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
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