tuesday, april 27, 2004
news
the university daily kansas
Jason Jones, left, Turner Construction employee, talked with co-workers Richard Montes and Dirk Zaloz on the job site of the new science building on West Campus. Jones said the job was running on time, Phase I would be completed by the end of July and Phase II would be completed by the end of November.
Addition to boost protein research
Researchers expect lab to put University in top 25 research institutes
By Joshua Kendall
jkendall@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Tucked away in West Campus, construction has gone largely unnoticed on the new biology center that pushes the University of Kansas closer to becoming a top 25 research institute.
The Structural Biology Center began as an addition to Malott Hall but expanded into a separate building that would concentrate biology research facilities into one place. Construction began in November 2003.
"This is a good example of being ahead of the game where you aggressively go after research opportunities," said James Roberts, interim vice provost for research.
The facility is intended to house an 800-megahertz nuclear magnetic resonance machine, or NMR, which will allow scientists to produce 3-D images of proteins and other molecules in solutions.
This is currently one of the most powerful scientific instruments used to study molecules of life, said David VanderVelde, director of the current NMR laboratory.
orately. "There are only about 25 instruments in the world that are in that class," said VanderVelde.
He added that the only other school that got similar grants for equipment last year was Harvard University.
This $5 million facility was funded through bond money approved by the Legislature in 2002.
2002. It could lead to the design of new drugs and vaccines, as well as progress basic biological research.
The building will be completed in late June, in time for the 15-foot-tall and about 6-foot-diameter NMR to be delivered by mid-August.
The 17,000-square-foot facility behind the Higuchi Biosciences Center will also hold an X-ray for examining proteins, and other equipment to dive into the emerging field of proteomics — the study of protein functions and interactions.
"You want to have people cross paths in informal settings to maximize the likelihood of finding new ways to work together."
David VanderVelde Director of the current NMR laboratory
"The idea is to have people to come into one approach and would then be enticed to using the other tools" at the facility, VanderVelde said.
With a rough draft of the human genome completed, many researchers are now looking at how genes and proteins interact to form other proteins.
This facility, along with other
tabs throughout the University, will give researchers a cutting edge look into proteomics, or what scientists are calling the "next step" in understanding biology. Roberts said.
To further concentrate the biological sciences, researchers are applying for a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to move several labs into a 20,000-square-foot addition, totaling to a 37,000-square-foot facility.
The proposed biology center differs from most research facilities throughout the country because it puts "all of the ingredients under one roof," VanderVelde said.
Allowing researchers, faculty and students from differing bodies of research to share ideas Roberts said.
"You want to have people cross paths in informal settings to maximize the likelihood of finding new ways to work together," VanderVelde said.
— Edited by Collin LaJoie
Summer blend increases gas prices
Seasonal gasoline reduces pollution in spring,summer
By Steve Vockrodt svockrodt@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Although the war in Iraq and supply and demand issues are popular theories about why gasoline prices are increasing, "summer blend" gasoline drives the prices up, as well.
The national average for unleaded gas rose to $1.80 last week, according to the www.msn.com.
Part of the reason for the increase is federally mandated fuel used in the summer months that burns more efficiently but costs more to make.
Lee Daniels, engineer for the Environmental Protection Agency, said that the fuel
reduced toxic emissions by 2.43 tons per day in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Dale Armstrong, spokesman for the EPA, said that the fuel is made by adding ethanol or other chemical additives.
The benefits of the summer gasoline include higher efficiency and reduced air pollution levels. The detriment of the gas is its cost.
Armstrong said the fuel was typically three cents to five cents more expensive per gallon than regular fuel.
He said supply and demand issues were a bigger reason that gas prices have jumped this year, but the recent implementation of summer fuel caused an extra leap in prices.
The fuel reduces pollution because normal fuel gives off higher levels of nitrous oxide
leap in press The EPA mandated the use of the gas based on amendments made to the 1990 Clean Air Act.
"In the summer, you have to worry more about evaoprating gasoline putting unpleasant chemicals in the atmosphere."
Richard Gilbert
Ground-level ozone is accumulated pollution like smog not to be confused with the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere.
Richard Ginkoff
Chairman of the economics department at
the University of California at Berkeley
that forms in ground-level ozone, Armstrong said.
Armstrong said ground-level ozone pollution is more harmful than upper-level ozone pollution because it is more reactive in summer months because of increased levels of sunlight.
