Science Education in the 21st century: Advantages ...
Transcript of Science Education in the 21st century: Advantages ...
Science Education in the 21st century:
Advantages, Pitfalls, and Future Trends
An International Symposium and Alumni Association Meeting sponsored by
the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS),
co-sponsored by Colorado State University
March 12, 2010
Symposium Venue
Lory Student Center
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1370
Tel: 1-970-491-6444
Symposium Lodging
Hilton Fort Collins
425 West Prospect Road
Fort Collins, Colorado 80526
Tel: (970) 482-2626
Organizing Committee
Dr. Hirotaka Sugawara, Director, JSPS Washington DC Office
Dr. Shannon T. Bischoff, Department of English, Linguistics Program
University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez
Dr. Shamim Mirza, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Sciences
University of California at Irvine, CA
Dr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering,
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Website: http://academic.uprm.edu/~sbischoff/science_education/home.htm
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Table of ContentsProgram 3
Invited Talks
Akito Arima Science education and training in Japan and the United States 5
Christopher L. Soles Morphology characterization methods for organic photovoltaic devices
and materials 7
Katsuhiko Ariga Supramoleculr materials and hand-operating nanotechnology 8
George W. Rayfield Bacteriorhodopsin for optical device applications 10
Randy Duran The LSAMP center for international research 11
Liyuan Han Highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells 13
Kyoko Yokomori Human SMC complexes in genome maintenance and regulation 15
Akito Masuhara Fabrication of unique shaped fullerene nano/microcrystals and
their characterization 16
Sean Duffy Promoting international scientific literacy: The value of international
experiences for undegraduates 18
Rosita Rivera and Catherine Mazak Science content, language, strategy, and
technology learning in a university-level esl classroom 19
Shannon Bischoff and Laurence Chott Research as undergraduate education 21
Poster Abstracts
Anthony Halog Sustainability science education: Its role in the pursuit of global
climate change 24
Kimberly N. Santiago Vega English for academic and career success in Agricultural Science:
A needs-based curriculum 26
Dawn Doutrich, Cathy Pollock-Robinson, Kerri Arcus, Lida Dekker, and Janet Spuck
Cultural safety in nursing education: Adapting and adopting concepts across boundaries 28
Gregory D. Durgin The IPP program: A possible model for future international collaboration
in science and engineering 29
Ravi Palaniappan, Parveen Wahid, and Leonard Barolli A novel sensor web system for tracking
and surveillance 31
Shamin Mirza, Salma Rahman, George W. Rayfield, Edward W. Taylor, and Abhijit Sarkar
Laser protection materials for space environments 33
Md. Khabir Uddin, and James C. Fishbein Synthesis and thiolytic chemistry of alternative
precursors to the monomethylated metabolite of the cancer chemopreventive oltipraz 35
Elena A. Rozhkova, Ilya Ulasov, Dong-Hyun Kim, Maciej S. Lesniak, T. Rajh, Sam Bader
Val Novosad Biofunctionalized magnetic vortex microdisks for targeted cancer cell destruction 37
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Program Thursday (March 11, 2010)
6.30 - 9.00: Welcome dinner for the speakers (including organizing committee, EC
of JSPS alumni association, JSPS), Green and Gold Room, Hilton Fort Collins.
Friday (March 12, 2010)
Symposium Venue: Lory Student Center, North Ballroom
Time Speaker Title
Registration/
(poster display,
poster session will
continue 8.00 am
to 3.15 pm)
8.00-8.30 am
(poster session
will continue
8.00 am to 3.15
pm)
Opening Session 8.30-9.00 am Dr William Farland,
Vice President for Research &
Senior Vice President,
Colorado State University
Dr James Cooney,
Vice Provost,
International Programs,
Colorado State University
Dr. Hirotaka Sugawara, Director,
JSPS Washington DC Office
Opening remarks
Keynote Speaker 9.00-9.30 am Dr. Akito Arima, Chairman of
Japan Science Foundation
Chair: Shamim
Mirza
10.00-10.30 am Dr. Christopher Soles, Group
Leader Electronic Materials
Group, Polymer Division,
National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST)
Morphology
Characterization Methods
for Organic Photovoltaic
Devices and Materials
10.30-11.00 am Dr. Katsuhiko Ariga
Supermolecules Group & MANA
National Institute for Materials
Science (NIMS)
Supramolecular Materials
and Hand-Operating
Nanotechnology
11.00-11.30 am Prof. George Rayfield,
Department of Physics, University
of Oregon
Bacteriorhodopsin for
Optical Device
Applications
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Chair: Ranil
Wickramasinghe
12.30-1.00 pm Dr. Randy Duran, Director Office
of Undergraduate Research,
Department of Chemistry,
Louisiana State University
The LSAMP Center for
International Research
1.00-1.30 pm Dr. Liyuan Han Director
Advanced Photovoltaic Center
National Institute for Materials
Science (NIMS)
Highly Efficient Dye-
Sensitized Solar Cells
1.30-2.00 pm Dr. Kyoko Yokomori Associate
Professor University of California
Irvine Department of Biological
Chemistry School of Medicine
Human SMC Complexes in
Genome Maintenance and
Regulation
2.00-2.30 pm Dr. Akito Masuhara Assistant
Professor Institute of
Multidisciplinary Research for
Advanced Materials (IMRAM)
Tohoku University
Fabrication of Unique
Shaped Fullerene
Nano/Microcrystals and
Their Characterization
Chair: Shannon
Bischoff
3.00-3.30 pm Dr. Sean Duffy, Assistant
Professor, Department of
Psychology, Rutgers University,
Camden
Promoting international
scientific literacy: The
value of international
experiences for
undergraduates
3.30-4.00 pm Dr Rosita Rivera, Associate
Professor, Department of English,
University of Puerto Rico at
Mayaguez
Science Content,
Language, Strategy, and
Technology Learning in a
University-level ESL
Classroom
4.00-4.30 pm Dr. Shannon T. Bischoff, Assistant
Professor, Department of English
Linguistics Program, University
of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
Research as undergraduate
education
Closing Remarks 4.30-4.45 pm
US-JSPS Alumni
Association
Annual General
Meeting
4.45-6.00 pm
Venue: Lory Student Center, West Ballroom
Symposium Banquet 6.00-9.00 pm
Saturday (March 13, 2010)
Venue: Lory Student Center, Cherokee Park Ballroom
8.00�10.30 Continental breakfast and US�JSPS Alumni Association Annual
General Meeting
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10.30�10.40 Closing Remarks Chair US�JSPS alumni and Director JSPS
Washington DC office
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Science education and training in Japan and United States
Akito Arima
I. Science Education and Academic Achievement in Japan's Primary and Secondary Schools, and
Public Scientific Literacy
1-1. Academic Performance and Problems in Science Among Primary and Lower Secondary Students
1-2. Scientific Literacy in the Japanese Public
1-3. The Necessity for Improved Science Teacher Training in Japan
1-4. Japanese Children Like Science Best: Anticorrelation of Mathematics, Science Achievement and Liking Study
1-5. Universities Must Also be Able to Train Key Technicians to Work in SMEs
II. The Necessity for University-Level Liberal Arts and Science Education and General Education
2-1. Why Departments of Liberal Arts and Science Disappeared from Universities in Japan
2-2. Revive Liberal Arts and Science Education
2-3. Institute First-Stage Undergraduate Study Program with Consistent Liberal Arts and Science Education as a
First Step to Interdisciplinary Education in Undergraduate Departments
III. Two Decades of Abrupt Reform in Japan's Universities
3-1. The Science and Technology Basic Law and the Science and Technology Basic Plan
3-2. Conversion of Japan's National Universities into Corporations
IV. Measures by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to Vitalize University
Education and Research �
V. Points for Improvement in University Education and Research in Japan
VI� Conclusion
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Biography:
Born: September 13, 1930 Osaka, Japan
Education:
1953 Mar. Graduation from University of Tokyo
1958 Aug. Dr. of Science from Univ. of Tokyo
Professional Experience:
1971 Jan.-1973 Jan. Professor, State Univ. of New York at Stony Brook
1975 Jun. Professor, Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Tokyo
1989 Apr.-1993 Mar. President, Univ. of Tokyo
1993 Oct.-1998 May President, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research(RIKEN)
1995 Apr.-1998 May Chairman of the Central Council for Education
1998 Jul.-2004 Jul. House of Councilors member
1998 Jul.-1999 Oct. Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture
1999 Jan.-1999Oct. Minister of State for Science and Technology
2000 June- Chairman, Japan Science Foundation
2004 Jul.- �� Director, Science Museum
2006 Apr.- Chancellor, Musashi Gakuen
Awards:
1978 Dec. Nishina Memorial Prize
1990 May Wetherill Medal, The Franklin Institute, U.S.A.
1990 Apr. Order Das Grosse Verdienstkreuz, Bonn, Germany
1991 Dec. Kanselarij der Netherlandse. Orden�s Gravenhage, Amsterdam
1993 Apr. Bonner Prize, American Physical Society
1993 Jun. The Japan Academy Prize
1998 Jun. au grade d�officier dans l�ordre national de la Legion d�Honneur, France
2002 Sept. Knight Commander of the British Empire, U.K.
2004 Nov. A person of cultural merits, Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun
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Morphology characterization methods for organic
photovoltaic devices and materials
Christopher L. Soles
Polymers Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-8541
Developing photovoltaic devices based on organic semiconductor materials requires materials and processes that
deliver predictable and reproducible performance. One advantage of these organic materials with respect to their
inorganic photovoltaic counterparts is the ease with which they can be solution process using a variety of solvent
deposition and printing methods. However, these soft processing routes can also lead to unpredictable performance
and poor reproducibility because the critical microstructure of the material forms dynamically as the solution dries.
