Oral Presentations

Faculty/Scientist Oral Presentations

FOP01

Ultrafast Microwave Synthesis of Metal Chalcogenides Nanocomposites

Shatila Sarwar, Jonathan Cook, Amit Nautiyal, and Xinyu Zhang*

Department of Chemical Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849.

*Email: xzz0004@auburn.edu

Throughout the history of materials, synthetic methodology has always been a limiting factor. A breakthrough in synthesis of materials can pave the way for breakthroughs in the entire field. Nanomaterials, including organic polymers, inorganic metal oxides/sulfides, self-assembled super-molecules and many other different types, have demonstrated huge advantages in their mechanical, physical and chemical properties. Among these nanomaterials, metal chalcogenides are one group of the excellent representatives, since it’s widely applied in many different fields, such as electronic devices, chemical sensors, energy storage, and composite additives based on its excellent electrical & thermal performances. Synthetic methods for MS2 production mainly consist of solid-gas or gas-phase reactions, thermal decompositions, hydrothermal or solvothermal synthesis, template synthesis, laser ablation, arc discharge, and electron beam irradiation. There are several major limitations and disadvantages associated with the existing MS2 synthetic techniques. Some of them include the presence of extreme reaction conditions (high temperature/pressure, inert gas protection), involvement of many toxic and hazardous gases (e.g. H2S) and complicated processes, requirement of intense facilities (e.g., furnace, laser, arc discharge, and high voltage beams) etc.These challenges warrant the need to develop a novel, facile approach for the synthesis of high-quality but low cost MS2. We have developed a facile approach to synthesize metal oxides and sulfides using microwave irradiation, starting with different organometallic precursors. As illustrated in Figure 1, our hypothesized mechanism of the synthesis involves four steps: (i) microwave absorption and conversion to heat by the conducting polymer substrate, (ii) the heat decompose metal carbonyls and react with oxygen _from air_ to form corresponding metal oxides, (iii) the metal oxides react with element sulfur to exchange O and S to form metal sulfides, and (iv) fracture of the crystal will form first, and then integrate to larger and closed-cage, fullerene-like crystals.

Figure 1. Schematic of the experimental process

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FOP02

Marijuana Use and Disorder

Xiongying Chen

Jackson Hospital, Montgomery, Alabama 36106. *Email: Eaglexchen@yahoo.com

Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal psychoactive substance, used by an estimated 182 million individuals worldwide and about 36 million community-living individuals in the United States. Its psychoactive properties are primarily due to THC. The pathogenesis and pharmacology of marijuana will be discussed. The epidemiology, comorbidity, health consequences, and medico-legal status of marijuana usage will be reviewed.

FOP03

Advancing Forensic Firearms Analysis: A Brief Survey of the Research and Development Efforts of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences – Firearm and Tool Mark Unit

Phong D. Ngo

Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, Montgomery Regional Laboratory, Montgomery, Alabama 36106. *Email: phong.ngo@adfs.alabama.gov

The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences recognizes the necessity of research and development in all disciplines of the forensic sciences. To that end, the Research and Development section of the Firearm and Tool Mark Unit was established with the mission of innovating and improving traditional firearms and tool mark examination by incorporating more objective analytical methodologies (including digital data acquisition and chemical spectroscopy/spectrometry), validating of those methodologies, and supplementing conventional firearms examination with those validated methodologies. Additionally, with backlog reduction the top priority for most forensic laboratories, method development centered around the use of existing or inexpensive equipment. That is, special consideration was given to overcoming the challenges of purchasing expensive instruments and required training for operation of unfamiliar equipment and chemicals.

FOP04

GC-MS, Product Ion MS-MS and GC-IR Studies on Regioisomeric Substituted Indole and Cathinone Designer Drugs

C. Randall Clark

Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Harrison School of Pharmacy, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849. *Email: clarkcr@auburn.edu

