Fall 1987 by Endeavors

:!{il

ffi=,.i::

Untying the Knot

The major interest at the site for many scholars is the wealth of material artifacts left behind by the Phrygians, an ancient people described in classical Greek and Latin sources and thought to have come from eastern Europe after the fall of the Hittite Empire around 1200 n.c. To piece together the history of such an ancient civilization, Sams and his

colleagues analyze almost everything discovered

in the 30- to 40-foot-high mound that is

now

Gordion. Pottery is one of the most useful materials, but the team also relies on coins, stone inscriptions, building remains, and jewelry.

"Everything tells you somethingl' Sams says. "Without excavation and study of Gordion, we'd know very little about Phrygian life. Archae-

= e

ologists look to Gordion for the best information about Phrygian material culture and the best chronology of events in Central Anatolia during the lron Agel' Anatolia is the area that is now modern Tbrkey. Because of Gordion's strategic location, in the center of Anatolia and near natural overland routes and a river, the site witnessed prosperity

0nce the capital of a thriving civilization and inhabited for more than three thousand years, the ancient city of Gordion now lies empty. But the ruined walls and buildings of the city, located about one hundred miles east of Ankara, Thrkey, hold the answers to historical questions that have piqued the curiosity of classical archaeologists for many years. Dr. G. Kenneth Sams, professor at UNC-CH and chairman of the Department of Classics, has been studying the site, an area of about

one and onehalf square miles, for twenty years.

1967,

while still a graduate student

at the University of Pennsylvania, he joined a Gordion excavation the University had initiated in 1950. He remained involved with the dig during his tenure as director of the American Research lnstitute in Ankara, Iirrkey, and during his move to UNC-CH in the early seventies. Digging at Gordion stopped in 1973, and since that time he has been studying the thousands of sherds unearthed by the excavations.

"The easiest thing in archaeology is diggingl' he says. "lt's studying what you've found and making sense of it that's hardl'

and seltrule as well as conquest and destruction during its roughly one thousand years of Phrygian occupation. Although Sams still seels the answers to many questions, the excavations at Gordion and his twenty years of studying them tell him quite a bit about the Phrygians. By the early eighth century Phrygians were a

n.C., the

firmly established civilization

in Anatolia, and Gordion prospered as the ruling seat of Phrygia. Gordion flourished in the time of the historical King Midas, and great tumuli, or burial mounds, filled with bronze vessels, fine furniture, and pottery attest to

the wealth of its royalty. Under "Midas of the

was discovered that the Lydians had copied Gordion's original citadel plan almost exactly, rebuilding the city about three or four meters

E-

higher than it was originally. "lt was a conscious imitation, almost a resurrectionl' says Sams.

At about the same time, a large fortress was built across from the citadel. This fortress, destroyed in a fire following a battle thought to be with the Persians, is of tremendous chronological significance. Its destruction may be associated with the fall of the Lydian capital to the west, Sardis, in 547 o.c.-perhaps occurring in the year that Cyrus, King of the Persians, was advancing against Lydia. The fortress yielded both Persian and Anatolian

a 'a

arrowheads, and there are indications that the Persians had to build a seige ramp to aid

their entrance into the raised fortress. The Persians occupied Gordion for more than

two centuries and the city was probably an administrative outpost of the Persian Empire. This was a period of good living at Gordion. Wall paintings, fine ivory inlaid furniture, Greek pottery and Greek-style jewelry found

= g

Detiiil o[ /lrtor Lirbri; it')!]) ab0ul il)l.t

lirtrkt'r.t diqging tn

lotrtr ittt'l here

e rt'tti()n oi Gttrriitn.

The

dileri as ea/ll as the nintit cet)tur.t iit i)nd the Lippo iet'el dated iintund the \econd rrnlrtr.r i:i' Tlte stntng v hite ltne.s indtcate

floot.q .st,panttinq

has been

pilt

Dtiti)ui iiL:iitliiq

,'t

rti'cirtughniii-itkt rtitjt:r.t,:

eastward and probably sponsored the rebuilding

of Gordion. At this level of the excavation, it

that earthquakes may have been a threat,

e t e ittcr

ttl

The

at the site indicate that Phrygians and Persians liked contact with the lands to the west, especially Greece. The buildings of this time are not well preserved and contain cellars, an architectural innovation at the site. These findings indicate

ti a

rt'

'iti

n -vrl q h l s, :; l r ro u n d*|,!t 1ra{lreiii.':

pttts.

the Lydians, had gained power. They ventured

ihe ttrala

Golden Touchl' Gordion was a central force in trading and politics in the late eighth century. At the beginning 0f the seventh century 8.c., nomadic marauders from the Asiatic steppes, the Kimmerians, attacked and burned Gordion. This event is clearly indicated by the remains of the destroyed citadel dis-

of the site. Called "the destruction levell' this stratum's contents tell Sams and his colleagues that the fire was sudden. "lt's like a time capsulel' Sams says of the level. "We can tell their defenses were down. People were able to escape the disaster-we found no bodies-but work was covered during excavation

;

interrupted. Looms were left standing; grain, ready to be ground into flour, was left sitting on grinding stonesl'

The Persian Occupation Gordion did not renew its vitality until the first half of the sixth century B.C. After its destruction, Gordion had fallen as a political

6eneral view ol' tbe earl.y Phrvlten ,jtadel :tl (t,,t'tit.it .-I tr,it qntund. Thi enlriltr(:e !dle i; ltr';iteil itt itlt ti ,t.nttr iliid t)tt

power, and its Anatolian neighbors to the west,

tttriai tlmrli

ci l;rrqe ,.:tnji'i, lttrtititn!.c slotxi in tiie Iort:!l!i' iirlle bt+oiltl :;!an,1 a nuntl)(r ol ['hryqian

ultimately destroying much of Gordion's rebuilding around 400 s.c. "The citizens of Gordion at this time were cellar crazyl' Sams says, "and cellars can be very disruptive to archaeologists. They destroy all the layers below them, making our job even harderl'

European Cultural Influence In the late fourth century Alexander the Great crossed into Asia at Tloy, freed the Greek cities of'lirrkey's west coast from the Persians, and arrived at Gordion in 334 sc. He brought with him Greek society, which culturally reoriented Gordion. Greeks became a physical and influential fact of life at the

2 9 d

site. The corresponding strata, through inscriptions and Greek-style artifacts, reveal that the Greek language and even Greek cults were present. For more than fifty years Gordion existed as a mixed community of Phrygians and Greeks, probably with residual Persian

and Lydian influence. In the early third century

B.C. European

Celts, acting as mercenaries, crossed into Anatolia and eventually settled in parts of

\ e I

(iLtrdi,.tt;.

dattri

;ntt:rtl lrttt

Phrygia. There is little material evidence of their settlement at Gordion. But in 189 8.C., according to the ancient Roman historian Livy, a Roman general came to destroy the Celtic settlement at Gordion and found the site abandoned. The corresponding stratum of the excavation is called, appropriately, "the aban-

abruptly deserted.

bits and pieces from several households or city areas are thrown together. lt would be most revealing to find pottery characteristic of the Hittites that was clearly used simultaneously with pottery characteristic of the Phrygiansi' At the other end of the time scale, Sams also wants t0 explore the most recent settlement,

Less than half of the site at Gordion has been excavated, and Sams is ready to rejuvenate

the ongoing project with a fresh dig. As project director, he traveled to Gordion this past summer to determine the agenda for the new excavations, planned to begin in 1988. The trip was a project of The University Museum

4&r:'*,

\a, E

at the University of Pennsylvania. His collaborator in the work, Dr. Mary Voight of the Museum, will oversee the excavations as associate director.

ln the

planned excavations, Sams wants to

emphasize the historical times about which

l)rawint rtf a br,tnzt' !adlt r+.ith inci.std decoration

tld

hinl t head lintai lrctnt a Phr.rgtut t hild.s tontb itc at (iordion

t,i tht' tiqltth rcntun

'Anatolian Dark ,{gel' for want of information. "We need to determine whether that time was a historical wastelandl' Sams explains.

1200 s.c. and the clear Phrygian presence by the eighth century is currently referred to as the

donment layeri' After as much as one thousand years of Phrygian settlement, Gordion was

More Answers Lie in the Earth

is particularly eager to determine whether the Phrygians intermingled with local cultures. Part of this time, between the Hittite collapse in

Gordion has so far revealed the least, the times before and after the Phrygians. ln the time before the Phrygians, a span of about 1500 years back to the Early Bronze Age, he

'A lot of what

we find is from fills, where

the Roman one. He would like to establish more definitively the dates delineating this phase of Gordion occupation. As yet unfunded, the 198&89 excavations would provide graduate training opportunities

for students at UNC-CH, as well as students at the University of Pennsyh,ania and Tiukish students. Sams also envisions a second phase of excavations following the 1988-89 one. "The answers to many questions are lying in the ground at Gordionl' Sams says. 'All we have to do is dig them up and figure them outl'

-Ilaay

J. Maxwell

Legal Theory and

the Telegraph flrrt

Electronlc Gonnunlcrdonr lechnology

The Neffonte

This inrcntion, so impressira in its implicationg was the telegnph, and it did indeed effect a ra/olution of sorts. According to Dr. John Bittner, professor of broadcast law and management in the Department of Radiq Tblevision and Motion Picturu, the telegraph was Americas fint electronic communications technolo$/. Its creation nised a number of legal and philosophic issues that still confront

our legislatiw and judicial systems today. These issues include the e.:ilent to which gorernmental subsidy, regulation, and control

of information and communications systems

is appropriatg the role of prirate enterprise in the dodopment of such technologieg and the liability of these systems when something goes wrong. Bittner has been uamining the legal history of the telegnph in an effort to establish a foundation for the legal theory that has influenced the daielopment of electronic communications e\rcr since the mi& nineteenth century. He hlierrcs that the way in which the nation ruponded to the telegraph has affected a wide wiety of ercnts from the westuard expansion of the United States to the present organization of cable networls and common caniers as privately opented and mmed, but quasi4onernment regulated entities.

