Friday, July 22, 1988/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
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Students to test
new flu vaccine
as part of study
By Theresa Emmert
Reporter
This Tall about 1,000 Texas
A&M students will get it through
the nose as part oT a four-year im
munization study on a new nose
drop form of influenza vaccine.
The students will be observed
to determine the length of the im
munization period and the effec
tiveness of the nose drop vac
cines, A&M virologist Dr. John
Quarles said.
For the past 1 1 years, A&M
students have been invited to par
ticipate in Field studies to deter
mine the effectiveness and safety
of drugs for curing and prevent
ing influenza.
Quarles, who conducts the
studies, said the influenza virus is
still a public health problem.
Flu outbreaks, he said, are
usually caused by a different
strain of influenza virus.
People are not immune to the
different strain, therefore they
get sick again the following year.
The students will be vaccinated
in the fall and a follow up will be
done in the winter to determine
the percentage of those who get
sick.
The number of sick students
who were vaccinated will be com
pared to students in a control
group who have not been vacci
nated.
The values obtained from the
nose drop vaccines will be com
pared to studies done on the
more commonly used vaccine
that contains a form of killed vi-
When a person goes to the doc
tor to get a preventive flu shot,
the vaccine is usually some form
of a killed virus, he said.
The nose drop vaccines, which
are approved by the National In
stitute of Health, are an atten
uated, or weakened strain, of the
virus.
The vaccines with killed or in
active viruses immunize for a spe
cific virus.
The attenuated strain of vac
cine works better, Quarles said,
because it gives a broader range
of immunization.
It stimulates the overall body
defense mechanism instead of
working on one kind of virus or
response like the killed virus.
The attenuated virus vaccine
has been use for immunization of
diseases such as polio, rubbela
and mumps, and it generally is
administered orally.
The nose drop form of the vac
cine, Quarles said, is good for
older people and children be
cause it is easier to administer and
decreases the chance of injury.
“We figured nose drops would
be more accepted,” Quarles said,
“but I was surprised to see people
don’t mind shots.”
Blood samples and swabs are
taken from participants to isolate
and identify the strain of virus in
fecting them.
The strains will be recorded,
observed and cultured in a labo
ratory to determine their behav
ior, which will help increase the
researchers’ understanding of vi
ruses.
Texas A&M sponsors competition
to redesign freeway into ‘art form’
By Jackie Feldman
Reporter
Motorists on future Texas free
ways may be in store for an artistic
experience instead of the conventio
nal concrete and steel.
A national competition, spon
sored by Texas A&M, to redesign
the intersection of Loop 610 and In
terstate 45 in Houston, wants contes
tants to veiw the freeway as an art
form, not as a strip of concrete.
“The Freeway as Urban Art” con
test is based on the idea that free
ways are such large structures that
they should be used to make an artis
tic statement.
Dr. Harlow Landphair, director
of the contest and an A&M land
scape architect, said no space is seen
by more people in a single day than
the freeway and architects should
enhance the area and the landscape.
“Since we have to have freeways in
order to get around,” said Karen
Richardson, a research assistant to
the competition, “we need to see if
there is a better way to make travel
ing them (the freeways) a more
meaningful experience.”
In addition to planting trees and
flowers on the roadside, freeways
can be transformed into art forms by
painting the levels different colors
or painting scenes on the lanes or
shoulders, she said.
The contest
Sept. 1.
officially will begin
Landphair and his associates will
send competition information to de
sign firms and architecture and en
gineering journals.
A team of three, including some
type of artist, is necessary to enter.
Students may enter the contest if
Texas delegate unprepared
for convention confusion
ATLANTA (AP) — Rookie delegate John Welton of
Texas said Thursday his 30 years in the military did not
prepare him for what he has found at his first Demo
cratic National Convention.
“I have found apparent confusion,” the 66-year-old
retiree said as he dutifully showed up for a morning
meeting of Michael Dukakis delegates.
But Welton, who lives in Arlington, said he knows
enough to realize things are not always what they seem.
“A lot of it is undercover,” he said of the place where
the real decisions are made. “But you can find out
whaf s going on.”
Welton retired from the Air Force in 1966 and then
worked in private industry until 1974. His grandfather
and father had been delegates to Democratic National
Conventions, so he thought he would give it a shot.
