Neuroscientists develop visual search for iPhone

Application to turn photos into advertisements

Written by Gabrielle Grow

News Writer

Published on May 26, 2010

Thanks to UC Davis and UC Berkeley scientists, visual search isn't limited to Android users any longer. With the help of crowdsourcing, computer vision and 'a bit of magic,' iPhone application oMoby is the newest addition to visual search.

oMoby is used to recognize and label photos through crowdsourcing and computer vision. Businesses like IQ Engines, the creators of oMoby, tap into public knowledge to draw information so the company doesn't have to do all the work, similar to how Wikipedia works.

Computer vision, a technology also used in surveillance and topographical modeling, serves as the eyes of the application.

A photo is first processed by object-recognizing computer vision modules, which can process an image in seconds.

"If those [modules] are not successful, the photo then goes to a human crowdsourcing network," said IQ Engine co-founder Gerry Pesavento in an e-mail interview. "In this way, 100 percent of photos submitted get tagged."

Currently, oMoby is best at identifying books, CDs and DVDs, and can do so without scanning barcodes. Once a picture is taken, the application is used as a shopping comparison tool to pull up product information, reviews and prices.

While out at dinner, someone could estimate if it's worth buying a bottle of wine at the restaurant's price by snapping a picture, identifying the bottle and comparing prices with oMoby.

Developed for the iPhone, oMoby provides visual intelligence as a service since anyone can use IQ Engines' image recognition engine, whereas Google provides them as a mobile application, Pesavento said, distinguishing the two.

David Warland [cq], a research professor from UC Davis, co-founded IQ Engines and helped set the framework for their computer vision system.

Software infrastructure developer Huy Nguyen and software engineer Spencer Mathews, both graduate students at UC Davis, worked on the application with a team of computer neuroscientists and researchers from UC Berkeley. The researchers apply their expertise in biological and computer vision to develop applications like oMoby.

IQ Engines has also developed software to monetize pictures by matching labels to relevant retailers and advertisers.

By using their software, you connect a picture of yourself drinking from a Coca-Cola bottle to an advertising marketplace. Once it reaches the marketplace, Coca-Cola could pay to turn their logo in the photo into a clickable link or advertisement.

"There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages to this type of technology," said Jesse Drew, professor of technocultural studies. "Because it is electronic, it leaves it open for hacking and error. Reliance on this technology can weaken peoples' ability to think for themselves."

Objects with distinct patterns and logos are relatively easy for the application to identify, but applications like oMoby and Google Goggles have trouble identifying objects with abstract shapes or plain textures, like purses.

"The camera is the eye and we're building the brain," Pesavento said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Initially, oMoby had difficulty recognizing products, identifying a picture frame from Target as a "wood thing," wrote an oMoby reviewer on everythingiCafe.com.

Within an hour after first identifying the 'wood thing' however, the item was updated and identified as a picture frame.

Lower wages may result in obesity

High quality food difficult for poor to afford

Written by Gabrielle Grow

News Writer

Published on May 17, 2010

Minimum-wage employees are more likely to be obese than higher wage employees, according to a UC Davis study of a relationship that has long been speculated, but unproven until now.

Most people agree on the relationship between income and obesity, but not the reasons for it or the direction of the relationship, said Paul Leigh, professor of health economics at UC Davis School of Medicine.

Researchers from UC Davis used data collected by the University of Michigan to study the relationship between low income and obesity. Over 6,000 people from 40 states with full-time jobs who identified themselves as the heads of household participated in the six-year longitudinal study.

Deeper research required Leigh and co-author DaeHwan Kim to use a third variable unrelated to obesity to determine if the relationship between low wages and obesity was more than coincidental.

The authors used selected minimum wage variation across states over time, a variable unrelated to obesity, to show the correlation between low income and obesity. Over the past three decades minimum wages have fallen or remained stagnant, leaving full-time workers near the poverty line. During those decades, obesity rates skyrocketed.

"It's hard to argue that Body Mass Index (BMI) influences state legislature," Leigh said.

Economists have historically believed that bias against obese workers resulted in lower wages; however, the results of Leigh's study show a causal relationship of low wages on obesity.

Obesity was determined by a BMI of 30 or more, and was adjusted for various variables such as age, race and gender.

Leigh and other public health scientists identified several possible explanations for the relationship.

Impoverished neighborhoods tend to have more fast food restaurants as well as grocery stores with low cost, high calorie food. The psychological effects of poverty may have an effect on body weight and, according to California's Obesity Prevention Plan, many low-income families must travel long distances to find healthy foods at affordable prices.

"If you're struggling to make money, you can't focus on the food you're eating," said Marilyn Townsend, nutrition specialist with the cooperative extension, who agrees with Leigh's findings.

Nutritionists and public health scientists agree that when all energy is spent on taking care of the basic necessities, people have less energy to spend on cooking.

In a study on food cost among low-income women in four counties, Townsend found it cost more money to pay for a better diet.

"It is very difficult to find prepared food that is high quality and to simultaneously spend little money on it," Townsend said.

