Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Noland)

The leftover grease used at University dining halls could be more useful than you think.

Researchers at the University of Kansas hope to discover a way to implement the waste product to produce biodiesel, a fuel that is safe for the environment but expensive to purchase.

As of now, the University throws away 7,000 gallons of waste oils from the dining services per year. According to Ilya Tabakh, graduate research assistant and member of the Student Senate, the amount of waste product would be enough to produce fuel for all the campus buses, lawnmowers and other campus vehicles.

Traditionally, biodiesel is made from new or used soybean oils or animal fats. Once the fat is filtered, it is heated and mixed with an acid and base. Once let to sit, it is combined with petroleum so that it can be used as fuel.

Because refined oil or new/filtered oil is expensive, the cost of biodiesel is too costly for University use. Instead, KU uses a cheaper, non-environmentally friendly diesel fuel.

The associate professor of chemical and petroleum engineering, Susan Williams, believes it is more economical to look at the used grease from places such as Mrs. E’s or the Underground, which is free, to produce biodiesel. This would ultimately create a fuel that is less expensive and good for the ecosystem.

“Currently the University pays to have the grease hauled off,” Williams said. “It makes sense to put the cheaper feedstock to good use instead of using the expensive refined oil.”

In order to transport grease off-campus, the University must pay thousands of dollars per year. If the cost of transporting grease was taken away, that money could be used to convert on campus grease to biodiesel instead, costing the University a similar cost while being more friendly to the environment.

Williams and her research team began discussing a student-run manufacturing plant three years ago after receiving funding for on-campus work. Before implementing their plan, they knew there needed to be a student interest in the project. Once student senate member Ilya Tabaka approached them with the same idea, they knew they were ready to begin thought processes for the plant.

“When Ilya approached us with his idea, it was the perfect time,” Williams said. “It was the merging of research and student interest.”

Still in what they call “Stage 1,” Williams and her researchers are trying to decide on a budget for a small, on campus building in addition to materials and machines they would need.

The cost of this project is still being calculated, but an estimate is said to be released by the middle of next spring, when they submit a proposal.

For now, Williams and her team receive funding from theCEBC or Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis who provides money for the use of Carbon Dioxide, which increases the reaction, yielding more biodiesel.

“Once we get the proposal out, the rest will come pretty quickly,” Williams said. “It’s the first step to making our dream a reality.”

Tabakh, who is also a member of the Transportation Research Institute, an institute that addresses “contemporary transportation issues and their social and environmental consequences” has talked to the Environmental Advisory Board of Student Senate and has received a gauge of what they could do financially.

“The project has been really well-received so far by the student senate,” Tabakh said. “As far as funding goes, we’re planning to look into sources on campus.”

Tabakh couldn’t release an exact amount of money they would receive for funding, but this year, the Transportation Research Institute received $14.5 million for research in transportation related issues. Williams and Tabakh said they would also turn to student senate for their project funding.

Only two Universities, Clemson (located in South Carolina, approximately 128 miles from Atlanta) and Iowa State, are conducting similar research. As of yet, no one has strived to put a manufacturing on campus.

“There aren’t a lot of people who are doing a full fledged research facility,” Williams said. “This center will be a place to implement new technologies on a smaller scale.”

William’s research group plans to use the new facility to uncover cheaper, more efficient ways to produce biodiesel. With a center on campus, the group could experiment with waste oil to find out if it is as effective as refined oil.

Campus buses currently use B5 fuel or 5 percent biodiesel because it runs about $2.97 per gallon while B100 or 100 percent biodiesel runs about $3.76 per gallon. Although buying B100 in bulk is cheaper, it is not cheap enough. Williams hopes her research will produce less expensive fuel that doesn’t harm the environment.

“We have three goals for this project,” Williams said. “To make the processes more efficient, make the product more economical and make it easier to produce.”

In William’s current research, converting waste oil to biodiesel is a slower process because of the use of a solid acid such as Amberlyst instead of a typical liquid acid, which is toxic such as sulfuric acid. To make the process more efficient, her researchers would experiment ways to make the reaction faster.

Williams did not say how much money their product could save the University, but said the absence of cost of refined oil would be a significant savings.

To create biodiesel, the researcher must take animal fats or soybean oil and mix them with an alcohol (methanol) and a base (sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide). From there, the substance is heated and stirred at 50 C. Once it is left to sit, it creates a three layer liquid substance with biodiesel at the top. Un-reacted oil, or oil that did not become biodiesel, lies below the biodiesel with water at the bottom. (see picture)

In order to separate the biodiesel from leftover oil and water, the researcher must extract it using a pipette.

“The problem with the separation process is it is easy to pull out some of the un-reacted oil in the pipette when removing the bio diesel,” Williams said. “If un-reacted oil gets in your gas tank, it will turn into a Crisco-type substance.”

The oil used from university fryers would have to be stripped of all solids before going through the conversion process. Once bio diesel is made, it is combined with petroleum diesel before it is put into cars.

“Eventually we hope to use B100, but as of yet many engines are not warranted for this,” Williams said. “This process is so new; we’re not sure how cars react to this new kind of fuel.”

Not all vehicles can use biodiesel fuel. Any vehicle that is older than mid-90s should have an upgrade on fuel lines in order to use the fuel.

Tabakh believes that if the research facility opens, researchers will work to make biodiesel into a better product with a more effective process. For now, they continue to work with new methods make their methods safer for the environment.

“To accelerate a chemical reaction, a catalyst must be used,” said Jonathan Allison, a senior in Chemical Engineering and research assistant to Williams.

The use of a catalyst ultimately yields more biodiesel, creating fewer waste materials. By making small changes such as these, research assistants can produce a more environmentally safe product.

“It’s really exciting to think we could have a full functioning facility that’s producing,” Williams said. “A center like this on campus would give students a chance to have first hand experience and be able to work with some of their peers who may not be part of the research departments.”

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The University of Kansas Aerospace Engineering Department is developing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to be flown in Greenland and Antarctica. The Meridian will have a wingspan of 26.4 feet, and will be used for global warming-related research in coordination with the department’s Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets.

The Meridian will carry a 100-pound ground penetrating radar system that tests the thickness of the polar ice sheets in the area. The UAV’s longest missions in Antarctica would be eight hours, covering about 1,000 miles. During flight, the radar system continually sends signals down through the ice, and records its depth along the way.

"Researchers are trying to study the flow of the ice sheets with global warming and see why some ice sheets seem to be flowing faster than others,” said Kai Siegele, graduate research assistant. By doing this aerial remote sensing, they're able to tell how fast the ice sheets are moving and hopefully discover why."

Current research for the center has been done by heavier radar systems in cold-weather ground vehicles and larger, piloted airplanes. Dr. David Downing, KU aerospace engineering professor said that a great advantage of an unmanned aircraft is that it can fly the exact pattern twice with much better accuracy than a person could.

“As a pilot, you’ve got to know where you are, one advantage of the autopilot system is that it can use GPS points to fly from coordinate to coordinate,” Downing said.

Dr. Richard Hale, KU aerospace engineering professor and co-head of the Meridian project explained that this is imperative because the radar system can only cover a strip of land at a time. Once it covers a strip, the plane will then turn and pass along another parallel track, much like a lawnmower would.

“We can overlay these images to get full, high-resolution imagery of the under surface of the ice,” Hale said.

Hale said that there are other advantages in using an unmanned air vehicle to do the job. The smaller plane means weight is drastically decreased, and fuel cost will go down.

“The bigger, piloted planes currently used in the project use over 10 times more fuel than our model,” Hale said.

Another big concern for the researchers is pilot and crew safety. Hale said the Meridian’s planned eight-hour radar missions; 1,000 feet above the ground, in dangerously cold weather can be too much for even an experienced pilot.

"An engine could fail, you could have bad weather all of the sudden and the plane could go down," Siegele said. "The risks could be injury, death and being stranded out on the ice."

The Meridian project started in 2004 with a $19 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant ends in 2009, but Hale and his team remain hopeful that they will be granted the possible five-year extension.

“We’ve planned this as a 10 year project,” Hale said. “We’re only a year and a half in, so hopefully, we’ve still got about eight and a half years to work on the project.”

If the team gets the grant extension, they will continue to refine their UAV, and set up for large-scale production of the aircraft. Siegele said that the center would eventually want to have more than one Meridian in the air, so they can do research in many places at once. He added that with the grant extension, the Meridian might also find a home in other workshops.

"If it's successful, there are possibilities of building the Meridian for other science
payloads," Siegele said. "Scientists in other communities have expressed interest in purchasing one to conduct their experiments."

Aerospace engineering students in 12 different classes worked on the project this semester. Hale’s Aerospace Materials and Processes class fabricated one of the Meridian’s wings. Other classes are examining engine efficiency and testing to find the optimal thickness of the airplane’s skin.

“By integrating this project into so many classes, our students can have some great hands-on experience with the research,” Hale said.

The latest project test was to fly a Piper Cub model airplane, affixed with the V-tail proposed for the Meridian. Bill Donovan, graduate research assistant said that the two surfaces of the V-tail make it more efficient and cost effective than the standard tail affixed to most aircraft, which have a vertical fin with a horizontal surface on either side.

“The V-tail creates less drag, it’s lighter, and has fewer actuators,” Donovan said.

The actuators are the movable parts on each tailfin that steer the aircraft. Hale said that a small motor called a “servo” is positioned inside the tail to move each actuator. He added that because there are only two actuators on a V-tail, the cost would drop significantly.

“Another advantage is that there will only need to be two servo’s as opposed to three,” Hale said. “This is important when you realize that the servo’s cost about $10,000 a piece.”

The next step for the “V-Cub” is to install and test the $20,000 Piccolo autopilot system that will be used in the Meridian. The system would sit inside the cockpit of the Cub, and replace its current radio control system.

“This is the same system used by NASA, industry and hobby-grade UAV’s,” Hale said.

The Meridian and its radar system are designed with mission frequency in mind. The 110-pound radar system will store its data on two replaceable hard drives, which will be situated for easy access.

“We’ll be able to bring the plane in, pull the hard drives out, put new ones in, and go right back out,” Hale said.

