Wednesday, September 27, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Lab gives data to the world
KU's connection:
Radar sensing program is one of best in the country
Brenden Sager Kansan staff writer
Prasad Gogineni said he didn't care why radar is showing decreasing soil moisture in Kansas — he cared how radar is showing decreased soil moisture.
Tim Hansen/KANSAN
The lab's purpose is to study how radar images are formed by bouncing electromagnetic radiation from a target, he said.
Goginien, professor of electrical engineering, is director of the remote sensing laboratory in Nichols Hall. KU had the best remote sensing program in the country until 1985 when such programs became common at other universities, he said.
The lab studies remote sensing with projects ranging from measuring soil moisture in Kansas to examining the depth of glaciers in Greenland, he said. The results from projects are used worldwide by professors, government agencies and professionals who apply the data to their research.
In electrical engineering classes, students learn how remote sensing works, Gogineni said. In the labs, the students apply their knowledge to remote sensing projects.
However, Gogineni said that the true purpose of the lab was to educate students.
When the students have problems, Goginieri said, they come to their faculty advisers for help.
"When I came here, I knew nothing about radar," said Lou Brown, Falls Church, Va., graduate student. "Now I build them."
Brown is working on a project with Justin Legarsky, Tacoma, Wash., graduate student, to build a radar system for the remote sensing lab's scatterometer project. Gogineni advises them.
Scatterometers measure the height and slope of ocean waves to discover how radar interprets this information.
Brown and Legarsky are working on a stationary radar apparatus to be mounted on a pier or oil platform. The data from this apparatus will be compared with satellite data to measure the two systems' accuracy.
This project costs KU nothing — Brown said that the Navy paid for this project.
"KU is one of the few universities that concentrates on radar research." he said.
Anitha Mogili, Hyderabad, India, graduate student, studies worldwide rainfall intensity for the government-funded Shuttle Imaging Radar C-Band project. The German government's space agency also contributes funds to the project.
Mogilil said she received data collected by satellites from space shuttle missions and interpreted the information on a computer.
Because of the history of success with projects like these, KU's remote sensing lab is still regarded as one of the best in the world, Gogineni said.
Kamlesh Lulla, chief of NASA's Earth sciences branch, shows satellite pictures of environmental damage on Earth.
NASA's influence:
NASA photos not cloudy; earthly images are smoky
Brenden Sager Kansan staff writer
The audience winced when Kamlesh Lulla showed his smoky slide show.
"I like smoke pictures," said Lulla, chief on NASA's Earth sciences branch.
Lalla's smoke pictures showed nearly the entire continent of South America covered in smoke during a presentation yesterday at Lindley Hall. He said the smoke was a result of mass burning of forests and fields on the continent.
Lulla spoke about NASA projects in which astronauts and satellites take pictures and interpret the images through remote sensing — devices that interpret electromagnetic radiation bounced from a source to a target. Lulla trains astronauts who use the specialized equipment to take pictures of ecological processes on Earth.
"What I would like to do is to take you on a global journey," Lulla said.
The journey went to every continent on the globe where natural vegetation — referred to as biomass by Lulla — was ravaged by civilization.
Lulla said NASA was turning its efforts to examining global ecology and reactions with human settlement.
And the globe is changing.
"A buzz word in my business now is global change," he said.
In South America, the largest smoke palls have increased 10 times from 300,000 to three million square kilometers, he said. Astronauts on more recent missions have seen the smoke palls with greater frequency around the world — especially in Asia and Africa.
"I don't see it getting any better," Lulla said.
"I thought the presentation was very informative," said Jennifer Powers, St. Louis senior, Powers works with remote sensing data for projects in her ecology-related classes — the same data that is produced by astronauts.
Powers said that she had seen such scenes of global destruction before in her classes, but she was not aware of the extent of global damage in Asia and Africa.
Tobacco chewers risk lip cancer and loneliness
Erin Kennedy has no interest in guys who use smokeless tobacco. She said she would never date a guy who chewed.
