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Auburn City Schools Get Festive for Fall

By Ellison Langford / News Editor | October 1

Couples pushed their face-painted babies, and dads crouched to show their sons how to hold a golf club "just right" to the sounds of local bands and giddy high school girls at the Auburn City Schools' Fall Festival at Duck Samford Sports Complex Tuesday night.Whiffs of buttery popcorn and blue cotton candy wafted through the air while families exchanged their orange tickets for the chance to cast a fishing pole for a prize on the other side of a wall or to pet a pair of brown and white goats.Faith Ball, 5, did both.

Auburn Youth 'Pass, Punt and Read'

By Natalie Wade / MANAGING EDITOR | October 1

The "Pass, Punt and Read" program at the Auburn Public Library is now under way. Registration ended yesterday and students ages 3 to 11 will be reading their way through the fall.There are four reading programs held annually: spring, summer, fall and winter."Parents love this because they want their children to read and anything that's an incentive is a good thing," said Stephanie Taunton, a library assistant for youth services.Eve Engle Kneeland, head of youth services, said the summer reading program is by far their largest each year, with more than 400 students reading more than 2,000 books.However, she said the summer program also includes high school students.

Arts Association Hosts Fall Invitational

By Ellison Langford / News Editor | October 1

Art from the collections of Auburn residents is on display in the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center until Oct.

Xbox Detects Heart Defects

By Emily Clever/ Staff Writer | October 1

The Xbox 360 has won the hearts of millions of teenagers the world over.But a computer scientist may have found a way to use the popular gaming system to detect defects in those hearts."While this is an exciting medical development, this effort was not driven by Microsoft," said Katie Abrahamson of Edelman for Microsoft Xbox 360.Simon Scarle, a computer scientist at the University of Warwick in England, has discovered a way to turn the Xbox 360 into a device known as a "heart model."A heart model delivers detailed information on how electrical signals in the heart move around damaged cardiac cells.Doctors can use this information to identify heart defects and abnormal conditions.The heart models currently used in hospitals often cost millions of dollars and are incredibly complicated, said Dr. Fred Kam of the Auburn University Medical Clinic.Scarle, a former software engineer at Microsoft's Rare studio, found a way to use the Xbox 360 to recreate the more expensive, more complicated, heart models work.Before hired at Rare, Scarle worked as a researcher using computers to model the activity of the heart, a process called cardiac computational modeling.Scarle rewrote a code for the Xbox's graphic processing unit to mimic heart models, using a technique called general programming on the graphic processing unit.The Xbox has a powerful graphics processor, which is why so many people are enamored with this generation of video games, Scarle said.But it is because of its GPU that the Xbox 360 can be used for this process."If you can rewrite your simulation calculations in a form that the GPU can understand then you can use this power to do more general stuff, hence (general programming on the graphic processing unit)," Scarle said.He said the idea for using the Xbox GPU as a heart model came when he was asked to produce a small game demo using Rare's code-base, fusing cardiac computational modeling and game coding into one system."I produced a gameified version of my cardiac research code," Scarle said.

More Freshmen With Higher ACTs

By Emily Beckett/ Staff Writer | October 1

ACT scores and student enrollment are at an all-time high for Auburn University this year.Enrollment at the University increased from 24,530 students in fall 2008 to 24,602 in fall 2009.This year's freshman class earned an average ACT score of 26.2, surpassing last year's average of 25.9.Director of University Recruitment Cindy Singley said the freshmen at Auburn had the highest average ACT score in the state."We were looking for a well-rounded class," Singley said.

'Fake' Abortion Clinics Take Heat

By Michael Hansberry/ Staff Writer | October 1

A feminist group in California claims some pregnancy clinics lure women with advertisements about performing abortions, but promote adoption and motherhood instead.Holly Tomlinson of the Feminist Majority Foundation said women's clinics like the Women's Hope Medical Clinic in Auburn are fake pregnancy clinics.Meaning, they are clinics which pose as comprehensive sexual health pregnancy clinics, which advertise options such as abortion, but when women arrive they try to talk them out of having an abortion.The Feminist Majority Foundation has not investigated Women's Hope, Tomlinson said, so Tomlinson won't say what Women's Hope does or doesn't do."The reason why these clinics would be against abortion is because they're generally affiliated with a religious organization," Tomlinson said.

UPDATE: Auburn Employee Hit by Truck

By Ellison Langford / News Editor | September 28

An Auburn University library employee was struck by a dark gray Cheverolet Z71 while walking toward The Hotel at Auburn University Hotel and Dixon Conference Center.Mary Hammett, 58, an evening supervisor in the Ralph Brown Draughon Library was Lifeflighted with a head injury to the Columbus Regional Medical Center.