Circttlar lo cerlain Collectors of lhe Cusloflts, Dr. ,lohn Bittner. professor of broadust law and manalement, at work wilh the documents that led to ht..c conclusi()ns about the impofiance of the tele{raph to an understanding of prcsent4ay legal theon in lhe arca ol communiutions and in[ornation technaloEies.

0n April 6,

1838, the United States House of

a rcport from the Committee on Commerce detailing information on a nel inwntion being considered for funding Representatirrcs receirrcd

by Congress. The report contained a passage remukable for its foresight, as well as for its

rhdoric "lt is dvioug hcmrwer, that the influence of this inrcntion over the political, commercial, and social relations of the people of this widelyertended country looking to nothing beyond, will, in the errnt of success, of itself amount to a m/olution unsurpassed in moral grandeur by any discorcry that has been made in the arts and sciences from the most distant period to which authentic history extends to the present dat''

Comtnand,ers

of Reuenue

Cutlers, and other persons.

Tnressny Drran:,urnr, ilarch 10, 1837. With the riew of obtaining information in reg:rd io (( the propriety of establishing a system of telegraphs for the United States," in compliance with the request contained in tbe anoexed resolution of the House df Representatives, adopted at its last session, I will thank )'ou to furnisb tbe Department rvith your opinion upoo the subject. If leisure permits, you would.oblige me by pointing out tbe manDer, and the various particuiarsr.in which the system maI be rendered most useful !o th'e Government of the .United States and the public generally. ' It would be desirabler.if in your power, lo present a detailed statement as to the proper points for the location, aDd distance of tbe statibns from each other,'with general rules for tbe resularion of the system, together with your seDtiments as to the propriety of connecting it with any existing department of tbe Government, and some defrriite idea of tbe rapiditj wiih which intelligioce could ordinarily, and also tn urgent iases, be iriimunicated between distabt plaiis. l rvish you to esrimate tbe prob4ble,expeuse of establishing and supporting telegraphs, upon .the Eost approved systcm, for any-given distancti, during. an.v specifiedperiod. ' ii..#euld'add 16 rhi ioieist of .tbe subject'if,"youwo-'rld offei .s

.om^,jto th;'p;adiicability of uriitiug. rith.,a 'sjstem.'o'f .telegraphs fo. "i"r"s Dicatio; i;:'clear' ieithei; aod. ia -tlie'day time, pbothEi ior'communication in.fo!b,by enoori iii'othErwis!; ind in the.nigbt, by the same mode, rockets,,6res, &c. or..bi ' sboutd be gratifed by receivini your reply by tbe first oi October I

Dext'

LEyr wooDBURy, Secrelary

The circular sent out by the Tleasury Depaflment

the Itreasury.

response to Reid's petition

Despite the report of the Committee on Commerce the road to acceptance for the telegnph was a bumpy one. 0n January 25, 1837, Captain Samuel C. Reid, a native of Connecticut, proposed that Congress fund his

Samuel f,forre &nd the Elechomagnedc Telegraph

plan to build a telegraph between Nov York and Nov 0rleans by way of Washingon, DC, "His original petitionl' notes Bittner, "is an interesting example of one of the first pleas for technology funding in the beginning of the electromagnetic agel' Both Reid's credentials-he was something of an orpert on telegraphy and had written a book on the subject-as well as his antece

the States, Morse had been stimulated by conrrersations among his fellow passengers on the theory of electromagnetism. He hit upon the idea of using electrical charges for signaling

dents-the Nor England delegation was

powerful force in Congress-probably helped arouse interest in his petition. But the system he proposed was a variation on the crude mechanical models already

use throughout

Europe Such systems involnd the sending of messages by means of semaphore via relay stations in proximity to one another. They could not be used at night or in bad weather and were a cumbersome means of transmitting information. Congress quickly acted on Reid's

1832,

on a sea voyage from Europe to

primitiw sketches for what would become his Recording Electric purposes and &ew up the first

Magnetic Telegraph. Morses finances were precarious, however. Upon his arrilal home,

his plans for a telegraph were put on the back burner until he read the circular containing Congress's request for information on ns,v communications systems. Morse sent two responses to the Secretary of the Tieasury in 1837, detailing his plans

for an electric telegraph system. His erudition and intelligence biased Congress in his favor,

but his strongest selling point resided in the nature of his sptem. His was the only one

proposal, but only to the qtent of sending out a request for information on potential telegraph systems to anyone interested in responding. Among those who did respond was an American professor of art, Samuel

proposed that utilized electricity. Morse's telegraph did not possess the limitations of mechanical means of signal relay. lt afforded instantaneous transmission of information regardless of time of day or weather conditions. It was compact, relatirrely inorpensirre, and allowed for the permanent recording of all

F.B. Morse.

messages as they were

relapd. Finally, it

an American invention and so appealed to patriotic sentiments. Morse proposed that the control of the new technology be rrested in the Post 0ffice Department. According to Bittner, Morses letters estab lished an agenda of issues that have been active ever since. "By viewing the telegraph as a 'public utilit/ as it were, the seed was planted which later grer,v into a regulatory framework encompassing such technologies as telephone, microunve and satellite communications, and cable televisionj' he uplains. "lt was the first time anyone had to grapple with the issue of whether the government or prilate enterprise

would control an electromagnetic-based information technology. It also pro,ides a fascinating look at the evolution of legal liability concerning a primitive and unreliable technology.' At first, if a message was relayed incorrectly, the telegraph company was liable for any damages suffered by the sender resulting from misinformation. But later court rulings deemed that the difficulty of producing a foolproof technology made it impossible to hold a telegraph company accountable for every error. "That sort of

judgmenti' sap Bittner, "carried over to the present day. The telephone company, for instancg

has rrery limited liability for errors in transmissionl' Thank, in part, to Morse's tenacity the

was

Tbking it ray rmg v. hich

be SotitrirC 1o yourreader to see the kind of rniit pcrforms, I have had it engraved for you, accoupanied with

aa e:olanation.

Your obedeut serrant,

SAML F. B. I\{ORSE.

TELEGRAPHS T'OR THE UNITED STATES.

N. Y City Aaitesiry, Sqtembo 4,1631.

Specima of felcgtaphic

,*rrO **

by means oJ clcctricifur distance o! me-third of u mile.

Successfrrl experiment

-l

2t436258 Y-'j

LETTER the

TEE SECRETAEY OF THH I'REASURY,

with teleeraph..

Transmitting o Report uporuthe

ll i'[-,/\t y\[Till,-]/

2t4

Successful erperutrent

ll2

040

vith

leletraphc

Raad, .nd

rs37

J",\nMi1/i4r\nAI\r]/\tV\AlV

d.lcuoE8ry,

The points *e the TriJFn$ of the'register, each point being roarked every time the electric fluid passes. the reg.iser pqrk( .but on9 kird of mark, b nrir, (V.) This can be Ianed. -two ways By tEterea.lst thus, (V_VV \fvY1 sigrdtring oDe, Dvo, three, &1, aad by reversing, thus, (A). n-,-ples of Ujtt, ii,"i varieties are seD ln ttre (llS.SfaDThe diagram of the electrical inpulses when Mrtrse senl tv'o nessages during an earl.v experiment. The pointed and flat depressions on the registet are the forerunners lhe dots and dashes of the llorse Code.

of a Systetn of Telegraphs/or

Drcnupsn

telegtaph, SepteDber 4, lsgz.

The raards in the diagrao were the intelligpuce tran-ittedfoe,numoas (ln tDE rDstance arbimry) are the uu-ubers of the words

lD a

subject

the United, Stales,

l/ln V-l:UI[1r\r-] .

11, I837. l.id upon the Bblc.

, *r^.ol-r*.BrMENr,

unb

er 6,

I BS7 .

Srn: I have the honor to preseni this reportr in compliance with the

following resolutioo, which passed the l{ouse of Representatives on the 3d of FCbruary last, viz : t' Resolaed, Thal tbe Secretary of the Treasury be requested to report to the House of Represeltatives, at its Dext session, upon the pcopriety of establishiog a system of telegrapbs for the

United States."

