European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 23, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes saturday december 23,1989 record monthly hike in year reported in factory orders Washington a orders to . Factories for durable goods jumped 5.1 percent in november posting the biggest increase in a year and averting the first three month drop since mid-1986, the govern ment reported Friday. The Commerce department said orders for durable goods big ticket items expected to last More than three years increased to a seasonally adjusted $130.7 billion last month after dropping 0.7 percent in october. Durable goods orders also fell 1.2 percent in sep tember. The november gain the largest since a 7.4 percent jump in december 1988, was an exception to recent evidence that the . Manufacturing sector is in severe slowdown. Many economists arc forecasting a growth rate of i percent or less in the current Quarter and some fear the Economy s unprecedented seven years of peacetime expansion May end. Much of the softness has been concentrated in the Auto Industry where weak sales have prompted layoffs and production cutbacks. But the softness has been spreading recently to the computer and defense related industries. As a result economists and government official shave been calling for a further relaxation of the Feder Al Reserve s grip on credit which the Central Bank had applied Early this year in efforts to Cool the Economy and reduce inflation. The fed began loosening its grip gradually last june As inflation moderated and it apparently acted earlier this week to permit Short term interest rates to fall further for the first time since late november. A Surprise in Friday s report was an increase in the closely watched non defense capital goods sector which Rose 8.3 percent last month to s3? billion the largest gain since a 10.1 percent increase in december 1988. Economists use this category As a barometer of business investment plans. The Commerce department reported thursday thata Survey completed in november indicated that Busi Nesses plan to increase their Plant and equipment spending Only 4.9 percent next year a rate nearly half the 8.5 percent increase this year. Defense orders Rose 15.6 percent. Excluding the Vola tile defense category orders would have gained 4.2 per cent in november after increasing 1.8 percent in october. Transportation orders Rose a Sharp 10.5 percent to$36.7 billion in november after a 2.1 percent gain in october. The november Advance came from increase demand for both aircraft and motor vehicles. Aircraft represented 40 percent of the gain. Excluding the transportation category durable goods orders were up 3.1 percent last month. Orders for non electrical machinery including computers and a wide variety of Industrial equipment Rose 6.6 percent to $22.9 billion after a 4.7 decline in october. Electrical machinery orders jumped 7.9 percent to$21.7 billion virtually All in communications equipment. Primary metals were up 1.7 percent to $22.1 billion. Shipments of durable goods in november Rose 1.5percent to $ 123.7 billion after a 3.1 decline in october. Doggone spot sees in color Santa Barbara Calif. A the world in t All Black and White for Man s Best Friend but pooches Are better at spotting Blue and big re than old yeller a research study concluded. Three dogs named flip Gypsy and Retina helped scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara dispel the belief that dogs live a colourless life according to a study published in january s scientific american and in the journal visual neuroscience. The yearlong study found that dogs do distinguish colors but it also showed the animals have limited color vision similar to men who suffer from a Type of color blindness once known As Green blindness. The dogs could not distinguish yellow Green Orange and some other shades the study said. Psychologists Jay Scitz and Gerald h. Jacob Sand technician Timothy Geist used greyhounds flip and Gypsy and toy poodle Retina in the stud ies exploring  the molecules in the Eye s receptor cells that help differentiate colors. The researchers trained the dogs to respond to coloured lights on a display panel the study said. In each test two lights would be of the same color while a third would be different. The dogs were trained to push the different Light with their noses and they got a snack if they pushed the Correct one. The dogs had no trouble distinguishing red an Blue the colors at the opposite end of the spec Trum. They could even Tell More Subtle difference sin the similar hues of Blue and Violet. But the dogs could not discriminate among col ors from greenish yellow through Orange to red the account in scientific american said. The study was partly funded by the National Eye Institute. Jacobs said the research team was careful tomake sure the dogs weren t simply distinguishing Between shades of Gray. We went to elaborate lengths to make sure the could not go on brightness cues he said. Besides disproving the popular notion that dogs Serin Black and White the study gives insight into the Eye s mechanisms for different Ealing color he said. Electroshock of for some study finds Washington a electroshock therapy is Safe and effective for a Small percentage of mental patients but it is not a cure and has some serious Sid effects the american psychiatric association concludes in a study released thursday. Despite its reputation in some circles act electro convulsive therapy or electroshock is not justified to be known As an unsafe procedure said or. Richard