Convenient pre-packaged and prepared foods are usually filled with much more sugar and fat than food that is self-prepared, and are tested continuously to perfect taste.

"I will acknowledge that it tastes great," Leigh said of pre-prepared food. "For $18 you can feed a family of four at McDonald's. The byproduct is obesity, but who cares, it's a long term consequence, and it's the cheapest way to feed your family."

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Chocolate and depression may be linked, research shows

UCD professors take a bite into chocolate's rich history

Written by Gabrielle Grow

News Writer

Published on May 5, 2010

Those frequent trips to Yolo Berry for chocolate frozen yogurt may mean more than just a sweet tooth.

Last week, UC Davis and UC San Diego researchers released a study on dietary intake patterns, which found a possible relationship between chocolate and depression.

The study of 931 men and women showed those who tested positive for possible depression ate an average of 8.4 ounces of chocolate per month compared to 5.4 ounces among those who tested negative for depression. The correlation between chocolate and depression was part of a larger study on the affects of food intake on overall health.

Although the study took caffeine, omega-3s and alcohol intake into account, only chocolate was related to mood.

"Because of the kind of study we did, we can't show cause and effect," said Natalie Rose, an OB/GYN resident at UC Davis Medical Center who co-authored the research during her studies at UCSD.

"Possible explanations for the relationship may be self medication, or, although I'd like to think this isn't the answer, that chocolate is causing depression."

Those who participated in the study were not using anti-depressant medicine and depression score had no relation with overall calorie intake.

Previous chocolate research has found that chocolate acts as a catalyst for releasing dopamine, a pleasure inducing chemical, into the brain, and in 2006 UC Davis researchers found the presence of a heart-healthy chemical compound in some chocolate products.

"When people feel depressed, it is not uncommon to see an impact on one's relationship to food," said Stefanie Greenberg, Eating Disorder Program coordinator at Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). "Moreover, it is not uncommon for people who struggle with eating concerns to also experience mood disturbance."

Anecdotes from "Chocolate: History, Culture and Heritage" explain how chocolate has been intertwined in American history since the earliest record from the 1630s, when barrels of chocolate washed ashore after a shipwreck. The book reveals how historic figures have perhaps turned to chocolate during hard times.

Meriwether Louis ate chocolate to renew his energy during his exhausting journey with William Clark, Amelia Earhart found solace through chocolate during one of her loneliest flights and chocolate was allotted to Revolutionary War soldiers.

Focusing on the history of chocolate in North America, the book was culmination of 10 years work by Louis Grivetti from the Department of Nutrition and Howard-Yana Shapiro, adjunct professor at UC Davis.

The co-initiators of the book had help from 52 researchers and 210 archives from around the world. Grivetti and Shapiro hope the book will spawn chocolate scholarship.

"Every place we turned, we made fantastic world class discoveries," Shapiro said. "We had seen how cocoa was utilized in South America. No one had ever given any attention to the history of chocolate in the United States."

Research was funded by Mars, Inc, and all royalties from the book will go to Shields Library to help purchase more books on chocolate.

Their book has gained nationwide attention, placing among three finalists for an International Association of Culinary Professionals award.

Although the book didn't win the award, Shapiro said the book has been met with phenomenal reviews and with a 2009 symposium on the book held at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Campus honored by President Obama for community service

HIV/AIDS researcher recognized for non-profit work in India

Written by Gabrielle Grow

News Writer

Published on Apr 29, 2010

Amid talk of Picnic Day violence, Cynthia Goldberg will tell you what sets UC Davis apart is not the debauchery that shrouded campus on Picnic Day, but the university's common interest in serving the community.

UC Davis students gave 430,000 hours of community service during the 2008-2009 academic year, earning UC Davis a place on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

Aliyah Abdullah is one of 7,000 students who committed her free time to service efforts. Abdullah, a UC Davis law school student and director of community service for the Black Law Students Association coordinated programs in impoverished communities in Oakland and San Francisco to teach fifth through eight graders about law.

"Some of them had low self-esteem in the beginning," Abdullah said about the mock trials and opening statements the children practiced. "It was amazing to see the transformation by the end of the day. They were so proud."

The Community Service Resource Center (CSRC), a branch of the Internship and Career Center, informs over 5,000 UC Davis students of community service opportunities via its listserv and holds three weekends of service per year.

Universities honored were chosen based on the scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation, incentives for service and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses. CSRC surveyed service activities on campus and pulled information from clubs to submit for review to the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Last week, CSRC announced outstanding members of the campus community who will be recognized for their involvement in community service.

Those who were chosen for the highest recognition are the spark of the group; they are the people who inspire the other members, said Goldberg, supervisor of CSRC.

HIV/AIDS researcher Koen Vanrompay is one of six who will be honored by the CSRC for outstanding community service at a May 12 reception.

Vanrompay dedicates his free time to Sahaya International, a non-profit organization founded in 1999. Based in Davis, Sahaya International provides assistance to social development projects in developing nations and is run completely through volunteer efforts.

