1983_04 Insight April 1983

              CSUF students useTV^w York computer
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While, fees continue to rise, the
cost of computer-based research at
the CSUF library stays two to three
times less expensive than at other
California universities.
Donna Pontau, CSUF's assistant
reference librarian, said a computer
terminal in the library allows
students to research Information on
complex topics stored in a computer
in New York.
Charges for search services vary
from campus to campus. CSU, Santa
Barbara charges fees of $80 to $100
and the University of Southern
California has fees that begin at $50.
"The cost of a search in our campus library is minimal compared to
other universities," said Pontau.
"The price of a search ranges from
$13 to $23 and Is quite extensive in the
number of citations and research you
accumulate. The price is not determined for profitable reasons, but
merely to recover costs. These costs
are based on the connection to the
computer in New York, the telephone
call and the print charges. Patrons
who are not CSUF students or faculty,
must pay an additional fee of $2."
The computer is capable of
researching such fields as
agriculture, biology, business and
education, to name a few. Pontau said
there have been over 300 searches in
the past three years. "Many of these
searches pertain to education involving reading and phonetics. It appears
to be the most popular and heavily
researched area."
Searches requested by the
students are not evenly spread over
the semester. "Most of tbe searches
are conducted during mid-terms and
toward the end of tbe semester," she
said. "There are only four Ubrarians,
including myself, who know how to
use tbe computer — so you can imagine how busy we're kept when those
times of tbe semester roll around."
Many students are unaware that
these computer services exist. Sue
Kazanjian, a senior business major at
CSUF, admits she's one.
"Since I've been at Fresno State,
I've never been aware of the accessibility of a database in our
library. It's time saving and gives you
more in depth information on where
the articles are, rather than rumaging
through the printed indexes where, in
fact half the time you can't even find
the  information  you   need,"  said
The library does not advertise the
use of the terminal. Instead, library
workers depend on channels that are
less expensive.
"Word of mouth is the best way to
make known of the faculties we
offer," said Pontau. "Faculty also
plays a large part along with flyers
and brochures we display throughout
the Ubrary."
The CSUF library is the only
Ubrary in Fresno with this terminal,
which is available for public use.
Presently, there are several firms
and businesses in Fresno that
specialize in computers. These
rjusinesses/flrms offer the use of their
computers to the public. One of those
is ISK and Associates which offers
what is known as "Dialog Information
Retrieval Service." Inge Kauffman,
an information specialist with ISK,
said the database of the Dialog
system contains in excess of 75 million
"Some of the most popular areas
researched," said Kauffman, "are
business, current affairs, economics
and even directories where an individual or company who is listed in
the yellow pages can be located
anywhere  in   the  country  within
minutes. Another area the database ii
most often used for is knowledge of
strategic advertising and marketing
procedures used by other companies.
We have a golden rule and that is to
always maintain confidentiaUty
among our clients."
The prices for a search at ISK and
Associates range anywhere from $15
to $300, depending upon the complexity and depth of information required.
"I strongly suggest for any student or business needing information
on an intricate subject to consider a
search through computerized files,"
said Kauffman. "It's not only
beneficial in acquiring the information desired, but also saves many
hours of Ume."
Stadium: Noise, traffic feared
Continued from page 4
games are one thing to deal with, but
concerts are a totally different problem. "There are a lot of families that
go to the footbaU games," said Tim
Bremer, -who lives north of the
stadium on Ninth Street "With concerts there would be a lot of un-
chaperoned people late at night" he
said.
Bremer said that during the footbaU season there is plenty of foot traffic in their neighborhood and his
maUbox has been knocked over two or
three times because of all the traffic.
"The sound problem will not be
avoided," said Bremer. "If I turned
my stereo on and amplified it 20
times, I could bear it three houses
away. The biggest thing you hear is
tbe crowds, so we're going to bear tbe
music," he said. "The university
should be a good neighbor."
Karen Humphrey, councilwoman
for the 5th District said that people in
her district south of Shaw, are concerned with tbe stadium conflict
because of the noise they hear from
concerts at the ampitbeater.
''No matter how nice tbe music is,
there is going to be a traffic and people impact in that neighborhood," she
said. "The university made a commitment to never have concerts in the
stadium. Now they have given the impression that they are not going to
have two concerts, but perhaps
more," said Humphrey.
There are current ordinances
which prohibit parking by stadium
spectators on Saturdays. Residents
north of the stadium have parking
stickers on their cars if tbey want to
park on their streets during the
games.
"The same restrictions wiU be en
forced if there are any concerts," said
Fresno City Traffic Engineer Doc
Wells. "Our intent is to assure
residents that the same restrictions
will be followed for concerts. I don't
see any problems right now if concerts were allowed in the stadium,"
he said.  ■
"There is no question we can control traffic." said Blssonnette. "We
are experienced with that now and
also people control. But that doesn't
seem to be the real issue," he said.
Blssonnette said that the term
"rock" is used by everyone to
describe a concert and that people
tend to be frightened by the idea. "We
have proven our ability as to what we
can do in that stadium and we can
control any possible disturbance or
problem."