The majority of novel psychoactive substances reported for the first time in recent years are synthetic cannabinoids and cathinone derivatives (bath salts). The relentless development of new designer substances of totally synthetic origin creates challenges in forensic drug identification due to the commercial availability of a variety of precursor substances. Regioisomeric forms of synthetic substances of equivalent elemental composition and yielding regioisomeric fragment ions of equal elemental composition present unique challenges in forensic drug identification using mass based analytical methods. The mass spectra for many regioisomeric substances are essential identical and do not provide unique ions for structural differentiation. Vapor phase GC-IR techniques provide complementary data to differentiate between mass equivalent regioisomeric substances. The synthetic and analytical properties of a series of substituted indoles related to the cannabinoid drug of abuse 3-(1-naphthoyl)-1-pentylindole (JWH-018) will be compared in this report. Our research has recently evaluated the 1-pentylindoles having the acyl group substituted at all six of the remaining available indole ring substitution positions. Additional studies have focused on regioisomer specific methods for the identification of ring substituted aminoketone compounds (cathinone derivatives). Based on the structure of the unsubstituted cathinone molecule, designer modifications are possible in three distinct regions: the aromatic ring, the alkyl side chain and the amino group. The overall goal of our studies is to provide an analytical framework for the identification of individual drug molecules to the exclusion of all other possible isomeric and homologous forms of these compounds.

FOP05

Mental Health in Mississippi: Our Best Approach

Bridgette Stasher-Booker*, Linda McHawi, Megan Turner, and Delmitria Newhouse

Department Health Information Management, Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama 36104, *Email: bbooker@alasu.edu

Major funding for health initiatives often are subsidized by the federal government Department of Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  Medicaid purchases basic health and long-term care services on behalf of 51.5 million Americans (Miller et al 2004). According to a 2007 Medicaid report, the long-term care service delivery in Mississippi reflects an institutional healthcare emphasis:

“Mississippi ranks 7th in its Medicaid Intermediate Care Facilities/Mental Retardation expenditures as a percentage of its total Medicaid long-term care spending at 22.2%, well above the national average of 12.8% (Mississippi Department of Medicaid 2007).”

“Mississippi ranks last in terms of all community-based services as a percentage of its total Medicaid long-term care expenditures (Mississippi Department of Medicaid 2007).”

“Mississippi dedicates 12.7% of its Medicaid long-term care expenditures to community-based care, which is significantly lower than the national average of 36.9% of long-term care expenditures spent on community-based services (Mississippi Department of Medicaid 2007).”

Often States have to respond to external mandated health initiatives to avoid penalties and reduction in funding.  Some of these mandates seem counter to their vision and mission, but they make efforts to continue to provide quality services.  This case study seeks to analyze initiatives implemented by Mississippi in response to the Olmstead case. 

Miller V and Schneider A (2004) “The Medicaid Matching Formula: Policy Considerations and Options for Modification,”. Association for the Advancement of Retired Persons. Http//: www.aarp.org.

Mississippi Department of Medicaid (2007) “Executive Summary of DAAS Grant” Unpublished. Mississippi Department of Medicaid, Jackson, Mississippi.

FOP06

Zoonotic Disease --- A Serious Developing Public Health Concern

Hongzhuan Wu

Department of Biological Sciences, Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama 36104. *Email: hwu@alasu.edu

Zoonoses are diseases that can be spread from animals to humans under natural conditions. These diseases can include any type of organism, for example, viruses, bacteria, parasites, and prions.  Zoonotic diseases may be spread directly from animals to people, or indirectly through the environment or vectors such as ticks, mosquitoes, flies, etc. They may confront veterinarians as well as general practitioners, pediatricians, infectious disease specialists, and microbiologists with special diagnostic and therapeutic problems. We've seen an unprecedented rise in infectious diseases in recent decades, 75 percent of which are “zoonotic,” meaning they come from animals. About 300 new animal-to-human diseases have emerged in the last 60 years, from the mysterious SARS-like virus discovered in London, to Hantavirus in Yosemite and plague in Colorado to West Nile virus in Texas and the new Heartland virus in Missouri, to new chicken and pig flu viruses in Asia, to Ebola virus in Africa and recent Zika virus in US. We will review the recent emergent zoonosis in this presentation and inform the community about these serious public health concerns.

FOP07

Initiation of Bacterial Virus (Phage) Infection

Robert Villafane*, Karthikeya Venkatesan, Joseph Atia Ayariga, and Jeremie Williams

Program in Microbiology, Department of Biological Sciences, Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama 36104. *Email: rvillafane@alasu.edu 

Phages or bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacterial strains. There is a resurgence of scientific interest in phage and in phage proteins with a whole host of applications being reported almost daily, as they have currently become new tools in biology, environmental science, chemistry and other fields. A major interest in phages has been motivated by a rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This review, written at the centennial of one of the two co-discoverers of phage (French Canadian, Dr d’Herelle), describes how phage tail proteins interact with the bacterial cell surface to initiate phage infection, especially as seen mainly through the phage P22 system. This phase in the phage lifecycle is likely to be important in the application of phages towards more accurate therapeutic strategies.