Since its creation, Sahaya raised approximately $700,000, including an $110,000 grant from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Through HIV/AIDS education and medical help, children who were on the verge of death at the time of the organization's founding are now planning on attending college.

Initially only two small huts served as schools for nine children in a village six hours south of Chennai, India. Now, a large school accommodating 300 has replaced the huts.

"It's touching to see the children in their school uniforms," Vanrompay said. "When you know how to spend your money wisely [on helping others] you know how to live - I have gained so much friendship."

Sahaya International raised $800 on Picnic Day and has a charity walk scheduled for October 2010.

In addition to the community service opportunities from the CSRC, the UCD School of Medicine runs six community health clinics in Sacramento and the Graduate School of Management provides free consulting services to non-profit organizations.

"Something about our campus is more service-conscious than anywhere else I've been," Abdullah said.

Vetoed senate bill leaves five students with inadequate funding

Proposed bill to have helped cover expenses for Florida protest

Written by Gabrielle Grow

Aggie News Writer

Published on Apr 19, 2010

Despite initial approval from ASUCD senate and a vote to override ASUCD President Jack Zwald's veto, an override to pass Senate Bill 53 - a bill now evoking controversy and dialogue - failed with a 7-5 vote.

If passed, the bill would have allocated $580 from Senate Reserves to five UC Davis students to help pay for airfare to attend last weekend's Farmworker Freedom March in Florida.

Without the $580 allocation from ASUCD, students who attended the three-day march will be responsible for covering additional expenses themselves.

Last Thursday, Zwald vetoed the bill with an accompanying letter stating that he did not feel the Senate members "fully understood the ramifications" of it. His letter argued that passing Senate Bill 53 would set a precedent for all bills that are fiscally sound and legal to be passed, even if ASUCD disagreed with its motive.

"It's important to note that other senate bills like this have been passed before," said Abrham Castillo-Ruiz, co-author of Senate Bill 53. Ruiz referred to a senate bill passed last school year which allocated funds for postage to help send supplies to UC Davis alumni serving in Iraq.

ASUCD has $12,000 in senate reserves each year to allocate to students who address ASUCD with their financial needs. So far, there is roughly $10,000 unused senate reserves. If the money is not used, it will be moved to capital reserves, a reserve intended to fund only projects that will last two or more years.

"We exhausted all avenues of fundraising before going to ASUCD," said Liz Fitzgerald, Village Harvest Davis team leader and Freedom Farmworker March attendee. The students financed the trip with the help of a contribution from UCD Sodexo.

UCD students representing Students for Sustainable Agriculture, MEChA de UC Davis and the Tri Co-op participated in the Coalition of Immokalee Worker's (CIW) Farmworker Freedom March. The 22-mile march from Lakeland to Tampa, Florida protested Publix, Florida's largest super market chain, which protesters feel has failed to adopt the principles for the Campaign for Fair Food.

"I felt we had a responsibility to support CIW at such a big event," said Castillo-Ruiz.

The CIW rallies to help farm workers earn an additional $0.01 per pound of tomatoes picked.

Taco Bell, McDonalds, Burger King and Subway have all adopted the CIW's principles, and nationwide food service providers are to follow suit.

The one cent per pound increase could help workers earn 40 to 70 percent more, said Philip Martin, UC Davis professor of agricultural and resource economics in an interview with the Associated Press.

Sodexo, a multinational corporation that supplies food services and facilities management at UC Davis, has committed to paying farm workers an additional $0.01 per pound of tomatoes and to purchasing from producers who meet the code of conduct.

Sodexo is currently deliberating with CIW to determine the best method of payment to ensure the $0.01 raise reaches farm workers directly, said Brenan Connolly, general manager of resident dining.

UC Davis Sodexo purchases 1 percent of its tomatoes from Florida, buying the remainder from California and from Mexico in the off-season.

Connolly and UC Davis Sodexo will team up with Fitzgerald this spring to bring awareness of farm workers' conditions to campus dining halls.

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

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Outstanding UCD professor awarded $40,000

Grosberg finds students' “inner nerds”

Written by Gabrielle Grow

Aggie News Writer

Published on Mar 29, 2010

Evolutionary biology professor Rick Grosberg got his cake and ate it too, along with a $40,000 prize.

On Friday, March 12, Grosberg's class in Storer Hall had a surprise interruption by cake, cameras and an entourage including Chancellor Linda Katehi.

As one of the largest awards in the nation for undergraduate teaching excellence, the UC Davis Foundation, funded by philanthropic donations, recognizes one professor each year for outstanding scholarship and teaching.

"It's hard to choose because the list of nominees is so humbling," said Kevin Bacon, head of the UCD Foundation. "The prize gives the winner the ability to do something special."

Selection for the award is based on student evaluations, research peers' advice and nominations from deans of different colleges. A committee, including Chancellor Katehi, spends a month sorting through student evaluations and recommendations before narrowing down the top nominees.

"He has really contributed tremendously to UC Davis," Katehi said of Grosberg.

