Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Editorial, Matt Duckham

Journal of Spatial Information Science

No abstract provided.

Fundamentals Of Satellite Remote Sensing: An Environmental Approach 2e, Luke Wallace

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Book review of Fundamentals of Satellite Remote Sensing: An Environmental Approach 2e" by Emilio Chuvieco"

Quantifying Space, Understanding Minds: A Visual Summary Approach, Mark Simpson, Kai-Florian Richter, Jan Oliver Wallgrün, Alexander Klippel

Journal of Spatial Information Science

This paper presents an illustrated, validated taxonomy of research that compares spatial measures to human behavior. Spatial measures quantify the spatial characteristics of environments, such as the centrality of intersections in a street network or the accessibility of a room in a building from all the other rooms. While spatial measures have been of interest to spatial sciences, they are also of importance in the behavioral sciences for use in modeling human behavior. A high correlation between values for spatial measures and specific behaviors can provide insights into an environment's legibility, and contribute to a deeper understanding of human spatial …

Modeling And Manipulating Spacetime Objects In A True 4d Model, Ken Arroyo Ohori, Hugo Ledoux, Jantien Stoter

Journal of Spatial Information Science

The concept of spacetime has long been used in physics to refer to models that integrate 3D space and time as a single 4D continuum. We argue in this paper that it is also advantageous to use this concept in a practical geographic context by realizing a true 4D model, where time is modeled and implemented as a dimension in the same manner as the three spatial dimensions. Within this paper we focus on 4D vector objects, which can be implemented using dimension-independent data structures such as generalized maps. A 4D vector model allows us to create and manipulate models …

Cognitively Plausible Representations For The Alignment Of Sketch And Geo-Referenced Maps, Sahib Jan, Angela Schwering, Carl Schultz, Malumbo Chaka Chipofya

Journal of Spatial Information Science

In many geo-spatial applications, freehand sketch maps are considered as an intuitive way to collect user-generated spatial information. The task of automatically mapping information from such hand-drawn sketch maps to geo-referenced maps is known as the alignment task. Researchers have proposed various qualitative representations to capture distorted and generalized spatial information in sketch maps, however thus far the effectiveness of these representations has not been evaluated in the context of an alignment task. This paper empirically evaluates a set of cognitively plausible representations for alignment using real sketch maps collected from two different study areas with the corresponding geo-referenced maps. …

Topological Augmentation: A Step Forward For Qualitative Partition Reasoning, Matthew P. Dube

Journal of Spatial Information Science

The current state of the art for partition based qualitative spatial reasoning systems such as the 9-intersection, 9+-intersection, direction relation matrix, and peripheral direction relations is that of the binary set intersection — either empty or non-empty — conveying the intersection (or lack thereof) of an object in the sets deriving the partition. While such representations are sufficient for topological components of objects, these representations are not sufficient for various tasks in qualitative spatial reasoning (composition, representation transfer, converse, etc.) regarding partitions as tiles. Topological augmentation expands the current binary status quo into a system of assigning topological relations between …

Eliminate The Carbon Externality, Connor Mcfayden

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Before we do anything else, let’s establish two things: the global climate is changing at an alarming rate and the primary cause is human CO2 emissions. There is a worldwide scientific consensus on this fact. Even our own government, despite a remarkably vocal minority, has confirmed this. A report released this year by 13 government agencies identifies humans as the primary cause of global climate change and links this phenomenon to rising sea levels, increased incidence of droughts and floods, and the intensification of large storms. These events are the result of the carbon externality, the social costs of emissions …

A Forgotten Resource: Thorium, Daniel Rico

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The year is 1945, the morning of August 6^th, 8:16am to be exact. The United States just dropped the world’s first militarized atomic weapon on Hiroshima, Japan. With this singular act the world virtually witnessed the end of its second world war, the birth of warfare like never before, and the foreseeable death of nuclear power. With this act an aura of negativity and destruction accompanied the word nuclear that it would likely never be rid of despite untapped high grade energy potential that can outweigh its military application. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was composed of 64 …

Lithium-Ion Batteries: It’S Not About The Lithium., Jace Kranau

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Malnourished children and tired men chip away with ancient tools at Cobalt-containing rock for you to have the next best electronic device. The impoverished, artisanal workers of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) supply up to 25 percent of global Cobalt according to The Washington Post. The battery manufacturers don’t care. Their dominant thought is profit.