FOP08

Changes in Rural Clan Culture and Communities during China’s Urbanization

Zongli Tang

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, & Geography, Auburn University at Montgomery, Montgomery, Alabama 36117. *Email: ztang@aum.edu

Whether driven by market forces or by the government, urbanization has become an irresistible trend in China. It is reported that more than 274 million peasants are now working and living in cities and towns and the size is growing daily. China’s urbanization has attracted scholars in various fields, including humanities, social sciences_and natural sciences throughout the world. It is our responsibility to report this event and analyze the process and influence. Using materials collected in survey and fieldwork conducted in 2009, 2014, and 2017, this research examines urbanization and its impact on rural clan culture and clan communities, emphasizing normative changes with regard to clan sentiment, family values, filial piety, ancestor worship, decent relations, gender relations, marital relations, patriarchal power, and rituals, which have been long neglected by pioneer studies. As revealed, urbanization has weakened traditional influence among villagers especially the well-educated youths.  But the impact is limited in scope and intensity. Migrant workers are still in their rural roots. The current urban development is not sufficient to completely separate them physically and mentally from native clan communities. Traditional culture remains not only in their memory but also in their daily life. China's urbanization is distinguished from European model because of a changed technological environment today. New technical conditions in transportation and information make the distance between migrant workers and their villages relatively shorter. Their spiritual communication with their family members, relatives, and local clans is not loosened. Their various links with home-villages do not cut off, but continue to be close and smooth. Urban effects move slowly on them. In the survey, a majority of the respondents express traditional viewpoints regarding ancestor worship, xiao (or filial piety), loyalty, clan rituals and clan genealogy, reflecting historical continuity of culture. Although villagers are shifting from the big jia to the small jia, and individualism is rising, jia, being the foundation of the Chinese society and Chinese culture, continues to be of more importance than individuals. Cultural changes bear strong Chinese characteristics.  

FOP09

Deer Hooves, Duck Feet, Fingernails, and Butterflies: Sentinels of Our Environment As Measured by Metal Content Via ICP-OES

Aubree Archie, Emily K. Fike, Logan Gildea, Jason Christopher Reynolds, Meagan Clausell, Lindsey Selph, and Maureen Kendrick Murphy*

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Huntingdon College, Montgomery, Alabama 36106. *Email: maureenm@hawks.huntingdon.edu

Metal content in deer hooves, duck feet, fingernails, and butterflies have only recently been used in studies of aquatic and soil pollution (Archie et al. 2017, 2016), while studies of heavy metal content in annelids and nematodes have been known for more than a decade (Monserrat et al. 2003). Several ecotoxicological characteristics make deer hooves, duck feet, fingernails, and butterflies suitable for use as a biomonitor, including the fact that the organisms from which these samples are derived (deer, duck, humans, and butterflies) live in close contact with sediments, water, and air. Also important is that some of these organisms posses mobility, which could be useful in biomonitoring programs since it can reflect local as well as regional and even global environmental problems. In the 2016 Annual Research Symposium, we reported the method development and analysis of metal content in deer hooves from south Alabama as a function of environment present in each county. (Archie et al. 2016, 2017). In this work we present more extensive studies of the metal content in: (a) deer hooves a from a more comprehensive number of counties in Alabama,   (b) duck feet from Alabama and northwest Florida counties, (c) fingernail samples from female athletes and non-athletes in Montgomery, Alabama , and (d) Monarch butterflies obtained during 2013-2016 from overwintering locations adjacent to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve on the border of Michoacán and State of Mexico. The results from these studies show that metal content in deer hooves, duck feet, fingernails, and butterflies (who overwinter in Mexico) serve as sentinels of the local, regional, and global environment associated with each organism studied. These data provide specific and insightful information on the metal detection in biological samples.

 Archie A, Fike EK, and Murphy MK (2017) Metal analysis of deer hooves in south Alabama: Sentinels of deer health, nutrition, and the environment, Frontiers in Science, Technology, Engineering andMathematics, Volume 1, Issue 1, 5-9.

Archie A, Fike EK, and Murphy MK, "Metal analysis of deer hooves in south Alabama: Sentinels of deer health, nutrition, and the environment," World Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Rome, Italy, September 4-6, 2017.

Archie A, Fike EK, and Murphy MK, "Metal analysis of deer hooves in south Alabama: Sentinels of deer health, nutrition, and the environment," Annual Symposium of Research and Creative Activity, Alabama State University, March 15-16, 2016.

