Multimedia Reporting (Kuhr-Volek)

The KU Writing Center has gone online. The Center has an instant messaging (IM) system available for students who want help writing their papers and may not necessarily want to make the trip to the Writing Center located in Wescoe Hall.

If students have access to the Internet and have an AOL, MSN, Yahoo! or ICQ instant messaging account, they can add the Writing Center’s address or screen name, listed on the Writing Center Web site, and communicate with a consultant online any time that the Center is open.

Moira Ozias, interim director of the KU Writing Center, said the Center created the instant messaging system “in order to be able to communicate with students in ways that were... comfortable for them.”

Ozias said that the Center primarily uses IM to answer students’ questions about Center hours, appointments and how to cite sources. She said the most beneficial aspect of the system is the ease with which students can receive writing guidance.

“It’s convenient,” Ozias said. “If they have their laptops on and connected to the internet and have a question for us, they can find the answer right away, without even having to search for their phones in their bags.”

Many students who use the Writing Center have enjoyed the new system. Maggie Taylor, Seneca, Kan. junior, said she liked being able to instant message someone at the Center while she was working on a paper.

“It’s so great,” Taylor said. “I use the Writing Center a lot, and this makes it easier to get help whenever I need it. I can just get online, ask my questions and keep typing up my paper.”

The Writing Center is available for appointments by phone or e-mail. Online appointments and walk-in visits will be available starting Feb. 5.

Roundabouts. Traffic circles. The things known as "traffic-calming devices." Both are designed to slow or direct traffic on busy streets, but do they work? Some people appreciate them, but some wish Lawrence did not have them.

First, what is a traffic circle, and how is it different from a roundabout? A traffic circle directs cars the same way as a roundabout, but it is much smaller. In Lawrence, these are usually yellow and have yellow poles around them. Roundabouts are bigger, more expensive and usually have some decoration in the middle, like flowers or plants.

Roundabouts:

Brenna Erickson lives on the 700 block of Michigan Street, right in front of a roundabout. She said, in general, she liked the roundabout.

“It works,” Erickson said. “It makes the cars slow down and makes people pay more attention to their driving.”

However, Erickson also said that the roundabout can be dangerous during the winter.

“When it’s icy, my car slides all around, and it’s hard to maneuver through it.”

Caitlin Ogren, Kansas City, Kan. senior, also lives on Michigan Street near the same roundabout. She said she would rather not have a roundabout at that location.

“I hate it,” Ogren said. “It causes more confusion than anything. I don’t really see why we need one there anyway.”

Traffic Circles:

Liz Flannery dislikes the traffic circle outside her house on the corner of 17th and Illinois streets. She said she did not know why the circle was necessary.

“I know Illinois is busy, but I never saw any problems before the circle was put in,” Flannery said. “It made me mad when they put it there, and it still makes me mad to think about it.”

The series of Illinois traffic circles are also bothersome to postal workers.

Karen McCoy delivers mail along Illinois Street and thinks the circles could cause problems at times of heavy traffic.

“When classes are out, lots of students drive through here, and I worry about it,” McCoy said. “They’re just dangerous.”

McCoy said she does not have any problems driving through the circles with her mail truck, but she would still like to see them taken out. She thinks the stop signs at each intersection are enough to keep traffic under control.

Indiana is another street in Lawrence sprinkled with traffic circles. Tom Stacy lives on the 1700 block of Indiana Street and believes the City has wasted money on the traffic circle outside his house.

“If you want to spend thousands of dollars and receive no discernable benefit, then yes, put in a traffic circle,” Stacy said.

Stacy also said that many people do not know how the circle works.

“It has successfully created lots of confused drivers,” he said. “I see people go the wrong way around it every day.”

The traffic circles on Indiana Street, according to Stacy, make the road too narrow. He said people with larger cars and SUVs have trouble driving around them because they do not have enough room. The drivers then run over the curb on their way through, he said, which ruins the curb.

Pedestrians:

How do roundabouts and traffic circles affect people on foot?

Jonathan Glauner often walks down Illinois Street, crossing the road several times near traffic circles. He said they do not bother him.

“I’ve never had a problem with them,” Glauner said. “People slow down when they go around them, and it actually gives me more time to cross the street.”

Carolyn Sears, Kansas City, Kan. senior, does not feel the same way about her walk home from class. She said she gets nervous crossing the Michigan roundabout each day.

“It scares me,” Sears said. “I never know if cars are going to keep driving on around, or stop for me.”

Rather than make a mad bolt for the other side, Sears said she frequently stands on the roundabout until all traffic has passed.

“I don’t want to risk it,” she said.

Traffic Abroad:

Is the United States the only country with a traffic-calming trend?