Many parameters influence the drying process and the microstructure formation is often hard to control. It can
therefore be difficult to determine why new materials often underperform. Our goal is to develop an integrated suite
of non-destructive measurement methods to evaluate organic-based photovoltaic devices and tie their electrical and
photovoltaic performance to the interfacial morphology of the active molecules in the device, thereby correlating
performance to the details of the chemical structure, the fabrication methods, and processing parameters. By
providing the measurement link for the structure - processing - performance paradigm, our methods are gear to
accelerate product development, enable standard measurements, and provide a basis for quantitative comparisons in
this emerging technology where device variability and optimization are still poorly understood. To address these
challenges, we have developed a suite of quantitative methods to correlate chemical structure and processing
variables to performance via microstructure measurements. These include a combination of X-ray diffraction,
scattering, and reflectivity, a variety of optical characterization methods including infrared spectroscopy,
spectroscopic ellipsometry, and UV-VIS absorption, several types of microscopy including optical, electron, and
scanning probe microscopy, solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, quantitative calorimetry, and near
edge X-ray absorption fine structure. When carefully integrated together, this barrage of techniques provides
sufficiently detailed morphological information to isolate the contributions of individual structure and processing
variables. This integrated measurement platform provides a rational basis for evaluating current processing methods
and provides a quantitative basis to accelerate materials development by separating the molecular basis for electric
performance from the process induced variability. In this presentation I will provide an overview of our metrology
development efforts for the organic photovoltaic and electronics community.
Christopher Soles currently leads the Energy and Electronics Materials Group within
the Polymers Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
In 1993 Chris received two Bachelors of Science degrees from the University of
Michigan, in Mechanical Engineering as well as Materials Science and Engineering. In
1998 he completed is Doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering, also at the
University of Michigan, under the guidance of Professor Albert Yee. In 1999 he
received a NIST-NRC Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Dr. Wen-li Wu of the
NIST Polymers Division and in 2002 made the transition to a permanent research staff
position. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed publications and received several notable awards, including the
Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (2006) and the United States Department of
Commerce Bronze (2006, 2008) and Silver (2006) Medal Awards. He currently serves as a Technical Program
Chair for the Polymeric Material: Science & Engineering (PMSE) Division of the American Chemical Society.
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Supramolecular materials and hand-operating
nanotechnology
Katsuhiko ArigaWorld Premier International (WPI) Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science
(NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan, [email protected]
Functional materials have been wisely constructed via bottom-up approaches as seen in preparation of molecular
patterns and complexes [1-3], organized nanostructures [4-7], and function materials [8]. For example, a novel
hierarchic nanostructure based on layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly and mesoporous technology, so-called
mesoporous silica nanocompartment film (Figure 1), was reported [9]. The resulting mesoporous
nanocompartment films possess special molecular encapsulation and release capabilities so that stimuli-free auto-
modulated stepwise release of water or drug molecules was achieved through the mesopore channels of robust silica
capsule containers embedded in the film. Stepwise release of water was reproducibly observed that originates in the
non-equilibrated rates between evaporation of water from the mesopore channels to the exterior and the capillary
penetration of water from container interior to the mesopore channels. As another LbL hierarchic structure, we also
demonstrated the LbL assembly of mesoporous carbon capsules on a QCM plate and the use of the resulting
structure for selective adsorption of gaseous substances [10]. The related LbL structures of mesoporous carbons
were demonstrated for in situ sensor use based on highly cooperative nanopore-filling adsorption in the liquid phase
[11]. In addition, we are now exploring application of the silica mesoporous capsules for gene delivery. Entrapment
of DNA strands on the silica capsules has been demonstrated as preliminary results.
Not limited to material developments, novel concepts to bridge nano (molecular) structures and bulk systems now
becomes crucial in order to control real nano and molecular functions from our visible worlds. Recently, we propose
a novel methodology �hand-
operating nanotechnology�
where molecular orientation,
organization and even
functions in nanometer-scale
can be operated by our bulk
(hand) operation. As shown
in the following Figure 2,
this concept can be realized
at dynamic two-dimensional
medium, the air-water
interface because this
medium possess both
features of bulk and
molecular dimension. For
example, we successfully
manipulated molecules at the
air-water interface upon bulk
(10-100 cm size) motion of
the entire monolayer and
realized �capture and
release� of aqueous guest
molecules using molecular
machine, steroid cyclophane
[12]. In addition,
mechanically controlled chiral recognition by the armed cyclen monolayer was successfully demonstrated [13].
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Figure 1. Mesoporous nanocompartment film
Figur e 2. Hand- operating n anotechno logy
References
[1] A. Shundo et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 9494-9495 (2009). (Highlighted in Nature Chemistry)[2] S. Acharya et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 11282-11283 (2009).
[3] F. D'Souza et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 16138-16146 (2009).
[4] S. Acharya et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 4594-4595 (2008).[5] M. Sathish et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 6372-6373 (2009).
[6] R. Charvet et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 18030-18031 (2009).
[7] N. Pradhan et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132, 1212-1213 (2010).[8] K. Ariga et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 129, 11022-11023 (2007).
[9] Q. Ji et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 130, 2376-2377 (2008). (Highlighted in Nature Materials)
[10] Q. Ji et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 4220-4221 (2009).[11] K. Ariga et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 47, 7254-7257 (2008).
[12] K. Ariga et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122, 7835-7836 (2000).
[13] T. Michinobu et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128, 14478-14479 (2006).
Katsuhiko ARIGA:
1987-1992 Assistant Professor (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
1990-1992 Postdoctoral Researcher (University of Texas at Austin)
1992-1998 JST Group Leader (Supermolecules Project) and CREST Researcher
1998-2001 Associate Professor (Nara Institute of Science and Technology)
2001-2003 JST Group Leader (Nanospace Project)
2004- Director of Supermolecules Group, NIMS
2007- Principal Investigator, MANA, NIMS,
2008- Visiting Professor (Tokyo University of Science)
Asian Editor of J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol., Adv. Sci. Lett., and Nanosci. Nanotechnol.
Lett.
Associate Editor of Chem. Lett. and Sci. Technol. Adv. Mater.
Editorial Board Member of Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. and ASC Appl. Mater. Interface
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Bacteriorhodopsin for optical device applications
George W. RayfieldPhysics Department, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) is a material of biological origin. It is found in the cell membrane wall of Halobacterium
halobium as a purple membrane sheet. In low oxygen tension the bacterium replaces oxidative phosphorylation with
photophosphorylation. BR functions as a light activated proton pump. A typical purple membrane sheet contains
approximately 105 BR molecules in a two dimensional array. The chromophore (retinal) responsible for light
absorption is located within a pocket of the opsin and is bound via a Schiff base to a lysine residue in the amino acid
sequence.
When BR is illuminated by a laser light flash, transient changes occur in the visible absorption spectrum of the
protein--i.e., the material is photochromic. The optical absorption changes are characterized by a series of
photointermediates, with characteristic rise and fall times that range from less than a picosecond to more than 10
milliseconds. This photochromic property of BR makes it a useful material for optical devices. When the purple
membrane sheets are assembled in an oriented sample, illumination of the sample produces a photovoltage.
Potential Applications of BR include:b
� Photoelectric effect � high speed photodetectors
� Nonlinear optical properties � frequency doubling
� Photochromic effects � laser eye protection, holographic data storage
George W. Rayfield:
Personal Birthplace:San Francisco, California
Education: B.S. in Physics, Stanford, University, Stanford, California, 1958.
M.S. in Engineering Science, University of California-Berkeley,
Berkeley,California, 1964.
Ph.D. in Physics, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 1964
Employment: NASA Ames Laboratory, Moffett Field, California, 1956, aero test technician
Sylvania Microwave Tube Laboratory, Mountain View California, 1958-59, microwave-tube engineer
University of California- Berkeley, Department of Electrical Engineering and Department of Physics, Berkeley, California,
1960-64, research assistant.
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1964-67, assistant professor of physics.
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 1967-present, Professor of Physics, (since 1985). Previous positions were
Associate Professor of Physics (1968-85); and Assistant Professor of Physics (1967-68).
U.S. Army, Eugene, Oregon, 1986-1990, consultant.
Bend Research, Inc., Bend, Oregon, 1987 -1998, consultant.
Aquarious Inc., PO Box 6695 Pahrump, NV, 2004-present, President
Memberships: American Physical Society Fellow, Biophysical Society, Sigma Xi, American Association for the Advancement of Science,Alfred Sloan Fellow
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The LSAMP center for international research
Randy DuranDirector Office of Undergraduate Research, Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University
Following up on presentations at JAM meetings in 2006 and 2008, and a strong positive response from the
nationwide community, NSF funded its first �center-level� program in support of international undergraduate
research for LSAMP. As such, the LSAMP Center for International Undergraduate Research Experiences (LSAMP-
INT) was initiated in 2008. In this pilot year, funding was provided such that 16 participants could be recruited from
LSAMP programs nationwide. Our team started with JAM, and then a rapid series of regional meetings that has
included Jackson State, Texas A&M, NY-AMP, CSU-AMP, CAMP, LAMP, Puerto Rico, FGAMP, and others.
Immediately, we found a deep pool of undergraduate talent (of course!) enthusiastically ready to accept the
challenge of getting enough accomplished over 12 weeks of an international research experience to merit co-
authorship in a peer-reviewed publication. We were also very impressed at the willingness of many AMP
coordinators to extend these summer experiences through the fall semester. The enthusiasm also extended to the
faculty mentors, many of whom plan to visit their LSAMP students abroad over the summer. In this spirit, the
LSAMP-INT team invites anyone from the LSAMP community to consider attending the NSF/FAPESP USBrazil
Workshop on Functional and Nanomaterials scheduled for Aug 8-10 on the campus of the State University of
Campinas, near Sao Paulo; contact any of the LSAMPINT team for more information. Participants in LSAMP-INT
program are given deep immersion experiences in a variety of renowned research laboratories around the world. In
particular, the students will be embedded in international REU Sites (iREU). To our delight, before Christmas in this
first year of the program, it became statistically more difficult to get a spot in LSAMP-INT than the get into a
medical school in the US! As a result, this year we were able to increase the opportunities so that the 20 students
listed below could participate. Next year we hope for significantly more slots. Each year, about half of the
participants will be sent to a set of primary iREU Sites involving France, Brazil, Argentina, and Ghana that are
coordinated by the PIs through the University of Florida. The other half of the participants will be embedded in
about 18 other iREU Sites that span much of the world and represent most directorates of NSF depending on the
experience and interest of the LSAMP student participants. The intellectual merit of the program is through the
outstanding research projects involving world-class scientists in varied international settings. The cohort of
participants will also share common predeparture and postprogram experiences designed to maximize the broader
impact of their international research experience. In particular we will involve scientists at the Smithsonian and
Florida Museums of Natural History as a way and enhancing the ability of the participants to communicate their
research to a broader public. Overall, we are thrilled that the LSAMP-INT is poised to participate in the
development of a diverse workforce with global science competencies critical to continued US competitiveness.
