Digital Commons Network^™

University Of Southern Maine Advance It-Catalyst: Project Description, Samantha Langley Turnbaugh, Joyce Gibson, Andrew Anderson, Dahlia Lynn

Women ADVANCE at USM Initiative

Through the Women ADVANCE at USM Initiative (WAUI) the University is committed to creating a culture and environment for attaining and sustaining a diverse faculty population (especially women and under-represented minorities) that reflects the community it serves.

The Bates Student - Volume 143 Number 05 - October 9, 2013, Bates College

The Bates Student

No abstract provided.

The Lumberjack, October 9, 2013, The Lumberjack Staff

2013

The student newspaper of Humboldt State University

An Ab-Initio Study Of Pyrrole And Imidazole Arylamides, Abramyan Ara, Zhiwei Liu, Vojislava Pophristic

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

Arylamide foldamers have been shown to have a number of biological and medicinal applications. For example, a class of pyrrole-imidazole polyamide foldamers is capable of binding specific DNA sequences and preventing development of various gene disorders, most importantly cancer. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can provide crucial details in understanding the atomic level events related to foldamer/DNA binding. An important first step in the accurate simulation of these foldamer/DNA systems is the reparametrization of force field parameters for torsion around the aryl-amide bonds. Here we highlight our Density Functional Theory (DFT) potential energy profiles and derived force field parameters for four …

Sample Preparation For Trace Element Analysis Of Commercial Artists’ Paints Using Pixe, Silas Menlo Scott, Dr. Lawrence Rees

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Particle Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE) has been used extensively in the study of items of artistic interest. One area of interest has been determining the chemical composition of various artists’ materials.1

Most Maimonides: A Study Of How Islamic Society Helped To Produce Judaism’S Most Influential Philosopher Of The Middle Ages, James Duncan Gilchrist, Dr. Glen Cooper

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Mahmood Darwiish, a contemporary Palestinian poet, described what Al-Andalus (an area of Muslim Spain, now called Andalusia) meant to its last inhabitants before the Spanish reconquista, in his poem, In the Last Night upon this Land. He describes it as a beautiful country of mountains and clouds, on the brink of occupation by invaders from afar. Although a long siege had been fought, fate ultimately transferred ownership to the invaders. Unprepared to depart, yet forced to by circumstances, Darwish offers a strange hospitality to the invaders as if he himself was a resident at the time. He invites them to …

Volume 51, Number 8: October 09, 2013, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

Emu Today, October 9, 2013, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Today

No abstract provided.

Leveraging Platoon Dispersion For Sybil Detection In Vehicular Networks, Muhammad Al Mutaz, Levi Malott, Sriram Chellappan

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

A Sybil attack is one where an adversary assumes multiple identities with the purpose of defeating the trust of an existing reputation system. When Sybil attacks are launched in vehicular networks, an added challenge in detecting malicious nodes is mobility that makes it increasingly difficult to tie a node to the location of attacks. In this paper, we present an innovative protocol for Sybil detection in vehicular networks. Considering that vehicular networks are cyber-physical systems integrating cyber and physical components, our technique exploits well-grounded results in the physical (i.e., transportation) domain to tackle the Sybil problem in the cyber domain. …

Vesicle Fusion: A Size Dependant Factor? The Role Of Ultrasound In Manipulating Vesicle Size, Eric Richardson, Dr. Dixon Woodbury

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Vesicles are microscopic spherical capsules that have many important applications in both medicine and biology. They are the cell’s primary vehicles for transporting proteins and other chemicals to and from organelles. In the last half century, artificial vesicles (AVs) have been manufactured to explore many biological mechanisms. More recently, AVs have been used as a drug-delivery tool on a microscopic level. This is a promising technique to fight life-threatening diseases such as cancer.