The fully loaded Meridian UAV will have a 26.4-foot wingspan and weigh just over 1000 pounds, with almost 300 pounds of jet fuel. A full fuel tank gives the Meridian a range of 1,116 miles, or 13 hours. Dr. Hale said the Meridian’s longest missions in Antarctica, would be about eight hours, and would cover about 1,000 miles.

“This isn’t me standing in a field somewhere watching my little remote control airplane; this thing is going to be out in some very extreme conditions,” said Dennis Lane, Environmental Engineering professor. “This plane is going to travel great distances on its own, with just a monitor and an operator at the controls, far away.”

CReSIS researchers will use a hand-held controller for take-off and landing, but will use satellites and GPS to communicate with, and track the Meridian after it gets over the horizon.

Hale said that because there aren’t many satellites over Antarctica, the plane could lose contact with the operator for up to a few minutes at a time. The team is developing a flight management system, so the plane wouldn’t lose control in case of a communication blackout.

“The airplane has to know if it should continue the current flight plan, circle the area until it regains contact, or just turn around and head home,” Hale said.

Another obstacle the design team faces is the possibility of ice building up on the wing.

"It doesn't take a whole lot of ice to change the shape of a wing this size," Hale said. "When the wing changes shape, it loses lift, and just does a nosedive."

The team is exploring some different options to rectify the problem. Siegele said that most commercial planes spray a de-icing chemical onto the wings, but because of environmental restrictions in Antarctica, engineers are leaning towards an internal heater on the wing's leading edge.

This week, Hale and Donovan will take a three-week trip to Antarctica to talk to current CReSIS pilots and test a small, radio-controlled airplane to test takeoff and landing in the extreme cold conditions.

The team plans to have a finished prototype in late 2007, and be flight testing in the U.S. by early 2008. The prototype will then venture to colder weather conditions for testing in Greenland later that year.

KU is the leading researcher in the CReSIS project. Other partner universities include Elizabeth City State University, Haskell Indian Nations University, The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University and The University of Maine.

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Imagine if you had to think like a pancreas.

For Rachel Gifford, founder of the Diabetes Freedom Foundation, her daily routine revolves around knowing how her pancreas is working.

Gifford said, “Diabetes is a gift. It requires me to continuously think about my health. I have to know how my pancreas is going to react to certain foods, to certain amounts of exercise. Depending on what I know, that is how I adjust my life and treat my disease.”

For diabetics in the Kansas City area, this better life may be just around the corner. The University of Kansas Medical Center has committed to creating a Diabetes Institute on the KU Medical Center campus

After being hospitalized at the age of 12, Gifford found out that she had type 1 diabetes. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov), Type 1 diabetes, previously called insulin dependent diabetes, develops when the body’s immune system begins to destroy the beta cell produced by the pancreas. For people like Gifford, surviving this disease means taking insulin to control the body’s regulation of blood glucose.

Even at 12-years-old, Gifford said she knew she had a choice: she could either die from this disease or learn how to live with it. She decided to live.With her company DM Strategies, Gifford hopes to change the world of diabetic care. Gifford wants to make sure that diabetics after her have a better life then she did

For diabetics in the Kansas City area, the University of Kansas Medical Center (www.kumc.edu) has committed to creating a Diabetes Institute on the KU Medical Center campus.

The Institute will be a freestanding structure that will become home to both diabetes care, and diabetes research. The new institute will bring state of the art care to the people suffering with diabetes in the surrounding area.

According to Lisa Stehno-Bittle, the head of research for the institute, the creation of the institute will attempt to bring all of the diabetes health professional in the area together for bettering the future of diabetes. During a retreat on December 2, many of these professional came together to brainstorm a plan to create a mission statement, and begin their fundraising.

According to Stehno-Bittle, the building of the institute will require somewhere between 20 and 30 million dollars.

Stehno-Bittle is pairing with Endocrinologist and newcomer to the KU Medical Center Dr. David Robbins. The dream of a new diabetes institute started with Robbin’s thought to begin a fellowship for diabetes care.

After the two discussed the idea of a fellowship for diabetic care, they realized that they could do so much more for the Kansas City area.

The Kansas City area is behind in its treatment of diabetes. The pair will be traveling to other Diabetes Institutes to build a model for the research and care that will be provided in Kansas City.

The care at the new Diabetes Institute will provide service to many people in the area, including University of Kansas Students.

Diabetic Students on the University of Kansas campus can go to Watkins Student Health Center for their medical care. However, the Watkins may not be able to provide them with the extensive care that they need. According to Ann Chapman, Watkins coordinator for nutrition services and registered dietician, students with diabetes are dealt with on a one-on-one basis.

Students can come in a see a physician. The Physician will prescribe them the correct medicine, encourage them to eat correctly, and exercise regularly. The students will then be referred to Chapman to work on their dietary needs.

Chapman said that the new Diabetes Institute might become a new source of referrals for Watkins.

Chapman said, “The percentage of students with diabetes at KU is so mall we may not have the most comprehensive program. But, we have to look at the health risk that are effecting a large part of the community.”

No date has been set for the construction of the institute. Stehno-Bittle said that the main focus right now will be getting funding for the project.

Gifford can not help but express her excitement for the prospect of the new Diabetes Institute. She feels that a cure for diabetes is around the corner. But until the cure is found, Gifford will continue to battle her diabetes one day at a time.

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A snowball fight… something normally reserved for winter days after school, but for Rosedale Middle School students it’s become a learning event. Snowball fight is an educational game invented by University of Kansas students for their Excellence in Journalism Camp.

Thanks to the efforts of both the KU and Rosedale students the program was a huge success and plans have been made to continue the camp next semester.

“The original plan was to do the camp for one semester, and be done with it.” said Carl Perico, a language arts teacher at Rosedale and a huge help in starting the journalism camp. “They made it such a success that the Dean of the KU School of Journalism decided to offer it again, in the spring of ’07.”

KU journalism students spent the fall semester working with sixth-, seventh- and eighth- graders from Rosedale Middle School in Kansas City, Kan. As part of their Journalism 500 class: “Citizen Journalism and Community Work”, KU students split into two groups, one that worked with sixth graders and another that worked with seventh- and eighth- graders. The sixth graders met every Tuesday and the other group met every Thursday.

13 journalism students participated in the program, which met from 3-4:45p.m. each session. The college students lead and planned each camp lesson, teaching students how to post on the web, interview sources, take pictures and write news stories.

Teachers and KU participants alike have seen a vast improvement in the Rosedale students’ skills as reporters and critics of media. Although, Perico said he hasn’t seen any overnight miracles in his English class, he did say his Spanish speaking students have a lot more confidence in their writing capabilities. He said it’s been a long time since he’s heard “I can’t do it!”

“I have seen these kids mature this semester, and be more analytical and critical,”Perico said. “Overall, these kids are not afraid to ask questions, and they are not intimidated by the writing process.”

“The students at Rosedale, I’m told, have more ability now to talk to adults,” said Peggy Kuhr, Professor of Journalism at KU. “They’re more self-assured, the teachers tell me, and what they’re saying is they have learned to ask better questions.”

Educational progress was not the only change, but many of the students formed new relationships and bonds. The program actually made learning fun for many of them and exceeded their expectations. What started as a chance for extra credit in Mr. Perico’s English class, turned into a life changing experience.

“At first, I just thought it was gonna be about just writing. Then, I think it means a lot to me because we had a lot of fun, spent time together,” Jesus Gutierrez, Rosedale eighth grader said. “We had good times. It’s like part of my family.”

Even the KU students, many of whom are graduating this spring, felt a strong connection with the students.

“I bonded a lot. There’s several kids I’ll miss a lot,” Heather Brummitt, KU graduate student said. Brummitt joined the class in order to create a documentary for her grad project.

The success of this program cannot be chalked up to education and friendships alone. It is the brainchild of a lot of peoples’ time and effort. Donna Devine, from Rosedale Development Association, and Peggy Kuhr approached Perico and another teacher, Janet Leigh, about doing this program in April of 2006. Each person had a significant part in putting together and executing the camp.

“One of the most important factors, I think, was the school itself. We had a couple of great Language Arts teachers, who really wanted to support this project and help me out at the start.”Kuhr said.

Kuhr’s partners had an equal amount of praise for her efforts to bring these two diverse groups together.

“Peggy is the wheel that makes all of this turn. She has done an outstanding job despite all the roadblocks that came her way,”Perico said. “I am so honored to be working with her, and that she chose our school to pilot this program.”

Through the ups and downs of this program these middle school students have learned what journalism means. Perico said his students have all shown interest in the possibility of pursuing journalism as a career, adding that originally they might have asked you “what’s that?”

“It’s about experiencing the ways of bringing news to someone,” Carlos Ortiz, Rosedale eighth grader said.

“They’re teaching us something that we might like to do when we grow up,”Zamara Cardona said, also an eighth grader.

Several of the Rosedale participants plan on returning next semester, saying they hope to branch out as journalists. They all expressed interest in going out into the community and interviewing strangers, as well as taking more field trips. This semester they took a field trip to the Kansas City Star, which everyone described as their favorite part of the camp.

Along with the field trip, students participated in exercises, like Snowball fight. In this game students write a sentence on a sheet of paper, throw the paper, and then another student adds to it. This interactive learning could be part of the reason why many of the students are coming back next semester.

Along with returning students, Perico and Kuhr, predict that they will have several more participants.

“Most of the Rosedale students stayed with it throughout the semester. That speaks highly of the professor and the KU students’ efforts,” said Perico. “Now that the word has gotten around, more kids are coming out of the wood work.”

ALL ROSEDALE FOOTAGE WAS SHOT BY HEATHER BRUMMITT

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Next year, for the first time in almost a decade, the Department of Student Housing at the University of Kansas won’t be renovating a residence hall. Department of Student Housing is encouraging returning students to live in the residence halls another year by mounting a marketing campaign.

The campaign, which began this fall and will continue through spring semester, has the tagline: “Don’t just attend KU – live KU!”

With the completion of the Hashinger Hall renovations this fall, the Department of Student Housing finished its current renovations project. It has renovated Templin, Lewis, Ellsworth and Hashinger Halls. The University finished renovating Templin Hall in 1998.

Templin Hall was the first residence hall to begin the new round of renovations.

