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Design Editor Emily DeLanzo’s Hike of the Week
Diamond Vols set to host No. 4 Florida Friday, April 13, 2012
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Scientist discusses climate, diseases Blair Kuykendall Editor-in-Chief As one of Discover Magazine’s Top 50 women in the field of science, Mercedes Pascual is known for her work on the relationship between environment and disease in the developing world. She discussed climatedriven infectious diseases with students and faculty in the Baker Center on Thursday. The discussion was hosted by the Baker Center’s Interdisciplinary Group on Energy and Environmental Policy. Pascual focused on understanding the effects of weather patterns on the spread of cholera and malaria, specifically in India and Bangladesh. Her experience includes a professorship in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan. She believes the spread of water-borne illness is closely tied to environmental phenomenon. “I have studied cholera in Bangladesh, and land use changes in irrigation in connection to malaria,” Pascual said. “My main result was that the spatial heterogeneity is extremely significant.” Socioeconomic conditions also have a great impact on disease dissemination. “Sanitation connected to poverty
These measures have helped, but there are phases of extreme outbreak. “The risk of disease has not disappeared, and relapses occur when controls like Insecticide Residual Spraying are reduced,” Pascual said. India has seen varied results from its control regimes, primarily as a result of environmental influence. “Places using the highest control levels often still have a higher prevalence of malaria,” Pascual said. “Irrigation may have actually increased the risk. This is an interesting result, because irrigation should get you to regional elimination. In time, though, there is a transition regime of over a decade where you have a higher risk for the disease. Control must be dynamic, because these areas are under climate variability.” Following the lecture, several professors asked questions to learn more about her research. “If you had the opportunity to have funding to do some• Photo courtesy of lsa.umich.edu thing new, would it be data collection or education? ... of malaria, obviously related to large What would allow you to move the science to public policy?” Lou Gross, amounts of rainfall,” Pascual said. India has attempted to reduce the professor of ecology, asked. “In many cases better data could occurrences of malaria outbreaks by enacting environmental control fac- help,” Pascual said. “I should say that tors. Several different methods are data exists but putting it together is aimed at tackling the problem. an incredible effort. Data are a big Primarily, India has focused on elimi- limiting factor for some of the work nating the organisms that carry the we do. We need better ways to comdisease. Innovative techniques in irri- municate between people making policy and people on the ground.” gation have also been enacted. and living conditions are related,” Pascual said. “Cholera outbreaks are driven by climate variability.” Pascual has recently studied the impacts of monsoons on incidents of malaria in India. “There are intermittent large peaks
Female death row inmate to challenge conviction NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The inmate at the center of a death row escape plot was expected back in court Thursday to fight a 2004 conviction for the attempted murder of another inmate on a maximum security cell block. Christa Pike, 36, says she received ineffective counsel, officials said. Pike’s attorney, Nashville lawyer Graham Prichard, has declined to comment. Pike used a shoestring to try to choke inmate Patricia Jones to death after another female started a fire in the prison to distract the guards. Jones, who is also serving time for murder, liked to taunt Pike about her upcoming execution by making electric chair sounds, according to court testimony. Pike claimed she was only defending a friend in prison Jones had threatened. Pike’s friend was Natasha Cornett, the ringleader in a group of Kentucky teenagers that abducted a family at an east Tennessee rest stop before killing the parents and one of their children. A judge sentenced Pike to serve an additional 25 years after a trial where prosecutors played telephone conversations prison officials secretly recorded where the inmate told her mother she
planned to attack Jones. “The conversations really paint Christa Pike as someone who is cold and calculating and willing to kill someone else who gets in her way,” Nashville prosecutor Kathy Morante said. Pike was sentenced to death in a separate case, the 1995 murder of fellow Knoxville Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer, and currently is Tennessee’s only woman on death row. Morante said that even though Pike was already serving a death sentence, the state had to prosecute her for trying to kill the inmate, if only to send a message that dangerous behavior in prison won’t be tolerated. “You can’t let it just become a Wild West situation where the state says, ‘You’re just on your own and do whatever you want and there won’t be any sanctions.’” Last month, authorities said two men were indicted in a plot to free Pike. The men, one of them a former prison guard and the other a personal trainer from New Jersey, have been accused of plotting to make a copy of a prison key to help Pike escape. Pike, who lived in West Virginia and North Carolina before coming to Tennessee, now is being held in solitary confinement, prison officials said.
