April 25, 2012

serving the uc davis campus and community since 1915

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volume 131, number 54

wednesday, april 25, 2012

Whole Earth Festival approaches, Who’s your favorite planning is in full swing professor?

Karma Patrol currently seeking new volunteers

By DYLAN GALLAGHER

Awards give students a chance to highlight outstanding educators

Aggie News Writer

From May 11 to 13, the UC Davis Quad will become home to the 43rd annual Whole Earth Festival.

For this event, which is a unit of ASUCD, a variety of local food vendors, performers, alternative-living educators and more will gather to both entertain and educate students about the values of living sustainably. Although there are several activities meant to entertain the festival-goers such as arts and crafts booths, live musicians and even massage tables, at the core of the festival is the goal of preserving the planet.

“Both on campus and off campus we try and bring people together who are linked by the common goal of wanting to keep the earth a long-lasting place for us,” said Willee Roberts, a senior international relations major and Karma Patrol Supporter for the festival.

As a Karma Patrol Supporter, Roberts

By MAX GARRITY RUSSER Aggie News Writer

Jasna Hodzic / Aggie

See WEF, page 2 Whole Earth Festival will be May 11 through 13. The drum circle is a popular activity at the festival.

Rominger West Winery to put a cork in it This week is the last chance to view live music at the winery

By PAAYAL ZAVERI Aggie News Writer

By the end of Saturday, the Rominger West Winery will be shutting down. The business, located in East Davis on Second Street, was founded in 2006. Over the years it has hosted many concerts, fundraisers and other community events.

The Winery was founded by Mark West and the late Charlie Rominger. Rominger grew grapes and West produced the wine. Rominger and his brother were involved with agriculture in the region for many years before the partnership started.

“I was working in Napa and I met Charlie because I started buying grapes from him and we became good friends and decided we wanted to set up a company that would showcase the quality of his fruit.

And we could use the company and resources to support the community,” West said.

From the beginning, the winery was geared toward serving the community. They held many concerts at the venue featuring musicians and various bands from the area. Additionally, they held fundraisers for the Davis High School and other causes.

The company suffered a set-

Aaron Juarez / Aggie

Rominger West Winery was established in 2004 and first opend for business in 2006. It will be closing later this week. back in 2006 when co-founder Charlie Rominger passed away from cancer. His brother Bruce Rominger then took over the grape-growing and they were able to keep the company afloat.

However, even though the winery was heavily involved in the community, their wine sales did not reach the projected amount.

“One of the great things about this company is that they try to be sustainable for economics, society and the environment, so they did a really great job incorporating sustainability into the envi-

SHAWCing Tips Prepare to be disgusted: Many products we use every day, such as lipstick, gelatin, candy and shampoo, contain dye. Even some foods we eat contain dye. The disgusting part? Dyes such as carmine contain minuscule amounts of Dactylopius coccus, which is a beetle that can be found on cacti.

According to the World Health Organization, carmine has been known to be associated with asthma or allergic reactions. Individuals who are more susceptible to asthmatic attacks or even allergens should look out for terms such as “crimson lake,” Natural Red #4, E120 or cochineal dye in the ingredients.

For tunately, Starbucks Corporation recently released a statement saying that the carmine dye in many of their strawber-

Today’s weather Chance of showers High 68 Low 54

ry-flavored foods will be replaced with lycopene, a tomato extract.

It should be noted that not all food products contain the same cochineal dye; others use Red Dye #40, which is extracted from petroleum and also has side effects such as hyperactivity. Take a look at your food label — you might be surprised to see how many artificial and cochineal dyes you might find.

The ASUCD Student Health and Wellness Committee (SHAWC) aims to promote and address important health-related issues on campus. We serve as a liaison between ASUCD and campus health organizations, clubs and resources. If you have SHAWCing suggestions, questions or tips, please e-mail us at shawcucd@ gmail.com and “Like” us on our Facebook page!

ronment,” said Jennifer Kilroy, a staff member at Rominger West Winery. “The reason we’re really closing is because we can’t be economically sustainable and not enough people from the community come to us on a regular basis. We sized this place to make upwards of 6,000 cases and right now we’re only selling 1,500 a year.”

The winery is known for holding weekly live music events Wednesday through Saturday, and this is the last week the events will be held.

Wine-In-Wednesdays will feature the local band Souterrian,

who will perform from 7 to 9 p.m. This event is more geared toward the college crowd.

Happy Thursdays are from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. On Thursday, the winery will host the Mike Justis band.

Friday Night Live will feature artist Elizabeth Busch, who will perform from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

The final event is the Last Saturday event. This April, the focus of Last Saturday is staying green and being sustainable. There will be vendors from noon to 5 p.m. and live music from 2 to 5 p.m.

All events are free and open to everyone; only those over 21 can get drinks.

“The winery closing means an end to all these great live music events. I always enjoyed attending them and it will truly be missed,” said sophomore genetics major Robyn Lindsay.

Managing staff at the winery is still looking for a potential buyer to take over the company.

“We really enjoyed being here and being a part of the community. We’re just sad that we weren’t able to become financially stable, so we could continue serving the community,” West said.

PAAYAL ZAVERI can be reached at city@ theaggie.org.

Every so often there is a teacher who extends office hours a precious two hours before the day of the midterm or sparks a communication major’s interest in organic chemistry that leads to an unexpected minor.

The 10th annual ASUCD Excellence in Education Awards aim at making sure these educators are noticed and honored for their service. The awards are run and funded by the ASUCD Academic Affairs Commission (AAC). Students who put on the event hope to give their undergraduate peers a chance to show appreciation for the teachers and professors who go above and beyond when it comes to instructing.

“We want to celebrate those teachers who we think are really dedicated toward teaching,” said Annemarie Stone, junior English major and ASUCD AAC Chair.

“Because we go to a research university, I’m sure everybody’s had a professor that they could tell was here for mainly research, and we really want to cherish those professors who have found a good balance and really dedicate a lot of their time toward students.”

Undergraduate students are the only individuals involved in nominating and ultimately deciding who will receive the awards.

Teachers and professors are first narrowed down to a winner for each college within UC Davis through student nominations. These finalists are then interviewed for the top award.

“We’ve had professors from various colleges and divisions win the Excellence in Education Award,” said Jessica Jaswal, senior psychology major and AAC member, in an e-mail interview. “Generally the professors that win the award are highly distinguished by students and colleagues. They go above and beyond their role as a professor and mentor for their students.”

The awards are extremely broad in who is capable of winning, giving graduate student TAs just as much of a chance as tenured professors.

“If they are in front of a classroom disseminating knowledge, they can win,” Stone said.

Students have in the past enjoyed the awards and the impact that it has upon teachers and professors.

“I went to the awards ceremony last year,” said Marcel Bernucci, a second-year biological chemistry major. “I felt like the professors that attended really felt like they had been noticed.”

Any student can nominate an educator of their choosing until Sunday. The online form to nominate a teacher or professor can be found at asucd.ucdavis.edu.

The awards are set for late May with an exact location and date to be announced.

MAX GARRITY RUSSER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Universities turn to lecturers in place of tenured faculty during hard times UC Davis proves to be exception

By KELLEY REES Aggie News Writer

A trend sweeping across U.S. universities seems to have missed the University of California campus at Davis. The hiring of lecturers as a means of confronting budgetary concerns has yet to be implemented.