Strutting Duck, Bodega closing by month's end

By Natalie Wade / MANAGING EDITOR | September 24

Two local bars will be closing the doors on their current locations at the end of this month.Bodega and the Strutting Duck are closing because the landlords of both buildings will not renew the leases."I don't want to go into a lot of detail, and I'm not looking to bash anybody," said Neal Kelly, owner of the Strutting Duck. "It was kind of frustrating, but we just weren't able to work anything out with our landlord."

'Southern charm' lives in Alabama

By Brian Desarro/ Staff Writer | September 24

Residents agree that Alabama is not lacking in the "Southern hospitality" department, according to a recent survey conducted among Alabamians by Ask Alabama.Of 639 households surveyed in July about the state's overall friendliness, race relations and economy, 96 percent said Alabama can be described as a "friendly" state."The survey gives some idea of how Alabamians feel about various issues," said Don-Terry Veal, director of the Center for Governmental Services.

Laser Labeling May Soon Come to America

By Daniel Chesser/ Staff Writer | September 24

Produce distributors are beginning to abandon the application of price look up codes or "PLU" stickers, the traditional labels on fruits and vegetables, to adopt a new way of expressing information about the products in the grocery store.Instead of stickers, produce distributors will now mark fruit with lasers.Instead of using ink, this new form of labeling will imprint information on fruit by removing the fruit's pigment in the shape of the information."Anytime a new technology is introduced there are a whole set of behaviors wrapped around it, but a tool is not just introduced, it also influences how people interact with it," said Michelle R.

Spanking may cause more than just a bruised butt

By Helen Northcutt / INTRIGUE EDITOR | September 24

The results of a study by researchers at Auburn, Duke and Oklahoma State said being physically disciplined at a young age can lead to behavioral problems as an adolescent."Most American parents use physical discipline at some point in their parenting history, but increasingly there are concerns about long-term implications for children of parents who use physical discipline and concerns about where to draw the line between physical discipline and physical abuse," said Jennifer Lansford, study leader and associate research professor at Duke University.The researchers first began studying a sample in 1987, when the children in the study were 5 years old.

'Hero of Hope' for cancer survivors

By Ellison Langford / News Editor | September 24

The American Cancer Society named Danielle Maurer, a senior in public administration, as a Hero of Hope in August.Maurer is one of 20 Heroes.

Congress passes bill, $40 million for students

By Aubrie Davis/ Staff Writer | September 24

In an effort to make college education more affordable to students, Congress passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act.The bill, which will be the country's biggest federal investment in college education, will change how student loan programs operate.The bill was proposed July 15 and passed Sept.

NASA Awards Auburn University $600,000 Grant

By Samuel Solomon/ Associate News Editor | September 24

A $600,000 grant from NASA has been awarded to Auburn University's College of Sciences and Mathematics in association with the Alabama Department of Education in order to educate high school students about global climate change."The first year of the grant is for development," said Robin Nelson, Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative science coordinator.

Tiger Transit Stolen Saturday

By Samuel Solomon/ Associate News Editor | September 21

An Auburn University Tiger Transit bus was stolen in front of the McDonalds on West Magnolia Avenue after 2 a.m. Saturday."Somebody just didn't want to wait, " said University Manager of Transit Services Rex Huffman.

State officials attend Auburn meeting concerning PACT program

By Emily Beckett/ Staff Writer | September 21

Countless years and thousands of dollars later, many Alabama citizens are worried the earlier efforts they made to pay for their children's college education are now worthless.Concerns about the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition program were the focus of a meeting held at the Grove Hill Subdivision Clubhouse Thursday night for the East Alabama chapter of SaveAlabamaPACT!."Job one for us as a SaveAlabamaPACT! area is to locate PACT contract holders (and make) our contracts solvent," said Terry Calcote, an East Alabama area leader. "I'm gratified that we had a full house here tonight."

Auburn City Council Meeting on Sept. 15

By Samuel Solomon/ Associate News Editor | September 21

Citizens gathered in the Auburn City Council Chamber. Minutes from Sept. 1 were read and approved.Auburn University's Student Government Association distributed facts regarding Toomer's Ten.

Band Marches With Record Membership

By Brittany Cosby / Campus Editor | September 17

The crowd is silenced as the drum major steps onto field, walking with precision and leading the band into Jordan-Hare Stadium. This is the Auburn University Marching Band.Though it is built on tradition, the band has increased in size. The AUMB boasts its largest membership in history this fall with 380 members, beating their previous record of 372 in 2006.