LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 18, 1999 - 3A 4ESEARCH 'U' to investigate smart card improvements The University's Center for *nformation Technology formed a part- nership with Schlumberger Smart Cards and Terminals earlier this month to conduct research into smart card technology. Smart cards are wallet-size cards that contain a microprocessor and electrical contacts. The University's M-Card, used by University students, faculty and staff for identification purposes, is a smart card manufactured by Schumberger. The University has -sued more than 94,000 currently active M-Cards. CITI Director Peter Honeyman said one of the goals of the partnership is to enhance smart card security. University officials and Schlumberger representatives cele- brated the partnership at a reception in Ann Arbor. CITI received an unspecified monetary award from the artnership for the duration of the roject. Study: Exercise benefits new mothers A University study found women benefit from being physically active before and after giving birth. The study, "Physical Activity and ostpartum Well-Being," found ctive women were more likely to lose weight after giving birth, remain more socially active and fell better about themselves in postpartum months. Carolyn Sampselle, senior author of the study, said many nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and physicians do not give new mothers advice on remaining physically active after returning home. * More than 1,000 women complet- ed a questionnaire during their six- week postpartum examinations. About 35 percent of participants said they exercised three times a week on average. Cell size may contribute to conflict 0 The study was published in the January/February issue of the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing. Cell size may contribute to disagree- ment between the sexes, according to a forthcoming book authored by SNRE Prof. Bobbi Low. Using research in biology, anthropol- ogy, economics and other disciplines, @ow analyzes the evolution of small male and large female sex cells in the "evolutionary" game of reproduction in the book. Low claims the unequal cell sizes contribute to sex-specific types of mating behavior in mammalian species, including elephants, deer and human beings. Low's book is scheduled to be released from Princeton University Press later this year. 4). Wisconsin scientists build weather gauge A group of scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison have developed an Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer to predict changes in weather. Senior engineer Fred Best, who orks at Wisconsin's Space Science and Engineering Center, said AERI can measure changes in the atmosphere that can help to predict changes in weather patterns. The machine can also measure the presence of greenhouse gases and gauge the affect of the Earth's climate. The AERI project was completed in 1991 but continues to be developed by Wisconsin faculty and students. The U.S. Department of Energy is Ling AERI to monitor long-term cli- mate changes in its Atmospheric Prediction Measurement Program. - Compiledfrom staff and wire reports. Sending them around the world AALPD to use computer aided dispatch system By Avram S. Turkel Daily Staff Reporter After years of using pencil and paper to take care of calls placed to the dispatch operators, the Ann Arbor Police Department finished installing a computer-aided dispatch system Monday. The new system will cut down on paper work, increase availability of old reports and "keep a history of calls, addresses and trouble areas in Ann Arbor," Sgt. David Strauss said. But 12 years ago, the Department of Public Safety moved to the new CAD, a discrepancy between the two departments that Strauss attributes to a lack of funding to AAPD. DPS officials said they have expe- rienced a positive difference with the CAD system from day one. "It takes a lot of the human error out of the system," Director of Public Safety Leo Heatley said. "It helps us generate statistics, and it also helps us track alarms a lot bet- ter." When anyone on campus calls DPS, their location is immediately displayed on a computer screen in the dispatch center, DPS spokesper- son Beth Hall said. Previous meth- ods - before help from computers - necessitated a dispatcher receiv- ing the call, writing the location down on a card, calling an officer or patrol car and filing the card, Hall said. Both the AAPD and DPS comput- er systems do all of the necessary work, except inform the officers on patrol that they need attend to a sit- uation. Despite the system's expansive capabilities, DPS and AAPD offi- cials still keep a hands-on approach in dispatching calls. "The dispatchers are trained to know what is an emergency - com- puters aren't," Strauss