Cover letter from the Secretary

q'stem ol telegraphs.

ol the Tleasury lransmitting the report on the

DEA

Committee on Commerce arentually recommended that ConEess fund his system in the amount of $30,000. The'fteasury however, was financially strapped and the economic policies of President John [ler made it difficult to get ne$, projects properly financed. In addition, despite the Committees glowing rec-

in ConEess were dubious about Morse's claims, and some openly ridiculed the idea of an electromagnetic ommendation, many

telegraph system. Years of wrangling followed the Committees report, years in which Morse's finances were gradually depleted as he traveled to Europe to gain additional support for his project as well as foreign patent rights. Finally,

on March 3, 1843, after an 89 to 83 vote in the House and a long delay in the Senatg

bill funding Morse's proposal to erect a telegraph line be tween Baltimore and Washingon, DC. Work Congress passed an appropriations

on the link-up proceeded smoothly and was finished under budget. Annie Ellsworth,.the daughter of H.L. Ellsworth, the Commissioner of Patents and a friend of Morse, chose from Numbers 23:23 the now famous words that heralded the age of electronic communications:

"What hath God wought!" Bittner and Ridley Kessler, Federal Documents librarian,

Precent-Day Legal Theory

from the Perrpecdve of the Telegraph

Bittner's search through history landed him in the mid-1800s when Congress was discussing issues involving the transmission of communications through the postal service and the

Bittner pieced together the legal theory of the telegraph while working on the second edition of his book Broadast Law and Regulation, to be published by PrenticeHall. The revision of his book includes substantial ex-

telegraph. His research was given a major boost

pansions to accommodate more comprehensirnly

troduced me t0 very valuable document holdings

the entire field of telecommunications and information technologies. "The rapid, enormous changes that have occurred in this area in the last far years made it necessary to gather

which gave me a profoundly rich source of material from which to workl' Bittner's research has actually led him back to the time of the Continental Congress and the creation of post roads, but for the purposes of his book he is

new information relating to some very important

legal issues of the pasti' he explains. "Also, it was obvious that the legal foundations of computer technology and data information networks, including electronic publishing, extend back farther than the wireless era, the period where many histories situate the origin of these issuesl' Bittner first began combing early technolory holdings when he realized that rary early work in commom carrier legal theory shed light on presentday issues. "More and more sources dropped back farther and farther in histort'' he says. "Not only was there rele

lant work being done before the

emergence

of the wirelesq but before the telephonel'

when he met Ridley Kessler, the Federal Documents librarian at UNC's Davis Library, who guided Bittner through the labyrinth of the basement of the serials section. "He in-

confining himself to the genesis of the telegraph and the corresponding origins of communica-

tions law and policy. Bittner hopes he has laid the groundwork for

viewing the legal aspects of electronic communications in a much broader framework. The telegraph was an isolated and self-contained technolog5r in the mid-nineteenth century. It operated in a society unaffected by other "instantaneous" communications sptems. The intervening variables of other technologiesradiq television, telephones, computers-did not exist then. For Bittner this means we have in the telegraph a straightforward example of

in the

stacks

of the serials section of Davis Library.

how a communications technology influences the society which created it. The presence of the telegraph may even have added an additional

attraction to the economic incentiras of the American western frontier. "One of the major contributing factors for the growth of western

citiesl' speculates Bittner, "might have been that people could telegraph homel' Bittner also feels that an awareness of the legal history of the telegraph could modify our legislatirre efforts concerning current communications technologies. "When the Communications Act of 1934 was revised in the serrentiesj' he says, "reference was made to legal theory primarily extending back to the dap of the wireless. The precedent of the telegraph, howa,er, provides our earliest example of the gorrnment wrestling with the issues of who should control access to the flow of information. Knowledge of that may influence future policy decisions. The more we know about the legal history of the telegraph, the better informed will be our current decisions regarding the issue of information access and communications

technologiesl'

-Tinothy

David Jenkins

Decision Theory and

the Physician Coin tossing is a familiar activity, but its relationship to the cognitive aspects of clinical medicine is not likely to occur to many people. Yet the implications of a coin toss lie at the base

considered. "To take up our first examplel' explains Resnik, "suppose you're standing at the edge of a rough neighborhood waiting for a bus, and you need that dollar to buy your

of a methodological approach to

ride home, when someone comes up and makes you the coin toss bet. Your decision on whether 0r not to bet v/ill be guided, not so

decision-making in daily life. Decision theory as this approach is called, prwides a framework for dealing, in a rigorous and quantitative manner, with the choices made by individuals.

much by the orpected monetary value of the bet, but by other intangible considerations, like whether 0r not you want to risk getting mugged by walking through that neighborhood

For four decades it has been employed by economists, mathematicians, philosophers, and

in highly theoretical settings and in efforts to facilitate the choices made by

statisticians

business and governmental leaders. Now, says Dr. Michael Resnik, professor of philosophy at UNC-CH, physicians are beginning to utilize the tools of decision theory in an e[ fort to develop methods to aid in making clinical decisions. Resnik has coauthored a

book in which decision theory is used to develop a model of clinical diagnosis, and to aramine the role of the elements of decision analpis in patient management. Reasoning in Medicine, coauthored by Daniel Albert, assistant professor of rheumatolory at the Uni-

Michael Resnik, professor of philosophl

the coin coming up either heads or tails. No money is lost and none is gained. lf the choice is to bet then two dollars can be gained if the toss produces heads, and one lost if tails. These two outcomes are equally probable, thus a gain of one dollar is the overall expected

versity of Chicago, Ronald Munson, a philosopher of biology at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, and Resnik, will be published by Johns Hopkins Press in 1988. In decision theory the coin toss is a paradigm for eramining the issues invohad in making choices. "Suppose you have a dollarl' says

value of the bet, because on the average one would expect to win two dollars for every one lost. A person morred by these considerations would probably bet in this situation.

Resnik, "and someone offers to bet with you on whether or not a fair coin will come up heads. If it does you win two dollars. If it doesn't you lose a dollar. How will you decide what to do?" In decision theory the proposal provides for two opfions: whether or not t0

"we find we harre apply this mlue to a medical situation. Clearly monetary considerations are not the only, or even the most important, lalues to be used by a physician. Where, then, do we get the outcome lalues and probabilities needed in order to dorelop a model by which phpicians make the choices that lead to the eraluation, diagnosis, and treatment of a patient's complaint?" The answer lies in a branch of decision theory called utility theory. Utility theory also produces quantitatirre aaluationg but it gets its numbers in a different way. As the name implies, utility, rather than money, is the criterion by which options and outcomes are

bet. The environmental factors influencing your

decision-in this case the possibility of the coin coming up heads or tails-represent the outcomes under consideration. Decision theory oaluates the available options in a situation as they might influence probable outcomes. ln Resnik's example, decision theory would reason as follows: If the choice is not

to bet then there is no value to be found in

The aborre orample uses money as a determining factor in oaluating the options and

"Butl' Resnik continues, a problem when we try to

outcomes of a situation.

should you lose your bus fuel' The application of decision theory and utility theory to clinical work is straightforward in principle. Each of the options arailable could result in one or more outcomes ranging from curing the patient to causing his or her death, depending upon what disease is involrrcd. Ideally, decision and utility theories can provide the quantitative methodology that will help the phpician make the best decisions based on the values he assigns to the outcome of

his options.

It is likely, though, that decision theory will demonshate ih potential as a nolutionary forc for medicine in the futue as it is incorpnted into computer programs designed for diagnosing illnesses. In the meantime, Resnik and his colleagues have used it to darelop a model describing the cognitiw processes involwd

in the act of

diagnosis.

Until now, three stereo[pes for conceptualizing the diagnostic act have been generally recognized. In the first, the phpician is seen as a detectirrc who deduces the diagnosis from a bewildering array of symptoms. Such a model, Resnik claims, does not take into account the fact that the physician may ne'ver be able to accumulate all the rele\rant data, or eliminate all the red henings in making a diagnosis. The second stereotype sees the phpician as a gambler, risking the patient's health on his best guess as to the corrmt disease and treat ment. "Clearlyl' says Resnik. "no phpician proceeds in such an irresponsible way. He or she will try to determine whether the best guess is good enough, and whether the risla continued on inside back cover

AYO

Muslim Women and Legal Reform in Senegal and Niger in the West, lslamic law is vie$red as a very coercive system and most seyere in relation to the rights of women. Both Niger and Senegal have a significant population of Muslims, ranging from 80 to 90 percent, and both share a French Senegal. She notes that

colonial heritage. There is a difference, however. Senegal passed a "reform law" in 1972, while Niger's family laws continue to be

gov-

erned by religious and cultural customary law The purposes of the comparatirre study were to determine (a) in what way the status of women is affected by the manner in which

i)'

issues of marriage, divorce, custody, and succession are handled by the courts; (b) whether the implementation of the Family Code in Senegal has led to significant admnces in the ability of Senegalese women to govern their

Liit..,ittr!; \riri Dunhar, as.rctafe prolessor ol Airican and At'ro'American

When many third world countries attained independence in the 1950s and 1960s, arpectations of Africans and Westerners alike rested on the assumption that "de'velopment'-often defined as economic growth-which was to

follow the end of colonialism would relieve situations of oppression in these countries. Howercr, scholars, planners, and development specialists have, in recent years, examined and mostly deplored the effects of economic development aimed toward alleviating the complex problems of undorcloped countries, since lingering colonialism and the more prG found ties with the global economy that it entailed have simply transformed that oppression

many cases. With the inception in 1975 of the International Decade on Women, more attention has been focused on the ways in which these larger economic and social forces have

affected women differently from men. In particular, women have become much more dependent economically than in precolonial

Studies

grants from the University Research Council

and the Islamic Civilization Research Program 0f the Fulbright Hays Fellormhips, has been studying the interaction of civil and Muslim law as it affects the status of women in francophone Africa. She explains that in attempting to reverse this trend of women's increasing dependency upon society, African and western

scholars and planners have identified areas of needed research on various aspects of women's Iives. Among the fields receiving serious attention has been the legal status of women.