Artisanal workers are paid between two and three U.S. dollars a day. “We are suffering. And our suffering is for what?”, 29-year-old digger, Nathan Muyamba, told The Post.

The batteries in phones, laptops and for some, their cars, contain Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel …

Gmo Regulations Are Killing Biofuels, Megan Franklin

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Progress in creating profitable biofuels is being slowed down by strict regulations on genetically engineered (GE) crops (aka GMOs). Setbacks that biofuels face can be addressed with genetic engineering. However, public pushback and regulations make it extremely difficult to implement solutions. We should have more lenient regulations on GE crops so that we can speed up the progress of improving biofuels.

A genetically engineered crop is one that has DNA from a different species inserted into its own DNA. As a result from GE crop benefits, CO2 emissions were reduced by 26.7 billion kg in 2012, and poverty was alleviated …

Palm Oil: The Hidden Costs, Rachel Goehring

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

ENSC 230. Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policy

12/7/2017

Palm Oil: The Hidden Costs

Lurking behind your soaps, cosmetics, pantry groceries, and household cleaning supplies is a product killing endangered species in Southeast Asia. This same product is destroying the survival mechanisms for local communities in Southeast Asia while pumping large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. To keep its identity hidden, it uses over twenty different names on ingredient labels. What is this product? Palm oil. Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil in the world and increased demand for palm oil in our …

Probiotic Strain Stenotrophomonas Acidaminiphila Bj1 Degrades And Reduces Chlorothalonil Toxicity To Soil Enzymes, Microbial Communities And Plant Roots, Qingming Zhang, Muhammad Saleem, Caixia Wang

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Chlorothalonil, a non-systemic and broad-spectrum fungicide, is widely used to control the pathogens of agricultural plants. Although microbial degradation of chlorothalonil is known, we know little about the colonization and degradation capacity of these microbes in the natural and semi-natural soil environments. Therefore, we studied the colonization and detoxification potential of a chlorothalonil degrading Stenotrophomonas acidaminiphila probiotic strain BJ1 in the soil under green conditions. The results from polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis demonstrated that probiotic strain BJ1 successfully colonized the soil by competing with the native biota. Moreover, the bacterial inoculation stimulated some members of indigenous soil microbial …

Building Our Way To A Better Future, Brad Shaner

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The potential demolishing of the Clean Power Plan by the federal government in early October is looking like a losing fight in our war against carbon emissions at one of the biggest sources of these emissions. But we can continue to fight in this war and make an even bigger impact by focusing our efforts on the most ordinary and consistent thing in our modern lives; the buildings we live and work in. Some would say that high efficiency or green buildings are a commodity that only the wealthy individuals or businesses can achieve, but this doesn’t have to be …

The Fossil Fuel Energy Industry Vs. The Endangered Species Act, Cody Willnerd

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

It was several weeks ago that the Congressional Republicans made a push to reform the landmark Endangered Species Act to make it more friendly to landowners and fossil fuel industries. They would do this by releasing species earlier on the ESA list than before and instead focus on species that are in the greatest of need of attention. The reform would also have agencies focus on the economic costs to deny listings of species, require the agency to listen towards states concerns, and limit payouts for attorney fees in ESA litigations. This would be incredibly damaging to many species that …

Energy Star Tax Holiday Simply Advertising Gimmick, Lauren Klaasmeyer

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

In January of this year, Senator Harr introduced Legislative Bill 325. From 12:01 A.M. on the first Friday of October through midnight of the first Sunday, all Energy Star products less than $1500 will be exempt from sales and use taxes. The special interest group, Nebraska Retail Federation, proposed the idea to Senator Harr. There was no move to advance the bill last session, so it could be brought back up this coming session or amended to another bill. When speaking with people at the capitol, it was said that the main reason it was not advanced was because of …

The Tax That Will Actually Do Something Is Not In The Current Bill, Steven Kirchner

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

If we are going to be talking about tax reform, we should be talking about solutions that will actually solve a problem. The combustion of fossil fuels has much more than environmental implications. Burning fossil fuels is a blatant catastrophe for our entire economic system. The current American energy market is entirely reliant on fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas). Negative externalities have flooded the American economic system because of the combustion of fossil fuels. A negative externality is a cost that indirectly affects someone outside of the economic transaction. That third party entity must bear the burden of …