Monserrat, JM, Rosa, CE, Sandrini, JZ, Marins, LF, Bianchini, A, and Geracitano, LA (2003) Annelids and Nematodes as Sentinels of Environmental Pollution, Comments on Toxicology, Volume 9, Issue 5-6, 289-301.

FOP10

Lead Density on a Target, A Significant Indicator of Firing Distance, but is it Reliable?

Elizabeth Gardner

Department of Criminal Justice, University of Alabama Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294. *Email: eagard@uab.edu

There is an inverse relationship between the mass of lead on a target and firing distance. Quantifying the lead by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) has been proposed as an objective method for determining firing distance. In the analysis, a series of test fires are made at known distances to generate a calibration curve of lead mass versus firing distance.  Previous studies have shown a strong linear relationship between lead density and distance, with coefficients of determination of r2 = 0.94 or better. Our initial tests to reproduce the literature reports gave mixed results.  Most notably, lead was detected and a calibration curve was generated for jacketed, Winchester ammunition with a lead-free primer in a .38 Smith and Wesson.  On the other hand, the mass of lead initially increased with distance when .38 Special RNFP ammunition was used to shoot at a target of cotton knit fabric. There are many factors that can affect lead deposition on a target.  These include volume of powder, mass of the bullet, air currents, barrel temperature, or composition of the target. The solution to the lack of reliability may be as simple as increasing the number of replicate shots at in the calibration curve.  We are currently examining the reproducibility of the lead residue and comparing the results with the lead rhodizonate test currently used for shooting distance determinations.

FOP11

Proximity to Superfund Sites, Childhood Disabilities, and Poverty in Alabama: A Geospatial Analysis

Marcia Rossi1,*, Ram Alagan2,*, and Seela Aladuwaka2

1Department of Psychology, 2Department of Criminal Justice and Social Science, Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama 36104. *Email: mrossi@alasu.edu, ralagan@alasu.edu

Some childhood disabilities are linked to issues arising from poverty such as poor nutrition and inadequate health care. For example, individuals who are in poverty may experience inadequate nutrition due to a lack of access to fresh green vegetables or vitamin supplements, which can help prevent spinal tube defects. AL has an 18.5% poverty rate which exceeds the national average (14%). Certain school districts have a high proportion of students who come from households who are low income. Studies have also found linkages between disabilities such as autism to exposure to heavy metals in the environment. Such exposure may arise from multiple sources, including lead in old pipes or paint, hazardous waste proximity, and consumption of contaminated fish. Those who live near superfund sites are more likely to be exposed to higher levels of a multitude of toxins. Further, those who live in poverty are more likely to live in environmental conditions which expose them to a multitude of toxins. We hypothesized that a geospatial analysis using geographic information science (GIS) data would show a relationship between proximity to superfund sites and health hazards, including rates of disabilities. We present our findings and discuss issues such as environmental justice in the context of these findings.

FOP12

Photoelectrochemical Investigations of Semiconductor Surfaces and Catalyst Interfaces for Solar Water Splitting

Shanlin Pan*, Pravin S. Shinde, Nelly Kaneza, Jackson Gunter, Elizabeth Dyer, Xiaoniu Peng, and Jue Wang

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487. *Email: span1@ua.edu

The world energy consumption is projected to be 28 TW in 2050. Fossil fuel, biomass, solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear energy sources are available solutions for this global energy challenge. Among these, solar energy is the eco-friendliest, sustainable, and economical energy source. There is an average of 1.2_105 TW of solar energy potentially available on the earth, holding the promise for addressing the future global energy challenge. The primary obstacle of using solar energy solution to meet this great challenge is how to develop an efficient and low-cost solar energy harvesting and conversion system. Our research efforts at The University of Alabama primarily focus on developing efficient electrode materials to help address global energy challenge (Shan 2015, Yengantiwar 2017, Wang 2017, Panikar 2017). This presentation will primarily focus on low-cost water oxidation catalyst NanoCOT electrode (Shan 2015) which contains earth-abundant elements and operating efficiently in alkaline solution for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), surface plasmon enhanced thin film photocatalysts, and MoS2 coated p-type semiconductor for solar water splitting with enhanced stability and catalytic activity. The NanoCOT is prepared by facile carbon thermal transformation of a nanostructured Ti substrate or TiO2 NPs in an atmosphere of methane, hydrogen, and nitrogen. This catalytic performance for OER of NanoCOT can be further improved by coating its surface with 2 nm IrO2 NPs. With its lower cost and superior performance for OER over IrO2 and Pt samples, NanoCOT holds the promise for being used as an active electrode material in an electrolyzer. Surface catalyst coating technique to enhance the stability and efficiency of proto reduction at the surface of a p-type photocatalyst Cu2O, which suffers from a major issue of chemical stability and sluggish proton reduction for splitting water using sunlight. MoS2 coating on top of Cu2O is achieved to improve its proton reduction performance. Photoelectrochemical measurements demonstrate higher activity for < 50 nm thick MoS2/Cu2O photocathode fabricated at 450°C with a photocurrent of ~ 5 mA cm_2 at _0.2 V vs. RHE. Additionally, the MoS2 coating helps minimize the dark current of the Cu2O photocathode.

