KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2010 / NEWS / 3
LAPTOPS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
some people tend to let gravity take over and not pay attention to their posture.
Nikhil Menon, a senior from Topeka, studies at the library about four days a week. He admits to hunching over his laptop and not paying attention to his posture. He said he sometimes gets back pain and thinks his posture could be a factor.
"Laptops force students to work in a very confined space," Bowman said.
Bowman said laptops accentuate problems with poor posture.
laptop screens,
Bowman said.
This can cause
weaknesses in the
neck and
upper back.
They force people to project their heads forward to focus on
Keyboards on laptops don't help either.
Conventional keyboards for desktop computers are angled for better ergonomics. But laptop keyboards force people to type in one of two ways, Bowman said.
"Laptops force students to work in a very confined space."
for problems, Bowman said, but there has been a transition in the past eight years.
"Whereas things were one-sided before when people were using one hand to take notes, things are more bilateral now."
Not only are students tied to
About the same number of students are being treated by Watkins
Alicen Fleming, a sophomore from Wichita, said she has noticed her wrists hurting after using her laptop for a long period of time. She said she finds herself rolling her wrists, readjusting her shoulders and back and sometimes popping her neck.
Some people type with their wrists resting on the edge of the keyboard. Others type with their wrists above the keyboard and bow their hands. Both of these methods cause swelling and compression of the nerves and tendons of the wrist and lower forearm. Repetitive compression can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome.
It's not likely in this age that these problems will go away.
SANDRA BOWMAN Physical therapy supervisor
their laptops, but also gaming and cell phones.
"It's all repetitive hand movement that we're doing." Bowman said. "Typing, gaming and texting."
Most college students have stopped growing, but poor posture now can lead to problems later in life. Students who are hunched over laptops could potentially assume that position.
"What we'll see more and more are people with their heads forward and their upper backs rounded out," Bowman sa.d.
Both Bowman and Carneiro recommend students use accessories for their laptops like external keyboards and mice when possible.
Edited by Alex Tretbar
International studies honored
EDUCATION GRANTS
BY STEPHEN GRAY
sgray@kansan.com
Five international studies centers at the University of Kansas were awarded grants totaling $8.9 million for their excellence over the last four years.
One of the grants is through a National Resource Center under the U.S. Department of Education, which provides grants to preeminent international area centers around the country that will be national resources for teaching modern foreign languages. The federal funds will be allocated to the Center for Latin American Studies; the Center for East Asian Studies; the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies; and the Kansas African Studies Center.
In addition to the National Resource Center support, the U.S. Department of Education awarded foreign language and area studies grants to the Centers for Latin American Studies; East Asian Studies; Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies; Global and International Studies; and Kansas African Studies. These funds will
go directly to students through fellowships. This money will help students in their advanced language and culture studies, so as to increase the number of foreign language experts across the country.
The designation of a National Resource Center isn't easy to achieve. The application process is complex and involves the input of many staff members and librarians. Once a grant application reaches the evaluation stage, it competes against other applicants in the same category for funding.
"The grant money allows us to further support the education of regional K-12 teachers so that more students come to KU with an awareness of East Asia that might encourage them to enroll in East Asian content courses or take a language," Greene said.
One of the main qualifications for receiving this federal grant
"This was truly a banner year for CREES and the University."
Greene said the evaluators look at the extent of institutional support for the program, the quality of language instruction, strength of the library and overall curriculum design.
J. Megan Greene, director of the Center for East Asian Studies, said part of the grant money from the national resource center would be used to strengthen the center's foreign language instruction and attract more students to the subject.
"For those students who are far along enough and learning one of the selected critical languages, it will be of great help," said Megan Adams, a junior from Overland Park and president of the Center for Global and International Studies Student Group.
Each available foreign language and area studies fellowship pays for a student's entire tuition and includes a stipend. Students that apply will be evaluated on the basis of the quality of the proposal, the academic qualifications of the student and the languages to be studied. The application deadline for these fellowships will be early in the spring semester, with the exact dates depending on each center's guidelines.
EDITH CLOWES Director for CREES
is that a center must have demonstrated strong growth and activity over the preceding four year grant cycle, said Edith Clowes, director of the Center
for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.
