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wednesday, march 10, 2004
Professor designs museum model
ByRugal Gor
rgor@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
One man's passion for sports cars and racing jump-started a project that could steer into Le Mans, France.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is a 24-hour sports-car race held in France each June. Dennis Sander, associate professor of architecture and urban design, has been interested in the race since his undergraduate days when he started a sports-club at the University of Pennsylvania.
So it was no surprise when Sander dedicated a class to Le Mans.
Kit Leffler/Kansar
Last fall, Sander conducted a class in which 16 architecture students worked to make models of a museum that would house about 200 cars, an IMAX theater, a library and archives surrounding the Le Mans event.
"There's nothing like this anywhere in the world," Sander said.
The museum was Sander's idea of a monument to the race.
The idea for the Le Mans museum came to Sander two years ago.
He planned on finishing research for the project by Fall 2004, but completed his work in time to teach the class last fall.
Dennis Sander, associate professor of architecture, constructed a model racecar museum last semester with the help of his students. Sander hopes the museum will eventually be built in France.The project is on display in Marvin Hall.
"I really bit the bullet and worked fast," he said.
While students in Sander's class designed and created individual mini-models of the museum for a grade, Sander worked on his own model.
He designed a larger museum model and had students help with its construction.
Sander's model, which weighs more than 1,000 pounds, represents an actual building size of 400,000 square feet.
Sander has prepared drawings, slides and an explanation of the museum project for the presentation.
The model will be presented to the Le Mans race organizers in France, with the possibility of it becoming a reality, Sander said.
Health precautions will keep Sanders from presenting the proposal himself. Instead, Wojciech Lesnikowski, distinguished professor of architecture and urban design, will present the design in Sander's place in France in July.
Sander said he was optimistic about his model's chances of becoming a reality.
Working on a project that could possibly turn into a real museum in France was one of Maggie Richter's favorite parts of the project.
The St. Louis junior, a student in Sander's class, said she had never worked on such a large-scale building project before.
Richter said it took strenuous work and a lot of late nights to bring the creation together.
Jeff Verkamp, St. James, Mo., junior, agreed that work on the project was intensive.
Designing a model on a large scale brought added pressure, he said.
Sander said that intensity was one of the project's goals.
The rigorous work the students put into the project was to help them feel comfortable with
large projects before they graduated and started their careers, he said.
— Edited by Danielle Hillix
By Bill Cross
bcross@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Sensors in nose give reason to shop
The next time you get the urge to reach for your purse or wallet in a store, an airborne trigger may be the cause.
Malkin said that several companies were reluctant to use the product because of potential ethical conflicts.
Enhanced Air Technologies, a Vancouver-based company, markets only one product: Commercaire, a pheromone compound that can be pumped into the ventilation system of any store, bar or casino to make consumers feel more relaxed and, according to the company's Web site, more willing to spend cash.
Nigel Malkin, Enhanced Air Technologies director of development, said the compound had other benefits for retail businesses.
Pheromones are chemicals given off by most animals, including humans, to make potential mates more comfortable in their presence. Pheromones are subconsciously detected by sensors in the nose. For this reason, use of Commercialaire might be considered the same as attracting customers with a pleasant aroma,
"At a subconscious level, the sense of comfort and security instilled by the compound causes consumers to have positive memories of any environment in which they are exposed to it," said Malkin, who also uses Commicaire at home to relax. "They're more likely to return as a result."
said Jeff Morris, adjunct professor of Marketing Ethics at the Edwards campus.
Morris said cosmetic counters commonly used odors to affect the consumer's mood and movie theaters used the smell of fresh popcorn.
"From an ethical standpoint, most of us accept these marketing techniques," he said.
"The thought of using basic human chemistry sends a chill that reaches to our very DNA," he said.
Morris, co-founder of Internet marketing firm MorrisCode, said Commerciale was taking it a step further, tapping into shopper's subconscious.
Brianna Auza, Topeka sophomore, said she felt that chill when she first heard of Commerceaire technology.
"I've heard about it, but I thought it was on a MTV Urban Legends show," she said.
Auza, who considers herself a shopping veteran, said stores didn't need to dictate her shopping habits.
"I think I can decide for myself how much time and money I need to spend at one place," she said.
Wal-Mart, Sears and Home Depot are among companies that have publicly denied using Commerceire in their stores. Malkin said at least three U.S. companies use the product. The Enhanced Air Technologies Web site said companies that use Commerceire can expect revenue boosts of nine to 20 percent.