Figure 1. NanoCOT for solar water splitting (Shan 2015).

Shan Z, Archana P, Shen G, Gupta A, Bakker M, and Pan SL (2015) “NanoCOT: Low-Cost Nanostructured Electrode Containing Carbon, Oxygen, Titanium for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 137, 11996-12005.

Yengantiwar A, Palanivel S, Panikar A, Ma YX, Pan SL, and Gupta A (2017) “Direct Liquid Injection Chemical Vapor Deposition of Molybdenum Doped Bismuth Vanadate Photoelectrodes for Efficient Solar Water Splitting” J. Phys. Chem. C, 121, 5914-5924.

Wang J, Waters J, Kung P, Kim S, Kelly J, McNamara L, Hammer N, Gupta A, and Pan SL (2017) “A Facile Electrochemical Reduction Method for Improving Photocatalytic Performance of _-Fe2O3Photoanode for Solar Water Splitting” ACS Appl. Mater. Inter. 9, 381-390.

Panikar A, Shan ZC, Pan SL, and Gupta A (2017) “Photocatalytic Water Oxidation at Bismuth Vanadate Thin Film Electrodes Grown by Direct Liquid Injection Chemical Vapor Deposition Method International Journal of Hydrogen Energy”, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy., 42, 8475-8485.

FOP13

Crude Oil and Dispersant Effects on Bacterial Community in the Gulf of Mexico

Priya Bhattacharya, Mohammed Al Jawasim, and Joong-Wook Park*

Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences, Troy University, Troy, Alabama 36082. *Email: jwpark@troy.edu

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in an unprecedented use of the dispersant Corexit® 9500A, which generated concern about the effect of crude oil and dispersants on the microbiota in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Especially, salt marshes are highly valued for their important ecological functions and they were greatly damaged by the oil spill. Our previous research showed the synergistic effect of crude oil and Corexit® 9500A on bacterial community in salt marsh sediment (Al-Jawasim 2014, Al-Jawasim et al. 2015). The crude oil and/or Corexit 9500A treatments triggered shifts in bacterial communities and the shifted bacterial structure by crude oil plus Corexit 9500A was considerably different from those by either crude oil or Corexit 9500A. In this research, we further examined the impacts of Corexit® 9500A on the bacterial community in salt marshes and continental shelf sediments in the GoM. Microcosms were setup with sediment collected from two salt marshes and two continental shelf sites in the northern GoM. The microcosms were then incubated with or without Corexit® 9500A for 14 days to investigate the impact of the dispersant on the bacterial community. Our results showed that the effect of 0.02% Corexit® 9500A was negligible, while 0.2% Corexit® 9500A significantly shifted the bacterial community in all four continental shelf and salt marsh sediments. Our data demonstrate the concentration of dispersant is a crucial factor affecting the bacterial community in both continental shelf and salt marsh sediments, and demonstrating the importance of initial application concentrations.

Figure 1. Bacterial profile of the Lake Pontchartrain salt marsh microcosms (A) and corresponding UPGMA dendrogram (B).

Al-Jawasim M (2014) Effect of Crude Oil and Dispersant on Bacterial Community in Louisiana Salt Marsh Sediments, MS Thesis, Troy University

Al-Jawasim M, Yu K, and Park JW. (2015) Synergistic effect of crude oil plus dispersant on bacterial community in a Louisiana salt marsh sediment. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 362(17):fnv144

 Priya Bhattacharya (2016) Analysis of Bacterial Communities in Sediments of Northern Gulf of Mexico and Effects of Treatment with the Oil Dispersant Corexit® 9500A, MS Thesis, Troy University

FOP14

FTIR Microscopy for Assessment of the Molecular Composition of Microbial Cells Grown Under Nutrient Stress

Gary Hastings

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30303. *Email: ghastings@gsu.edu

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscopy allows rapid characterization and classification of biomolecules in microbial cells.  The cellular composition is highly dependent on nutrients in the growth medium, and thus the FTIR spectra can provide information on the growth medium.  This is important information in many fields, from the study of algal blooms, to the analysis and efficacy of the use of microbes in wastewater treatments.