Evolutionary biology didn't used to be of much interest to Grosberg, who admitted that he had no appreciation for science when he was young. It wasn't until he strayed from his English major to take a science class at UC Santa Cruz that Grosberg realized science is about asking questions

Grosberg, who teaches large lecture classes like Intro to Biology, is also a part of the Collaborative Learning at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology (CLIMB) training program in which he teaches small seminar groups with seven to eight students.

"Through the CLIMB program he treats students like colleagues and forces them to think for themselves," said graduate student Julia Svoboda, who has worked with Grosberg for three years. "He gives students a level of ownership over their research, and there is no one I would have rather written a nomination letter for."

Grosberg's contributions include the development of an interdisciplinary minor in quantitative biology and bioinformatics in 2003. He is also an elected fellow of the California Academy of Sciences.

A fervent believer in 'nerdiness', Grosberg believes the best education comes from a research institution, and that teaching and research are inextricably linked.

"Everyone is a nerd," Grosberg said. "I try to find my students' nerdiness in evolutionary biology."

Grosberg discovered his nerdy niche when he realized that there wasn't much research on connection between the social evolution of marine invertebrates and the evolution of altruism.

Interested in finding out why animals spend their energy helping others, Grosberg studied a species of snail that attach the egg sac to the male's shell after mating so the male can provide all prenatal care.

Though Grosberg noted that a portion of his award money will be "donated" to the IRS, he plans on using the money for both personal and academic purposes.

A family trip to a place that Darwin would have loved, or went to, like the Galapagos is in the works, as well as a prize-money funded undergraduate trip to Africa.

While he loves science, Grosberg won't forget to spend some of the money on his passion for cooking.

"I'll buy an outdoor pizza oven, and a kitchen range. I want power, heat and BTUs!"

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

International prosecutor speaks at UC Davis School of Law

Speech addresses gender violence, international criminal law

Written by Gabrielle Grow

Aggie News Writer

Published on Mar 10, 2010

The hard head of the gavel is coming down on gender violence thanks to International Criminal Court (ICC) Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

Bensouda spoke to a filled Wilkins Moot Courtroom in King Hall at the UC Davis School of Law about gender violence on Monday, Mar. 8, coinciding with International Women's Day.

Originally from Gambia and currently living and serving in The Hague, Netherlands, Bensouda discussed the role of the ICC and gender violence cases currently under investigation.

Incidences of gender violence include rape, forced marriage and pregnancy, sex trafficking, as well as using children as soldiers.

One of the cases under investigation is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where sexual crimes are more frequent than deaths and girl soldiers are daily victims of rape.

Rape was not recognized as a genocidal tool until the 1998 Rome Statute.

"In other settings it was as if there was a tacit agreement to look the other way. The ICC cases signal to the world that the deal is off," Bensouda said solemnly about recognizing gender violence as a form of genocide.

Established in 2002, the ICC is a permanent international court committed to investigating genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes; and currently has 110 member states.

The ICC functions as a court of last resort, and can only function in participating states, or when referred by the United Nations Security Council. When national judicial systems fail, such as those in DRC or Sudan, the ICC intervenes to investigate the situation.

"It's important that there's an entity to address international issues," said Michael Wu, a first-year law student. "I think from a conservative perspective it could take away a country's sovereignty and could make a state nervous."

Although President Bill Clinton signed the United States as a participating state in the ICC, President George W. Bush unsigned and revoked the United States' participation due to a concern over national sovereignty.

Despite the U.S.'s hostile track record with the ICC, Bensouda remains optimistic about the nation's future relationship with the international court.

"Fortunately we're seeing better days," Bensouda said. "More U.S. officials are openly supporting the court."

Prior to her election to the ICC Assembly of State Parties in 2004, Bensouda served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as senior legal advisor and became Gambia's first international maritime expert.

"I heard her speak in fall 2009, and I was impressed by her eloquence and passion," said law professor Diane Amann. "I was honored when she accepted the invitation to speak at UC Davis."

First-year law student Joanna Cuevas Ingram echoed Amann's praise for Bensouda, and said Bensouda's trip to UC Davis reflected the quality and prominence of the UC Davis international law program.

Sudan is currently under investigation by the ICC, however present conditions make on-site investigation difficult and dangerous. If and when conclusive evidence is presented, the ICC will likely charge Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with genocide.

"We have not been able to get al-Bashir, but now he's picking and choosing the countries he visits," Bensouda said. "He will be marginalized and he will be joining us at the ICC sooner or later."

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

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I'm now blogging for Huffington Post College! First, myself and the rest of the Aggie staff get stood up by Hasselhoff, then I meet the "Huff," and now I'm writing for her. Moral of the story Huff>Hoff

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UC Davis professor sings for food safety

Song parodies help adults and children remember healthy habits

Written by Gabrielle Grow

Staff Writer

Published on Mar 3, 2010

Fifteen years after playing music in college, Carl Winter has found a new way to use his musical talents: to write food safety parodies.

Winter, director of the FoodSafe program in the Food Science and Technology department at UC Davis and informally known as the "Sinatra of Salmonella," has held over 200 performances across the nation, and released four audio CDs since undertaking the parody project in 1996.