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Choir reaches out to students Jasmine Fletcher-Green Staff Writer Throughout the weekend the UT Love United Gospel Choir will present a variety of events, giving students the opportunity to hear ministry through song. The Love United Gospel Choir (LUGC) was founded at UT in 1970. The choir was formerly known as the John 23rd Singers, a name established out of St. John Baptist Church in Alcoa, Tenn. Leadership of the choir began to notice the love and unity that was present among its members, so they changed its name to the Love United Gospel Choir. Students in the choir come from all races and ethnic backgrounds and perform for UT events as well as multiple churches throughout Knoxville. Aside from singing, the choir and its members continue to serve the UT campus and the local community with community service. This weekend the choir will host “LUGC Reloaded,” a weekend full of events geared towards educating the campus and community about gospel music. Friday there will be a
gospel museum at the Black Cultural Center from noon to 2 p.m. The museum will showcase the progression of gospel music throughout the years, featuring artists such as Mary Mary, Yolanda Adams, Donnie McClurkin and many more. On Saturday, LUGC will present a number of choirs in their Gospel Fest, an annual concert that highlights various gospel choirs and a gospel recording artist. The event will start at 6:30 p.m. at the Knoxville Convention Center. It will be hosted by recording artist Micah Stampley. “People should come to Gospel Fest because it will be a great opportunity to listen to renowned gospel choirs and artists for free,” Tyrone Dobson, director of LUGC, said. “It will be an opportunity to listen and witness how different choirs sound and perform its music.” For their spring term, guest groups will include A&M Gospel Choir from Alabama A&M University, The African American Voices Gospel Choir from Ohio State University, and Voices of Praise from Tennessee Tech University. See LOVE UNITED on Page 3
Student sells fashion on Facebook Nathan Lee Staff Writer
The Associated Press
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With the explosion of social media over the past several years, people are constantly using these tools in exciting new ways. UT student Anna Gilbert has found her own unique way of doing this by using Facebook to host weekly, fixed-price jewelry auctions. Anna’s Armoire is a Facebook page where Gilbert sells a selection of jewelry and accessories at set prices. The idea is to have buyers be able to purchase fashionable items at the convenience of not having to go to a mall or boutique. The page specializes in statement pieces, designer inspired pieces and great jewelry for everyday wear. Gilbert, sophomore in marketing, founded Anna’s Armoire in early March and has been working to expand her business ever since. Gilbert started the business to gain valuable experience in the field and to pro-
vide affordable accessories in an innovative way. “Facebook and social media in general has become such a common part of people’s everyday lives, that it only makes sense to bring a business aspect into it,” Gilbert said. “I have had a lot of fun with it because I really get to interact with my customers, whether it is face-to-face or not.” The page has taken off quickly in its short time online, gathering over 800 “likes” and holding four auctions to this point. “It has been crazy to see the wide range of people that have discovered the page so far,” Gilbert said. “I have had customers as close as Knoxville and as far as New Zealand.” Every Sunday at 9 p.m. EST, the auctions go live on the Anna’s Armoire Facebook page. Gilbert then posts individual pictures of each item in that week’s stock, along with the number available and the price The price range is anywhere between $10 and $30. Users only have to comment with
“SOLD!” and their e-mail address below the picture to put their claim on an item. Transactions are handled through PayPal and items are shipped for free. “Anna’s Armoire is a quick and easy way to get gorgeous jewelry,” Annie Key, sophomore in nursing, said. “Especially from a fellow college student who shares our perspective and our budget.” Gilbert was raised in Memphis, where her mother owns and operates a boutique. Being around the shop growing up gave Anna her passion for small business and taught her about the importance of having a personal connection with customers. “Growing up I learned that supporting small businesses really helps a community and brings people together,” Gilbert said. “I want my customers to feel a personal connection with me when they shop with Anna’s Armoire.” The next auction will be this Sunday, April 15, at 9 p.m. EST on www.facebook.com/annasarmoire.
• Photo courtesy of Nathan Lee