Here we describe several studies we have undertaken in which FTIR microscopy is used to assess the molecular composition of microbial cells in various growth states. In one study we focus on cyanobacterial cells from Synechocystis sp. and Spirulina platensis in various stages of growth.  In combination with chemometric analysis of the FTIR spectra, we demonstrate that not only can different cyanobacterial strains be distinguished purely on the basis of spectra, but also that cells at different stages of growth can be distinguished. Many microalgal strains are known to be able to accumulate large amounts of lipids or starch under various types of nutrient stress.  Such strains are important in a variety of industries, including biofuels and feedstocks.  However, very few rapid, reliable, cheap and non-invasive technologies are available to monitor the cellular biomass composition.  Here we show that FTIR spectroscopy may be such a technology for simultaneous measurement of lipid, protein and starch composition in intact microalgal cells from Neochloris minuta and Neochloris alveolaris.  N. minuta and N. alveolaris are fast growing photosynthetic organisms that overproduce lipids and starch under nutrient stress, and here we have used FTIR spectroscopy to study the biomass composition of N. minuta and N. alveolaris cells grown in nitrogen-rich and nitrogen-depleted media.  We were able to identify unique FTIR absorption bands associated with lipids, starch and proteins. Changes in the intensity of these FTIR absorption bands clearly show that removing nitrogen from the growth medium caused substantial increases in the lipid and starch content of N. alveolaris and N. minuta cells, respectively, that were correlated with dramatic decreases in the cellular protein content.  Estimates of biomass composition based on FTIR spectra are in good agreement with cellular biomass compositions estimated using a variety of chemical techniques.

Figure 1. FTIR microscopy used for assessing the molecular composition of microbial cells in various growth states

FOP15

Application of Lidar Data on Archaeological Site Discovery

Xutong Niu1,* and Jason Mann2

1Department of Mathematics and Geomatics, 2Archaeological Research Center, Troy University, Troy, Alabama 36082. *Email: xniu@troy.edu

Finding archaeological sites for the purposes of conservation and compliance within Federal, State, and Local law and regulation is a time consuming, labor intensive and costly process. Over the years archaeologists have developed high-probability techniques to reduce the time spent in the field surveying. Traditional high probability survey techniques primarily involve the expertise and experience of archaeologists to find sites. Due to limited spatial accuracy, traditional USGS topographic maps often fail to present reliable terrain model in relatively flat areas, such as wetlands. In contrast, LiDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) data are very promising to provide archaeologists with unprecedentedly extensive topographic information (Mann and Niu, 2015). This research presents a novel method that uses LIDAR data in enhancing high-probability cultural resource survey for archaeological site discovery in Wetlands across Alabama. LiDAR data of four counties in Alabama were processed to extract terrain features and patterns at existing archaeological sites. A statistical method was then used to analyze correlation among these terrain features and environmental factors of the site. After analysis and data processing, the results were blind-checked against the current archaeological site file data and independent data gathered from high-probability survey data.

Figure 1. LIDAR detection and archaeological site map in Madison County, AL

The results of this research indicated that over 90% percent of the existing archaeological sites can be successfully extracted using the proposed method and proved that LiDAR data is a valuable resource for archaeological surveys and can result in a tremendous amount of savings in time, money, and labor.

Mann, J. and Niu, X. “Project Report – Statistical Analysis to Predict Archaeological Site Locations – A Pilot Study.” USDA-NRCS Whitepaper, NRCS Project No. 68-4101-15-0002, 2015.

FOP16

Study of Transition Metal Hydroxides as New Sensor and Battery Material

Mian Jiang1,*, Zhenyi Wu2,*, Takese T. McKenzie1, Charles Punnathara1,  and Aaron Torres1

1Department of Natural Sciences, University of Houston Downtown, Houston, Texas 77002;

2College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China, *Email: jiangm@uhd.edu; zywu@xmu.edu.cn.

