1
University Daily Kansan / Monday, April 4, 1988
Campus/Area
3
KU Med Center hires extra patrol
Recent rape attempt cited
By James Buckman
Kansan staff writer
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A security guard has been assigned to patrol the parking areas during the late night shift changes at the University of Kansas Medical Center to help offset recent concerns about safety on the campus.
Those concerns stem from the March 2 abduction of a 32-year-old female employee of the Med Center from the parking garage after she left work and walked to her car at about 11:30 p.m. She suffered a knife wound as a man tried unsuccessfully to rape her.
The attack, however, was the first in at least four years, said Rick Johnson, assistant director of the Med Center police.
Kay Clawson, executive vice chancellor for the Med Center, said that the attack was an isolated incitement to violence. He has tried to maintain campus safety.
"We have continually pumped money into security around here, and then when anything happens, everybody is not doing anything," he said.
In addition to the extra patrol guard, who will work from about 9:30 p.m. until 1 a.m., Clawson said that a parking patrol officer currently on duty would be reassigned to the late shift to provide additional security.
Part of the problem that makes security concerns almost exclusive to the people working the 3 p.m. until 11 p.m. shift or the 4 p.m. until midnight shift is directly related to a lack of parking space near the Med Center.
'W
We have continually pumped money into security around here, and then when anything happens, everybody says you are not doing anything.
- Kay Clawson
executive vice chancellor, Med Center
Because those employees come to work in the afternoon, which is the peak of the parking problem, they are forced to park far from the exits. When they leave work, they have to walk long distances to their cars.
People starting the late shift at 11 p.m. or midnight generally are not as worried about their safety, however. Because they come when there are few cars in the garage, they can park close to the doors, under lights, and walk only a short distance before they are inside the Med Center.
Johnson said that one way for employees to offset safety concerns would be to use the Med Center's escort service run by the campus police. Employees can call the police, and an officer will meet them in the lobby of the hospital and escort them to their cars.
Clawson said that additional security measures recently added were improved lighting in the parking garage and in the parking lots, fencing on the east side of the garage to prevent foot access from the back of the garage and a closed circuit TV on the connecting bridge between the garage and the hospital to monitor pedestrians.
Laser beams useful in molecular studies
By Brenda Finnell
Kansan staff writer
Red, yellow and green laser beams create a pattern of pulsing color on the large optical table. Anyone entering the room has to wear protective glasses because of an infrared beam.
By using these lasers, which are in a laboratory in the basement of Malott Hall, researchers examine molecular processes that occur rapidly, said Carey Johnson, assistant professor of chemistry.
Johnson has been using lasers to study these reactions for the past $2 \frac{1}{2}$ years.
Many physical and chemical reactions occur in such a short time frame that they can only be measured in picoseconds. A picosecond is one trillionth of a second.
Light travels about 186,000 miles in one second. By comparison, it travels only one-third of a millimeter in a micsecond.
ter in a precursor.
they must concentrate in such a mode that they produce very short pulses, which are necessary when experimenting with fast reactions. No other technique exists to study such reactions, Johnson said.
"Even very, very fast electronic chips cannot switch on and off that quickly," he said. "They're about 1,000 times too slow."
In an experiment, lasers are directed through lenses onto a molecular sample. One pulse, called the pump pulse, initiates the reaction. It triggers the molecules to begin a sequence of events simultaneously.
"They all start at once, as sprinters in a race when they hear the gun go off," Johnson said.
A second pulse, called the probe
pulse, follows. Researchers can vary the time between the first and second pulse, which allows them to examine molecular changes in a defined period. They then can map out how reactions occur as functions of time.
Seeing how much of the probe pulse is absorbed by the molecule is one of the reactions researchers can measure.
Johnson is especially interested in biological molecules and is now studying bacteriorhodopsin, a protein that derives from a primitive bacteria.
Bacteriorhodopsin is unique because it has almost the same structure as the protein in the human eye that allows vision to occur. A certain part of the protein, which is related to vitamin A, is involved in light absorption.
The first event in the light-
absorption reaction of bacteriorhodopsin is a molecular structure change. The atoms in the protein rearrange in four-tenths of a picosecond.
The laser pulses Johnson uses are 40 picoseconds in duration. They are not short enough to study that part of the reaction, but they do allow researchers to study the subsequent reactions.
The bacteriorhodopsin research might researchers understand vision better, Johnson said.
"Probably a very similar thing happens in vision," he said. "The first event that triggers the nerve impulse occurs that rapidly."
Four graduate students and one post-doctoral associate are helping Johnson with the research.
KU researchers use lasers to measure chemical processes that occur in fractions of a second. The lasers are housed in the basement of Malott Hall.
Johnson said the cost of the laser apparatus probably exceeded $100,000. University of Kansas researchers saved some money by constructing some of the equipment themselves.
"To buy everything ready-made would cost maybe twice that," Johnson said.
The main purpose of Johnson's current research is basic science.
"The primary benefit is just to learn what's happening, to understand what's happening on a faster time scale so that one can understand in detail how these molecules work," he said.
Johnson hopes the bacteriorhodin molecule can be used as a prototype to develop research techniques. He would like to study more complex proteins, such as those involved in photosynthesis.
Legislative issues are unresolved
The Associated Press
Former KU student optimistic as she recovers from shooting
TOPEKA — The Kansas Legislature enters the first stretch today with major issues, including school finance and tax revision, unresolved.
Lawmakers also will begin working in earnest on a prison plan in the wake of a federal judge's order Friday for the state to reduce its inmate population at Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing because of overcrowded conditions.
The state is expected to receive $135 million windfall from individual taxpayers because of the federal changes.
