LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - 3A
Does it snow as much in Asia?
Inventions exhibited at fair
Sleeping men
escorted from lot
near 'U' property
The Department of Public Safety
reported Monday two subjects were
found sleeping near 2850 S. Industrial
St., in an area under the Eisenhower
Bridge. Due to their proximity to the
parking lot, which is under DPS
patrol, they were escorted from the
area and further warned to stay off of
University property.
The subjects complied with the offi-
cers and no inappropriate behavior was
found, DPS reports.
Union employee
reports threats
from supervisor
An employee at the Michigan Union
called DPS to report that her supervi-
sor had made a threatening call, caus-
ing her to fear for her life. The problem
is being dealt with administratively
instead of through DPS.
Wireless phone
and $2,000 video
projector stolen
from 'U' building
It was reported to DPS that a video
projector valued at 2,000 and a wire-
less phone valued at $200 were
stolen three weeks ago from room
2036 of the Institute for Environmen-
tal Sciences Engineering and Tech-
nology Building.
The theft occurred when the room
was unlocked and the projector was
not secured. Currently there are no
suspects in this burglary, according to
DPS reports.
Doctor assaulted
by patient he was
trying to treat
A patient punched a physician
Monday at University Hospital. The
doctor had been attempting to treat
.the patient when the assault occurred.
Security responded by transferring the
patient to the psychiatric unit for
treatment, DPS said. DPS is investi-
gating the incident further and will
possibly turn the case over to a prose-
cutor for possible warrant authoriza-
tion of the perpetrator.
Burning iron sets
off false fire alarm
in South Quad
A fire alarm was sounded in South
Quad Sunday when a burning iron
set off the detector, according to
DPS. The building was not evacuat-
ed, and the alarm was reset. DPS said
that the smoke alarm is quite sensi-
tive and has gone off because of
burning food in the past.
$1,500 shop vac
stolen from Space
Research building
A shop vac, valued at $1,500, was
reported stolen from the Space
Research Building on Tuesday. The vac
was taken sometime between the dates
and times of Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. and
.Sept. 30 at 7 a.m.
While the theft, occurred the item
was unattended in the first floor hall-
way. DPS has no suspects.
Subject arrested
for driving with
suspended license
DPS reported Monday that a suspect
was arrested on an outstanding warrant
for driving illegally on a suspended
license in Ypsilanti. The subject was
taken to jail.
Adult victim
hospitalized after
soccer assault
A 34-year-old male student
punched and kicked a member of the
opposing team in a scuffle Sunday at
6:18 p.m. during a soccer game on
Mitchell Field Sunday night. The vic-
tim called DPS between the hours of
4:45 p.m. and 5 p.m. from the Univer-
sity hospital to report the incident.
Further details are being investigated
by DPS although only minor injuries
were reported.
Two trespassers
By Ivo Furman
For the Daily
Debuting innovations ranging
from microchips that sense the
chemical composition of water to a
substance that allows materials to
become light-sensitive, inventors
gathered at the Michigan League
Ballroom in an event intended for
University faculty to celebrate and
examine their inventions and meet
with fellow colleagues from the
University Tech Transfer Center
yesterday.
With the appointment of Universi-
ty President Mary Sue Coleman, ini-
tially a professor of chemistry and
biology, the number of faculty
patents and licenses have steadily
increased.
"The University takes great pride
in the level of creativity that is rep-
resented here, and in the contribu-
tions that our inventors make to the
outside world. You are part of a great
tradition of invention at Michigan,
and this a tradition that we want to
sustain and develop," Coleman said
in a written statement.
After time for discussion among
the inventors, the reception opened
with speeches from Ken Nisbet,
executive director of the University
Tech Transfer Center, and Coleman,
who described the burst in inven-
tions designed at the University over
the past year.
"Things have changed. The maga-
zine New Scientist has ranked the
University eighth in the country in
terms of impact of life science tech-
nology on society," Nisbet said.
In 2003, more than 500 University
faculty and students have patented
or licensed innovations. Awards for
research were given out to Ray
Counsel, an emeritus professor at
the University's Department of Phar-
macology, for his research on tumor
cells and to John Maassab, a profes-
sor in the Department of Epidemiol-
ogy at the University since 1960, for
designing a nasal spray.
In technology kiosks located
around the ballroom, University fac-
ulty displayed eight examples of
innovations and activities. The dis-
played inventions included Sensi-
core, a microchip designed to sense
and monitor the chemical composi-
tion of water, a Design Kit for
Accessory Drives that analyzes the
performance of a combustion engine
and the Eibschitz Capsulorrhexis
Knife that aids surgeons in cataract
surgery.
Maya Eibschitz-Tsimhoni, the
designer of the knife, said her inno-
vation is "a method for removing a
portion of the outer eye with a
'cookie cutter' style incision lessen-
ing the likelihood of tears and tags
within the structure of the eye."
Other inventions included Tissue
Engineering, a team of multi-disci-
plinary individuals attempting to
facilitate repair and regeneration of
specific body parts, and Helix, a
toothpick-sized steel fiber that is
used to reinforce concrete.