"One of the assumptions about legal reform was that it would improve the status of women. I decided to look at the effects and consequences of socalled reform lawsi' explains Dunbar.

Iclamic Law and $enegal

in lllger

times.

ksociate Professor for African and Afro American Studies, Roberta Ann Dunbar, with

Dr. Dunbar identified two Muslim countries in which to conduct her study, Niger and

own lives; and (c) whether court records are useful as data for social history. Spending three months each in Senegal and Niger, Dr. Dunbar doreloped her basic court data from the Minutes de Greffier, the summary statements of cases. She points out that these comprehensive statements usually identify name, address, occupation, and ethnic group customs (hausa) lor both defendant and prosecutor. The Grettier's report includes a long discussion of issues in the case, the hearings, and the decision rendered by the judge, based on the fusion of customary and Muslim law in Niger, or on statute law in Senegal.

"Research on the legal status of women anywhere is a relatirrcly recent dorelopment; for African and many Third World countries our knowledge is rcry preliminary. Court records give us data on some issues but not on others related to women and the law,' e,plains Dunbar. While court records provide data on litigants, incidences of particular kinds of actions, and the substantirt interpretation of the law by the judges, thry do not give a complete picture that might be gained from other kinds

of research which focuses on whether or not judicial decisions in family law matters are effectively enforced, as well as from interviews with litiganh which would more clearly show their perception of the judicial process. Women and men from rural areas, for example, may be so intimidated by the idea of the "Euro peans"' law that they will do anything to avoid bringing a case into court. "Ultimatelyi' sap Dunbar, "it will be useful to be able to combine the results of these different types

of researchl'

Examlnlng Fqrr.lly Law Court Case Registers By examining registers of family law court for given periods of time, and by identifying the incidence of particular charges or cases

claims, Dunbar was able to determine what kinds of issues in the relationships between women and men seem to provoke difficulties less amenable to mediation, still the prefened

form of dispute resolution for family matters. In both countries, women, the most frequent plaintiffs, took an active part in asserting their claims and thus bringing their husbands t0 court, in most cases for failure to fulfill the cardinal Muslim law obligation of providing food, clothing, and shelter ("failure to maintain"),

or for abandonment. In Senegal, although the law is

secular,

legislators explicitly stated that they wished to make the law compatible with customary law, except in cases where Islamic law was directly counter to the laws of the country or where

a .e

l one who has been an pillrintage ) Houa is the a.s.srslanl court clerk. ',lhe dealt *'ith the people who cane in and asked fr.tr legal advite. This waman v,'as a w'onderfitl netliator and occupied a role we do not usually' think of Muslin wamen occup.t'inq and did so with great aplonb." says Dr. Dunbar. ln Zandir, Niqer. Hajd

the legislators saw Muslim law discriminating against women, especially the "repudiation" clause where a husband can divorce his wife at will. Dunbar points out the complexity of laws based on religious custom, and the danger

of assuming that a change in what seems to be an oppressive law will necessarily have positive results, as in the instances where women have learned how to turn supposedly repressive laws, such as repudiation, to their

own purposes. "Reform law appears to affect women primarily in the urban areas, especially Dakar. Beyond that, it provides a model for the direction in which leaders intend the society to changel'says Dunbar. In most cases a woman's position is affected not so much by the law itself as it is by her and her spouse's

-e

says Dunbar.

In addition, law reform is closely related to the vitality of the nation state and its ability

so far removed from the ideologic and eco nomic reality of these peoplel' says Dunbar.

for the liberation of a historically dependent

government

sometimes aggrusirc-players in upholding their

l'illaqe scene

t+ontan

ai work in Balia. Senegal

deprived of meaningful autonomy 0r success in the economic realm, guard with ever greater vigilance what they believe to be their Godgiven authority in the home over womenl'

According to Dunbar, Senegal has not gone as far with reform law as other countries such as the lvory Coast, which in the mid-1960s drafted a law which explicitly stated that the nuclear family must be dominant, and also abolished polygamy. "However, ninetenths of the people live outside the law because it is

as to how well these laws will serve to liberate womenl' she adds. The extent to which women are active-

would suggest. Dunbar found that the substantive reform of the legal status of women is intimately linked with economic well-being in third world countries. "Chronic unemployment in negative growth economies renders men vulnerable economically and, one might say, psychologically. It does no good to award women child support if even the low levels awarded exceed the husband's capacity to stretch his income. 0n the other hand, men,

economic context.

'A lot will depend on Senegal's

esting findings of the study, strongly suggesting that Muslim societies are not as monolithic in reality as their common religious ideology

rights even where the ideology of the law (as in the case with Islam) prescribes a subordinate role for them was one of the the most inter-

to be an effectire agent of socioeconomic change. Where a state is held prisoner by various

regional, ethnic, or class interests, its policies are more likely to be motirated by the need for control and $ability rather than by the need

group like women. Dunbar notes that all of these obserrations remain to be tested in other societies. Utilized properly, they can be of use not only to scholars but also to those who design and implement dorclopment projects throughout the world.

-Ann F. Stanford

Why Are the Children Dying? Philippines Study Seeks Wavs to trlerluce i{uaith n'robiems irr LJnderdeveloped Nations

More than seventy faculty, students, and professionals, working both in the Philippines

and at UNC-CH, are involved in this truly multidisciplinary projecl It is currently supported by a unique combination of industry and government funds from Nestle's, Wyeth lnternational, the Ford Foundation, the Agency for lnternational Development, the National Academy

of Sciences, and the National lnstitutes of Health.

Gatherlng the Survey Data To locate the pregnant women interviewed survey, project members based in the

in the

Drs. Barr.r

t'\pkil. Ltnda .{dril. llr/ l)alrrJ tillker di.,rrrrs /ir-

1,r,'11"

1,i, r,

,,,'

Philippines canvassed about 24,000 households in thirty{hree randomly selmted communities, or barangap, in the Metro Cebu area. This area encompasses three cities as well as rast tracts of agricultural

How Prenatal and Infant feeding llecisions Affect Child Health

economic outcomes. Popkin spearheaded the proiect and acts as the overall project manager. Guilkey is involved in the development of statistical methods that are needed to analyze

For many years underdeveloped nations have

the data. Akin is concerned with economic

suffered from high rates of infant sickness and death, and a high incidence of low birthweight babies and children with retarded growth. What began at UNC-CH in 1981 as a large study of these problems has by 1987 mushroomed into the most in-depth health survey of a large population ever undertaken in the third

modeling.

world.

The Metro Cebu Child Health and Survival Project evolved out of the joint research of Dr. Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition at UNC-CH and a fellow at the Carolina Population Center (CPC), and Drs. John Akin and David Guilkey, both professors of economics at UNC-CH and also fellows of the CPC. The goal of the project is to analyze how infant feeding decisions of families in the Cebu region of the Philippines interact with yarious social, economic, and environmental factors to affect health, demographic, nutritional, and

With the ultimate goal of answering policyrelevant questions clearly in mind, Akin, Guilkey, and Popkin have gone to extremes t0 obtain data from within the natural family setting. This approach meant finding, interviewing, and collecting data from more than 3,000 Filipino women and their infants in their homes over a twoyear period. "We wanted to study a number of issues related to maternal and infant nutrition and health in as natural a setting as possiblebefore, during, and after a birthl' Popkin says.

"ln

particular, we wanted to be able to examine

the sequencing, or ordering, of a large number of nutrition, health, and related socioeconomic factors. We tried to combine the biomedical scientist's precision of measurement and focus on detail with the social scientist's concern for underlying social and behavioral factors]'

or uninhabited land

reaching far into the central mountain ranges of Cebu Island or out into the sea to small offshore islands. Out of 3,300 pregnant women originally located, about 2,600 were followed for the complete twoyear period. After collecting baseline information at a woman's sixth month

of pregnancy, the researchers visited her within two daln of giving birth and then bimonthly for two years-I4 survep for each mother-infant pair. A typical interviau lasted about ninety minutes. Dr. Wilhelm Flieger, a sociologist and director of the Office of Population Studies (0PS) at

the Unirarsity of San Carlos in Cebu Ciry worls closely with the UNC-CH group. His fifty-member staff was responsible for the bulk of surveying and intervio,rring in the

Filipino households and is currently completing computerization of the data for analysis at Filipino institution, the Nutrition Center of the Philippines, has played an important role in the implementation and orienCPC. A second

tation of the project. While use of the survqn to determine infant feeding practices and their effects on infant health is the most important goal of the proiect,

EIY

according to Popkin, project memben also performed additional surveJn to collect data on family planning pnctices, media influence on food choicq food prices, typology and quality of water sources and stonge facilities, and quality and use of available health facilitiesadding another thirtythree survqn to the projed. This abundance of data permits projed memben to follorv their individual interuts, contributing new threads to the project's complex fabric.