The U.S. Department of Education cites the national average of “parttime faculty” as nearly 41 percent — roughly a 9 percent increase from 1993.

In comparison, while a rise in both ladder faculty and teaching assistants has remained rather constant at UC Davis, the welcoming of lecturers has stalled and petered out over the past decade.

In the 1997-98 school year Davis was home to 656 ladder faculty and 155 lecturers. Jump forward to this past year’s census and the number of ladder faculty has increased to Forecast

Now that Picnic Day is over we get to look forward to ... Whole Earth Festival? I do enjoy viewing homemade trinkets and fire dancers, but I’m more excited about warmer weather next week and enjoying a nice dip in the recently opened Rec Pool.

Kenneth Doss, atmospheric science major Aggie Forecasting Team

Thursday

880, while the number of lecturers has dropped to 138.

“Our campus certainly has no policy of increasing the numbers of lecturers at the expense of ladder-rank faculty,” said Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Maureen Stanton.

Concern has been raised over

Irisa Tam / Aggie

Friday

Chance of showers Mostly sunny High 65 Low 47

High 74 Low 52

the influx of lecturers at other institutions, arising chiefly from the instability seen to accompany certain, particularly newly instituted, lecturing positions. Due to the inability to receive tenure, some have voiced the opinion that lecturers are not able to champion their beliefs regarding sensitive subjects, such as school reform or students’ rights.

The possible circumstances of lecturers, such as those mentioned previously, have not flown under the radar of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies Dean Jessie Owens.

“The Provost has established a task force to address non-senate academic appointments [which would include lecturers],” Owens said. “I am chairing the task force, and expect that we will have draft recommendations for consideration by the entire campus ready during the summer.”

See DISPOSIBLE, page 2

Spam musubi.

Today and tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Silo. Be there or be square.

Amanda Nguyen

page two

2 wednesday, april 25, 2012

daily calendar dailycal@theaggie.org

TODAY

Join the French Club for their cheese night.

World Malaria Day at UC Davis 2012 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

1041 Valley In recognition of World Malaria Day and in support of the Roll Back Malaria Program in promoting education and research in the fight against malaria, students and researchers at UC Davis engaged in vector biology and genetics research will come together to discuss their research.

This free event is sponsored by the School of Veterinary Medicine and a National Institutes of Health, Institutional Training Grant in Vector Biology to UC Davis.

Tibet Burning Discussion 2 to 4 p.m.

217 Art The former prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile will lead a discussion about the resistance and repression in Tibet today.

Dance Dance Davis 4 to 6 p.m.

Davis Art Center If you want to be part of a flashmob on May 9, go to this event for free dance lessons.

H.E.L.P. General Club Meeting 6 to 7 p.m.

1130 Hart Go to the H.E.L.P general meeting to learn about community service programs (i.e., feeding the homeless, tutoring foster children and more) and find out how to get involved in the community. The club will play a game of ultimate frisbee after the meeting.

Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous 7 to 8:30 pm Davis United Methodist Church, 1620 Anderson Road Free yourself from excess weight and/ or obsessional thoughts about food and body image. Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) is a 12-step fellowship based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Meetings are open and free to the public. Go to foodaddicts.org for other meeting locations.

KP Meeting of the 43rd Annual Whole Earth Festival 7 to 8 p.m.

Student Community Center (across from Chem 194/Bike Barn) Learn the history of the festival, reconnect with your loving community, schedule Non-Violence Training, explore KP responsibilities and discover a little bit about yourself.

French Club Cheese Night 7 to 9 p.m 184 Young

THURSDAY Poetry in the Garden: Andy Jones and Bob Stanley Noon to 1 p.m.

Wyatt Deck, Old Davis Road The UC Davis Arboretum invites fans of good writing and beautiful gardens to enjoy a reading by poets Andy Jones and Bob Stanley. Parking is available for $7 in Visitor Lot 5, at Old Davis Road and A Street. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum. ucdavis.edu.

Biomedical Engineering Seminar Series 4:10 to 5 p.m.

1005 GBSF Go to this seminar to listen to Dr. Nicholas Kenyon give his lecture “Nitric Oxide at the Interface of Therapeutics and Biomarkers in Asthma.”

Arts Versus Science Debate 8 to 9 p.m.

UC Davis Conference Center Martin Perl, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in physics, and his son, Jed Perl, art critic for The New Republic, will discuss the creative process in science and the arts. Their discussion will be moderated by Dean Simonton, distinguished professor of psychology at UC Davis. The event is free and open to the public.

FRIDAY Folk Music Jam Session Noon to 1 p.m.

Wyatt Deck, Old Davis Road Join your fellow musicians for a little bluegrass, old-time, blues, Celtic, Klezmer, and world music over the lunch hour. All skill levels and listeners welcome. Parking is available for $7 in Visitor Lot 5, at Old Davis Road and A Street. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum. ucdavis.edu.

Tri-Co-op Garden Party Near Regan dorms 1 to 3 p.m.

Join some hippies for a gardening party at the student co-ops, on campus every friday. The tri-cooperative community is now seeking applicants for fall; everyone is welcome. Contact sjrush@ucdavis.edu with any questions.

To receive placement in the AGGIE DAILY CALENDAR, e-mail dailycal@theaggie. org or stop by 25 Lower Freeborn by noon the day prior to your event. Due to space constraints, all event descriptions are subject to editing and priority will be given to events that are free of charge and geared toward the campus community.

was finally arrested and officially charged with second-degree murder, answering the wishes of Trayvon Martin’s family and his supporters. If this was a chilPamela dren’s tale, the story would Nonga Ngue conclude at this point with a definitive “The End” or maybe even a “happily ever after” preceding it, depending on your viewpoint. But this is real life. On April 23, Zimmerman was released re you familiar with from jail on a $150,000 bond. the phrase “happily He is once again a free man. ever after”? It’s often The most recent events of used to conclude children’s the case fall under the recurclassic stories, particularly ring pattern of life, in which the romantic kind featuring nothing ever really turns prince charmings and prinout the way you expect it to. cesses. Do you know which In college, we’re faced with two-word phrase comes so many situations where right after it? It’s the phrase we think that we can fi“The End,” which signals nally make out the finish to the reader that the story line, only to be thrown for a is over. There’s nothing left loop, and, of course, when to question, to analyze or we least expect it. We questo anticipate. It’s the end of tion the things that happen the story, and the end of the to us and world you come up were temThe courts would ultimately decide with few porarily imhis innocence or guilt, but why answers, if mersed in. wasn’t the man even arrested? not more Unlike the confusion. fairy tales The powmany of us er behind this challenggrew up on, there are no ing time is that it forces us neat conclusions in real life. to keep pushing through There are no endings, beand to confront the uncercause everything builds on tainty. There’s so much to everything else. Real life deal with: growing into or is a lot more complicated out of friendships, changand twisted and messy. The ing as a person, finding out conclusions are either unthat you no longer want satisfactory or nonexistent. what you thought you want Take, for example, the stoed out of life, learning about ry of Trayvon Martin, the injustices in your country 17-year-old boy who was and abroad … as we come shot by George Zimmerman across unforeseen, often in his Florida neighborhood frustrating situations, we on his way home. Martin learn to accept the fact that was young, unarmed and there will be questions withcarrying a bag of skittles and out the answers and beginan Arizona Iced Tea. He was nings with no ends. In other also a black male, wearing words, we grow up. a hoodie, walking through Through my personal exa suburb after the sun had perience, I’ve learned that gone down. when you close a chapter or Although Zimmerman have an answer for everyclaimed to have shot thing, you’re attempting to Trayvon out of self-defense, deceive yourself in order to many people across the naremain in the haven of certion and the world believe tainty. It’s too easy to set that he initiated the alteryour sights on one endpoint cation that led to Trayvon’s and ignore all the other facdeath due to racial profiltors that come into play. ing. Many believe that the For some people, the arincident was a hate crime, rest of Zimmerman was the and if not that, at the very cause for which they were least manslaughter. championing. Those people When it came to light will now have to re-evaluthat Zimmerman was a ate what they see as the end free man due to a technigoal. They will have to do cality in Florida’s law that it again after Zimmerman allows people to kill out goes through trial, whatevof self-defense, outrage er the outcome is. Similarly, spread throughout the U.S., as college students, we are sparking protests, demcontinuously challenged onstrations and threats to redefine ourselves, our to Zimmerman’s life. The world and our goals, becourts would ultimately decause the things we’ll face cide his innocence or guilt, tomorrow are based on our but why wasn’t the man actions of today. even arrested? A young boy was dead and his killer was walking free.

