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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1999)
CAN AMERICA SURVIVE SUBURBIA???? A revealing and entertaining lecture by James Kunstler Author of Home from Nowhere Tired of being stuck in traffic? Frustrated that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with strip malls? Come hear James Kunstler, a national advocate for livable and sustainable communities, change the way you look at our civilization. Through what has been hailed as the first important social policy idea of the 21 st century, Kunstler details the unacceptable social, economic, and environmental costs of our sprawled development style. You will never look at a parking lot the same way again. Tuesday, November 9 7 PM Rudder Theater th Presented by MSC CIA - Current Issues Awareness Free Admission - One Night Only! Persons with disabilities needing New Urbanism & assistance may call 845-1637 Smart Growth UNLEASHED TOUR featuring LUCKY DOG ARTISTS Wednesday, November 10, 1999 313 S. COLLEGE 846-3343 $ 8 advance tickets available at Cavenders Boot City (696.8800), Disc Go Round (846.6620) and Hurricane Harry’s (846.3343) $ 10 at the door DOORS OPEN AT 8 P.M. • SHOW STARTS AT 9 P.H. $ 1 Longnecks $ i Bar Drinks till 10 p.m. Page 8 • Monday, November 8, 1999 s CIENCE - Student to study hospital-room e Battalion BY YOLANDA LUKASZEWSKI Special to The Battalion The only natural light in Adrian Scott De Leon’s intensive-care unit came from a window 8 inches wide and 4 feet long. The window was be hind him, but even if he could have looked out of it, the view was only of another building. He spent 52 days in the room. “The environment can dictate the healing process, how quickly [peo ple] heal,” David De Leon, Scott’s brother, said. David, a second-year architecture graduate student, is the recipient of the!999 American Institute of Archi tects and the American Hospital As sociation Graduate Fellowship in Health Facility Planning and Design. The STERIS Corporation also con tributes to this fellowship. The unfriendly design of Scott’s room inspired David to make a dif ference as an architect. He will spend the next year visiting pediatric-can cer facilities around the country to study their architectural designs. “The findings from this study will provide insight into the needs of medical staff, patients and families related to the hospital design,” David said benefiting the design of future facilities. David is dedicating his project to Scott, who died of can cer in 1998 at 21. In the past, David said, many children, who received cancer treat ment stayed in sterile rooms with ce ramic-block walls and fluorescent lights. Some facilities have already improved their designs, he said, partly because they realize patients can seek treatment at better-de signed facilities. “The biggest change is that now it’s more of an ‘at-home’ feeling,” he said. “It’s not their home, but it can be comfortable like their home is. ” Facilities have made several changes, David said. They have added rooms where children can play games with one another or use com puters. Clouds sometimes are paint ed on walls and ceilings, and colors and shapes are used creatively. Coun tertops and chairs are at child height. Rooms have windowstoi sunlight to enter. Medicala] is pushed behind a panel and hoses do not scare tliei cilities also accommodate]: lowing them to sleep in room as their children. “Research has showntl; ing this the child respond medication better,” Davids child is less scared and and the parents are mores well, he said. In November 2000,1 sent his findings at the Am stitute of Architects/Acadeir chitecture for Health Conti Vancouver, Canada, to an of health-care industry arck “1 think an architect things for his own orher isfaction,” David said, body likes to go by and that building — I design! building.’ I would like tea would be nicer to say,‘Nl did I design a building, :| hopefully helping hundl people feel better.'” “We did offense, inept. ... dis< “We’v ogether c it’s off to I Dat (Ngi Iguys. The} in that asp on the team’s Researcher explores ways to date paintim BY SCOTT JENKINS Special to The Battalion “I’m frustra seems tl the me Rock paintings provide a glimpse into the psyches and souls of ancient humans. They are an enduring part of the prehistoric culture and can yield a wealth of insight for the archeologists who study them. One important question about rock art that archeolo gists want to answer is when was it painted — a de ceivingly simple question, but one that has been impos sible to answer reliably in the past. Texas A&M University chemistry professor Marvin Rowe is out to change that. By applying specialized techniques and instrumenta tion to a previously known dating method, Rowe has been able to find a direct and absolute way of dating sam ples of rock paintings called radiocarbon dating. It uti lizes a rare but naturally occurring form of carbon whose nucleus undergoes radioactive decay called carbon-14, which created in the upper atmosphere, oxidized into carbon dioxide, and incorporated by plants as they respire. As the plants are consumed, the carbon-14 is distrib uted to other organisms. As a result every living creature contains some radioactive carbon, roughly the same amount in each organism. In determining the age of ancient bone, for example, scientists compare the amount of carbon-14 in a living bone. By knowing the rate at which carbon-14 decreas es (by radioactive decay) at a known rate after the or ganism dies, a reliable estimate for the age of the ancient bone can be obtained. The older the bone, the more car- on his recui “We were and rea< came o omentur mate bon-14 will have decayed which can be used:! mine its age. If there is an organic material in the paint.itl ble to use the known decay rate of carbon-14 to J the age of the paint. But obstacles must beoveri use this dating method with rock paintings. The carbon from this once-living materialin:f can be used for dating. This carbon cannot be dating, so, the first hurdle is separating theoi terial in the paint from the carbon in the rock. Rowe and his colleagues use a highly reactive ergetic state of oxygen gas to react with the the paint to in carbon dioxide. This typeofoxye low-temperature plasma, will oxidize the carte ganic origin, while leaving the carbon fromtli alone. The carbon dioxide formed after oxygen treatment is collected and used for the dating. The second problem Rowe’s research faced sizes of the samples his group works with-t milligrams — too small for conventional cafta-f ing. which relies on counting the numberoidecfl;., occur in a given time would require weeks forr because the rate of decay is relatively slow. The solution to this problem comes fromani ment called an accelerator mass spectrometer|, Team This instrument allows researchers to count the in i. Florida St. of carbon 14 atoms in a sample directly instead oi 2. Virginia Teel ing around to count decays. By directlydetectingt/ii Florida bon-14 panicles, thousands of earboji-,y,iK*v^A i 4. Tennessee on the tean The E Top tected in a only a few minutes usin^de'M Est. 1974 - Keeping you in touch for 25 years! tsrwiretatt.COf TSR Wireless l 5. Kansas St. 6. 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