The

proict is unique bmause of the collected

data's breadth, detail, and longitudinal nature

at the individual, household, and community larel. By following the same woman and her family for two years, the researchers can determine infant feeding patterns over time. "This ability is important because it allonn us to look at hou, changes in feeding relate to basic health and socioeconomic patternsj' says Eilene Bisgrove, a gnduate student in the Department of Nuhition who has been working on the project since 1985. "For examplg how do changes in the mother's labor-force status relate to her feeding selections? Are the selections different in urban and runl households? If sq does income play an

imprtant

role? We'll have a number of important rela-

tionships to look atl'

DEAY

life and has been able to group infants according to their feeding patterns. She has already established that diets dominated breast-feeding are more likely

runl

of Cebu, while diets chancterized

areas

by more formula and canned milk are more likely found in urban areas. She has also located a smaller group of infants whose mothers are giving them added protein in the form of eggs and fish. These children correlate with mothers who harr higher education levels and are in a higher socioeconomic level than most Cebu women but do not seem to cluster in either rural or urban areas. "We want to find out if these children are healthier than arnrage and, if sq what factors

a .F e a 6

could be introduced that promote nising chickens

to produce egs to feed childrcn, nther than as a cash crop, which is how eggs are norv usedl' Bisgrorrc

is also looking at the women's

A trained inlerviewer

lhe

nain

weigh-s

bab"v.

li'eight is one

neasures used to deterntine growth

and growth velocity.

societal and household status and relating it

to pr* and postnatal health. Women in this area of the Philippines, as in much of the third world, often eat less than other adult household members. Many, howewr, work in what is called the informal market, selling

thinla

there might be a nutritional adyantage to the woman working outside the home Although she receiras little income for her work, the woman may be more likely to augment her daily intake with foods purchased away from home Bisgrove

So far, Bisgrore has analyzed the infant feeding data up to the sixth longitudinal surwy, information from the second month of prcgnancy to the h^,elfth month of the infant's

are usociated with these more healthful eating patternsl' Bisgrorrc sa1n. "ln turn, policies

goods when and where they can. Bisgrove

Rerultr Suggert Weyr to lnprove iluklffon

to be found in

will be analyzing the data to determine

if this is in

fact the case Promotion of incomerarning activities outside the home may be one way to increase women's nutritional standard.

"Work, incomg and social status all affect the health of a mother and her childrenj' says Bisgrow. "l think policy promoting education, literacy, and the darelopment of muketable skills for women will improrrc nromens health, and subsequently that of their childrenl' Ging Ging Fernandez, a Filipino graduate student in the Health Education Department at UNC-CH, is also interested in infant nutrition. She is one of three Filipino students affiliated with OPS who are at UNC-CH working on their doctontes. In the project, she is focusing on the effects of cultunl beliefs on the initiation and maintenance of breast-feeding. She worked

with OPS in the Cebu region for more than a year, designing and translating the questionnaires, going house to house intervioring the women, and supervising the coding of the dietary data.

"We really worked to get these datel' she "The roads often stopped short of a house we had to visit, and we'd have to park the truck and walk for two or three hours to get to one of the women. 0f course, when the monsoons came the roads were practically says.

uselessl' Fernandez

is particularly interuted in three

deeply rooted customs pncticed by many women

of all socioeconomic lernls in the Cebu region:

"lihil'

a ritual most women go through

to ensurc their milk is good and plentiful; "bughatl' a cultunlly induced postpartum syndrome that manifests itself in headaches and eyeaches, causing women to think their milk is not good and abandon breast-feeding; Ging Ging Fernandez,

lin

VanDerslice, and Eilene Bisgrove check suney project data.

and "pasmoj' another culturebound syndrome

a t' a -ts'

Cultural beliels int'luence the practice ol breast-feeding

the Celtu reqion

-9

A rainwaler tctlletlion r/elice u.sed on an island tvithoul a rlialer .s(lr/rae. the vlaler runs ot'f the rool into the devir't,. pa:sing lhntugh a pitLe of iishnet that

slrain.s oLil lar1e

lartitles rtf

debris.

A big challenge will come later on when

try to formulate effective policy suggestions to

help allwiate some of the water contamination problemsl'

An inten'iewer

/neasure-s

nother's percentage of bodv fat. an indicatton

her

l*rl

rtl niitrition

anrl

thereforc. overall health.

ProJect Spawnr Large Number of SubproJects Dr. Linda Mair, a human biologist and phpical

to eat. "Pasmo' manifests itself in a variety of symptoms, ranging from ear problems to insanity, and is believed to reduce the quantity and quality of breast milk. "Breast-feeding could be managed and promoted by modification of these beliefsl' caused by failure

Fernandez says.

Impact of Water Supply

households. Contaminated drinking water is a leading cause of diarrhea in young children. To assess the household's drinking water quality,

VanDerslice inspected and sampled water sources ranging from mountain springs to shallow hand-dug wells on remote islands. He surveyed the families as well, observing how they fetched and stored their drinking water in the home. One method of transporting

Another of the many facets of the proiect is the condition of the water supply and its impact on children's health. Jim VanDerslice, a graduate student in the UNC-CH Department

water involves the use of bamboo containers such as those pictured on the back cover. "l had to be an engineer, a microbiologist, an epidemiologist, and a sociologist to do this type of researchl' VanDerslice says. He is currently sifting through the data and starting

of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, spent a year and a half in Cebu for the project, studying the 800 water sources used by sample

statistical modeling to isolate environmental factors that affect the children's health. "lt s exciting to work with data I'rre actually collected.

anthropologist on sabbatical from Rice Unirersity

Texas to do postdoctoral work at the CPC, is investigating the biological determinants of

child weight and gowth. She is looking at how the mother's biological characteristics (weight, height, fat stores, parity) determine infant characteristics at birth. She is attempting to answer questions such as: Is the mother or baby small due to malnourishment or genetics? Are infants' body proportions good predictors of how they will grow in the first two years

life?

She has analyzed the first year's data and has completed a paper identifying infant groups based on their physical characteristia. Her next step is to actually determine how each group fared healthwise in their first two years

of life.

7 .E

-B'

g E

4 tvpical urltan residental area in downtr.twn Cebu Cit: e

The borehole uell. fitted tvith a hand punp.

the agencies thought we had at best a 25 percent chance of making it workl' But thanls to the dedication of both the

is the

most connon type of water source in the Cebu region. Poor drainage condilions produce standing water around the well. which is one cause of water contanination.

UNC-CH group and their collaborators in the Philippines the project has more than exceed-

ed expectations, Popkin says. "Dick Udry and CPC deserve a great deal of credit. The Center has set up financial arrangements, pro vided staff support, and continuously offered

Adair is impressed with the proiect's overall design and implementation. "Coming from another university and being asked to work 0n data that's not really mine shows the collaborative spirit of the studt'' she says. "The

excellent guidancel' So far, the project has receirad support from 14 different grants and gifts, and has produced three bools and numerous papers.

emphasis is clearly to maximize the individual skills of many for the good of the wholel' A number of UNC-CH faculty are involved in large subprojects. Dr. John Briscoe, associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering, is responsible for a large set of

Additional studies will be needed to examine central issues related to the available data. The project team's immediate goal is to scrutinize all the data from an academic perspective, writing detailed papers on specific subjects to

studies of water sources, household water processing, and diarrhea etiologr and is in-

aI a

in the maior child health and surviral analpis. Dr. J. Richard Udry director of CPC and professor of maternal and child health

voh,ed

and sociology, and Dr. Ronald Rindfuss, also a professor of sociology, are involved in research on serual behavior and child spacing. Dr. J. Brad Schwartz, lecturer in economics,

.e -a-

g I

A Filipino woman and child in a rural area of the Cebu region

is involrrcd in research on natural family planning and on infant mortality. Dr. John Ste$art,

of economics, is involved in research on the effects of food industry

associate professor

promotion activities. Dr. David Blau, assistant professor of economics, will study the relationship between the labor force and infant feeding decisions of the mother.