Jorge Medina is currently a junior double majoring in physics and mathematics at California State University-Long
Beach. He has performed research in solid state physics, pharmaceutical engineering and coding theory. Jorge is a
LSU-LSAMP scholar and has received many competitive merit based scholarships such as the American Physical
Society undergraduate scholarship. Jorge Plans to pursue a PhD in Physics and an MBA. He hopes to start his own
business in the defense industry, pharmaceuticals, or PMC. For his 2009 project, Jorge will be participating in the
context of the US/South America REU program. Jorge will be going to the State University of Campinas, also
known as �UNICAMP�. His research project will be in the physics/materials science area to take advantage of his
interest in optics. In addition to learning about Brazilian culture and learning Portuguese in an outstanding setting to
do so as a Spanish-speaker.
Maria Teresa Rodolis is currently a Junior at SUNY New Paltz, majoring in Chemistry with a minor and possible
double major in Cellular Biology. As part of LSAMP-INT, she will be going to the Costa Rica field station operated
by the Organization for Tropical Studies. Maria is the Vice President of the Chi Alpha Epsilon honor society
maintaining a GPA of 3.82. She began doing research in the summer of 2008 with Dr. Preeti Dhar on a project
motivated by an increase in antimicrobial resistance by bacteria and fungus which led to many incurable diseases
such as the flesh eating Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Her research project involves synthesizing
monocyclic -lactams, the molecule responsible for the antimicrobial activity of many antibiotics. By using varying�
starting material, she was able to determine how functional groups affect the -lactam�s properties most importantly�
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its ability to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungus. Maria has presented her research project at the state
wide LSAMP and CSTEP conference and will be presenting at the national ACS conference in March 2009, where
she hopes to publish her work in the American Chemical Society journal. Maria enjoys working in the laboratory,
hiking, listening to music, dancing and caring for her many pet animals. Help us congratulate these twenty 2009
LSAMP undergraduates going abroad!
1) Samuel Ares, PR-LSAMP, Industrial Biotechnology Major, UPR-Mayaguez will go to CEA, Grenoble, France
2) Jabari Bailey, Georgia LSAMP, Biology major, Morehouse will go to UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
3) Alexander Blair, Georgia LSAMP, Biology major, Morehouse will go to USP, Sao Paulo , Brazil
4) DeMario Butts, Georgia LSAMP, Biology/Chemistry, Morehouse College will go to UNICAMP, Campinas,
Brazil
5) Julie Cojulun, CAMP, Aerospace Engineering, UC�Irvine will go to UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
6) Charlie Corredor, NYC-LSAMP, Chemical Engineering, CCNY will be going to the Universite Pierre Marie
Curie, Paris, France
7) Frederick Crawford, Ohio LSAMP, Chemical Engineering, OSU will go to UNESP-Araraquara, Brazil
8) Julius Edson, NYC-LSAMP, Chemical Engineering, CCNY will go to University of Graz, Austria
9) Willems Leveille, Northeast LSAMP, Civil Engineering, UMass, will go to University of Nairobi, Kenya
10) Jorge Medina, CSU-LSAMP, Physics/Math, CSU-Long Beach will go to UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil
11) Diane Render, FGLSAMP, Math, Albany St will go to Charles University, Czech Republic
12) Maria Rodolis, SUNY LSAMP, Biology, SUNY New Paltz, will go to Organization Tropical Studies Field
Station, Costa Rica
13) Alvaro Rodriguez, TAMUS LSAMP, Molecular Biology, Texas A&M , will go to University of Strasbourg,
France
14) Selisa Rollins, WAESO LSAMP, Chemical Engineering, Arizona State will go to UNESP-Ararquara, Brazil
15) Octavio Romo-Fewell, CSU-LSAMP, Chemistry, San Diego State will go to Chulabhorn-Bangkok, Thailand
16) Pamela Sanchez, NYC-LSAMP, Math/Biology, Queens College, will go to UNESP-Ararquara, Brazil
17) Alison Scott, CSU-LSAMP, Biology, CSU-Los Angeles will go to UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil
18) Matthew Temba, Georgia LSAMP, Math/Economics, Morehouse will go to University of Strasbourg, France
19) Aisha Williams, Illinois LSAMP, Biochemistry/Biology, Chicago State will go to LeLoir Institute, Argentina
20) Justin Wilkerson, TAMUS LSAMP, Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M will go to USP, Sao Paulo, Brazil
By Randy Duran and Mike Scott, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida
Troy Sadler, School of Teaching and Learning, Univ. of Florida
Tom Emmel, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, and
James P. Brown, Morehouse College
[email protected] www.chem.ufl.edu/~reu
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Highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells
Liyuan HanAdvanced Photovoltaics Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan
E-mail: [email protected]
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have been widely investigated as a next-generation solar cell because of low
manufacturing cost [1]. As shown in Fig. 1, DSCs are comprised of a nanocrystalline titanium dioxide (TiO2)
electrode modified with a dye fabricated on a transparent conducting oxide (TCO), counterelectrode (CE), and an
electrolyte solution with a dissolved iodide ion/tri-iodide ion redox couple between the electrodes. The mechanism
of power generation in DSCs is a process whereby the dye on the nanocrystalline TiO2 is excited by light, generating
a fast electron transfer to the conduction band of the TiO2 electrode and further movement toward the front
electrodes. The oxidized dye is subsequently reduced by the electrolyte containing the iodide/triiodide redox couple,
the formation of holes with movement toward the counter electrode through the electrolyte. The principles of DSCs
are therefore different from those that govern conventional solar cells. They are, in fact, more similar to plant
photosynthesis, as light absorption (dye) and carrier transportations in both TiO2 and electrolyte in DSCs occur
separately. In comparison with silicon solar cells, detailed understanding of DSCs mechanisms has been hindered by
the complexity of the TiO2 film with its large surface area.
In this presentation, strategy for improving efficiency of DSCs was reported. Modeling of equivalent circuit of
DSCs, the method for improvement of shirt circuit density (Jsc), open circuit voltage and fill factor were
investigated.
To understand the mechanism of DSC, an internal resistance was studied by the electrochemical impedance
spectroscopy and four internal resistance elements were observed [2]. In our analysis, an equivalent circuit of DSCs
(Fig. 2) was firstly proposed [3]. The series resistance of DSCs is the sum of the internal resistance elements related
to the charge transfer processes at the Pt counter electrode (R1), ionic diffusion in the electrolyte (R3), and the sheet
resistance of TCO (Rh). The charge transportation at the TiO2/dye/electrolyte interface was found to act like the
resistance of a diode as it was dependent on the applied bias voltage.
The decrease of the series-internal resistance was studied based on the equivalent circuit of DSCs in order to
improve of fill factor. It was found that R1 decreases with increase in roughness factor (RF) of Pt counter electrode,
which suggests that increase in the RF of the Pt counter electrode leads to an accelerated rate of I3- reduction through
the increased surface area of the counter electrode [3].
Relationship between R3 and the thickness of the electrolyte layer defined as the distance between the TiO2 electrode
and the Pt counter electrode, and the dependence of Rh on the sheet resistance of the TCO were also investigated. It
was found that both R3 and Rh are proportional to the thickness of the electrolyte layer and the sheet resistance of the
TCO respectively.
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CE
I3-
TCO
I-
TiO2 Electrolyte
Dye
I
Rh
Rsh
R3
C1
R1
C3
Isc
Fig. 2 Equivalent circuit of DSCs. R1, R3 and Rh are series resistance elements,
Rsh is shunt resistance, C1 and C3 are capacitance element.Fig. 1 Structure of the DSC.
For the purpose of improving Jsc, we attempted a use of haze
factor to estimate the effect of light scattering of TiO2
electrodes. Fig. 3 shows dependence of incident photon to
current conversion efficiency (IPCE) spectra on haze factor,
which is varied in the range from 3% to 76%. IPCE is widely
increased by the increase of haze of TiO2 film, especially in
infrared region [4]. Jsc of 21 mA/cm2 was obtained using the
haze of over 67%. A cell with the series-internal resistance of
1.8 �cm2 and high haze factor was fabricated. Current-voltage
characteristics were measured by Research Center for
Photovoltaic, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science
and Technology (AIST, Japan) using a metal mask and with an
aperture area of 0.219 cm2 under standard AM 1.5 sunlight
(100.0 mW/cm2). An overall conversion efficiency of 11.2%,
which is the highest confirmed efficiency, was achieved [5].
References
[1] B. O�Regan and M. Grätzel, Nature, 353, 737 (1991).
[2] L. Han, N. Koide, Y. Chiba and T. Mitate, Appl. Phys. Lett., 84, 2433 (2004).[3] L. Han, N. Koide, Y. Chiba, A. Islam, R. Komiya, N. Fuke, A. Fukui and R. Yamanaka, Appl. Phys. Lett., 86, 213501 (2005).
[4] Y. Chiba, A. Islam, R. Komiya, N. Koide, and L. Han, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 223505-1 (2006).
[5] Y. Chiba, A. Islam, R. Komiya, N. Koide and L. Han, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 45, L638 (2006).
Liyuan Han is managing director of advanced photovoltaics center and principal investigator�of international center
for materials nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). He received a doctor�s degree fromthe University of Osaka Prefecture. He is specialist in organic synthesis and organic material for electronics. He had
researched Dye-sensitized solar cells for 12 years at Sharp Corporation and moved to current position from June 2008.
His current research interests involve foundational research for improving the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cellsand organic solar cells.
15
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Wavelength (nm)
IPC
E (
%)
Haze 76%
Haze 60%
Haze 53%Haze 36%
Haze 3%
Fig. 3. Dependence of IPCE spectra on haze factor of TiO2
electrodes
Human SMC complexes in genome maintenance and
regulation
Kyoko Yokomori
Department of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine
Chromosome structural changes are important for the maintenance of genome integrity. Loss of genome integrity is
directly associated with cancers and developmental defects. We focus on the Structural Maintenance of
Chromosomes (SMC) family of proteins, which play critical roles in several different aspects of chromosome
structural organization. One of the major SMC protein-containing complexes is called �cohesin�, which is required
for sister chromatid cohesion and equal segregation of chromosomes during mitosis. Although cohesin was initially
discovered for its critical function in mitosis, later studies revealed its role in DNA repair and gene regulation.
Using a laser system, we demonstrated the direct role of cohesin in DNA double-strand break repair in human cells.
Our more recent study revealed the role of cohesin in heterochromatin organization related to a muscular dystrophy.