Contact PAMELA NONGA NGUE at On April 11, Zimmerman pamnonga@ucdavis.edu.

The end?

A

disposible Cont. from front page At UC Davis, a professor may take one of two routes. The first, that of a lecturer, is focused solely on teaching as opposed to research and publishing. Lecturers are granted meritbased pay raises with student evaluations constituting a significant role in this determination.

The second means, tenure-track or ladder-rank faculty, is differentiated by a heavy emphasis on research and publishing — many a time coming before teaching abilities as an indication of tenure. Therefore, student evaluations factor little, if at all, in a professor’s ability to achieve such a

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WEF Cont. from front page is partially responsible for the recruitment of the group of 400 volunteers, dubbed the Karma Patrol (KP), needed to work in the event’s various areas, including the performance stages, the kids’ space and the resource recovery zone where compost is sorted.

Currently, Roberts and his fellow KP Supporters are working fervently to show students how their volunteer work is not only necessary for the festival’s operation, but an enjoyable and rewarding experience as well.

“Volunteers get a very special experience,” Roberts said. “Aside from the perks of having a free meal every shift and getting a free T-shirt, they get to see the Quad transformed from a patch of grass to a very energetic space.”

Moreover, Roberts stressed the valuable lessons about sustainability that the festival might teach both volunteers and visitors alike. The event strives to show attendees how pos-

that’s enough to stop me from being the DJ in almost any situation.

But where does this fear come from? Did I and everyone that shares in my Nolan fear have some music-reSheldon lated tragedy scar us in our youth, forever closing the doors of our music library to others? I don’t think so. Is it fear of confrontation or criticism in general? We all have our own opinions on sports, ick back, relax and fashion, movies and life and imagine we’re taking don’t shy away from sharing a road trip together. those. Usually these opinWe don’t know each other ions and arguments well (the trip was organized aren’t malicious, but they through a mutual friend) still invite criticism. So that’s so conversation is scarce. not it either. What is it about After exchanging the usumusic? Why is it different? al pleasantries about our For some reason, mumajors and the weather, we sic holds an incredibly persit in silence as you continsonal and emotional stake ue to drive down the highin our lives. Books and movway. Then, without permisies can also evoke emotional sion, I reach over and grab reactions – many tears have your iPod and begin mercibeen shed in theaters and lessly perusing your music others have library, ocstained the casionally ... it takes a truly brave soul to pages of laughing to books evmyself and set your library to shuffle within erywhere earshot of strangers ... shaking my – but muhead. sic makes Are you emotional connections. We stressed out by this hypocan hear songs and instantthetical scenario? Are you ly travel back in time, live in amazed that hypothetimemory even if it’s only for cal Nolan is so rude and ina moment. Hidden between vasive? I am, and I was the the lyrics and melodies are one doing the perusing. thoughts and images that I don’t think I’m alone in make us who we are, and being overly protective of each song added to our limy musical preferences. brary is another entry in the And not protective in the running diary of our lives. confrontational “I’ll argue Some of us fear sharin defense of everything ing our music because we I’ve ever listened to” sense, fear sharing our lives like but more in the “I change an open book. My reasons my iPhone password daily for liking a song or a band because my music is for my may not make sense to you. eyes and ears only” sense.

I might not even be able Sound crazy? Alright, to express why I like it. My Courage McBravepants, try opinion may be baseless or this one on for size. Go to a could lack any artistic senpublic place (say the CoHo sibility, but my music is or the next party you go to), mine just like my memories hook your iPod up to some are mine. And if I like Lady speakers, throw it on shufGaga because it reminds fle and see what happens. At me of racing around in a a party, there’s always someJeep on a cold night with one that knows of a better a girl I used to know, that’s song to play than the one OK by me. But I fear it won’t you chose. At the CoHo, I be OK by you. imagine you’d be complete I think that’s what it ly ignored or you’d constantcomes down to. Any conly be confronted about your nections we share with music choices. This might each other over a band sound radically different or a song will be superfithan our scenario in the car, cial at best. I feel our mubut I don’t think it is. Both sic libraries are so personal involve sharing music and and so emotionally irratioboth sound scary. nal that they should be im The way I see it, it takes mune to criticism. But the a truly brave soul to set world has rarely been how I your library to shuffle withthink it should be, so I keep in earshot of strangers and my musical diary locked an even braver one to let up. My memories are mine them look through it. I feel just like my music is mine, that eventually the wrong shared and cherished with song will play or they’ll find a special few, and they’ll alsome silly music, and ridways be myTunes. icule will certainly follow.

I’m not sure if that’s true – that ridicule is a certainNOLAN SHELDON can be reached at nosheldon@ucdavis.edu. ty – but I fear that it is. And

myTunes

K

position.

The two paths do have the possibility of intertwining. Owens explained that certain lecturers have the opportunity to become members of the academic senate — tenure-track or tenured faculty.

Apart from questions arising over lecturers, some critics have commented on the use of graduate students as essentially cheap, readily available labor.

“Just as adjuncts are used for cost saving, grad student ‘readerships’ seem also to be used to cut costs,” said an English department graduate student.

Although those participating in readerships are generally given duties virtually identical to those of teach-

sible it is to be “zero-waste,” or producing no landfillbound garbage.

In the past, roughly 97 percent of the waste from the festival has been recycled or composted each year. This is largely due to the use of reusable plates and eating utensils which are washed rather than thrown in the trash, as well as the strict monitoring of any waste products being brought into the festival by both vendors and visitors.

Junior sustainable agriculture and food systems major Lauren Cockrell, another KP Supporter, insisted that the festival’s legacy of sustainability and friendliness could not be upheld without the assistance of student volunteers.

“Volunteers are the lifeblood of the festival,” Cockrell said in an e-mail interview. “All of our values as a festival – being truly zero-waste, cultivating creativity and compassion – are only possible because volunteers give their time and energy to the fest.”

Volunteers play a crucial role in the operation of the festival, and as such they

ing assistants, they receive half the stipend teaching assistants do.

And although the university may not be taking as severe a route as other institutions when it comes to facing monetary concerns through decisions in faculty hiring, budgetary trepidation is far from over.

