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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, MAY 8, 2007
INVENTIONS
NEWS
5A
Joseph Oliver/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Supermarkets go hi-tech
The PureCart Systems' newest product was on display at the Food Marketing Institute show Monday in Chicago. Despite consumer concerns about food safety, PureCart president Jim Kratowicz says products such as his still have a tough sell. That's because even though consumers want clean carts, companies worry about sending the wrong message. Consumers might wonder, "What are grocers telling me? They're telling me they have dirty carts," he said.
BY J.M. HIRSCH ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — Standing in a long line at the grocer soon might get you through the checkout faster.
That's because a British company has designed a system to track and predict the movements of supermarket shoppers using thermal imaging. A computer analyzes data from infrared cameras, then advises when and where additional cashiers are needed.
"The idea is that the more pleasant the checkout experience, the more you will buy," said Nick Stogdale, senior sales manager for InfraRed Integrated Systems' SMARTLANE product. The system is being tested by two U.S. chains.
The SMARTLANE was one of many new food-related technologies on display at this week's Food Marketing Institute show, where speed, ease, sanitation and a touch of theater ruled.
Take the case of rotisserie chicken, one of the most popular items in the fast-growing prepared foods category: The latest crop of chicken roasters — those ubiquitous ovens that endlessly twirl crisp, golden chickens at grocers across the nation
— are designed not just to cook, but also to capture your attention with good looks and funky design.
Hence, the Multisserie, an upright, clear cylindrical oven by Netherlands-based Fri-Jado that spins the chickens on end, like a giant top. "We try to bring a very high show element to it," marketing director Ernst Goettsch said.
The same thinking also influenced the design of Montreal-based Hardt's Inferno Rotisserie, which offers a crowd-pleasing self-cleaning function that looks like a sprinkler gone wild.
"The more a supermarket can do to create a show or to create a restaurant-style experience, the more sales they make," said Michael Griffin, a vice president of sales for Hardt.
For those who prefer their food slightly pixelated, food industry analyst Phil Lempert has teamed with Kraft Foods and the National Grocers Association to launch a virtual supermarket in the online fantasy world known as Second Life.
Though visitors to Phil's Supermarket can guide their avatars
(online parlance for a user's digital personification) through the store to explore products, watch cooking demos and see the latest food and health news.
The idea is to help people navigate the real world of food by letting them "pre-shop," accessing nutritional data and other information
"The average consumer only spends 22 minutes food shopping," said Lempert, who launched the site Monday. "But what I hear from consumers is that they want to hear about what's new and exciting."
on various products, previewing a showcase of just-launched items or scoring coupons.
SCIENCE
KU radar used to study Greenland Students analyze artic climate change
BY LISA ALLEN
Three University of Kansas graduate students are using an advanced radar system in Greenland for almost two weeks to help analyze the rate of climate change, said Steve Ingalls, associate director of administration at the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets.
The students, Sahana Rhagunandan, Mahmood Abdul Hammed and Anthony Hoch, will be studying evidence from the last glacial period using the GISMO radar system.
"Ultimately we want to use the GISMO radar to see what Greenland would look like if you took the ice off of it" Ingalls said.
With increasing concerns about global climate change and rising sea levels, CREIS develops new technologies and computer models to measure and predict sea-level change from melting ice sheets, Ingalls said. The student group is working with a Danish team, which is chemically analyzing samples of ice from the Eemian layer, which is the bottom layer of the ice sheet. Raghunandan and Hammed will work with the radar until they return on May 5. Hoch will return May 15.
Raghunandan worked twelve-hour days the week before leaving preparing files and data systems to process the information the radar would collect, she said.
"It is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be going to Greenland. It will be exciting to see if the radar is working like we expect it to be." Raghunandan said.
The data from GISMO will help determine how much the ice cap over Greenland shrunk during the last global warming period, Ingalls said. He said the data was important for scientists and the general public.
"What we need to do is create models for scientists that explain the more rapid, more interesting things that have been going on. Once we get these models right, we will be able to better predict the contribution of these ice sheets and their response to climate change," Ingalls said.
More than 107 million people in the world live within one meter of sea level. Ingalls said the ice was important to take into consideration.
