LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 25, 1999 - 3A
.RESEARCH
Study: Ethic
hurts women's
self-esteem
The Protestant ethic of hard work
and self-reliance may be to blame for
the negative view overweight women
have of themselves, according to
University research.
In a study to be published in the
Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, Diane Quinn, a psycholo-
gy doctoral candidate, and psychology
Prof. Jennifer Crocker found that over-
weight women felt worse about them-
selves if they endorsed the values of
hard work, self-discipline and personal
*responsibility.
Belief in the Protestant ethic was
associated with anxiety, depession and
low self-esteem in overweight women.
The study found women who did not
consider themselves overweight were
not affected by the Protestant ethic.
In another study, the researchers
found that exposure to conservative
ideology, such as the debate over wel-
fare, was detrimental to the mental
*health of overweight women.
PSU cracks the
eggshell problem
A Penn State University researcher
has cracked an important problem.
A new process developed by Penn
State Prof. Joseph MacNeil is able to
separate the membrane of an egg from
the eggshell itself, reported the Daily
Collegian, Penn State's student news-
*paper.
The new technology solves a serious
food waste problem. Eggshell waste,
MacNeil said, accounts for 120,000 tons
of waste per year and most landfills do
not accept the remains because of the
horrible stench given off by rotting eggs.
The Environmental Protection
Agency named eggshell disposal one of
the worst ecological problems facing the
food industry, according to MacNeil.
"That membrane is a tough cookie,"
MacNeil said. "We ground it and put it
through hammer mills - any kind of
machine I could think of- because we
wanted to break that attachment."
U. of Florida
unveils robotic
lawnmower
After seven years of dedicated
research, University of Florida
researchers unveiled their latest marvel
Tuesday morning at a Florida golf
course, reported the Independent
Florida Alligator, University of
Florida's student newspaper.
Named the Kawasaki Mule, the proto-
type tractor is a highly evolved robot that
can mow lawns without a driver. A small
crowd gathered around the machine as it
mowed the grass at the golf course.
"We've been funded by the govern-
ment to build these systems and to look
at commercial applications" said Carl
Crane, a University of Florida mechan-
ical engineering professor.
Costing about $300,000 to make, the
Mule will not be the answer for teenagers
seeking to shirk their household chores.
But University of Florida engineers say
the Mule could now be built for a mere
$50,000 in just four months as compared
to the two-and-a-half years it took to
assemble the original Mule.
The federal government provides
University of Florida engineers with
$200,000 a year to build the advanced
tractors.
Operation shown
on the Internet
* Doctors at Ohio State University
broadcast a surgical operation over a
newly-developed part of the Internet
yesterday, reported The Lantern, Ohio
State's student daily newspaper.
With an increase in the Internet's use
in recent years, the system has become
bogged down with slow download times.
New Internet connections being created
by Ohio State and others allowed Ohio
State doctors to show laparoscopic
surgery performed at the Ohio State
Jniversity Medical Center to members
of Congress in Washington.
The surgery involved the insertion of
tiny cameras into a patient's body so
doctors could see what they were doing
with their tools.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Gerard Cohen-Vrignaud.
College Bowl team looks for championship
By Adam Corndorf
For the Daily
Spring is nearing and with it the Wolverines
move into the post-season to defend last year's
national championship victory. This year the com-
petition will be stiffer, the pressure thicker and the
questions tougher.
But this isn't a Michigan sports team.
Forget about the Rose Bowl victory and the
NCAA Hockey Championship - the University
College Bowl team is the one to beat this spring.
An open University Activities Center organiza-
tion, the Michigan Academic Competitions squad
provides an opportunity for students to participate
in academic competition.
LSA sophomore Michael Davidson is a
returning member from last year's national
championship team.
"It was pretty exciting to win last year,"
Davidson said. "We surprised a lot of people
- including ourselves."
The format of the competition is similar to
that of college or quiz bowl, LSA junior and
MAC member Craig Barker said, with each
team fielding four participants. The team has
alternates as well as a second and third team to
compensate for the strenuous schedule that
includes competitions nearly every weekend.
As one of more than 70 circuit teams that
participate on a regular basis, the University
team competes nationally in various circuits.
Individual institutions also set up meets, as the
University team did in mid-January of this
year when it held an invitational over the
Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.
Barker said the University has, as of late,
been one of the most successful teams in the
country - and the world. The 1996 team
brought home the College Bowl, Inc. National
Championship from Arizona State University
and proceeded to defeat Imperial College of
London at the international Championship in
Manchester, England.
Imperial College was the winner of the British
equivalent of College Bowl. The British national
television station BBC2 covered the match - a
competition which resulted in a 265-125 victory
for the University team on New Year's Day.
Barker has a history of success in academic
competitions - in 1997, he was the winner of the
College Jeopardy tournament.
"It was different being one man versus a team,'
Barker said, comparing the experience of win-
ning alone on Jeopardy versus the College Bowl
championship in 1996. "But I equally prize win-
ning Jeopardy and winning the national champi-
onship."
This year's team seems to be following the illus-
trious path set forth by its predecessors.
In November. the team won a meet at the
University of Illinois that involved all of the Big
Ten teams. They were also victorious last April at
the NAQT Mideast Sectional competition at
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn
Last weekend, the team won the College Bowl,
Inc. Region 7 Championship at Michigan State
University.
Now they are gearing up for this year's National
Championship meet at the University of Florida
the weekend of April 16 to 18.