By Craig Lang Kansan staff writer
"I think it's a pretty disgusting habit," said Kennedv. Toveea freshman.
Although some students shared Kennedy's opinion, Julie Francis, public health educator for Student Health Services, said 5 percent of all college students chewed tobacco regularly, and 8 percent had used it in the last year.
Brian Beach, Wichita junior, said he knew that chewing tobacco was a bad habit, but unlike cigarette smokers, he was not blowing the tobacco into the air and exposing other people to its dangers.
Francis said that many people chewed because they thought it was safer than smoking. But smokeless tobacco has more cancer-causing ingredients than cigarettes, she said.
"One container of Skoal — if you chew it all in one sitting — has enough ingredients that it can kill you," she said.
Because smoking causes damage to the user's lungs, which can't be seen. Beach said chewing is better than smoking because at least users could monitor the effects of the tobacco.
"If I'm going to be messing up my teeth, I can see how bad," he said.
John Hay, a dentist at 10 E. Ninth St., Suite D, said that the biggest risks of chewing tobacco were oral cancer and the possibility of losing teeth, losing a jawbone or death. The American Cancer Society estimates that 8,400 Americans will die from oral cancer in 1995.
Hay said that when a person chewed tobacco, the tissue in the gum responded by growing more skin in the area where the tobacco was usually placed. Hay said the excess skin could become malignant, which could result in oral cancer.
Hay said tobacco also was damaging to the teeth. Besides staining them, many tobaccos contain sweeteners, which act as abrasives and result in loss of tooth structure.
"They can take skin out of one part of your gum and replace the receding gum," he said.
Another consequence of tobacco chewing is gum recession, Hay said. This is treatable in many cases, he said.
"I like to chew when I'm driving," he said. "It just gives me something to pass the time with."
Brian Beach, Wichita junior, said chewing calmed him down when he was concentrating.
Andy Wallis, Springfield, Mo., junior, said he does not have the desire to chew all the time, but he does like to use chewing tobacco to keep from being bored
"I like to chew when I study. It helps keep me busy." he said
Beach, who has been using tobacco since his sophomore year in high school, said that he tried quitting for a week last summer, but he decided he could wait until he graduated from college.
"I figure once I get out of school and get a real job. I'll have to quit doing it." he said.
Hay said for those who would like to quit chewing, the best alternative to chewing tobacco was sugarless gum.
City opts for $2.8 million pool plan
"You can chew but chew safely because there are no cancer-causing agents," he said.
By Tara Trenary
Kansan staff writer
Four of the five members of the Lawrence City Commission voted 3-1 last night to accept
a bid of approximately $2.8 million and to go ahead with plans to improve the Lawrence Municipal Pool.
City Commissioner John Nalbandian was absent, and Allen Levine voted against the proposal.
"We're watching all of our recreation projects go wav over budget." Levine said.
The new pool project is financed by a tax of one cent on each dollar spent in the city. Members debated the issue for an hour and raised many concerns, including the new pool design's possible safety problems and existing conditions of the present pool.
Tom Wilkerson, assistant director of parks and recreation, recommended that the commission accept the first of the four possible construction options.
The option chosen by the commission
includes a sunshade area, a water slide and underwater and overhead lights, all of which have added to the project's cost.
Bob Moody, mayor of Lawrence, said that those features would help to serve the pool's many functions. He said that one major function of the pool was to please the public.
Herbert Hill, a Lawrence resident, voiced concerns about the safety of the zero-depth pool entry. The zero-depth entry, a built-in ramp into the water, is designed as a handicapped entrance to the pool.
"It doesn't belong in a basic pool." Hill said.
Hill said the area could not be guarded and might lead to drownings. Hill said that smaller children could go down the ramp too far and would not be seen by lifeguards.
In spite of these concerns, the commission approved the plan. The pool should be ready for the 1996 season.
"I want a wonderful pool that will serve our needs for two or three decades," said Bonnie Augustine, city commissioner.
In other business, the commission established a study session date between commissioners and KU officials to discuss the new development plan for the University. The session will be held Nov. 9.
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