Originally, Winter just wanted to play piano without bothering his children. But once he discovered how far synthesizer technology had advanced since his college days, Winter realized he could be the whole band at once and began writing parodies.

Winter and a team of scientists from across the United States conducted a 2009 study to test the usefulness of musical parodies in food preparation and safety behavior. Their subjects included school food service supervisors, culinary arts teachers and students, family and consumer science teachers, and a youth summer program.

Results showed that all participants in the study were able to quote lines or phrases from the songs, and employed safer food-handling behaviors after listening to them.

"The influence of music really reaches people," Winter said. "When my kids heard the originals on the radio they would say 'hey dad, they stole your song!"

Despite 59 percent of participants from culinary art school responding that they disliked the music, 94 percent remembered the music and commented that they found themselves singing it later.

Parodies range from the Beatles to Ricky Martin, and even feature Will Smith. Titles include "Don't get sicky wit it," a parody of Will Smith's "Gettin' jiggy wit it," "Beware la vaca loca," a parody of "Livin' la vida loca,'" and "You better wash your hands," a parody of the Beatles' "I want to hold your hand."

Winter is often invited to food and health conferences across the nation to add levity to otherwise serious events.

In addition to his four CDs, Winter has six animated music videos available on YouTube and iTunes, and is currently writing original music for a children's album.

Though he usually performs in front of adult audiences, Winter said his music is used informally in schools all over the nation, and knows of programs in Idaho, South Carolina and North Carolina that use his food safety curriculum.

Elementary school teachers who participated in the 2009 study reported that the music "helps the students learn without knowing it," and that "students learn better when they use all the senses."

In the United States 76 million people each year suffer from food borne illness. 320,000 food illnesses result in hospitalized cases, and 5,000 result in death.

"You have to generate the desire by the individual to take the extra [safety] step, and his creative and innovative approach helps people," said Christine Bruhn, director of the center for consumer research. "When it comes to safe food handling, we need all the help we can get."

Student living isn't usually known for its cleanliness, but Winter has four steps to help make kitchens a safer place.

By washing hands, food, and food prep areas; and avoiding cross-contamination by taking measures like cleaning cutting boards, heating food to the appropriate temperature to kill bacteria, and refrigerating leftovers within two hours, everyone can reduce food poisoning and illness.

Deborah Brayton, principal of Pioneer Elementary School in Davis said that hand washing prior to mealtime is a priority at her school, and Winter's music might be helpful for kindergarten through second graders.

"Remember: You don't have control over who touched food before you," Winter said.

More information can be found at foodsafe.ucdavis.edu.

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

UC research finds evidence of marijuana induced pain relief

Intoxication unnecessary to get full benefits

Written by Gabrielle Grow

Aggie News Writer

Published on Mar 2, 2010

Results of the UC Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR)'s most recent publication found conclusive evidence that marijuana successfully alleviates pain.

In a four-trial study, CMCR's research sought to determine if marijuana had therapeutic value. Smoked cannabis was compared to placebo cigarettes with THC removed.

Gov. Gray Davis' 1999 legislation, Senate Bill 847, commissioned the University of California to establish a research program dedicated to expanding scientific knowledge on the medicinal usages of marijuana.

Three trials involved patients with pain caused by HIV or HIV treatment, neuropathic - or damaged nerve - pain, diabetes related pain and pain from physical injuries. The control group included healthy volunteers to experience induced nerve pain.

According to the study, over 50 percent of participants had a 30 percent reduction in pain intensity. Patients continued standard treatment for their illness while participating in the study.

"The reduction amount [observed] is the amount at which it really makes a difference in someone's life," said J. Hampton Atkinson, a co-director of the study from UC San Diego. "It is about the equivalent to what someone would get with standard treatment like morphine or anti-depressants."

The results of the CMCR study offer alternative treatment for conditions like neuropathic pain and spasticity caused by multiple sclerosis to treat ailments.

"The reason I use medicinal marijuana is because I have a lot of social anxiety," said a UC Davis graduate who preferred to remain anonymous and who has used medicinal marijuana for two years. "The sativa helps get rid of a lot of my anxiety and I become a lot more sociable, but there's a lot of stigma behind it."

A survey of Californian medicinal marijuana users by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws found that the three most reported uses of medicinal marijuana are chronic pains, AIDS related illnesses and mood disorders.

The effect of cannabis added additional benefits to the relief participants experienced from standard treatment, Atkinson said.

The study concluded that lower doses of cannabis intake were just as effective as higher doses, showing that patients do not have to become intoxicated to experience pain reduction.

"Bobby," another UC Davis student who preferred to remain anonymous, got a recommendation to use medicinal marijuana two months ago for what he refers to as an eating disorder.

"It cost $125, and I told them I had an eating disorder," Bobby said. "They already had the paperwork filled out and ready to go."

According to the National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA), cannabis smokers increase their lungs' exposure to carcinogenic smoke by inhaling more deeply and holding their breath longer than tobacco smokers do. By twelfth grade, 42.6 percent of teenagers have used marijuana at least once, NIDA research showed.

