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The Hot Topics While In College: Wildfire Risk Perception Among University’S Population., Thomas Wuerzer Oct 2014

The Hot Topics While In College: Wildfire Risk Perception Among University’S Population., Thomas Wuerzer

Thomas Wuerzer

In 2012, wildfires destroyed about approximate 9 million acres of US lands and 2013’s fire season was equally destructive. In many states, the number of fires, burned acreages, and destroyed lives and property are devastating and a threat to the resident’s quality of life. Research shows that the re-occurrences and intensity of wildfires in the US, particular in the West, follow similar pattern than droughts or shifting early snow-pack melts. Environmental precursors show that the 2014 will be distressing. This study is focusing primarily on college students and their risk perception of wild fires in a fire prone US State; …


Enzyme Entrapment In Polyaniline Films Observed Via Florescence Anisotropy And Antiquenching, Louis R. Nemzer, Marissa Mccaffrey, Arthur J. Epstein Jan 2014

Enzyme Entrapment In Polyaniline Films Observed Via Florescence Anisotropy And Antiquenching, Louis R. Nemzer, Marissa Mccaffrey, Arthur J. Epstein

Louis R Nemzer

The facile entrapment of oxidoreductase enzymes within polyaniline polymer films by inducing hydrophobic collapse using phosphate buffered saline (PBS) has been shown to be a cost-effective method for fabricating organic biosensors. Here, we use fluorescence anisotropy measurements to verify enzyme immobilization and subsequent electron donation to the polymer matrix, both prerequisites for an effective biosensor. Specifically, we measure a three order of magnitude decrease in the ratio of the fluorescence to rotational lifetimes. In addition, the observed fluorescence antiquenching supports the previously proposed model that the polymer chain assumes a severely coiled conformation when exposed to PBS. These results help …


A Model Of Band-Pass Phenotypic Resistance In A Modified Beverton-Holt Framework, Louis R. Nemzer Jan 2014

A Model Of Band-Pass Phenotypic Resistance In A Modified Beverton-Holt Framework, Louis R. Nemzer

Louis R Nemzer

A new mathematical model of phenotypic bacterial resistance to a periodically applied antibiotic is presented. Using a modified Beverton–Holt framework, and without appealing to any explicit internal timescale or heritable mutations, we map the parameter-space regions corresponding to bacterial colony survival or extinction. It is demonstrated that band-pass behavior, in which colony survival occurs at intermediate – but not short or long – antibiotic application periods, is a possible regime for some initial population values if the bactericidal activity is sufficient. However, below this threshold value of antibiotic efficacy, a ‘‘fixed-point catastrophe’’ occurs, and colony extinction does not occur when …