The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
Thursday, April 10, 2014 - 3A
The ichian aily- mchigndaiyco Thusda, Apil10.204 _
APP
From Page 1A
Merge secured its first inves-
tor in the beginning of March,
and plansto start hiringstudents
to help expand Merge to other
schools.
During the process of develop-
ing Merge, Steinmetz and Alster
realized they weren't the only
ones with an idea for another
social networking app.
However, Steinmetz said, "it's
not always who does it first, it's
who does it right first."
They plan to add more new
features to Merge over the sum-
mer while expanding to more
schools like Cornell University
and the University of Pennsyl-
vania.
One major addition involves a
Snapchat-like function that will
allow users to select multiple
buddies to Merge with, creat-
ing an event for everyone that's
available.
And, similar to the Venmo
app, atriple newsfeed will allow
users to easily keep track of pri-
vate interactions, interactions
among just their Merge buddy
list or public interactions that
any Merge user can see.
"The biggest part of the fea-
ture is that you can make it pub-
lic, private, or for your friends,"
Steinmetz said. "We think it's
really fun to look through this
and see what our friends are
paying each other for. You get to
see what people are up to."
Updates to the app will also
allow users to classify their
events, enabling others to join
public events.
Because Merge is designed
as a daily scheduler more than
a long-term calendar, the devel-
opers decided against synching
users' Merge schedules with
other calendars, as some other
social networking apps have
done.
Research makes smell a new
technique for marketing
an imaaaas.. ne a
dis
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NUCLEAR
From Page 1A
nuclear weapons that are real,"
Pozzi said. "There are nations
that are trying to develop overt,
or even covert, nuclear weap-
ons programs. There's also the
possibility that terrorists might
acquire and use nuclear weap-
ons. And these are interrelated
problems, so the consortium will
address these big issues."
The Nuclear Non-Prolifer-
ation Treaty, which came into
force in 1970, has three major
tenets: disarmament by current
nuclear countries, nonprolifera-
tion for non-nuclear countries
and the right of all countries to
pursue peaceful nuclear energy.
Of the world's 195 countries, 190
have signed the treaty. Notable
exceptions are India, Israel, Pak-
istan, South Sudan and North
Korea, which withdrew in 2003.
The Center will monitor these
countries, as well as nations that
have signed the treaty, and look
at geophysical models of the
effects of nuclear explosions.
Secret underground nuclear
tests cause shaking in the ground
that has a different signature
than earthquakes. New research
HEALTHCARE
From Page 1A
and road traffic injury. He said
countries that have more preven-
tative health policies - contrary
to most U.S. delivery models -
showed fewer instances of health
problems related to each area of
concern.
For example, he said countries
with stricter tobacco control regu-
lations and preventative measures
to discourage smoking had fewer
smokers, lower cigarette sales
and fewer smoking-related health
issues in the population.
Mackenbach discussed possible
reasons for the existing dispari-
ties. He found that many coun-
tries which could benefit from
improved healthcare models often
could help agencies, such as the
International Atomic Energy
Agency, detect these specific
geophysical signatures, alerting
them that a country is conduct-
ing illegal tests.
Another important arm of
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty will allow nations to
pursue nuclear energy without
developing nuclear weapons.
But monitoring nuclear material
to ensure that it is not enriched
into weapons-grade forms such
as plutonium, uranium-233 and
uranium-235 is currently a time-
intensive and costly enterprise
that relies on quickly disappear-
ing materials.
Current detection systems rely
on a material called helium-3,
which is growing increasingly
rare because it was manufac-
tured largely as a byproduct of
nuclear weapons manufactur-
ing. Researchers from the Cen-
ter hope to create new detection
devices that rely on specific
emissions of neutrons - small
particles that make up atoms -
to detect enriched radioactive
material.
Researchers also said they
hope the new technology would
enable inspectors to monitor
nuclear material without open-
possess the means to do so, but are
stymied by the political, social and
cultural climate of the country.
John Frank, director of the
Scottish Collaboration for Pub-
lic Health Research & Policy and
chair of Public Health Research.
& Policy at the University of Edin-
burgh, Scotland, delivered the
second address, titled "Influenc-
ing Child Health Policies with Sci-
entific Evidence: Lessons from 5
Years in Scotland."
His lecture aimed to demon-
strate the importance of early
access to education on an indi-
vidual's health and future suc-
cess. Frank said early education
implementation is the single most
important indicator for a child's
future.
"You can make people's chances
in life muchmore equal inonly one
ing containers - a much safer,
faster, easier and less expensive
alternative.
Seismological testing and veri-
fication systems are only a part of
what the Center will focus on. As
the chief scientist of the project,
Engineering Prof. David Wehe is
in charge of defining the "Grand
Challenges" and fostering inter-
disciplinary collaboration.
