Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Water Borne Film-Forming Compositions, Michael R. Van-De-Mark, Nantana Jiratumnukul

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

The present invention provides a film-forming composition comprising a particulate polymer or emulsified liquid prepolymer, water and a coalescent aid comprising an ester having the formula RCOOX wherein R and X are independently hydrocarbyl or substituted hydrocarbyl, and at least one of R and X contain at least two unsaturated carbon— carbon bonds. The coalescent aid helps lower the minimum film formation temperature of low glass transition temperature coatings and high glass transition temperature coatings and allows optimum film formation at ambient temperatures. The coalescent aid of this coating composition is not volatile like conventional coalescent aids but rather remains …

Searching For Smart Durable Coatings To Promote Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Growth While Preventing Biofilm Formation, Fereydoon Namavar, John D. Jackson, J. Graham Sharp, Ethan E. Mann, Kenneth W. Bayles, Chin Li Cheung, Connie A. Feschuk, Shailaja Varma, Hani Haider, Kevin L. Garvin

Barry Chin Li Cheung Publications

There is a great need to develop methods to regulate cellular growth in order to enhance or prevent cell proliferation, as needed, to either improve health or prevent disease. In this work we evaluated the adhesion, survival and growth of bone marrow stromal cells on the surface of several new ion beam engineered nano-crystals of ceramic hard coatings such as zirconium, titanium, tantalum and cerium oxides. Cell adhesion and growth on the ceramic coatings were compared to adhesion and growth on a nano-crystalline silver coating which is known to possess antibacterial properties. The initial results of a study to determine …

An Abundance Analysis Of A Chemically Peculiar B Star – Jl 87*,**, A. Ahmad, N. T. Behara, C. S. Jeffery, T. Sahin, V. M. Woolf

Physics Faculty Publications

Aims. The aim of this study is to understand the nature and origin of a chemically peculiar star JL 87 by measuring its physical parameters and chemical abundances.

Methods. Physical parameters – effective temperature, surface gravity and helium abundance were measured from a moderate resolution optical spectrum using fully line-blanketed LTE model atmospheres. The effective temperature and extinction were verified by comparing FUSE, IUE spectrophotometry and optical/IR broadband photometry with theoretical flux distributions from LTE model atmospheres. The photospheric chemical abundances were measured from a high-resolution optical spectrum using LTE model atmospheres and spectral synthesis.

Results. On the basis of …

Modular Invariants For Lattice Polarized K3 Surfaces, Adrian Clingher, Charles F. Doran

Adrian Clingher

No abstract provided.

Agn Polarization Modeling With Stokes, René W. Goosmann, C. Martin Gaskell

C. Martin Gaskell Publications

We introduce a new, publicly available Monte Carlo radiative transfer code, STOKES, which has been developed to model polarization induced by scattering off free electrons and dust grains. It can be used in a wide range of astrophysical applications. Here, we apply it to model the polarization produced by the equatorial obscuring and scattering tori assumed to exist in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We present optical/UV modeling of dusty tori with a curved inner shape and for two different dust types: one composition reproduces extinction properties of our Galaxy, and the other is derived from composite quasar spectra. The polarization …

Modeling The Polarization Of Dusty Scattering Cones In Active Galactic Nuclei, René W. Goosmann, C. Martin Gaskell, Masatoshi Shoji

C. Martin Gaskell Publications

We have used the STOKES radiative transfer code, to model polarization induced by dust scattering in the polar regions of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). We discuss the wavelength-dependence of the spectral intensity and polarization over the optical/UV range at different viewing angles for two different types of dust: a Galactic dust model, and a dust model inferred from extinction properties of AGN.

13C Nmr Analysis Of Biologically Produced Pyrene Residues By Mycobacterium Sp. Kms In The Presence Of Humic Acid, J. Karl C. Nieman, Richard C. Holz, Ronald C. Sims

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Cultures of the pyrene degrading Mycobacterium sp. KMS were incubated with [4-¹³C]pyrene or [4,5,9,10-¹⁴C]pyrene with and without a soil humic acid standard to characterize the chemical nature of the produced residues and evaluate the potential for bonding reactions with humic acid. Cultures were subjected to a “humic acid/humin” separation at acidic pH, a duplicate separation followed by solvent extraction of the humic acid/humin fraction, and a high pH separation. ¹³C NMR analysis was conducted on the resulting solid extracts. Results indicated that the activity associated with solid extracts did not depend on pH and that …

Satellite-Derived Estimates Of Potential Carbon Sequestration Through Afforestation Of Agricultural Lands In The United States, Christopher Potter, Steven Klooster, Seth Hiatt, Matthew Fladeland, Vanessa Genovese, Peggy Gross

