Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey 2010 Highlights, Robert Futrell, Christie D. Batson, Barbara G. Brents, Andrea Dassopoulos, Chrissy Nicholas, Mark J. Salvaggio, Candace Griffith

Reports (USI)

UNLV sociologists conducted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey (LVMASS) to identify the socio-spatial distribution of attitudes and attributes relevant to urban sustainability in the Las Vegas Valley. The project goal is to understand how Las Vegas residents think about urban sustainability issues across three dimensions: 1) natural environment; 2) community and quality of life; 3) economy.

A Climate Action Plan For Bucknell University, Wendy Chou, Dina El-Mogazi, Dennis Hawley

Technical Reports

The accelerating pace of human-influenced climate change and our growing awareness of its negative public-health, environmental, and economic consequences compel decisive action. In recent years, many institutions of higher education have taken leadership roles to promote sustainability and climate neutrality at the campus level. In January 2008, Bucknell University became a signatory to the American Colleges and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). Under this agreement, Bucknell is required to prepare a comprehensive inventory of greenhouse gas emissions by May 2009, to update the inventory every other year thereafter, and to implement tangible emissions-reducing actions in the short-term (two years). The …

A Model-Based Approach For Making Ecological Inference From Distance Sampling Data, Devin S. Johnson, Jeffrey L. Laake, Jay M. Ver Hoef

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

We consider a fully model-based approach for the analysis of distance sampling data. Distance sampling has been widely used to estimate abundance (or density) of animals or plants in a spatially explicit study area. There is, however, no readily available method of making statistical inference on the relationships between abundance and environmental covariates. Spatial Poisson process likelihoods can be used to simultaneously estimate detection and intensity parameters by modeling distance sampling data as a thinned spatial point process. A model-based spatial approach to distance sampling data has three main benefits: it allows complex and opportunistic transect designs to be employed, …

Subclinical Myocardial Necrosis And Cardiovascular Risk In Stable Patients Undergoing Elective Cardiac Evaluation, W.H. Wilson Tang, Yuping Wu, Stephen J. Nicholls, Danielle M. Brennan, Michael Pepoy, Shirley Mann, Alan Pratt, Frederick Van Lente, Stanley L. Hazen

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Objective— The presence of subclinical myocardial necrosis as a prodrome to longer-term adverse cardiac event risk has been debated. The debate has focused predominantly within patients with acute coronary syndrome, and on issues of troponin assay variability and accuracy of detection, rather than on the clinical significance of the presence of subclinical myocardial necrosis (ie, “troponin leak”) within stable cardiac patients. Herein, we examine the relationship between different degrees of subclinical myocardial necrosis and long-term adverse clinical outcomes within a stable cardiac patient population with essentially normal renal function. Methods and Results— Sequential consenting patients (N=3828; median creatinine clearance, 100 …

The Security Printing Practices Of Banknotes, Corbin Nakamura

Graphic Communication

Counterfeit goods continue to undermine the value of genuine artifacts. This also applies to counterfeit banknotes, a significant counterfeit problem in today’s rapidly growing world of technology. The following research explores anti-counterfeit printing methods for banknotes from various countries and evaluates which are the most effective for eliminating counterfeit.

The research methods used in this study consists primarily of elite and specialized interviewing accompanied with content analysis. Three professionals currently involved in the security-printing industry were interviewed and provided the most current information about banknote security printing.

Conclusions were reached that the most effective security printing methods for banknotes rest …

Information-Quality Aware Routing In Event-Driven Sensor Networks, Hwee Xian Tan, Mun-Choon Chan, Wendong Xiao, Peng-Yong Kong, Chen-Khong Tham

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Upon the occurrence of a phenomenon of interest in a wireless sensor network, multiple sensors may be activated, leading to data implosion and redundancy. Data aggregation and/or fusion techniques exploit spatio-temporal correlation among sensory data to reduce traffic load and mitigate congestion. However, this is often at the expense of loss in Information Quality (IQ) of data that is collected at the fusion center. In this work, we address the problem of finding the least-cost routing tree that satisfies a given IQ constraint. We note that the optimal least-cost routing solution is a variation of the classical NP-hard Steiner tree …