All

data harr been collected and

will

soon

be completely computerized. Popkin aims to have a large portion of the data analyzed by 1991. He has to smile when he thinls of just how big the project really is. "lt is a massive undertakingl' he says. "Although we got initial funding, I think in the back of their minds

let others in the field know what they are learning. Then they will turn to policy development, simplifying and generalizing their results for use in the dwelopment of new policies or change of existing ones. "We're reviewing many of the chitd health

policies in the third worldl' Popkin says. "The Philippine government is very interested to learn what's causing such high infant morbidity and mortality rates and really wants to do something about itl' he says. "We're working with them to develop ways to design more effective child health programs and policiesl'

-TlacE J. Maxwell

Coastal Barriers Provide Essential Habitats and Protection from Storms Valuable Resources May Be Lost Unless the Dynamics and Functions

of These Fragile, Changing Landforms Are Understood and Protected

of sedimentation and how these coastal environments shift and evolrrc orcr time. He spe

the sediment goes to understand where the pollutants gol' Wells says.

cializes in studying how coastal sedimentary landforms change in size, shapg and location,

The geochemistry of sediments within the pocket of Cape Lookout Bight has been exten-

and how thry senr as sources of sediment for other areas. Through proiects funded by the National Science Foundation, Wells is currently studying the dynamia of three vital coastal

sively researched, but until now the site's dynamics have not been explored or monitored. Wells and coinvestigator Dr. Alan L. Shanks, research assistant professor of marine sciences, are taking a very detailed look at how the mud is settling through the water and accumulating on the ocean's floor in this particular location. They are also using the site as a small field laboratory to gather information that can be extrapolated to other areas of the

barriers, one in North Carolina and two outside

the United States. "We must recognize that barrier islands are fragile and perhaps the most dynamic of all coastal environmentsl' Wells says. "We must

not base tomorrow's regulations on yesterday's understanding of the natural system. As long as barrier islands are dynamic, the regulations must also be dynamic and subject to revision. One of my goals as a researcher is to pro vide the understanding needed for future

a o -b p

decisionsl' Dr.

lohn T.

Wells

world where the same phenomenon is occurring. "We hope to make the first detailed observations in shallorry water of large particulates settling to the bottoml' Wells explains. This

type of sediment, which has been dubbed "marine snow" by Japanese researchers because it tools like large snowflakes, has been studied in deeper water, where it occurs fre quently. It has not been studied in shallow water, Wells adds, because the waters are so murky that individual particles cannot be seen.

Coastal barriers-offshore deposits of sed! ment-occur in a variety of forms, including islands, spits, tidal flats, and deltas. Buffeted

Cape Lookout Blght

by winds, warcs, and tides, these features constantly change shape and shift in location as they absorb the relentless energies of waves and currents and the destructive forces of storms. In this way, thry serve as a protectirc fringe that shelters the mainland. At the same time-and perhaps more important-they provide valuable habitats and nursery grounds

Cape Lookout Bight off the coast of North

But in North &rolina, even the shallow water

&rolina, where a pocket of soft, muddy sediment is rapidly accumulating just behind the barrier

is relatively clear.

for many species of mammals, waterfowl, fish, and shellfish. Dr. John T. Wells, associate professor of marine sciences at the UNC-CH Institute of Muine Sciences, is interested in the processes

For the next two years, Wells' focus

will

island's hook. Although North Carolinas coast is relatirrely pristing there is much pressure

for coastal derrlopment. Already, inland development is increasing the amount of pollutants and toxic substances being introduced into the sediments and directly into the rivers. fu finegrained sediments are carried across the state through rirrer drainage basins and out into the sea, the pollutants are carried with them. "lt's important to understand where

Wells' team, which also includes graduate students Jamie Camp and Yun Kim, is using a twopronged approach, examining both the particles themselves and the way in which they accumulate. Tlaps specially designed to collect sediments have been fitted with cameras and strobes. For the first stage 0f the project, the traps have been placed above the surface of the sediment to photograph the size, shape, composition, and settling speed of the particles in the water and to record how they change

il.D.E

,rorr, I

g F

o -b

a -e

B E r The changing lace of Cape Lookout Bight this series of diagrans illustrates the eflects winds, and stotms on coastal barriers.

tides, currents,

An aerial view of a section ol Korea's coastline: the grey areas are the nud flats, the dark fingers entering [rom the left are channels cul into the fiats, and the white patches along the coast and inland are rice fields.

These tidal flats ale enormous accumulations of mud that stretch along the shoreline and out acros the Yellow Sea, measuring two to frfteen

miles in width. They sene as resenoirs of sediment that are alternately eroded during the

winter monsoon storms and then replenished during summer when the winds at calm and the rircn are delivering more sediments to the coast. But these resenroirs arc being turned into

o -b

fields. Korea is a crowded, doreloping country and the people haw been npidly rcclaiming

a EI

Large pafticles of sedinent photographed as they settle through the water off Cape Lookout Bighl

daily, seasonally, and with particular winter storms. During the second stage, the researchers will excavate the sediment and place the tops

Wells has also found that, over periods as short as a mater of houn the particles appear

measurements

to change drastically in size and shape Thercforg measurements mu$ be talan freuenily and extnpolations must be made with care. To have the flCIdbility to work with a npid time frame, the team is using large film pads

and clarity of the water. Initial obsenations indicate that the particles ale much larger than expected or prwiously

that can take 250 shots and timers that can automatically triger the shutter rcpeatedly at short intervals.

of the haps flush with the surface to photograph

the particles as they settle on the bottom. At the same

time they will be taking environmental of the warcs, windq cunents,

recognized. "Some are a half-inch longl' Wells

sys. "They may look like shings or like amorphous agglomentes of many small particles

glued together." The significance of this discorcry is that the larger the particleg the

morc sediment they contain and, therefore, the faster they and any pollutants adsorbed to them will accumulate

South f,orean ftdat

flatr

Off the west coast of South tfurea, Wells has been studying since 1979 the spectaculu tidal flats that form a different sort of coastal barrier.

luge puts of the mud flah for rice cultivation. Working with scientists at Seoul National Unirenity, Wells is examining where the mud comes from and where it goes in order to prodde insight into the impact of Koreds reclamation work "lt's important to undershnd the dynamics of the mud because this land is being darcloped so quicklyj' he explains. "lf the sediment that is natunlly taken away ser$es an important function elsarherg it's important to knon thati' Some of the eroded sediment mcryes into the deep canyons and troughs in the lfurean

Shait, and some is tnnsplanted hundreds of miles to the Sea of Japan. Wells has found that more sediment leaves the flats in winter than is brought in and deposited by local riwrs in summer. Thercforg he suspects that some mechanism is bringing sediment across from

the China shorg where two of the largest rircrs in the uiorld, the Yangtze and the Yellon, are delirering their sediments. Tidal flats occur all over the world, including

.{Y

The Indus llelta

*---r

A third project, which

focuses

on the Indus

delta in coastal Pakistan, is in the development stage. This site on the Northern Arabian Sea is particularly interesting for several reasons. Much oil exploration is conducted in deltaic coastal areas, called depocenters, because these thick accumulations of silty river sediment are good sources and reservoirs of hydrocarbons.

But although the Indus delta is one of the largest in the world, it will soon disappear if current trends continue.

2 E

First, the delta is in a semi-arid region, and water upstream is being tapped for irrigation. Pakistani engineers predict that by m. 2000

= F a -b

Aorear ir'ir,irti.slr lrrrl l,he iere:rn:lr

r.'t,s.se/

[ihrnq ltle n..iri alitLirul ai lla]

'[t.,

there will be no more water flowing into the delta and, therefore, no more fresh water or sediment resupplying it. As the fresh river water decreases, the salty water will penetrate inland, killing vital vegetation such as mangrove trees. Second, the area is subjected to some

of the strongest monsoon winds and, therefore, some of the largest waves in the world. This means that its erosion rate is very high. When the sediment is no longer replaced, the natural balance will be lost, and the delta will become an eroding beach. "Theres a tndeoff," Wells comments. "Thry're gaining fresh water upstream, but at the same time they're removing a valuable resource

at the coastl' With fifteen percent of the country's population living in the delta, the impact will be considerable. Large, wind-blown sand dunes are already

developing on the coast because of the decrease

in stabilizing vegetation. The problem with the dunes is that the sand can blow inland and cover the fertile land, destroying it. "This is what happened in the Nile delta in Egypt and in the '[hna delta in Kenya]' Wells notes,

a = a -e e

"and it's an example of what man doesn't want to happen in the lndus deltal' ln conjunction with Pakistani colleagues at the

o d

Tidal creeks with

sparse n)anqrove veqelation

the lndu,s Delta

National Institute of Oceanography, a government

Karachi, Wells plans to

large areas of southeast Asia and South

or you'll get stranded. The logistical problems

research institute

America and along the coasts of southwest lndia, Malapia, and China. "The phenomenon of mudflat development is not an isolated or unusual thing, but it hasn't been studied muchl' Wells says. ln fact, the South Korean flats have never been studied ercept by aerial and satellite imagery because they are difficult to get to. The mud is gelatinous, and one would

have been tremendousl'

study how the process is adrancing with the hope

Until 1984, Wells' work in Korea was funded by the Office of Naval Research through Loui-

of providing information and encouraging the

sink chest deep in it in attempting to walk across the flats. "You can only approach them by boat from the sea, and only when the tide is high enoughl'Wells says. "Even then, the tides mora so fast because of their twenty- to thirty-foot rartical range that you can't stay long

been cut into the flats by tides. Placing in-

siana State University, where he was teaching and conducting research. During the summer of 1987, NSF funded a onemonth field trip for Wells' most detailed work there yet. He studied some of the enormous channels that have

selected channels, he measured

struments the flow of water and sediment moving through them. He also took core samples of mud from the flats to look at the history rate, and

type of deposition.

derclopment of a regional land management plan to help avert catastrophe. He will map the geologic characteristics of a small representative section and, as in Korea, measure the move ment of water and sediment in its channels. "By looking at how the delta is distributing what sediment it now receivesl' Wells says, "we'll probably have some chance of predicting what

the future will be likel'

-Diantha J. Pinner

Lattice Defects A Crystai's Internal Structural Flaws Determine lts Llnique

Properties

Almost all of the interesting properties in crystalline solids are produced by minute defects in their structurq according to Dr. Lawrence M. Slifkin, professor of physia at UNC-CH. These defects are what give crystals their unique properties and make them useful.