Recent Increase In Deadly Storms, Westin Longacre

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

These last few years have hit us with some devastating storms that continue to wreck havoc on our earth. We have been hit with multiple storms that are so strong that they are predicted to happen every 50 years, so is God punishing us? Or do we have something to do with this? This issue should be a huge concern to us because who knows how many more of these devastating storms we can handle. When looking at why these tragic storms are happening more frequently the main factor that is leading to these events is the increase in atmospheric …

Cardboard Ban Is An Investment Opportunity, John Schwaninger

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Lincoln’s cardboard ban was a hot topic in 2016, but 2017 has shifted focus to the city’s recycling education contract. Gone is discussion of Mayor Chris Beutler’s failed, revived and ultimately victorious struggle to reform Lincoln’s recycling program. In its place, an air of financial discomfort stagnates over the city’s already troubled budget.

The cardboard ban will take effect April 2018. The recycling education program was drafted in part to support the ban by educating households about recycling drop-off locations and sorting requirements. However, the recycling education contract’s $850,000 cost raised eyebrows, undermining Beutler’s earlier effort.

The recycling education contract’s …

Crop Productivity In The Ag Belt On Borrowed Time, Logan Winters

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Most people by now have heard the terms “climate change” and global warming. Many acknowledge that it’s a problem, but they may not know how it can impact them directly. This is especially true for those living in the middle of the country, because most of the media attention goes to the coastal impacts of climate change. While putting adequate focus on the coastal impacts is a good start, since the most widespread and severe impacts will be coastal, but there needs to be more talk and discussion about the future impacts over the middle of the country. One big …

How Innovative Companies Gain From A Cap And Trade Agreement, Lucian Montgomery

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The purpose of both a cap and trade agreement and a carbon tax is to reduce emissions by setting a price on carbon. However, that is where the similarities end.

A cap and trade agreement gives a certain amount of allowances to each company that adds up to an emissions cap, allows companies to trade them. Companies only pay for carbon emissions if they produce more than the amount of allowances they are given, either by paying penalties to the government, or by buying more allowances from other companies. This creates a market for allowances, and based on demand, sets …

Expression Of Wnt-Signaling Pathway Genes And Their Associations With Mirnas In Colorectal Cancer, Martha L. Slattery, Lila E. Mullany, Lori C. Sakoda, Wade S. Samowitz, Roger K. Wolff, John R. Stevens, Jennifer S. Herrick

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

The Wnt-signaling pathway functions in regulating cell growth and thus is involved in the carcinogenic process of several cancers, including colorectal cancer. We tested the hypothesis that multiple genes in this signaling pathway are dysregulated and that miRNAs are associated with these dysregulated genes. We used data from 217 colorectal cancer (CRC) cases to evaluate differences in Wnt-signaling pathway gene expression between paired CRC and normal mucosa and identify miRNAs that are associated with these genes. Gene expression data from RNA-Seq and miRNA expression data from Agilent Human miRNA Microarray V19.0 were analyzed. We focused on genes most strongly associated …

Chemistry And Biochemistry News, Georgia Southern University

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry News (2015-2023)

• SERMACS 2017
• Simpo Akech Defends her Master's Thesis

Wind Is Nebraska’S Future, With Or Without The Clean Power Plan, Megan Pamperin

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The Clean Power Plan was issued in October 2015. President Trump called for a review of the plan this March and on October 16^th, 2017 the EPA released a proposal to repeal it. The Clean Power Plan would have reduced Nebraska’s state emissions to 22,250,000 tons of carbon dioxide by 2024, down by about 5 million tons compared to 2012 emissions.¹ The new projection for 2020 without the plan is 34 million tons of CO₂ emitted.