Weiner chairman of a committee that studied the therapy. Weiner said the use of act is controversial because it has had a bad reputation in the press and it has had some  electroshock therapy is used on about 30,000 mental Hospital patients a year in the United states he said. About 80 percent of those patients he said suffer from a profound major depression that has not responded to drugs. Electroshock often represents the Only Way to put the illness into remission and allow the use of other therapies he said. Or. Herbert Pardes president of the association and a former director of the National Institute of mental health called act a Safe and very effective treat ment for certain severe mental  acts effectiveness in rescuing severely ill patients. Is Well accepted by psychiatrists by the rest oath medical Community and by thousands of patients who Are better because of it Pardes said. But he noted the therapy is not a cure and it does have some Adverse effects such As memory loss in some  Weiner an associate professor of psychic buy Al Duke University medical Center in Durham n. A. Directed an association task Force study of the use of act. The com Mittee report released thursday proposes guidelines for the use of electroshock and details the Type of training health care workers need to administer it. Electroshock in one form or another has been used to treat the mentally ill for More than 50 years. Its popularity with psychiatrists has risen and fallen but is now enjoying renewed use. The therapy consists of using electrodes to Send Small charges of electricity through select portions of the brain. The shocks cause Short seizures similar to epileptic convulsions that for reasons not understood have a beneficial effect on some patients. Patients receiving electroshock Are sedated with a general anaesthesia and a muscle relaxant in a typical course of treatment patients receive six to 12treatments at the rate of three a week. If the therapy puts the illness into remission doctors then use other treatment such As drugs in an attempt to gain a cure. Weiner said 1 percent to 2 percent of electroshock patients experience Side effects such As temporary memory loss. Stateside group tries to save theater where Oswald was caught Dallas a a preservation group is seeking to save the landmark Texas theater the movie House where Lee Harvey Oswald was captured after the assassination of president Kennedy. The theater built in 1931 by billionaire Howard Hughes and considered one or the finest movie houses in Texas at the time is scheduled to close dec. 31. United artists which owns the theater in the Oak chit Section of Dallas says the establish ment is losing Money showing second run movies for a Dollar. The Texas theater historical society made a Hur ried Appeal to the company thursday after learning of its decision earlier to dose the theater. The group says the theater has historical significance both As an example of a 1930s-style movie Palace and because of the Oswald connection. . Think tank to help Hungary alter its Economy Indianapolis up the Hudson Institute a conservative think tank will help draft a move toward a Market Economy for Hungary next month in a collaboration of hungarian and Western economists and government specialists. The Indianapolis based Public policy research group will be the Host of the meeting Jan. 8-12. It will be the first of three meetings that its authors Hope will Craft a program for a free Market Economy in Hungary. About 25 hungarians will participate in the Indi Anapolis meeting said Mark Lubbers a vice president at the Institute. They Are Likely to include Marlon tar Dos an economist who is a Leader of the hungarian free democratic party Lubbers said. The free democrats Are one of two main opposition parties formed in recent months to run against the hungarian communist party now renamed the hungarian socialist party. County tries to change its image to speeders Ludowici a. A Long county known As one of the Georgia coast s great Speed traps became a Goodwill trap for a Day. Motorists got a firm handshake a bag of fruit and an invitation to return instead of a ticket. The project was the brainchild of Danny Norman chairman of the Long county commission. Norman sheriff Cecil Nobles and off duty Deputy Fred Williamson made up the welcoming delegation. They had about a dozen Large bags of fruit to give away and spent the afternoon waiting along . 301 and . 82 until they spotted a License plate from another state. With Blue lights flashing they d take up the Chase. Norman said the idea would go a Long Way toward overcoming the National notoriety As a Speed trap that the county once possessed. Toy could pose threat to children group warns Washington a the consumer product safely commission said Friday that a stuffed animal Christmas toy sold to nearly 2 million people May present a hidden suffocation danger to Young children. The warning involves the velveteen Rabbit in red Christmas stocking sold from target Stout in 23 states. There is a plastic bag around the lower portion of the Rabbit which May present a risk of suffocation to Young children the Agency said. Consumers should remove and discard the bag immediately the commission said. The bag which is not a part of the toy is inside the stocking and May not be immediately noticed before the toy is Given to a child the commission said. The floppy eared Brown and White rabbits come in two sizes 8-Inch and 12-Inch and the bag on the larger Rabbit could easily fit Over the Bead of a Small child a commission staffer said