"ln optalline solidq most of the useful properties are determined by a very small concentration of defects in the crystal's internal lattice structure, not by the bulk crystal itselfl' Slifkin

arplains. For instancg defects control the corrosion rate in metals, the operation of transistors, and the color on a television screen. A color television screen is a composite of cr)6tals, which together appear as a colored image. Each crystal produces a small dot of color-either red, blue, or green-when erposed to the electron beam in the television tube. Which color a crystal glows is determined by a defect in its lattice structure. Lattice defects in the crystals embedded in photographic film emulsions are what make the film very sensitive to light and thus make the photographic process possible. possess such

lf it did not

a high degree of efficiency, the

Drs. larr'rence Rowan antl

stal

Lay.,rence ,!1i,&irr di.scui.s ettierintentai

rJrlir

i,rlr a

ntadt:l

af a silver

thloride

latlitt: slru(lure.

process would be so impractical-requiring exposures millions of times longer-that never harre been discorrered, much less

may

pursued.

Slifkins research team is interested in

erties-the r,ery same ones that make photography possible-make them easier to work with and cause them to display interesting electrical and optical phenomena. 0n the lerrel of atomic structurg the silver ion is unusually soft and elastic. Any atom

understanding lattice defects and how thry operate in crystals The resealchers are conduding operiments on two compounds in the group known as silver halides, silrtr chloride and silver bromide. These compounds are composed of positirrely charged silver ions and negatively

experiences a force exeiled by the atoms adiacent to it. ln the case of a silver ion, the ion is

charged chloride or bromide ions. The team uses silwr halides because their unique prop-

quality makes it easy for the ion to iump out of its normal lattice position in the crystal's

deformed by that force, much like squeezing a basketball into the shape of a football. This

atomic stucture and migrate rapidly through the crystal. If the crystal has been exposed to light, as in the case of film in a camera, then

wentually the ion reaches and ioins with an electron on the surface of the crystal to form a silver atom. lt is a small cluster of such sihrer atoms that constitutes the photographic "latent image" and that provides the film's memory that light has struck that point. 0n the level of electronic structure, the relative energies, or frequencies, of the outer electrons in the silver and chloride or bromide

ions are almost equal, a condition which is extremely rare When the ions come together in the silver halide compound, the composite

Growing High Quality Crystals at UNC-CH The silver halide crystals used in the experiments conducted by Slifkin's group

energy of their electrons remains the same, but the frequency of one set increases while the frequency of the other decreases. The electrons having the higher frequency are more easily liberated when light strikes the photographic grain, thus making the silver halide more sensitive to light.

are groiln by Chules B Childs, manager of the department's Crptal Growth Facility. "We have to make our own silver halides so that we can grow crystals from materials that are among the purest in the worldl' Childs uplains. Childs also makes silver halide crystals for UNC researchers and has provided crystals for over twenty laboratories outside the University, mainly in North America and

Atomic Skucture and lon lligradon

Europe.

Childs makes each silver halide from high purity water, silver nitratg and a special acid. The halide which is in powder form, is then placed in a high purity quartz crucible that has been

The UNC project consists of a study of defects on both of these lerrcls, with two sets of experiments funded by the National Science Foundation and a Unirrersity Research Council grant. One set concerns the equilibrium of the atomic structure at and near the surface of a

treated with a halogen gas to eliminate

the possibility of unwanted interactions, The crucible has a square cross section and a sharp, pointed tip to help form a single crystal. After being heated to a liquid state at 500 degrees Centigrade, the silver halide flows into the crucible, which is sealed in a glass envelope. The enwlope is then tansfened to a spcially desiEed furnace that was developed and constructed in the facility and has been running continuously for eighteen years. The furnace has two sections that maintain different but constant and uniform temperatures: the top section is 500 degrees Centigrade, which keeps the compound above its melting point, while the bottom section is 300 degrees Centi-

cryntal. The silver ions there are naturally unstable. Thry want to pop out of the lattice and wander inside the crystal. When an ion is mising, this condition produces an electric

field, which builds up just below the crystal's surface. As other ions attempt to migratg the field pushes them back into position, and together these forces maintain structural equilibrium at the surface. "The electric field, which has a magnitude of almost one million volts per centimeter, plays a determining role in the photognphic processl' Slifkin notes, "because it directs electrons and ions to the right location, producing a very efficient formation of the latent imagel' One experiment in this set, conducted by graduate student Steven Wonnell, consists of

gradq beloru the melting point. The crucible is slowly passed down through the core

mapping the electric field and measuring its magnitude as a function of depth. The field

of the furnace. As it moves into the bottom section, the compound gradually solidifies, forming the crystal at a rate of one millimeter per hour starting at the sharp tip. Finally, the solidified crystal is transferred to another furnace that is at 300 degrees Centigrade and is cooled to room temperaturc al one percent per hour. Mded substances, called dopants, are often used to alter a crystal's properties, such as the strontium added to the sih,er chloride crystal pictured at the left to produce certain electical and optical qualities Purity of the main compound is essential to ensure that any changes in the crptal's properties are caused by the dopant rather ttnn by impurities For oamplq the crystal properties can be significantly changed by impurity concentntions of less than one part in a million.

of one micron, or about one ten-thousandth of an inch. To measure it, the researchen are applying a technique using radioactive tracer isotopes that was developed and perfected by two former graduate students: decays over a depth

a .B

Dr. Gary Farlow, now of Wright State Unirrersity in Dayton, Ohio; and Dr. Remus Allen Hud-

e e o 4

fl;ii

s.;iri,i r:iillrLrfu , n'.;ial, grow,n by- Charles Chikl.:

i\tar .i i.'t'ti(-)ti {ri 1it(r Itt,f\J ,?ea.st]rd.! lhre*IOUrthS irrr'i ll seiu irrrltr,r. iire defeti.s on the surlat't'.

tallui t'L;id..q. i)jt rrt'ilt'(1 lt e.,i,rss !a: expelletl durint- the qrowing pnt'es-t. 'lht: tlourliness at !ht: lrrlr 15 iausa/ bi .r lrrtl t:orit:enlration of strontiun, w.hiL'n preiers ti't rentain in the Itquid silver t:ltlnride ant!. lht:rclt.tre. teifls to ln ittratled away

ittttr lltc ttt t\ 'tu ,\<! tt :,, tlitl,,.'e.rl.//;j( /f rnitr:lt hiqhet rontentratian al lhe opposite end.

son, now at Dupont. The tracers allow the researchers to take very sensitive measurements while using very low concentrations that do not disturb the crystal's remaining ions. Tho radioactive tracers are diffused into a crystal grown by Charles B, Childs, manager

of the department's Crystal Groruth Facility. The crystal is then held at a constant high temperature for a couple of weels. During this time the tracer ions redistribute themsehres. One distributes itself errenly and senes as an indication of depth. The other distributes ac-

-=SX

the surface and, with a silver ion, forms a silver atom. However, less in known about the position vacated by the electron. This entity is called a hole. Like the electron, the hole also migrates: a free electron jumps into the vacant position, leaving a missing electron elsewhere. "lt's tike a game of musical chairsj'

Slilkin

observes.

Eventually, though, the hole becomes trapped,

especially at very low temperatures. Consider a marble rolling rapidly on foam rubber. As

66N

its speed slows, the marble's weight creates a depression that stops and holds it. Similarly, in the crystal a hole traps itself by the force it exerts on the surrounding atoms. The hole's significance for the photographic

L--:(:

"rft "

-rl'

ti\ ll

process is negative rather than positive, Slilkin says. "You dont want it trapped at the same location as a silver atom or it will convert the atom back into a mobile ionj' he explains. In collaboration with Dr. Lawrence G. Rowan, associate professor of physics, the UNC team g

is studying how holes go into a selttrapped state, how they become trapped by a lattice

&ru l,rit,'ir

i r'lri ,i'

. ,,...i,t.tr-,..,r1. ,.,t,/.,/.r'r, l, t, ,.'.,. r ',

r'..

defect, and how they migrate after being trapped.

To determine where and how a hole is The aim of this work is to provide experimental data that can be used to test theories concerning defects and the behavior

of ions, as well

to help explain photographic phenomena. Slifkin hopes eventually to extend this work to ceramics, many of whose characteristics are also determined by surface properties. A completely new type of experiment, also at the atomic level, has recently been initiated

by graduate student Yeaun-Jau "Jay" Liou, who is attempting to produce and study ions that have been literally knocked out of their normal lattice positions. The "knocking" is accomplished by exposing thin, aaporated layers

of silver chloride to a beam of very energetic argon ions. These fast ions are accelerated through about 100,000 volts using an ion implanter. If successful, this experiment will give valuable data on the negative ion crystal defect-information that has not hitherto been arailable.