“Budget cuts have made it impossible to replace all ladder-rank faculty members when they retire,” Stanton said. “Until those positions can be filled, the campus uses many different mechanisms — including hiring lecturers, increasing teaching loads of remaining faculty and doing temporary recalls of retired ladder-rank faculty.”

KELLEY REES can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

reap a number of non-monetary benefits from their participation in the Karma Patrol. Besides receiving free meals and a Whole Earth Festival T-shirt for volunteering at any of the stations, volunteers learn valuable skills and improve social connections. According to Roberts, the Karma Patrol meetings and non-violence workshops give volunteers an opportunity to bond while learning valuable lessons on how to effectively and peacefully manage conflicts that may arise during the event.

Nonviolence is one of the many core values that KP Supporters teach new volunteers during training. All core values share the goal of fulfilling the festival’s primary purpose: using art and other educational outlets to make students more passionate about activism and the environment.

Often it winds up being the volunteers themselves who become more avid activists and environmentalists.

“Volunteering last year was really cool,” said Tyicia Deloney, a junior psychology major. “The environment was nice, everyone was

friendly, you didn’t have to be drunk to have fun, and it was enjoyable for all ages. It was a great experience.”

Deloney intends to volunteer again this May. In a school year that has seen much campus controversy, Roberts stressed the festival’s importance in showing students and campus visitors that UC Davis peers are capable of working together toward a common goal — in this case, protecting the environment.

“It’s good to celebrate our alternatives,” Roberts said.

“We need to show that we’re not just pissed off about something but that we can also present solutions.”

Anybody interested in volunteering can sign up on the Whole Earth Festival’s website at wef.ucdavis.edu.

Information about the festival, including programs, is available on the festival’s website.

Karma Patrol meetings occur each Wednesday at 7 p.m.; locations vary and can be found on the Whole Earth Festival website.

DYLAN GALLAGHER can be reached at dylaaaaan@gmail.com.

The california aggie

Science &Technology

wednesday, april 25, 2012 3

“Algebra for all” policy flawed, according to study

Scientific hoaxes

Learning algebra too early may not be beneficial for some students

By RACHEL KUBICA Aggie Science Writer

Learning algebra too early in life could be more harmful than beneficial to some students, according to a new study conducted by UC Davis School of Education professors Michal Kurlaender and Heather Rose, along with education programs consultant Don Taylor.

The study – which looks at low-performing eighthgrade students who are placed in algebra – holds negative implications for a policy that requires all eighth-grade students to take algebra.

“I think the main message is that a ‘one size fits all’ policy is not likely to be effective, and that we need much more evidence about how policies may impact students across the achievement distribution,” Kurlaender said.

“In other words, from the most successful students, those that perform at the average and those that struggle.”

Current policies in action, as well as those proposed by the California Board of Education, support a belief that students who complete algebra are more successful.

“Algebra is a critical gatekeeper for college and future academic success and so it is critical that everyone master it,” said Kurlaender. “The downside is that just be-

cause you make it universal, doesn’t mean everyone will master it.”

Indeed, the findings of the study reinforce the need to reconsider this universal policy. In the study, Kurlaender, Rose and Taylor compared their test score outcomes and grades across subsequent years and found little positive difference between students placed in algebra and similar peers who are not placed in algebra.

In fact, there appeared to be a negative result compared to those not placed in algebra.

“On the student’s mathspecific GPA, algebra course placement was related to a reduction in their GPA by an average of 7 percent,” Taylor said. “In other words, it may be that placement in an eighthgrade algebra course academically harms a lowperforming student.”

The researchers found that the hardest-hit group was low-income minority students, who were disproportionately represented in the low-performance group. According to Rose, these students experienced a drop in GPA, possibly due to unfavorable comparisons with high-performing students after standardized testing.

So what can educators do to help provide more support for these lowperforming students?

Taylor points to a suggestion made by other

L Some eighth graders may find algebra more difficult than others.

researchers.

“Such students may need more diverse and thought-provoking instructional methods than are typically offered in high school algebra,” Taylor said.

One local algebra teacher, Pat King of Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior High School, notes her own methods of helping low-performing students.

“I plan ‘mastery’ quizzes of basic skills before the chapter test to be sure they have entry-level skills,” said King. “I also tutor every lunch and after school.”

While Taylor’s and King’s solutions can help low-performing students at the level of the individual classroom, the question remains how policy makers can address this issue and recognize each student’s strengths.

Taylor once again draws from other research on

courtesy

the topic.

“Education policymakers [can] closely examine the deficiencies in student performance at lower grades and intervene early enough in students’ careers to minimize these deficiencies,” Taylor said.

King recognized this need to acknowledge individual students’ experiences with mathematics and put herself in students’ shoes.

“People who have learned mathematics forget what it is like when you don’t know.

To think kids learn just by telling them to ‘solve’ and follow some recipe is shortsighted,” said King. “Sure, they can copy what I demonstrate today, but how will they apply it to a new situation tomorrow?”

RACHEL KUBICA can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

Nuclear physicist and art critic son to discuss issues in creative process Developing and nurturing creativity in the arts and sciences

By BRIAN RILEY Aggie Science Writer

Nobel laureate Martin L. Perl, a professor emeritus in physics at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif., will be making a public presentation this Thursday at UC Davis along with his son, art critic Jed Perl. They will speak on the topic of the similarities and differences of the creative process in art and science.

Martin Perl was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995 for discovering a subatomic particle called the tau lepton. Perl will address the issue of creativity in art as opposed to creativity in science and engineering.

“How similar are they?” Martin asks. “What do you need to become a highly creative person or more creative person?”

Jed Perl has authored a number of nonfiction books on art criticism, including Eyewitness: Reports From An Art World In Crisis and Trevor Winkfield’s Pageant, a book about a one-of-a-kind, living artist whose paintings have been compared to music. He was the art critic for Vogue and currently writes for The New Republic.

“Creativity has something to do with how a person puts together two different elements — the emotional element and the intellectual element,” Jed said. “The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that you have very different processes going on in the arts and the sciences.”

Dean Keith Simonton, a distinguished professor in the UC Davis psychology department, will be the moderator. Simonton has written extensively on the topics of genius, creativity, leadership and aesthetics.

“Historically, there has been no agreed-upon definition [of creativity],” Simonton said.

Simonton pointed out that creativity can be given a common definition regardless of the domain.

Hungarian inventor trying to impress the Empress Maria Theresa. The Turk won the majority of the games that it played against many people at the original exhibition for the Amy Empress. People continued to Stewart play against the Turk until its destruction by fire in 1854.

The cabinet beneath the Turkish man looked like it was filled with cogs and gears; in fact, that was just the exposed outside of the cabinet. The inside of the cabinet actually contained a human chess master operating the Turk’s arms with levers and a voice ast week, the subject box to declare, “Check.” of my column was of Rabbit Mother: Mary Toft scientists being honwas a woman from Surry, est but wrong. This week, I England who, starting in 1726, want to talk about the other part of being wrong: being gave birth to more than a dozen rabbits. Apparently, durdishonest. Entire books can ing her pregnancy she beand have been filled with came fascinated by a rabbit, stories of infamous hoaxes by people with a variety of and her miscarriage soon afreasons (often money, some- ter contained several rabbit parts. Reports soon reached times fame, occasionally to the community, and then docprove a pet theory).