Lauralyn Bodle teaches Italian at the University of Kansas and has traveled several times to Europe and Central America. She said that both places have an abundance of traffic circles and roundabouts.

“They work very well,” Bodle said. “People are completely comfortable with them.”

Bodle said that she would like to see more roundabouts and traffic circles in America and here in Lawrence.

“I think the resistance to them here is ridiculous.”

Roundabouts. Traffic circles. Do they work? Some say they successfully slow traffic, and some say they successfully create traffic problems. Some find that they make life as a driver and pedestrian easier, and some find that they make everything harder.

“Not another bank!”

You may have seen these words posted on a sign that used to sit on 31st and Iowa streets. The sign boasted the arrival of a new Peoples Bank for that location. Peoples announced in March 2004 that it bought the land at 31st and Iowa and intended to build a new bank. But after three years, Peoples has only replaced the old sign with new signs that mark a still empty lot.

One of the new signs now projects an opening date of Fall 2007 for the Peoples Bank. Peoples promises on the other sign that it will break ground “real soon.”

The signs appear to be correct. Peoples is about to build its third branch in Lawrence. But why has it taken so long? Maley Wilkins, president of Peoples Bank, attributed the delay to price negotiations.

“We had some trouble settling on a price with the architects,” Wilkins said. “It has taken longer than I thought, but we should be up and running in about nine months.”

Wilkins said she is still waiting to hear the final price quote.

Peoples is working with Chris Cunningham of Treanor Architects to build the new bank. Cunningham also worked with Peoples in 1999 to build the bank on 6th and Wakarusa. He, like Wilkins, said that price negotiations caused the building delay.

“The cost of construction is going up in Lawrence,” Cunningham said. “It’s hard to get the price back down to where everyone wants it, but we are working through it.”

Just the Facts :

Peoples Bank currently has 14 branches in two states in the United States. It has nine branches in Kansas, two of those being in Lawrence, and five branches in New Mexico.

Peoples opened a branch on 23rd and Harper streets in 1999, even before the construction of its main office in Lawrence. The 23rd and Harper location is part of Peoples Plaza, which features a convenience store and liquor store.

The main office on 6th and Wakarusa opened later in 1999.

Peoples employs about 200 people in Lawrence. It has more than $334 million in assets for all its branches as of 2006, with a total interest income of almost $25 million, according to the FDIC Web site.

Peoples’ third branch could cost more than $2 million to build.

The Competition :

Lawrence currently has 18 banking institutions and 50 branches.
For instance, Commerce bank is one institution with six branches in the city.

Many people in Lawrence believe that the city is over banked. Mark Gonzales, executive vice president of Capital City Bank, agrees with them to a certain extent.

“From a banker’s competitive standpoint, Lawrence is over banked,” Gonzales said. “We have more banks per household than Johnson County and Shawnee County.”

He added that this fact could also be beneficial.

“For consumers, having a lot of banks is a good thing. It gives you more options and better rates.”

Gonzales was the president of Commerce Bank before he moved to Capital City. He said that the location and number of banks that an institution has is important for success. Commerce has a lot of good locations, he said, and that contributes to its success.

“Consumer banks, or retail banks, really look to branch out,” Gonzales said. “They want the most banks in the best places, and the best places are near households.”

Gonzales said that banking is about consumer convenience. People like to be able to get to their bank easily, no matter where they are, he said. He projected that Peoples will have a hard time growing at its new location with few neighborhoods around. But, he also said that its large presence in Ottawa will be advantageous.

“The bank will be on Highway 59, and that will be good for people coming in and out of Ottawa,” Gonzales said. “It’s all about convenience.”

Banks within Lawrence don’t have too much affect on each other most of the time, said Gonzales. Customer loyalty is usually pretty high, he said, but it has been declining lately. With changes in technology, it is much easier to switch accounts.

The Numbers :

Want to know where other well-known Lawrence banks stand? Here are a few of the numbers:

Capital City Bank has two branches in Lawrence and more than $380 million in assets overall. Commerce Bank has six branches in the city and more than $13 billion in assets overall. Douglas County Bank has seven branches, with more than $208 million in assets, and Emprise Bank has two branches and more than $1 billion in assets.

The Anticipation:

A chain-link fence and a few signs mark the arrival of the next Peoples Bank. Consumers are eager for the project’s completion. Ryan Johnson, a Dodge City junior, drives by those signs day after day on his way home.

“I just want the thing to open,” Johnson said. “I’m tired of going all the way out to Wakarusa or Harper to use my bank.”

Peoples Bank President Maley Wilkins feels the same way as Johnson.

“We are very ready to get things going,” Wilkins said. “You should see some dirt moving soon.”