We also found that cohesin is involved in mitotic spindle assembly, which is distinct from its role in sister chromatid
cohesion. Collectively, these studies reveal multiple functions of cohesin in genome maintenance and regulation in
human cells, dictated by differential protein interactions and subcellular localization.
Dr. Yokomori graduated from the University of Tokyo, Japan with B.S., M.S., D.V.M., and Ph.D. degrees
and also obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. After receiving
postdoctoral training from Dr. Michael Lai at USC and Dr. Robert Tjian at UC Berkeley, she moved to UCI
as a faculty member and has been there for 12 years. Dr. Yokomori investigates the mechanism of
chromosome structural changes and the relationship between chromosome dynamics and regulation of
genome functions in human health and disease. Her research focuses on the SMC family proteins, which
play critical roles in chromosome structural organization. Dr. Yokomori�s laboratory was the first to
demonstrate the mitotic function of SMC proteins in human cells. Her team made seminal contributions to
uncover the roles of SMC protein complexes in different pathways of DNA repair. Her laboratory�s more
recent focus is in the area of epigenetic regulation of transcription by SMC complexes. Her group�s work
revealed the role of a SMC complex in chromatin organization directly related to FSHD muscular
dystrophy, revealing a previously unrecognized molecular pathway in this disease�s pathogenesis. Dr.
Yokomori was a recipient of the March of Dimes Basil O�Connor Starter Scholar Research Award,
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar Award, and FSH Society David and Helen Younger Research
Fellowship, in addition to the funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, California Institute of Regenerative
Medicine, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and California Breast Cancer Research Program.
16
Fabrication of unique shaped fullerene nano/microcrystals
and their characterization
Akito MasuharaGraduate School of Science and Engineering, Department of Organic Device Engineering, Yamagata University,
4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-8510, JAPAN
E-mail: [email protected]
Recently, there are so many reports for fabricating well-defined inorganic nanocrystals, and their unique physical
properties originating from nanostructure are investigated extensively. On the other hand, fullerene molecule
attracted attention from the view points of electronic optical and magnetic properties1-4, depending on �-conjugated
structure. However, fabrication method of C60 nano/microcrystals, inner structure, and physical properties is not still
revealed. There are a few previous studies on fullerene nano/microcrystals. Kasai et al. have prepared C60
nanocrystals with ca. 40 to 50 nm in size by the supercritical reprecipitation method, and their optical properties
markedly depended on crystal size5. However, only spherical fullerene nanocrystals were obtained by this method.
Miyazawa et al. have successfully fabricated C60 nanowhiskers by the use of the liquid-liquid interfacial
precipitation method6. In addition, Nakanishi et al. have reported the nanocones self-assembled made from
chemically modified C60 molecules7. Moreover, the resulting C60 nanocrystals were not monodisperse. On the other
hand, the core-shell type hybridized structures composed of inorganic / organic materials have attracted much
attention8-10. It is the most important to adequately choose core and shell materials, and to fabricate well-defined
interfacial nanostructures to control the interfacial interaction. C60 is regarded as a candidate for the organic section
because of its unique physical and chemical properties, and has been many research interests as mentioned before.
However, C60 nanocomposites have been synthesized in the previous researches are almost the kind of fullerene-
coated metal nanocomposites, which may lead to the limit for some novel affiliations, for example, the great
enhancement of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility predicted by Neeves11.
In this presentation, I will report the fabrication of shape-controlled
and unique shaped fullerene nano/microcrystals using newly
developed technique, named Solvent-Participated Reprecipitation
Process (SPRP). This process was the expanded technique of ordinary
reprecipitation method12. The reprecipitation method is convenient to
fabricate organic nanocrystals. In this method, an organic molecule
was dissolved in a good solvent, and the solution was injected rapidly
into a poor medium for the target molecule. Usually the good and
poor solvents are employed to the compatible each other, and an
organic molecule was precipitated in a poor solvent, and then
nanocrystals are formed stably in a dispersion state. However, it was
difficult to fabricate shape-controlled organic nanocrystals using this
method. On the other hand, SPRP is similar to the reprecipitation method, except for utilizing interaction between
good solvent and the solute molecule. Using SPRP, the shape-controlled C60 nano/microcrystals could be
successfully fabricated for the first time13-15. The shape, for example, spherical, rod-like, fibrous, octahedron, and
multibranched shape, are dependent on several factors such as combination of solvents, solution concentration, and
injection volume. In addition, we have developed a simple and
conventional method to fabricate the Au-coated C60
nano/microcrystals16. Au-coated C60 nano/microcrystals were
prepared by the following two steps. First, C60
nano/microcrystals were fabricated by the SPRP. Next, 200 �l
of HAuCl4 aqueous solution (22.2 mM) was added into the 10
ml of C60 nano/microcrystals dispersion liquid. The mixed
dispersion liquid was aged at a given temperature for 2 hours.
As a result, Au nanoparticles were high-density deposited on
the surface of C60 nano/microcrystals core to form core-shell
17
Figure 1 SEM images of shape-controlledC60
nano/
microcrystals by Solvent-Participated
Figure 2 Various shapes of C60
nano/microcrystals
type nanostructures (fig. 2). The resulting Au-coated C60 nano/microcrystals were characterized by SEM, TEM, ED,
XRD, and EDX measurements.
Au-coated C60 nano/microcrystals was fabricated in the coexistence of HAuCl4, CS2 and ethanol, and independent to
their unique morphologies by this simple method.
To the best of our knowledge, the SPRP described here is the simplest and most convenient in the method so far
developed to fabricate C60 nano/microcrystals, and this report represents the first discovery concerning the vast sizes
and shapes of C60 nano/microcrystals. In addition, we have also succeeded in fabrication of gold-coated C60
nano/microcrystals only by addition of HAuCl4 followed by the subsequent heating treatment. Gold-coated C60 nano/
microcrystals are expected to have great potential in applications such as optoelectronics, advanced catalysis,
bio/chemical sensors and third-order nonlinear optics.
References
[1] W. Andreoni, The Physics of Fullerene-Based and Fullerene-Related Materials series, Physics and Chemistry of Materials with Low-Dimensional Structures, (Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, 23, (2000).
[2] M. Akada, T. Hirai, J. Takeuchi, T. Yamamoto, R. Kumashiro, and K. Tanigaki: Phys. Rev. B, 73, 094509 (2006).
[3] H. Ohashi, K. Tanigaki, R. Kumashiro, S. Sugihara, S. Hiroshiba, S. Kimura, K. Kato, and M. Takata: Appl. Phys. Lett., 84, 520 (2004). [4] F. Yang and S. R. Forrest: Adv. Mater., 18, 2018-2022 (2006).
[5] H. Kasai, S. Okazaki, T. Hanada, S. Okada, H. Oikawa, T. Adschiri, K. Arai, K. Yase, H. Nakanishi: Chem. Lett, 1392-1393 (2000)
[6] K. Miyazawa, Y. Kuwasaki, A. Obayashi, M. Kuwabara: J. Mater. Res., 17, 83-88 (2002).[7] T. Nakanishi, W. Schmitt, T. Michinobu, D. G. Kurth, K. Ariga: Chem. Commun., 5982-5984 (2005)
[8] S. L. Westcott, S. J. Oldenburg, T. R. Lee and N. J. Halas, Langmuir, 14, 5396-5401 (1998).
[9] V. G. Pol, A. Gedanken and J. Calderon-Moreno, Chem. Mater., 15, 1111-1118 (2003).[10] W. Shi, Y. Sahoo, M. T. Swihart and P. N. Prasad, Langmuir, 21 1610-1617 (2005).
[11] A. E. Neeves and M. H. Birnboim, Opt. Lett., 13, 1087-1089 (1988).
[12] H. Kasai, H. S. Nalwa, H. Oikawa, S. Okada, H. Matsuda, N. Minami, A. Kakuta, K. Ono, A. Mukoh and H. Nakanishi, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.,31, L1132-L1134 (1992).
[13] Z. Tan, A. Masuhara, H. Kasai, H. Nakanishi and H. Oikawa, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 47, 1426-1428 (2008).
[14] A. Masuhara, Z. Tan, H. Kasai, H. Nakanishi and H. Oikawa, Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc, 1054 FF11-09 (2008).[15] A. Masuhara, Z. Tan, H. Kasai, H. Nakanishi and H. Oikawa, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 48, 050206 (2009).
[16] A. Masuhara, Z. Tan, H. Kasai, H. Nakanishi and H. Oikawa, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 492, 262-267 (2008).
Akito Masuhara (Assistant Professor):
Institution: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Department of Organic Device Engineering,
Yamagata University
Study Field / Current Study Theme: Organic Materials / Fullerene Nano/Microcrystals, HybridizedOrganic Nanocrystals
Educational Backgrounds (after high school):
�1997 B.S., Analytical chemistry, Gunma University
�1999 M.S., Photo chemistry, Tohoku University
�2002 Dr. Sci., Organic materials, Tohoku University
Professional Backgrounds:
�2002-2004 Post Doctor, Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency
�2004-2007 Assistant Prof., Institute for Chemical Reaction Science, Tohoku University
�2007- Assistant Prof., Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University
�2010.02- Assistant Prof., Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Department of Organic Device Engineering, Yamagata University
18
Promoting international scientific literacy: The value of
international experiences for undergraduates.
Sean DuffyDepartment of Psychology, Rutgers University � Camden, NJ
One of the challenges that students face when engaging in a new scientific culture is that people in different societies
see and think about the world in very different ways. These differences extend from basic psychological processes
such as attention (Kitayama, Duffy, Kawamura, and Larsen, 2003), memory (Duffy & Kitayama, 2007), and
perception (Ji, Peng, & Nisbett), to more complex processes such as cognition (Nisbett, 2003) and self-
understanding (Kitayama, Duffy, & Uchida, 2007). Understanding some of these cultural differences in
psychological processes can help students who seek international experiences better understand the cultural world-
views of the scientists with whom they interact.
In this talk, I will focus on some of these important cultural differences in psychological and social processes that
may play a role in creating barriers for international research, with the hope that programs that aim to provide
international science education (such as the Japanese Society for Promotion of Sciences) may better prepare students
for the challenges they may face in negotiating the challenges inherent in international scientific research and
education. Drawing upon my own experiences as a former JSPS postdoctoral fellow, a fellow of the Kyoto
University Center of Excellence, and the NSF EAPSI program, I will provide some examples of how differences
between U.S. and Japanese scientific cultures provided obstacles for my own research program, and how I attempted
to overcome these challenges through a better understanding of Japanese scientific culture.