"This is a daunting task
because the CVT engages seis-
mology, radiation detection,
infrasound, optics, satellite sens-
ing and imagery, intelligence
gathering, big data mining, and
policy," Wehe wrote in an e-mail
interview. "CVT seeks to direct
research in these diverse fields to
meet a single mission area: nucle-
ar verification."
Pozzi said the University is a
great choice to lead the consor-
tium due to its history of excel-
lence in nuclear and radiological
studies.
"Michigan had the first nucle-
ar engineering program in the
nation," Pozzi said. "We had
some of the founding fathers of
nuclear radiation detection. One
of them is Prof. Glenn Knoll, who
is now an emeritus professor, and
he will be sitting on my advisory
board."
really cost effective way, and that
is giving universal preschool high
quality education, half day a week
from age two, age one in high risk
families," Frank said.
Frank proposed a plan to com-
bat societal challenges through
education, while addressing some
of the concerns of implementing
potential reforms.
Public Health Prof. George
Kaplan acted as the moderator
and he introduced both Macken-
bach and Frank's speeches and
led a question and answer session
after each speaker. The Institute
for Healthcare Policy and Inno-
vation, the University's Robert
Johnson Foundation Scholar's in
Health Policy Program and the
Center for Social Epidemiology of
Population Health sponsored the
event.
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;covered to sway imagery can be used to improve
the efficacy of certain advertise-
Isumers' opinion ments when paired with strong
visual images.
of a product Temple University Professor
Maureen Morrin, who worked on
By JULIA LISS Krishna's team, said the research
Daily StaffReporter could increase the effectiveness
of ads. However, the research is
niversity professor has dis- currently in such early phases that
d a way to use an imagined companies are not yet incorporat-
of smell to enhance adver- ing the findings to attract custom-
nts for food. ers.
iness Prof. Aradhna Krish- "We would love it if advertisers
is made progress in her took notice and started incorporat-
ch on sensory marketing ing a call to the consumer to imag-
gies, a field that she defined ine the odor of their products,"
arketing that engages con- Morrin said.
s' senses and affects peo- Olfactory imagery, or "smelliz-
ehavior using subconscious ing" as Krishna and her team call
rs." it, allows consumers to imagine
shna is the director of the a smell that they are not actually
ry Marketing Lab at the Ross experiencing, much like visualiz-
I of Business. Research at ing something you are not looking
at. Krishna said the existence of
olfactory imagery has been a mat-
ter of controversy within the aca-
demic community for a long time,
but now there is more certainty of
its existence.
Researchers ran fMRI stud-
ies to see which parts of the brain
are active when smelling an actual
scent compared with smellizing.
Results show that the brain activ-
ity is identical in both scenarios,
which researchers claim is olfac-
tory imagery at work.
To further their understanding
of the phenomenon, Krishna's lab
tested whether people found hand
warmers and coolers more effec-
tive if they had a congruent warm
or cold smell injected into them.
They found that hand warmers
with warm smells like pumpkin
spice were more effective than
ones impregnated with a smell like
sea-island cotton.
Detroit reaches bankruptcy
deal with $388M in bonds
Decision is only a
small fraction of
overall case
DETROIT (AP) - The city of
Detroit reached a deal in bank-
ruptcy over $388 million in bonds,
mediators announced Wednes-
day, a significant agreement that
could influence other creditors to
try to geta settlement.
Detroit will pay 74 cents for
each dollar. Roughly $50 million
in tax revenue that won't be need-
ed to pay the balance instead will
go to a fund to help low-income
retirees who are expected to see
smaller checks when the bank-
ruptcy case ends.
The deal still needs the bless-
ing of Judge Steven Rhodes and is
only a small part of the $18 billion
case, the largest bankruptcy by a
local government in U.S. history.
Detroit emergency manager
Kevyn Orr, appointed by the state
to run the city, said he hopes to
announce more deals soon.
"It's important that people get
on the bandwagon," Orr told The
Associated Press, referring to
other creditors, especially unions,
who have been privately meeting
with the city and mediators.
Earlier, on CNBC, Orr said he
doesn't want to turn to a "cram-
down," a bankruptcy term that
gives a judge sweeping power to
settle disputes.
The aid for low-income retirees
was welcomed by a spokesman for
the police and fire pension fund.
"However, whether the settle-
ment as a whole is advantageous
to the city and to the retirement
systems - we just do not know,"
Bruce Babiarz said.
Detroit hopes to exit bankrupt-
cy by October, but the city's plan
first faces a series of court hear-
ings in summer. The most divisive
issue: cuts to pensions.
