Evanston

Fans of new car smell will take precious little joy in a tour of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation’s synagogue in Evanston.

The building was carefully planned to exclude as much of volatile organic compounds and formaldehyde adhesives – some of the substances that give “new” its smell – as possible.

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Jewelry designer Eve Alfille, 72, sought medical attention for a wrist fracture just 10 days before she was to show a new collection of work at her gallery in Evanston.

She thought her show would be ruined because she would be unable to finish hand-crafting her jewelry with a clunky cast on her wrist.

She went to one doctor who told her he wouldn't perform surgery - the wrist would just have to heal on its own. Without the surgery she faced permanent displacement, and might not have been able to twist her wrist ever again, she said.

"They weren't really interested in my needs," Alfille said. "I am a jewelry designer and there is a certain use of my hand that I just need - I wouldn't be able to work."

She was devastated and sought a second opinion. That's when Dr. Mark Cohen, an orthopedic surgeon at Rush University Medical Center who specializes in hand, wrist and elbow surgery, told her that using the latest technology he could fix her wrist and have her back to work in just a few days.

"It was remarkable," Alfille said. "There was no pain, before or after, and I was able to do work that same day."

Alfille is but one of many patients who will find wrists fractures less of an inconvenience than in years past. New technology, which attaches small plates to the bone, has been tested over the past five years and has now had enough trials to be proved very effective at getting patients up and running months faster than before without risk of reinjuring the bone, Cohen said.

Wrist fractures are the most common type of broken bones, which means many people could potentially be incapacitated by the injury. Cohen said in the winter with slippery sidewalk and ice-crusted parking lots he treats three to four broken wrists a week. In addition to being of use on the wrist, the plates can also be used in ankle, leg, hip and other types of fractures.

"These small little locking plates have revolutionized the way we treat broken wrists," Cohen said. "Patients experience less pain, fewer problems after surgery, recover quicker and rapidly recover their mobility and function."

The small locking plates are secured internally with small screws placed directly into the bone. Once in place the plates are extremely secure and permanent. The patient can almost immediately enter rehabilitation therapy and start to return to normal activities, Cohen said. Using old technology, including casts, to set the wrist -- or external screws fixed into place with metal bars -- the patient would not enter therapy until about two months after the fracture occurred.

The process is much faster because the body is essentially tricked into thinking it is healed because it has been bolted back together internally, said Dr. John Fernandez, Cohen's partner in orthopedics at Rush University Medical Center.

"We have a couple of students who were treated the old way versus the new way and the difference is dramatic," Fernandez said. "Patients are able to use the hand immediately rather than waiting for the fracture to heal."

This surgery will be most influential for seniors who are the most common victims of falls that result in broken or fractured bones, Cohen said.

"Many older people live alone and their independence is very important to them," Cohen said. "To be able to make somebody independent within a few days is a huge difference than having someone rely on only one hand for all of their activities."

Whoever views math and computer coding as colorless should check out the rapidly evolving world of digital art.

Black and white circles that seem to spiral into infinity as you pass by and an enormous image of vibrant green, yellow and pink geometric shapes in seemingly random order can be seen in an exhibit documenting the history of applying computers to create art.

The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art in Evanston is hosting "Imaging by Numbers: A Historical View of the Computer Print" through April 6.

The exhibit features North American and European artists who invented and used computer processes to create art since the 1950s. It "explores the development of computer programming as a medium for artistic expression in creating prints, drawings, photographs and artists' books," notes an exhibit panel.

Museum co-curator Debora Wood hopes the exhibit will break through the prejudice surrounding creativity and this form of art.

People think the computer is doing all the work rather than the artist, she said.

Wood pointed to a piece by artist Joan Truckenbrod, who wrote a trailblazing computer program in the 1970s to generate variable images on an early Apple computer screen. Those images were photocopied onto paper directly from the monitor, heat transferred to a cloth, and finally sewn together into a quilt-like display.

The piece is quite a remarkable achievement for its time, in a field that was dominated by men and industrial applications, said Wood. But the work remains beautiful in our own time.

Computer art innovator, the late Ben F. Laposky, created works from the wave-forms displayed on a cathode-ray oscilloscope screen that he called, "Oscillons."

