Daily
Bulletin

International students made a trip from UW to Montréal earlier this month to take in the Jazz Festival there, and naturally they had to eat at a sidewalk café. Noshing in the rain are Catherine Costes and Claire Cartier (both from France), Daniel Henneke, Helge Paetzold and Simon Wohlfart (from Germany), and Carole Pansart (France).

Police issue theft warning

At least two recent thefts in UW engineering buildings are blamed on the man, who is described by UW police chief Al Mackenzie as "pretty athletic" (for his quick escape after he was spotted) and "pretty brazen". Police are now looking for a white male with a dark complexion and slender build, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall. He has dark hair "in a mushroom cut" and when seen was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt, black shorts, and sandals.

The lesson of the recent incidents, Mackenzie said, is not to leave money or other valuables unattended, even for a moment. It takes only 15 or 20 seconds for somebody to pop into an office, grab a wallet or other small item, and be out again, he said. "Whether it's in a desk drawer or a filing cabinet doesn't make any difference."

Anyone who sees "someone suspicious" in a UW building should call the university police at ext. 4911.

Solar race ends with UW in 3rd place -- from the UW news bureau

The University of Michigan's solar car, M-Pulse, cruised to victory, crossing the finish line at 11:37 a.m. Pacific time (2:37 p.m. in Waterloo) after traveling 3,703 kilometres powered only by the energy of the sun. Michigan's car made the trip from Chicago to the finish in Claremont, California, in 56 hours, 10 minutes and 46 seconds, for an average speed of 66 km/h (40 miles per hour).

The University of Missouri at Rolla placed second with a time of 57:30:52, while UW's Midnight Sun VI was third at 62:00:18.

The cars are propelled by electricity generated by sunlight along the historic Route 66. The racers use solar, or photovoltaic, cells to convert sunlight into electricity. Typical aerodynamic designs for the one-person vehicles make them look more like spacecraft than conventional passenger vehicles. The cars typically are low, sleek and colourful, with solar cells covering much of the body.

It was the longest solar car race in the world. Previous races in the United States have been along routes from Florida to Michigan; from Washington, D.C. to Florida; from Indiana to Colorado; and from Dallas to Minneapolis.

The Midnight Sun Solar Race Team is the largest student-run project at UW, with more than 100 students contributing their skills and talents. This year, the solar car was a completely re-engineered design, with improvements in aerodynamics and electrical and mechanical systems.

The Midnight Sun IV solar car was the most successful vehicle ever produced. In Sunrayce '97, it won the prestigious Award for Technical Innovation and finished first among Canadian teams and seventh overall out of the 36 competing teams.

This year's race was sponsored by the U.S. department of energy and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory; EDS, a global technology company; and Terion, a business-to-business wireless communications firm.

Grad students defend their theses

Other oral defences are coming along in the next days and weeks, including these:

Kinesiology: Allan Adkin, "Postural Control Is Modified by an Interaction of Psychological and Physiological Factors", supervised by Jim Frank; defence July 30, 9:30 a.m., Matthews Hall room 3119.

Psychology: Peter Hall, "Examining the Role of Time Perspective in the Promotion of Healthy Behavioral Practices: Evidence from Correlational and Experimental Studies", supervised by Geoff Fong; defence July 31, 10 a.m., PAS room 3026.

Electrical and computer engineering: Dhrubajyoti Goswami, "Parallel Architectural Skeletons: Re-Usable Building Blocks for Parallel Applications", supervised by A. Singh and B. R. Preiss; defence August 3, 9:30 a.m., Engineering II room 1307G.

Kinesiology: Jonathon Fowles, "The Skeletal Muscle Na+-K+-ATPase Characterization and Response to Exercise", supervised by Howie Green; defence August 7, 9 a.m., Matthews Hall room 3119.

Psychology: Connie Poon, "Lay Personality Knowledge and Confidence in Social Inferences: Individual Differences, Temporal Change and Momentary Activation", supervised by D. Koehler; defence August 9, 1 p.m., PAS room 3026.

