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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 1978)
igs rebuild efficient’ car By GEORGE ROWE ; Battalion Reporter ( | 0St Texas A&M University stu- its spend their Christmas vaca- [ w jth relatives and wouldn’t ,k of spending any of it in Col lation. ome exceptions are a tew ..anical engineering students 3plan to spend part of their vaca- I working on an energy-efficient [ They are rebuilding a Honda I a car only sold in Japan, to L r a contest sponsored by Stu- f t Competition on Relevant En uring (SCORE). tike Love, a senior mechanical jeering student, is one of six lents working on the car that the as A&M team will enter in the test next August. Love said that )RE was organized in May of He said in previous years jORE held competitions in elec- |car races, a clean-air car race I an urban car race, intended to [elop a car for city use. he present competition is for :rgy efficiency. Love said it ted in September 1977, and as A&M registered for it in rch 1978. j)\’e said the SCORE competi- will be held on the General Motors proving grounds near Michigan. Love said that he and other students who worked on the car will drive it to the competition next summer. The Texas A&M team car is simi- lar Honda Civic, Love said. Mark Dewveall, a sophomore mechanical engineering student who is also involved in the project, said the car was found last summer in a San Antonio wrecking yard Dewveall said the biggest prob lem was finding parts for it because it was a Japanese domestic car that was not exported. He said he doesn’t know how it got to the United States. Unlike the Honda Civic, the 360 has two cylinders in its engine rather than four. "I think we will get it operational over the holidays,” Dewveall said. He said they have to put the engine in the car and get the electrical sys tem working. Love said the Texas A&M team decided to modify an already-built car because, “it wasn’t economically feasible to build one from the ground up, so we decided we would try to make a choice of the best car we could and modify it to achieve efficiency.” Love said they will modify the car to run on methanol instead of THE BATTALION Page 3 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 197S Colorado to host U.S. sports meet United Press International COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The United States Olympic Committee has awarded the 1979 National Sports Festival to the same southern Colorado city which hosted it this year, USOC presi dent Robert Kane said Monday. “We are extremely pleased to be returning to Colorado Springs. Last year s participants were very enthusiastic about the experience they had here and many expressed the hope the festival would come back to this area,” he said. Colorado Springs hosted the inaugural event last year with 2,100 athletes from 26 sports participating. Kane said seven other cities were interested in hosting the festival, but lacked adequate facilities. He said the decision to return to Colorado Springs was made by the USOC Executive Board during a weekend meeting which also ex panded the competition from four days to six days, July 27-Aug. 1. It will permit better use of some of the facilities, reduce the intensity of scheduling in sports such as basketball, hockey and soc cer, and give spectators an opportunity to see more of the sports on the program,” he said. He said the Colorado Springs city council has agreed to support the festival to a maximum of 285,000 in food, housing, ground transporta tion, security and other services. Mike Love works on rebuilding old Honda 350, a car sold only on the Japanese domestic market, for use in an energy-efficient auto contest which Texas A&M University students are planning to enter. gasoline. He said that a car modified to methanol will consume a large volume of fuel when compared to gasoline, hut not more energy. Love explained that methanol produces less energy per volume than gasoline and that “the contest is not a mile-per-gallon contest, but an energy-efficiency contest.” Love said that the one advantage of using methanol is that higher compression can be used. lusbands offer aid in childbirth Your T-Shirt Store • Custom T-Shirts • Aggie T-Shirts • Group Prices NORTH GATE - Across from the Post Office itor's Note: The author of this icle coached his wife through the maze method birth of their first early in this semester. The jy girl weighed seven pounds, (rteen ounces. By MIKE CARL Special to the Battalion !ven though the nursery is Mled and the six labor rooms are upied, the father’s waiting room tas full as it would have been a years ago. with the rise in popularity of ural childbirth methods, more more fathers have quit pacing pital corridors and are now tak- an active role in the birth of Jirchildren. Lamaze, Bradley and ler prepared childbirth methods now allowing expectant parents hare the birth experience. [lie Lamaze method is better |wn in this area and is gaining in mlarity, says Sharon Christ- ler, who has taught prenatal ses since 1974. “The Bradley hod is more popular in Colorado California,” she said. The big difference between the methods is that Lamaze em- 'sizes active participation,” istopher explained, “and the dley method is more passive, ssing relaxation and controlled athing.” ihe says the goal of Lamaze is to vide a positive birth experience both parents. This is achieved by ching couples techniques with ich the mother’s