Mathews County Shoreline Management Plan, C. Scott Hardaway Jr., Donna A. Milligan, Carl H. Hobbs Iii, Christine A. Wilcox, Kevin P. O'Brien, Lyle M. Varnell, Shoreline Studies Program

Reports

This report has several sections. General coastal zone management considerations and existing conditions along the Mathews County shoreline are discussed. The overall Mathews shoreline was divided into three reaches: Reach 1, Piankatank River, Hills Bay, and Queens Creek; Reach 2, New Point Comfort to Gwynn’s Island including Milford Haven; and Reach 3, Mobjack Bay, East River, and North River. Each reach is discussed in terms of specific shore conditions as well as design considerations and shore stabilization recommendations. Reach 2 is slightly different from the other reaches in that it includes the high energy Chesapeake Bay shoreline. For this section …

On The Cover

Sci-Tech News

Frontismatter of the issue and explanation of the cover illustration, courtesy of the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology.

Call For Articles & Posters

Sci-Tech News

No abstract provided.

Materials Research & Manufacturing Section News, Jack Bashian

Sci-Tech News

Members of the Materials Research and Manufacturing Section of the Chemistry Division share information concerning all phases of materials procurement, production, applications, and handling by means of educational activities, cooperative programs, publications, and Section-sponsored events at annual conferences.

Enginering Division News, Laurie Allen

Sci-Tech News

The objectives of the Engineering Division are to provide an association for those having an interest in library and information science as they apply to engineering and the physical sciences and to promote the use of materials and knowledge for the benefit of libraries and other educational organizations.

Science-Technology Division News, Hilary Davis

Sci-Tech News

The objectives of the Science-Technology Division shall be to draw together those members of the Special Libraries Association having an interest in the role of library and information science as applied to the recording, retrieval and dissemination of knowledge and information in all areas of science and technology, and to promote and improve the communication, dissemination and use of such knowledge for the benefit of libraries and their users.

Web Reviews: Augmented Reality, Lisa Johnston

Sci-Tech News

The web no longer lives on the web only. Now with the help of your webcam or a compass-enabled smart phone, the web and the information within can be projected onto your world. Augmented reality may be one of the latest buzz words, but this emerging technology has been entering mainstream quickly though the development of smart phone apps (ie. iPhone, Android) and ingenious ad campaigns. What is augmented reality? The real-world example is the artificial glow around the soccer ball or hockey puck to enrich TV sport viewing. But, in short, augmented reality (AR) uses devices, like phones or …

Sci-Tech Book News Reviews, Susan Fingerman

Sci-Tech News

This section consists of 100 book reviews selected from Sci-Tech Book News, reprinted with the permission of Book News, Inc.

Full Issue: Vol. 64, Issue 1

Sci-Tech News

No abstract provided.

Structural Assessment Of The Effects Of Amino Acid Substitutions On Protein Stability And Protein-Protein Interaction, Shaolei Teng, Liangjiang Wang, Anand K. Srivastava, Charles E. Schwartz, Emil Alexov

Publications

A structure-based approach is described for predicting the effects of amino acid substitutions on protein function. Structures were predicted using a homology modelling method. Folding and binding energy differences between wild-type and mutant structures were computed to quantitatively assess the effects of amino acid substitutions on protein stability and protein–protein interaction, respectively. We demonstrated that pathogenic mutations at the interaction interface could affect binding energy and destabilise protein complex, whereas mutations at the non-interface might reduce folding energy and destabilise monomer structure. The results suggest that the structure-based analysis can provide useful information for understanding the molecular mechanisms of diseases.

Determination Of Structure Parameters In Strong-Field Tunneling Ionization Theory Of Molecules, Song-Feng Zhao, Cheng Jin, Anh-Thu Le, T. F. Jiang, C. D. Lin

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the strong field molecular tunneling ionization theory of Tong et al. [Phys. Rev. A 66, 033402 (2002)], the ionization rate depends on the asymptotic wave function of the molecular orbital from which the electron is removed. The orbital wave functions obtained from standard quantum chemistry packages in general are not good enough in the asymptotic region. Here we construct a one-electron model potential for several linear molecules using density functional theory. We show that the asymptotic wave function can be improved with an iteration method and after one iteration accurate asymptotic wave functions and structure parameters are determined. With …