Here are a few of the most tors, that several days later she gave birth to additional whole, infamous scientific hoaxlive rabbits. es through Well, not reout history. I only in- Though no one ever confessed ally. Hopefully cluded the to the hoax and there are you don’t need me to tell you ones where people have actually several suspects ... that. She managed to fool definitive a significant proof of denumber of surgeons, includception and that actually took place (urban legends ing the surgeon of the Royal House of King George I. She don’t count). was taken to London and in Piltdown Man: The Piltdown Man’s fame began in tensely studied. She produced no more rabbits, confessed 1912, when Charles Dawson said at a paleontological meet- to the hoax and was jailed for fraud. The method of her ing that he was given several fossil fragments by a workman madness soon became disgustingly apparent: After her at the Piltdown gravel pit. He took the finds to Arthur Smith initial miscarriage, while her cervix was still wide enough to Woodward, who was the geoallow it, an accomplice insertlogical keeper of the British ed the body and claws of a cat Museum. Woodward assemand the head of a rabbit. Her bled the fragments and demotive was most likely money; clared that it was a skull of an evolutionary “missing link” be- she claimed that a “traveling woman” had told her that if tween humans and apes due to its human-like cranium and she pretended to give birth to rabbits, she would never need its ape-like jaw. more money. How this could The hoax was not properpossibly happen is lost to hisly exposed until 1953, when tory and was known only to Kenneth Page Oakley, Sir Wilfrid Edward Le Gros Clark Toft.

Dihydrogen Monoxide: and Joseph Weiner proved Did you know that dihydrothat the skull was actualgen monoxide is a chemical ly composed of three spethat is a major component of cies: a medieval human, a acid rain, contributes to the Sarawak orangutan (the jaw) and a chimpanzee (the teeth). greenhouse effect, is fatal if inhaled and has been found The fossils looked much older due to chromic acid and an in the tumors of terminal cancer patients? Despite this, it’s iron solution, which proves still commonly used as cooldeliberate deception rathant in nuclear power plants, er than putting together the wrong fossils. Though no one as a fire retardant, in pesticides and as food additives! ever confessed to the hoax Since this hoax has been and there are actually sevaround since the mid 1990s eral suspects, my money’s and was widely publicized, on Dawson working together with someone else; archae- I’m guessing many of you reading this already get the ologists looking at Dawson’s joke: Dihydrogen monoxcollection found that nearly ide is water. The list of “dan40 of them were forgeries. gers” of dihydrogen monox Chess-Playing Robot: ide came from a group of colSimply put, the “Mechanical lege students as a joke and to Turk” was a chess-playing roshow how gullible people can bot who looked like a Turkish be. man in traditional sorcerer’s garb. The Mechanical Turk was constructed in 1770 by AMY STEWART can be reached at science@ theaggie.org.

Wolfgang von Kempelen, a

Tech Tips Physics Nobel Laureate Martin Perl.

“Creativity is what’s involved in generating ideas that are original, valuable and surprising,” Simonton said.

Martin will discuss the role of visualization in creativity. His process involves asking important questions that break down a creative process into stages.

“What’s the start? How will you make progress? How will things go?”

Martin asks.

Jed studies the artistic aspect of creativity. His conception of creativity differs somewhat from his father’s process.

“Different people have to work out the equation of creativity in their own way,” Jed said.

Another important issue is the question of individual creativity as opposed to group creativity.

“One major distinction between scientific and artistic creativity is that the former is now more likely to be collective; the latter, individualistic,” Simonton said.

“It’s not completely separated,” Martin said. “The great painters [in France] knew others, but they worked as individuals.”

courtesy

As an art critic, Jed has noticed common qualities among visual artists. Visual artists often live in cities in order to stay in contact with other artists.

“But of course, any environment can become overwhelming. The pace of city life – or commercialism – can become too much for the artist,” Jed said. “Artists – all creative people – need to find the atmosphere that nourishes them.”

Both Martin and Jed Perl, as well as Simonton, stress that a level of skill and expertise in some particular domain is important.

“I find it fascinating that nobody would think that they could become a world chess champion or win at a sports championship without having first acquired the necessary knowledge and skill,” Simonton said. “Yet there are amateurs who believe they have great ideas without expertise.”

Thursday’s event will be held at 8 p.m. at the UC Davis Conference Center and will feature a questionand-answer session.

BRIAN RILEY can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

View country-restricted content on the internet

By RACHEL KUBICA Aggie Science Writer

If you watch a lot of television via the internet, chances are high you have come across a website or video that restricts content to the United States and other countries. Software program TunnelBear recognizes this issue and provides a free and easy way to access internet content globally.

Why should I use TunnelBear?

TunnelBear is simple and fast. Just go to the website TunnelBear.com, download the program, input the country whose material you wish to view and enjoy!

TunnelBear works great for students studying abroad, professionals on global business trips or vacationers on extended holiday.

Is it safe?

TunnelBear is a secure program that works using encrypted connections.

This means that TunnelBear connects your computer to a server in the country whose material you wish to view. It protects your priva-

cy by simply simulating the internet experience in that country.

But I use a lot of data. Will TunnelBear still work for me?

TunnelBear provides three options. There is a free “Little” plan that allows 500MB of data per month, a $4.99-per-month “Giant” plan that allows unlimited data usage during that month and a $49.99-per-year “Grizzly” plan that is exactly like the Giant program but lasts for a year. Opting for the Little plan does not require a credit card number, and TunnelBear will not force you into any contracts.

Does TunnelBear work on my iPad and/or iPhone?

TunnelBear currently has iPad and iPhone applications in beta mode, meaning they are trying out their software on those platforms and it is not an official release. Unfortunately, this beta is only available to paid users under the Giant and Grizzly plans.

RACHEL KUBICA can be reached at science@ theaggie.org.

4 wednesday, april 25, 2012

The california Aggie

DQ University seeks to rebuild New workshops, possible partnership with Engineers Without Borders in the works

Aaron Juarez / Aggie

Since shutting down in 2005, DQ University, a two-year community college for Native American tribes in California, has been attempting to rebuild itself.

By DOMINICK COSTABILE Aggie Features Writer

When commuting between UC Davis and Winters, there seems to be a lot of open land strictly designated for farming.

But one particular establishment within this expanse may sometimes go unnoticed — though new developments could reestablish its presence in the region.

DQ University, a two-year community college for Native American tribes in California, has been in a process of regrowth since the school was shut down

due to financial issues and loss of accreditation in 2005. This year may prove to be a momentous stride for DQ University in reestablishing courses, standard procedures and infrastructure.

A pending partnership between DQ University and UC Davis’ Engineers Without Borders (EWB), an international nonprofit organization that offers sustainable solutions to developing regions around the world, would establish a five-year commitment to improve DQ University’s facilities. Should the partnership be approved

by DQ University leaders, EWB will assess, design, build and monitor the university’s

ICC’s Countdown to Summer!

Welcome to week four of the ICC’s Countdown to Summer! Each week the Internship and Career Center (ICC) will highlight a task that will help you be prepared to land a job or internship by summer. This week we discuss interviewing.

Interviewing An interview often seems daunting, but it signifies that you are one step closer to landing the job and gives you the opportunity to promote yourself.

It is also a test. Employers are feeling you out to see if you would be a good fit. There are things you can and should do to prepare. Visit iccweb.ucdavis.edu/webshops/index.htm for a quick tutorial.