Coal and other fossil fuel energy sources are the main culprits of these carbon emissions, and here in Nebraska coal …

Flowstone Growth In Gournier River (Vercors, France): A Diachronic Landscape Analysis By 3d Modelling And Photo Draping, Kim Genuite, Yves Perrette, Stéphane Jaillet

International Journal of Speleology

Calcite surface has been reported by cavers and scientists over the last decades. Here, we present a methodological work aimed at quantifying that growth. We suggest a method of draping old photographs of a part of the Gournier Cave onto a 3D model. This work relies on a collection of photographs taken by cavers. We have chosen to study a site for which the maximum number of photographs was available. The series of photographs over time makes it possible to overcome the limitation of calcite crust dating. The acquisition of the 3D model has been achieved using terrestrial LIDAR. Then, …

Conductivity, Temperature And Depth (Ctd) Data For Deepend Stations, Cruise Dp04, August 2016, David English, Chuanmin Hu, April Cook, Tracey Sutton

DEEPEND Datasets

Conductivity, temperature and depth data from the ship's CTD, which was deployed at each of the DEEPEND stations. Depth of cast was variable, but extended from near-surface waters to below the euphotic zone. This data was used in the assessment of the water column's vertical structure, and for comparison with physical models. Data were collected on cruise DP04 in August, 2016.

Anaerobic Digestion In Nebraska, Anthony Leapley

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Climate change is a global crisis that can be fought by all locally. Nebraska is my home, and it’s one of nine states in the U.S. in which cows outnumber humans. Statistically, there are three cows for every person (1,868,516 humans to 6,150,000 cows). While we have fewer humans than cows, it’s not hard to understand that we rank very low in CO2 emissions when ranking all states in the country. However, our emission of the more potent greenhouse gas CH4, or methane, is significantly higher. Methane is released by cows via gas and manure, and it’s causing serious implications …

Structural Evidence Of A Major Conformational Change Triggered By Substrate Binding In Dape Enzymes: Impact On The Catalytic Mechanism, Boguslaw Nocek, Cory Reid, Anna Starus, Tahirah Heath, David Bienvenues, Jerzy Osipiuk, Robert Jedrzeczak, Andrzej Joachimiak, Daniel P. Becker Ph.D., Richard C. Holz

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The X-ray crystal structure of the dapE-encoded N-succinyl-l,l-diaminopimelic acid desuccinylase from Haemophilus influenzae (HiDapE) bound by the products of hydrolysis, succinic acid and l,l-DAP, was determined at 1.95 Å. Surprisingly, the structure bound to the products revealed that HiDapE undergoes a significant conformational change in which the catalytic domain rotates ∼50° and shifts ∼10.1 Å (as measured at the position of the Zn atoms) relative to the dimerization domain. This heretofore unobserved closed conformation revealed significant movements within the catalytic domain compared to that of wild-type HiDapE, which results in effectively closing off access to …

Matlab Processing Scripts To Accompany Spatially Resolved Measurements Of Crosslinking In Uv-Curable Coatings Using Single-Sided Nmr, Madeline Brass, Frances Jude Morin, Tyler Meldrum

Data

These Matlab scripts are used to import CPMG data collected using a Kea spectrometer (through the program Prospa), and to process each echo using the Fourier transformation. This provides spatially resolved NMR relaxation data that can be fitted or subjected to inverse Laplace transformation (not provided) to characterize relaxation at different positions within a sample.

Vitamin B12 Bioconjugates In Pharmaceutical Design, Jayme Leigh Workinger

Dissertations - ALL

Abstract

This thesis addresses several questions focused on the vitamin B12 (B12) dietary uptake pathway, in particular that of the enteric B12 transport protein intrinsic factor (IF) and its receptor cubilin, and the expression and exploitation of IF/cubilin in pharmaceutical development.

Q1: (Chapter 2) Does an 89Zr-B12 conjugate allow for improved background/noise ratio, relative to 99mTc and 64Cu B12 conjugates, in in vivo tumor uptake?

Goal: Conduct positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and biodistribution studies in mice bearing MDA-MB-453 breast cancer tumors using a new 89Zr-B12 conjugate.

Q2: (Chapter 3) What is the uptake of systemically administered holo-intrinisic factor bound …

Effects Of Sodium Chloride On Anthracene Photolysis Kinetics In Aqueous-Organic Solutions, Kyle Blaha

Theses - ALL

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are dangerous pollutants. The photolysis kinetics of PAHs are of interest because they are carcinogenic and can increase in toxicity through photodegradation into secondary products. They are often associated with particulate matter. The composition and physical properties of the particulate matter can affect PAH photolysis kinetics. We investigated the effects of sodium chloride on the photolysis kinetics of the PAH anthracene in water and octanol as well as mixed-phase solutions (water-octanol), which were used as models for aqueous-organic aerosols. A non-linear dependence on sodium chloride concentrations was observed. Sodium chloride enhanced photolysis at concentrations up to …