Volume 124 Issue 111
kansan.com
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
STUDENT FEES UNLIKELY TO SEE MAJOR CHANGES Student Senate will review fee allocation Wednesday PAGE3
TECH SAVVY
PROGRAMMING POTENTIAL
LUKE RANKER
lranker@kansan.com
Blake Hefley said he's always had a mind for computer programming, but it took a University programming class for him to realize it. Hefley, a sophomore from Wichita, studied music at New York University before deciding to return to the University to try something different.
"That was me trying to run away from it, but really, I knew I belonged behind a desk programming," Hefley said.
Hefley has already designed his first game, one that's a basic Pong style, on the Motorola Xoom tablet that he received last fall from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Last fall, alumnus Brian McClendon, the vice president of Google Maps and Google Earth, donated $50,000 to the department to provide students with Android tablets. Google announced in February that the company would donate another $50,000 for the same purpose next fall.
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science professor Bo Luo said that Android programming is becoming more important and that using Android tablets allows teachers to show students how Java, the programming language used in Android, works firsthand.
"It's something we can use to show students what cool things they can do," he said.
Luo said when students enter the job market in a few years, the capability to work with Android programming would give them a significant advantage.
"If you look at the market share, Android is taking more from Apple," Luo said. "That will make our graduates very popular."
He said one of the most popular lab classes is one where students use programming code to make bubbles appear on the tablet's screen. Hefley said that was the lab where he got the idea for his Pong game. He said he decided to modify the original code to change the bubbles' behavior.
"I wanted to see if I could tell the circle where to go instead of just popping up." Hefley said.
Hefley said his first attempt at changing the code looked like the Windows screensaver with the ball bouncing from edge to edge. Next, he decided to deduct points every
time the ball hit an edge. He used code to build one bar that the player could control with the up and down arrows and another computer-guided bar. Hefley said he learned some of the game's coding in class, but for other parts, he simply changed the coding until it performed the function he wanted.
"Video gaming is what I do in my spare time, so it's inevitable that's what I'd program."
Now that Hefley is in a second-level programming class, the focus has shifted from Java to C++, another popular coding language for video games and other software. Hefley said the shift has been a problem for him because the class is based on C++ — the language that was originally taught in the previous class — not lava.
Luo said the conversion from C++ to lava has been a challenge for the department, but students are expected to learn both languages by the time that they graduate.
"Most of programming is just fiddling with what's already there," he said.
Hefley said he also considered uploading the game to the Android Market but decided not to because of a few bugs he hasn't been able to fix.
BLAKE HEFLEY Sophomore computer science student
Luo said the department would meet to discuss what changes they should make to follow-up courses.
Hefley said that even though there are more job opportunities in software and security programming, he plans on sticking with video game
programming. He and a friend have been talking about creating a story-based game, like Zelda, but they haven't started vet.
"Video gaming is what I do in my spare time, so it's inevitable that's
what I'd program," Hefley said.
After graduating, Hefley wants to go move to Japan and work for a major game maker like Square Enix, the makers of the popular Final Fantasy series.
— Edited by Taylor Lewis
brake Hefley, a sophomore from Wichita, poses with his Android Tablet that he designed a basic game for. Hefley, a computer science major, says that after he graduates he will probably work for a company as a video game designer.
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
CAMPUS
Professor lectures on sexual identities
KELSEY CIPOLLA
kcipolla@kansan.com
The more exposure a person has to gays and lesbians, the more positive their views become about gays and lesbians. Political science has supported that idea for a decade, but that claim might be misleading, according to Patrick Egan, professor of political science at New York University, who spoke at Watson Library yesterday afternoon.
Patrick J. Egan, Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Policy at New York University, delivers a lecture called, "Frontiers in Research on Attitudes Among and About Gay People," at Watson Library Tuesday afternoon. The lecture was part of the Clifford P. Ketzel Speaker Series for the Expression of Minority Opinions.
Egan explained that the contact hypothesis, which has been used to examine the relationships between members of different racial or ethnic groups, suggests that having a friend, co-worker or family member who is gay positively affects a person's views about people who are gay.
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
Advocates have been optimistic about the trend and the possible reduction of prejudice, but Egan explored several problems with the hypothesis and its conclusion. Data gathered in polls and studies does not fully examine the factors that might make a person more likely to have a relationship with a gay person, which can produce biased data.
