The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, January15, 2013 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Toyota regains top
spot in vehicle sales
Toyota has once again
dethroned General Motors as the
world's top-selling automaker.
The Japanese company sold
9.7 million cars and trucks
worldwide in 2012, although it's
still counting. GM sold 9.29 mil-
lion.
. Both companies saw higher
sales, but Toyota's growth was
far larger as it rolled out new ver-
sions of popular models like the
Camry. GM executives promised
sales growth this year, especially
in the U.S. Both companies say
publicly that they don't care
about who wins, but concede
that the crown is an important
morale booster for employees.
GM was the top-selling car-
maker for more than seven
decades before losing the title to
Toyota in 2008. But GM retook
. the sales crown in 2011 when
Toyota's factories were slowed
by an earthquake and tsunami in
Japan. The disaster left Toyota
dealers with few cars to sell. The
company has since recovered.
PHOENIX, ARIZ.
Governor opts for
* federal Medicaid
enlargement
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said
Monday she plans to push for an
expansion of the state's Medicaid
program under the federal health
care law, a surprising decision that
could have an impact on other
Republican governors weighing a
similar decision.
Brewer has opposed the fed-
eral health care law known as the
Affordable. Care Act, citing wor-
ries over a potential overreliance
on federal funding.
A provision in the 2010 law
allows for states to increase Med-
icaid coverage, and Brewer told
lawmakers in her annual State
of the State address on Monday
that virtually all of the expan-
sion would be funded by the fed-
eral government. Not taking the
money wouldn't contribute to the
lowering of federal deficits, she
said.
CONCORD, N. H.
$700 million case
against two oil
companies begins
Day one of what is expected
to be a marathon pollution trial
over the gasoline additive MTBE
ended Monday with lawyers for
the state of New Hampshire and
two big oil companies heatedly
accusing each other of mislead-
ing jurors.
The judge denied demands for
a mistrial made by Citgo's law-
yer, Nathan Elmer, but may give
jurors a special instruction when
the trial resumes Tuesday with
more opening statements from
the lawyers .
The state is seeking more than
$700 million from Citgo and
ExxonMobil to cover the cost of
monitoring and treating MTBE-
contaminated wells. Lawyers-for
the state argue that the MTBE
gasoline is a defective product
and that oil companies failed to
warn the state of its potential for
widespread groundwater con-
tamination.
KHARTOUM, SUDAN
Chinese workers
kidnapped in
Sudan's Darfur
China's Foreign Ministry says
four Chinese workers have been
abducted in Sudan's North Dar-
fur region by unidentified gun-
men.
Monday's statement says the
men are employees of the China
Railway 18th Bureau Group who
were building a road in North
Darfur just outside the regional
capital of El-Fasher.
Sudan's state news agency
SUNA has blamed the abduction
on a Darfur rebel movement, but
it stopped short of naming which
group.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
DANCE WITH ME
Theme semester
examines race
LSA senior James Hammond and Engineering junior Amanda Grimm teach ballroom dance for the Michigan
Ballroom team on Monday,
'Invisible scalpel' could
replace radiation treatment
Tool aims to more
efficiently destroy
cancerous tumors
By IANT DILLINGHAM
DailyStaffReporter
University researchers have
demonstrated the effective-
ness of a new technology that
has the potential to dramati-
cally improve surgical proce-
dures. .
Termed an "invisible scal-
pel," the laser-generated
focused ultrasound seeks to
improve the quality of non-
invasive surgical procedures
by turning high-energy lasers
into ultrasound waves. The
waves are then concentrated
onto a single focal point where
they can potentially destroy
cancerous cells or tissue.
Engineering Prof. Jay Guo,
one of the study's authors,
said the innovation is similar
to current cancer treatments
using radiation with a signifi-
cantly higher level of precision
and potential for other appli-
cations.
. "You can use it to kill cells,"
Guo said. "You can (also) use
the ultrasound to change to
permittivity of the cell mem-
branes, so you can deliver
drugs through the cells' mem-
branes and treat the tissues
and cells."
Some types of cancerous
tumors are currently treated
using radiation therapy. Guo
said this method often destroys
the targeted area but can also
cause damage to the surround-
ing tissue.