California became the first state to legalize marijuana for medicinal use in 1996 with the voter initiative, the Compassionate Use Act.

Of twelve states with legalized medicinal marijuana, California has the largest user population by 82 percent.

"I personally believe in medicinal because we're in a pill society; it bothers me that it's okay to take chemicals and pills, but it's not okay to put something organic that grows from the ground in your body," the UC Davis graduate said.

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Arianna Huffington speaks about 'brave new world'

Online news pioneer offers average citizens a form of expression

Written by Gabrielle Grow

Staff Writer

Published on Mar 1, 2010

We aren't in Kansas anymore. Or, at least journalists aren't, said Huffington Post co-founder and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington, who spoke to a packed Mondavi Center Friday evening.

Huffington predicts the future of journalism will be a hybrid of the best of the old and new journalism: a combination of fact checking and journalistic reporting with the immediacy and interactivity of online journalism.

The speech highlighted the importance of social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook, to news today.

Though CNN and other media outlets were banned from Iran during the upheaval of the summer 2009 presidential election, the government of Iran could not control the thousands of Twitter and Facebook feeds - feeds that leaked the majority of the information about the resulting protests.

"You can't use an analog map to find your way in a digital world," Huffington remarked about the necessity of using new media.

The speech also touched upon her disappointment with the media's obsession with trivial news stories. Huffington sees altruism, what she calls "the fourth sense," as the solution to overcoming the media's weakness.

Stories like the "balloon boy," whose real name is Falcon Heene, should be replaced by stories about the thousands of impoverished children in the United States, she said.

In a 25 minute question and answer session with the audience immediately following the event, an audience member shared his experience as a blogger for the Post.

"I would like to thank you for providing me the opportunity to express myself at a time when the Huffington Post was the only outlet to do so," said Joseph Palermo, a professor at Sacramento State who was recently furloughed. Palermo uses his blog on the Post to voice his frustrations with the economic crisis.

The popular site seeks to become the eyes and ears of the nation, as contributors like Palermo blog about personal effects of the economic crisis such as layoffs and furloughs.

Last Monday, the Post launched a section dedicated to college news, with the leading story titled "Majoring in Debt." University papers across the nation, including The California Aggie, are teaming up with the Post to give college students the expression they may lack in mainstream media.

"I thought it was an interesting speech, but I don't think anything she said was particularly insightful," said Jeremy Botherwa, an Australian exchange student at UC Davis. "I felt like she talked just for the applause. It was something you hear all the time."

After the event, Huffington sat down with Aggie reporters to discuss the UC fee increases.

"[The cuts] are really unfortunate. I understand that the state is broke, but education shouldn't be made less accessible," Huffington said. "Ultimately, it is the state that is responsible for making the cuts."

The Huffington Post, a news and blog site launched in 2005 is one of the most widely read online media outlets. Huffington, a native of Greece and candidate for Governor of California in 2003, was named one of the world's most influential people by Time Magazine in 2006, and one of the most influential women in media by Forbes in 2009.

ERICA LEE contributed to this article. GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

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UC Davis student gives 'hella' new meaning

Petition aims to bring northern California slang to the sciences

Written by Gabrielle Grow

Aggie News Writer

Published on Feb 18, 2010

The Southern versus Northern California slang rivalry may soon be put to rest thanks to the help of UC Davis physics student Austin Sendek.

"Hella," the popular NorCal slang word meaning "a lot" or "very" is commonly contested among Northern and Southern Californians and until this point has not been associated with any specific measurement.

Now, Sendek hopes to give hella new meaning - representing 10 to the 27th power to be exact.

After joking about "hella volts" in an electric field in an in-class experiment, Sendek created the Facebook group "The Official Petition to Establish 'Hella-' as the SI Prefix for 10^27." Within one week, group membership grew to over 8,000, with people hailing from all over the United States.

"I made it a group on Facebook as a joke," Sendek said. "But when a professor from Rhode Island signed the petition I realized that we might actually be on to something."

Currently, the International System of Units has prefixes up to 10^24, and because the system increases by increments of three, 10^27 is the next in line. Measurements for the universe could be indicated with the prefix at 1.4 hellameters, and the sun's energy, at 0.3 hellawatts.

"Hella" is typically used by Northern Californians and tends to be unpopular among Southern Californians, creating a colloquial war between the two.

There are currently nine anti-hella groups on Facebook, and fifteen pro-hella groups including two fan pages with between 86,000 and 100,000 fans on each.

"If you use the term 'hella' you will be sent back to the north where you belong," threatened one anti-hella Facebook group.

A student from CalTech suggested renaming 10^27 after Southern California slang, arguing that Southern California has more influence than Northern California.

Northern California has more schools that are dedicated to science - UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Stanford, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories - and using "hella" honors their achievements, Sendek argues.

According to the petition statement, Sendek's proposal offers "the chance for the SI system to use nomenclature to honor a constantly overlooked scientific contributor: Northern California."

