FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD:
Scoring and video system enhances game experience
The upgrade of the athletic facility at West Virginia University, Morgantown, W.Va., included a new state-of-the-art scoreboard and full-color video display system. During games, the system displays home and guest scores; period and remaining period time and quarter; remaining time outs; down information; and to go and ball information. Two team message centers with incandescent lamp matrices allow the team names to be changed electronically. In addition, the existing scoreboard was retrofitted to display out-of-town game information from a sports wire service, player and team statistics, animation and graphics.
“Every so often we try to upgrade our facility, but we have never done anything like this before,” says Mike Parsons, West Virginia's assistant athletic director of external affairs. “It is a huge asset. Fans already rely on it as part of their game experience.”
Designed and manufactured by Daktronics, the scoreboard measures 48 feet high by 119 feet wide and features a ProStar VideoPlus full-color display, measuring 21 feet high by 28 feet wide. Red, green and blue light emitting diodes (LEDs) display video, animation, graphics and text information in bright colors on a display screen that is 272 pixels high by 368 pixels wide. The scoreboard is operated with the Pro Sport 6000 controller, and the video system is operated with the Venus 7000 control system.
SKYLIGHT:
Curtainwall saves energy, withstands extreme weather
The $44 million Dow Environmental Services Building at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Mich., houses the civil and environmental engineering, biological sciences and geological engineering and sciences programs. It has approximately 167,000 square feet of classrooms, research labs, undergraduate labs and office space for faculty, staff and graduate students. The facilities also serve specific multidisciplinary objectives.
The design of the building called for a deep picture-frame look, a skylight and the ability to withstand Michigan's extreme weather conditions. In addition, the project had to be finished before winter.
For the project, Wausau created zero sightline Insulbar casements set in a custom SuperWall frame and a standard curtainwall system with a custom, segmented skylight. To achieve the desired design, punched openings were used to incorporate deep, exterior setbacks and maintain uniform profiles between fixed and vent units. To reduce field time and labor costs, the curtainwall was factory-assembled and installed in vertical ladders.
The curtainwall systems are available in a variety of thermal barriers, glazing systems and anodic or organic coatings. The systems can accommodate granite and metal panels. SuperWall expands from floor to floor, or across multiple floors. Zero sightline, projected and casement windows can also be added to enhance function and comfort.
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM:
Collection management system includes digital identification system
In January 2001, the University of Las Vegas (UNLV) opened its new main library, Lied Library. Features of the $55.3 million, 302,000-square-foot building are a $1.5 million automated storage and retrieval system, capable of holding 1.2 million volumes; an information commons area with 96 computer workstations; remote laptop hookups; a collaborative learning center; several group-study rooms, some of which are equipped to receive audio and video transmissions; a multimedia distribution center; and a digital identification system. The library will be one of the first to manage its collection with a digital identification system.
Based on radio frequency identification technology, the 3M digital identification system streamlines the flow of materials into, throughout and out of the library, optimizing collection management and improving staff efficiency and patron service. The circulating and open stack items in the collection, numbering 884,523 items, were marked with digital identification tags. For security, all items were tagged with tattle-tape security strips.
“The 3M digital identification system was appealing to us in that it can integrate our automated systems with our tattle-tape security technology,” says Kenneth Marks, dean of university libraries at UNLV. “It's the only system available today that can do that.”
The digital identification system includes identification tags, selfcheck systems, staff workstations, library assistants, data manager, tattle-tape security strips and detection systems. All of these items are integrated with book drop and sorting systems. The most popular feature is the digital library assistant (DLA), a handheld collection-management tool.
“The DLA allows you to do things much faster than before the technology was available, assuming you'd have been able to do them at all,” says Marks. “You can weed items from the collection, or even from a portion of the collection, in only a fraction of the time it would've taken before.”
NETWORK SOLUTIONS:
Infrastructure enhances teaching/learning
The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas and the seventh largest in the United States. Operating 289 campuses and educational programs with an enrollment of more than 211,000 students, the district wanted to make network connectivity accessible to the entire area-wide enterprise of HISD, including all students, teachers, staff and administrative personnel.
The mission of the HISD Technology and Information Systems Department is the enhancement of the teaching and learning process through technology. To make this mission a reality, a technological infrastructure had to be built. HISD chose PANDUIT to provide network connectivity expertise and products. The lowest installed cost of the PANDUIT system still allowed for money to be spent on educating students.
“Anything we can do to reduce the cost of technology, while still providing high technical performance, gives us more money to spend on educating the student,” says Daryl Ann Borel, assistant superintendent and chief of technology and information systems.
The network connectivity system for HISD included more than 100,000 Category 5e and 50,000 CATV drops. Delivering CATV and network cabling into every classroom and office are PAN-WAY Twin-70 and Type LD non-metallic surface raceway systems, Category 5e keystone modules, MINI-COM and MINI-JACK Category 5e modules and 24-port patch panels. The entire system can be changed or added to according to the district's needs.
EMERGENCY LIGHTING:
Updated lighting expands coverage, increases light levels
Two years ago, The Ethel Walker School, Simsbury, Conn., began a campuswide remodeling and upgrading program. One of the first targets of the program at the independent boarding and day school for girls in grades 5 to 12 was the emergency lighting equipment. When several older DC emergency lighting systems were checked, it was clear that changes were needed.
The school chose to upgrade and expand the systems in order to provide expanded coverage, higher emergency light levels and increased capacity. Making use of existing emergency lighting systems also allowed the school to supply power to lights in renovated areas.
In conjunction with Life Safety Service & Supply, specializing in the installation and service of emergency lighting equipment and systems, Duane Stagg, director of the school's physical plant, upgraded the school's existing DC systems.
The upgrading process entailed gutting the original old electronics portion of the DC systems and replacing it with a new state-of-the-art charger assembly. Existing batteries were replaced with maintenance-free batteries, but all existing zone relay controls and supervisory panels remained as when first installed. This completed the installation, which uses all existing cabinetry and supervisory controls.
“Our solution here at Ethel Walker would certainly work well for other school maintenance departments facing the same challenges,” says Stagg.