But the biggest problem is disclosure. Most research on the contact hypothesis doesn't consider whether or not the gay friend, co-worker or family member actually said they were gay or if it was assumed.
Egan pointed out that straight people can fairly accurately determine the sexual orientation of a person by looking at how they conform to gender norms, like speech patterns or movement.
Assuming a person is gay when they haven't confirmed it has the potential to actually create a negative feeling toward gays and lesbians because it can seem like they are ashamed of their sexual orientation. It can also perpetuate negative stereotypes.
"The thing that I think is important to take away from this is whether or not we think they exist, these stereotypes certainly exist in the world," Egan said.
Jake Longraker, a graduate student in political science from DeSoto, said Egan's research was very current and showed the dramatic attitude shifts regarding gays and lesbians. It's a topic that he explores in his own research of LGBT communities in Latin America.
"My guess is that when students first come to college, it's often the first time they encounter a gay or lesbian person who acknowledges their identity," Egan said. "By every indication, that should be a pretty powerful predictor and changer of attitudes."
After his presentation, Egan discussed how his data might relate to college students.
Research also shows that in the time between freshman and senior year, students generally become more tolerant of gays and lesbians, Egan said.
"Knowing what the attitudes
are of people, and how you can improve the situation so that you can make those positive changes and you can make changes in laws, is important," Longraker said.
Donald Haider-Markel, chair of the Political Science department, said Egan's presentation was part of a lecture series featuring controversial speakers. Egan's presentation was controversial not only because it discussed gays and lesbians, but also because it challenged the common understanding of how the contact hypothesis applies to the LGBT community. Although the lecture series hasn't been going on in recent years, he hopes to make it an annual event.
Edited by Christine Curtin
HEALTH
Birth control for men to be tested
MARSHALL SCHMIDT
mschmidt@kansan.com
Birth control pills aren't just for women, according to Dr. Joseph Tash, director of the interdisciplinary center for male contraceptive research and drug development at KU Medical Center. Tash has received national attention for his research in advancement in contraceptives.
The Kansas City Star reported on the research done by Tash as well as several McClatchy newspapers nationwide and the Canadian public broadcasting network. The Colbert Report also ran a clip about it, according to C. J. Janovy, director of communications at KU Medical Center. "This is obviously a topic of wide interest," Janovy said.
For over a decade, Tash and collaborators developed a compound that blocks sperm production and was originally part of a cancer treatment. The side effects from this included infertility.
The term "infertility" may seem scary, but if men are taking the pill and decide they want to conceive, they just stop taking the pill.
"It's not only 100 percent effective, but 100 percent reversible, which is the holy grail of a contraceptive," Tash said.
The drug has seen effectiveness and safety for testing in mice, rabbits and most recently, primates. The animal testing has also shown the offspring produced by former users
Tash's team is preparing for its first meeting with the FDA to begin human testing, which will begin in another year or two. The length of time needed for approval is unclear, given the unique non-hormonal nature of the drug.
"We are going to be paving new areas, even with the FDA," Tash said. Valentine Agbor, a graduate student from Kumba, Camaroon, is working in a collaborating research lab that is focused on disrupting a protein related to sperm development as another form of nonhormonal male contraceptive. While Agbor's work is still preparing for animal testing, Agbor sees the importance of increased options for male contraceptives.
"By producing more male birth control, it's going to help males contribute to family planning." Agbor said.
of the drug are normal and without mutation.
The development of these drugs could potentially impact the world, said Tash. Tash cited that half of all pregnancies are unplanned and in the US, half of those unplanned pregnancies occurred while under supposed use of contraceptives. Tash recently presented to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation as an expert in contraception.
"The simpler a contraceptive is to use, the more desirable and easy it is to distribute and use" Tash said.
Index CLASSIFIEDS 7 CRYPTOQUIPS 4 SPORTS 8 CROSSWORD 4 OPINION 5 SUDOKU 4 All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
Edited by Bre Reach
Don't forget
The CIA information session is at 5 p.m. in the Visitor Center auditorium. Bring your resume and meet a CIA recruiter.
Windy and partly cloudy
Southwings at 25-30
mph, gusting up to 40
。
is this real life or just a fluke?