Intermolecular Dehydrative Coupling Reaction Of Arylketones With Cyclic Alkenes Catalyzed By A Well-Defined Cationic Ruthenium-Hydride Complex: A Novel Ketone Olefination Method Via Vinyl C–H Bond Activation, Chae S. Yi, Do W. Lee

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

The cationic ruthenium−hydride complex [(η⁶-C₆H₆)(PCy₃)(CO)RuH]⁺BF₄⁻ was found to be a highly effective catalyst for the intermolecular olefination reaction of aryl ketones with cycloalkenes. The preliminary mechanistic analysis revealed that an electrophilic ruthenium−vinyl complex is the key species for mediating both vinyl C−H bond activation and the dehydrative olefination steps of the coupling reaction.

Fuzzy Matching Of Web Queries To Structured Data, Tao Cheng, Hady W. Lauw, Stelios Paparizos

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recognizing the alternative ways people use to reference an entity, is important for many Web applications that query structured data. In such applications, there is often a mismatch between how content creators describe entities and how different users try to retrieve them. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining whether a candidate query approximately matches with an entity. We propose an off-line, data-driven, bottom-up approach that mines query logs for instances where Web content creators and Web users apply a variety of strings to refer to the same Web pages. This way, given a set of strings that …

A Solution-Based Approach To The Fabrication Of Novel Chalcogenide Glass Materials And Structures, Nathan Carlie

All Dissertations

Chalcogenide glasses (ChGs) are well known for their large optical nonlinearities and high infrared transparency, and are candidate materials for next-generation thin film-based planar infrared (IR) optical applications. They are also known, however, to possess low thermal and mechanical stability as compared to oxide glasses. Traditional physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods used for the deposition of these materials as thin films often suffer from low deposition rates, deviation from stoichiometry, and cannot coat over complex surfaces. In order to retain the attractive optical properties of ChGs while enabling new fabrication routes and hybrid and composite material systems, we have developed …

A Model-Based Fault-Detection And Prediction Scheme For Nonlinear Multivariable Discrete-Time Systems With Asymptotic Stability Guarantees, Balaje T. Thumati, Sarangapani Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a novel, unified model-Based fault-detection and prediction (FDP) scheme is developed for nonlinear multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) discrete-time systems. the proposed scheme addresses both state and output faults by considering separate time profiles. the faults, which could be incipient or abrupt, are modeled using input and output signals of the system. the fault-detection (FD) scheme comprises online approximator in discrete time (OLAD) with a robust adaptive term. an output residual is generated by comparing the FD estimator output with that of the measured system output. a fault is detected when this output residual exceeds a predefined threshold. Upon …

Thermophysical Characterization Of Potential Spacecraft Target (101955) 1999 Rq36, Joshua P. Emery Phd, Yanga R. Fernández Phd, Michael S. P. Kelley Phd, Carl Hergenrother Bsc, Julie Ziffer Phd, Dante Lauretta Phd, Michael J. Drake Phd, Humberto Campins Phd

USM Physics Program

We report on thermal emission measurements of 1999 RQ36 from Spitzer. The derived size is in agreement with radar measurements, and we find a moderately high thermal inertia and homogeneous surface properties.

The Equivalence Principle, Uniformly Accelerated Reference Frames, And The Uniform Gravitational Field, Gerardo Muñoz, Preston Jones

Publications

The relation between uniformly accelerated reference frames in flat spacetime and the uniform gravitational field is examined in a relativistic context. It is shown that contrary to previous statements, equivalence does not break down in this context. No restrictions to Newtonian approximations or small enclosures are necessary.

Central Compact Objects, Trevor Meek

Physics

Central compact objects (CCOs) are point-like sources found near the center of supernova remnants (SNRs). They emit X-rays, but show no radio or gamma ray counterpart. Typical CCO candidates have emission radii on the order of 0.2-3.0 km. This is much smaller than the typical radius of a neutron star, making CCOs a difficult astronomical phenomenon to identify.