"Oscillons are, I believe, an excellent example of the possibility of employing modern technology in art and of demonstrating a relationship between science and art. They are also visual manifestations of some of the basic invisible aspects of nature, such as the movement of electrons and energy fields" Laposky wrote of his work.

C. E. B. Reas uses technology as an artistic medium for the purpose of investigating scientific principles. Reas, another artist whose work is featured on exhibit, combines art and science to visualize the interaction of elements in "Image 3" from "Process 6," created in 2005. His interest in artificial intelligence and robotics served as motivation for learning how to write software and build with electronics, according to Reas, .

The Block Museum also showcases "generative art" in which artists create computer-generated patterns of motion inspired by natural semi-random processes like flowing water and animal movements. The exhibit "Space, Color, and Motion" offers a compliment to the main exhibit.

"The next step to all of this is creating live art in motion," said Wood.

For information, click www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu or call 847-491-4000.

Emotions flared during an Evanston zoning meeting Wednesday as residents confronted the city and consultants over proposed zoning changes on the city's West Side.

The zoning committee of the plan commission agreed to continue deliberation on the West Evanston Master Plan, which drew considerable criticism among residents. They questioned the proposed increasing density, zone changes and tax hikes.

"I'm really appalled," said Roberta Hudson who lives at 1941 Dewey St. "The city should be concerned with helping citizens, not developers."

The plan calls for zoning changes on a diagonal strip from Evanston Township High School to the corner of Simpson Street and Green Bay Road. The changes call for rezoning residential areas, increasing density in some areas and decreasing it in others. A large portion of land between Church and Emerson streets that is zoned as I2, meaning light industrial, typically auto-oriented commercial property, will become R4, residential zoning that caps building height at 42 feet. C2 commercial zoning at Simpson and Green Bay will also be rezoned as R4.

City council approved the master plan on May 14. A vote on the zoning changes was supposed to take place at the meeting, but residents got the vote postponed. The meeting will be continued at 6 p.m. on Aug. 22.

Farr Associates, planning consultants hired in August 2006 to make recommendations, presented their findings during the meeting. They relied heavily on residents' suggestions for the plan. Leslie Oberholtzer, director of planning at Farr, said about 40 to 50 people attended each of the planning meetings and made suggestions based on image preference surveys. She said those who did attend were comfortable with the zoning changes.

"It's the same three or four people who [have] objected from Day One," Oberholtzer said of the residents' resistance. "You tend not to hear the positive response from these meetings."

Residents who spoke at the meeting were primarily concerned with increased density in the residential zones. They said the multi-family units, like apartment buildings, increase traffic and pollution. Taxpayers, they said, will be left with the bill for new roads and sewers.

Additionally, residents said they feared new development will raise their property taxes. Betty Ester, of 2114 Darrow St., said the higher taxes will affect elderly residents who live on a fixed income and are hard hit by higher taxes.

"You are changing the footprint of the neighborhood," said Ester who, along with other residents, called for residential zoning to be R3, which limits height to three stories.

"We were promised one thing and something else is on the table," Ester said.

Other residents had specific concerns regarding their business properties. Chip Uchtman owns property on Church Street that is zoned I2. If the zoning changes are made, Uchtman said he would have to sell his property for residential use only. Under the proposed changes, a road would be built through his land, forcing him to give away one-third of his property.

Joe Prudden owns four lots on Green Bay Road including Buffalo Joe's restaurant. This area is set to change from commercial to residential zoning.

"This means we can't expand," Prudden said. "It's part of our retirement."

Prudden and other residents were upset that the city did not notify them about the changes before the meeting. Prudden said he received nothing in the mail about the changes through the city said every taxpayer within 500 feet. of the proposed changes was sent a letter. Residents suggested the city inform them of proposed changes by sending messages through area churches. They also said those who were being affected by the proposal could not attend meetings in the Civic Center; they asked for the meetings to be held in the neighborhood.

After the meeting, Hudson and other residents discussed hiring a lawyer to represent their interests.

"They aren't looking out for the interests of residents," she said of the city. "They're looking out for the best interests of developers."