United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Publications

Afforestation of marginal agricultural lands represents a promising option for carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems. An ecosystem carbon model was used to generate new national maps of annual net primary production (NPP), one each for continuous land covers of ‘forest’, ‘crop’, and ‘rangeland’ over the entire U. S. continental area. Direct inputs of satellite “greenness” data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensor into the NASA-CASA carbon model at 8-km spatial resolution were used to estimate spatial variability in monthly NPP and potential biomass accumulation rates in a uniquely detailed manner. The model predictions of regrowth forest production …

Contamination Levels Of Selected Organochlorine And Organophosphate Pesticides In The Selangor River, Malaysia Between 2002 To 2003, Kok Hoong Leong

Kok Hoong Leong

In Malaysia, rivers are the main source of public water supplies. This study was conducted from 2002 to 2003 to determine the levels of selected organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides in the Selangor River in Malaysia. Surface water samples have been collected seasonally from nine sites along the river. A liquid–liquid extraction followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry technique was used to determine the trace levels of these pesticide residues. The organochlorine pesticides detected were lindane, heptachlor, endosulfan, dieldrin, endosulfan sulfate, o,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDT, o,p′-DDE and p,p′-DDE whereas for organophosphate pesticides, they were chlorpyrifos and diazinon. At the river upstream where a dam …

Experimental And Computational Thermochemical Study Of 2-And 3-Thiopheneacetic Acid Methyl Esters, Manuel Temprado, Rafael Notario, James S. Chickos, Ana Filipa, L. O. M. Santos, Manuel A. V. Ribeiro Da Silva

James Chickos

No abstract provided.

Co2-Forced Climate And Vegetation Instability During Late Paleozoic Deglaciation, Isabel P. Montañez, Neil J. Tabor, Deb Niemeier, William A. Dimichele, Tracy D. Frank, Christopher R. Fielding, John L. Isbell, Lauren P. Birgenheier, Michael C. Rygel

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The late Paleozoic deglaciation is the vegetated Earth’s only recorded icehouse-to-greenhouse transition, yet the climate dynamics remain enigmatic. By using the stable isotopic compositions of soil-formed minerals, fossil-plant matter, and shallow-water brachiopods, we estimated atmospheric partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂) and tropical marine surface temperatures during this climate transition. Comparison to southern Gondwanan glacial records documents covariance between inferred shifts in pCO₂, temperature, and ice volume consistent with greenhouse gas forcing of climate. Major restructuring of paleotropical flora in western Euramerica occurred in step with climate and pCO₂ shifts, illustrating the biotic impact associated …

Implicit Affinity Networks, Matthew Scott Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Although they clearly exist, affinities among individuals are not all easily identified. Yet, they offer unique opportunities to discover new social networks, strengthen ties among individuals, and provide recommendations. We propose the idea of Implicit Affinity Networks (IANs) to build, visualize, and track affinities among groups of individuals. IANs are simple, interactive graphical representations that users may navigate to uncover interesting patterns. This thesis describes a system supporting the construction of IANs and evaluates it in the context of family history and online communities.

Strain-Based Electrical Properties Of Systems Of Carbon Nanotubes Embedded In Parylene, David D. Allred, Jon Brame, Johnathan Goodsell, Stephanie Getty

Faculty Publications

We have fabricated flexible electronic devices to test the strain-based change in resistance of a network of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) for use in microscale, high resolution magnetometry. To do this, we first develop a simple, reliable method to obtain catalyst nanoparticles for carbon nanotube growth through indirect, thin-film evaporation. Next we fabricate a two-terminal SWCNT device on a rigid substrate. We then transfer the device, intact, to a flexible substrate for strain testing. Herein, we report progress in growth and measurement techniques.

Idea: An Infrastructure For Detection-Based Adaptive Consistency Control In Replicated Services, Yijun Lu, Ying Lu, Hong Jiang

CSE Technical Reports

In Internet-scale distributed systems, replication-based scheme has been widely deployed to increase the availability and efficiency of services. Hence, consistency maintenance among replicas becomes an important research issue because poor consistency results in poor QoS or even monetary loss. Recent research in this area focuses on enforcing a certain consistency level, instead of perfect consistency, to strike a balance between consistency guarantee and system’s scalability.
In this paper, we argue that, besides balancing consistency and scalability, it is equally, if not more, important to achieve adaptability of consistency maintenance. I.e., the system adjusts its consistency level on the fly to …

Cvretrieval: Separating Consistency Retrieval From Consistency Maintenance, Yijun Lu, Hong Jiang, Ying Lu

CSE Technical Reports

In distributed online collaboration applications, such as digital white board and online gaming, it is important to guarantee the consistency among participants’ views to make collaboration meaningful. However, maintaining even a relaxed consistency in a distributed environment with a large number of geographically dispersed participants still involves formidable communication and management cost among them.
In this paper, we propose CVRetrieval (Consistency View Retrieval) to solve this scalability problem. Based on the observation that not all participants are equally active or engaged in distributed online collaboration applications, CVRetrieval differentiates the notions of consistency maintenance and consistency retrieval. Here, consistency maintenance implies …