Transition metals possess high surface activities and are widely used as catalysts in automobile, defense, coating, and petrochemical industries. These catalysts lose their catalytic function upon long exposure in the air or moist environment. These deactivation processes or “catalysis poisoning” are  usually associated with the formation of oxides or hydroxides. While these oxides or hydroxides do not offer much use in comparing to their pure original metal bodies, they do display high thermal and chemical stability and extremely low solubility in versatile media.  We systematically studied transition metal hydroxides and oxyhydroxides for their possible utilization as new functional material. We focused on developing the new fabrication protocol to enable a stable, reproducible, and surface-oriented film/membrane formation. Bulky chemical synthesis and electrochemical on-site preparation were explored. Copper, iron, nickel, cobalt, zinc, and palladium hydroxides were chosen as typical transition metals. Figure 1 is the voltammogram of cobalt hydroxide film attached carbon electrode.   The very symmetric voltammetric peak pair at ~+0.4V indicate the nearly perfect Nernstian behavior of the surface-confined redox center that we later concluded as Co(II/III) transition. This well-defined voltammetric response in the media without any deliberately added redox-active species shed promise for surface electrocatalysis. The nearly zero-voltage of anodic/cathodic peak separation provides a fast charging/discharging process. These features offer the potential for sensory application under extreme condition as well as battery /supercapacitor utilization. Our follow-up studies yielded quantitative data. Our efforts also gave and compared different preparation procedures of the surface-oriented transition metal oxyhydroxides: these functional material can be generated by simple chemical-dipping for thin film;  electrochemical coating and stripping for thick film; surface film conversion for enhanced thick film; and bulky crystal mixing with carbon powder-filled electrode cavity. These studies significantly expanded our initial sensory study when nickel was used (Jiang et al, 2011). This work was supported by US DoE “Re-energize” grant, Texas Workforce Commission, US DoED-MSEIP, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Welch Foundation (BJ-0027).   

Figure 1. Cyclic voltammogram of Co(OH)2 film modified glassy carbon electrode in 1 M NaOH.

M. Jiang, R. Villagomez, A. Vo, and L. Spears (2011), “Novel Chromosomal DNA assay based on nickel hydroxide nanocomposite films with facile construction”, Electroanalysis, 23(2), 469-480.

FOP17

Janus Liposomes: Gel-Assisted Formation and Bioaffinity-Directed Clustering and Aggregation

Wei Zhan

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849. *Email: wzz0001@auburn.edu

We discuss here a high-yield procedure for preparing microsized (giant) Janus liposomes via gel-assisted lipid swelling, and clustering and aggregation behavior of these liposomes directed by biotin-avidin affinity binding. Confocal fluorescence microscopy reveals in detail that these new lipid colloidal particles display broken symmetry and heterogeneous surface chemistry, similar to other types of Janus particles. An optimized formation procedure is presented, which reproducibly yields large liposome populations dominated by a single domain configuration. We further demonstrates that biotin-conjugated 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (biotin-DOPE) preferentially partitions into the liquid-disordered phase of the lipid matrix, rendering these Janus liposomes asymmetrical binding capacity toward avidin. This affinity binding drives irreversible and domain-specific cluster/aggregate formation among Janus liposomes, whose structure and size are found to depend on the domain configuration of individual liposomes and incubation time.

FOP18

Hybrid Chebyshev Polynomial Scheme for Solving Elliptic Partial Differential Equations

Balaram K. Ghimire1,*, Ching-Shyang Chen2, and Anup Raja Lamichhane2

1Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama 36104; 2Department of Mathematics. University of Southern Mississippi. Hattiesburg, Mississippi 39406. *Email: baghimire@alasu.edu

In this talk, hybrid Chebyshev polynomial scheme (HCPS) is proposed, which couple the Chebyshev polynomial scheme and the method of fundamental solutions into a single matrix system. This hybrid formulation requires solving only one system of equations and opens up the possibilities for solving a large class of partial differential equations. Furthermore, we consider various boundary value problems and, in particular, the challenging Cauchy-Navier equation. The solution is approximated by the sum of the particular solution and the homogeneous solution. Chebyshev polynomials are the sequence of orthogonal polynomials which provides spectral convergence for the Chebyshev interpolation. Chebyshev polynomial addresses the ill-conditioning of the matrix system and avoids the uncertainty of the choosing shape parameter. Hence Chebyshev polynomials are used to approximate a particular solution of the given partial differential equation and the method of fundamental solutions is used to approximate the homogeneous solution. Numerical results show that our proposed approach is efficient, accurate, and stable. We use various irregular computational domains to verify the effectiveness of the proposed numerical method as shown below and also a numerical result is presented below (Figure 1 and Table 1).