Antoine Naaman, a professor at
the University's Department of Civil
and Environmental Engineering,
described Helix as "a commercial
product you put in concrete to
strengthen it. Helix is essentially a
triangular, energy absorbing steel
fiber and is simply the most
advanced way to reinforce concrete."
Other interesting innovations were
the Neural Intervention Technologies
designed to aid treatment of brain
vessel defects; the Optrix, a tech-
nique that allows material to become
reactive to light and changes in light
intensity and the Omnitread Hyper-
Mobility Robot, which is designed
to crawl and slither through niches
and crevices in collapsed man-made
structures.
John Borenstein, the inventor of
the Omnitread Hyper-mobility
Robot described it as "a hypomobli-
ty device that is built to imitate a
moving skin.
"The device has actuated joints
that allow it to be raised over obsta-
cles in the way that a skeletal joint
moves up and down. The uniqueness
of this hypomobility device is the
combination of actuated joint and
the moving skin which allows it to
move over static surfaces," he added.
LSA senior Olivia Rlutta, who studied in Thailand, talks about
Southeast Asia at the Study Abroad fair yesterday in the Union.
Cox: Foreign women
dr ee
BAC
Continued from Page A
eral items contribute to a motorist's BAC.
"I don't think there are any hard and fast rules for
BAC. It's controlled by many factors- gender, body
weight, if and what the person has eaten that day," Bol-
ger said.
"It also depends what you mean by 'drinks.' Some-
one who's had say, a Long Island Iced Tea, is more like-
ly to have a higher BAC than someone who's had a
lighter drink like a Coke and rum," Bolger added.
Engineering senior Rob Rucky said the new law will
not change his habits.
"It's a little threshold between .08 and .1. I don't
keep exact track of myself when I go out," Rucky said.
Local restaurants said they were unfazed by the new
law. Good Time Charley's Manager Tony Lavigne said
he did not expect major changes.
"We gauge serving alcohol on a person-to-person
basis, not by the exact letter of the law," Levigne said.
We haven't really seen a problem with people drinking
and driving, he added.
Rene Gress, co-owner of the Arbor Brewing Compa-
ny, said she feels similarly unaffected by the new law.
"I think people monitor their drinking by feel. I don't
think the law will have a significant affect on what they do.
We're not expecting any change in business," Gress said.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Nearly
two dozen women from the Middle
East are accused of defrauding Medic-
aid to cover the costs of having a baby
in the United States.
Attorney General Mike Cox said
yesterday the 23 women flew to the
Detroit area specifically to deliver their
babies and get emergency Medicaid
benefits to pay for it. Within a few
months of having their children, the
women returned to their native coun-
tries, Cox said.
To get Medicaid benefits, an appli-
cant must say they intend to become a
permanent resident of the state. Cox
said the women falsified information
on the Medicaid forms, while putting
on their visitor visas that they intended
to return to their home countries.
Thirty-four babies were delivered
between August 1997 and February
2003, Cox spokesman Sage Eastman
said. In some cases, the women
returned to Michigan up to three times
to deliver more babies, he said. The
Mixed
results for
Big Three
car sales
DETROIT (AP) - The traditional
Big Three automakers posted mixed
U.S. sales results last month as busi-
ness tapered off after a blistering
August pace. Foreign brands, however,
remained strong.
Among Detroit's Big Three, General
Motors Corp. led the way with a 12
percent increase in September sales,
spurred by heavy demand for trucks.
Ford Motor Co.'s comparable vol-
ume was flat, while DaimlerChrysler
AG's Chrysler Group saw sales fall
15 percent. But Chrysler was truly
back among the Big Three in Sep-
tember, a month after Toyota's U.S.
arm outsold Chrysler for the first
time in a single month.
September's tallies: 147,114 vehicles
sold for Chrysler, 140,754 for Toyota,
Japan's No. 1 automaker.
Still, Toyota's volume rose 10 per-
cent in September to cap a quarter in
which the company's U.S. sales topped
half a million for the first time in a
three-month period.
"The first three quarters of the year
brought the situation in Iraq, econom-
ic uncertainty and fluctuating gas
prices, but U.S. consumers held tough
and the auto industry experienced
steady growth," said Jim Press, execu-
tive vice president of Toyota Motor
Sales USA Inc.
Total sales for the Big Three were
off 4.3 percent through September
when compared to the same period last
year. A month after the combined U.S.
market share for GM, Ford and
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women ranged in age from 20 to 42.
The amount of Medicaid funds used
to pay for delivery services for the
women ranged from a couple thousand
dollars to $17,000. Eastman said the
total Medicaid costs for these cases
was $150,000.
Eastman said while it's the state's
intent to prosecute the woman and
recover the costs, the women likely
wouldn't be extradited. The women are
from Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
Falsifying a Medicaid application
is punishable by up to four years in
jail and/or a $50,000 fine. The
charges were filed in Ingham County
District Court.
Eastman said the attorney general's
office will work Immigration and Nat-
uralization Services.
"We take these cases very seriously,
and we are working closely with both
federal and state agencies to put an
end to this activity," Cox said in a
statement. More people may be
charged, Cox said.
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