Idea: An Infrastructure For Detection-Based Adaptive Consistency Control In Replicated Services, Yijun Lu, Ying Lu, Hong Jiang

CSE Technical Reports

In Internet-scale distributed systems, replication-based scheme has been widely deployed to increase the availability and efficiency of services. Hence, consistency maintenance among replicas becomes an important research issue because poor consistency results in poor QoS or even monetary loss. Recent research in this area focuses on enforcing a certain consistency level, instead of perfect consistency, to strike a balance between consistency guarantee and system’s scalability.
In this paper, we argue that, besides balancing consistency and scalability, it is equally, if not more, important to achieve adaptability of consistency maintenance. I.e., the system adjusts its consistency level on the fly to …

Polarizing Properties Of Embedded Symmetric Trilayer Stacks Under Conditions Of Frustrated Total Internal Reflection, Rasheed M.A. Azzam, Siva R. Perla

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

An error in the application of the design procedure described in a previous paper [Appl. Opt. 45, 1650 (2006)] has been corrected, and new revised figures are included in this erratum.

Virtual Classroom Extension For Effective Distance Education, Radu Dondera, Chun Jia, Voicu Popescu, Cristina Nita-Rotaru, Melissa Dark

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

A New Methodology For The Simulation Of Flexible Protein – Ligand Interactions, James A. Garner, John Deadman, David I. Rhodes, Renate Griffith, Paul A. Keller

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

A methodology has been developed for the simulation of induced fit between a ligand and its target protein. It utilizes constrained molecular dynamics where atoms determined to be immobile from difference distance matrix studies are fixed. Application of this methodology to HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) as the example target protein has demonstrated its robustness. Short simulation times are sufficient to achieve good refinement of docking poses resulting from exchange of structurally dissimilar inhibitors between crystal structures.

Neutron Interferometric Method To Provide Improved Constraints On Non-Newtonian Gravity At The Nanometer Scale, Geoffrey L. Greene, Vladimir Gudkov

Faculty Publications

In recent years, an energetic experimental program has set quite stringent limits on a possible “non-1/r²” dependence on gravity at short length scales. This effort has been largely driven by the predictions of theories based on compactification of extra spatial dimensions. It is characteristic of many such theories that the strength and length scales of such anomalous gravity are not clearly determined from first principles. As a result, it is productive to extend the current limits the range and strength of such hypothetical interactions. As a heavy, neutral, and (almost) stable particle, the neutron provides an ideal probe …

A Bayesian Hierarchical Model For Constrained Distributed Lag Functions: Estimating The Time Course Of Hospitalization Associated With Air Pollution Exposure, Roger Peng, Francesca Dominici, Leah J. Welty

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

Numerous time series studies have provided strong evidence of an association between increased levels of ambient air pollution and increased levels of hospital admissions, typically at 0, 1, or 2 days after an air pollution episode. An important research aim is to extend existing statistical models so that a more detailed understanding of the time course of hospitalization after exposure to air pollution can be obtained. Information about this time course, combined with prior knowledge about biological mechanisms, could provide the basis for hypotheses concerning the mechanism by which air pollution causes disease. Previous studies have identified two important methodological …

Apparatus And Method For Growing Crystal, And Apparatus And Method For Analyzing Crystal: United States Patent No. 7,156,917 B2, Hideaki Moriyama, Norio Sugi, Kazunori Kawasaki, Shoji Muramatsu

Hideaki Moriyama Publications

An apparatus for growing a biological macromolecular crystal by vaporizing biological macromolecular solution into an oversaturated state. The apparatus includes a first sealed room that receives first crystallizing agent solution, and a communicating tube that communicates with the first sealed room and has a small sectional area for suppressing convection of air. A plurality of droplets of solution dissolving a biological macromolecule and a crystallizing agent therein are held in the communicating tube with the plurality of droplets being separated from each other.

