SOME IMPORTANT PUBLIC SCHOOL PROBLEMS

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

TEACHING AND WORKING WITH POLICY LEADERS

Agricultural and Food Policy,

TAXES AND THE FEDERAL BUDGET: PROBLEMS AND ALTERNATIVES

Public Economics,

Functional Organic Nanomaterials

π-Conjugated polymers have a wide range of applications such as photovoltaics, light-emitting diodes, and sensors. To gain a better understanding of these systems, monodisperse oligomers can be used as a more simplistic model to generate predictive structural and physical properties of corresponding polymers. A divergent/convergent synthetic approach to synthesis of monodisperse π-conjugated oligomers has been developed. These well-defined, thiophene-containing molecular building blocks have been successfully coupled to a ferrocene hinge, which has been found to be highly efficient in the transport of gold atoms using a gold scanning tunneling microscopy tip. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) represent a rare class of materials, which exhibit a number of outstanding properties in a single material system, such as high aspect ratio, small diameter, light weight, high mechanical strength, high electrical and thermal conductivities, and near-IR optical and optoelectronic properties. Aerogels are highly porous, low-density materials comprised of a solid, three-dimensional (3D) nanoscale network fully accessible to ions and molecules. By combining the extraordinary properties of CNTs with those of aerogels, a new class of materials becomes accessible with unique multifunctional material properties. CNT aerogels that are mechanically stable and stiff, highly porous, and exhibit excellent electrical conductivity and large specific surface area have been developed. CNTs are recognized as the ultimate carbon fibers for high-performance, multifunctional materials, where an addition of only a small amount of CNTs, if engineered appropriately, could lead to simultaneously enhanced mechanical strength and electrical conductivity. For the first time, using core-shell multi-walled CNTs as a filler to increase the dielectric constant and reduce the dielectric loss of nanotube-polymer composites has been demonstrated. While most efforts in the field of CNT-polymer composites have been focused on passive material properties such as mechanical, electrical, and thermal, there is growing interest in harnessing active material functions such as actuation, sensing, and power generation in designed CNT-polymer materials. The synergy between CNTs and the polymer matrix has been judiciously exploited to create highly desirable active material functions in smart material systems. By incorporating CNTs in a Nafion matrix, multi-shape memory healable composites capable of reversible remote, local, and chemical programming have been developed

Therapy Gardens Healing Environments for Children

Valley Mental Health is located in Salt Lake City, UT and is a metropolitan Community Mental Health Center serving Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele counties. They serve about 6,000 children with mental health problems per year, most of whom are at or below poverty level. Ann Foster the Director of the Children\u27s Services at Valley Mental Health, approached the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at Utah State University for the aid in developing an inner courtyard into a therapeutic garden for their Children\u27s Outpatient Clinic. The inner courtyard would be available to children who are receiving therapy at the clinic. In order to design a proper therapeutic environment, research must first be done to examine the various aspects of therapeutic garden design including its history, research and theory and the health effects of gardens in healthcare settings

Molecular systematics of the marine Dothideomycetes

Phylogenetic analyses of four nuclear genes, namely the large and small subunits of the nuclear ribosomal RNA, transcription elongation factor 1-alpha and the second largest RNA polymerase II subunit, established that the ecological group of marine bitunicate ascomycetes has representatives in the orders Capnodiales, Hysteriales, Jahnulales, Mytilinidiales, Patellariales and Pleosporales. Most of the fungi sequenced were intertidal mangrove taxa and belong to members of 12 families in the Pleosporales: Aigialaceae, Didymellaceae, Leptosphaeriaceae, Lenthitheciaceae, Lophiostomataceae, Massarinaceae, Montagnulaceae, Morosphaeriaceae, Phaeosphaeriaceae, Pleosporaceae, Testudinaceae and Trematosphaeriaceae. Two new families are described: Aigialaceae and Morosphaeriaceae, and three new genera proposed: Halomassarina, Morosphaeria and Rimora. Few marine species are reported from the Dothideomycetidae (e.g. Mycosphaerellaceae, Capnodiales), a group poorly studied at the molecular level. New marine lineages include the Testudinaceae and Manglicola guatemalensis in the Jahnulales. Significantly, most marine Dothideomycetes are intertidal tropical species with only a few from temperate regions on salt marsh plants (Spartina species and Juncus roemerianus), and rarely totally submerged (e.g. Halotthia posidoniae and Pontoporeia biturbinata on the seagrasses Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosum). Specific attention is given to the adaptation of the Dothideomycetes to the marine milieu, new lineages of marine fungi and their host specificity

Integrating The Wall Street Journal Into AIS Courses

While it is important for accounting information systems (AIS) students to understand computer technology, internal controls and business processes, such knowledge is of little use without reference to appropriate contexts.  Integrating Wall Street Journal (WSJ) readings and discussions into AIS classes can enrich learning by stimulating discussions based on real-life experiences. This article illustrates how the WSJ can be used in AIS courses to reinforce learning in key areas, such as information privacy, data security, identity theft, and business continuity