The higher cost of the gasoline comes from having to blend the gasoline with ethanol or other chemicals.
Thus, the mandated fuel is sold in the spring and summer months.
"in the summer, you have to worry more about evaporating gasoline putting unpleasant chemicals in the atmosphere," said Richard Gilbert, chairman of the economics department at the University of California at Berkeley. "So you have to comply with federal environmental regulations. And it generally costs more to produce summer blends."
Despite the higher cost, federal regulations force the sale of the gas during the summer months.
Cars running on summer blend gasoline are difficult to start in colder winter weather, according to www.msn.com
Edited by Joe Hartigan
Board promotes emergency phones
By Andy Marso
amarso@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Campus Safety Advisory Board is organizing a Blue Phone Awareness Campaign today and tomorrow to educate students how blue phones work and where they are located.
Snannon Bell, chairwoman of the board, answered some frequently asked questions about blue phones:
How many blue phones are there on campus?
Seventy.
How can students identify the blue phones?
They are attached to the lamppost of large, circular blue lights. The board recently funded adhesive lettering of "Emergency Phone" to be placed on all outdoor phones.
How do the blue phones work?
The phones are two-way radio boxes, not traditional handheld phones. Students can activate them by pushing a button and then all students have to do is start talking or yelling into the box. As soon as the button is pressed, a KUPD officer is immediately dispatched to the phone.
In what situations should students use blue phones?
Students should use blue phones if they think that they are being followed, feel that they could potentially be in danger or if they see anything suspicious while on campus. They can use a
Blue Phone Awareness Campaign
What: Members of the Campus Safety Advisory Board will be distributing information about blue phones and campus safety. They also will be handing out forms for a blue-phone scavenger hunt that students may participate in. Winners will receive coupons from local restaurants.
When: Today and tomorrow from 9:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Wescoe Beach
Why: Blue Phone Awareness Campaign to coincide with Sexual Assault Prevention week.
Source: Campus Safety Advisory Board
Do students have to wait by the phone after activating it?
After students activate the phone, they don't have to wait by the phone. Students who feel that they are being followed can continue walking away from their pursuer while continuing to trigger other blue phones on their path. KUPD monitors the phones 24-7. If students continue to activate blue phones as they walk, it will enable KUPD to establish the path they are taking and their location
blue phone if they see someone getting attacked or they are in danger of being attacked. Blue phones are to be used in any situation where students feel their safety or the safety of others is being threatened.
—Edited by Cindy Yeo
"The weighty questions raised by petitioners ... deserve this court's attention," he wrote in protest.
The Associated Press
Justices spar over school-prayer issue
WASHINGTON — Two of the Supreme Court's most conservative members delivered an unusual public rebuke to more liberal justices yesterday, accusing them of ducking an important church-state fight over mealtime prayers at a taxpayer-funded military college.
lary colleges.
Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, said the court should have taken the case to answer for the first time whether its ban on school-sponsored prayer for young children and high schoolers applies to college students as well.
Scalia delivered a polite but blunt critique of what he suggested are flimsy reasons for avoiding an appeal on behalf of the Virginia Military Institute, which is part of the state's university system.
The VMI case also gave the court an opportunity to rule on the constitutionality of traditional religious observance in military institutions, Scallia said
Writing separately, Justice John Paul Stevens countered that the VMI case may be important, but suffers from procedural problems. He said Scalia is "quite wrong" in his characterization of why the court rejected the case.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer joined Stevens.
With the Supreme Court rebuff, the lower court ruling stands. It said the prayers violate the Constitution's ban on state promotion of religion.
The court already is considering a major case about religion in schools. Justices are expected to rule by summer on whether the current wording of the Pledge of Allegiance, with its reference to "one nation under God," can legally be recited in public schools.
Scalia recused himself from that case because of remarks that seemed to prejudice the case.
At VMI, the mess hall prayers, one for each night of the week except Saturday, were recited by a student chaplain. The prayers concluded with the phrase, "Now, O God, we receive this food and share this meal together with thanksgiving. Amen."
Two cadets asked the school to change the prayer ceremony. They sued when VMI refused.
Since the 1960s, the court has outlawed official prayer in a variety of public school settings, including classrooms and at high school graduations. The court has pointed to the special circumstances of enforced attendance at grade schools and high schools.
By contrast, college students are usually adults and attend school by choice.