University Based Multidisciplinary Organizations - Promises and Challenges

The Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory (DIAL) at Mississippi State University is a multidisciplinary research organization engaged in developing and applying advanced computer-controlled, optical and laser-based diagnostic instrumentation systems for the characterization of high temperature gas streams. Part of the mission of DIAL is the on-site application of the diagnostic systems to large-scale facilities. The laboratory has approximately 40 professional and support personnel. Twelve faculty members are associated with the laboratory and, because of the multidisciplinary nature of the research program, their disciplines cross college as well as departmental boundaries. This provides for unique graduate research opportunities. Moreover, the laboratory employees 12 full-time research scientists and engineers in addition to a number of technicians and graduate students. The overall program of the laboratory and the rationale for such mission-oriented organizations are presented. In addition, it is pointed out that an organization of this type presents particular administrative problems in universities. While the path from instructor to university president is well laid out in the tenure track system, the administrative path in which the cross-disciplinary researchers find themselves is often unexplored by them or university administrators. Though there are clearly numerous advantages to this kind of organization, there are also disadvantages. Most of these advantages and disadvantages apply to many cross-disciplinary research groups to varying degrees, and these are also discussed in a general way. Recommendations for interfacing cross disciplinary research groups are also given

The Status of Service-Learning in the United States: Some Facts and Figures

This report focuses on service and service-learning in high schools. The report compares data from 1984 research with information from two studies of service and service-learning completed in 1997. The data suggest that community service and service-learning in 1984 was available in slightly more than one-quarter of all high schools (primarily to white students), and course-related programs (service-learning) occurred in only about 10% of all schools. The 1997 data indicate that the number of high school students involved in service-related programs has increased 686%; and the number of high school students involved in service-learning has increased3,663%. Using data from studies of school-based and college and university-based service-learning programs, the report estimates the number of individuals participating in service-learning programs across the country.It also provides charts that show funding figures for service-learning programs

A questionnaire elicitation of surgeons' belief about learning within a surgical trial

PMID: 23145113 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3493499 Free PMC ArticlePeer reviewedPublisher PD

Clustering of solutions in the random satisfiability problem

Using elementary rigorous methods we prove the existence of a clustered phase in the random $K$-SAT problem, for $K\geq 8$. In this phase the solutions are grouped into clusters which are far away from each other. The results are in agreement with previous predictions of the cavity method and give a rigorous confirmation to one of its main building blocks. It can be generalized to other systems of both physical and computational interest.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Bowen-York Tensors

There is derived, for a conformally flat three-space, a family of linear second-order partial differential operators which send vectors into tracefree, symmetric two-tensors. These maps, which are parametrized by conformal Killing vectors on the three-space, are such that the divergence of the resulting tensor field depends only on the divergence of the original vector field. In particular these maps send source-free electric fields into TT-tensors. Moreover, if the original vector field is the Coulomb field on $\mathbb{R}^3\backslash \lbrace0\rbrace$, the resulting tensor fields on $\mathbb{R}^3\backslash \lbrace0\rbrace$ are nothing but the family of TT-tensors originally written down by Bowen and York.Comment: 12 pages, Contribution to CQG Special Issue "A Spacetime Safari: Essays in Honour of Vincent Moncrief

Compound-specific Carbon Isotope Compositions of Aldehydes and Ketones in the Murchison Meteorite

Compoundspecific carbon isotope analysis (13C) of meteoritic organic compounds can be used to elucidate the abiotic chemical reactions involved in their synthesis. The soluble organic content of the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite has been extensively investigated over the years, with a focus on the origins of amino acids and the potential role of Streckercyanohydrin synthesis in the early solar system. Previous 13C investigations have targeted amino acid and hydroxy acid Strecker products and reactant HCN; however, 13C values for meteoritic aldehydes and ketones (Strecker precursors) have not yet been reported. As such, the distribution of aldehydes and ketones in the cosmos and their role in prebiotic reactions have not been fully investigated. Here, we have applied an optimized O(2,3,4,5,6pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine (PFBHA) derivatization procedure to the extraction, identification, and 13C analysis of carbonyl compounds in the Murchison meteorite. A suite of aldehydes and ketones, dominated by acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, and acetone, were detected in the sample. 13C values, ranging from 10.0 to +66.4, were more 13Cdepleted than would be expected for aldehydes and ketones derived from the interstellar medium, based on interstellar 12C/13C ratios. These relatively 13Cdepleted values suggest that chemical processes taking place in asteroid parent bodies (e.g., oxidation of the IOM) may provide a secondary source of aldehydes and ketones in the solar system. Comparisons between 13C compositions of meteoritic aldehydes and ketones and other organic compound classes were used to evaluate potential structural relationships and associated reactions, including Strecker synthesis and alterationdriven chemical pathways

Empirical ugri-UBVRc Transformations for Galaxies

We present empirical color transformations between Sloan Digital Sky Survey ugri and Johnson-Cousins UBVRc photometry for nearby galaxies (D < 11 Mpc). We use the Local Volume Legacy (LVL) galaxy sample where there are 90 galaxies with overlapping observational coverage for these two filter sets. The LVL galaxy sample consists of normal, non-starbursting galaxies. We also examine how well the LVL galaxy colors are described by previous transformations derived from standard calibration stars and model-based galaxy templates. We find significant galaxy color scatter around most of the previous transformation relationships. In addition, the previous transformations show systematic offsets between transformed and observed galaxy colors which are visible in observed color-color trends. The LVL-based $galaxy$ transformations show no systematic color offsets and reproduce the observed color-color galaxy trends.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (9 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables

Spitzer Local Volume Legacy (LVL) SEDs and Physical Properties

We present the panchromatic spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the Local Volume Legacy (LVL) survey which consists of 258 nearby galaxies ($D<$11 Mpc). The wavelength coverage spans the ultraviolet to the infrared (1500 $\textrm{\AA}$ to 24 $\mu$m) which is utilized to derive global physical properties (i.e., star formation rate, stellar mass, internal extinction due to dust.). With these data, we find color-color relationships and correlated trends between observed and physical properties (i.e., optical magnitudes and dust properties, optical color and specific star formation rate, and ultraviolet-infrared color and metallicity). The SEDs are binned by different galaxy properties to reveal how each property affects the observed shape of these SEDs. In addition, due to the volume-limited nature of LVL, we utilize the dwarf-dominated galaxy sample to test star formation relationships established with higher-mass galaxy samples. We find good agreement with the star-forming "main-sequence" relationship, but find a systematic deviation in the infrared "main-sequence" at low luminosities. This deviation is attributed to suppressed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) formation in low metallicity environments and/or the destruction of PAHs in more intense radiation fields occurring near a suggested threshold in sSFR at a value of log($sSFR$) $\sim$ $-$10.2.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (15 pages, 14 figures, 1 table