Kip Grosshans, associate director of Student Housing, said that each time Department of Student housing has done renovations, it gave new students priority over returning students in order to guarantee new students on-campus housing. The Department of Student Housing finished renovating the residence halls, so now it wants to encourage returning students to come back to the halls for a second or third year.

“This is a way to remind folks who are already with us that they might want to consider staying with us for the next year,” Grosshans said.

The meaning of the tagline, according to Grosshans, is that student housing offers a diverse and rewarding living environment. One advertisement on the Department of Student Housing Web site reads, “I‘m definitely returning to Student Housing. I’ve made great friends, food’s good, and I got a cool job right where I live.”

One bonus of living in the residence halls, according to Grosshans, is the easy access to food at the dining centers. “Going to the grocery store, schlepping the food into the car, paying for the food, going back to the apartment, unloading the food, fixing the food, cleaning up after the food; it’s a huge amount of time. It doesn’t seem like much when you think about it in general, but it’s time that most students really don’t have.”

Eric Grospitch, interim executive assistant to the director, said, “Our return numbers are up over last year. Having a year offline with Hashinger, that was 375 beds. It’s just a matter of getting those returners to stay on and seeing us beyond a first-year option.”

According to Grosshans, 452 sophomores and 101 juniors live in the residence halls this year out of a total 3,397 students.

Lindsey Eagle, Kansas City, Mo. junior, appears on the posters. She said that she thinks the Department of Student Housing is heading in the right direction by encouraging returning students to come back. She said that at her job as a student office assistant for the Department of Student Housing, she has received substantially more phone calls from prospective returning students than what she remembers from the past two years. She said usually students didn’t call until just a day or two before the “Intent to Return” form deadline.

“Students see the ads, which in turn causes them to contact our office to inquire about the process,” Eagle said.

Patrick Sittenauer, Kansas City, Mo. freshman, said that he will return to McCollum Residence Hall next year because he feels comfortable there. He said he has everything he needs: A bed, closet space, clean bathrooms and a desk. He said that if he lived anywhere else he would have to buy all of those things.

Sittenauer said he likes the residence halls because he’s met so many people. “You can pretty much always find someone to eat at E’s with,” Sittenauer said. “The dorms embody the spirit of a university: a place for any exchange of ideas, a place to learn. With 900 people within a few thousand square feet, I am sure you will find differing opinions.”

Sittenauer said he loves McCollum, but one of his gripes is all the rules. “It’s like living in my parents’ home. I can understand the reason for all the rules, and I would not change them, but living in a place one calls home means I should be able to set the rules.”

Ryan Bruno, Overland Park sophomore, said that the residence halls are a great place to meet new people. He said there’s always something going on there and that the residence halls feel like a home away from home.

“There is a bit of vulnerability that people feel when they come to the dorms, but it makes them more open to meet new people,” Bruno said. “It was a vulnerability that I welcomed when I came to KU.”

Bruno decided to return to the residence halls for a second year because he didn’t have enough money to live on his own. He said that he met new people and strengthened his relationships from last year as well.

Although Bruno said he dislikes the sometimes dirty bathrooms, the occasional fire alarms and late-night noise, he calls all of these complaints silly. “That’s part of the unique life of living in the dorms,” Bruno said.

Grosshans said this marketing program was a special project from the director of Student Housing. The campaign started by distributing bookmarks to the residence hall Academic Resource Centers in early October. The posters came out in the middle of October. Recently, Department of Student housing placed table tents in the dining centers. Department of Student Housing also bought advertisement space on a campus bus. Soon, Department of Student Housing will send out two sets of slightly different postcards: one set to students and one set to their parents.

For this campaign, Department of Student Housing is offering returning students the chance to sign their contract early. In years past, during the school year returning students could only fill out an “Intent to Return” form, which only noted their housing preferences and it didn’t guarantee them anything. Because residents can sign their contracts early this year, they can immediately choose their exact room and building assignment instead of waiting for weeks.

Both Grosshans and Grospitch are excited to see more returning students in the residence halls. “We know we’re going to get around 75 percent, perhaps even more, of the entering freshman class each year,” Grosshans said.

He said that returning students are a commodity in a residence hall. “It would be great if the resident assistant wasn’t the only upperclassmen on the floor and that there was someone else to ask, ‘how to we do this camping for tickets thing?’”

Grosshans said that the Department of Student Housing is confident it will get plenty of new student admissions because of its Web site and view book. “The big deal for us is to increase our population of the students we want most, and frankly, that’s the people who’ve lived with us before.”

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At holiday gatherings while other students are celebrating with fudge in one hand and peanut brittle in the other, Ashlen Angelo, Overland Park sophomore, is empty handed. That is, if she is even at the party. She might be laying in bed watching episodes of “Golden Girls” on DVD with a heating pad on her stomach, consuming only crackers. Angelo has Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory disease of the digestive tract that develops ulcers on the inner surface of the colon. The disease affects Angelo’s small and large intestines and causes her severe abdominal pain.

“For me, overeating doesn’t just add on weight, it makes me actually sick. I have to eat slowly so I am satisfied with the amount I can have.”

Ever since being diagnosed in October 2002, Angelo has had to be careful about what foods she consumed. Anything spicy or greasy tends to leave her with intense stomachaches and cramps and can leave her in pain for a full day.

“It can last up to 24 hours after I have eaten,” Angelo said. “Usually if I overeat, the next day I’ll be feeling bad and reduced to eating only crackers because I don’t want to risk feeling even worse.”

While Angelo has to carefully monitor her food intake on a daily basis, doing so is tougher around the holiday season.

“It is harder because there are a lot of holiday foods that I like to eat and look forward to eating when I go home. It’s annoying having to work in eating something I really like. I have to find a time when my Crohn’s is under control before I can eat foods that I like. I get frustrated and I feel like I’m old.”

For healthy students the holidays are a time of temptation. With delectable holiday treats sitting around and a break from the structured routine of school, healthy eating and exercising habits can rapidly vanish. Experts warn against giving into these temptations and advice students to stay physically active. A recent study from the National Institue of Health suggests that the commonly held idea that Americans gain five to 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and the new year is false. While the study more accurately states that Americans only gain about one pound over the holidays, students still need to be mindful of their health.

“Don’t skip meals,” said Ann Chapman Student Health Services dietician. “This is really important. In fact, you should eat every three to four hours. You should also stay physically active, even if it is different activities than usual. If you normally jog, you can go ice skating with your friends or cross country skiing if you live somewhere really cold.”

Chapman also advises to avoid packing on the winter weight by eating limited amounts of holiday sweets. Rather, students should opt for healthier snacks. Some options she suggests are 100-calorie snack packs, fresh fruit or dried fruit, like a package of raisins, low fat granola bars, fat free pudding, string cheese or applesauce.

Snacks aren’t the only place where the intake of food should be limited. At holiday feasts, people should not overeat to the point of feeling uncomfortably full.

“It’s better to not have a huge feast and overload calorie and fat intake in one feeding,” Chapman said.

With limited income, and consequently limited amounts of food year-round, Krysta Beaver, Lawrence freshman, doesn’t follow this concept. Rather, she takes advantage of the abundance of food available.

“I dig in,” Beaver said. “I’m a starving college student; I don’t get the opportunity to pig out on a good, home-cooked meal very often. Eating is followed by a two-hour, tryptophan-induced coma.”

The holiday season also ushers in another health risk for college students: stress that is a result of final exams and projects.

“Stress mostly comes from finals,” Angelo said. “I take little breaks when needed and I tell myself it will be over soon. When I’m working hard during these last few weeks, I remind myself that I’ll get to relax later and that helps me get through it.”

John Wade, Counseling and Psychological Services psychologist, agrees that it is important for students to take breaks from schoolwork.

“Making sure they still do other activities that aren’t all school related is important,” Wade said. “I realize this is difficult. Students should exercise and socialize, but probably not as much as normal. It is important to look at things in perspective. Think about how important this situation will be in five years. It’s still important, but not as urgent.”

Amanda Knoll, Quinter senior, has a demanding job to worry about in addition to the typical stress of finals that other students deal with. Knoll is the scholarship hall director of Sellards Scholarship Hall, which is a position typically filled by a graduate student. Knoll’s job requires her to be available to assist her residents whenever they may need her.

“When I have finals the next day, some situation always comes up,” Knoll said. “It requires time to deal with it, time to process the situation after it happened and time to take steps to deal with situation. If an emergency comes up, I have to deal with it immediately, regardless if it is one hour before a final or the day before when I am studying.”

With these extra responsibilities, Knoll has a hard time scheduling sleep. As a result, she relies on the caffeine in coffee to keep her going.

“I have at least three cups of coffee a day, and sometimes they aren’t small cups,” Knoll said. “I go out for espresso at least twice a week and sometimes five time a week.”

Caffeine has become such a staple in Knoll’s life that her means of relaxing even revolve around this stimulant.

“To reduce stress, I drink coffee. Seriously, I’ll meet with my friends at a coffee shop and just relax.”

Wade warns students against replacing sleep with artificial stimulants like caffeine or relying on them for extra energy.

“Anything that gives a short-term boost of energy is followed by a crash of a low mood or a little depression,” Wade said. “Increasing energy artificially also increases anxiety, heart rate and breathing patterns. Sugar and caffeine do increase anxiety symptoms. It may feel good in a way, but also makes you more anxious during a time of stress.”

Wade suggests stepping back from the situation and assessing the importance of the task at hand. This tactic can be used with all holiday events, such as party planning, gift shopping or holiday baking.

“It’s easy to become overly focused and have tunnel vision,” Wade said. “We get really focused on finals or really focused on Christmas shopping that we loose perspective and become overly stressed. It’s really easy for anyone to do.”

This over emphasis on holiday details can lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder, commonly known as the holiday blues. The The American Psychiatric Association describes this type of depression as affecting patients during the fall and winter and is characterized by exhaustion, loss of interest in daily activities, social withdrawal and weight gain. Wade said the onset of this is commonly the result of unrealistic expectations.

“Expectations are so high that unless the experience meets unrealistic expectations, we feel let down. If our expectations are sky-high, it’s easy to miss them. We expect this to be the best day of the year, and it realistically may not be, so we feel let down.”