I will also discuss an international study program I have developed for exposing U.S. college students to scientific
research in Japan. I will discuss some of the short- and long-term benefits of engaging students in another culture,
and outline some of the benefits and limitations that arise in exposing undergraduate students to Japanese culture
and society.
Sean Duffy received his Ph.D. in developmental psychology from
the University of Chicago, where he explored culture’s influence
on visual perception. He subsequently completed a postdoctoral
fellowship at the Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor, MI,
where he was also associated with the University of Michigan’s
Department of Social Psychology and the Max Planck Institute for
Human Development in Berlin. Duffy worked in Japan in
collaboration with the psychologists Shinobu Kitayama and Shoji
Itakura at Kyoto University. Duffy is currently an assistant
professor of psychology at Rutgers University in Camden, New
Jersey, where he conducts research on environmental
psychology, cognitive psychology, and developmental psychology
19
Science content, language, strategy, and technology learning
in a university-level ESL classroom
Rosita L. Rivera and Catherine MazakDepartment of English University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus
1. Statement of the Problem
The authors of this paper attempted to solve the problem of remedial or pre-basic English by implementing a
content-based, technology-enhanced English curriculum for thirty incoming agriculture students at UPRM. The
goal was to investigate how teaching English in this way might motivate students while at the same time increasing
their English language proficiency. Participants were agricultural and food science majors because they were over-
represented in Pre-basic English classes at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. Agriculture and food science
students made up 7.8% of the entire UPRM undergraduate population in 2006-2007, although on average they make
up around 14% of pre-basic students (http://oiip.uprm.edu). In 2006, students in the college of agriculture at UPRM
were tied with Engineering students for the longest time to degree completion, 6.41 years (http://oiip.uprm.edu)
[1], despite the fact that undergraduate agricultural and food science programs are designed to take four years while
undergraduate engineering programs are designed to take five years. In a 2006 English department survey,
agricultural science and food science students were found to have a high rate of dissatisfaction with English courses,
which may be a factor in low retention rates, as students are continually frustrated with passing the Basic English
requirement. The college of agriculture and food science already has the worst retention rates of all the faculties at
the UPRM (http://oiip.uprm.edu). As the premier agricultural and food science campus on the island, it was
imperative that we improve the educational experiences of agricultural and food science students in English.
External funding for the project was provided by the United States Department of Agriculture Hispanic Serving
Institutions Education Grants Program. The present study presents preliminary data analysis based on a series of
three courses designed based on the a modified Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) model
[2] based on analysis of a science content-based [3], technology-enhanced basic English curriculum.
2. Methods
The main research question that guided the study was: What is the relationship between language, science content,
strategy, and technology learning in a university-level content-based, computer-mediated English classroom? In
order to answer this question, the following sub-questions were addressed: How does technology use enhance
English language learning? How does access to technologies facilitate content-based language learning?
This study employed quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and data analysis. The study was
divided into three different stages: needs analysis, curriculum design, and assessment of the curriculum. Our
program was designed as a set of three courses: a three-week intensive summer session held in June 2008, a three-
credit section of INGL 3101 (Basic English I) held in first-semester 2008-2009, and a three-credit section if INGL
3102 (Basic English II) held in second semester 2008-2009. Students selected for the summer intensive program
travelled together as a cohort through the remaining two semesters. The summer session effectively replaced the
non-credit Pre-basic English course; students were required to pass a performance-based exam at the end of the
session which allowed them to register in INGL 3101. At the end of the third week, students took an �exit exam.�
The exam had four sections which were based on the four basic skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The
exam was also based on performance or authentic assessment as opposed to the traditional norm-referenced criterion
exam. As such, our context differs in that both teaching and testing were conducted following an authentic approach
to language use and assessment.
The researchers did not have the knowledge of agricultural and food sciences necessary to teach �hard-science�
content. In order to address this issue, collaboration was established with professors from agricultural sciences,
asking them for materials that they used in English, what kinds of activities they wanted their students to be able to
do in English, and even inviting them to offer lectures in the class. General audience texts about agriculture-related
issues were selected as course materials. These were also authentic texts which were written for native English
speakers and were not modified for an ESL audience.
20
3. Results
The main research question was: What is the relationship between language, content, strategy, and technology
learning in a university-level content-based, computer-mediated English classroom?
Focus group research confirmed that students recognized the importance of the four types of learning and found the
curriculum to improve their skills in all four areas. The design of the curriculum also increased student motivation
to learn English and facilitated students� transition to college life by giving them an orientation to their chosen field
of study.
In order to answer this the following sub-questions were addressed: How does technology use enhance English
language learning? How does access to technologies facilitate content-based language learning?
The use of English and technology was also a source of intrinsic motivation [4]. Technology served as a tool that
allowed them to see beyond the use of language for the four basic skills. They understood technology as the means
to use language both in writing and reading. Further, the use of technology facilitated their speaking when
presenting to an audience. For instance, by becoming knowledgeable of how to do a PowerPoint presentation, their
self-confidence and self-esteem became salient as well. They commented on how their formal presentation was very
challenging at first since they were scared of speaking in public. Once they realized that they were able to do it, they
became more motivated to participate by speaking in class. Thus, motivation was another factor facilitated by the
use of technology when assessing speaking skills. Participants also became aware of the broader audience that new
technologies bring to a technology enhanced classroom such as the use of blogs which are available for others to
read and comment. Thus, writing became not only a tool for classroom participation, but also a source of intellectual
exchange among agricultural and food sciences audiences in the real world.
4. Conclusions
One of the goals of the program was for students to understand that language learning does not happen in isolation
since language per se is not a content area. They understood that language happens in relation to a given content (in
this case agricultural science). By the same token, they realized that technology is similar to language in that sense.
Technology in itself provides the means for communication which is necessary to be successful at the academic
level. Thus, the students were able to make the connection within the CALLA model: language-content-technology-
strategy based instruction. Based on this statement, students should be able to continue making such connections
throughout their science courses at this university. Further, this should allow for students to become more involved
with their content courses by recontextualizing the strategies they learned in this course. Pedagogical implications
include the possibility of replicating the same study and curriculum design in a different context where language and
science are learned simultaneously.
5. References
[1] Institutional Office for Research and Planning, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (http://oiip.uprm.edu)
[2] M. A. Snow & M.D. Brinton, Eds. �The content-based classroom: Perspectives on integrating language and content.� (White
Plains NY, Longman, 1997).
[3] F.L. Stoller. �Content-based instruction: Perspectives on curriculum planning.� in Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 24,
261-283 (1997).
[4] H.D. Brown. �Teaching by principles.� (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents 2007).
Rosita L. Rivera is assistant professor in the English Department at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez
Campus where she teaches English as a second language (ESL) courses and coordinates the ESL Program. She also
teaches graduate courses in the areas of applied linguistics, curriculum design and assessment. She has also taught in
public and private schools in California, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico. She is currently the co-director of two
federally funded projects sponsored by USDA. Both projects integrate research, curriculum design and assessment
of ESL courses for agricultural science and food science majors.
21
Research as undergraduate education
Shannon T. Bischoff and Laurence R. Chott
Department of English, University of Puerto Rico
email: [email protected]
Most of us have been trained to be research scientists; however, many of us are both research scientists and
teachers. In terms of teaching and research, especially when it comes to undergraduates and the current economic
crisis, this dual role presents a number of challenges:
� How do we manage our research schedule and teach an increasing number of undergraduates?
� How do we teach research techniques needed for advanced courses and graduate school without necessary
laboratory courses?
� How do we introduce the complexity of the field, which is where most interests lies for researchers, in an
introductory course?
� How do we get students to apply their critical and analytical thinking skills in an academic setting?
� How do we identify bright students with the potential to go further in the field, at an early stage?
Since many of us have not been trained to be teachers, we often focus our time and energy on graduate students,
especially in terms of research, and hope many of the aforementioned issues simply go away or are addressed by
more energetic colleagues. There is however a simple solution to many of these issues: undergraduate research.
In many ways undergraduate research is simpler than graduate research projects, if planned well. Each year we
develop one undergraduate research project to incorporate into a class or to be conducted outside the classroom.
Each project adheres to some simple goals:
� identify a project that relates to professor's research that can be done within 4 to 6 months;
� identify a conference where results can be presented;
� outline the goals of the project and the steps to reaching the goals, four of which we consider rudamentary:
� submit an abstract to a conference (to be presented by student(s));
� invite student(s) volunteer(s) to present research project in an introductory course;
� encourage the students whatever their abilities (students have always risen to my expectations, and
often gone beyond);
� identify natural talents student volunteers possess and foster these talents;
� identify student volunteers who will follow through on the research project (even those that drop out will
benefit, however); consider funding options only if the project reaches its goals and the students wish to go
further.
22
There are institutions that support undergraduate research, such as the following:
� Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP)
http://www.cic.net/Home/Students/SROP/Introduction.aspx
� NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5517&from=fun
� Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR)
http://www.cur.org/conferences/responsibility/ResRespons.html
� Most campuses have seed money or travel money for students and faculty
On the other hand, volunteerism allows students to discover on their own how committed and how passionate they
are about a given field. The remainder of this paper presents an example of a project involving information storage
and retrieval that followed the above strategy and met with great success.
Dr. Bischoff is Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Puerto Rico
Mayaguez. In the fall he will join the faculty at Indiana Purdue. He specializes in formal
linguistic theory, computational linguistics, and anthropological linguistics. His articles
have appeared in Studia Linguistica, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, Natural
Language Processing, and elsewhere. He has also authored and edited books with MIT
Press, University of Arizona Press, LINCOM Europa, among others. His publications
cover computational issues in linguistics, formal theory, and anthropological linguistics.
He has served as a reviewer and panelist for the National Science Foundation's panels
on Linguistics, EAPSI, and DEL programs. He has received various awards and grants
including a JSPS fellowship and an NSF fellowship. He received a PhD with a double major in Formal Linguistics
and Anthropological Linguistics and a minor in Computational Linguistics from the University of Arizona in 2007.