pain can be sig- cantly reduced during labor and ivery. The Lamaze method is based on gate-control theory of pain,” ristopher said. This theory states twhen a certain level of negative luli is reached in the body, pain will be experienced. By adding posi tive stimuli to the nervous system to cancel out the negative, a person’s threshold of pain can effectively be raised. A series of six, two-hour lessons prepares couples for using Lamaze. From the first class, which is usually in the couple’s seventh month of pregnancy, expectant parents begin to learn how to become a labor and delivery team. Physical exercises and concentration-relaxation tech niques are stressed in the first class and throughout the course. The exercises are designed to stretch, strengthen and tone the muscles which will be heavily used in labor and delivery. If the mother is in good physical condition, the labor will be easier for her. The father, or “coach,” does not sit idly by while his partner does all the work. In order to help his wife practice at home, he also must learn how to do the exercises properly. Most coaches soon learn that the exercises are not easy and their at titude toward their own role in Lamaze begins to change. Before labor, the coach guides his mate through a series of exercises every day. He must count the repet itions, offer advice and, probably most important, he must offer the understanding, concern and support his spouse needs to continue them. A coach soon learns the power of a few words of praise and encourage ment. Seven basic exercises are used to get the woman’s body conditioned for childbirth. Each excercise be gins and ends with a deep breath, almost ritualistically. After weeks of practice and repetition, this deep cleansing breath” become an au tomatic signal to the body to begin working. When hard labor begins. this deep breath precedes and fol lows each contraction. The following breath serves as a signal to relax after the contraction is over. Perhaps the hardest exercise to master is called the universal toner. While lying on the back with knees bent, the knees, thighs, perineal and buttocks are tightened and the back is pressed to the floor while the pelvis is rotated up and back. Each muscle group is tightened individu ally in order and then held while succeeding groups are tightened. After three breaths, the muscle groups are relaxed one at a time in reverse order. This exercise is an important aid in learning how to control closely related muscle groups individually--a skill which can make delivery much easier. Concentration is really the key to the Lamaze method. Focal points and breathing techniques require varying degrees of concentration which provide a positive activity to take the mother’s mind off the pain of labor and delivery. A focal point is nothing more than a point of reference upon which the woman fixes her eyes. A picture on the wall or some fixture in the room in easy view is used. No exercise or labor simulation is ever performed without first finding a good focal point. With repetition, concentrat ing on a focal point becomes hab itual. Concentration can become so intense that outside distractions go unnoticed. In the labor and delivery rooms a mother can concentrate on a focal point to take her mind off the contractions. If she does not dwell on the pain, then the pain will not be as intense. There are three basic breathing techniques used when labor pains are severe enough to interrupt speech. These techniques are known as Gears I, II and III. Gear I, or slow chest breathing, is usually the first breathing technique used during labor because the con centration required is the least of the three techniques. This brea thing method uses six to nine slow, controlled breaths per minute. Gear II is a form of shallow chest breathing. The speed of Gear II breathing is based on the intensity of the contraction. As a. contraction increases in strength, the rate accel erates to a maximum of one breath per second. As the intensity of the contraction subsides, the breathing returns to a more normal rate. Gear III is known as the pant- blow technique. It is a combination of four panting breaths and one breath exhaled sharply. It is prac ticed frequently during intense labor. There are also various combi nations of the three breathing tech niques that require a maximum of concentration. The coach’s role during labor and delivery is one of guidance and sup port. He keeps his spouse posted on her progress and helps her keep control of the situation. Through the classes, both have learned what to expect in the labor and delivery rooms and what they should do. The coach is mainly concerned with the comfort of his mate. He reminds her to change positions of ten, helps ease back labor, helps work out cramps and helps her with her breathing techniques. And most important, the father is there to give his support and con cern when his wife needs it most. Is Lamaze changing young couples’ attitudes toward childbirth? Sharon Christopher says, “It used to be that everyone expected the worst.” She added, “Now they ex pect hard work — not pain.” 3!0^^jg | y | TGE | jBRYAN^£ i 778Ol^ | 713jj77^463^ Wood-Burning Stove for Cold Feet kUDIO )fe>p OLE SARGE handcast in Pewter exclusively for the Curiosity Shop. The Aggie Bonfire can now be more than a flickering memory. The Bonfire Mug exclusively for the Curiosity Shop in Wilton Armetale. 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