KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2011 / NEWS
3A
RESEARCH
Cellphones can benefit long drives
BY LAURA THOMAS lthomas@kansan.com
Ashleigh Lee/KANSAN
Katie Kudlacz said she survives the eight-hour drive home to Chicago only one way: her cell phone.
"When it comes down to the final stretch and I have one to two hours to go, the only thing that keeps me from falling asleep is talking to someone on the phone," Kudlacz, a junior. said. "I don't know how many times I've called my mom while driving late at night saying, 'Just talk to me so I don't fall asleep at the wheel.'"
Talking on the phone while driving may actually be beneficial in some cases. A study by Paul Atchley, associate professor of psychology, found that people focused better at the end of a long drive when they started talking on the phone.
So when Paul Atchley, associate professor of psychology, had a similar thought while driving to Wichita one evening, he decided to do a study.
The results of this study showed that there may be benefits to performing secondary tasks while driving, for instance talking on the phone, toward the end of a long drive.
The study consisted of three different groups of drivers. Forty-five
drivers participated in the study. The first group carried out no conversation while driving, the second had continuous phone conversation, and the third group had conversation only in the last phase of driving.
Each of the drivers drove in the same simulated environment, where the research measured their performances using a variety of measures, including the ability to stay inside the lanes and their memory of the billboards.
The researchers observed that the weaving increased as the drive wore on and the drivers' performance became poorer as they began to space out.
Mark Chan, a graduate student in cognitive psychology, coauthored the research, which appears in the latest issue of Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
"Drivers in the third group exhibited a marked improvement in driving performance when the conversation was introduced at the end," Chan said. "Somehow the conversation broke the monotony, leading to
improved driving performance."
However, the results of the study do not lead Atchely or Chan to recommend talking on the phone while driving. According to a National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey, approximately 427,000 performance-related car accidents occur annually due to inadequate surveillance, and an additional 73,000 due to inattention.
"If you are driving on a boring
road, if you can't pull over, you should try to find something that keeps you interested and your mind engaged," Atchley said.
Chan says that under circumstances where stopping is simply not possible, the strategic application of a cellphone conversation may suffice.
-Edited by Becca Harsch
Kylie Millward, a sophomore from Navarre, FL, draws for a life drawing class thursday morning. Students at the University are fighting to keep the recently axed Kansas Arts Commission alive.
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Optimism remains despite potential cuts
STATE
BY LAURA SATHER
lather@kansan.com
Two weeks after Governor Sam Brownback signed an order to cut the Kansas Arts Commission, people are beginning to wonder what will happen to arts education programs.
Kansas Arts Commission chairman Henry Schwaller said if the order is not overturned within the 60-day period, many art education programs around the state would disappear. The commission funded 246 artists, schools and programs around the state last year.
Students in art education at the university said that the order frustrates them, but they're staying optimistic. Rachel Downs, a graduate
The Kansas Arts Commission gave out $192,462 in grants last year to arts businesses in Douglas County. $44,800 of that went to art education programs.
student in visual arts education, said even if she doesn't teach art, shed find a way to incorporate it into her job.
Alyssa Passmore, a senior in visual arts education, said when arts funding gets cut, the visual arts are usually the first to go rather than theatre and music education programs. She also said she and other visual arts students have made their jobs to get active to keep the commission alive.
"Even though there are cuts to art education programs, there will still be art education in the schools in some way," Downs said. "If I have to be an English teacher and incorporate the arts into my English classes, I'll do that."
"It's really our part to stand up and say that visual arts can teach
Downs also said that if the order passes, Kansas would be the only state in the country without an arts commission.
you so many things that are applicable later on," Passmore said. "We're not giving up the fight."
Passmore and her fellow visual art students may get their wish. Schwaller said people have sent more than 3,000 e-mails to their representatives, hoping to overturn
the order. Twenty-one representatives will need to sign on to reject it. Schwaller said another bill to replace Brownback's order is in the works, and he said he's optimistic about the commission's survival.
-Edited by Becca Harsch
ENVIRONMENT
Manhattan takes lead in conservation competition
BY IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com
Manhattan has jumped into an early lead over Lawrence in the Take Charge! Challenge, which puts the two communities in a head-to-head competition to see which can take the most steps to conserve energy.