Insect songs may be more complex than you think. Research on grasshopper song reveals that only the best singers will attract a mate. KUJH-TV's Kaitlyn Syring tells us about these specialized singers.


Double click on this picture to see a video of drosophila courtship.
Courtesy of Dr. Jennifer Gleason

Click the following names to listen to grasshopper songs:
Acridid Grasshopper
Pallid-Winged Grasshopper
Red-Winged Grasshopper

Click here to listen to the song of one type of fly, Drosophila robusta.

Stacy Watson says she hates the dark circles under her eyes, the clear signs that she had a sleepless night.

“It happened last night,” Watson said. “Every time it happens, I sleep horribly the rest of the night.”

The Topeka senior is one of the millions of people who jerk awake during the night or right before falling asleep. This jerking motion, called a hypnic or hypnagogic jerk, occurs in 60 to 70 percent of the population, according to a Web site maintained by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. The latest research on hypnic jerks reveals a number of causes, from anxiety to caffeine.

The Causes:

Most people who experience these jerking motions want to know two things: What causes it, and what can I do about it?

Barbara Heinz is a technician in the Sleep Disorders Center at the KU Medical Center. Heinz said the exact cause is not clear, but hypnic jerks, also called sleep starts, most likely happen when a person is preparing to fall asleep.

“Sleep starts occur when a person’s body transitions from wakefulness to sleep,” Heinz said. During this time someone may experience a sensation of falling. She said that this jerking motion can be caused by the muscles of the body trying to relax before sleep and the brain misinterpreting that.

Heinz said such twitching while dozing off is a phenomenon that just seems to accompany the natural sleep process. But when it happens during a deep sleep the causes are different.

“Any series of things could cause that,” she said. “Snoring, breathing problems, teeth-grinding, leg cramps and even nightmares could cause a person to jerk during deep sleep.”

Dr. Lida Osbern of Lawrence Memorial Sleep Disorders Center said sleep anxiety or fatigue may also cause hypnic jerks. The occurrence of hypnic jerks can be cyclical.

If you lose sleep because you constantly jerk awake, you will become fatigued and may develop anxiety or worry about falling asleep. The more worried and tired you are, the more likely you are to jerk awake. The more you jerk awake, the more sleep you lose. Then you are even more tired and more anxious.

Osbern said this process makes it even harder for the brain to distinguish between whether the body is relaxing for sleep or falling down.

“When you have sleep anxiety, the muscles continually attempt to relax and shut down for rest, while your brain remains awake,” Osbern said. “This creates continued misinterpretations of falling or loss of balance.”
Hypnic jerks can also occur when a person has had a lot of caffeine or completes strenuous activities in the evening, according to the American Academy for Sleep Medicine. Both make it harder for your body to move through the natural motions of falling asleep.

The Academy also lists emotional stress as a cause. If you are stressed about school or work or your social life, it is more difficult to doze. You lie in bed feeling like your brain is refusing to shut off. The chances of having a hypnic jerk increase if this goes on too long. Emotional stress functions much like sleep anxiety as a cause for hypnic jerks.

Stacy Watson thinks she jerks awake more often when she is stressed about completing her school work or when she has been sleeping poorly.

“When I have a huge project to do or when I’ve had a lot of late nights, that’s when I seem to jerk myself awake a lot,” Watson said. “It’s so frustrating because I struggle to fall asleep again. I just lay there and think more about that project.”

Prevention:

The America Academy for Sleep Medicine has several suggestions about what you can do to prevent jerking awake. All these factors contribute to better “sleep hygiene,” or a healthier, more effective sleeping routine. Here are a few:

•Make sure you have at least eight hours to devote to sleeping each night.
•Get up at about the same time each morning.
•Avoid exercising six hours before going to bed.
•Set aside time to wind down and relax before sleeping. Take a warm bath or read.
•Avoid drinking soda, coffee or other caffeinated beverages before going to bed.
•Avoid smoking right before bed.
•Try to rid yourself of stressful thoughts or activities in the afternoon.

A Good Night’s Rest:

Watson rubs her eyes and says she plans on adjusting her routine before bed, especially with finals week approaching.

“I’m going to make time to relax in the evening,” she said. “If it helps me get a better night’s rest, I will definitely commit to it. I think I deserve a bubble bath tonight.”

Sleep technicians monitor a patient throughout the night. They read a print-out of the patient's brain and muscle activity, called an epoch, to determine which stage of sleep the patient is in and what the patient is experiencing during that stage. Here is a video example of how a technician evalutates an epoch.

Click here to evaluate how sleep affects your daily activites.
Click here to quiz your knowledge about sleep.