Compared with radiation,
however, Guo said the LGFU
has the ability to target very
specific areas, like a very small
tumor, and to alleviate the col-
lateral damage to healthy tissue.
"We've shown in our experi-
ment that (the LGFU) can focus
down to the size of a human
hair," Guo said. "In one experi-
ment ... we showed that you can
detach the cells one by one, so it
really localized with great pre-
cision."
The technology behind the
LGFU is currently used in sev-
eral forms of photo-acoustic
imaging, a method which com-
bines optics technology with
ultrasound. These images use
similar technologies to the
LGFU, but are taken at much
lower energies, thus causing
minimal damage to the tissue.
Hyoung Won Baac, a
research fellow at Harvard
who worked as a doctoral stu-
dent in Guo's lab, said the new
technology also demonstrates
a much greater level of accu-
racy than traditional methods.
"There isalready a focused
ultrasound technology nowa-
days routinely used in hospitals
for therapeutic applications
with several-millimeter accu-
racy," Baac said. "But a main
drawback of the classical equip-
ment has been improved greatly
by our work with a focal accu-
racy of smaller than 0.1 milli-
meters."
Starting in 2010, the
researchers at Guo's lab began
using carbon nanotubes to
improve the performance. The
tubes were then embedded in a
polymer material that provides
a better thermal expansion.
Even with these improve-
ments, the device was still only
capable of imaginggiven its low
intensity.
"We need more improve-
ment and verifications for
more practical level of demon-
stration," Baac said. "But if it
works, the ultrasound surgery
may work in a non-invasive,
non-thermal and elaborate
way. This will target tumors
or problematic tissues exactly,
keeping.. healthy nerves and
blood vessels intact."
As the researchers continue
to improve the device, they
hope to collaborate with the
University of Michigan's Medi-
cal School and other depart-
ments to help develop the
technology for use on human
subjects in the future.
"(The LGFU)- .has great
potentials for high-accuracy
therapy," Baac said. "For prac-
tical use, we will collaborate
with biomedical engineers and
doctors to determine next tar-
gets and directions in clinical
purposes."
Students can enroll
in more than 130
themed courses
By AARON GUGGENHEIM
Daily StaffReporter
Three years ago, Amy Har-
ris, director of the Museum of
Natural History, was askedby an
Ann Arbor public school teacher
to bring the travelling exhibit,
"Race: Are We So Different?" to
her museum.
Harris brought the exhibit to
the University-,an action that
in part inspired the Winter 2013
LSA Theme Semester, "Under-
standing Race."
The theme semester aims to
engage students in a dicussion
about race, through numerous
events and activities that are
targeted at both the University
community and public school
districts in Washtenaw County.
The University plans to host 90
events, 15 exhibits and is offer-
ing 130 different courses related
to the theme.
Teachers in Washtenaw
County school districts will lead
discussions about race in their
classrooms before and after vis-
iting the exhibit at the museum,
and the University will host a
series of monthly conversations.
Harris said she hoped that
University students would
attend and engage in some of
the student-orientated events,
such as a Martin Luther King
Jr. Day speech by Morris Dees,
chief trial counsel for the South-
ern Poverty Law Center, and a
multimedia presentation, "We
Can End Racism," led by artist
Damali Ayo in April.
Among the 130 courses, LSA
is offering several new courses
specifically created for theme
semester. One such course, The
Aryan Race: Myth, Truth and
Fiction, seeks to examine both
how conceptions of race are
formed and how they influence
our self-perception.
History Prof. Masuzawa, who
teaches the course with Associ-
ate Prof. Gayle Rubin, wrote in
an e-mail interview that the
course grew out of a graduate
seminar the pair taught with
retired History Prof. Thomas
Trautmann in 2005 and a desire
to reach a broader spectrum of
students.
Masuzawa wrote that the.
course aims to foster a conver-
sation on various ways in which
we approach discussing race.
She added that looking to the
past to explore the history of
the Aryan race functions as a
good starting point for the con-
versation.
"We would like students to
find such a moment to pause,
to think, and to converse, at a
little distance from the usual
tugs and disputes (about race),"
Masuzawa wrote. "Instead, (we
would like them to learn) in the
company of books, histories and
unfamiliar facts."
Another course, Community
Collaborations: Race, Social
Justice and Engaged Learning,
taught by Associate Prof. Megan
Sweeney, looks into the relation-
ship between. universities and
outside communities.