Measurement Of Dijet Photoproduction For Events With A Leading Neutron At Hera, S. Chekanov, M. Derrick, S. Magill, B. Musgrave, D. Nicholass, J. Repond, R. Yoshida, Margarita C. K. Mattingly, P. Antonioli, G. Bari, L. Bellagamba, D. Boscherini, A. Bruni, G. Bruni, F. Cindolo, M. Corradi, G. Iacobucci, A. Margotti, R. Nania, A. Polini, S. Antonelli, M. Basile, M. Bindi, L. Cifarelli, A. Contin, S. De Pasquale, G. Sartorelli, A. Zichichi, D. Bartsch, I. Brock, H. Hartmann

Faculty Publications

Differential cross sections for dijet photoproduction and this process in association with a leading neutron, e ++p→e ++jet+jet+X(+n), have been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 40 pb -1. The fraction of dijet events with a leading neutron was studied as a function of different jet and event variables. Single- and double-differential cross sections are presented as a function of the longitudinal fraction of the proton momentum carried by the leading neutron, x L, and of its transverse momentum squared, pT2. The dijet data are compared to inclusive DIS and photoproduction results; they are …

Shoreline Evolution: Gloucester County, Virginia York River, Mobjack Bay, And Piankatank River Shorelines, Donna A. Milligan, Kevin P. O'Brien, Christine Wilcox, C. Scott Hardaway Jr.

Reports

Shoreline evolution is the change in the shore zone through time. Along the shores of Chesapeake Bay, it is a process and response system. The processes at work include winds, waves, tides and currents which shape and modify coastlines by eroding, transporting and depositing sediments. The shore line is commonly plotted and measured to provide a rate of change, but it is as important to understand the geomorphic patterns of change. Shore analysis provides the basis to know how a particular coast has changed through time and how it might proceed in the future.

The purpose of this data report …

Efficient Verification Of Shortest Path Search Via Authenticated Hints, Man Lung Yiu, Yimin Lin, Kyriakos Mouratidis

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Shortest path search in transportation networks is unarguably one of the most important online search services nowadays (e.g., Google Maps, MapQuest, etc), with applications spanning logistics, spatial optimization, or everyday driving decisions. Often times, the owner of the road network data (e.g., a transport authority) provides its database to third-party query services, which are responsible for answering shortest path queries posed by their clients. The issue arising here is that a query service might be returning sub-optimal paths either purposely (in order to serve its own purposes like computational savings or commercial reasons) or because it has been compromised by …

Shoreline Evolution: City Of Poquoson, Virginia Poquoson River, Chesapeake Bay, And Back River Shorelines, Donna A. Milligan, Kevin P. O'Brien, Christine Wilcox, C. Scott Hardaway Jr.

Reports

The purpose of this data report is to document how the shore zone of Poquoson has evolved since 1937. Aerial imagery was taken for most of the Bay region beginning that year, and can be used to assess the geomorphic nature of shore change. Aerial imagery shows how the coast has changed, how beaches, dunes, bars, and spits have grown or decayed, how barriers have breached, how inlets have changed course, and how one shore type has displaced another or has not changed at all. Shore change is a natural process but, quite often, the impacts of man through shore …

Disturbance And Plant Succession In The Mojave And Sonoran Deserts Of The American Southwest, Scott R. Abella

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

Disturbances such as fire, land clearing, and road building remove vegetation and can have major influences on public health through effects on air quality, aesthetics, recreational opportunities, natural resource availability, and economics. Plant recovery and succession following disturbance are poorly understood in arid lands relative to more temperate regions. This study quantitatively reviewed vegetation reestablishment following a variety of disturbances in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of southwestern North America. A total of 47 studies met inclusion criteria for the review. The time estimated by 29 individual studies for full reestablishment of total perennial plant cover was 76 years. Although …

Shoreline Evolution: City Of Newport News, Virginia James River And Hampton Roads Shorelines, Donna A. Milligan, Kevin P. O'Brien, Christine Wilcox, C. Scott Hardaway Jr.

Reports

Shoreline evolution is the change in the shore zone through time. Along the shores of Chesapeake Bay, it is a process and response system. The processes at work include winds, waves, tides and currents which shape and modify coastlines by eroding, transporting and depositing sediments. The shore line is commonly plotted and measured to provide a rate of change, but it is as important to understand the geomorphic patterns of change. Shore analysis provides the basis to know how a particular coast has changed through time and how it might proceed in the future.

The purpose of this data report …