0 0 0 U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER 1 18 U.. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER Dollars And Sense. OCTOBER 1988 OCTOBER 1988. Life And Art i r Patient eases others' pain with invention By Craig Lancaster The Shorthorn U. of Texas, Arlington In February 1971, Steve Schuchman was diagnosed as having Hodgkin's Dis- ease, or cancer of the lymph system. He was 19. After a series of full-body radiation treatments, the disease was eliminated, only to return in 1979. Once again, Schuchman had to undergo che- motherapy. As he lay in a hospital battling cancer for the second time, an idea struck him - an idea that won him third place among 1,515 entries nationwide in the Motorola University Design Contest this past June. His winning entry: a device that com- puter-monitors the flow of intravenous (IV) injections. The apparatus utilizes a Motorola microcomputer chip, a re- quisite of the contest. "If I ever go back to the hospital," Schuchman said, "I'm taking this thing with me. I'll experiment on myself. "During chemotherapy, in particular, Moonwalking vehicle rockets Georgia Tech to new heights I-: : X ) O: O LS Inventor Steve Schuchman and his device for monitoring intravenous flow. the immune system is depressed," said Schuchman, now a computer science and engineering assistant instructor at U. of Texas, Arlington. "The chemother- apy drugs damage the veins. A typical IV doesn't last long - the flow stops. "Soon, blood clots form in the needle. All the medical assistants can do is pull out the needle and reinsert it some- where else. I would be stuck with a nee- dle four or five times a day." The device, which can be produced for less than $200, allows flow rate to be programmed both directly into the unit and from a remote computer terminal. An alarm sounds when IV flow stops or is rtot within prescribed limits. By Praveen Murthy The Technique Georgia Institute of Technology It can walk, climb, dig and drill. With programming, it can turn cartwheels. On its side is a university logo. Its name is Skitter, a three-legged robot invented by Dr. Jim Brazell, a mechanical engineering instructor, and graduate students Brice MacLaren and Gary McMurray. Several undergradu- ates also helped out. The robot is part of the NASA/Uni- versity Advanced Space Program. NASA gives contracts to schools in the University Space Research Association to design studies for equipment to be used when man establishes a perma- nent colony on the moon. A prototype of the robot was designed, built and tested for $4,000 and pre- sented to NASA in Washington, D.C. "We blew all the other universities (that did presentations) away because they really never got beyond the draw- ing board," MacLaren said. Skitter went beyond that, winning the Design News 1988 grand prize for excellence in design. "We blew all the other universities (that did presentations) away because they really never got beyond the drawing board." - BRICE MacLAREN Since Skitter is a walking vehicle, it can be very light with effective traction, making use of gravity to bring itself down once it raises a leg. It uses forward momentum to help propel itself, some- what resembling a person on crutches. It can pick up cargo, tilt to aim a drill bit, serve as a crane platform and dig soil without using other equipment. While traditional walking vehicles use four to six legs, Skitter is a tripod and can easily step around obstacles. The team is adding locking wheels to Skitter's legs, enabling it to negotiate hilly terrain. U. of Idaho 'chips' away at space future By Brian Holloway The Argonaut U. of Idaho Scientists and engineers at the U. of Idaho's (UI) Microelectro- nics Research Center (MRC) have developed a series of computer chips, capable of processing 1.6 billion operations per second, that will be used in NASA space satel- lites. The chips will be used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to correct errors in data returning to Earth. The chips are the first of their type, according to Don Wiseman, an electrical engineering student who helped with the project. "These are specialized chips," Wiseman said. "This is the first set of chips to be designed for error corrections." He said the de- sign is what allows the chips to Double Take Is it real? Or is it a clever fake by photographer Schapiro? By Scott Lipsett Daily Trojan U. of Southern California In Hollywood, there was Lon Chaney, the man of a thousand faces. At the U. of Southern Califor- nia (USC), there is Martin Schapiro, the man of, so far, six faces. But Schapiro doesn't do monsters. He does rock stars - big ones. Schapiro and his students recreate photo- graphic images found on album covers. "I had al- ways wanted to be Bruce Springsteen," Schapiro said. "I had a poster of the Born To Run album and I wondered if I could redo it." Schapiro has played a range of characters, from a drunk in Sheila E.'s The Glamorous Life, to Billy Joel's The Stranger, John Cougar Mellencamp's Scarecrow, Bono in U2's The Joshua Tree, and most recently, Sting in Nothing Like The Sun. "As long as there are rock and rollers that I can play, it'll go on," Schapiro said. "When I have to start doing Perry Como or Frank Sinatra, maybe I'll stop." Schapiro came to the USC School of Cinema-Televisio: in 1984 to begin a photography department emphasizin professional techniques. "I don't think I'm really here t just teach photography, I'm here to teach experience," h said. r- Re-creation (above) of Bruce's Born To Run. Schapiro played the Boss. a; -s 7j- -ea User-friendly? Yeah, sure! For many, action starts when the sun goes down Micro Continued From Page 1 engineering into realms that have been, until now, unimaginable," said UCB en- gineering Professor Richard S. Muller, who invented and successfully' tested the tiny motor in July along with two UCB electrical engineering graduate students, Long-Sheng Fan and Yu- Chong Tai. Muller said the development of mic- roscopic cranks, gears and springs in- spired the trio to assemble what is be- lieved to be the world's smallest motor. Muller's rotating motor, designed with notched teeth the size of red blood cells, will open the door to developments in more intricate microsurgery tools, scientific measuring devices and a more compact line of consumer electronics, according to a report released in