Isolation Of A 55 Kd Protein That Specifically Binds The 3′ Au-Rich Element Of Interleukin-1b Messenger Rna, David Emergy Skarda, Dr. Roger L. Kaspar

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The polypeptide Interleukin- 1(IL-1) is one of the key mediators of the body’s response to microbial invasion, inflammation, immunological reactions, and tissue injury.1 IL- 1gene expression regulation occurs at many steps. One of the steps currently being researched is translation. Recent research indicates that the translational regulation mechanisms of IL- 1include an AU-rich element in the 3′ untranslated region (Fig. 1).2 In this mechanism, an induced protein binds to the AU-rich element (ARE) causing a decrease in translation efficiency. Isolation and subsequent identification of the ARE binding protein may lead to effective new drugs that induce the ARE binding protein …

Image Origami, Eric Sokolowshy, Dr. Parris Egbert

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Virtual reality, or the exploration of a virtual (computer-generated) environment, is an interesting field in computer science. However, building the virtual environment is a difficult task because of several factors. First, a realistic-looking object is very difficult to describe to a computer. The most common approach is to approximate an object with a set of polygons placed in three-dimensional space. As the number of polygons increases, a more realistic object is produced. However, a shape with many polygons takes a long time to draw on the screen. Second, a realistic scene contains many objects. If too many objects or too …

Visualization Of Optical Wave Propagation In Femtosecond Photoemission Electron Microscopy, Rolf Kӧnenkamp, Robert Campbell Word, Joseph Fitzgerald

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) combines in a unique way photon probing and electron imaging. The imaging electrons are generated in a photoelectric process by illuminating the sample with ultra-violet or x-ray light. After generation these electrons are accelerated and introduced into an electron-optical system to produce a microscopic image of the specimen surface. The advantages of PEEM are manifold:

The avoidance of electron beam exposure makes PEEM a much gentler method than standard electron microscopy. This advantage is important when fragile organic or biological structures are studied. PEEM is also highly surface sensitive, since the photoelectrons typically escape the sample …

Beliefs And Instructional Practices Of Four Community College Remedial Mathematics Instructors, Robin Marie Wucherer

Theses and Dissertations

BELIEFS AND INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES OF FOUR COMMUNITY COLLEGE REMEDIAL MATHEMATICS INSTRUCTORS

Robin M. Wucherer

285 Pages August 2011

In an extension of research linking teachers' beliefs about mathematics and their instructional practices at the Prek-12 level, the present study examined and documented both the beliefs and instructional practices of four community college instructors who teach remedial mathematics. Data was collected through survey, observations, interviews, and classroom artifacts. The results of the survey, the Modified Standards Based Belief Instrument (MSBI), showed one-third of 39 community college mathematics instructors had beliefs about mathematics and the teaching and learning of mathematics that …

Unalienated Recognition At The Core Of Meaningful Exchange Between School And Community. A Response To "Unalienated Recognition As A Feature Of Democratic Schooling", Robin R. Sears

Democracy & Education

I apply the concept of unalienated recognition as a form of democratic exchange, introduced by Rheingold (2012), to a different educational setting. Through a case study of the School for Field Studies international environmental programs, that are, like Rheingold’s study school, field based and community centered, I explore the hypothesis that today’s undergraduate students’ desire to serve and to solve can be usefully harnessed in formal coursework and research to address real problems at their foundation. I link the cases by building on Rheingold’s use of the concept of boundary objects as an organizing principle behind the success in motivating …

A Call To Action: Why We Need More Practitioner Research. A Response To "A Teacher Educator Uses Action Research To Develop Culturally Conscious Curriculum Planners", Kimberly H. Campbell

Democracy & Education

As teacher-educators we need to embrace practitioner (action) research of our own classroom practice. Such research serves to improve our practice, inform the teaching profession, and serve as modeling for future teachers to become practitioner researchers in support of their efforts to meet the learning needs of the students with whom they work as well as have a voice in policy decisions that impact their professional lives.