Welton made it through his precinct and county con
vention and wound up in Atlanta.
“It’s interesting. It’s not really anything like I ex
pected,” he said.
Welton is fascinated by the convention-floor phe
nomenon in which lots of people go to the microphone
to speak, but few people listen.
“Why are those people up there standing there? Peo
ple never listen to anything. We’re too busy circulating
around and talking to you people,” he told a reporter.
Welton took several political science courses in col
lege many years ago, and said they did nothing to pre
pare him for the world of a big-time convention dele
gate. He said he feels more like a spectator than a
participant, but viewed the convention as a “learning
experience.”
“It’s pretty much cut and dried,” he said, noting
there were no close, crucial votes on the floor this week.
For all the apparent confusion, Welton said he en
joyed the convention. He said he might have come here
with unrealistically high expectations for more organi
zation.
“I spent 30 years in the military. I don’t know why in
the world I shouldn’t expect some order,” he said.
A&M recognized for reducing operating costs
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By Victoria Larroca
Reporter
For the sixth time in eight years,
Texas A&M has been recognized for
its innovative approach to reducing
campus operating costs by the Na
tional Association of College and
University Business Officers (NA-
CUBO).
In its annual competition held
jointly with the U.S. Steel Founda
tion earlier this month in St. Louis,
NACUBO recognized and rewarded
those colleges and universities that
reduced their operating costs.
Texas A&M received a $2,500 re
ward for its negotiation of cam
puswide computer hardware and
software maintenance contracts,
which reduced the University’s oper
ating costs by 38 percent.
These contracts, developed by Lo
retta Rouse, a senior buyer in the
Purchasing Department, resulted in
reductions of about $725,000 in
1987.
“The award we received was not
specifically for the dollar amount of
money we saved, but for our use of
the computer contracts,” Rouse said.
“The dollar amount is secondary to
the fact that we have really tied our
computer community together. We
(the University departments) are all
working as one to reduce the costs
for the University.”
The contracts include features
such as no charge for exploration of
problems resulting in third-party
equipment failure, terms and condi
tions that allow for new technology
to be covered under the contract and
a comprehensive end-user contract
monitoring system.
“One of the outstanding aspects
of our computer contracts is that
they are systems contracts and they
apply to any of our branches, not
just the
said.
University itself,” Rouse
Innovations cited in previous NA-
CUBO/USSF competitions were the
University’s utilization of interna
tional remailers, use of modular dor
mitory construction, the devel
opment and implementation of a
radio-controlled sprinkler system,
utilization of movable room dividers
in student apartments and a waste
disposal project involving an incine
rator at the College of Veterinary
Medicine.
“Texas A&M is always pleased to
be recognized in this national com
petition, Texas A&M’s Vice Presi
dent for Finance and Operations
Robert $mith said.
“Through the years the Univer
sity has had conscientious, innova
tive people in nearly every depart
ment looking for ways to improve
services and increase efficiency,
which is our mandate from the peo
ple of Texas.”
“This year’s major award from
NACUBO is an indication that we
are succeeding at that goal.”
Natural gas exporters look to U.S. for production outlet
HOUSTON (AP) — The liquefied natural
gas business is enjoying a revival thanks to
growing interest from natural gas exporters
looking for an outlet for their production.
Algeria was the first. Sonatrach, the Alge
rian national oil company, acquired an 11.7
percent stake in Panhandle Eastern Corp. of
Houston in 1986 and agreed to supply large
volumes of liquefied natural gas to the com-
, pany for up to 20 years as part of the set-
/no tlement of an earlir LNG supply dispute.
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Now, Nigeria and Norway are talking with
owners of other LNG facilities about supply
ing the product, purchasing an interest in the
operations or both. Algeria also is looking for
additional markets and investments.
“It is a trend that is gaining momentum,”
said Robert D. Hunsucker, chairman of Pan
handle Eastern. “This is another example of
downstream integration by producing na
tions.”
Recently, Columbia Gas Systems Inc. said it
was negotiating with Shell Oil Co. for the sale
of a half interest in Columbia’s mothballed
LNG terminal at Cove Point, Md. Nigeria is
expected to provide a portion of the LNG
supply for Shell’s share of the venture.