"It is pretty important if you live somewhere like Bangladesh and you rely on the environment to survive. Or, if you are a land developer in Miami and you are concerned about whether your investment is going to pan out or be under water in 100 years," Ingalls said.
The trip to Greenland will be Raghunandan's first; however, several other CReSIS students and staff conduct research on the ice sheets regularly. Christopher Allen, associate director of technology, said it would take three summers of drilling in Greenland to reach the Eemian layer of ice closest to the bottom.
"We get to the location on the ice sheet, set up camp, start drilling into the ice and by August we have to leave before the bad weather hits. We can only dill a third of the way down each time." Allen said.
Students will be hundreds of miles from civilization and three kilometers above sea level, Allen said.
"It is featureless," Allen said. "There is snow to the horizon in all directions and the sun never sets." The students are equipped with tents and gear designed for arctic deployment, Allen said. The National Science Foundation, NASA and the University financially support trips through CReSIS.
Edited by Joe Caponio
》 ENERGY DRINKS
FDA nixes 'speed in a can'
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clegg lvey, a partner in Redux Beverages LLC of Las Vegas, said the company plans to sell the drink
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — An energy drink called Cocaine has been from pulled from stores nationwide amid concerns about its name, the company that produces it said Monday.
under a new name for now
been sold since last August in at least a dozen states.
name for now.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter last month that said Redux was illegally marketing the drink as a street drug alternative and a dietary supplement. May
"Of course, we intended for Cocaine energy drink to be a legal alternative the same way that celibacy is an alternative to premarital sex," Ivey said. "It's not the same thing and no one thinks it is. Our product doesn't have any cocaine in it. No one thinks that it does. We think it is most likely legal in the
"We intended for Cocaine energy drink to be a legal alternative the same way that celibacy is an alternative to premarital sex."
1 was the deadline for the company
2 respond.
CLEGG IVEY Company partner
The FDA cited as evidence the drink's labeling and Web site, which included the statements "Speed in a Can," "Liquid Cocaine" and "Cocaine — Instant Rush." The company says Cocaine contains no drugs and is marketed as an energy drink. It has
Ivey said the FDA did not order the company to stop marketing the drink, but officials were concerned about possible legal action. They will announce a new name within a
United States to ship our product."
week and hope to have the product back on store shelves within a few weeks.
you could go to jail."
Attorneys general in Connecticut and Illinois recently announced that Redux had agreed to stop marketing Cocaine in those states, while a judge in Texas has halted distribution there.
"Our goal is to literally flush Cocaine down the drain across the nation," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who announced the company's agreement with his state Monday. "Our main complaint about Cocaine is its name and marketing strategy seeking to glorify illegal drug use and exploit the allure of marketing 'Speed in a Can,' as it called the product."
"What we would like to do is continue to fight to keep the name because it's clearly the name that's the problem," Ivey said. "What we can't do is distribute our product when regulators in the states and the FDA are saying that if you do this,
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection pulled 300 cases of Cocaine from state stores on April 23, saying Redux Beverages did not license the product as required by law.
Fans responded to the announcement that Redux would stop marketing Cocaine by leaving dozens of messages, many of them profanity-laced, on a page created for the product on the social networking site MySpace.com.
As part of the agreement, Connecticut distributors and retailers can return unused product to Redux for a full refund.
NATION
WASHINGTON — In a triumph for the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate on Monday killed a drive to allow consumers to buy prescription drugs from abroad at a savings over domestic prices.
Senate bans international prescription drug sales
On a 49-40 vote, the Senate required the administration to certify the safety and effectiveness of imported drugs before they can be imported, a requirement that officials have said they cannot meet.
The vote neutralized a second amendment, later passed on a voice vote, that would legalize the importation of prescription drugs manufactured in Canada, Australia Europe, Japan and New Zealand.
"Well, once again the big drug companies have proved that they are the most powerful and best financed lobby in Washington,"
said Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican.
Still Best Cash for Books Jayhawk Bookstore ..at the top of Naismith Hill
Associated Press
Johnson County Clin-Trials FLU VACCINE STUDY
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is currently looking for healthy volunteers
ages 18-40
to participate in a clinical research study
involving an outpatient
investigational flu vaccine
Qualified participants will receive
- Study-related medical exams
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If you are interested or would like more information, please contact us at Johnson County Clin-Trials (913) 825-4400 www.jcct.com