said. The human element remains very important when knowing how to gauge the importance or urgency of a call, Strauss said. "What the AAPD is getting into now, and what we've been doing for years, makes things just a lot easier on dis- patchers," said DPS Communications Lt. Gary Hill. The first step by DPS was taken in 1987, when all campus phones became traceable by DPS central command. In 1990-91, when DPS officers were deputized, an enhanced 911 system was intro- duced. This system allowed all phones - campus and public - to be traced immediately by the CAD system. "Students used to harass other stu- dents all the time," Heatley said. "Now they don't do it so much because we can track the call." With DPS receiving more than 85,000 calls a year, Hill said, sorting of the calls, the points of origin of the calls and the callers would be extraordinarily difficult without the Internet-based CAD. "We get cross streets, priority, and history," Hill said. "The University put a lot of money into the Internet and piggy backing on the Internet has paid us big divi- dends." Strauss echoed Hill's pro-CAD sentiment. "If a person has a history, the address'will light up in red on the computer screen, and when the offi- cers look up why, they'll know what to expect." I DHA1RNI JONES/DLaiy Former Peace Corps volunteers Robin Martiz and Steve Smith discuss the opportunities the Peace Corps offers at a recruitment meeting last night in the International Center. eeConstitutionrat defiense strat Segy- (IV Tim's Out,,,, I i ,OA 4 * Ninth Amendment used to justify assisted suicide as former doctor begins his own defense PONTIAC (AP) - Making good on his promise to aid in his own defense, Jack Kevorkian argued that assisted suicide is allowable under the Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The retired pathologist will face trial on March 22 on charges of first-degree murder, assisting a sui- cide and delivering a controlled sub- stance. The charges stem from the Sept. 17, 1998 death of Thomas Youk, a patient suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. In a motion filed Tuesday in Oakland County Circuit Court, Kevorkian wrote that the Ninth Amendment gives any mentally competent adult the right to ask for final relief. Kevorkian said it also gives doctors the "inalienable unenumerated" right to "voluntarily ... provide that compas- sionate relief through appropriate med- ical intervention." Kevorkian, whose Michigan medical license was suspended in 1991, called the Ninth Amendment the "forgotten amendment." The amendment states: "The enu- meration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the peo- ple." Kevorkian wrote, "When a hap- less, fully conscious and fully informed patient in the throes of subjectively intolerable physical dis- tress, verified to be irremediable by objective medical assessment, tena- ciously beseeches a competent and sympathetic physician to intervene professionally to end the patient's suffering through death which the latter fervently and fearlessly desires, the act and the result are not crimes." Kevorkian's arguments are unfound- ed, Assistant Prosecutor John Skrzynski said. "The constitutional issue has already been decided by the Michigan Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court ,' he told The Oakland Press in a report yesterday. David Gorosh, one of the attorneys on Kevorkian's legal team, disputed Skrzynski's claim. "It's certainly colorful language, but it's an intelligent motion," Gorosh told the Pontiac newspaper. "He has a firm understanding of the Ninth Amendment. It's sort of unorthodox in some respects." Circuit Judge Jessica Cooper met briefly Tuesday with lawyers and will issue a written opinion on the motion soon, Gorosh said. She also set a Jan. 29 deadline for all motions to be filed, while Kevorkian arguments will not be heard until March 3. Kevorkian has been free on bond since he was ordered in December to stand trial in the death of Youk, of Waterford Township in Oakland County. Kevorkian videotaped several of his meetings with Youk, including one in which he allegedly gave a lethal injection to the terminally ill man. Portions of the tapes, including Youk's death, were shown in November on CBS in front of a national television audience on "60 Minutes." Kevorkian has acknowledged involvement in 130 or more suicides since 1990. He has been acquitted in three assisted suicide trials involving five deaths. A fourth trial ended with a mistrial. Taking the April GRE? Classes begin Saturday! # The Princeton Review 1-800-2REVIEW Correction: U LSA first-year student Jeremy Peters was misidentified in the letters section of yesterday's Daily. What's happening in Ann Arbor today GROUP MEETINGS SERVICES -.--- ---- - -- 1 r. emme 1 ..&rmnfiAn Cantors. 783-.