Research the company and position description. When you confirm the interview, ask what the format will be to avoid being shocked when you sit down across from nine employers. Researching the organization will help you anticipate the kinds of questions you’ll be asked. For instance, if the company emphasizes the importance of leadership and teamwork, then there is a good chance you will be asked about a time you exercised those qualities. Perfect your response to some of the generic but troubling questions such as: “Tell me about yourself.” In general, think about your past experiences and give examples using the S.T.A.R. (situation task action result) method. Be sure to connect your responses to the position you are applying for.

The day before, gather your materials (references, resumes, business cards, etc.) and find something professional to carry them in — no backpacks. Next, solidify your outfit choice. Acceptable attire depends on where you are applying, but when in doubt, err on the side of caution and shoot for “businesslike.” Avoid anything wrinkly, revealing, tight or flashy. Ask yourself: What would grandma think? When night

time rolls around, set an alarm and get a good night’s sleep. Dollar “pint” night at Sudwerk can wait.

The day of, the regular rules of hygiene apply. Shower, brush your teeth, shave, etc. Make sure you arrive at the interview about 20 minutes early. As soon as you step out of your door, put your game face on. You never know if that driver is the person interviewing you. You should treat everyone you encounter – janitors, secretaries, parking attendants – respectfully. As soon as you enter the building, turn off your phone. No, vibrate mode does not count.

At the beginning of the interview introduce yourself and shake hands with everyone. Take note of their names.

You’ll then engage in some casual conversation, but don’t get sidetracked. You are there for an interview, so get down to business. Keep your composure and speak clearly and not too quickly. Make eye contact and act engaged by taking notes and asking questions. At the end of the interview, shake hands with everyone and thank them.

After the interview, make notes for yourself. What kinds of questions did they ask you? What “went wrong” and what “went right”? This will undoubtedly help you improve. These notes will also aid you when writing thank-you notes to each interviewer. Thank-you notes show professionalism and remind the employer of your interview.

E-mail is perfectly acceptable if done professionally. If you don’t hear back within two or three weeks, follow up with a phone call.

Regardless of outcome, give yourself a pat on the back. You survived!

Interviewing is a skill, and if you practice you’ll get better.

The UC Davis Internship and Career Center (ICC), located on the second and third floors of South Hall and online at iccweb. ucdavis.edu, has decades of success helping to launch Aggies on their professional paths, and its services are FREE to currently enrolled UC Davis students.

development.

Assistance from civil, environmental, structural and water quality engineers would implement sustainable solutions for the upkeep of the property.

“One of the great things about possibly linking with [EWB] is that it will give us a strong outside resource that has capabilities to take our vision, or our needs, forward,” said Margaret Hoaglen, DQ University’s chair of the board of trustees.

“They could demonstrate how to use alternative energy, things that are sustainable, not costly to us.”

A particular concern for DQ University’s board is the issue of waste management and plumbing that would damage the environment.

“Any project we take on is sustainable in every meaning of the word,” said Amelia Holmes, director of EWB and junior specialist in the civil and environmental engineering department. “Whether it’s environmentally, structurally or financially sustainable, it’s our goal to put this into effect.”

One of the first things that EWB would work on after a finalized partnership is a sanitation project, setting up a system rather than bringing out higher-cost, less sustainable portable toilets.

“EWB would provide ample opportunity for students to develop projects with hands-on experience without going across the globe,” Holmes said.

In the meantime, The InterTribal Council of California, a nonprofit organization that serves to preserve and enhance the traditions as well as many other social aspects of 35 native tribes of California, has proposed two educational programs to help DQ University with reopening the school.

One program is the Tribal Emergency Response Training, which educates trib-

al leaders in preparing tribes for natural disasters or emergencies. The second program is a Tribal Environmental Stewardship, which teaches the fundamentals of environmental science and environmental law.

In the past two years, DQ University has been hosting small, under-the-radar workshops for inter-tribal communities and many others.

“Offering workshops has been the best option because there has just been no funding for a full teaching staff,” said Dunn Eggink, a DQ University board member.

“There was one workshop last September that proved to be one of the largest outcomes with a hundred people studying permaculture on the land for two weeks.”

Other workshops have offered lessons in the art of making Toolie Boats, a Pomo and Miwok tradition, as well as Language Immersion, a workshop in which everyone who signs up gets a list of vocabulary in an indigenous language of choice and builds tools for traditional games while using that language.

The board has also discussed holding cultural learning days, which will be held once a month starting the first weekend of June. Jim Brown, an expert in central California native history, has offered to teach these classes along with native instructors who will hold drum practices for those interested in music.

“Since 2005, we have been completely starting from scratch. What can we do on a minimal level while re-establishing a reputation as a university?” Eggink said. “We’ve come to a point where a lot of struggle concerning DQ University’s direction is behind us and we look forward to continuing this movement in reviving the university.”

DOMINICK COSTABILE can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Interest rate hike would affect one-third of undergraduates

By Patrick Svitek Daily Northwestern (Northwestern University)

The Obama administration on Monday urged Congress to preserve low interest rates on student loans that are funding tuition for almost onethird of Northwestern undergraduates.

Barring legislative action, interest rates on Stafford loans are set to double from 3.4 to 6.8 percent on July 1.

According to the White House, the impending hike would affect more than 7.4 million students nationwide and add $1,000 of debt to each of their loans.

More than 2,600 undergraduate students at NU this academic year are on Stafford loans, which allow needy students to borrow from the federal government without having to pay back any amount until they graduate.

“At a time when college is never more essential, it’s never been more expensive,” White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told reporters on a conference call Monday.

Lehrich was joined by Cecilia Munoz, director of the president’s Domestic Policy Council, who said the strength of the U.S. economy is “inextricably linked with” the strength of the country’s education system.

The conference call kicks off a week-long push by the

Obama administration to hammer home what Lehrich called “Congress’ critical need” to protect the lower interest rate. The president will speak about student debt at swing-state colleges today and Wednesday, with an appearance on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” tonight.

In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said the student loans issue “didn’t come out of nowhere,” blaming congressional Republicans for blocking college affordability measures over the years.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) has introduced legislation that would freeze the 3.4 percent interest rate, but it has yet to attract GOP support. As of Friday, the bill had 127 Democratic cosponsors.

“Making it harder for our young people to afford higher education and earn their degrees is nothing more than cutting our own futures off at the knees,” Obama said in Saturday’s address.

“Congress needs to keep interest rates on student loans from doubling, and they need to do it now.”

Despite Obama’s rhetoric, the low interest rate extension found a prominent Republican ally Monday.

At a news conference with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) a day before the Pennsylvania primary, Romney unexpected-

ly walked back to the microphone, saying, “I fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans.”

Brian Drabik, NU’s associate director of undergraduate financial aid, said he hopes the president’s newest cause endures beyond Election Day and is not just a single-year solution.

However, Drabik called it even more “concerning” that federally subsidized loans will no longer be available for graduate students starting on the same date the interest rate could double.

That less-publicized change resulted from last summer’s debt ceiling agreement.

“I wish they could find ways to subsidize the other aid programs without subsidizing one that so many students benefit from,” Drabik said. “It’s difficult to see them cut a program that helps so many people.”

Either way, McCormick junior Keegan Dunn expressed little alarm that the interest rate on his Stafford loan could jump several percentage points this summer.