The city is proposing a 6 per-
cent cut for retired police officers
and firefighters, and a 26 percent
cut for other retirees. The differ-
ence is tied to the health of the
two pension funds.
The size of those cuts assumes
that foundations, the state of
Michigan and other philanthro-
pists contribute $816 million to
help pensioners and prevent the
sale of city-owned art. If retir-
ees and city employees reject the
cuts, the outside money vanishes
and pensions would be slashed
even more.
Anthony Sabino, a bankruptcy
expert and St. John's University
law professor, said the bond deal
is a "good sign of progress" in the
case.
"We call that taking a hair-
cut," he said. "That's fairly typi-
cal for bondholders in a corporate
bankruptcy. There usually is a
restatement of terms, and the
bondholders take some kind of
reduction."
Bondholders earlier had been
offered 15 cents on the dollar, but
Orr said there was a risk that the
city would lose access to a prop-
erty tax earmarked for debt if it
didn't make a better deal.
Separately,-a group of creditors
with eyes on Detroit's art said it
has found buyers willing to pay
more than $1 billion for parts or
all of the collection. Creditors are
asking the judge to order Orr to
cooperate with interested parties.
New York-based Art Capital
Group said it would arrange $2
billion in loans to Detroit with
art at the Detroit Institute of Arts
used as collateral. Orr, however,
told AP he's not interested and
will stick with a plan to raise
money from foundations and the
state.
"We've committed ourselves to
that bargain. No one can compel
the city to sell assets," Orr said.
INTERNET
From Page 1A
Halderman, associate professor
of electrical engineering and
computer science, 3.7 percent
of the top one million Internet
sites have been vulnerable to
attack.
"The Internet is not falling
down or coming to an end,"
Bailey said. "The vulnerability
exists because someone made a
coding error."
Howell said the problem was
not well known, but now that
the code for the security hole
is public - made available in
part for IT staff to test the effi-
cacy of patching efforts - there
is increased likelihood of oth-
ers gaining access to sensitive
information.
"This week there is definitely
DIVERSITY
From Page 1A
The event featured perfor-
mances by students who wrote
creative pieces addressing the
issue of certain identities being
ignored or misrepresented at
the University. The event also
featured guest performances
by The Harmonettes, the Uni-
versity's first female a cappella
group and Amazin' Blue, the
University's oldest co-ed a cap-
pella group.
The creative works tackled
topics like weight and appear-
ance, mental health, financial
and academic discrimination,
misogyny, sexuality and race.
added risk," he said.
However, Bailey said it's
impossible to know whether or
not data, such as passwords or
pin numbers, was stolen during
the two years prior to patching
the flaw.
Since the flaw's discovery,
University ITS staff worked to
individually patch the codes for
the University's large portfolio of
webservers and sites. Howell said
it's difficult to estimate how many
sites were affected and how many
are yet to be repaired, since infor-
mation technology at the Univer-
sity is largely decentralized.
ITS officials in individual aca-
demic units have been notified
on how tofix the issues and most
main siteswere fixed Monday, but
it's possible there are still sites
affected by the problem that have
yet to be identified.
While the University recom-
The event also discussed the
issues of some students who do
not feel they are "Victors" at the
University.
Rohit Sreedharan, a research-
er at the University's Pediatrics
and Endocrinology department,
said the part of the event that
stood out to him the most was
the criticism some performers
used against the University.
"You see all of the signs
around that portray how the
University ignores a lot of stuff
going on under the table that
you don't really know about
until you go to these events,"
Sreedharan said.
Sreedharan added that the
event opened his eyes to the
issue of diversity on campus.
mends people change their pass-
words at least biannually, Howell
said ITS officials have not yet
decided whether they will send
out an e-mail to notify faculty,
students and staff to change their
uniqname passwords in light of
the flaw.
He added that users might see
an influx of phishing e-mails,
which are scam messages posing
as University official that prompt
recipients to provide passwords
and other personal information,
and warned students to beware of
any suspicious correspondence.
"I think it's probably a good
idea for folks to change their
password," Bailey said. "Whether
or not I actually believe the Uni-
versity of Michigan lost informa-
tion, I wouldn't bet money on it.
But good password hygiene has
you changing your high-value
passwords all the time."
LSA sophomore Grace Fisher
said the range of backgrounds
impressed her the most.
"There definitely needs to be
more dialogue about diversity
at the University," Fisher said.
"This is an important step ... and
I hope that in the future, events
like this will have wider audi-
ences."
Even though this was the last
Diversity Monologues event
of the semester, Kaur said she
hopes to continue the series in
the future.
"This is definitely something
that we want to keep going and
have it as the staple of the Hon-
ors program," Kaur said.
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