"It seemed so important to
recognize that faculty members
have engaged in community-
oriented research related to the
African American community
engagement ... as part of the race
theme semester," Megan Swee-
ney said.
Sweeney said she wants her
students to gain an understand-
ing of the history of community
involvement and develop hands-
on projects that help students
explore their own identity in
relationship to others.
"There is a great deal of
importance in thinking about
race and structural inequalities
as you work with students who
are involved in (communities),"
Sweeney said.
Efforts to foster a conversa-
tion about race are what drew
LSA senior Sara Blanks to coor-
dinate events for the theme
semester.
Growing up biracial, Blanks
said many people don't think
about racism as much as she
does. But she hopes the theme
semester can change that.
"I want people to actually
have conversations about it,"
Blanks said.
Harris, the museum director,
said race has always remained
an important national conver-
sation and is particularly true
in light of the coming inaugu-
ration and 150th anniversary
of the Emancipation Proclama-
tion.
"It is always a good time to
talk about race," Harris said.
"There is a constant stream of
things that happen locally and
nationally that illustrate that it
is important to be thinking and
talking about race."
Harris added that by holding
this semester-long conversa-
tion, the University has made
it a priority to foster a diverse
campus which is welcoming for
everyone.
"This is another opportunity
for the campus to really focus
on this issue and talk about it,"
she said. "Racism is embedded
in our institutions, and in order
to make changes, we need to
understand that."
Program allows students to
become sustainability scholars
11-credit track
focused on
leaders and the
environment
By CHELSEA HOEDL
Daily StaffReporter
The maize and blue faith-
ful have a chance to go green
through a special interdisci-
plinary sustainability program
offered to a group of qualified
University students.
The Undergraduo*e Sus-
tainability Scholars Program
is an 11-credit, interdisciplin-
ary study dealing with sus-
tainability and leadership
development. It was created
and funded by the Graham
Environmental Sustainability
Institute.
Andrew Horning, the direc-
tor of the Graham Environ-
mental Sustainability Institute,
said sophomores can apply to
the program online this month.
Interested students are asked
to submit an essay, resume,
transcript and two recommen-
dation letters by January 25.
Each year, about 30 students
are selected to participate in
the program. Horning said
those selected are representa-
tive of "all corners of the cam-
pus."
"It's a competitive program
open to students throughout
the university in any school
or college, but they have to go
through a rigorous, competi-
tive process to apply," Horning
said.
Engineering junior Diana
Bach, who was selected for the
program last year, said she has
always been interested in sus-
tainability initiatives and was
enticed to apply.
"This was just a really
good way for me to get more
involved on campus and be
able to connect with a lot of
other students who are also
interested in sustainability,"
Bach said.
Selected scholars complete
two seminars, a "Sustainabil-
ity and the Campus" course,
pre-approved elective courses
and a field-based course. The
Graham Institute grants each
scholar up to $3,000 to com-
plete his or her field study.
The field-based course
allows students to look at the
"big picture," according to
LSA senior Marie Tysman,
who completed her field study
requirement in Iceland last
May.
"We looked at the sustain-
ability, how people lived and
the geothermal energy that
they have there," Tysman said.
"There are a lot of geother-
mal plants and hydrothermal
plants that we visited. We also
did a lot of hiking to see the
natural habitat and what they
are doing to try and conserve
it."
While there are pre-
approved field study programs,
scholars may create proposals
to complete their requirement
elsewhere. Students have trav-
eled all over the world, with
some staying within the Unit-
ed States and others going as
far as Brazil, Kenya, Germany
and China.
Tysman - a former writer
for The Michigan Daily - said
the program allowed her to
connect her experiences and
interests with her courses in
sustainability.
"It's a real-life experience
where you're learning about
how the environment interacts
with what you're interested in,
whether that be politics, the
food industry, whatever you're
studying," Tysman said.
Tysman added that the pro-
gram is not only capable of
changing how you make small
decisions, but also decisions
that are life changing.
"It's really shaped how I
view the world," she said. "It's
changed how I view every-
thing, how I want to live my
life after college and even how
I travel and what I purchase."
JOIN THE DAILY!
COME TO OUR MASS MEETINGS:
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SUfl., Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
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