level but with regional cooperation and cost-effective resource-sharing, particularly in the services of professional planners. If state residents increasingy could live nearer to where they work, shop and play, such housing and development could help curb global warming and environmental pollution more effectively than can even major breakthroughs in vehicle and fuel efficiency or other green efforts involving transportation, the legal scholars say.

How sustainable development in state could curb climate change, environmental pollution

• In Northridge, faculty, students and staff have rushed to take part in the vegetable part of a 'carrot-and-stick' kind of plan for healthier living. Really. Advocates say they have recorded swift, significant demand for a program that calls for fresh produce -- vegetables and fruits sufficient, for example, for a week for a family of four -- to be delivered in boxes that can be picked up on campus near the bookstore at scheduled times and for a reasonable fee. The seasonal produce will vary due to growing conditions and farming circumstance. But proponents say the good foods from the Underwood Family Farms will be good for the Matadors consuming it -- far better, say, than a diet of junk or fast foods typically downed by collegians -- while at the same time allowing a community, the university, that is, to support local agriculture. That large box, aimed at a family of four, costs $20 a week, by the way.

How a university community can support local agriculture, and eat healthier, too 

Click here for more information on Underwood Family Farms' community supported ag

• In Fullerton, as the university gets set to rev up a new, greener system that will generate half the power needed on campus, school officials have posted online a roundup of pieces on smarter energy research and applications and sustainable environmental practices. The Titans take note of their experts cooperating with researchers in Anaheim on energy efficiency and with others out in the Mojave to question the construction of heedless renewable energy resources. As for that new campus power system, it will employ high-pressure natural gas, waste heat and water to generate sufficient juice to power 4,000 homes.

A spotlight on campus energy awareness, saving and sustainability

For Dead Sea scrolls, a season of lavish SoCal attention

From UCLA, USC & Azusa Pacific

Something ancient, lots news? This really is a summer of scholarly love for those long lost and much scrutinized Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient papyruses covered in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek writings that experts say date to somewhere between 150 BC and 70 AD. They contain some of the oldest known surviving and controversial copies of the Bible as well as religious commentaries on Jewish culture that flourished after the return from Babylonian exile. A Bruin archeologist recounts in a soon-to-be aired National Geographic special his dozen years of research on the documents, including his rare chance (shown at right) to read from the Isaiah scroll entombed in a vault beneath the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. In Exposition Park, meantime, Trojan researchers are recalling how they tapped modern technology to record a trove of rare scroll fragments in the surprising locale -- a white-trimmed, red brick church in Teaneck, N.J. For Southern Californians who want to see some of these archeological marvels and get more insight into their religious context, of course, the folks in Azusa have put up a major Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition, which they have extended until the end of August.

Trojans to lead international attack on prostate cancer

From USC

Thirteen institutions across the U.S. and Europe will join in a Trojan-led, four-year, $12 million exploration of the biological and genetic pathways that cause and could lead to major improvements in the treatment of prostate cancer, which is the third most common cause of cancer-related death in all men and the most fatal form of cancer in men older than 70. This latest study will focus on state of the art research into the genetics of the disease, examining the latest genome information, for example, to investigate ethnic differences in the cancer's incidence among Europeans, African Americans, Latinos and Japanese. Researchers will work across disciplines to learn more about which genes may turn on and off in response to environmental and other risk factors, leading to the disease and in various levels of severity.

13 institutions in Europe, U.S. join in 4-year, $12 million prostate cancer research

Trojans aid battered, captive woman convicted in murder

From USC

Will Gov. Schwarzenegger in the days ahead heed a compassionate call and grant parole to a convict, who, a Trojan legal clinic concedes, was involved in a horrific crime but with equally terrible extenuating circumstance? The aspiring barristers, as part of one of the city's excellent law school clinical programs, have taken up the cause of Marisol Garcia, 36, (shown at right) who has been imprisoned for 17 years -- for the crimes, the law students say, that were committed by her captor. They say Garcia, then 13, could not afford to pay a coyote $200 for smuggling her into the U.S. so she was sold to Rafael Martinez, who, in the next six years, proceeded to isolate her, drug her, beat and abuse her daily, rape her and impregnate her, finally forcing her to act as a lookout in one 1993 San Diego migrant camp murder, then to watch as he fatally shot his criminal buddy. Martinez then compelled pregnant Garcia, at threat to her young son and her unborn child, to bury the dead man's body. The law has changed since her conviction and courts now may consider the 'Battered Women's Syndrome' as a defense. The parole board, noting her exemplary prison record -- including her efforts to become fluent in English, to become literate, to earn a GED, to assist others and to utterly avoid any violence -- recommended her for parole; the gov has until Aug. 10 to accept the recommendation or to keep Garcia imprisoned for longer.