“The Diffusion Of Light”: Jefferson’S Philosophy Of Education, M. Andrew Holowchak

Democracy & Education

Jefferson's republicanism—a people-first, mostly bottom-up political vision with a moral underpinning—was critically dependent on general education for the citizenry and higher education for those who would govern. This paper contains an analysis of Jefferson’s general philosophy of pedagogy by enumerating some of its most fundamental principles, applicable to both elementary and higher education.

Teacher, Researcher, And Accountability Discourses: Creating Space For Democratic Science Teaching Practices In Middle Schools, Cory A. Buxton, Shakhnoza Kayumova, Martha Allexsaht-Snider

Democracy & Education

This study explores the role of competing discourses that shape current practices in U.S. schools and how professional development efforts can support teachers and researchers in finding ways to reinsert more democratic processes into their collaborative work. We examine the case of one research and professional development project with the goal of supporting middle school science and ESOL teachers in fostering more meaningful science learning for all their students but especially their English language learners. Using Gee’s notion of big-D discourses and Fairclough’s notion of interdiscursivity, we trace how the Discourse of accountability, the Discourse of science teaching, and the …

Existence Of A Period-Two Solution In Linearizable Difference Equations, E. J. Janowski, Mustafa Rs Kulenović

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Consider the difference equation x_n+1 = f(x_n, …, x_n-k), n = 0, 1, …, where l, k ∈ {1, 2, . . .} and the initial conditions are real numbers. We investigate the existence and nonexistence of the minimal period-two solution of this equation when it can be rewritten as the nonautonomous linear equation x_n+l = Σ^k_{i = 1–l} g_ix_n-1, n = 0, 1, . . . , where l, k ∈ {1, 2, . . .} and the functions g …

The Krein Matrix: General Theory And Concrete Applications In Atomic Bose-Einstein Condensates, Todd Kapitula, Panayotis G. Kevrekidis, Dong Yan

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

When finding the nonzero eigenvalues for Hamiltonian eigenvalue problems it is especially important to locate not only the unstable eigenvalues (i.e., those with positive real part) but also those which are purely imaginary but have negative Krein signature. These latter eigenvalues have the property that they can become unstable upon collision with other purely imaginary eigenvalues; i.e., they are a necessary building block in the mechanism leading to the so-called Hamiltonian-Hopf bifurcation. In this paper we review a general theory for constructing a meromorphic matrix-valued function, the so-called Krein matrix, which has the property of not only locating the unstable …

A Conservation And Rigidity Based Method For Detecting Critical Protein Residues, Bahar Akbal-Delibas, Filip Jagodzinski, Nurit Haspel

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Background

Certain amino acids in proteins play a critical role in determining their structural stability and function. Examples include flexible regions such as hinges which allow domain motion, and highly conserved residues on functional interfaces which allow interactions with other proteins. Detecting these regions can aid in the analysis and simulation of protein rigidity and conformational changes, and helps characterizing protein binding and docking. We present an analysis of critical residues in proteins using a combination of two complementary techniques. One method performs in-silico mutations and analyzes the protein's rigidity to infer the role of a point substitution to Glycine …

Electrostatic Discharge In Solids, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison

Graduate Student Presentations

No abstract provided.

U.S. Drought Monitor, October 8, 2013, Richard Tinker

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for October 8, 2013 (10/8/13) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

The Krein Matrix: General Theory And Concrete Applications In Atomic Bose-Einstein Condensates, Todd Kapitula, Panayotis G. Kevrekidis, Dong Yan

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

When finding the nonzero eigenvalues for Hamiltonian eigenvalue problems it is especially important to locate not only the unstable eigenvalues (i.e., those with positive real part) but also those which are purely imaginary but have negative Krein signature. These latter eigenvalues have the property that they can become unstable upon collision with other purely imaginary eigenvalues; i.e., they are a necessary building block in the mechanism leading to the so-called Hamiltonian-Hopf bifurcation. In this paper we review a general theory for constructing a meromorphic matrix-valued function, the so-called Krein matrix, which has the property of not only locating the unstable …