May by a National Science Foundation (NSF) workshop on micromachinery. Other possible practical medical de- vices cited in the NSF report include a tiny buzzsaw for slicing away scar tis- sue from retinas and "smart pills" which would dispense exact doses of medica- tion through microscopic valves when swallowed. Physicians could also inject micromachines into arteries to scrape away fatty deposits and prevent heart attacks. Not only is the product itself unique, but the manner in which it was created is a breakthrough in technology: The finished product is three thousandths of an inch across and one ten-thousandth of an inch thick. It is made of polycrystaline silicon, the same material used to manufacture computer chips. The micromotor was assembled under similar conditions as computer chips, making mass production of mini- ature machinery a distinct possibility. The polysilicon is sandwiched be- tween layers of a temporary silicon dioxide framework, which dissolves once the motor is assembled. The completion of Muller's machine process information nearly 1,000 By Dirk DeYoung times faster than a personal com- * The Minnesota Daily puter. U. of Minnesota, Twin Cities The MRC designed the chips Midnight. A time when students are and had Ti-Quint, a subsidiary of reading that extra chapter before bed, Tektronix in Beaverton, Ore., getting home from the bar or flipping on fabricate a prototype. Wiseman David Letterman. A time when history said the computer prototypes will major Jennifer Leazer is two hours into be sent into space aboard the her work day. space shuttle for testing. The A junior, Leazer works at Kinko's tests will determine how the pro- Copies from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., Monday totype will perform under the through Wednesday. She said she harsh conditions found in space. works nights because the pay is better The contract to develop the and she can keep her daytime schedule chips was not part of NASA's $7 clear for school work. million research grant given to Leazer is just one of thousands at the UI last spring, but Wiseman work on what Boston U. sociologist said the project's success may Murray Melbin calls "the last frontier." have influenced the agency's We are colonizing the night, much like choice of research universities, pioneers colonized the American West, Melbin said. Since we've run out of land, he reports, we're colonizing time. According to Melbin's estimates, based on 1980 census data, there were at least 3 million people working in 1980 during the quietest hours, from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. At 1 a.m., more than 4.5 million nationwide were still at work. He added that since the eco- nomy is in better shape than in 1980, those numbers could be even higher today. W On campus, the undetermined num- Insomniacs apply here ..Students at a 4 U. of Notre Dam~e can socialp arond the clock thanks 6a concerted push by students to establish a 24-hour lounge on campus' With help from the director of food services, students convinced uni versity officials to convert a cafeteria into a lounge that would remain open seven days a week and ley's micromotor, which is the size of a feature a limited menu "with Cokes, hamburgers, urgery tool is as big as a red blood cell. fries and coffee," said Mike Paese, student body vice president. The lounge will be run on a trial basis for on electrostatic forces because of the anywhere from 90 days to a semester. "Student use large distances between machine parts. will determine the longevity" of the facility, Paese One motor requires about one- said. Mark McLaughlin, The Observer, billionth the amount of current needed U. of Notre Dame, IN to run an electric pencil sharpener, Mul- .. ler said. ber of "pioneer" students include night managers in dormitories, parking ramp attendants, hospital employees and those providing custodial and security services. Philosophy major Durk Thompson is one of the ramp attendants on the graveyard shift at the campus's six 24-hour ramps. "There's not a thing I "There's not a thing I dislike about working nights. The whole world is at your command." - DURK THOMPSON dislike about working nights," he said of his three-late-shift week. "The whole world is at your command." However, Jan Schluter, patient-care coordinator at the Sleep Disorder Cen- ter at Hennepin Medical Center, and many experts claim that overnight work can be unhealthy. It can mix up the worker's circadian rhythms (better known as the body's 24-hour biological clock that adjusts to the way one sleeps), they say, damaging sleep pat- terns and causing extreme fatigue and other ailments. Upsetting this rhythm can result in gastrointestinal problems and sleep de- privation, Schluter said. She acknow- ledges, however, that younger people can adjust their rhythms more easily than older people. Leazer cited sleep deprivation as the biggest drawback to working nights. "Mentally, you can't do anything, espe- cially between 3 and 5 a.m," she said. There are students around campus, however, who are wide-eyed during the wee hours of the morning, yet not hard at work. Some are just night people who love the quiet, relaxed atmosphere that the night provides. A group of dorm residents, who night manager Marc Bervis calls "nocturnal people," hang out every night in the dorm's seventh floor lounge. Sopho mores Jonathan Miller and Robert Zwiefelhofer and freshman Jessica Higg said they spend every night talk ing, studying or watching TV at least until 3 a.m., many times until sunrise They schedule their classes as late as possible and sleep during the day wher they're not in class, Miller said. They agreed, though, that they're night people who love to escape from th( hectic pace of daytime. And there are other advantages. "How many people can say they've watched the sun rise? Higg asked. An artist's rendition of U. of California, Berke human hair. Each rotating tooth on the micros marks the first time scientists have effi- ciently powered machinery using elec- trostatic force, the same reaction re- sponsible for static electricity. Most machines are dependent on a magnetic field to generate energy and cannot run u.mm"umun Pfaows, mf0 Available on dHiFi StereosVideocassetteand CX Stereo Laserdisc. (. Spanish-Subtitled HiFi Stereo VHS Videocassette also Available. - -*R VO - -L