Rackham sixth-year student and team member
Rory Molinari said he is cautiously optimistic
about the upcoming championship.
"We have an honest chance at winning again."
Molinari said. "But it will be tough to win again.
We will have to play well:'
P
I
rof.: optimism can be
beneficial to health'
ay Asa Rafe"
Daily Staff Reporter
Wearing a broad grin, psychology
Prof. Chris Peterson addressed,
from a research perspective, the
virtues of smiling upon the world at
a luncheon yesterday at the
Michigan Union.
Peterson spoke on "Health and
Optimism" at the event, attended by
more than 80 University students,
staff and faculty.
Peterson's years of research on
the topic have drawn nationwide
attention, with The Oprah Winfrey
Show and the National Enquirer
among those who called him curi-
ous for more information regarding
his work.
"It's a very timely topic - our
society has become disenchanted
with. traditional medical care,"
Peterson said.
But interest may sometimes wan
when people learn that Peterson's
study doesn't find any "magic button"
to press to become happier and
healthier.
Optimistic people just behave dif-
ferently, Peterson said, taking an
active role in their health.
"If you think you can do some-
thing, you're going to behave in
ways that make it happen," he said.
"That's where optimism becomes
"If you think you can do something,
you're going to behave in ways that
make it happen"
- Chris Peterson
Psychology professor
powerful - when it's self-fulfill-
ing."
Various studies report a multi-
tude of benefits for people who
approach life feeling they can max-
imize the best and minimize the
worst.
Optimists, Peterson said, are
three times less likely than pes-
simists to report illnesses, visit doc-
tors and miss school for illness.
Pessimists, meanwhile, suffer
from their self-fulfilling negativity.
They are victims of more accidents
than optimists, Peterson said, some
studies have found pessimism to be
twice as hazardous to an individ-
ual's health as smoking.
A cheery outlook can even translate
into better grades and increased athlet-
ic performance, Peterson said.
University researchers, he said,
have found a brief questionnaire
evaluating optimism to be a better
predictor of grades than the
Scholastic Aptitude Test.
One study discovered that more
optimistic swimmers were more
likely to win Olympic gold medals
than their pessimistic counterparts.
The luncheon was part of a lec-
ture series co-sponsored by the
Michigan Union Program Board
and the University's Mortar Board
chapter. LSA senior Courtney
Dwight, Mortar Board vice-presi-
dent, said the organizations chose
professors for the series who have
consistently received excellent stu-
dent evaluations.
"It gives students a chance to
hear professors they normally
wouldn't get to hear, and is a good
way to honor professors," Dwight
said.
The lecture series, which is new
this year, holds lunches once a
month. The final speech will be given
by University President Lee
Bollinger on April 24
CHRIS CAMPERNEL/Daily
Psychology Prof. Chris Peterson lectures on optimism to lift students out of
their midterms blues yesterday.
Legislat rs
continue to push
f
Ob-
LANSING (AP) - Armed with a
new study indicating gender pay
inequities cost Michigan women $9
billion a year, equal pay advocates
in the state Legislature hope that a
20-year struggle ends with a raise.
Despite the reality that equal pay has-
n't surfaced as a priority of the
Republican-run Legislature, two
Democratic lawmakers said yesterday
that proposing the legislation again
can't hurt.
"It's important we keep the issue of
pay inequity alive," said Sen. Alma
Wheeler Smith (D-Salem Twp.).
Rep. Lynne Martinez (D-Lansing)
said women have made slow and
steady progress. Michigan women,
on average, make 70 cents for every
dollar a man makes in comparable
jobs, according to the study.
Nationally, that number rises to 74
cents on the dollar.
"What we're fighting for is not so
women can have an extra hairdo a
year," Martinez said. "This is about
access to food, clothing and shelter .
for women who are not being fairly
compensated."
Similar bills were introduced by both
lawmakers last session. Martinez's bill
was narrowly adopted in the then
Democratic-run House. It died in the
Senate.
The Michigan State AFL-CIO issued
the study conducted by its national orga-
nization, estimating that unequal pay has
cost Michigan working women $9 billion
each year. The average woman, they said,
loses $420,000 during her lifetime
because she isn't paid what she's worth.
The study analyzed recent data from
the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
"With more and more two income
families, pay equity is a men's issue and
a family issue," said Michigan State
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Bertha
Louise Poe.
Poe said that raising women's
wages would help push more single
mothers out of poverty because it
would give them an average of near-
ly $6,000 more a year.
House Speaker Chuck Perricone (R-
Kalamazoo Township) said he supports
equal pay for equal work, but said fed-
eral and state laws should be adequate
to stop such discrimination on the basis
of gender.
"If there's racism or discrimina-
tion in the workplace, you don't
throw more laws at it. You prosecute
with the laws already there,"
Perricone said.
Business groups such as the Small
Business Association of Michigan and
the Michigan Manufacturers
Association have opposed similar bills
in the past. They have argued that the
wage gap between men and women is
closing, albeit slowly,
WITH LITTLE JIMMY SCOTT
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What's happening in Ann Arbor today
i°
EVENTS
U "Annual Alternative Spring Break
Institute for Research on Women
and Gender, West Hall, Room
232D, 12 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
Weekdays 11 a.m.-4 p.m
U Safewalk, 936-1000, Shapiro Library
Lobby, 8 p.m.-2:30 a.m.
,I
. 14415 UBIIIM~V ,)EISIiatimmlwf'f rp. 'A11a-r,. tA i!*EIM[iut5r