Living at home for winter break is another stressor during this time of year unique to students.

“Living with my mom for a month is stressful,” Beaver said. “My mom is a fantastic lady and a very good friend of mine, but I’ve moved out and lived on my own. Living with her again will be very stressful.”

Not only a change in atmosphere, but a change in pace can also affect students. After a semester of demanding class requirements and busy schedules, a month of downtime can come as shock.

“If dealing with a lot of free time, look for meaningful activities, spend time with friends or volunteering. Having some structure is important,” Wade said.

After the stress of the holidays is over, some set New Year’s goals for themselves to loose the weight they recently gained. When doing this, Chapman warns to not be too ambitious and take baby steps towards the ultimate goal.

“Set small, achievable goals,” Chapman said. “Look at one aspect of your eating habits you are not happy with. For example, if you drink three sodas a day, just drink two a day for a couple of weeks then go down from there. Or, if you don’t ever exercise, start exercising two times a week for 20 minutes each time.”

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After a car accident in 1995, Jarvis Stirn thought he would never be able to play sports the way he used to. “I liked regular basketball, but I didn’t think wheelchair basketball was going to be the same thing,” Stirn said.

Then one night, it all changed. Stirn, 32, Lawrence resident, got a call from the Kansas Wheelhawks wheelchair basketball team to come check out a practice in Topeka. The Kansas Wheelhawks are comprised of players from eastern Kansas, including the Topeka and Lawrence area.

“I came down here to play and practice and I knew I would keep on coming back. There’s such a heart racing feeling to get out there and be active and compete against other people on wheelchairs.”

The U.S. Surgeon General issued a health warning in 1996 recommending that every person should include at least 30 minutes of physical activity all or most days of the week to maintain or lose weight. However, people with disabilities are more sedentary than the average person, causing them to get less physical activity than the recommended amount.

A new study, Project Workout on Wheels, will assist people who have mobility impairments by helping to increase their weekly physical activity. The researchers are looking to recruit up to 180 participants, ages 18 to 65, from the Kansas City, Mo., area over the next three to five years, starting in 2007. During the study, participants will first receive a manual including the importance of physical activity, and then learn how to integrate an exercise plan into their daily schedule.

“We’d like to have an aerobics class three times a week, but people have different schedules. Our goal is to help people find activities that they like to do, in their own homes and neighborhoods. They can wheel around their neighborhood or go to a local recreation center, because that way they can sustain the activity after the study is done,” said Dot Nary, University of Kansas doctoral student in applied behavioral science and research assistant for the study.

Participants will be a part of the study for 12 months. They will first set goals for daily exercise, for as little as 15 minutes a day, a few days a week. As the participants stabilize their activity after a couple weeks, they can increase their goals, Nary said. In addition to exercise on their own time, participants are also required to take an exercise and fitness test at the KU Med Center.

The exercise test will examine weight and height to determine a participant’s Body Mass Index. Then the participants will lift hand weights increasing in weight as well as a stationary arm cycle with different levels of resistance. These tests measure a participant’s strength. The study will also use equipment that measures the amount of oxygen exerted while exercising, which will measure how the heart is working. The participants will also be required to take a written test that asks questions pertaining to how they feel about their physical activity, depression, and their ability to participate in the community. The test will be administered four times during the study: at the beginning of the study, after 12 weeks, 6 months and 12 months, to measure the improvement of weight, strength, and psycho-physiological effects.

A pilot test group of seven participants started the study in August, but no tangible data is available yet. However, Nary said that the pilot study showed that participants got more physically active. Project Workout on Wheels will launch its official first group of about 30 participants in January 2007.

Nary named health benefits of daily physical activity, such as keeping your heart healthy, relieving depression and preventing diabetes. “It’s important to adopt these health habits, and it’s important that we have programs out there for people to learn that health can exist in the context of disability,” Nary said.

Another purpose of the study is to educate people of their options, although these options are still limited. When asked what sort of exercise a person who uses a wheelchair is able to do, the average person and many physicians don’t know how to respond, Nary said.

“When we think of physical fitness, activity, and exercise, we don’t think of people in wheelchairs and what they can do. But it’s even more important, because people in wheelchairs are not getting the exercise from walking, so we need to make sure we get it some other way to get our heart rate up,” Nary said.

The study will suggest different ways to involve physical activity in a routine, including: wheeling in the neighborhood or indoor mall, seated aerobic videos, using equipment at a local fitness center, lifting light hand weights, swimming or treading water, and stretching. Others might want to participate in more rigorous wheelchair sports, such as basketball, softball or tennis.

Stirn and the Kansas Wheelhawks have found a way to keep their heart rate up and have fun. The Kansas Wheelhawks works with Kansas Accessible Sports, Inc., a non-profit organization to try to get other wheelchairs sports in the Eastern Kansas area. Ray Petty, president of Kansas Accessible Sports, Inc., has been working to raise enough money so that people who don’t have enough disposable income can participate in wheelchair athletics.

“Usually with disability, comes poverty and comes under-employment,” Petty said. But Petty said he believes that participating in sports is imperative for anybody, especially children with disabilities. Petty said that children growing up with disabilities could have a lack of social skills and confidence.

“This is an opportunity to get kids together for competition. The camaraderie and the confidence they develop carries over to their mental state,” Petty said.

No matter what is going on or what work you have, Petty said, if you have a scheduled regiment of exercise with a team, you become dedicated to that. “It’s not just fitness. It’s an opportunity to be regular.”

Petty and Stirn both play wheelchair basketball for exercise and competition. Stirn said that exercise for people in wheelchairs helps keep the weight off as well as increase circulation to legs, feet, and toes.

“Seventy percent of your energy is burned up through your legs. So, when you’re in a wheelchair, you’re not using that energy. You’re eating the same amount that you’re used to, but then you’re not burning those calories up,” Stirn said.

Wheelchair basketball is not the only option for people who use wheelchairs. Bob Mikesic, 55, Lawrence resident, enjoys swimming and wheeling on nature trails.

“I do it for personal enjoyment because it seems to improve my concentration and the ability to get me through the day with enough energy to get myself motivated,” Mikesic said.

Mikesic, Petty, and Nary have been working with Tim Laurent, of Lawrence parks and recreation, to get the City of Lawrence more accessible to wheelchair users, including public buildings, swimming pools and recreation centers. Mikesic said that after examining the city recreation centers, many of the centers have accessible parking and entrance to the building, but not the adequate equipment for people who use wheelchairs.

“It’s not quite the same set-up as what fitness centers purchase for common practice for others in the community. There’s a different approach. Equipment needs to be purchased with a seated user in mind,” Mikesic said.

Laurent said that the city of Lawrence has been working to improve the amount of accessible equipment available. The city purchased two Vita-Glide Promachines, which is a machine that is made especially for seated users. The first machine was delivered to the East Lawrence Recreation Center, 1245 E. 12th St., on Dec. 6, and the second machine will be installed at the Community Building, 115 W. 11th St., in January 2007.

After the purchase of the Vita-Glide Pro machines, Laurent said there are no more plans to purchase new equipment specifically for wheelchair users. However, the city is still examining the removal of benches at certain weight machines so that seated users may have easier access to other equipment.

As local recreation centers become more accessible, Nary said participants in the Workout on Wheels study may use this option for their weekly exercise. The study will use self-monitoring and goal setting for participants to integrate physical activity into their lives, whether it’s in the comfort of their own home or shooting hoops with a wheelchair basketball team.

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Downtown retailers are preparing for this month’s holiday rush with more than just heavily stocked shelves. Stores are using more security devices and customer service techniques to deter shoplifters from snatching merchandise.

These preventative measures ensure that downtown businesses lose as little as possible during the highest shoplifting time of the year.

Shoplifters get away with more than $10 billion in merchandise each year, according to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention. This amounts to about $25 million per day

“We have a person who floats around, straightens and watches people,” said Terri Faunce, owner of The Casbah, 803 Massachusetts St.

The setup of Faunce’s store calls for sharp eyes. The boutique has an upper level and a lower level filled with small, swappable items such as rings, necklaces and bracelets. Faunce puts nickels in place of purchased rings to help keep track of how many are on display at a time.

She schedules at least two employees at all times to monitor both levels of the store. A handmade sign near the stairs prohibits customers from taking jewelry upstairs while they shop.

“It’s hard because of trust,” Faunce said. “I don’t want to make everyone feel like they are a criminal. I do have faith in my customers and respect for them.”

In her store, shoplifting takes away about 5 percent of her profits each year, Faunce said.

“It shows up when we do inventory each year. You definitely feel it,” she said.

Some downtown businesses don’t feel the tug of shoplifting as much as others do. At Arensberg’s Shoes, 825 Massachusetts St., shoplifting is not as common a problem because the store displays only one shoe of each style. Employees must go to the stockroom to retrieve shoes.

The store does maintain a policy that states any returned shoes must be unworn, in the original box and accompanied by a receipt before the store will issue a refund or exchange. This policy helps the business keep track of what comes back to the store and helps ward off fraudulent returns, owner Tim Arensberg said.

“We had a guy walk into the store through the back entrance, go to the stockroom and grab a box of shoes and then try to return them,” Arensberg said. “In a larger store, he may have gotten away with this, but here, you have to have a receipt.”

Security sensors, cameras and mirrors also play a big role in keeping shoplifting low. Sarah Workman, manager of Kieu’s, Inc., 738 Massachusetts St., said that attaching sensors to merchandise was an effective way of keeping track of what goes out of her store.

Though her store hasn’t had a big problem with shoplifting, she said it’s better to have the sensors and the cameras to ease suspicions. She also requires customers to leave large purses and shopping bags outside of the dressing rooms or at the register.

“Some customers find it to be an inconvenience, but most understand why we have to do it,” Workman said.

When stores do have a problem with shoplifting, employees usually know who and what to watch for. Certain mannerisms, such as speech and walking speed around a store, clue workers in on how suspicious they should be of customers.

Abby Blackwell, manager of Britches, 843 Massachusetts St., trains her staff to be energetic, interactive and overly friendly to all customers who come into the store.

“We stay with the customer and interact with everyone. They’re not going to get left alone,” Blackwell said.