The school finance bill also remains stalled in conference committee, with the Senate and the House unable to reach an agreement. The state uses a complex formula based on wealth to determine how much state aid each school district receives. Because of declining rural land values, the formula shifts more money to smaller districts from the big-city districts this year.
After two meetings, the House and the Senate versions of the tax revision bill still have big differences, especially in the areas of corporate tax reduction, exemptions for manufacturing machinery and equipment from the state's four percent sales tax and a proposed repeal of the deduction for federal taxes paid.
Kansan staff writer
By Julie Adam Kansan staff writer
Many people in Amy Thompson's situation would have given up by now.
But Thompson, a former KU graduate student, still struggles to overcome injuries she suffered after a teen-ager shot her in a 1968 robbery attempt in Kansas City, Mo.
Thompson, 26, was shot in the back of the neck on Oct. 31, 1986, when she was leaving a Halloween party near Westport.
The bullet ricocheted off of a bone in her neck and entered her brain.
Richard L. Scott, of Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty to the shooting and is serving a life sentence.
During an operation after the shooting, part of Thompson's brain was removed. Doctors anticipated that the operation would cause permanent damage to her coordination and ability to move and
But Thompson's optimism has remained even through a recent spell of pneumonia and blood clots in her lungs, said her father, Byron Thompson, of Kansas City, Mo.
"Her mind is excellent, and her spirits are maintained at a high level," he said. "She really stays in an optimistic mode, which I think would be difficult in the situation she is in."
After the shooting, Thompson
"S
She has tremendous spirit. In the midst of all that has happened to her, she still remains optimistic.'
Father Vince Krische
Saint Lawrence
Catholic Campus Center
received treatment and therapy at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., her father said. After seven months at St. Luke's, she went to the Texas Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Houston for four months, where she received specialized physical therapy.
Thompson is living at home now and receiving round-the-clock nursing care. She is in therapy four hours a day.
Even though she can speak a little, Thompson still uses a homemade alphabet board to communicate by picking out letters to spell words to her family. But the fam
Thompson is making progress though, her father said. She is able to say a few words now, which is not enough for her to talk about a year after the accident.
Although she is able to move all parts of her body, the movements are disorganized.
ily is considering buying a specialized computer to replace the board.
Another step she will be making toward rehabilitation is two operations that she will undergo in a month, Thompson's father said.
One surgery will try to correct her double vision and fix one eye that is slightly crossed. She also will have surgery on her jaw, which may enable her to open her mouth all the way and improve her ability to speak.
Byron Thompson said that he did not know if the surgery would enable Amy to eat or drink. Now, Amy is fed through a tube in her stomach, but she can swallow a little.
The surgery will allow the doctors to evaluate whether she will ever be able to eat and drink through her mouth, he said.
But throughout the ordeal, family, friends and Amy remain hopeful.
Father Vince Krische of the Saint Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, 1631 Crescent Road, said that about once a month, members send Amy a card to remind her that they are draving for her.
"She has tremendous spirit," he said. "In the midst of all that has happened to her, she still remains optimistic."
New AIDS course added to schedule
Kansan staff writer
Class will focus on emotional trauma
By Stacy Foster
Korean staff writer
Pat Bloxham was concerned about AIDS; he wanted to learn more. So he enrolled in an AIDS class this semester.
The class taught him about the technical aspects of the disease — how it can be contracted, and how it can be prevented. But Bloxham, Lakewood, Colo., senior, wanted more information on the emotional aspects of the disease.
No such course was available at KU. So Bloxham and Nagla'a ElHodiri, Lawrence senior and a classmate of Bloxham's, decided to help create one.
Bloxham and EI-Hodiri suggested that a class be offered that focused on the emotional trauma of the disease. Their suggestion was approved last week by the department of health, physical education and recreation.
The class will be offered as an independent study course for one hour of credit during the fall semester. It will give students a better understanding of AIDS and how to treat people who have the disease. Although the class is not listed in the Fall 1988 timetable, students can enroll in it by listing HPER 497 on their enrollment cards.
The seminar class will be led by Virginia Allen, executive director of the Good Samaritan Project, which operates in the Kansas City area and offers a wide range of services for people who have AIDS.
Allen, whose father-in-law died of AIDS, volunteered to lead the seminar and has held similar seminars in Kansas City. A $15 fee is required to cover material costs.
El-Hodiri said she became interested in the importance of AIDS education after hearing Allen speak on an AIDS panel earlier this semester.
"I still think that a lot of people on campus don't know enough about the disease," El-Hodiri said. "They don't know enough to think about the emotional trauma. As more people become aware of people with AIDS, they will start becoming more concerned about the emotional aspect."
Wayne Osness, chairman of health, physical education and recreation, said the class was offered as an independent study class to give students an opportunity to do extra course work on AIDS.
"We need a greater amount of AIDS awareness." Osness said. "The more students we get interested, the better off we are."
NEEDED: KU on Wheels Coordinator
- Starts May 1, 1988 through May 31, 1989
- Must be available for 3 hour time blocks each day
- Must be available this summer
- Must be KU student and enrolled in at least 6 hours Fall 88 & Spring 89
- 20 hours per week
- Details and application procedures available at Student Senate Offices 105 Burge Union No calls please
— Application deadline:
April 18, 1988 4:30 p.m.
There will be an open forum concerning student health insurance for the policy year 1988-1989 for your comments and questions.
ATTENTION ALL STUDENT HEALTH INSURANCE POLICY HOLDERS AND OTHER INTERESTED PERSONS
TIME: 8:00-9:30 p.m. DATE: 4-5-88
PLACE: Governor's Room Kansas Union
SPONSORED BY THE STUDENT HEALTH ADVISORY BOARD
PLEASE ATTEND Funded by Student Senate