He said the rate doubling would add less than $200 to his senior-year loan.

“Three-point-four or 6.8 percent — those are both pretty low compared to what I’d be paying for a private loan,” Dunn added. “I wouldn’t say it would unduly affect me. It’s not going to make or break anything.”

U.S. graduate schools see a rise in international student applications in 2012

By Katherine Hafner

Daily Bruin (University of California, Los Angeles)

American graduate schools saw a steep rise in international student applications for the upcoming academic year compared to recent years, according to a recent survey by an organization that predicts global trends in graduate education.

The survey, conducted by the Council of Graduate Schools, collected data from more than 200 graduate institutions. Its survey showed a 9 percent increase in applications in 2012 from countries outside the United States.

The survey only measured the number of applications submitted to institutions and does not refer to how many students have been accepted, or how many intend to enroll. Countries such as

Mexico and Brazil showed particularly high increases since last year, but China saw the largest spike, with an 18 percent increase in applications since 2011.

The trend has also reached graduate programs at UCLA. Craig Hubbell, associate director of masters admissions at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, said the program’s biggest increase in graduate applicants this year was from international students.

“Applications are up around 20 percent overall since last year, and the percentage is even greater among international applicants,” he said.

The UCLA School of Nursing has also seen a small boost in the number of international student applications, said Suzette Cardin, assistant dean of student affairs.

Janet Mentes, an associate pro-

fessor at the School of Nursing, said she has noticed an increase in students from mainland China, as well as other Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

“People feel more comfortable venturing out and studying in other countries,” Mentes said.

The School of Nursing is in the process of creating a program to help international students with the transition to the U.S., Mentes said.

Yunfei Zou a biophysics graduate student in the department of Physics and Astronomy, came to UCLA after completing his undergraduate education in China.

He said the sentiment among his peers in China was that if they wanted to pursue a graduate education, the United States was the place to be academically.

“The economic level in China is rising, and parents in China are finding themselves able to send

their kids to the United States for school,” Zou said.

International applicants showed an interest in both public and private institutions across the United States, but the increase in international applicants was highest in western states, including California, according to the survey.

Tradition and the opportunity to make connections with professors and academic advisors factored into Zou’s decision to come to UCLA, he said.

Hubbell attributed the increase at Anderson this year partly to recruiting activities abroad. The management program recruits annually in more than 20 countries, including China, by making presentations and attending job fairs, he said.

International students make up roughly one-third of the Anderson population, Hubbell

said.

Seunggon Jeong, an international graduate student from South Korea who is studying Korean linguistics in the department of Asian Languages and Cultures, said he has noticed about half the students in his department are international.

While he was the only person he knew coming to the United States in his major from his undergraduate university in Korea, he said he has met people from Korea, China, Japan and other Asian countries in particular since coming to UCLA. Jeong said he thinks publishing his thesis paper in English will give him an edge in the job market.

“For Asian students, studying in the U.S. (for graduate school) is an investment to do better in the future and get a better job,” Jeong said.

Classifieds

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YUANdWhatArmy!?

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by Angela Yuan

Notice to Readers 25 Lower Freeborn Hall, UCD One Shields Ave. Davis, CA 95616 Editorial: (530) 752-0208 Advertising: (530) 752-0365 Fax: (530) 752-0355 Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.- 4 p.m.

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The California Aggie reserves the right to, without notice, classify all advertisements, delete objectionable words and phrases, and edit or refuse advertisements. Categories will be strictly adhered to. The Aggie reserves the right to change, without notice, deadlines for advertising copy, rates, rules, and regulations. The advertiser will not hold The Aggie liable for any claims resulting from publication of the advertisement.

Further, the Publisher will not be responsible for any claim resulting from an agreement made between the consumer and advertiser.

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There are no refunds/credits for cancellations.

Personals OVERPOPULATION IS SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED. http://motherlode.sieraclub.org/population/

Services GRADUATING Spring? Take your senior portrait at our studio in Davis now!

Cap and gowns provided. www.cipportraits.com

Sudoku

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House for Rent HOUSE FOR LEASE FIVE BEDROOM $2700/M AVAILABLE SEPT. 1ST CALL (530)753-4770 CLOSE TO UCD. 3,4, and 5 bedroom houses available in East and South Davis from Sept.

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4 Bedroom 2 Bath house on Sycamore Lane. Please call 415-305-8278 for more information.

3/2 Townhouse West Davis. Sunny and Spacious. $1695. 530-400-6633

Notices Upper-Division Composition Examination sign-up at http://writing. ucdavis.edu/compexam/ Everyone on campus is getting cheap eats, movie-tickets, 2 for1 and free stuff. Get yours too. text GoAggies to 69302.

Employment Planning Interns Needed for Summer to plan Downtown Dixon community events and write grants. Non-salary, but provides outstanding references for great career opportunities. Must be outgoing and energetic. Apply at (916) 416-2876 by 4/27/12. Downtown Dixon Business Association.

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RECYCLE THE AGGIE . . . by making a pressman’s hat . . .

Begin with one full news sheet. Fold top corners down to join at center line. Then fold bottom area of top sheet up to meet lower edge of folded corners. Fold up again to form the band.

Flip to the other side. Fold side edges in to meet at center. Fold up lower corners, then fold bottom up and tuck into the band.

Fold top point down into the band. Open the hat, by pulling on the band, and flatten into a square. Fold top point down, and bottom point up, into the band. Reopen and you’ve got yourself a hat!

Hard

Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit.

So must every column, as must every 3x3 square. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.

6 wednesday, april 25, 2012

The california Aggie

campus CHIC.

By STEPHANIE B. NGUYEN Aggie News Writer

Ethan Anderes, assistant professor of statistics The Aggie: What are you wearing?

Anderes: “Faded Levi’s, Urban Outfitters buttonup, Banana Republic sweater and Calvin Klein boots.”

How did you decide what to wear today?

“A balance between what’s clean and the weather.”

Where do you find inspiration?

“I enjoy looking at some fashion blogs — The Sartorialist, in particular.”

What’s your favorite item in your closet?

“My faded Levi’s.”

STEPHANIE B. NGUYEN can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Ethan Anderes

Stephanie Nguyen / Aggie

SOFTBALL PREVIEW Teams: UC Davis vs. No. 19 Stanford; at UC Santa Barbara Records: Aggies, 18-25 (8-4); Cardinal 32-16; Gauchos 23-26 (8-4) Where: Smith Family Stadium — Stanford, Calif.; LaRue Field When: Today at 6 p.m.; Saturday at noon and 2 p.m.; Sunday at noon Who to watch: Despite getting just one hit in the weekend series against Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, junior JJ Wagoner is providing solid offense for the Aggies this season.

The outfielder from Napa, Calif. is hitting .275, has the second-highest batting average of all UC Davis starters and has a hit in eight of the last 10 games.

Wagoner is also one of the most composed players at the plate as she has struck out just eight times this year — tied for the lowest amount by any starter.

“She’s been working extremely hard,” said Head Coach Karen Yoder. JJ Wagoner “And it’s always nice to see when a junior player puts in the hard work and sees results.”

Production from upperclassmen like Wagoner will be critical when the Aggies face the talented pitching staffs of Stanford and UC Santa Barbara.

Did you know? After pitching two shutout victories against Cal Poly, freshman starter Justine Vela has won her third Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week title.