Dinosaurs: Theory explained
•      TOM SPtTZ/latittil
These four young lads   are not the chaps from Liverpool, only CSUF students trying out for the Air
Guitar Show. Last week's auditions for the Vintage Days event attracted many bands.
Continued from page 1
your hand in front of your face."
Before the dust settled, photosyn-
. thesis was disrupted and vital food'
chains that began with microscopic
marine animals and plants were
destroyed. The result was mass extinction aU the way up the biological
scale to the giant dinosaurs.
The oust,mingled with the remains of plants and animals whose
species never appeared on earth
again. Over Ume they washed to the
ocean floor to rest together in one
layer of the fossil record, telling scientists that the dust and extinctions occurred simultaneously.
Robert MerriU, geology professor
at CSUF, said up to now be has not
given much credence to tbe extraterrestrial impact theory. He is extremely anxious to see the new research! he
said.
CSUF biology professor emeritus
Arthur SLaebler._jwh.ose excavations
on the west side of the San Joaquin
Valley have yielded fossils of
previously-unknown giant sea lizards
and small dinosaurs, said the Alvarez
theory offers the broadest explanation
for the sudden disappearance of
dinosaurs and scores of other species
at the close of the Cretaceous period.
"The idea of an extraterrestrial
impact had boen suggested a number
of times," Walter Alvarez said.
"There was no evidence for it. Nobody
took it seriously."
Alvarez said that, as happens so
/many times in science, he and his
father were looking for something
else entirely when they came upon the
evidence that first supported the collision idea.
"We started to look for iridium,"
Alvarez said. Iridium is an element
that is extremely rare in tbe earth's
crust but abundant in meteors.
"We thought we were going to use
iridium to see how fast certain fossil-
containing marine sediments had
been deposited," Alvarez said. Since
the earth is continuaUy bombarded by
small meteors, the two scientists
reasoned that the concentration of
f\_-^
Children: Companionship given
iridium from meteoric dust wouiorrell
how long the bombardment had been
taking place, putting an age on the
sediments.
What they found was not only the
trace of iridium from meteoric dust,
but also much larger amounts of
iridium concentrated exclusively in
the layer of clay sediment wUch
marked tbe boundary between the end
of the Cretaceous period and the
beginning of the Tertiary
period — exactly the time that the
mass extinction of the dinosaurs occurred.
Researchers have since found the
iridium-rich layer in 40 locations
worldwide, Alvarez said, wherever
paleontologists have established the
presence of sedimentary layers from
the Cretaceous — Tertiary boundary.
Smit said that although the.
iridium is strong evidence of impact,
tbe sanidine spherules are far more
so. "We have not finished our
chemical analyses," Smit said. "If we
can prove that aU these microtektites^
have the same chemical signature
(the same mixture of earth-derived
elements and microtektite structure),
it will be proof" of the impact theory.
CSUF's Staebler said the extraterrestrial impact theory accounts
very weU not only for wUch species
became extinct, but also for the ones
that survived.
Plants that had seeds or roots
could survive to regenerate after the
darkness, but existing individuals
died, Staebler said. Large animals,
whose food requirements could not be
met without plants, or animals who
found their food by sight perished.
Small mammals and sharks survived
because they hunt by scent Finally,
Staebler said, small reptiles and bony
fish, who are cold-blooded, are
capable of existing months without
food and were undisturbed.
Staebler said only one group's
survival defies explanation. Birds had
appeared before the time of tbe extinctions and obtained their food by
sight. Their survival, Staebler said, is
an unexplained missing piece of the
puzzle.
Continued from page 3
into a low self esteem for the cluld,"
she said.
In Brooks' relationship with his
two little brothers he sees the
defenses these cUldren use to protect
themselves. "They may have
develorjecLan-ansensitivity towards
everyone. When you extend a warm
hand, they're not seeing a warm hand,
they're seeing another untrustworthy
face. It's going to take some time to
work through that," he said.
By allowing the child to leave this
environment for several hours a week
Waring explained they are able to
broaden their positive experiences.
"Maybe this may be one adult the
child can trust. The big brother or big
sister may be the-bridge back to
touching and trusting the adult
world.'!4>^
The one-to-one contact and
special friendship wUch develops between the big brother and little brother
or big sister and little sister is often
seen in the child's classroom.
estsistemsWastesssm
"We see a real impact at school.
With most children we see a calmer
demeanor at school within a matter of
weeks their need for attention is being
met with the volunteer,   she said.
Presently in the Fresno area
there is a list of little brothers waiting
to be matched with big brothers. Conversely, there is a shortage of young
girls interested in being matched with
big sisters. "Many young girls in
I   We've Got More Taste.
single parent homes are not aware
that they en eligible for this program. Most single parent mothers
may think that a big sister will try to
be a motherjigure. However, a big
sister is not a competition with the
mother. The big sister does Uiings
with a little sister that the mother
reaUy can't do. The mother may be
limited in time for a spectrum of
reasons," Waring explained.
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