TECHNICIAN
wednesday october
9
2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Voters approve $810 million school bond Dan Martin Correspondent
Voters approved an $810 million school construction bond Tuesday to start one of the biggest construction projects in Wake County history. According to unoff icial totals, 58 percent of voters out of the more than 172 precincts that had finished voting as of 9 p.m. Tuesday supported the bond, The News & Observer reported. This bond will provide funding for 16 new schools in Wake County but will also raise property tax. Proponents of the bond said the additional debt comes at an appropriate time, with Wake County’s property tax already relatively low. Property tax in Wake County is 53.4 cents per $100 dollars, one of the lowest in the state, according to The N&O. “My view is that Wake County can afford the additional debt, particularly in anticipation of the rapid growth projected for the region,” said Michael Waldon, a professor of economics at N.C. State. He also said the interest rate on the debt will be locked in, and because interest rates are low, now is a good time to borrow. Proponents also said the improved educational system will bring more money to the area. Walden said there’s overwhelming evidence that high-quality education is crucial for economic improvement and that it attracts businesses to the area, causing eco-
nomic growth in the community and increasing the property value of homes in the area. However, opponents of the bond said they’re worried about the long-term economic effects of this added debt. The bond will cause a 10 percent property tax increase, which will cost the average homeowner in Wake County $145.72 per year. Also, the decision to build new schools rather than improve existing structures is causing skepticism, according to Bobby Puryear, an economics professor at N.C. State. “I am concerned about the amount of funds being requested and whether appropriate decisions are being made as to when it is prudent to renovate, versus engage in new construction,” Puryear said. Puryear also said that due to the number of variables associated with the issue it’s difficult to determine the long-term effects of this project, and the sheer size of the loan would raise the county’s debt substantially. Another concern about the bond is the effect it will have on the credit of Wake County, which is one of only 39 counties in the United States to hold an AAA Bond rating. Although financial analysts don’t seem to be worried about the credit rating, skeptics are quick to point out that this bond would raise the debt to more than $3 billion, according to The N&O. In June, The Wake County Board of Commissioners will consider a tax increase to pay for the bonds. If approved, the taxes will take effect the following year.
SAM FELDSTEIN /TECHNICIAN
William C. Doey Jr., the certifying official of Veterans Education at Registration and Records, said benefits checks for military students will continue to be processed through the end of October. However, the funding for military students relies heavily on whether Congress raises the debt ceiling by Oct. 17.
Shutdown threatens benefits for students in the military Marty DeFrancesco Correspondent
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs continues to process education benefit claims for military students despite the United States government shutdown, but if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling, funding for military students could soon be stalled across the country. North Carolina’s regional Veter-
ans Benefit Administration office issued a “Veterans Field Guide to Government Shutdown” on Monday, listing all services impacted by the shutdown as well as those that have not been affected. Based in Winston-Salem, the regional office serves as an intermediary between the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and VA offices in North Carolina. Along with the field guide, the
regional office also issued a “VA Contingency Plan,” designating the agency’s operational procedures in case of a “short-term government shutdown.” The plan includes emergency funds and a schedule of nonessential operations that will be postponed in case of a shutdown. VBA Education Call Center operations have already been suspended
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New scholarship program aims for more STEM degrees Estefania Castro-Vazquez Correspondent
ELIZABETH DAVIS /TECHNICIAN
Jacob Lineberry, a freshman in physics, is one of five Scopes Scholars and a member of the inaugural scholarship class. The program is only offered to students in the College of Sciences.
N.C. State’s College of Sciences is attempting to attract high-achieving students with a new scholarship program. The Scope Scholarship is designed to attract and retain successful students hoping to receive STEM degrees, according Katherine TitusBecker, scholarship coordinator for the College of Sciences. Currently, five students are enrolled in the program, including Jacob Lineberry, a freshman in physics. Though it is new, participants said they have high hopes for the Scope Scholars program. “I think as the Scope program continues to grow, it’ll be similar in its impact on N.C. State as programs like the Park Scholars and Caldwell Fellows,” Lineberry said. Faculty advisors also see the po-
tential for success in the program. “It’s going to continue to expand in numbers and opportunities. Right now it’s still in the initial stages so we are learning and developing it as the year continues,” Titus-Becker said. Graduates of the Scope Scholars Program will be ready to face realworld adversities as the program intends to prepare participants with leadership and communication abilities, according to an article in Scope Magazine, which was previously run by the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Scholars will have the opportunity to take advantage of dinners and private meetings with professors. Some scholars have also been able to meet with the author of the University’s Common Reading book, Thomas Hager. Some scholars also met with Dean Solomon of the College of
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Event attempts to limit online NCSU researchers attempt to security problems in wake of increase download speeds UNC information breach Jess Thomas Correspondent
Jacqueline Lee Correspondent
Assistant Director of the N.C. State Office of Information Technology Security Compliance unit John Baines presented “Plain English Data” on Tuesday at Scott Hall as part of October’s Cyber Security Awareness Month. The theme for the month is “Take Control,” which attempts to create dialogue about ways to increase awareness and prevention of online security problems. Baines explained methods of keeping data at N.C. State secure and protected and said data can be information from a credit card, research that has not been patented, health information, social security numbers and many other types of private information. “Sensitive data exists in various forms, and we need to approach different levels depending upon how sensitive it is and how much it costs to protect,” Baines said.
Baines classified types of information by how critical and sensitive the information is. The categories for each type were ultra, high, moderate, normal and unclassified sensitivity levels of information. Ultra sensitive information includes social security numbers, credit card numbers and credentials. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act records, for example, are considered moderate. “There is a lot of sensitive data at the University and a lot of money and reputation involved,” Baines said. “We need to treat differently the data at different levels because the more you protect it, the more it costs to protect and the harder it is to get to.” Baines talked about the incident when a professor of radiology at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Bonnie C. Yankaskas, had a data security breach on the university’s
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Researchers from N.C. State are developing a radio receiver system that will transfer greater amounts of data at a faster rate than current technology allows. The National Science Foundation is granting the University $1.08 million to fund the project. This research is being conducted in an attempt to integrate a receiver with the Multi-Input-Multi-Output method that enables a large transfer of data from a limited bandwidth, according to Brian Hughes, an electrical engineering professor and coinvestigator on the venture. In other words, MIMO technology is a way of sending multiple signals in the
same bandwidth, but MIMO requires multiple antennas spaced far apart without interaction in order to achieve the full benefits of data transfer. “Here we’re sending more information in the same bandwidth,” Hughes said. “We’re achieving the same result as increasing bandwidth without actually using more bandwidth, which is precious.” Download speeds could also increase significantly via MIMO processing. Jacob Adams, an electrical engineering professor, specializing in antenna design and the other co-investigator on the project, said MIMO could have great benefits. “In the ideal scenario, MIMO throughout will scale
linearly with the number of antennas,” Adams said. “That is, with two antennas, you could reduce your download time by half, [and] with four antennas you could cut your download time by 75 percent.” The researchers must also develop new technologies for the device’s creation. “We’re not going to be using the existing antennas that you see on tops of buildings,” Hughes said. “We’re going to try to use information theory and antenna design to design new antennas that extract the most information from the environment.” This technolog y could be integrated into various technologies and increase
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