Riders Finish Second at Skidmore

By wpengine | November 25, 2002

The Cornell women’s equestrian team came up with its best performance of the season, placing second at the Skidmore show this weekend.

“We just had a great day,” said head coach Chris Mitchell.

Cornell finished with a season-high 45 points, one point behind first-place Skidmore and well ahead of third-place Colgate, which had 34. Cornell’s 45 points earned it Reserve High Point Team honors for the day.

“A perfect day is 49 points, so even though it hurts a bit that Skidmore finished ahead of us, any day where we finish with 45 points has to count as a really good day. Everyone rode really well, and though we made a couple of mistakes, we just have to make sure we don’t repeat them.” Mitchell commented.

“Our open division was on fire and the walk-trotters were spectacular. The rookies all had really good showings to add to strong performances from the veterans” added Mitchell.

Junior tri-captain Jeannette Pettit started the day with a strong second place finish in the open fence division, and senior tri-captain Julie Canter followed that up with a blue ribbon.

Cornell’s excellent performances continued with freshmen Angela Barclay and Asta Torokvei, finishing first and second in the next class of the open.

The intermediate fences were next. Junior Alaina Hoffman placed fifth, sophomore Erica Rosen was second in her class, and freshman Megan Gates was fifth.

In the novice fence division, freshman Mary Slocum finished second in her class, while classmate Cheryl Horton won her class in her second show.

The open flat saw Cornell continue its good showing, with senior tri-captain Kate Cornell finishing second and Barclay finishing fifth in the same class. Torokvei won her class, and Canter finished second in hers.

In the intermediate flat division, Hoffman placed third and Gates won in their respective classes to come back strongly from their performances in the fences.

The novice flat saw the freshmen continue to impress, with Slocum and Horton both finishing second in their respective sections.

In the walk-trot-canter, freshmen Abby McKenna and Lindsey Quick both won in their second shows, and junior Erin Goodrich finished fourth in her first advanced class.

The walk-trot saw sophomore Linda Nguyen win her class and qualify for the regional championships in the spring. Senior Lauren Goldman then finished with a second place in her second show.

“We were all really happy for Linda Nguyen, we had every confidence that she could qualify for the regionals.” Mitchell said.

Canter, Torokvei, and Horton all won one class and placed second in another, leading to a ride-off between the three for the Reserve High Point Rider of the Day. This honor went to Torokvei.

“It was great to see that all three girls who qualified for the Reserve High Point Rider of the Day were from Cornell. I would have been happy no matter which of them had won it, and Asta put in a stellar performance to clinch it.” Mitchell noted.

“We always do well in Skidmore, the horses were great, which helped us. We were disappointed after our first two shows, I felt that we rode well but without rewards. In this show we were finally rewarded for our riding.” he commented .

Mitchell looked forward to Dec. 8, the date of Cornell’s first home show of the season at the Oxley equestrian center.

“We needed to do well in this show to increase our confidence before our home show. We’re going to enjoy our break before Dec. 8,” he said. “The girls are going to be busy with finals, but we’re going to be charged up for our show, and we have every intention of winning it.”