The SI committee last approved a prefix addition in 1991. If the SI committee doesn't take Sendek's petition seriously, he plans to submit it to Google for its conversion units.

"I think it has the right meaning to get the idea across, but I think it's unlikely to get chosen because they usually use Latin or Greek, it has a taboo associated with it and it's an ordinary word," said UC Davis linguistics professor Patrick Farrell. "In some sense it would be like saying 'lots-a-kilometers.'"

The "hella" petition made its way into Farrell's Linguistics 1 class, in which students have the option of writing a paper on the legitimacy of using "hella" as an SI prefix.

"Hella" is thought to originate from "helluva" during the 1990s in San Francisco. "Helluva," however, does not have the grammatical flexibility of "hella;" as describing someone as "helluva smart" could not work, but "hella smart" could.

Farrell also uses "hella" in his classes to illustrate points about the grammar of English, because "hella" has its own set of unique grammar rules.

Sendek hopes to get the support of his science professors who may carry more weight towards influencing the scientific community.

For more information visit makehellaofficial.blogspot.com.

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

UCD study shows abusive partners sabotage birth control

Reproductive coercion common in abusive relationships

Written by Gabrielle Grow

Aggie News Writer

Published on Feb 11, 2010

In the popular Lifetime movie, "The Pregnancy Pact," several high school girls consciously tamper with their birth control to facilitate conception. Results from a lesser known, but perhaps more realistic local study tell a different story, in which it is men who force pregnancy.

"Pregnancy Coercion, Intimate Partner Violence and Unintended Pregnancy" led by Elizabeth Miller, UC Davis assistant professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine, showed that abusive males often coerce their female partners into reproduction. Reproductive coercion efforts include flushing birth control down the toilet and damaging or removing condoms.

Approximately 1,300 English and Spanish speaking women ages 16 to 29 were surveyed about their experiences with relationships and pregnancy at five northern California reproductive health clinics from August 2008 to March 2009. Women in this age range are the most likely to experience physical or sexual violence.

Fifty-three percent of respondents reported physical or sexual violence from their partners, and 35 percent of those who reported violence also experienced reproductive coercion or birth control sabotage.

"We created the term reproductive coercion to describe a male partner trying to take control of a woman's reproductive autonomy," Miller said.

In an interview with the Davis Enterprise, the study's senior author Jay Silverman noted that the commonality of unintended pregnancies among abused women and teens is likely due to reproductive coercion. Reproductive coercion is another means for an abusive male to control his partner.

To combat this phenomenon, clinicians and teen pregnancy prevention groups can discuss how to prevent and avoid coercion with their patients.

Incorporating reproductive coercion into teen pregnancy education would be huge, Miller said.

Although none of the coordinators at the Women's Resource and Research Center (WRRC) on campus have encountered this type of abuse, counseling psychologist C. Jezzie Fulmen said UC Davis has several resources to help abuse victims.

The WRRC currently provides counseling without an appointment, and the Campus Violence Prevention Program provides medical and legal advocacy.

Students are often surprised to find out that legally, sexual assault within or outside of relationships is treated the same, Fulmen said.

Miller's goal in conducting research on the link between reproductive coercion, abusive relationships and unintended pregnancy was to reduce unintended pregnancies.

"We're trying to agree with anti-abortion groups on reducing unintended pregnancies," Miller said. "We are still struggling to get partner violence embedded in public health programs."

The five clinics surveyed were in impoverished neighborhoods with Latinas and African Americans comprising two-thirds of the respondents.

The results are expected to be applicable to reproductive health clinics in demographically poor areas. Researchers cannot estimate if surveys at private gynecologists would produce similar results.

Miller plans to focus her next research on the use of emergency contraception on college campuses and to determine the need for emergency contraception, for instance as a consequence of unwanted sex.

"In the past we focused on blaming the woman for unintended pregnancy, this shows that maybe we need to rethink that and consider other restraints on women's lives," Miller said.

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Wine experts seek to make wine industry more consumer friendly

UCD researchers tip their glasses to role of taste buds

Written by Gabrielle Grow

Staff Writer

Published on Feb 9, 2010

For consumers around the world picking out a bottle of wine can be nearly as intimidating as the LSAT, but uncertainty may soon be put to rest with the help of research in tasting methodology.

Wine expert Tim Hanni has been on a 20-year long quest to make wine much simpler for consumers with mentors Dr. Michael O'Mahony and Dr. Rie Ishii from UC Davis's food science and technology department. Hanni was one of the first Americans to become a master of wine, the highest credential attainable in the wine industry - a title that only 279 people hold worldwide.

O'Mahony and Ishii's research shows that differences or changes in descriptive wording for food and wine can have an immense impact on how culinary judges rank taste during competitions.

The descriptive wording used in the wine industry and how the human brain works to describe metaphors for wine are not congruent, resulting in a lot of people pretending to know and recognize tastes, Hanni said.

Varying amounts of taste buds add more confusion to wine consumers. Ranging between 500 and 10,000 per person, the number of taste buds plays a critical role in personal taste preference.