Psychology: Cristina Atance, "Does Acting on a False Belief Aid in False Belief Retrieval in 3-Year-Olds?" supervised by Daniela O'Neill; defence August 10, 1 p.m., PAS room 3026.

Planning: Philip Feifan Xie, "Authenticating Cultural Tourism: Folk Villages in Hainan, China", supervised by Geoff Wall; defence August 17, 9:30 a.m., Environmental Studies I room 221.

Kinesiology: Mark Carpenter, "Physiological and Psychological Factors Influencing Balance Control", supervised by Jim Frank; defence August 20, 1 p.m., Matthews Hall room 3119.

Psychology: Duncan McKinlay, "What Makes a Tic Tick? Motoric Disabilities and the Incidental Associations Theory of Tic Formation", supervised by Michael Dixon; defence August 22, 11 a.m., PAS room 3026.

Meeting describes new grant program

The $100 million federal Initiative on the New Economy, announced in the January throne speech, provides funding for research dealing with four themes: new economy issues, management and entrepreneurship, the education system, and lifelong learning.

For the first time in a SSHRC program, researchers from non-profit organizations besides universities can apply, and non-Canadian researchers can be co-applicants.

As well, a new step has been added to the adjudication process which will provide a preliminary relevance screening of applications by a committee of academic, business and government representatives. The onus will be on applicants to justify the relevance of their projects. If a project is deemed relevant, it will be passed along to the next stage of adjudication -- SSHRC's traditional peer/merit review process.

Concerns about the process have been raised by Canadian Association of University Teachers director Jim Turk, who, in a Toronto Star article on July 3, termed the relevance screening "a serious and worrying development. It puts government and business people in an unprecedented position of deciding who gets research grants."

The SSHRC presentation in Guelph will be held today from 9 to 11 a.m. in the MacKinnon Building room 121. Barb Cooke in UW's research office (phone ext. 5108) has more information.

Also happening today It's customer appreciation day at the stores in South Campus Hall, with 25 per cent discounts of much merchandise in the bookstore, the UW Shop and Techworx. A reception to say farewell to Dianne Scheifele of the university secretariat, who is retiring, is scheduled for 3 to 5 p.m. today on the third-floor patio in Needles Hall. St. Jerome's University president Michael Higgins will speak on the spirituality of Thomas Merton tonight as part of a series of seminars sponsored by the Spiritual Heritage Education Network and Waterloo India Linkage. The talk will be held at 7 p.m. in the Hamblin Room, Kitchener Public Library, 85 Queen Street, Kitchener. Plant operations job The Positions Available list in yesterday's Bulletin included a job as "building serviceperson II, upholsterer" in the plant operations department. The listing should have made clear that the job is a temporary one, for approximately six weeks.

Shad open house held today

In keeping with this year's theme -- aids and assistive devices for people with disabilities -- the UW Shads will have on display information about the four aids developed during their time at UW:

• VibrAlert is a warning device, like a pocket pager that listens for sudden loud sounds. It's meant to give deaf users a vibrating warning of "alert sounds" such as sirens, car horns and fire alarms.
• Hand Safe is a kitchen tool for people who, because of weak or unsteady grip, may find it dangerous to chop foods. The Hand Safe uses a non-slip cushioned base to "grip" the food -- by pressing it against the cutting board -- and protects the hand inside a tough knife-proof cowling.
• FlushAble is an affordable retrofit device for operating the flush handle of toilets. It was conceived as a foot pedal but could also be wall or door-mounted. Users don't need to lean over -- a balance hazard -- or struggle with stiff handles.
• My Mercury is an alert system to give deaf athletes and hearing athletes the same referee "whistle" during games. Refs press a button rather than blow a whistle. This sets off both an audible alarm and a vibrating pager-like gizmo that deaf players can wear on their wrists, waists, or wherever.

The Shads leave tomorrow, with about half heading off on five-week co-op work placements and the rest spending August fine-tuning the My Mercury design project, which they will take to the Royal Bank Shad Entrepreneurship Competition, a Canada-wide design challenge, in September.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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