Archived article by Sandeep Ravindran

C.U. Engineers New Rice Strain

By wpengine November 26, 2002

Cornell scientists announced today that they have developed a method to improve the resilience and yield of rice — a crop that feeds over half of the world’s population, according to a report in today’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. By adding a single gene to the common rice plant, the researchers created a crop that has the potential to grow more quickly than other rice under normal conditions and is more tolerant of chilling temperatures, drought conditions and high water salinity. “The goal of this work was to make rice plants that were more tolerant of environmental stress,” said Research Associate Ajay Garg, molecular biology and genetics, lead author of the study. “We tested drought stress, chilling, and salt stress and found a number of plants that show substantially increased tolerance.” This research could generate new varieties of rice that can be grown in a wider range of temperatures and in brackish water. These varieties could also produce more grain per plant under the more hospitable conditions in which rice is now grown, Garg said. “This increases the area where rice can be grown. The plants will also tolerate water loss. They won’t grow without water but they will resume growing once the water has returned,” said Prof. Thomas Owens, plant biology. Of the world’s 130 million hectares of land where rice is grown, about 30 percent contain enough salt to either stunt rice yields or prevent cultivation altogether. Another 20 percent of this land is periodically subject to drought conditions that routinely affect food production. About 10 percent of locations where rice is grown occasionally experience temperatures that are too low for healthy plant development. The rice yield starts to diminish when the temperature is 15 degrees Celsius or below, but the transgenic plants produce normal yields at these temperatures. “In principle, this same technique can be used to transform other major cereal crops such as corn and wheat, also providing them with increased resistance to stress,” said Project Leader Prof. Ray Wu, molecular biology and genetics. Rice, along with corn and wheat, accounts for 70 percent of the calories consumed by the human population. With experts projecting a doubling of the population over the next century, transgenic crops such as these could help agriculture keep up with demand. The genetically engineered plants produce a sugar called trehalose, which increases tolerance to adverse conditions. In invertebrates, bacteria and yeast, trehalose acts to preserve organisms in the absence of water. “Since trehalose protects so many organisms from environmental stress, the goal was to make more of it in rice,” Owens said. Brine shrimp eggs, commercially marketed as fish food or as pet “sea monkeys,” can remain dried up for years in a state of suspended animation due to their trehalose content. The resurrection plant, found in desert environments, can also remain in a dry, suspended state due to the presence of this sugar. “We have designed the experiment so that the trehalose gene turns on when there is a stress. In the past, people have inserted the gene so that it is turned on all the time, which stunts the growth of the plants. Since the genes are only induced to turn on when there is a stress, the plants grow normally and become more stress tolerant,” Wu said. The lab has experimented with six different genes, each of which provides some degree of stress tolerance. “What is special about the gene used in this case is that the degree of protection from stresses has been much higher than with the other genes that we have tested,” Wu said. In addition to the expected increase in resilience due to the addition of the sugar, the researchers made a discovery they were not anticipating. The modified plants also exhibited higher levels of photosynthetic activity. “Humans have been breeding plants for 5,000 years. One goal has been to produce more yield by allocating more resources to producing fruit or grain. Another goal has been to increase photosynthesis, which has been difficult to achieve even with genetic engineering. Now it appears we have found one way to do so,” Owens said. A crop with an elevated photosynthetic rate grows faster and produces more seeds, for example more rice grains, per plant. “We accidentally stumbled on something we didn’t expect,” Owens said. “We’ve only uncovered the grossest characteristics of this. We don’t really understand the mechanism.” Owens hopes that further research will lead to a more thorough understanding of how the photosynthetic rate is increased. Meanwhile, other research interests are beginning to pay off as well. “We’ve done additional work with another gene that enhances rice yield,” Garg said. Although results are preliminary, this research could provide scientists with additional insights as to how food production might be boosted. In the shorter term, crops more resilient to environmental conditions would be less susceptible to short-term drought and off years, thus stabilizing the food supply and commodity markets. “A limiting factor is acceptance of genetically modified crops as a food source. As we saw with golden rice, these things don’t always make it to the people who they are intended to help,” Owens said. Golden rice was developed in 1999 by scientists in Switzerland and Germany as a means of supplementing the diets of those in developing countries with beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A. Beta-carotene provides the rice with the “golden” tint from which its name is derived. According to the World Health Organization, millions around the world suffer from blindness and early death due to vitamin A deficiency, but the technology has not yet made it to the field. “I think golden rice was the first test system. Hopefully in a year or two, many of the legal considerations and other problems related to this will be resolved through the golden rice issue,” Wu said. Environmentalist groups and others have opposed the plant due to its genetically engineered origin. However, as these issues are being resolved, golden rice may pave the way for other transgenic technologies. “Humans react to things in crisis mode, so if food is not a problem for the majority of people with money, then there’s no rush to apply this technology,” Owens said. When the technology makes it to the field, a journey that is expected to take at least three years, it will be made available freely to farmers in developing countries, Wu said. Commercial farmers in rich countries will have to go through the normal channels and pay the appropriate licensing fees. “Our research is for humanity and global food security,” Garg said. The six-year project was funded largely by the Rockefeller Foundation. The findings are published in today’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Archived article by Philip Lane
Company Accuses Hum Ec of Stealing Techniques

By wpengine November 26, 2002

Bruce Chapman, president of Handle With Care Behavior Management System, Inc. (HWC), accused his competitor Cornell and its subsidiary Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) of publishing a training manual and videotape containing his patent-pending “Two Person Escort Position” in a move to unfairly compete with his company. HWC programs, according to Chapman, are well-known throughout the human services industry for the effectiveness of their methods in subduing out-of-control behavior, particularly in children in residential care facilities. Chapman’s methods, taught in HWC programs, have been effective in preventing patients who have become violent or out of control from harming themselves or others for over 30 years. TCI is a program run through the Family Life Development Center in the College of Human Ecology. TCI sells instructional services and materials for the human services industry, particularly training on how to prevent undue violence in residential care facilities for children. According to Chapman, “TCI until recently held a significant share of the market. Lately, the balance has been sliding away from TCI and towards my company.” In a letter to Martha Holden of the Family Life Development Center and Therapeutic Crisis Intervention, Chapman outlined the alleged violations. “Cornell is behaving in a way that is academically dishonest,” said Chapman, “and is putting children and the staff that takes care of them at risk.” HWC’s standard training provides human services workers with instruction on controlling situations through taking several calculated steps and using several patented positions in order to subdue patients without pain or injury, according to Chapman and the company’s website. As stated in Chapman’s letter of Oct. 23, ” this misappropriation of our Two Person Escort Position places TCI in an unfair advantage to compete against Handle With Care on future contracts.” The video, according to Chapman’s letter, shows Doug Bidleman, a TCI staff member, demonstrating HWC’s patented Primary Restraint Technique as well. Bidleman, said Chapman, “Was, at the time the video was shot, a certified HWC instructor as well as a TCI instructor.” TCI’s staff profile website states that Bidleman is, “The coordinator for Sociotherapy Training at Hillside Children Center in Rochester,” and, “specializes in crisis intervention and physical restraint training techniques.” Bidleman refused to comment to The Sun. Aside from having misappropriated his techniques, Chapman said, “TCI is taking my escort method and trying to use it with the basket hold, which has big gaping holes from a safety standpoint.” Chapman added, “There is a risk of asphyxiation. It becomes unsafe when it gets unstable, and then it creates an unsafe scenario. I don’t want my technique associated with this.” The misuse of these control techniques could lead to serious injury or potentially a fatality, according to Chapman, and is especially dangerous given the tendency of out of control behavior to run in waves among children. “This matter has been referred to University Counsel,” said Stephen Hamilton, co-director of the Family Life Development Center. When asked for further comment, Hamilton refused and asserted that the matter was going to be left to the counselor. Patricia McClary, the associate University counsel, could not be reached for comment. Chapman further said he was annoyed with the unresponsiveness of TCI and the University as a whole. According to Chapman, he has yet to receive a response to his letter to McClary of Nov. 14 or his letter to President Hunter R. Rawlings III. Archived article by Chris Mitchell