Depending on the combination of a number of taste buds and personal preference for tastes such as salt and sugar, wine consumers can be divided into four categories: tolerant, sensitive, hyper-sensitive and sweet tasters.

"It's like you're at a store that sells hundreds of different styles of shoes, and no shoes fit you because no one has realized that people have different size feet," Hanni said about the importance of taste bud count.

"Tolerant" tasters have the fewest taste buds, and can typically handle stronger flavors or extreme tasting beers. "Sensitive" tasters are the most adventurous, and have the greatest ability to move from one taste to another.

People with the most taste buds, typically those who add salt to everything are "hyper-sensitive tasters" and those who stick to sweets and those who consider Heineken adventurous are "sweet tasters."

The upcoming Consumer Wine Awards in Lodi, now in its third year, uses the tasting methodology developed by O'Mahony, Ishii and Hanni. Rather than a panel of professional judges, consumers will decide the winners at the wine awards.

University of Wine founder and Consumer Wine Award co-founder G.M. "Pooch" Pucilowski suggests taking a wine class or swapping wine with fellow enthusiasts to learn more about wine.

"Finding the right wine bottle can be hard and intimidating," said UC Davis student Thomas Valdez. "My method every time I go down the wine aisle at CVS or World Market is to try something new, and if I like it, I tend to write down the name and year."

Unbeknownst to most consumers, the bottle shape is an indicator of taste.

"There are only four or five bottle shapes, and most wineries put the same style of wine in the same bottle," Pucilowski said. "If you learn little tricks [of the industry] you're off and running."

Hanni estimates that up to 80 percent of the potential wine market is discouraged from drinking wine because of wine intimidation and uncertainty.

"Our ignorance of taste physiology results in driving people away from wine and toward cocktails instead," Hanni said. "We're looking for new ways to train the industry to custom fit certain wines to certain people."

To find out what kind of taster you are, visit consumerwineawards.com

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

UC Davis earthquake survivor organizes Haiti relief efforts

UCD one of few UCs with no response to Haiti

Written by Gabrielle Grow

Staff Writer

Published on Jan 28, 2010

John Gunel knows how a 7.6 magnitude earthquake feels: like being on the end of a machine gun.

Gunel, a UC Davis post-baccalaureate and Davis local, was visiting in Turkey on Aug. 16, 1999 when a 37-second quake shook the northwest region of the country killing 17,000 people. Jolted from his sleep at 3:01 am, Gunel assumed his frequently promiscuous neighbors were the cause of the shaking, until he realized this time it was his bed that shook.

"When the victims were pulled from the rubble it was like they were newborn children - they were so vulnerable stretching out their hands for water and seeing light for the first time in days," Gunel said.

Shortly after the quake, Gunel flew back to the U.S., only to return to Turkey four months later for a family visit. Gunel was shocked by the apparent lack of improvement, as thousands of victims still lived in the squalor of refugee camps.

"It was like a black hole, where people were stuck in time not moving from the camps," Gunel said.

To boost morale at the camps, his family brought a carload of Nutella to distribute to the refugees.

Inspired to help the victims of the Turkey quake, he collected refugee children's art and sold them as post cards when he returned to Davis.

Now, Gunel hopes to sell the same cards to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake. He raised $1,000 at Davis Senior High for Turkish victims. Since Jan. 12, Gunel has raised $200 for Haiti, half of which came from his own wallet.

"I needed a new watch and wanted one with fancy gadgets, but then the earthquake in Haiti happened, so I bought a Timex and contributed the rest," Gunel said.

According to the UC Newsroom, UCLA and UCSF sent medical personnel to Haiti to help relief agencies and UCSD was the only university to raise money through a campus-wide relief effort.

By Jan. 15, three days after the Haiti quake struck, students at UCSD raised over $6,000 and 200,000 people attended a vigil held on the campus.

Although student groups have organized small events, UC Davis has not organized a campus-wide relief effort.

Three local television stations FOX 40, KOVR 1 and KCRA 3 caught wind of his postcard project and interviewed him for their broadcasts. The interviewers focused on the missing grad student in Haiti and the campus' reaction to it more than on the postcards, Gunel said.

He hopes to give packets of his postcards to student groups on campus, sell them at the beginning of lectures and to get UCD students to break the stereotype of belonging to what he calls an apathetic generation.

Phi Beta Sigma, a community service fraternity, organized a clothing drive for Haiti held in the Memorial Union from Jan. 13-23. "Clothing drives are pretty rare," said Damonde Hatfield, a fraternity member. "We wanted to do something different." The fraternity collected a total of three storage boxes and hopes to sell "Hope for Haiti" t-shirts.

While those who sell his cards are welcome to donate the money to a charity of their choosing, he plans to donate his portion to Oxfam and Partners in Health.

Oxfam is an international organization, present in Haiti prior to the earthquake, which aims to reduce poverty. Partners in Health provides health care for the poor with a community based approach.

"The Red Cross does a great job of healing the wounded, but after they leave there will still be 1.5 million homeless victims," Gunel said.

For more information visit aidconnection.com

GABRIELLE GROW can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.