Post-conviction clinic law students seek to aid woman imprisoned for 17 years

Click here to see other cases the clinic seeks aid, attention for

A micro focus on productivity, output of economists

From Chapman

Guess they just can't help themselves. The guys and gals who track everyone else's hours, energy and productivity, in macro and micro terms, also keep wonk-ish, detailed tabs on themselves, and, by at least one key measure, the folks in Orange may be said to be doing well in output, at least.  Forget the fetish that some have for baseball, golf, football or basketball stats. The economists in Orange County note that they're No. 9 on an academic publishing list, the RePEc, or Research Papers in Economics compiled by the University of Connectictut. Those figures track, publication, citations and working papers in experimental economics. The chart leaders at mid-year include the Friedman clan in the South Side of Chicago, folks in Zurich and Cambridge (England and Massachusetts), as well as guys and gals at UCSD (No. 6), UCSB (10), USC (16), Caltech (41) and UCLA (71). Vernon L. Smith, who lists affilations with the Agyros school, George Mason and the Cato Institute, ranks No. 4 on the individual economists' rankings, on which Gary Charness of UCSB is No. 8.

In Orange, a busy, notable period for economic publishing, work, citation

Click here for all the 'inside baseball' on economists' stats

Timely attention for up and coming Thai American writers

From USC

He's called Prince, she's Cherry. They might be known as Khamolpat and Ms. Chevapravatdumrong. But will American readers learn much about them at all? An intriguing Trojan program, put on recently with PEN Center USA, offered some needed attention and hope to promising young writers from three different cultures -- those first-generation authors who traced their origins to Ethiopia, Persian-speaking parts of the planet and to Thailand. And that's how, among other topics, the panel of Thai writers talked about their work, experiences and their names and how tongue-twisted teachers in America or assimilative parents gave them an early sense of their different, dual identities, just by deciding what to call them. Writer Prince Gomolvilas, for example, not only took off after how the movie '21' corrupted a plot involving card sharks of Asian descent at MIT and made them white guys, he also told how his Indiana school teacher re-named him because she couldn't say Kam-ol-pat. Cherry noted that all her cousins -- including Raisin, Apple, Chicken, Porcupine and Bear -- have a fruit or animal nickname, though they sound better in Thai. Author Ira Sukrungruang's mom dismissed his question as to why he never got a Thai first name just by saying, 'Too long.'

Photo: Authors (from left) Pimone Triplett, Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, Prince Gomolvilas and Ira Sukrungruang / Megan Christopher

Trojans, PEN Center USA spotlight first-generation authors of Thai, Ethiopian, Persian descent

How schools rank in 'Teach for America' placement

From UCSB

Boy, the world turns around and surprising stuff pops to the top for interest and prestige for today's collegians, as the current popularity of the Teach for America program attests. Do schools  boast about how many of their students go off to the Peace Corps? Do they tout their roles in AmeriCorps VISTA? Yes, sure, there are praises to be sung for the volunteer program that aims to take accomplished, promising young scholars from top institutions and to train and place them as teachers for a fixed term in poor, tough schools in hopes of improving the nation's educational efforts. A super tight economy has combined with the idealism and altruism of the young, however, to make this national public service program highly competitive, with 46,000 applicants from 630 colleges and universities chasing after 4,500 slots. Among the big institutions whose grads are showing particular success in nailing down these much coveted slots: UCLA (49), USC (44) and UCSB (31). Among small schools, Claremont McKenna (9) pops up on the list.

In Santa Barbara, a sense of pride about Teach for American participation

Here's the official word on which schools contribute most students to program

Click here to see the program's official ranking for number of chosen teachers by school size