23
Poster Abstracts
24
Sustainability science education: Its role in the pursuit
global climate changeAnthony Halog
Research Group for Industrial Ecology, LCA and Systems Sustainability, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA
Email: [email protected]
1. Introduction
The rate of Climate Change, which has repercussions to human and natural system well-being, is one of our major
global challenges. The increasing trend of global temperatures over the centuries shows that human activities (i.e.
industries, land use changes) affect the ecosystem equilibrium. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly
carbon dioxide and methane, which are emitted directly and indirectly from human activities, are contributing to
global climate change. Thus, it is important to understand the coupling of human and natural systems to mitigate the
effects of climate change.
Faculty members throughout the world are preparing students to meet the growing demand for those trained in
industrial ecology (IE) � the science of sustainability. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) accounts the emissions from
extraction of primary resources (cradle) to disposal of wastes and residuals (grave) and even back to cradle. A new
400-level interdisciplinary course in IE and LCA is offered to undergraduate students in forestry, natural science,
agriculture, engineering, business administration, public policy, geography, education, economics, human ecology
and resource management at the University of Maine.
2. Purpose of the project
Whereas IE is clearly a transdisciplinary approach, university curricula are traditionally based on single discipline.
The aim of this project is to integrate life cycle thinking into university curriculum. This means to expose students
through courses dedicated solely to sustainability and find out the most effective method to teach the principles of IE
and LCA to undergraduate students.
We built LCA capacity in two areas: availability of teaching resources and funding of classroom active learning
activities. One of the priorities is the development of learning resources to teach LCA course including case studies,
inventory and impact information, homework and exercises, textbooks, and software.
3. Outcomes
Project selection is a key to student engagement and confidently lifelong application of sustainability concepts
learned. Each student or group of students analyses a product or process related to their research interests, a job-
related project, a personal interest, or infrequently as suggested by the instructor.
Moreover, we found that providing undergraduate students with adequate feedback in three interim LCA reports is
an effective strategy. Interim report content, responses to instructor comments and research findings as each project
progresses were incorporated into final written reports.
The use of case studies and in-class and team exercises has been found to be effective. This follows from teaching
research that illustrates differences on how students learn and limitations in the more traditional, less participatory
lecture methods. Working in team project is well suited model for an interdisciplinary experience, allowing students
with different skill sets to work together on solving a problem or describing a system.
4. Impacts and benefits on students
The primary benefits and impacts on students are:
� Students� awareness to embrace the concept of life cycle thinking;
� Access to WebCT with links to key public available data websites and a list of other inventory sources;
� Availability of downloadable course materials and assignments; and
� Practice of software package to support LCA project implementation.
25
Generally, students benefited not only from the experiences in preparing their own LCA projects, but also from class
discussions and oral presentations made by students from different departments. Students have walked away with a
variety of impressions of LCA-interdisciplinary focused.
5. Implication of results to meeting university priorities
In line with the university�s policy to promote interdisciplinary research in the area of sustainable development of
forest bio-products, this project has increased the awareness of students on environmental and sustainable
development issues as well as improving the availability of teaching resources in LCA. This project demonstrates
the increasing need to incorporate LCA and sustainability assessment across the university curriculum.
26
English for academic and career success in agriculture
science: A needs-based curriculum
Kimberly N. Santiago Vega
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus
E-mail: [email protected]
1. Introduction
This investigation seeks to understand the need of language use across the disciplines and has the purpose of
creating and piloting a two-course English curriculum based on the academic and future employment needs of
undergraduate agricultural science majors. Whereas 37% of students entering science, technology, engineering, and
math majors at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) enter with low English language proficiency
(defined by the university as an English College Entrance Examination Board score of 569 or lower), 60% of these
students are agricultural science majors. Although most of these students enter at this level, they are expected to
increase their English proficiency at a higher rate than other students who enter at higher proficiency levels in the
same period of time (4 semesters) and although they are required to study four semesters of English, the curriculum
is not aligned with disciplinary uses of English (for example, reading an animal physiology textbook). This project
seeks to remedy this situation by studying how students use English in their academic work outside of the English
classroom.
In an age characterized by globalization, the agricultural workforce of tomorrow will be increasingly multicultural
and multilingual. Because currently English is the undisputed international language of science and technology,
educators and policy makers need to understand the role that language plays in academic content learning in order to
ensure the success of agricultural science majors. It is also imperative to stress bilingualism as essential for
contemporary scientific education. This project seeks to understand the role of English language proficiency in the
learning of agriculture, science, and other content for native-Spanish-speaking undergraduates at UPRM.
Most job opportunities for agriculture majors both inside and outside of Puerto Rico require English proficiency. In
comparison to other majors, agricultural science students need high English proficiency in order to increase job
opportunities, figuring that the best-paying, most stable jobs lie within the USDA and mega-agriculture U.S. based
companies such as Monsanto and Pioneer. Perhaps more than any other majors on campus, agricultural science
students need high English proficiency in order to increase their job prospects, yet they are ill-positioned to do so as
a group from the beginning. Another common problem confronted by these students is that most of the textbooks
used in their science courses are in English while the language of instruction is in Spanish.
This project has as its core the idea that language is best learned when embedded in a context. Researchers of
second language acquisition have shown that studying language in context facilitates language acquisition. In
addition, the study of language in a context in which the student is interested increases student motivation as well as
the knowledge of field-specific vocabulary and rhetorical structures that will play a central role in their development
as young scholars and professionals [1,2] (Brinton, Wesche, and Snow, 2003; Leki, 2007). For this reason, this
project proposes curricular changes in English designed specifically for agricultural science majors. This curricular
change could also impact other areas of science education.
The study will significantly advance understanding of the role of English as a second language (ESL) in science
content learning, potentially improving science education for this underserved population and it will complete an
assessment cycle as it (1) investigates students� needs, (2) implements a pilot curriculum to meet these needs, and
(3) evaluates that implementation. The project will also benefit from the cooperation of TARS (the Tropical
Agriculture Research Station) and NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service), who will provide access to
information about the English language skills needed by graduates who wish to seek employment with one of these
agencies. In the last year of the project, we will offer a specially designed English course for agricultural science
majors based on the findings of our research.
27
2. Acknowledgements
This research has been funded by the USDA Award #�s 2009-38422-19869 and � � 2007 38442 18028.
This research has been directed by P.I. Dr. Cathy Mazak and CO-P.I. Dr. Rosita L. Rivera.
3. References
[1] D. Brinton, M. Snow and M. Wesche, Content-based second language instruction (University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI, 2003).[2] I. Leki, Undergraduates in a second language: Challenges and complexities of academic literacy development (Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah,
NJ, 2007).
28
Cultural safety in nursing education:
Adapting and adopting concepts across boundaries
Dawn Doutrich, Cathy Pollock-Robinson, Kerri Arcus, Lida Dekker, Janet Spuck, Washington State University, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Avenue, Vancouver, WA. 98606
1. Purpose
This project came about from dissatisfaction with ways that teaching and learning about culture have been
conducted in the U.S. One critical analysis of �culture� in U.S. nursing literature identifies issues of relative power
and how the essentialist view assumes group unity and tends to use interchangeable definitions of culture and
ethnicity [1]. Additionally, this view does not take into account the fact that individuals often have multiple
identities and seems to leave out questions of power and privilege. Cultural safety is the effective nursing or
midwifery practice of a person or family from another culture, and safety is determined by that person or family
[2,3,4]. Methods: Data were comprised of narrative interviews with 12 nurse participants describing their
experiences of cultural safety in practice and education. Two U.S. nurse researchers traveled to New Zealand and
were joined by a New Zealand nurse researcher. Most participants were New Zealand nurse educators who were
born and practiced there. Participants were selected through snowball, purposive, and convenience sample methods.
The analytic team was comprised of U.S. and New Zealand nurse educators. Systematic analysis using Ethnograph
Software� was conducted.
2. Thematic Findings
1)�Know where you come from�; 2) �Reflection is key�; 3) Cultural safety is evolving; 4) Situating populations
socio-politically; 5) Power differentials; 6) Partnerships�learning to �walk alongside�; 7) Concern about �getting
it right.�
3. Promising practices
1) New course, �Cultural Safety and Social Justice in Global Society.�2) Assignments include personal narrative and
reflection (narrative pedagogy) in all programs, BSN, MN, and PhD. 3) �Cultural Moments� for faculty, students,
and practice (awareness and outcome data). 5) U.S. Native American research and community healing introduced in
courses. 6) Cultural safety linked with patient safety, health literacy, ethics, and regulation in practice.
4. References
[1] Gray, D.P. & Thomas, D. (2005), Critical analysis of "culture" in nursing literature: Implications for nursing education in the United States inAnnual Review of Nursing Education (vol. 3). Oermann, M.H. & Heinrich, K.T..
[2] Nursing Council of New Zealand. 2005.Guidelines for Cultural Safety, the Treaty of Waitangi, and Maori Health in nursing education and
practice, accessed October 1, 2009 from http://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/Cultural%20Safety.pdf
[3} Ramsden, I. (2002). Cultural safety and nursing education in Aotearoa and Te Waipounam. Victoria University of Wellington
[4] Richardson, F. & Carryer, J. (2005). Teaching cultural safety in a New Zealand nursing education program. Journal of Nursing Education,44(5), 201-208.
29
The IPP program: A possible model for future international
collaborations in science and engineeringGregory D. Durgin
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
1. History
The author spent one year at the University of Osaka in 2001 on a long-term JSPS fellowship and returned to the
United States convinced that US-born science and engineering graduate students needed to globalize their research
experiences. This attribute was built into the formation of the Georgia Tech Propagation Group (GTPG), a research
group in that provides rich international experiences to its students as part of a basic research mission. The result,
the International Propagation Partners (IPP) program, has lead to fruitful graduate student exchanges and
collaborations between partners in Japan and New Zealand [4].
2. Program Goals
There are several unique attributes of the IPP program, many of which add value to students and the research
mission that are not possible through conventional collaborative programs.
Global Science: US technical graduates work alongside international engineers and scientists without ever leaving
their country. A medium-term (semester) international research experience allows a graduate student a chance to
work in a foreign, unfamiliar environment and cultivate a great deal of empathy towards their future colleagues. All
GTPG PhD students are expected to spend 1 term overseas, with the stated goal of providing an enjoyable,
productive cultural exchange without devolving into a �tourist experience� that many, larger programs become.
Continuity: The IPP program stresses long-standing, relational continuity with its partner laboratories,
demonstrating the strengths of small, grass-roots collaborations in science and engineering. Partner labs each have
relationships of 10+ years with the author.