Blackwell recalls an incident where a customer behaved strangely in the store. She said the customer took clothes off the hangers before she took them into the dressing room and was grabbing shirts and pants without checking the sizes.

Blackwell helped the person into the dressing room and noted what style of jeans and tops she took in so she could ask the person how each individual item fit. She did this so the person would know that Blackwell knew exactly what was in the dressing room.

“I sat on the steps near the dressing room and watched her legs the whole time,” Blackwell said.

This type of customer service, coupled with security devices, help local businesses keep their losses low and their sales steady.

Jeremy Furce, owner of Britches, said that though his store's shoplifting problem isn’t as high as the national average, measures to keep shoplifting to a low were important to the success of his store.

“We have excellent customer service, and when we throw the sensors in with that, it really helps us keep track of things,” Furce said.

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This spring a group of seven students will travel to Buras, La. Buras, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, will receive much needed help from students in the University of Kansas Alternative Break program.

The Alternative Break program at the University of Kansas strives to better the community while bettering students. The program is composed of three break options: winter, spring, and weekend trips. Each break offers students the change to make a difference in the lives of others nation-wide while benefiting themselves.

Students participating in the spring break trips had to complete an application and interview process. Students are asked to pick their top three locations to help out of a list of ten trips.

A year and a half after hurricane Katrina the directors of the Alternative Breaks program are eager to send students to Louisiana in continued hurricane relief.

“Last year it was such an unstable environment that sending students would have been too dangerous.” Ashley Bloom, Alternative Break co-director said.

In addition to danger in the hurricane ravaged area, the program makes final decisions in the beginning of October as to where sites will be located for the spring, a full five months ahead of time. The time difference made it difficult to predict if help would still be needed or if the area affected by the hurricane would be stable.

James DiGiuseppe, spring break co-director said the trip to Louisiana was something he knew he wanted to make possible when he took over his position this year.

DiGiuseppe searched the internet for service projects that had sites in the area damaged by Katrina. He happened Emergency Communities upon , an organization providing relief in the Gulf area. After corresponding with Katherine Pangaro, Emergency Communities volunteer coordinator the trip was settled for Buras, La.

Buras, which DiGiuseppe said, mainly runs out of a YMCA. Approximately two hours from New Orleans, Buras needs to be rebuilt.
Emergency Communities runs a soup kitchen serving around 300 meals a day. The organization provides showers, laundry, and port-a-potties, Pangaro said.

“The students on the trip will be doing a number of things, running the soup kitchen, recycling, and some manual labor like rebuilding homes and businesses.” DiGiuseppe said.

The Alternative Breaks program places students’ safety as a top priority. Emergency Communities assures the largest health concern is the possibility of airborne mold and particulate matter causing respiratory problems for students with asthma.

Students attending the weeklong trip to Buras expect to leave Saturday March 17 and return the following Saturday.

Students benefit from the program just as much as the communities they help. Students can choose to receive honors credit for participating in the program. An option of a one or two credit class is given to students. Those students that would not like to receive credit for various reasons may still participate in the course.

“If a student chooses not to participate for credit, they are still required to do the same work as students that are taking credit.” Katie Jahnke, Alternative Break co-director said.

The program, while focused on helping the community also takes on a classroom setting. Students are asked to attend every class, participate in discussions, and complete assignments such as a short paper.

The spring break trip to Buras isn’t the only change to the Alternative Breaks program.

The classroom has been revamped from previous years. Previously the class was mostly student led. Now, however, the class brings in professors and other experts to speak to students about their current area of study, Bloom explained.

“Through the new lecturers students know about issues before they go on their trip,” Jahnke said.

Bloom and Jahnke agreed the classroom setting needed to be stepped up from previous years, as a way to make students more aware of the issues surrounding their trip. This year is the second for the new policies in the program.

“It’s a more in-depth, more meaningful settings, where students have the opportunity to understand exactly what they are doing.” Bloom said of the new class meetings.

The cost for participating in the program can range from $10 for the first weekend trip to $225 for a winter or spring trip. If a student opts to take a credit option they are required to pay tuition costs. An undergraduate student from Kansas can expect to spend $183.75 per credit hour, where as an out-of-state undergraduate would spend $482.75 per credit hour, according to the University’s Web site.
In addition to receiving credit for the course a person can now become certified. The Alternative Breaks program now works closely with the Universities Center for Service Learning.

The Center for Service Learning certifies students once they have completed the required course work. Required coursework includes a portfolio of the students understanding of the four main components of the service learning certification; class experience, independent project, directed readings, and reflection.

“The Center just opened last year. We certified 91 students last year. Our goal this year is to certify 150 students.” Meghan Walsh, Center for Service Learning AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer.

Certification and service work sets students apart from their peers, Bloom said.

“The changes, as far as sites and our partnership with the Center for Service Learning have benefits for the program and the students participating.” Jahnke said

The Alternative Breaks program directors remain busy with winter break trips quickly approaching and spring break trip interviews being conducted. On Jan. 1 the program also plans to release a list of its spring weekend trips.

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The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs has awarded the University of Kansas’ Beach Center on Disability, a sub component of the department of Special Education, and the Illinois Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Network a four-year, $1.6 million grant. The grant will assist in establishing ways of preparing educational staff within inner-city schools in the aspects of social and behavioral involvement.

The grant will set up the Kansas-Illinois, K-I, Center to investigate a Response to Intervention, RtI, model. The model acts as a guideline for the available resources within the schools.

“We have [resources like] special education, school psychology, mental health, gifted and talented, and English as a second language. RtI pulls all of these systems together and looks at intervention on three different levels,” said Wayne Sailor, professor of Special Education and associate director of the Beach Center on Disability.

Under the RtI model, all students including those with disabilities are included in the general education classroom. Inner-city school research indicates a tendency of general educators to delegate the information and training issues around children with extensive special needs and that general educators tend to drive the schools, Sailor said.

“I would like to see more schools equipped to support all kids, regardless of needs or reason for needs. I would like us getting to kids that need us sooner, and kids not standing out and being stigmatized for their individual needs,” said Jamie Bezdek, research assistant and doctoral student.

The K-I Center introduces three levels of intervention or assistance into the schools, closely monitoring its progress. The first level of intervention affects all of the children in the classroom at a primary level, testing speech and language issues.

“The data collected allows us to see if individual kids are keeping up with their grade level through a reasonable level of expectation or if they’re beginning to fall off the chart,” Sailor said.

Educators will direct students consistently showing low levels of achievement to the secondary level of assistance, small group arrangements. The secondary level teaches students strategies to enhance their content ability and as a result, be re-engaged with the rest of their class.

Between eight and 10 percent of students begin to fall off the chart within the secondary level of intervention, Sailor said. As a result, educators engage a third level of assistance. The third level includes highly individualized support from all available resources at a school. Educators write a specific plan for the individual.

A team of 12 to 15 KU individuals, including three doctoral students, will monitor students’ academic, social and behavioral progress quarterly, through a series of standardized testing of social emotional behavioral skills.

“The schools will be monitored depending on what schools in the district want to do and whatever pattern is already established; we may layer in additional measures,” said Amy McCart, associate research professor for the Beach Center and co-principal investigator at the K-I Center.

McCart will also engage in staff training development and consistency. Training will begin in January along with monthly contact with Illinois. The preparation for staff training is currently vague and in its brainstorming stage. More effectively including students in general with special educators and general educators addressing the needs of students with disabilities are among staff preparation plans, McCart said.

Schools in Kansas involved with the RtI model in the grant’s first year include two schools in the Kansas City, Kan. district, USD 500, and two schools in the Topeka district, USD 501. A total of eight schools in Kansas will be included by the end of the four years. The RtI model tests classrooms from pre-kindergarten through high school.

Participating schools already implement intervention techniques, which is the cause of their selection, Sailor said.

The issue of intervention relates to the extent to which children’s social and behavioral issues interfere with their learning. While this is an issue with children with disabilities, especially behavioral disabilities, it can also apply to children in general.

“The deeper you penetrate into cities and their schools, the greater the probability that kids will have social and behavioral issues that interfere with their learning,” Sailor said.

A research grant to conduct a trial for the effectiveness of the RtI model on a larger scale, including more schools, will be developed after the grant’s four years. The ultimate goal is to replace categorical logic with data-based decision logic in accordance with a response to intervention approach, Sailor said.

“Kids have a really wide range of needs and Rtl helps school personnel get specific about who needs what,” said Nikki Wolf, research assistance and doctoral student. “We need to find out how this can be used to best meet the needs of students.”

The K-I Center hopes to expand RtI model practices throughout school districts to improve social and educational outcomes for children. The grant begins January 1. The K-I Center is one of three sites in the nation testing the RtI model.

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Tossing a newspaper into one of the blue recycling containers around campus is the first step in a long journey. According to the KU Recycling Web site, newspaper will be transported via truck and/or train to destinations in Missouri and Wisconsin.

The paper will be made into such things as cat litter, insulation and paper towels. But before any of that can happen, members of KU Recycling must pick it up from campus, load it on a truck and take it to a warehouse on west campus. There, it is sorted, compacted, picked up by a contracted company and shipped out.

But toss a paper in the same container next semester and the route of the journey will be slightly different.

KU Recycling is moving from its old facility into the new facility operations building next door on Westbrooke Drive, which will allow the crew to receive and process larger amounts of material.

According to the KU Recycling Web site, the group recycled over 527 tons of material and from July 2005 to June 2006. To process that amount of material requires both ample space and a sizable workforce. The crew will have 5,000 square feet in the new building, twice as much as it does in its current facility.

“We’ll be able to process materials faster. Basically we’re expanding our capacity to handle material so we can handle more materials which will allow for future growth,” said Jeff Severin, environmental services manager.

This is the latest step toward improving KU Recycling, which reported revenues of $25, 400 from July 2005 to June 2006.

KU Recycling received a grant last year of $66,782 from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to purchase a new baler. A baler is a machine used to compact materials into bales so that they take up less space and are easier to handle.

Severin said the crew has purchased a baler and expects it to be delivered later this month.

The new baler is larger than the one the crew currently operates, so it will make larger bales and allow for the baling of more types of material, such as aluminum and steel cans.

The team currently bales only certain materials such as cardboard and office paper while others such as aluminum and steel cans are shipped out loose. Loose material takes up much more space than baled material and thus costs a lot more to ship.