The lifiigration and Trapping

of Holes to its energy in the elechic field, and its concentration thus measures the voltage. Together, these measurements also indicate how much energy is required to make atomic scale defects, such as a lacancy, an empty position that ought to contain an ion. cording

trapped, two gnduate studentq Simon Goldenberg

and Chien-Teh Kaq apply a technique called electron paramagnetic resonance to crystals grown by Childs. A crystal sample is placed inside the cavity of an electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer, where it is bombarded at very low temperatures with micro waves. The spectrometer includes a magnet,

the field of which is varied in order to produce a spectrum, or plot, of how the microwave energy is absorbed by the crystal. The spectrum reveals not only the location of a hole but also the existence of any lattice defect, for each defect has a characteristic spectrum by which it can be identified. Analysis of the spectra and how they change as the crystal is rotated, heated, irradiated, or aged at various temperatures also provides a great deal of microscopic information. "One thus gets quite intimate details as to how the electronic system, the ions, the defects, and the radiation field all interact with one anotherj' Slilkin says. "Such information not only broadens our understanding of the science of crystalline solids but also helps us to appreciate why the photographic process is so incredibly sensitivel'

Through another set of experiments, the UNC is investigating the electronic

research team

activity within silver halide crystals. Scientists have long recognized the process whereby a particle 0f light hits a silver halide crystal, releasing an electron that becomes trapped at

-Diantha J. Pinner

Thsk Force on Low Birthweight Infants infants who do survive suffer significant physical

Dr. Alan ll'. Cross,

associate professor

in the

School of Medicine

Infant mortality due to low birthweight is a major health problem in North Carolina according to Dr. Alan W Cross, associate professor in the School of Medicine. Consequently, the Center

for Health Promotion and Disease Prerrention, sponsored by all firc schools in the Division of Health Affairs at UNC-CH, has created a task force cochaired by Cross, David Savitz, assistant

professor of epidemiology, and Merry-K Moos, clinical instructor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, bringing together some twenty health professionals fiom a number

of disciplines in an effort to develop innoyative shategies aimed at reducing the incidence of low birthweight in the state. "lf even a portion of these babies could be born larger and closer to full terml' says Cross, "the savings in dollars and human suffering could be tremendousi' According to Cross,

1984, more than twelve

babies out of every thousand born in North Carolina did not survira their first year of life These numbers make the states infant mortality rate the fifth highest in the nation, and a major cause for these deaths is related

to the high incidence of low birthweight. "Once a baby of any given weight is bornl' explains Cross, "his chances of surviving here are better than in most states because our health care is excellent. Our problem with infant mortality has to do with the greater percentage of babies who are born too small in the first placel' The dollar cost

of treating infants with a birthweight of 3 lbs. 3 oz. or less is staggering, more than $50,000 each. Cross estimates this costs the state in excess of $42 million a year. Despite all efforts, about a fifth of the very smallest

and mental handicaps. Cross has been chairing the Low Birth Weight Prwention Thsk Force for two and a half years. In that time four major projects have been developed and funded. The first is a preconceptional counseling program involving over three thousand women who attend family planning clinics in fifteen health departments. Its aim is to educate women about the effects that drugs, smoking, alcohol, and poor nutrition can have on birthweight, especially in the early week of pregnancy, and to encourage women to initiate a healthy lifestyle even before becoming pregnant in order to maximize the chances for producing a healthy baby. The program, supervised by Merry-K Moos, is funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. At present, the program is being evaluated for application to settings outside the family planning clinics. While North Carolina rank favorably with other states in the compiling of thorough, accurate statistics on infant mortality, it lack information on birth defects and congenital abnormalities, problems listed under the general heading of infant morbidity. A second proiect that grew out of the task force's work is the

dwelopment of a birth defects registry for the state. Funded by the Kate B. REnolds Health Care Tlust, the task force examines hospital discharge records and other data sources to measure accurately the incidence of birth defects in the state. A third project, also funded by the Kate B. Reynolds Tlust, in connection with the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, enlists aid from all aspects of governmental, civic, and community leadenhip statelide in order to deal with the general problems of infant mortality and morbidity. A task force report is due out which identifies premature birth and low birthweight as the primary reasons for infant deaths and morbidity, Following the release of the reprt, a gnnd plan for reducing

the incidence of infant mortality and morbidity will be developed, drawing upon numerous public and private resources in order to imple ment its goals "Helping Mothen' the fourth projed being conduded by the task forcg is based on studies which hae shovm that women arc much morc

lildy to have

uncomplicated and successful deliwries, and gin birth to healthy babies, if they haw someone to rcly on during the prEnancy and birthing process. The task force has dareloped a model to facilitate the social support of pregnant women, particularly those in low income brackets, in Lee and Chatham counties. Forty women have been selected and trained to serve as volunteer helpers, usually

within their own community. Each will be paired with an expectant mother and the two

will work

closely together throughout the course of the pregnancy. For Cross, the program's strength lies

in its

several unique aspects.

Rather than operating out of one agency CI(clusirrcly, the program is being dareloped with support from all components of the communities involrcd, drawing upon their strenghs and resources by identifying and reinforcing the social support structures already in place

In addition, the program

encourages eypectant

mothers to dorclop and extend their own social support systems within the circle of family and friends so as not to become dependant on the program. Finally, by utilizing volunteers from the community the project is creating a communitybased and communitrorvned ruource

Cross obsenes, "we're all building something from the ground up that will enhance the sel[sufficiency of the mothers and of their communitiesl' Much work is yet to be done to reduce

significantly the problem of low birthweight. The task force members represent a group of dedicated professionals working to improve the health of North Carolinians.

-Tinothy

David Jenkins

Coming in the Winter 1988 Endeavors.

Scientists and clinicians at the Lineberger Cancer Center collaborate in efforts to understand, prevent,

"rO

:::*"

The effects of drug interaction during the administration

* *:-:.:o

How one University researcher's work aims to meet the needs of sovernment

,:r:,:',

Exhibit at the National Academy of Sciences features UNC-CH painter

Erlcevor Research and Graduate Education at the University of

North Carolina at Chapet Hill Fall

1987

Volume

Number I

Endeawrs is a maguine published thrce times a year by the 0flice of Research Services, a division of the Graduate School of the University of North Camlina at Chapel Hill. Each issue of Endeawrs describes only a few of the many research prolects undertaken by faculty and students of the University.

Requests for permission

to reprint material, Baders'

ments, and rcquests for

utra

com-

copies should be sent to Editor, Endeawrs,Oflice of Research Services, 300 Bynum Hall 008A, The Unirenity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hitl, NC 27514 (telephone 919/96S5625).

Thking Computers Undergound: Computer Graphics Assist Seismic Wave Propagation.

Chancellor: Christopher C. Fordham, lll ViceChancellor for Research and Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate School: J. Dennis 0'Connor

in Visualizing

Director: 0flice of Research Services: Tom K. Scott

Dr. Jose'Rial of the UNC-CH Aeology Departnent studia earthquake danage pat' terns in an attenpt to predicl where forca will be felt in future arthquakes.

Editor-inthief: Tom K. Sco[ Managing Editor: Suzanne Appelbaum Assistant Editors: Timothy David Jenkins Ilacey J. Maxwell Diantha J. Pinner Ann F. Stanford

continued frun page 7

involved are necessary and acceptablel' The third model sees the diagnostician as an artist who simply "knou,s" how to do his or her work. According to Resnik, this picture has the strenEh of emphasizing the fact that the clinician is a wonderful diagnostic instrument, but

does not allow that diagnosis can, to a considenble extent, be taught and systematized. Resnik and his coauthors propose a different

model of diagnostic reasoning, one which

emphuizes the processes involrnd in the cog nitirc aspects of diagnosis rather than the diagnostician. Their model is essentially cyclical. Patient data, in their viot, lead to a diagnostic hypothesis, which promph tests or treatments, which are araluated using decision

theory. When these tesh or trcatments are applied they yield nov data, which cause modifications of the diagnostic hypothesis. This process is continued until a diagnosis is conlirmed, and specific treatment is settled upon. Resnik emphasizes that this model is not prescriptira "We arent trying to tell the

doctor hon, to do his iobl' he uplains. "Rather we arc trying to present a model of what the 'ideally ntional physician would do. We are providing a vray of conceptualizing the diagnostic process so as to aid the diagnostician in doing a better iobl'

-Tinothy

David Jenkins

Photognpher: Will 0wens Donna S. Slade

Designer:

[

The Univenity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United State$ All rights csened No pafl of this publication may be rcpmduced without the consent of the Uniwrsity of North Camlina at Chapel Hill,

@ 1987

in the

Corer: Paintd iug found in the tomb of a Phrygian child who died in the late eighth century tsc. The tomb is localed in the ruins of the ancient city of Gordion, about one hundred miles easl of Ankara, llrkey. Photograph courtesy of the Cordion fuchamlogical Mision, Uniwnity Museum, Univenity of Pennsylmnia- Story on page l.