Reciprocity: To date, the IPP program has been able to maintain reciprocity in its visits, hosting the same number of
international students from Japan and New Zealand than it sends overseas. This ensures fairness and symmetry in
the program, as well as providing extra incentives for serving as a good host for visiting students.
Complementarity: The partner laboratories in this program in the general field of electrical and communications
engineering, have complementary expertise. Sampei laboratory at Osaka University has system-level wireless
communications expertise, while GTPG emphasizes experimental work and physical-layer radio studies. This has
led to research publications that neither group could have conducted by themselves [1-2,6]. Similar outcomes
resulted from the New Zealand collaborations [1,5].
Creativity: Although not a stated goal of the program, a tremendous added benefit for the US students that
participate in IPP exchanges was the boost in creative outputs during critical portions of their advanced studies.
Each participant wrote significant portions of papers, proposals, and dissertations while overseas.
3. Future
The IPP program, while small, has been well received by graduate students in the GTPG, quickly becoming part of
the student group culture. Based on past successes, a future goal could be a larger, more integrated research
collaborative project like those that exist between many intra-national university research groups. In terms of
educational impact, there is a need to develop quantitative assessments of these experiences so that the costs of
international collaborations can be justified. Investigation is also required into how the benefits of IPP-style
exchanges could be maintained when scaled to a larger program for emulation by other institutions.
4. References
[1] A.C.M. Austin, M.J. Neve, G. B. Rowe, R.J. Pirkl. �Modeling the Effects of Nearby Buildings on Inter-Floor Radio-Wave Propagation.� IEEE Trans. Antennas
and Propagation, July 2009.
[2] G.D. Durgin, S. Sampei, N. Morinaga. �Computer Simulation of Multiple Transmitter, Multiple Receiver Wireless Channels.� YRP Wireless Summit 2001.
30
Yokosuka, JAPAN. 17 July 2001. 4 pages.
[3] G.D. Durgin, S. Sampei, N. Morinaga. �Design of Multi-Antenna Wireless Systems in Multipath Environments.� Wireless and Personal Multi-media
Communications 2001. Aalborg, DENMARK. Sept 2001. 5 pages.
[4] The International Propagation Partners Program.
http://www.propagation.gatech.edu/Documents/Resources/IPPsummary.pdf.
[5] R.J. Pirkl, G.D. Durgin, A.C.M. Austin, M.J. Neve, �Extracting UTD Wedge Diffraction Coefficients from Electric Field Measurements.� URSI 09, Boulder CO,
Jan 2009.
[6] M. Yamanaka, M. Enomoto, R.J. Pirkl, G.D. Durgin, S. Sampei, N. Morinaga. �The Minimum Number of Adaptive Array Antenna Elements for Interference
Suppression in Ubiquitous Communication Environments.� IEEE WCNC, Budapest Hungary, 1 April 2009.
31
A novel sensor web system for tracking and surveillanceRavi Palaniappan, Parveen Wahid, Leonard Barolli1
Institute for Simulation & Training, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA1Fukuoka Institute of Technology, Fukuoka, Japan
1. Introduction
Recent advances in MEMS devices have fueled the growth of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) for use in various
fields such as location tracking systems. A wireless sensor network is a network of distributed sensor nodes each
equipped with its own sensors, computational resources and transceivers. These sensors are designed to be able to
sense specific phenomenon over a large geographic area and communicate this information to the user. Most sensor
networks are designed to be stand-alone systems that can operate without user intervention for long periods of time.
The sensor nodes have limited on-board processing capability to reduce battery consumption, weight and cost. The
problem of localization and tracking of sensor nodes has been widely researched. The proposed work involves
research in two distinct areas of wireless sensor network, a) sensor node localization and b) sensor node tracking in
real-time
In general sensor nodes are deployed in areas to locate and monitor different physical phenomenon such as
humidity, soil and water levels. They can also be used to track entities such as fire-fighters in a building when they
are carrying a mobile sensor in their gear. Our research addresses the requirements of the latter case. Our proposed
system will eliminate the need for setting up an infrastructure of sensors as the nodes will be able to localize
automatically and track a mobile sensor in near real-time. This work makes use of the inherent capabilities of
wireless sensors for localization and tracking. The nodes use a simple measure of connectivity to gather reference
data points and localize themselves.
2. Research Goals and Contribution
The issues addressed in this paper deal with the following design goals
� Small wireless sensor devices lack GPS capability and therefore need a localization scheme
� The small nodes have short range RF transceivers which can be used for localization
� The nodes have to be deployed Ad-hoc and cannot have any pre-planning or infrastructure setup.
� The localization and tracking should be adaptive to the number of nodes available at any given time
The main contributions of this work are
� It presents a unique method of localization that builds on a few initial anchor nodes at known locations to
locate all the sensor nodes in the grid.
� It demonstrates a method to track a target sensor node in real-time by using static reference nodes that
continuously re-localize their position information to track the target.
� It demonstrates the capability to use multiple transmit powers and frequencies to improve the tracking
efficiency.
3. Acknowledgment
This work was in part funded by the Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences and National Science Foundation for
the Summer Program 2009. The authors would also like to thank Fukuoka Institute of Technology and the
University of Central Florida for their support and encouragement.
32
Fig. 1. Error distance (in feet) of tracked sensor as the power of the base stations or reference nodes are increased
Fig. 2. The error distance measured as a function of frequency
Fig 3. Error distance as a function of Transmit Power
4. References
[1] V. P. Thomas Clouqueur, Parameswaran Ramanathan, Kewal K. Saluja, "Sensor Deployment Strategy for Target Detection," Proceedings ofthe 1st ACM international workshop on Wireless sensor networks and applications, 2002.
[2] S. B. Andrew Jamieson, Paddy Nixon Duncan Smeed, "MiPOS - the Mote Indoor Positioning System," presented at
International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks, Imperial College, United Kingdom, 2004.[3] G. V. Cesare Alippi, "A RSSI-based and calibrated centralized localization technique for Wireless Sensor Networks,"
presented at Proceedings of the Fourth Annual IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and
Communications Workshops (PERCOMW�06), 2006.[4] P. Enge and P. Misra. Special issue on GPS: The global positioning system. Proceedings of IEEE, 87(1):3�172, January
1999
33
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
1 2 3 4 5
# of base stations
Err
or
Dis
tan
ce
(ft
)
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5 dBm
10 dBm
0
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1.5
2
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4
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# of Freq used
Err
or
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tan
ce
(ft
)
Error Distance
0
1
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6
0 dBm 5 dBm 10 dBm
# of Tx powers
Err
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(ft
)
Error Distance
Laser protection materials for space environments
Shamim Mirza,a Salma Rahman,a George W. Rayfield,b Edward W. Taylorc, and Abhijit Sarkara
aMichigan Molecular Institute, Mildand, MI 48640, USA
[email protected] of Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
[email protected] Photonics Consultants, 30 Tierra Monte NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87122, USA
1. Introduction
Optical power limiters (OPL) are nonlinear materials that limit the amount of energy transmitted by exhibiting a
drop in transmittance as the energy of incident laser pulses increases above a certain threshold value. They have
potential for protecting optical sensors or other optical devices from laser-pulse damage. The interest in OPL for use
in the space environment is due to the increasingly large number of space based missions and applications that
require laser protection. Temperature and space radiation-induced effects in optical and electronic materials are well
known and can cause disruption in OPL functions or in the worst case, can cause failure of the sensor. Therefore,
materials that can withstand the space environment, has been an area of much exploration in recent years. Some of
the best-performing optical limiters are materials containing chromophores that work via reverse saturable
absorption, multiphoton absorption or nonlinear scattering mechanism; however, such materials are difficult to
prepare and suffer from stability problems. In this presentation, a new polymeric OPL material based on multi-
chromophore/mechanistic approach is described. The origin of the OPL properties in these materials and preliminary
results of ionizing radiation effect on the OPL properties for the films are discussed.
2. Gamma irradiation of the OPL films
For a shielding material for protection of the spacecraft, an approximate dose rate would be 10 Gy/year (1 krad/yr)
in a shielded location of the spacecraft interior would be expected in a typical space orbit. Protons and electrons
compose the major portion of the total yearly received dose. The gamma rays used in our irradiation experiments
provided an economical and rapid simulation of the expected integrated proton and electron total dose which far
exceeded the yearly total dose by several decades. This preliminary exposure was done deliberately to determine the
radiation resistance of the material under highly accelerated conditions. Gamma-ray irradiation of the OPL films
was conducted using the Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) Gamma-ray Irradiation Facility (GIF) 147 kilocurie Co60
source providing primary photon energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV. The samples were mounted in a Pb-Al shielding
container provided by the GIF along with CaF2 thermolumenescent detector (TLD) arrays consisting of 4 TLDs per
array. The array arrangement provided multiple dose point readings for averaging the total dose across the sample
target area. Irradiated TLD arrays and selected samples were removed following each incremental irradiation
allowing remaining samples and TLDs to accumulate additional doses in subsequent irradiations to reach a high
total dose. The SNL dosimetry was optimized using the container in order to attenuate scattered-low energy photons
since the presence of these photons in the incident spectrum can cause dosimetry errors. The placement of containers
assured that lower energy photons (< 1 MeV) were attenuated or absorbed in the container walls. The container also
prevented unwanted exposure of the samples to sustained periods of room lighting which is known to induce "aging"
in some organic-polymer samples via photo-degradation processes. The glow-curve readings of the TLDs and the
dose and dose rate statistics were performed by the SNL Radiation Metrology Laboratory (RML). The averaged
dose reading shown in Tables 1 is RML estimate based on random uncertainties in TLD responses at Co60 energies
and is reported at the 1-sigma level. At Co60 energies, the dose (Si) is calculated as dose (Si) = dose (CaF2) x 1.02.
Conversion to the SI unit of radiation absorbed dose is the Gray (Gy) where 1 Gy = 100 rad. The average dose rate
was approximately 8.1 rad(Si)/s. The OPL films, including the control one, were indirectly exposed for a period of
~35 minutes to room lighting (incandescent and fluorescent) during the films mounting in the shielding container
and also for ~ 10 minutes during removal from the container. The ambient room temperature during handling and
irradiation of the samples averaged 69 ± 3.5 °F. The uncertainty in the dosimetry measurements was ~ 8%. The
effect of gamma irradiation on the glass substrate was obvious from the change in percentage transmission (%T) at
532 nm and the OPL film transmission measurement was adjusted to compensate for these losses. While the glass
34
substrates were noticeably darkened following irradiation, the irradiated OPL films did not exhibit darkening and
consequently did not show any effect on their percentage of transmission.