“We’ll start baling all of our products rather than just what we’re baling now, which has been cardboard, chip board, shredded paper, and plastic bags,” said Tom Boxberger, warehouse manager.

The recycling team sells the material to companies, but some companies will accept only baled material because it saves space and is easier to handle.

“By baling it that cuts down on the work they have to do and also cuts down on the amount of money they have to spend in terms of shipping it. So they’re able to pay us more for a baled product than they are for a non-baled product,” Severin said.

Severin said although he didn’t know the exact impact the larger bales would have on profit because prices of material are based on the fluctuating market, he did expect an increase in revenue.

In September the team received $60 per ton of baled cardboard, but changes in the market have dropped that amount to $45 this month, Severin said. The larger bales of the new machine will probably earn a bit more. If bales are too small, a company will often combine them to make larger ones before taking them to a paper mill. The new baler will produce large enough bales that the companies can take them directly to the mill without combining them.

Keaton Krell, a KU Recycling crew leader, said the new baler will make bales of cardboard that weigh 1,000 pounds, significantly heavier than the 400-500 pound bales the current machine makes.

All revenue goes back into the program to pay for normal operational costs and also large purchases, such as the truck the program purchased in the spring.

The 35,000-square-foot building will also house the facilities operations shops, such as the electric shop and the preventative maintenance shop. KU Recycling will have 5,000 square feet of space in the new building, compared to the 2,500-square-foot building it is currently operating in. The shops will have 25,000 square feet, with the remaining 5,000 square feet to be used for storage.

The building is expected to be fully enclosed by the end of the year and crews will begin work on the interior by late January, Riat said.

Severin said he expects KU Recycling to be in full operation at the building by the middle of the 2007 spring semester.

Boxberger is the only full-time employee in the recycling program. He spends his time handling the materials in the warehouse while a group of about 13 students work part-time assisting him, either in the warehouse sorting material or by picking up the material from the recycling containers on campus.

Severin said he hopes to add one more full-time employee and possibly a few more students if necessary.

“Our student staff kind of increases with demand,” Severin said.

Doug Riat, director of facilities operations, said the project is being funded primarily by the Kansas University Endowment Association. He said the building will cost an estimated $3.2 million.

“Our shops have been in this building for as long as most of us can probably remember, so we have outgrown the space. The space is not adequate for a lot of the functions that we have to perform today in comparison to what they might have been 50 years ago,” Riat said of the move.

KU Recycling will continue to use the old facility for storage of recycled material, Boxberger said.

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The weather changes its mind

A sudden dip in temperature, a dangerous ice storm, and a threat of severe snow at the end of November and beginning of December gave the people of Lawrence and the Public Works Department their first challenge of the season.

According to the National Weather Service, the temperature dipped down 46 degrees from 73 degrees on Nov. 28, to 24 degrees on Nov. 30. During this dip, a rainstorm passing through turned into sleet and ice.

This was coupled with a threatening snow system that only dusted Lawrence. Other Kansas towns south and east of Lawrence were hit much harder.

“We’re in a place that the weather changes on the hour, it’s just our location.” saidDave Braaten, associate professor of atmospheric science at the University of Kansas. “I can remember not too long ago when the weather was 86 degrees with tropical storms at midday, and snow fall by night. That’s Kansas.”

According to Professor Braaten, this weather would be uncommon for any other state but Kansas is a fickle and capable of changing temperatures very quickly. He said that Kansans shouldn’t expect this winter to be any worse than previous winters.

Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association—which runs the better known National Weather Service—also said that this winter should be no different from any other winter in the past

“Kansas has a continental climate the way it is set up,” Feltgen said, “It’s a battle ground for many different fronts and winds. That makes it very volatile; almost an atmospheric tug-of-war.”

Feltgen went on to explain that this winter will be an El-niño winter, meaning that higher climates near the equator will bring more moisture up from the gulf area. This can provide for a very moist and possibly very warm winter.

Feltgen assures that the recent teeter-tottering of temperature isn’t characteristic of winter or any particular season, it’s characteristic of Kansas. He said that Kansas should simply expect ice and snow in the winter, along side days of temperate weather.

Lawrence Strikes back

When ice hits the streets, so does the Lawrence Public Works Department crew. They spread a combination of sand and salt. Salt provides a chemical reaction that melts the ice, and sand provides traction for tires.

Just to be sure they were prepared for the weather that hit, Charles Soules, Director of the LPWD, had his crew do a test run of the plows and salt spreaders.

Soules said this is to ensure that the workers would know their routes, plows, equipment and what to expect when winter hit, said Charles Soules, Director of the LPWD.

“We wanted to make sure that the crew was comfortable with their routes and any new streets out there,” said Soules. “So they drove their trucks around to get to know what they’re doing.”

Soules said that, had it not been for this preparation, the ice storm and snow flurry that hit last week would have caused a lot more harm considering how quickly the temperatures dropped.

Soules also said that he doesn’t expect this to be a horrible winter. He said that this was just Kansas showing off its dramatic weather patterns that the National Weather Service described.

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Many students walk past the Max Kade Center for German-American studies everyday, never knowing what’s inside. This house, tucked in behind the University of Kansas radio station KJHK, is the research center for eight ongoing projects.

The Max Kade Center, named after a prominent German businessman, also acts as an office for professors, staff, as well as a home for visiting professors from Germany. The KU German department also hosts conferences, workshops and lectures at the Center. It’s main significance deals with the projects that are being put together there.

One of the ongoing projects is the Alexander von Humboldt Digital Library. The von Humboldt Digital Library encompasses old technologies with new ones. Researchers at the Center are taking von Humboldt’s volumes of works from his travels to the Americas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and are scanning them into a computer and then are putting them online. The hope for this project is to share the 23 volumes of his observations with the public by posting them on the Internet.

Frank Baron, KU German professor and director of the Max Kade Center, understands the importance of the Internet today, and why it plays a crucial role in his research. “Students today can go to the Internet and get material, but it is usually something that has already been discovered and put on the Internet. What’s fascinating is discovery and discovering something that nobody else has seen in that particular combination,” said Baron.

The Max Kade Center houses a collection of von Humboldt’s texts and drawings. Their importance to history and science are quite noteworthy. “We’ve been collecting all of the evidence about Humboldt’s influence on (Charles) Darwin, and it represents that connection between those two figures. It represents the history of the humanities and the sciences in the first half of the 19th century. It is quite important,” Baron said. “I think it’s important in Kansas to understand a little better what evolution is all about.”

While von Humboldt’s research is fascinating, finding a way to put them on the Internet in such a way that a layperson looking at them gets a feel for what von Humboldt was actually researching is the difficult part. This part of the project is left up to Armin Graf, Seattle senior.

Graf is one of a couple assistants that help put together von Humboldt’s works to put them on the Internet. “Since Doctor Baron realized that I was technically proficient, he put me on the von Humboldt Digital Library,” Graf said. “I am happy because I got to learn a lot of technology and learning a lot about Web development in general. I had a little bit of experience, but I actually got to use it.”

Graf has traced von Humboldt’s trip to the Americas using the computer program Google Earth. With the help of other designers, they put links to specific parts of von Humboldt’s texts on the Google Earth map, making it entirely interactive.

Besides the Alexander von Humboldt Digital Library, the Center has also helped put together another large project. By large, one means the entire state of Kansas. The Linguistic Atlas of Kansas German Dialects has taken the German-American relationship and used the state of Kansas as a sampling site.

William Keel, KU German professor and chair of the German department, is in charge of the Linguistic Atlas project. “I started at KU in 1978 and immediately became aware that there were major concentrations of Germans in the state, and that in some of those communities that the immigrant language or dialect from Germany was still alive to some extent,” Keel said.

Keel decided to document and record these dialects in order to display, geographically, the German dialects in Kansas. “It is a map-based collection of digitized dialect recordings that researchers and the general public can access via the Internet,” Keel said.

German dialects are highly prevalent in Kansas, as almost half of the population in Kansas comes from German ancestry. “The German dialects in Kansas are just as much a part of the (cultural) landscape of Kansas as are the Flint Hills or Tall Grass Prairies. Using a map we can easily show the interested researcher or layperson where various dialects of German are spoken,” Keel said. “Whether it is Low German near Bremen, Kan., Volga German in Schoenchen, Bohemian German near Ellis, Swiss German in Bern, Kan., or even Pennsylvania Dutch among the Old Order Amish in Anderson County and Reno County, each dialect has its local community and a map that shows it quite well.”

Keel said that almost every kind of German dialect is found in Kansas. As he put it, finding dialects in Kansas was like “hitting the mother lode in a gold mine.” The Linguistic Atlas is still in progress, but the subjects of the project are becoming harder to find as German dialects are slowly going unused and forgotten. Some communities are embracing their heritage. Baron said a community in Kansas is taking German classes to learn a certain dialect that has ties within that area.

The Max Kade Center got its start in 1965 after contributions from Max Kade himself. Kade was born in Germany in 1882 and eventually found himself in New York with a patent on a common cough remedy, Pertussin. With this patent came fame and fortune, and he used that fame and fortune to help out education in the United States and Germany by donating money for scholarships and other educational necessities.

Max Kade and the Max Kade Foundation have nearly single-handedly funded the Center at the KU, and both professors and students use what he has given to the University.

“I do dialect research and am involved in the (Linguistic Atlas Project) through my dissertation,” said Jörg Meindl, KU graduate student. “It is a very nice place with a great book collection. There are many books you cannot find in other libraries at KU that you can find here. It's a nice gathering place for presentations and receptions.”

The Center houses nearly three floors of books and materials. Books in this Center are found in not only in German, but also in nearly 20 other languages. These books are all vital in the research that takes place in the Center. “Working here gives people an opportunity to develop the resources to make them available for research for studies and for classes,” Baron said.

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The new Sony PlayStation 3 hit the stores last month amidst production problems, disappointing reviews and plenty of competition. Somehow it’s still managing to be one of the most highly demanded items for the holidays.

Wal-Mart electronics associate Jeff Fail said his store only had 10 consoles on the November 17 release date and sold them immediately.

“The manufacturers didn’t have their ducks in a row,” he said.

