The Spectrum
2
Could be used for medical purposes
February 22, 2010
Someone better step up
VIRTUAL from page 1
GREEN from page 1
many potential uses besides sculpture; according to the company’s Web site, Protean “is exceptionally suited for designing organic as well as inorganic models, from toys to knee joints.” In fact, Protean could ostensibly be used to better create any object not based in simple geometry. Protean acts more efficiently than many other applications because it requires fewer steps to make complex shapes such as curves and lumps. Thenkurussi Kesavadas, director of the UB virtual reality lab, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and co-founder of Tactus Technologies, gives an example of a medical application for the new software. “Say [the doctors] want to make an implant that fits into a specific part of the body – for example, a bone implant,” Kesavadas said. “You can shape it to fit exactly to the body.” Protean’s development began on North Campus in the virtual reality lab. “The idea of taking a lump of virtual clay and getting 3-D shapes out of it was something that we did here,” Kesavadas said. UB’s Virtual Reality Lab and expertise in real-time computer simulation were invaluable in the new software’s development. At first, the research team created an input device designed like a
waste arrive for Ludtka and his workers to dispose of. “That’s 350 buckets that don’t end up in the landfill,” Ludtka said. “We put [the food waste] through and this is what comes out … an organic soil amendment that community gardeners can use to fertilize their soil,” Ludtka said. “Everything that comes from the earth goes back to the earth.” The great thing about it is that it’s kept about half a million pounds out of landfills since June 1. “We want to show people what goes on,” Ludtka said. “[As for recycling], someone better step up. Let’s make it us. One person is a whisper, 100 people are a song.” Ludtka offers tours at the Statler Commissary on the first Wednesday of every month and encourages anyone who is interested to come check out the facilities, including the new food waste decomposer. The recycling associated with UB Campus Dining & Shops is only a part of the recycling effort happening at UB. Erin Moscati, a UB Green environmental educator, is teaching the people on campus about composting, recycling, alternative transportation, and carbon impact – to name a few. UB Green is also trying to make an active effort to get students
Courtesy of UB News
New research into virtual reality has helped make prosthetic joints and limbs more life-like.
glove to register hand gestures and translate them to virtual movement. However, this device soon proved impractical. Instead, Tactus Technologies adapted the software to work with a normal computer mouse. Furthermore, Protean can be used with a haptic device called Falcon, produced by Novint Technologies, Inc., which Kesavadas describes as a “3-D mouse.” With Falcon, “you can feel the clay when you touch it,” Kesavadas said. In other words, the device resists movement when virtual tool meets virtual clay. Tactus develops products that
make the virtual world more accessible and intuitive. Other products offered by Tactus Technologies include V-Frog, virtual dissection software that the UB biology department uses to teach about frog anatomy in an environmentally friendly way. Tactus’s other ambitions include virtual, interactive models for microscopic organisms and subatomic particles. More information on Protean, including an image gallery of models produced by the software, can be found at www.proteanclay.com. E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
involved in recycling on campus by encouraging participation in the “Recycle Mania” competition. This is a 10-week competition of colleges and universities around the country. “We receive real time data that pick up the stats on garbage and recycling on campus. Each week we submit the data and are ranked for how much we’ve diverted … UB wants to be ranked number one among SUNY and one of the top schools nationwide,” Moscati said. Another activity associated with UB Green is something Moscati referred to as “Caught Green Handed.” Every Tuesday between noon and 2 p.m., people on campus seen with reusable water bottles or recycling might be told that they’ve been caught green handed. There are a variety of prizes being handed out, such as tickets to Lasertron, Sabres paraphernalia and gift certificates to restaurants. John Stillman, a senior history major, says the program doesn’t alter his lifestyle. “UB Green isn’t making my choices any different; it really hasn’t affected anything,” Stillman said. Many students may sympathize with this notion, but Moscati is hopeful that her recycling peers will influence the percentage of students who are indifferent about recycling. “By pushing our messages, we are hoping that enthusiasm for recycling will push that extra group of people to recycle. It’s like a stop sign – you don’t need a cop at every corner. People will give you dirty looks,” Moscati said. Recycling might seem like something that is not important, or something that is easier to do tomorrow, but everyone is capable of making the decision to better the environment. “UB Green is doing incredible things for the limited resources that they have,” said Raphael Rosenbaum, a senior environmental studies major. “UB Green will meet us halfway, but us students have to take the step to put recyclables in the recycling bin.” E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
Gun-free GUNS from page 1 themselves, especially on a campus as large at UB’s, where the police to student ratio is low. Mark Webb, leader of UB’s chapter of the Concealed Campus movement, feels that students should be able to carry weapons on campus in case they ever feel the need to defend themselves against a threat. Webb was more than disappointed in the university’s response to Tuesday’s incident. It was this response that led him to mobilize this movement on campus. “UB’s response … as far as getting information [to the faculty and students] was poor. Social networks were much faster,” Webb said. “It took cops 35 minutes to clear out Lockwood. If this was a real shooter, he would have already finished his business and we would have had a body count by then.” Webb feels that having a gun-free campus is really just an invitation to those who want to be violent to carry out their plans. “[The violent people] don’t need to worry about their victims being armed,” Webb said. Dubovsky feels that this is dubious logic, due to the fact that it is, more often than not, impossible to detect or predict when tragedy might strike. “These things happen for many different reasons. These aren’t mentally ill or unstable people. They’re just people who can’t properly deal with anger,” Dubovsky said. “It’s too hard to predict; all you can do is prepare.” E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com