A community project grant of $100,000 and a basketball signed by Gov. Sam Brownback are the prizes that hang in the balance. The winner will be able to use the grant money for a community project in renewable energy or energy efficiency. The contest between Lawrence and Manhattan is part of a larger competition among 16 Kansas communities, which compete in three categories.
COMMUNITIES COMPETE IN THREE CATEGORIES:
Some of the competition's categories offer limited opportunities for participation to students living in dormitories or other student housing. Jeff Severin, director of the KU Center for Sustainability, said he was working with other campus organizers to get more students
Margaret Tran, Lawrence coordinator of the competition, said in a press release that Manhattan's 1,417 light bulb changes trumped Lawrence's, 2,123 as of Feb. 14, because the competition is judged on a per capita basis. Lawrence's population is greater than Manhattans by 39,000 people.
1. Participation in Efficiency Kansas, a state program that performs home energy audits.
Tran said Lawrence residents would have to change about 1.6 light bulbs for every one light bulb changed in Manhattan in order to win.
2. Participation in Westar Energy's Efficiency Works programs, which can include the installation of programmable thermostats and heat pumps.
3. Replacement of incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lightbulbs or other energy efficient bulbs.
For More Information about the Take Charge! Challenge, see the
involved in the competition.
2009 provided the funds for the competition through the Kansas Energy Office.
Edited by Amanda Sorell
The competition officially began Saturday, Jan. 29, and runs through September. The federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
has worked with the project and is working as the site coordinator this year. Schaefer says that even though there are a few other free services like Turbo Tax, Schaefer said he found that "it is more satisfying to work with a person rather than filling in boxes online"
The program lasts through April 18 and is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Edited by Dave Boyd
TAXES (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
VOLUNTEER INCOME TAX ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Spring 2011 Schedule
Spring 2011 Schedule
Monday: 6-8:45 p.m., Green Hall, Computer Lab, Third Floor Library, 1535 W. 15th St.
Tuesday: 1:3:30 p.m., Penn House, 1035 Pennsylvania St.
See more dates at kansan.com
Wednesday: 3-5:45 p.m., Green Hall, Computer Lab, Third Floor Library, 1535 W. 15th St.
For more information contact:
Toni Dixon
tonidixon@ku.edu
DEBATE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
confident we will qualify that third team."
If the University is able to qualify for that third spot, it will be the second year in a row that it received this honor. Only six schools in the country are allowed to bring a third team. Whether it can send the third team will be decided in three weeks.
After the nine qualifying tournaments are completed, the teams that did not qualify get another chance at district tournaments. A
panel then picks the top 16 teams of the district tournaments and invites them to participate in the national tournament.
The University has qualified teams for the National Debate Tournament for the past 43 years. Overall, it has qualified for 58 of the 63 tournaments and ranked third in the regular season by a group of selected coaches.
Edited by Caroline Bledowski
family FRIENDSLY LIED CENTER OF KANSAS ORDER TODAY lied.ku.edu 785-864-2787
11:30am-1:30pm DAILY with your KU ID
$4 EVERYDAY PIZZA & SALAD BUFFET
SPECIAL two jumbo slices and a drink for just $4.50! from 1:30pm-Close
OPEN
Sun - Thurs
11am-10pm
Full Menu Listed at www.theoread.com
Enter through hotel on Oread Ave or from Indiana St.
1200 Oread Avenue • 785.830.3910
Fri-Sat
11am-3am
OREAD
THE LANGSTON HUGHES VISITING PROFESSORSHIP COMMITTEE
&
the OFFICE OF THE PROVOST invite you to
"AT THE MARGINS OF BLACK FREEDOM STUDIES: WORKING-CLASS REPRESENTATION AND THE BLUES IDIOM"
A lecture presented by
CLARENCE LANG SPRING 2011 LANGSTON HUGHES VISITING PROFESSOR, AFRICAN & AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES
Thursday, February 24, 2011
3:30 p.m. in Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union
A reception in the Malott Room will immediately follow.