"You have to show you are enriching intellectual life here at the University and supporting outreach programming in the community," said Clowes. "Our center, in particular, experienced a 28 percent growth in library funds and continued to be a leading national instructor of foreign area army officers."
The committee that considers the grants looks at a long list of criteria and makes a decision based on merit. Higher scores and rankings lead to a larger dividend for each center.
"This was truly a banner year for CREES and the University," Clowes said.
— Edited by Lisa Curran
Happy camper
Patrick Regan, a junior from Wichita, cooks his breakfast Thursday morning after camping in a tent outside Stauffer-Flint Hall. Reagan is trying to start a camping club called the "Hanov Camers."
MIDDLE EAST
Hamas is key to peace talk's success
ASSOCIATED PRESS
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — To relaunch Middle East peace talks on Thursday, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and their American mediators quietly agreed to push aside the question of Hamas — the Islamic militant group that controls one of the two Palestinian territories and rejects negotiations.
"The attacks were meant to tell
But Hamas let it be known with its bullets that it would not be left out of the equation — the militants killed four Israelis and wounded two others in a pair of attacks on the eve of the new talks.
The bloodshed was a reminder that Hamas is now on the list of intractable issues that have stymed decades of Mideast negotiations. There can be no peace without Hamas, but there is no solution so far for bringing the Iranian-backed group into the process.
(Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas he is not the one who decides the fate of the Palestinians," declared Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, adding that the group deserves a place in national decision-making because
The more moderate Abbas met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday for the first peace talks in two years, hosted by President Barack Obama.
Abbas and Netanyahu are far apart on issues that have elud-
it won parliamentary elections in 2006.
"Hamas will never agree to be ignored and isolated, and it can reshuffle the cards," he said.
"Any result and outcome of these talks does not commit us and does not commit our people."
Hamas is firmly in control of the Gaza Strip, one of the two territories that are supposed to be part of a future Palestinian state. It wields virtual veto power over any agreement and has given no indication it would be willing to accept a deal with Israel reached by Abbas, who runs a rival government in the West Bank.
SAMI ABU SUHRI Hamas spokesman
ed a solution for decades, including the borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and the most explosive issue, the competing claims
to the holy city of Jerusalem
But if they can somehow work out these differences, Hamas would be needed to implement any deal. The Palestinians seek the West Bank and Gaza — located on opposite sides of Israel — for their future state, with east Jerusalem as its capital.
For now, the Palestinians appear to be unified on one issue: There can be no peace that leaves the 1.5 million people of Gaza out.
Abbas has rejected any suggestion of a partial solution granting independence only to the West Bank and its 2.4 million Palestinians. This would be perceived by the Palestinian public as a massive sellout and sign of weakness. Hamas would paint Abbas as a traitor.
"Any result and outcome or these talks does not commit us and does not commit our people. It only commits Abbas himself," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.
Abbas has repeatedly said he will present any peace deal to a national referendum, a vote that would include the people of Gaza. A vote in favor of peace would put heavy pressure on Hamas to accept the will of the Palestinian people.
RUSSELLVILLE, Ala.
Thief identified by forgotten phone
RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. — Police investigate a home burglary in Russellville found a surprising clue — a cell phone that got left behind. Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said the phone was left near where a computer was taken in the weekend burglary. Investigators began
The prosecutor said police also got surveillance video from the Wal-Mart in Russellville that shows the suspect cashing in coins believed to have been taken during the burglary.
calling some of the phone numbers and determined the phone belonged to a 19-year-old who was on probation for a previous burglary.
- Associated Press
Jecture Thursday. She said it was easier to engage with the anthology because the voices of women were included.
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Lanning said the students in her class read a dramatic story about a woman who faced physical hardship.
"It was really interesting because it was about a female — usually, with that kind of story, you hear about a man," she said.
The extra voices of minorities
and women add context to the usual history learned in class. More voices offer perspective on the same events.
"It allows texts to have a dialogue and contrast with one another," said Philip Barnard, an associate professor who teaches American literature. "You can trace cultural transformation in a different way. You can tell historical stories better with it."
— Edited by Lisa Curran