Intellectual Property Management In Health And Agricultural Innovation: A Handbook Of Best Practices, Vol. 2, Anatole Krattiger, Richard T. Mahoney, Lita Nelsen, Jennifer A. Thomson, Alan B. Bennett, Kanikaram Satyanarayana, Gregory D. Graff, Carlos Fernandez, Stanley Kowalski

Law Faculty Scholarship

Prepared by and for policy-makers, leaders of public sector research establishments, technology transfer professionals, licensing executives, and scientists, this online resource offers up-to-date information and strategies for utilizing the power of both intellectual property and the public domain. Emphasis is placed on advancing innovation in health and agriculture, though many of the principles outlined here are broadly applicable across technology fields. Eschewing ideological debates and general proclamations, the authors always keep their eye on the practical side of IP management. The site is based on a comprehensive Handbook and Executive Guide that provide substantive discussions and analysis of the opportunities …

Skuery: Manipulation Of S-Expressions Using Xquery Techniques, Kevin Burke Tew

Theses and Dissertations

Data query operations inside programming languages presently perform their functions through the use of domain-specific, declarative expressions and by way of course-grain, API library calls. These methods of operation are practiced by relational databases as well as semistructured XML data stores. Layers of translation, which are necessary to transform data and instructions from the domain of programming languages to data query systems, negtatively effect the performance of data query operations. Skuery resolves this impedance by adopting XML as a native data type with a native representation (SXML). Likewise, query operations are defined in a general purpose programming language (Scheme in …

Hogs Gone Wild, William H. Clay

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Wildlife damage management professionals deal with very few animals that pose as many conflicts or threats as those caused by feral hogs. Whether it’s crop damage, livestock predation, environmental degradation, or disease transmission, feral hogs play a substantial role. Earlier this year, headlines in major newspapers and other media outlets highlighted the latest incidence of an E. coli outbreak in California; more than 200 people across the United States became sick, and 3 people died as a result of eating fresh spinach contaminated with this bacteria. The source of the outbreak was traced back to feral hogs in California.

Ecology And Management Of Feral Hogs, Stephen S. Ditchkoff, Ben C. West

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Feral hogs (Sus scrofa) have been present in North America since the arrival of the earliest settlers in the sixteenth century. Colonists originally released hogs because of the animals’ ability to survive on their own and to serve as a ready food supply for settlers. Since that time, hogs have expanded their range and now are present in 40 of the 50 United States and parts of Canada. Their rapid expansion is similar to that of other introduced species, and, as a result, they are generally classified as an invasive exotics, along with hundreds of other plant and …

America’S First Feral Hog War, Michael R. Conover

Human–Wildlife Interactions

This issue of Human-Wildlife Conflicts focuses on the management of feral hogs (Sus scrofa). As this exotic species has become more numerous and has expanded its range in North America, its adverse impacts on both our nation’s agriculture and environment are becoming more apparent and alarming. How best to manage feral hogs has become one of the most vexing questions for wildlife agencies today, owing to society’s mixed attitudes towards feral hogs (Rollins et al. 2007). Environmentalists and farmers want feral hogs eradicated. Others, especially those who enjoy hunting them, are rooting (pun intended) for the continued expansion …

An Extraordinary Patch Of Feral Hog Damage In Florida Before And After Initiating Hog Removal, Richard M. Engeman, John Woolard, Henry T. Smith, Jean Bourassa, Bernice U. Constantin, Daniel Griffin

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Feral hogs (Sus scrofa) are a particularly destructive exotic species in the United States (U.S. Department of Agriculture 1999), including Florida, which, along with Hawaii, is one of 2 states cited as having the most severe invasive species problems (U.S. Congress 1993) in the country. First introduced to North America by the European colonists (Conover 2007) hogs were one of the first invasive exotic species to take hold in Florida. They can transmit disease to livestock (Hartin et al. 2007) and humans (Conover and Vail 2007). They impose a variety of negative environmental impacts, including habitat degradation and …

Range Size, Habitat Use, And Dial Activity Of Feral Hogs On Reclaimed Surface-Mined Lands In East Texas, Robert C. Mersinger, Nova J. Silvy

Human–Wildlife Interactions

During the last decade, surface lignite mines in eastern Texas have experienced damage by feral hogs (Sus scrofa) to reclaimed areas. Specifically, feral hogs have caused damage to plants used in reclamation. In addition to vegetative losses, erosion control problems and water quality impacts have been noted. Big Brown Lignite Mine in Freestone County, Texas, had tried to control feral hogs through year-long trapping, which proved expensive. We hypothesized that hogs were using reclaimed areas only at night and seasonally. If so, knowledge of travel lanes into the mine and seasonal use would help concentrate trapping efforts and …

Appreciating Feral Hogs: Extension Education For Diverse Stakeholders In Texas, Dale Rollins, Billy J. Higginbotham, Kenneth A. Cearly, R. Neal Wilkins

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Texas harbors the largest population of feral hogs (Sus scrofa) in the United States, with populations estimated at >2 million. Depending on one’s perspective, feral hogs are either a pariah (from the farmer’s standpoint) or a popular sporting animal (from a hunter’s standpoint). As feral hogs increase in range and density, conflicts among stakeholders are sure to increase. Texas Cooperative Extension (TCE) initiated educational programs in 1991 to address concerns regarding the presence and management of feral hogs. Since that time, we have developed various workshops, symposia, and educational materials (e.g., print, videotape, and website) as means of …