Thanks to Shirtoid.com

With all the warm weather and Valentine’s Day right around the corner, everyone is fixated on the birds, bees, and the birth control. Here’s a few stories of interest:

The Pill or Health Care?

According to the Archdiocese for Baltimore, the requirement that the church provide birth control to it’s employees is a deplorable first amendment violation. In his statement Cardinal O’Brien told his fellow congregants:

We cannot – we will not- comply with this unjust law. People of faith can not be made second class citizens.”

Failure to follow the law will result in the loss of health care coverage for 3,500 local employees.

Cardinal O’Brien isn’t the only religious leader that is finding qualms with the requirement.

White House officials have met with women’s groups and religious leaders to try to find a solution that will be acceptable to everyone. Press Secretary Jay Carney said:

There are ways to, I think, help resolve this issue that ensures that we provide that important preventative service, that health care coverage to all women… in a way that also tries to allay some of these concerns.”

The two groups hope to find an effective compromise in a timely fashion. Good luck with that.

Plan-B and a Coke, please.

Shippensburg University installs a new kind of vending machine. Thanks to Associated Press!

Shippensburg University revolutionized the way that college students could get Plan-B by allowing it’s students to purchase the pill for $25 out of a vending machine. All of the university’s students are over 17 and can legally go to the vending machine in a secluded area of the university health center without needing to go into the small town.

There has been quite a bit of ruckus over the accessibility of what is already a controversial medication. But there has been little noise over the accessibility of  Coca-Cola products, which studies have shown can be an effective spermicide.

So if Plan-A and Plan-B are out of stock, stick with Plan-Coca-Cola.

Got No Plan?

Meet Chun Chun- China's biggest baby! Thanks to HollywoodLife.com!

Well, that stinks. You could have your very own Chun Chun! His mother called him the “dragon baby” but in  reality he’s 15.5 pound son of Wang Yujuan and Han Jingang. He currently holds the record for the largest newborn in China by half a pound. His parents are thrilled.

Thanks to MSNBC!

If you have the need or luck to produce multitudes of children,  you may be susceptible to blackmail. As if the diapers wouldn’t be bad enough.

According to the Associated Press, photographer Teresa Hunt threatened to reveal intimate pictures of a cast member from the TLC hit reality show 19 Kids and Counting featuring Jim Bob Duggar and fam if the show was not cancelled or she did not receive $10,000 dollars.

Amy Duggar, the cousin supposedly featured in the photos, has called Hunt’s allegations “totally untrue”.

Ask and you shall receive. 

Psalm 116 (NIV 2011)

¹ I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
² Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

³ The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“LORD, save me!”

⁵ The LORD is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
⁶ The LORD protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.

⁷ Return to your rest, my soul,
for the LORD has been good to you.

⁸ For you, LORD, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
⁹ that I may walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.

¹⁰ I trusted in the LORD when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
¹¹ in my alarm I said,
“Everyone is a liar.”

¹² What shall I return to the LORD
for all his goodness to me?

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD.
¹⁴ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.

¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his faithful servants.
¹⁶ Truly I am your servant, LORD;
I serve you just as my mother did;
you have freed me from my chains.

¹⁷ I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the LORD.
¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the LORD—
in your midst, Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD.

Reflection:

When the psalmist is overcome by distress and sorrow, he calls on the name of the Lord. His prayer, “God, save me!” is only a few words but captures the rawness and angst of his heart. God rescues the psalmist from the cords of death and he responds by giving himself to the Lord.

His offerings to the Lord described in verses 12-19 show us how we can respond to God for His faithful love and care over our lives. The psalmist speaks of lifting the cup of salvation (possibly a part of sacrificing thank offerings), serving God because we have been freed, and fulfilling his vows to God in the presence of His people, even to the point of death.

Response:

God is faithful in rescuing us in times of trouble. Let’s reflect on all the times we have cried out to Him and He has delivered us. May we respond as the psalmist did by offering sacrifices of thanks and calling on His name. Let’s commit our hearts to serve God; let’s also ask Him for the grace and perseverance to continue serving Him for all our days.

The Interdisciplinary Studies Program and Council of Majors present the 2012 Petrovich Lecture and Film Screening with director Richard Chisolm ’82, interdisciplinary studies. Chisolm will discuss the interdisciplinary mission of his film company Recipe for Change Films and his latest film, Cafeteria Man.

The movie concentrates on Chef Tony Geraci’s efforts as food director of the Baltimore City Public School system to educate school kids about nutrition, food preparation and locally sourced organic food, as well as his efforts to reform the food purchasing system.

The lecture, discussion and screening will take place on February 22 at 7 p.m. in the Skylight Room. There will be a small reception following the lecture.

This post originally appeared on UMBC Insights.

A Self-Powered In-Vitro Biosensing Microsystem

Dr. Gymama Slaughter

Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

11:30am-12:45pm Friday, 10 February 2012, ITE 237

Recent studies on biofuel cells have shown that energy can be harvested from biological compounds. Because of the recent biofuel cell discoveries, it possible to use inertial power scavenging design by converting interstitial glucose into energy through the coupling of enzymes and three-dimensional nanowire arrays. This talk will discuss our own contribution to identifying a pathway to embed sensing by eliminating the need for a potentiostat circuit and an external power source.

The self-powered biosensing microsystem consist of massively dense 3D nanowire cell structures fused with an energy harvesting circuit that maximizes power and energy densities while maintaining short ion transport distances, thus leading to dramatic improvement in both speed and energy efficiency of biofuel cells. Not only is such a paradigm extremely fast because of absence of a potentiostat circuit, but it is also extremely energy-efficient since the device operates at low voltage and current levels. As a result, the biosensing microsystem generates a drive signal in real-time and periodically powers an electrical device by generating and accumulating electrical power as a result of the catalysis of glucose.

Gymama Slaughter received her B.S. in Chemistry in 2001, M.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2003, and a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the Virginia Commonwealth University in 2005. She then joined Virginia State University as an Assistant Professor in Computer Engineering and Director of the Center for Biosystems and Engineering University. Finally, she joined the UMBC as Assistant Professor in Computer Engineering in August 2010.

Dr. Slaughter is currently the Director of the Bioelectronics Laboratory Group and oversees research and research outreach programs in the BEL Group. She develops and applies sensor-processor platforms, focusing on innovative contributions to identifying a pathway to embed sensing and processing functions in the same device to eliminate bottlenecks arising from communication between the sensor, transducer, and processor, thus, resulting in ultra-fast and ultra-low power devices.

Her research has been supported by the NSF for her diabetes research that focuses on the design and development of glucose biosensor, especially in relationship to monitoring blood glucose in diabetics. Her research interests include biosensors, microsensors, microfabrication technology, and BioMEMS and design.

Host: Prof. Joel M. Morris

At one point in her life, Sheila Williams ’11 was homeless and separated from her children. But scholarships for mature female students at UMBC – funded by the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation – helped Williams obtain a sociology degree and begin a career dedicated to service.

“Honestly, without my experiences here, I wouldn’t know how to serve them,” she says. “I know I would not have made it through without that support system.”

Since 1981, The Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation has provided scholarship funding for mature women students at UMBC. According to the Foundation, “[UMBC]’s commitment to academic excellence, its diverse student body, and its early and continuing commitment to establishing a way to meet the needs of women students are exceptional. The Newcombe Foundation is delighted to join with UMBC in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Women’s Center on the campus of UMBC. ”

Read more about the scholarship on the Newcombe Foundation’s site.

viviandnguyen:

UMBC Spring 2012 Involvement Fest 

We announced our QM headliner at Involvement Fest!