Figure 1. Numerical results using various irregular computational domains

FOP 19

Periodic Oscillations in a Network Model with Delay

Chunhua Feng

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama 36104, *Email: cfeng@alasu.edu

Recently, I. Ncube has studied the stability switching and Hopf bifurcation in a multiple-delayed neural network (i mod 3) with distributed delay. In this model, the distributed signal transmission delay has introduced in the self-connection of the network and maintained the usual discrete signal transmission delay in the nearest-neighborhood connection. By means mathematical analysis method which is different from Ncube’s bifurcating method, this paper extends Ncube’s results to any n-node network model (i mod n). Some criteria are provided to guarantee the existence of periodic oscillations. Computer simulations are presented to demonstrate the correctness of the present result.

FOP20

Applied Photosynthesis: Putting the B into PV

Barry D. Bruce

Sustainable Energy and Education Research Center, Departments of Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Microbiology, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Tennessee 37996.  

*Email: bbruce@utk.edu

Nature has developed remarkable means for harvesting solar energy to drive the process of photosynthesis. In part the remarkably high quantum efficiency associated with photosynthesis, has been enabled by the successful “division of labor” associated with this process.  Specifically, in nature, organisms have evolved largely separate biomolecular structures that have become specialized to either 1) capture photons and facilitate energy transfer via high-efficiency exciton coupling of pigments and 2) a separate structure, known as a reaction center, to convert this exciton into a charge separation that has a quantum yield approaching unity.  Interestingly, the light harvesting process has been very adaptive to capture a wide range of solar energy (370 _ 750 nm Although both the pigments and organization of this light-harvesting complexes demonstrate tremendous diversity, the charge separation process is restricted to only two complexes know as Photosystem II & I. Drawing on the remarkable efficiency, stability, and renewability of these biological complexes, we have begun to investigate their ability to function as both solar luminescent concentrators, as well as photovoltaic devices that can launch electrons into either organic semiconductors such as C60 or Alq3, semi-conductive polymers, or into inorganic semiconductors such as TiO2 and ZnO nanotubes.  I will report on the design and fabrication of these biohydrid PV devices and solar concentrators.  In addition, I will discuss future designs to further enhance their EQE towards the goal of a truly sustainable and environmentally benign new design of photovoltaic materials.  This work has been supported by grants from Army Research Laboratory, the NSF NIRT program, STAIR, Gibson Family Foundation, and TN-SCOR.

FOP21

Frontiers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics: A Peer-Reviewed Journal

Harvey J.M. Hou

Department of Physical/Forensic Sciences, Alabama State University,

Montgomery, Alabama 36104. *Email: hhou@alasu.edu

To promote the communication and the collaboration among the participants of the 2017 Annual Research Symposium, we hope to publish the innovative results presented in the Symposium. However, the idea of publishing the manuscripts in a book or an existing journal is not successful. A similar dilemma was faced by the scientists at the Rockefeller University in 1950s when they try to publish their innovative research. They decided to started a new journal, "The Journal of Cell Biology (JCB)," produced by the Rockefeller University (JCB 2017). Inspired by the Rockefeller pioneers, we initiated a new peer-reviewed journal, "Frontiers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (FSTEM)." Figure 1 showed the inaugural issue (FSTEM 2017). In general, the manuscripts for publication in FSTEM are invited, and uninvited manuscripts will be reviewed by the Editorial Board before submitting for peer-review. There is no article processing charge (APC) for the accepted manuscripts; and FSTEM provides free online open access (OA) to full papers. Before the manuscripts are accepted for publication by FSTEM, the authors are allowed to submit their manuscripts to the preprint servers, such as arXiv, bioRxiv, and chemRxiv. These servers rapidly share new research and are not peer-reviewed free service for unpublished manuscripts. Each year, one manuscript will be selected to be "the Best Paper of the Year," from the papers in FSTEM. The Best Paper of the Year Award in 2017 is given to Egbo et al (2017). FSTEM may be a newly informative and valuable forum to the authors and readers in the STEM community.

Figure 1. Cover page of the inaugural issue of the journal, Frontiers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Egbo TE, Dickson JO, Miller C, Johs A, Sanders CA, and Robertson BK (2017) Characterization, Identification and Seasonal Evaluation of Microbes in Mercury Contaminated Soils, Front. Sci. Technol. Eng. Math., 1, 15-26.

FSTEM (2017) Current Issue, https://sites.google.com/a/alasu.edu/fstem/current-issue (accessed October 31, 2017)

JCB (2017) History, http://jcb.rupress.org/history (accessed October 31, 2017)