Table 1. Transmittance at 532 nm of gamma-ray pre- and post-irradiated OPL filters.
4. Optical power limiting properties of the films
The OPL experimental results obtained for gamma-ray irradiated OPL film, 1 and the nonirradiated control OPL
film, 2 are presented in Fig. 1. For these samples, the OPL onset occurred at approximately 5 J of input energy,�
while the output clamping energy level, i.e. the threshold energy level at which the output laser energy is maximum,
was at ~2 J. As can be seen in Fig. 1, the onset of laser induced damage threshold is slightly lowered compared to�
the control 2 following irradiation of 1. However, irradiation of another set of OPL films suggest that gamma-ray
irradiation at higher dose appears to increase the laser damage threshold. This behavior further suggests that the
gamma-rays may be interacting with the OPL material to produce an enhancement to the thin film responses. The
somewhat larger values of clamping energy for this second set of samples are attributed to their higher percentage of
transmission. The clamping energy and the activation energy
of the gamma-ray irradiated samples are clearly improved
compared to control OPL film. The optical power limiting
results indicate that when NLS-1 along with fullerene and
disperse red 1 are suspended in a HB-PCS host, they absorb
incident light and convert the polymer into a state that scatters
light. Although it is still not understood what happens to the
HB-PCS when energy is transferred from the NLS-1 to the
polymer matrix, it is expected that either a physical or
structural change occurs. It should be noted that NLS-1
chromophore works by inducing nonlinear scattering when a
highly intense laser beam interacts with the chromophores.
For the samples in this study, the optical power limiting effect
is the result of scattering originating from micro plasma
bubble formation.
Fig. 1. Pre- and post- gamma-ray irradiation responses of OPL films.
5 Summary
NLS-1, if appropriately combined with other organic and inorganic chromophores in a hyperbranched polymer
matrix, possesses a huge potential in the area of OPL devices for the protection of sensors, including human eyes.
These OPL materials are also promising candidates for space based applications. The preliminary data suggests that
suitable OPL films can be prepared based on multicomponent chromophores in polymers that can withstand the
space environment. The plasticity and flexibility of various host materials should allow one to design and fabricate a
range of optimized structures to meet different requirements.
35
Synthesis and thiolytic chemistry of alternative precursors to
the monomethylated metabolite of the cancer
chemopreventive oltipraz
Md. Khabir Uddina,b and James C. Fishbeina
aDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, Maryland 21250bInnovative Labs, LLC., 85 Commerce Drive, Hauppauge, New York 11788
E-mail: [email protected]
1. Introduction
Cancer chemoprevention involves the use of natural or synthetic compounds to reduce the risk of developing cancer
or potentially inhibit the carcinogenic process. We are currently engaged to understand the molecular basis or
mechanism of the cancer chemopreventive action of dithiolethiones (1.2-dithiole-3-thiones) [1,2]. Oltipraz 1
(Scheme1), is a member of a class of compounds called dithiolethiones and has been in phase II clinical trials for the
prevention of aflatoxin-induced hepatocellualr carcinoma. Dithiolethiones are belived to afford protection from
electrophilic and oxidative stress because they raise the labels of many phase 2 enzymes such as such as glutathione
S-transferases (GSTs), and NAD(P)H, quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1). These enzymes trap reactive electrophiles
and reactive oxygen species and also conjugates that prepare metabolites for export. The induction of phase 2
enzymes by dithiolethiones is mediated, at least in part, by antioxidant response element (ARE) that is found in the
upstream regulatory region of many phase 2 genes. The transcription factor Nrf2 which binds to the ARE, appears to
be essential for the induction of prototypical phase 2 enzymes. Very recently, it is shown that hydrogen peroxide is a
secondary messenger in phase 2 enzyme induction by cancer chemopreventive dithiolthiones including oltipraz [2].
Oltipraz, 1 is extensively metabolized, mainly to the dimethylated metabolite, 2, which is not an inducer of phase 2
enzymes. It has been shown that the major unmethylated metabolite, 4 is a phase 2 enzyme inducer with a potency
on par with oltipraz itself [1-2]. It was suggested that monomethylated metabolites, 5 and 6 that can be found under
subsequent enzymatic methylation of biologically active, 4, as other alternate metabolites prior to form the
dimethylated metabolite, 2 [1]. Therefore, we are interested in the synthesis of prodrugs 8 and 11, to serve as
alternative precursors to the monomethylated metabolites, 5 and 6, of the cancer chemopreventive oltipraz, 1, to test
whether they possess similar biological activities. In this presentation, we will be discussed the synthetic strategy,
structure elucidation, thiolytic chemistry, and the quinone-oxidoreductase (NQO1) activity of the monomethylated
metabolites, 5 and 6, of the oltipraz.
36
N
N
SS
S
HN
N
S
S
HN
N
S
S
N
N
SS
O
HN
N
S
SMe
HN
N
SMe
SN
N
SMe
SMe
GSH or
enzyme
1
4a 4b 2
5
6
3
~ 11 metabolitesGSH
GSH
enzyme enzyme
GSH
N
N
S
S
7
SMe
SMeN
N
S
SMe
8
SMe
N
N
SMe
S11
SMe
N
N
SMe
S )2
GSH
N
N
S
SMe
)2
GSH
15
12
slow
fast
Scheme 1.
2. Result and Dicussion
Alternate precursors, 8 and 11 have been synthesized in multisteps from the cancer chemopreventive oltipraz and
subsequently characterized by elemental analysis, 1H, 13C NMR spectroscopy and two-dimensional methods of
HMQC and HMBC. In the presence of GSH at physiological pH, �prodrugs� 8 and 11, decompose rapidly to
generate the corresponding monomethylated metabolites, 5 and 6, which have been monitored by UV-visible
spectrophotometer, HPLC and characterized by LC-MS. Furthermore, many attempts have been performed to
synthesis and isolation of the corresponding monomethylated metabolites, 5 and 6. The monomethylated metabolite,
5 could be isolated and its characterization performed by both 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. However, the isolation
could not be possible for 6 due to its extensive oxidation in the absence of GSH. The oxidized precursors, 12 and 15,
also generated the corresponding monometylated metabolites, 5 and 6 in the presence of GSH. Treatment with
�prodrugs� 8, 11, 12, and 15, for 48h incubation, of mouse Hepa
1C1C7 cells in culture media induce the phase 2 enzyme quinone
reductase with potencies on par with oltipraz itself. As shown in Fig.
1, plots of NQO1D/NQO10, the ratio of NQO1 activity in Hepa 1c1c7
cells in the presence of drug divided by the NQO1 activity in Hepa
1c1c7 cells in the absence of drug concentration. Data for olitipraz 1,
8, 11 in closed tiangles (CDNQO1=11.0 ± 1.11 �M), closed circles
(CDNQO1 = 10.1 ± 0.32 �M), closed squares (CDNQO1 = 10.8 ± 0.90
�M), respectively, after incubation with cells for 48 h. Data for 8,
11 in open circles (CDNQO1 = 6.1 ± 0.29 �M), and open squares
(CDNQO1 = 11.2 ± 0.33 �M), are for experiments in which the drugs
were first mixed with cell culture medium supplemented with 5 mM
GSH, allowed to react for 5 min, and then placed on cells and
incubated for 48 h.
Figure 5. Plots of NQO1D/NQO10 in Hepa 1c1c7 cells.
3. References[1] Petzer, J. P.; Navamal, M.; Johnson, J. K.; Kwak, M-K.; Kensler, T. W.; Fishbein. J. C. Phase 2 enzyme induction by the major metabolite of
Oltipraz. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2003; 16: 1463-1469.
[2] Holland, R.; Navamal, M.; Velayutham, M.; Johnson, Zweier, J. L.; Kensler, T. W.; Fishbein. J. C. Hydrogen peroxide is a secondary
messenger in phase 2 enzyme induction by cancer chemopreventive dithiolethiones. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2009; 22: 1427-1434.
37
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
NQO1D
NQO10
Concentration �M
Biofunctionalized magnetic vortex microdisks for targeted
cancer cell destruction
Elena A. Rozhkova 1 , Ilya Ulasov2, Dong-Hyun Kim3 , Maciej S. Lesniak2, T. Rajh1, Sam Bader1,3, Val Novosad3
1 Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Labpratory, Argonne, IL, USA, 2 Brain Tumor Center, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
3 Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA.
email:[email protected]. Introduction
Functional nanoscale materials that possess specific physical or chemical properties are able to leverage signal
transduction in vivo. Once these hard materials integrated with biomolecules they combine properties of both
inorganic and bioorganic moieties for successful interfacing with a cell, the smallest, yet sufficient structural and
functional unit of life, for direct manipulation and changing biochemical pathways via energy transduction. These
systems are appealing for wide range of application from the life sciences and nano-medicine to advanced catalysis
and clean energy production. In my talk I will overview our recent results on interfacing of functional nano-bio
hybrid materials with cellular machinery for nano-actuation and triggering important biochemical pathways.
I wall talk on our recent results on interfacing of soft magnetic materials
with unique spin vortex state with cellular machinery under magnetic
field stimuli. Interfacing of the whole eukaryotic cell with
biofunctionalized lithographically defined ferromagnetic microdisks
(MDs) with a spin-vortex ground state for cellular pathways actuation is
another example of successful application of energy and information
transduction principle in vivo. The nano-bio hybrid based on iron-nickel
permalloy/gold core-shell particles chemically functionalized with an
antibody was applied the for direct mechanical energy conversion into
biochemical (ionic or electric) signal in vivo. Thus, an application of an
unprecedentedly low frequency AC magnetic field of tens of Hertz
resulted in the discs oscillations and in remarkable altering of cellular
internal equilibrium (homeostasis), such as nucleus morphology
changes and severe nuclear DNA scission owing to direct energy
transduction and amplification. Such profound biological effect may be
connected with non-specific induction of ionic channels or gates and triggering intracellular ionic currents.
2. References:
[1] D.-H. Kim, E. A. Rozhkova, I. V. Ulasov, S. D. Bader, T. Rajh, M. S. Lesniak, Valentyn Novosad. Biofunctionalized Magnetic VortexMicrodisks for Targeted Cancer Cell Destruction. Nature Materials (2010),
38