Statoil North America Inc., the U.S. trad
ing arm of the Norwegian national oil com
pany, has been talking with the owners of all
four U.S. LNG terminals, said Kjell Staut-
land, Statoil’s manager of natural gas. Nor
way expects to have substantial LNG export
capability by the mid-1990s, when Statoil sees
the United States as needing additional gas
supplies.
“The two terminals we are most interested
in are at Cove Point and at Elba Island,
Georgia,” he said. “We also are talking to local
distribution companies about supplying part
of their needs.”
The Elba Island terminal is owned by a
subsidiary of Sonat Inc., headquartered in
Birmingham, Ala'. Thomas W. Barker Jr.,
vice president for finance, said the company
has met recently with Norwegian, Algerian
and Nigerian representatives about restarting
its plant.
“The discussions are very preliminary at
this point,” Barker said, “but we are inter
ested in doing a deal on Elba on the right
terms.”
In the mid-1970s, when supplies of natural
gas in the United States were thought to be in
short supply, imported LNG was viewed as a
solution to the problem. Ample LNG supplies
could be obtained from major oil exporting
countries that were flaring natural gas pro
duced in oil wells or from undeveloped natu
ral gas reservoirs.
American natural gas companies spent sev
eral billion dollars constructing tankers and
import terminals capable of handling 2.5 bil
lion cubic feet of LNG a day. Almost all of the
LNG was to come from Algeria, which also
had invested several billion dollars in pipe
lines, liquefication plants and related facili
ties.
Barely five years later, the situation had re
versed. Domestic natural gas supplies were
more than adequate to meet demand; in fact,
a surplus was building that expanded into the
“gas bubble.”
Foreign natural gas producers see an op
portunity to get back into the American LNG
market in a major way by the mid-1990s. By
that time, the inventory of undeveloped natu
ral gas discoveries will be exhausted.
they are supervised by design or vi
sual arts professionals.
The teams need to send a letter
stating that they want to register. A
$45 fee must be paid to receive the
base materials packet, which in
cludes aerial photographs of the
freeway area and a copy of the high
way design guidelines.
Entries must be received by Jan
uary 1989. The winning team’s de
sign will be used in redesigning the
highway. Companies will bid on the
design contract in November 1989,
and changes on the Houston inter
change will begin in 1990.
Dallas’ leading
Hispanic officer
relieved of duty
DALLAS (AP) — Saying he had
“no choice” in the matter, the city
manager has fired Dallas’ highest-
ranking Hispanic employee in the
wake of an embezzlement ruling
against him.
A federal bankruptcy judge re
cently ruled that Assistant City Man
ager Samuel Moreno embezzled
funds from his former company be
fore filing for bankruptcy five years
ago.
Dallas City Manager Richard
Knight told City Council members
Wednesday he had to fire Moreno,
even though the move is criticized by
some of the city’s Hispanic leaders.
“As employees of the city, we hold
K ositions of trust, and the citizens
ave a right to expect the highest
standards of conduct from us,”
Knight wrote in a letter to council
members.
“When this standard of conduct
comes under a cloud, it casts a
shadow upon the organization and
inhibits our ability to do our job. I
feel that such a shadow exists.”
Knight said the dismissal came af
ter U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Harold
Abrahamson ordered Moreno to re
pay $131,164 obtained through
“embezzlement” and “fraud” from
his former oil-field supply company.
Abrahamson also ruled that
Moreno, who at one point had about
$2.5 million in personal and cor
porate debts, improperly changed
corporate records and took out ille
gal loans.
The 60-year-old Moreno, who was
hired as one of four assistant city
managers in April 1986, declined to
comment on his firing, but said he
understood Knight’s position.
“I’m not going to second-guess his
decision,” Moreno said. “He’s sits in
the hot seat.”
He will not appeal his dismissal as
allowed under civil service rules be
cause, “We (assistant city managers)
serve at the pleasure of the city man
ager,” Moreno said.
Moreno’s company, Petroleum
Energy Equipment Co., filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 1983,
citing $2 million in debts tied to the
downturn in the oil economy.
On May 25, Judge Abrahamson
ruled that about two weeks before
Petroleum Energy filed for bank
ruptcy, Moreno unlawfully altered
company records to show that he
owed the company only $46,775 in
stead of $186,779.
Moreno violated the Texas Busi
ness Corporation Act, which bars
corporate officials from taking loans
from their corporations, the judge
said.
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