The freshman sensation, who leads the con-

ference in strikeouts with 201 and opponents’ batting average with .197, now has an incredible 0.40 ERA against Big West opponents.

With a 7-1 conference record, Vela is a leading force behind UC Davis’ Big West championship run.

Preview: The Aggies enter the most important week of their season when they face nationally ranked Stanford, whom they upset 2-1 earlier this year, and fellow Big West leader UC Santa Barbara.

In today’s game against Stanford, the Aggies’ bats need to be ready in order to keep up with the high-powered Cardinal offense. Averaging almost six runs per game, Stanford also has seven batters with a batting average over .300.

An exceptional team effort by the pitching staff and the offense will be needed in order for the Aggies to pull off a second upset.

The weekend series against UCSB the last regular-season series at home­ is a critical matchup for the conference championship picture.

Like the Aggies, the Gauchos rely on great pitching and timely hitting, as their team ERA against conference opponents is 1.38.

UC Davis will need to come out strong in order to maintain their first-place position in the conference.

The 2012 Alumni game will follow Sunday’s game against UCSB. — Doug Bonham

News iN Brief

Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference this weekend The Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference will be held on Friday and Saturday.

The conference is an opportunity for students to present their work to the UC Davis community. Topics of research presented will range from the denial of genocide in Darfur to the effect of aspirin on cardiovascular disease.

“We’ve always prepared and inspired our students to discover solutions to some of society’s most pressing problems,” said Patricia Turner, Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, in a press release. “The Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference gives our students a chance to exhibit

the fruits of their research along with a taste of the process of presenting it in a scholarly manner.”

This year, the event will also feature an art exhibit, which will allow students interested in design and creative studies to present their work.

The event is free to the public.

Students will present posters with information about their research on Friday in Freeborn Hall from 3 to 5:30 p.m., the Art Exhibit will take place Friday in Memorial Union II from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and oral presentations will be on Saturday in Wellman Hall from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

For more information, go to urc.ucdavis.edu.

— Hannah Strumwasser

New iPhone app designed to induce dreams

By Alexis Gordon

The Daily Free Press (Boston University)

Sweet dreams may no longer be wishful thinking with the iPhone app “Sigmund,” which influences users’ dreams by repeating certain words throughout the night.

Sigmund is currently the number-one paid Lifestyle App in the United States and has a four-plus rating, according to iTunes.

Daniel Nadler, the Canadian native and Harvard U. graduate who developed the new app, said Harvard students who did not get much sleep inspired him.

“I would wake up to go running at six in the morning and many of them would be walking around the hallways, seemingly in a half-daze, still trying to finish papers,” Nadler said in an email interview.

From there he began do some research about sleep deprivation, where he learned from a NASA study that even a half-hour long nap can increase alertness and concentration by more than a third, while brief naps can improve concentration on mem-

ory for longer periods, he said.

From that information, Nadler said he wanted to assimilate all of these studies and put them in one place, so he applied to the Harvard’s Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative for funding to create a researchdirected reading group.

As he was conducting research, Nadler noticed there was significant evidence of information processing in the sleeping brain, which includes assimilation of external sensory information such as scents and hearing during sleep.

“We all know this anecdotally – hearing a nearby conversation while we are dozing off, for example on a train, and having some of the subjects in the conversation enter our dreams,” Nadler said.

Nadler said he also came across a study in the British Journal of Psychiatry, in which researchers played recorded, spoken personal names to the sleeping subject during the rapid eye movement stage of their sleep cycle.

The study suggested the spoken names

presented during REM sleep entered the dream sequences because subjects correctly matched names with the correct dreams upon awakening.

Nadler said he noticed the study was hard to recreate outside of a lab because people generally did not have the time to record all the words they wanted to hear, space them apart correctly and start the recording while the person was asleep.

That is how he came up with the idea for the iPhone app, he said.

Nadler said he was introduced to Doug Feigelson, a computer science and engineering major from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who recently won Facebook’s Brown-Harvard-MIT intercollegiate hackathon, to help him create the app.

“I asked all my friends in computer science about doing this on a smartphone and they said it was extremely technically difficult,” Nadler said. “They said that to reproduce these kinds of sleep and dream studies on a smartphone, you would have to work with a library of thousands of dis-

tinct recorded words and allow users to select from very precise combinations of words.“ Nadler said Feigelson spent more than one year building the app, which allows users to choose from more than a thousand prerecorded words, such as “beach,” “tropical” and “tiger,” which the app softly plays during REM sleep.

“You can imagine the technical sophistication that goes into this – it was not like loading a few abstract ocean or bird sounds onto an iPhone,” Nadler said.

Despite Sigmund’s high ratings on iTunes, Boston U. students said the idea of having an app program dreams is odd. “[The app] really freaks me out,” said BU sophomore Christina Gratton. “I don’t like that idea because I think that dreams are uncontrollable.”

BU junior Jayme Mask said she would not use it even if she did have an iPhone.

“The coolest thing about dreams is that you wake up and think ‘is that real?’” Mask said. “I want them to be a part of my imagination – not a part of my real life.”

Informatics study looks at why tweets go viral

By Kirsten Clark Indiana Daily Student (Indiana University)

After studying 120 million re-tweets in a year’s time, a team from the Indiana U. School of Informatics and Computing found that whether a tweet goes viral doesn’t necessarily depend on its message or the user who posted it.

Instead, the study shows it has more to do with the fact that Twitter users have limited attention to devote to a massive amount of information transmitted daily on the Twitter network.

The 2012 study behind the information, “Competition Among Memes in a World with Limited Attention,” was conducted by thirdyear doctoral student Lilian Weng, along with informatics professors Alessandro Flammini, Alessandro Vespignani and Filippo Menczer.

The study, Weng said, is the first to scientifically show how social network users’ attention spans affect popularity of posts.

Weng said a tweet’s survival can be measured in the number of times the post is re-tweeted and does

not necessarily depend on the post’s message.

She said two hashtags grouping tweets about singer Justin Bieber illustrate her point. “#BieberFact and #Bieberthing — they both exist and are about the same object,” she said.

“They try to represent the same thing, but one of them is extremely popular, and the other was re-tweeted less than 15 times.”

In fact, #BieberFact was retweeted 139,760 times during the course of the study, while #Bieberthing was retweeted only three times.

According to the report, factors like the tweet’s exposure to media and its relation to world events can affect the popularity and longevity of posts.

The reason for the discrepancy, Weng said, was because of the large number of tweets on Twitter competing for users’ attention.

Competition in the Twitter world works in a similar way to competition in nature, she said, where memes are like species fighting for limited space in users’ memories.

“Imagine in an ecosystem, you have various spe-

cies, and they’re fighting with each other to get limited resources,” she said.

“In order to get resources to survive and reproduce, they have to compete with each other. You can think of attention as a limited resource in the system.”

In the grand scheme of things, Weng said, most tweets don’t go viral.

Instead, most stop circulating soon after they are posted.

Weng said the structure of the microblogging network, complete with hashtags and the ability to re-tweet, contributes to the distribution

of tweet popularity.

Twitter users looking to craft a viral tweet might not find the secret in the new study, however.

Weng said the research looked at aggregate values and the larger context of tweet popularity as opposed to individual cases.

“In our paper, we studied the heterogeneity of meme popularity at a very aggregated, average level,” she said.

“But if you look at individual cases, it’s very hard to predict whether it will be successful. Sometimes it’s just luck.”