It was a similar story at Toys “R” Us on North Broadway Street in Kansas City. The store only received six consoles from Sony, according to electronics associate Adam Grossman, four which cost $600 and had 60 Gb of memory, and two which cost $500 and had 20 Gb of memory. Grossman said that over 100 people showed up hoping to wait in line for a PlayStation.

Leavenworth senior Blakely Henshaw and Austin, Texas senior Dustin Smith were two of the first six in line, but they had no intentions rushing home to try out the new systems. They’d already listed the $600 60 Gb PlayStation 3 on eBay with bids closing out at $2,100.

Henshaw and Smith said they talked with employees about their plans to make profits on eBay while they were waiting in line. The next day when they went into the store to claim their purchase, they said they were told that they would be getting PlayStations with just 20 Gb instead of the 60 Gb they’d been promised. Smith said he thinks that an employee took the 60 Gb PlayStation that he was waiting in line for. He had to contact the buyer on eBay and let him know about the mix-up and is now trying to sell the 20 Gb for $1,000. He and Henshaw contacted the Toys “R” Us corporate office to complain about the situation.

“I had it set up so perfectly,” Smith said of the eBay auction, “ending at the right time and everything. I’m pissed.”

Electronics associate Adam Grossman confirmed that there were originally four 60 Gb Playstations but said he didn’t know about the situation involving Smith and Henshaw.

“I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but I haven’t heard about it,” he said.

The stores don’t expect any more units in time for Christmas, leaving many to shop on eBay. Over 25,000 PlayStations are listed on the site, ranging in price from just under a thousand for most 20Gb units without accessories to $50,000 for Santa Clause himself to deliver a 60 Gb unit.

The large resale market may stem from the success many had last year reselling the Xbox 360 after its release in November 2005. Overland Park senior Dan Ryckert bought an Xbox 360 for $400 and resold it for $750 on eBay.

“I was in the line for the 360 and most of us were keeping it…but people that did eBay it made big profits, so everyone was like ‘whoa, hey, let’s do this,’ so they waited for the PS3 but there were so many more people selling the PS3 than the 360 and it brought down the price,” he said.

Despite the disappointment of less than expected profits, Henshaw and Smith said they’d camp out again if given the opportunity.

“It’s a good way to spend a night and make some money,” he said.

He’s not quite ready to forgive the employee that he thinks took the last 60 Gb PlayStation 3 though.

“I’m trying to get that guy fired,” he said. “because it’s illegal what he did.”

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Over 100 students participated in the Alternative Breaks program this year, going to various cities in the United States to volunteer during their Spring Break or Winter Break. Those students that don’t have the funds or time to go to a different city, though, can volunteer for the Alternative Weekend Breaks program, which allows people to stay close to home.

“The program fits into the busy college schedule,” Alternative Weekend Breaks co-director Elizabeth Cattell said. “Some students just can’t commit to an entire week.”

The Alternative Breaks program started in 1995 with one Spring Break trip, and it has continued to grow since then. “It has gotten more popular,” Alternative Breaks public relations co-director Steve Nichols said. “Now there are five sites for Winter Break and up to 10 for Spring Break; we have a weekend program as well.”

Each month about five to six students in the Weekend Breaks program volunteer at a place close to Lawrence. Students involved in the program pay an initial fee of $10 and then pay $5 for every site that they go to afterwards.

This year the students have already been to three sites for the program: the Atchison House, the Meadowlark Hills Retirement Center and the Ronald McDonald House . The Atchison House in Lawrence is a group home for people with mental disabilities. The volunteers worked on cleaning up a 15-passenger bus for them, helping out workers that don’t have a lot of time. “I feel like we helped out a lot at the house because we cleaned the handicap van, helping out with something that would normally be overlooked,” Alternative Weekend Breaks co-director Rachel Glover said.

In October, students went to the Meadowlark Hills Retirement Center in Manhattan. Because October is a month where elderly residents don’t receive a lot of visitors, the students were able to visit with them and keep them company. “We don’t always do a big project where the impact is life-changing, but we try and do little things that matter in the end and help the workers,” Cattell said.

The Ronald McDonald House in Topeka helps children with serious illnesses, and the students helped out by raking leaves and cleaning some of the house. “We don’t normally have volunteers that can help with things outside the house,” Ronald McDonald House Manager Kristen Roth said. “Anyone that raked the leaves helped out a ton because we have tons of trees and not much time to rake them.”

The break is usually far enough out of town that the students carpool together on Friday night and then volunteer on that Saturday. “It’s nice to have that evening for everyone to get to know each other and to talk about what we’re going to be doing,” Cattell said.

That Friday night they try to sleep at the site where they will volunteer. They also discuss the social issues that they will help with, such as people with mental disabilities, health issues, homelessness and dealing with the elderly. They make a craft project, such as painted pumpkins, doorknob hangers or hand turkeys for the site as well. “The program really taught me about some of the different issues I didn’t know about, such as mental disabilities and homelessness,” Glover said. “In college, you forget to think about life outside of it; Alternative Breaks gives people the opportunity to think on their feet and look at things differently.”

Students in the Weekend Breaks program just have to apply to be accepted, and the program has yet to turn anyone away. Next semester, Cattell hopes to plan bigger events that will involve more people, such as End of the Streets week, a week that is dedicated to giving students opportunities for community service.

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The University of Kansas Student Senate has passed a new referendum for a special election to increase transit fees to buy newer buses and create a fare free system.

The referendum includes a proposal to raise the mandatory student bus fee by $15 to create an unlimited access system to all students on campus. This would grant each student free access to KU on Wheels at all times without needing to purchase a bus pass that currently costs $150. It would also include another $20 raise in fees that would be used to buy cleaner buses that create less pollution and are better for the environment. In total, the fees would add up to an additional $35 on top of the $16 mandatory fee that students currently pay, coming to a total of $51 a semester.

The referendum passed through the Student Senate by a unanimous vote on Wednesday, Dec. 6.

“This election will allow students the chance to vote on whether or not they would like to increase their fees to increase the quality of service they would receive in regards to transit,” KU on Wheels Transportation Coordinator Jessica Mortinger said.

After passing through the Student Senate, the referendum will now be put up for a student body vote on Feb. 14 and 15.

The proposed referendum comes on the heels of a new report released by the consultant team of Dan Boyle & Associates. The report has recommended that the Lawrence city transit system merge with the university bus systems in an effort to make it easier for users to get around the city.

The suggestion of the report is to gradually merge the city-operated T-system with the university operated park-and-ride system and the student-operated KU on Wheels service. KU on Wheels would then stop selling passes to individual students, just like in the proposed referendum by the Student Senate, and instead make every student pay about $54 a semester in bus fees.

The report claims that the increase in student fees would go a long way in improving the transit system for all Lawrence residents by providing the funding necessary to make other needed improvements. These improvements include extending the hours that the city and campus buses run, creating a significant number of new routes and the use of a newly purchased fleet of buses.

The report includes four different proposals that could possibly work, although it could take up to several months for the city to decide which proposal it will go with. Because of this uncertainty, KU student senators like Mortinger remain unconvinced of what exact changes will be made.

“The consultant report is simply a recommendation, each party can choose the things they do and do not like to plan for the future,” Mortinger said.

Some members of the Student Senate, like Nathan Ladd, Effingham senior, are skeptical of whether or not a fee increase to create a free bus for all students is even necessary, regardless of whether it is the city or the student body controlling it.

“Such a small population of the campus rides the buses and I myself have never ridden on a KU bus, so I’m not sure how well it would work for KU students,” Ladd said.

Statistics show that less than 20% of KU students purchase bus passes each semester. According to a report provided by the KU Parking and Transit Department, 2,893 passes to KU on Wheels have been sold as of late November. In addition, the university has sold 915 passes for the park-and-ride lot located at Clinton Parkway and Iowa Street.

However, fears that the new park-and-ride bus that brings students, faculty and staff from the lot on West Campus to the Main Campus free of charge would result in a reduced number of students purchasing KU on Wheels passes have proved to be unfounded. Sales for the park-and-ride bus are up slightly since last year, but passes to KU on Wheels have not gone down significantly. The referendum does not include any changes to the park-and-ride system.

“The park-and-ride bus is not having an impact on KU on Wheels because there has always a park and ride before, it was just in a different location at the Lied Center, so its not much of a difference,” Mortinger said.

Any changes agreed upon by the Student Senate, University and city will still have to go through a series of logistical and planning hurdles, the greatest of which may be approval by the student body.

Students who drive their own cars to and from class are critical of the plans to raise the mandatory student transit fee.

Caleb Smith, Topeka junior, said that he pays enough for his parking permit and therefore does not think he should be made to pay for any additional mandatory bus fees.

“I find it ridiculous that I might have to pay an extra $70 a year for a bus service that most people, including myself, would never even use,” Smith said.

Transportation expert Danny Kaiser believes that the increase in student fees must be made to improve the city's transit situation. Kaiser, KU’s Assistant Director for Parking and Transit, is pleased with the results of the Boyle report and believes that its recommendations are a good roadmap for future planning with the city.

“The recommendation for the increased student bus fees are logical and will entice more students to take advantage of transit, which will result in less traffic and parking congestion,” Kaiser said.

Mortinger said that a problem with the students accepting the recommendations in the Boyle report is that the students want to keep control over their bus system at all costs.

“We would never give up control of something that we are contributing money too,” Mortinger said.

No matter what happens with the proposed changes regarding student fees, Lawrence Transit General Manager Mike Sweeten is happy to see that steps are being taken to improve the transportation options for all Lawrence residents.

“The coming together of the systems is a natural progression that would come with great benefit to both the University and the community as a whole,” Sweeten said.

“I think all the discussion about the transit systems is wonderful for the city.”

Posted by Joseph Caponio at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

‘Tis the season for shopping and this year gift cards are on everyone’s list. National gift card sales are expected to reach an all time high this holiday season.

Their widespread availability and convenience have made gift cards on 56 percent of consumer’s shopping lists. Local Lawrence boutiques do not expect to see the same national results but agree that popularity in gift cards continue to be on the rise.