Bush fights prescription pill abuse
Edited by Meghan Brune
Plan to target 'doctor shoppers' and pills purchased by Internet
By Matt Rodriguez
mdrroguez@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
President Bush is using an anti-drug strategy plan to target prescription-drug abusers for the first time.
Prescription-drug rank second, behind marijuana, in abused drugs among adults and youth, according to a report by the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.
The most dramatic increase in new users of prescription drug abuse occurred in the 12 to 17 and 18 to 25 year-old age groups, according to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.
The President's plan will try to put an end to "pill mills" that sell drugs such as Oxycontin and Percocet illegally over the Internet.
According to a White House official statement, criminals who divert legal drugs into the illegal market are no different from a cocaine or heroin dealer peddling poisons on the street corner.
Web crawler programs will be used to identify, investigate and
"Doctors walk a difficult line because there is no definitive answer for pain. It's more subjective in the mind of the patient and this is what can lead a patient to going from doctor to doctor."
Barbara Woods
Clinical assistant professor for the School of Pharmacy
prosecute any illegal online pharmacy.
Carry Copeland, Wichita sophomore, surfs the Internet on a daily basis.
He has seen the advertisements saying "click here for pills" but said he'd never thought of buying them.
"Buying drugs over the Internet sounds real shady." Copeland said. "I would think it would end
up being a scam."
The plan will target patients who look for several prescriptions from separate doctors.
These people are known as "doctor shopper."
The plan also calls for $10 million to create state-wide Prescription Monitoring System programs that will help states detect the "doctor shoppers."
The systems will help detect individuals who are redeeming the same prescriptions from different doctors.
Twenty-two states currently have these monitoring programs.
Prescription drug abuse has occurred here on campus in the form of doctor shoppers, said Cathy Thrasher, pharmacist at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
"It's present here because our campus is a microcosm of our society as a whole." Thrasher said.
Chris Keary, assistant chief at the KU Public Safety Office, said the office had not seen many problems involving prescription-drug abusers.
other doctors not because of their addictions, but because some doctors can under-treat a patient in pain, said Barbara Woods, clinical assistant professor for the School of Pharmacy at the University of Kansas.
Some patients are going to
"Doctors walk a difficult line because there is no definitive answer for pain." Woods said. "It's more subjective in the mind of the patient and this what can lead a patient to going from doctor to doctor."
The number of emergency room visits resulting from narcotic pain relievers has increased 163 percent nationally since 1995, according to the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.
The 1999 Drug Abuse Warning Network reported emergency room visits relating to the depressant klonopin increased by 102 percent since 1992.
Hydrocodone related visits increased by 37 percent from 1997 to 1999 among all age groups.
—Edited by Kevin Flaherty
The Associated Press
Sniper who killed 10 gets death sentence
MANASSAS, Va. — Sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad was sentenced to death yesterday by a judge who called the Washington-area shootings that left 10 people dead "so vile that they were almost beyond comprehension."
Muhammad denied any involvement in the October 2002 rampage, echoing a claim of innocence he made in his opening statement to the jury when he briefly served as his own attorney.
"Just like I said at the beginning, I had nothing to do with this, and I'll say again, I had nothing to do with this." Muhammad said yesterday.
He told the judge he plans to appeal, and urged, "Don't make a fool of the Constitution of the United States of America."
A jury recommended a death sentence for Muhammad last year, but Circuit Court Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. had the option to reduce it to life in prison without parole. Millette said the evidence of Muhammad's guilt was "overwhelming."
Muhammad appeared in an orange jail jumpsuit with a slightly graying, unkempt beard, in sharp contrast to his cleanshaven, well-dressed appearance at trial. His teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, is to be sentenced today to life in prison.
About 50 family members of sniper victims were in the courtroom. One silently shook his fist as Millette announced the sentence.
"justice has been served today," said Sonia Wills, mother of sniper victim Conrad Johnson, who would have been 37 this Sunday. "I can go to my son's grave and wish him a happy birthday."
The sister of Hong Im Ballenger, allegedly killed by Muhammad and Malvo in Baton Rouge, La., in the weeks before the D.C. attacks, said Muhammad deserved to die.
"He killed so many innocent people," said a tearful Kwang Im Szuszka. "My nephew is 12 years old and he needs his mommy. ... It breaks my heart."
Millette ordered that Muhammad be executed on Oct. 14, but that date likely will be postponed to allow appeals.
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