thebattalion ● tuesday,
august 4, 2009
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A latté more space Renovation includes integrating Poor Yorick’s Coffee House and the first floor of the library. The construction will be minimal and is estimated to be completed by Fall 2010.
entrance
Jeremy Northum — THE BATTALION
lounge area
Library, Poor Yorick’s to be renovated By Julie Rambin | The Battalion
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ince June 2007 Evans Library has been planning a $1.2 million first-floor redesign project. More computers, more areas for group study and more comfortable furniture are in the works. Inspirational, adaptable and comfortable are some of the guiding principles for the redesign, said Susan Goodwin, library head of humanities, social sciences and learning and outreach services. “We think this will be a great place to come and get work done collaboratively,” Goodwin said. “We want to make the spaces flexible so students can design the spaces they need for their work.” Student input played a significant role in
ideas for the redesign, said library head of public and research services Dennis Clark. “We asked the students, ‘If you ran the library, how would it look?’ So we put out wall-sized posters of the library where people would mark up what they wanted,” Clark said. “When we got comments from them, we asked more questions.” One common response from students was that the low tables on the first floor were not useful for studying. The committee was surprised by that, Clark said, but higher tables will be purchased for the redesign. Another unexpected response was the lack of interest in gaming options at the library. See Renovation on page 2
Evans Library Ramya Prakash — THE BATTALION Information provided by TAMU University Libraries
A&M professor researches cocaine ■ Barry Setlow receives federal grant to study effects of cocaine on decision-making Rebekah Skelton The Battalion Texas A&M University’s Barry Setlow, a professor in the behavioral and cellular neuroscience program in the Department of Psychology, has received a federal grant of $1.4 million to study the effects of cocaine on decision-making. “We want to know just how little cocaine it takes to cause lasting impairments in decision-making, and how long these impairments last,” Setlow said. “In addition, we want to know how chronic cocaine use affects the brain, and how these brain changes are linked to the alterations in decisions-making.” The grant, which is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, will be distributed over five years, with $400,000 going to the University to pay administrative costs. The remaining $1 million will be used to pay salaries and buy equipment and supplies. Setlow is working with a team of graduate and undergraduate students and technicians in his lab,
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as well as Paul Wellman, another faculty member in the psychology department. Since it is not feasible for the team to use human subjects, they will be using rats, which have been shown to display the same patterns of decision-making as humans, and will use cocaine as readily as humans. The team will give the rats small doses of cocaine until they become addicted. Once the rats become addicted, the team will begin studying how the drug impairs the rats’ decision-making abilities. “By giving rats cocaine and, essentially, making them ‘addicts,’ we are able to determine how cocaine causes these problems and, perhaps most importantly, how brain function and behavior can be restored to normal levels in these addicted rats,” said behavioral and cellular neuroscience graduate student Nick Simon. “If we can develop behavioral or pharmacological therapies to improve the decisionmaking impairments, abnormal motivation for drugs, and impulse control disorders observed in rats with a history of cocaine exposure, these treatments could conceivably be used sometime down the line to reduce addictive behaviors and prevent drug relapse in human drug addicts.” According to a 2006 National
Courtesy Photo
Barry Setlow, a professor in the Department of Psychology, is conducting an experiment on the effects of cocaine on decisionmaking by studying how the drug affects lab rats. Survey on Drug Use and Health, 7.728 million Americans ages 18 to 25 had used cocaine within the previous year. “Obviously, we already know that cocaine is highly addictive and can cause long-term damage to the brain,” Simon said. “What we are interested in as a lab includes which brain structures are altered by cocaine exposure, how these alterations take place, and what are the specific consequences of these changes.”
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said that cocaine is one of the oldest known drugs, and is a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, meaning that it has a high potential for abuse. “If we could figure out where the compulsion for taking the drug … comes from, then we could prevent this from happening,” said behavioral and cellular neuroscience
AggieSat2 transmits weak signal On Thursday, Space Shuttle Endeavour launched AggieSat2 and BEVO-1, picosatellites designed and built by students from Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin. The satellites were connected to each other in the payload bay, and were supposed to separate and begin relaying signals to the ground. “It came out and it took off like it was supposed to,” NASA program manager David Kanipe said. “The problem occurred when they didn’t separate.” The design of the satellites is such that their batteries only become active once the satellites have separated. “They didn’t want to have the batteries active while it was sitting in the payload bay waiting to launch,” he said. “Fortunately, the AggieSat2 has at least been providing a signal … The UT satellite has yet to say anything.” The fact that AggieSat2 has broadcast a weak signal means that its batteries were recharging, suggesting that the satellites may be gradually separating, Kanipe said. “They haven’t given up — they’re still working on it,” he said. “It was very exciting to get it up there and get it moving but it’s unfortunate that it’s not functioning yet.” Julie Rambin, staff writer
See Cocaine on page 2
8/3/09 7:45 PM