Function And Distribution Of Apolipoprotein A1 In The Artery Wall Are Markedly Distinct From Those In Plasma, Joseph A. Didonato, Ying Huang, Kulwant S. Aulak, Orli Even-Or, Gary Gerstenecker, Valentin Gogonea, Yuping Wu, Paul L. Fox, W.H. Wilson Tang, Edward F. Plow, Jonathan D. Smith, Edward A. Fisher, Stanley L. Hazen

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Background—Prior studies show that apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1) recovered from human atherosclerotic lesions is highly oxidized. Ex vivo oxidation of apoA1 or high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cross-links apoA1 and impairs lipid binding, cholesterol efflux, and lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase activities of the lipoprotein. Remarkably, no studies to date directly quantify either the function or HDL particle distribution of apoA1 recovered from the human artery wall. Methods and Results—A monoclonal antibody (10G1.5) was developed that equally recognizes lipid-free and HDL-associated apoA1 in both native and oxidized forms. Examination of homogenates of atherosclerotic plaque–laden aorta showed >100-fold enrichment of apoA1 compared with normal aorta (P<0.001). Surprisingly, buoyant density fractionation revealed that only a minority (<3% of total) of apoA1 recovered from either lesions or normal aorta resides within an HDL-like particle (1.063≤d≤1.21). In contrast, the majority (>90%) …

Computer Simulated Multi-Component Aerosol Thermodynamics And Chemistry, Eric Halpenny, Dr. Larry Baxter

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Aerosols are small (sub-micron) particles formed mainly in combustion processes by the vaporization and subsequent re-condensation of volatile, inorganic compounds. Cloud formation is an example of an aerosol process. However, unlike clouds, most aerosol-generating processes produce negative effects on both the process that forms them and the environment. Aerosols represent major process and emissions issues for essentially all systems employing low-grade fuel (coal, biomass, and black liquor). An accurate, predictive understanding of aerosol formation and chemistry would substantially improve the efficiency and environmental performance of many processes.

Color Harmony And Light Frequency Ratios: A Collection Of Video Pieces Using An Experimental Color Theory, Collin L. Bradford, Peter Everett

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My original proposal focused on the development and use of a system of colors that related to each other in mathematically harmonious ways. Light, like sound, has specific frequencies. A sound’s frequency determines its pitch and the ratios between the frequencies of two or more sounds determine the harmony or dissonance between them. Simpler ratios create more harmonious relationships; more complex ratios create dissonant relationships. For example, two sounds whose frequencies relate to each other in a 2 to 1 ratio (perhaps one is 440 Hz and the other is 880 Hz) form an octave. A slightly more complex ratio, …

Academic Senate - Agenda, 10/8/13, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Wick-Malliavin Approximation To Nonlinear Stochastic Partial Differential Equations: Analysis And Simulations, D. Venturi, X. Wan, R. Mikulevicius, B. L. Rozovskii, G. E. Karniadakis

Faculty Publications

Approximating nonlinearities in stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs) via the Wick product has often been used in quantum field theory and stochastic analysis. The main benefit is simplification of the equations but at the expense of introducing modelling errors. In this paper, we study the accuracy and computational efficiency of Wick-type approximations to SPDEs and demonstrate that the Wick propagator, i.e. the system of equations for the coefficients of the polynomial chaos expansion of the solution, has a sparse lower triangular structure that is seemingly universal, i.e. independent of the type of noise. We also introduce new higher-order stochastic approximations …

Could A State-Level Carbon Tax Work In The Intermountain West?, Adele C. Morris

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

With the U.S. federal government stuck in partisan gridlock, attention increasingly turns to states and localities for innovative climate solutions. This talk will explore the option for Intermountain West states to tax carbon, including how they could establish a tax base, set price signals, and manage revenue. The presentation will pay special attention to the option of “swapping” a carbon tax for revenue sources that more negatively impact economic growth, such as taxes on business activity. This research will explore the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches and consider the issue of the burdens on lower income households and certain …