“I think the popularity in gift cards comes from the fact that they are more widely available and more people are seeing the benefits of using them,” Lynnae Edwards, Olathe senior, said. “They can be used at any time, they are convenient to transport and can fit the tastes of some of the more picky recipients on people’s lists.”

According to the fourth annual National Retail Federation survey (NRF), conducted by BIGresearch, sales in gift cards are expected to increase by about 34 percent. In 2005, sales reached $18.58 billion. This year, sales are expected to increase by over $6 billion and reach a total of about $25 billion.

Joe Flannery, president of Weaver’s Department Store, 901 Massachusetts St., said his store has seen significant increases in gift card sales for the past four years. He saw a 20 percent increase last year and said he will continue to see figures rise this year. But for local boutique stores, like Britches, 843 Massachusetts St., gift card sales have not fluctuated since the beginning of the holiday season.

“I think our gift card sales aren’t increasing because we are a smaller store in a college town,” said Abby Blackwell, Britches manager. “Not a lot of people know we even offer gift cards.”

Some stores set goals for their gift card sales. Blackwell said Britches employees are instructed to remind their customers of gift card availability, but added that they do not rely heavily on these sales. Other chains, like Texas Roadhouse, 5901 SW Huntoon St., Topeka, Kan., have set goals for their employees.

Alyssa Moran, Texas Roadhouse employee, said Texas Roadhouse made $125,000 in gift card sales last year during November and December. This year, their goal is to sell $175,000 during the same months.

“It’s great for the company because 75 percent of the money comes back in January and February, which are generally slower months,” Moran said.

Stores receive this benefit from selling gift cards. Consumers purchase their desired amount but this purchase is not registered as a sale until its recipient redeems the gift card. The majority return in January and February.

“Most of our gift cards return right after the holidays. That’s when we have our larger after-holiday sale,” Flannery said.

The average amount spent by a single consumer is also expected to increase by about 32 percent. According to the NRF, the average consumer spent around $88 last year. This year, the average consumer will spend about $116.

“Our customers usually spend around $50 to $75 per gift card,” Flannery said.

“Usually, customers will come in looking to buy a pair of boots and realize that boots cost around $200,” said Tim Arensberg, owner of Arensberg’s Shoe Store, 825 Massachusetts St. “Instead, they usually end up buying a $100 gift card to help their friend or relative get closer to buying the boots they want.”

The business in selling gift cards has become popularized through sidewalk posters and TV advertising.

“At our store, our gift card sales rely on our advertising because we are a new restaurant in Lawrence,” Ron Green, Spangles assistant store manager, said. “Word of mouth is very important. We hope that people who like our store will let others know about our food by giving them a gift card for Christmas.”

Green has seen a lot of consumers come in to buy $20 to $30 gift cards. Spangles also offers a promotion that if a consumer buys a $10 gift card they can receive a $20 savings card.

“Our business is really busy during the holidays,” Green said. “We just hope that these gift cards bring in traffic after the holidays are over.”

Some consumers feel that buying gift cards is the easy way out but the majority does not care if that is true. In the same survey, about 80 percent polled said they planned on buying gift cards for Christmas and over half said gift cards are on their wish list.

“They are just easy because the person buying the gift doesn't have to worry about getting the wrong thing and the recipient doesn't have to worry about pretending to like something and then having to return it secretly for store credit,” said Elizabeth Tschetter, Borders sales associate.

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A professor from the University of Kansas was part of an international team who claims to have dispelled evidence that skeletal remains found in Indonesia in 2003 represent a new species of small humans.

David Frayer, professor of anthropology, says that the specimen, nicknamed “hobbit” after the small creatures in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” was actually a female Homo sapiens dwarf.

The remains were found in Liang Bua Cave on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 by a research team led by Mike Morwood, archaeologist from the University of New England in Australia. The 18,000-year-old remains were believed to be a new species and were called Homo floresiensis.

Peter Brown, archaeologist from UNE and co-discoverer of the hobbit, said the hobbit may have evolved from an Australopithecine – the same genus as Lucy – that somehow made it to Flores.

“We initially thought Homo erectus moved to the island,” Brown said. “Now we think it is a small-bodied and small-brained ancestor that came to Flores. We think it was an Australopithecine.”

Frayer said that the hobbit resembles pygmies who live within a mile of Liang Bua Cave today, except that it had a smaller brain. Pygmies are people who have an average height of less than 5 feet, but don’t have dwarfism. He said that the hobbit has similar teeth to the local pygmies, who have a tradition of burying their dead in Liang Bua Cave.

When an article about the original find was published in Nature in 2004, Frayer noticed several things described in the article that indicated that the hobbit skeleton was something other than a new species.

Frayer studied photos of the hobbit and noticed that the two halves of its skull were asymmetrical. He also noted that it had a small braincase. Frayer said the brain-to-body ratio of the hobbit was only one-third of what a human of its size, about 3 feet in height, would be expected to have. This indicated to Frayer and his colleagues that the hobbit had microcephaly, a form of dwarfism characterized by having an abnormally small head with a small braincase.

Brown said that the brain-to-body ratio of the hobbit was not disproportionate. He said the hobbit was about the size of a chimpanzee with the brain the size of a chimp's.

Frayer said: “The reason it was so astounding is because it had a small brain associated with complicated tools. People recognized this immediately about the hobbit. ... It’s a pathology that’s no different than any other pathology.”

Frayer also said that Flores, Indonesia, is not isolated far enough from the other islands of the Indonesian archipelago for a new species to evolve. One of the Frayer’s colleagues demonstrated that during different times of glaciation, sea levels would have been low enough that Flores wouldn’t have been separated by much, if at all, from the other islands of the Indonesian archipelago. Therefore, humans living on Flores would have been subjected to evolutionary forces like genetic drift – gene flow from outside the island – and would not have been isolated enough to evolve into a new species.

In fact, according to Frayer, Flores could have been subjected to genetic drift even if it was separated by large stretches of open sea.

“Modern humans were sailing to Australia by the sea 60,000 years ago. If not, then certainly by 30,000 years ago. It is an underappreciated aspect of human technology that early humans were sailing around a lot.”

Brown said Flores was isolated enough for a new species to evolve. He said that some of the underwater trenches around Flores are 1,000 meters deep so that no animal could have walked to the island. He said that the hobbit had floated to the island by accident.

Frayer said that some scientists would argue for a new species for any skeleton that is slightly different than another specimen.

“There are people who will go find a mandible of living people, say, in Australia and then go find the mandible of a living people in Finland and some people would argue they were different species, but they know they aren't because they can interbreed,” Frayer said.

“Rather than to jumping to the conclusion that we have a new species of humans that is completely off the scale compared to other primates, let alone humans, it seems more reasonable to describe it as a pathological specimen,” Frayer said.

Brown addressed the criticisms to his research.

“They haven’t provided any evidence,” Brown said. “They have not found any modern human in Flores from that time period or any modern human with the pathology described.”

He said that Frayer’s team believes in a single lineage for human evolution and doesn’t acknowledge that there may have been many other hominid species that went extinct.

“We are happy with the belief that there were many branches in the human lineage that went extinct. Some lineages were successful, while others didn’t make it,” Brown said.

“We believe that Homo floresiensis went extinct from a volcanic eruption on Flores,” Brown said.

Jim Mielke, chairman and professor of the anthropology department, has been following the hobbit controversy.

“I find it very hard to believe that there is a different species on Flores Island,” Mielke said.

Mielke said that according to the out-of-Africa hypothesis, modern humans would have been migrating into Indonesia in the time period that the hobbit lived. The small population on Flores would have experienced genetic drift.

Like Frayer, Mielke also believes that the asymmetry of the hobbit’s skull indicates that it is not a new species.

“The asymmetry is absolutely awful, which you don’t get in human populations without pathology,” Mielke said.

Brown said that research on Homo floresiensis is continuing and that they will have a lot more researching coming out in the next year.

For ongoing commentary about the hobbit controversy, check out the John Hawks Anthropology Weblog.

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The Biological Survey at the University of Kansas is taking steps to help preserve the endangered plant Mead’s milkweed.

Mead’s milkweed has been listed as endangered by the Missouri Department of Conservation and listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1988. Since then, KU faculty and students have been working on conserving the plant. The work went even farther last week at a symposium on the species, where the Survey took new initiatives with the federal agency in creating a recovery plan.

“One of the biggest things identified in the recovery plan is additional survey work,” Associate Scientist Craig Freeman said. “We know that there are other populations out there that will be discovered by survey work.”

Other plans in conserving the plant include researching it in labs to find out more about the DNA make-up and reproductive system.

“Our main focus is to understand the biology of the species better,” said Helen Alexander, professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology. “If we don’t understand the biology, we can’t do much about it.”

Another process the Survey is using is acquiring land throughout Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa where Mead’s milkweed is found. By buying this land, researchers can protect the remaining populations of the species still in existence.

“There are also conservation land easements where a land owner will give up development rights for a piece of ground and in exchange, they receive a tax break,” Freeman said.

Mead’s milkweed was first discovered in Illinois in 1843 by Dr. Samuel Barnum Mead. In Kansas, it can be found on the prairies in the east side of the state. The plant was placed on the threatened species list in 1988.

KU students are also helping with the conservation of Mead’s milkweed. Bernadette Kuhn, Courtland senior, has written her own version of a recovery plan, which she presented to the research team.

“I was looking more at what protection was available, in terms of taking care of what we already have,” Kuhn said.

Though Mead’s milkweed may not seem like an important or exciting plant, researchers are confident that they are doing the right thing by trying to conserve it.

“It’s important to realize that what we here at KU and in general care about is a much larger issue, which is biodiversity,” Alexander said. “If we can learn how to preserve this one species, where it does have federal protection, that will help us in the larger goal preserving prairie ecosystems.”

Dean Kettle, associate director of the KU Field Station & Ecological Reserves, agrees that preserving Mead’s milkweed is just one piece in a much bigger picture.

“You could say that by focusing on this plant, we are focusing on the overall problem facing our ecosystems,” he said. “I think it’s an overall indicator of the condition of the prairie.”

And all researchers agree that if Mead’s milkweed is to be saved, it has to start here.

“Ninety percent of the populations are in eastern Kansas and western Missouri,” Freeman said. “If we’re going to protect the species, it’s going to be done in this part of the world.”

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