Heteroepitaxial growth of oxides via solution chemical techniques

An all-alkoxide solution chemistry utilizing methoxyethoxide-metal complexes in 2-methoxyethanol was developed to deposit epitaxial thin-films of metal oxides on single-crystal oxide and textured metal substrates. The speciation within these solutions was studied using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Film precursor gels were studied using IR spectroscopy and thermal analysis. Approximate temperature ranges for film crystallization were determined from powders prepared from the film coating solutions. Film structure was determined using X-ray diffraction and film morphology was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A number of technologically interesting systems were prepared using this general technique. Bismuth-containing ferroelectric materials of the general formula (Sr or Ba)Bi2(Nb or Ta)2O9, were synthesized. Films were deposited on polycrystalline silver, (100) strontium titanate, and (100) lanthanum aluminate single-crystal oxide substrates by spin coating techniques. Excellent epitaxy was achieved on the oxide substrates. Several systems which may be used for buffer layers for superconducting thin-films were synthesized. Rare earth gallates and rare-earth aluminates (where Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Gd, Y) were synthesized. The crystallization of powders under reducing and oxidizing conditions, deposition of polycrystalline films on silver substrates, deposition of epitaxial films on single crystal oxide substrates using solution deposition was studied. In addition, rare-earth aluminates were deposited on roll-textured nickel using spin-coating and dip-coating techniques. Tetragonal perovskites in the general form ABCO4 (where A = Sr; B = La or Pr; C = Al or Ga) were prepared on single crystal oxide substrates. Chemical solution epitaxy was used to deposit films of rare-earth oxides (Ln = Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu) on roll-textured nickel. Superconducting thin-films of yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) were grown on several solution-deposited buffer layers. The high critical currents and transition temperatures of the YBCO thin-films were measured and found satisfactory, thus demonstrating the viability of the technique

The hip-hop aesthetics and visual poetry of Wayde Compton’s performance bond : claiming black space in contemporary Canada

Wayde Compton’s poetry collection Performance Bond is a union of hip-hop aesthetics and visual poetry to create a space for Vancouver’s black community. Although the majority of the poems in Performance Bond are lyric, visual poems have a significant and varied presence in the book. Compton creates his visual poetry by including such materials as photographs and signs, concrete poetry and pseudo-concrete poetry, graffiti, a simulated newspaper facsimile of an original Vancouver Daily Province article, voodoo symbols, and typed characters that do not necessarily form words. Despite a contemporary population of over two million people, the greater Vancouver area of today does not have a centralized black community similar to that found in other North American cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angles, Toronto, or Halifax. To reconcile the absence of a centralized black community in Vancouver, Compton turns to sampling black culture from across the world (with an obvious concentration on the United States) in order to develop and represent his own black identity. The similarities between visual poetry and hip-hop culture, particularly their emphasis on spatial representation, facilitate Compton’s continuing project to create a place for the black community in Vancouver

Cold atmospheric plasma, a novel promising anti-cancer treatment modality.

Over the past decade, cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), a near room temperature ionized gas has shown its promising application in cancer therapy. Two CAP devices, namely dielectric barrier discharge and plasma jet, show significantly anti-cancer capacity over dozens of cancer cell lines in vitro and several subcutaneous xenograft tumors in vivo. In contrast to conventional anti-cancer approaches and drugs, CAP is a selective anti-cancer treatment modality. Thus far establishing the chemical and molecular mechanism of the anti-cancer capacity of CAP is far from complete. In this review, we provide a comprehensive introduction of the basics of CAP, state of the art research in this field, the primary challenges, and future directions to cancer biologists

Functions Returning Values of Dynamic Size

Modern programming languages, such as Ada (Ichbiah 80), permit the definition of functions that return values whose size can not be determined until the function returns. This paper discusses five implementation techniques that can be used to implement this capability. Comparisons of the techniques are provided and guidelines for selecting a particular technique for a compiler are given

PROCESSING POLICY IN A PANDEMIC

The United States has no recent experience dealing with a large-scale pandemic such as COVID-19 that has clearly affected our entire culture, institutions, and way of life. This type of problem is not predictable, and its associated impacts are not easily estimated. As such, we conducted a quantitative comparison in terms of case count between the Navy’s response and the United States’ national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated the timing and implementation of Navy versus national and state policies, and explored the patterns and lessons learned to benefit the Navy and Department of Defense in the future. Our study meets a substantial need to look at both entities' response from an objective standpoint and to critique those aspects that served to further benefit or hinder outcomes.Lieutenant Commander, United States NavyLieutenant Commander, United States NavyLieutenant Commander, United States Navy ReserveApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Chlorophyll Dynamics from Sentinel-3 Using an Optimized Algorithm for Enhanced Ecological Monitoring in Complex Urban Estuarine Waters

Urban estuaries are dynamic environments that hold high ecological and economic value. Yet, their optical complexity hinders accurate satellite retrievals of important biogeochemical variables, such as chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) biomass. Approaches based on a limited number of satellite spectral bands often fail to capture seasonal transitions and sharp spatial gradients in estuarine Chl-a concentrations, inhibiting integration of satellite data into water quality monitoring and conservation programs. We propose a novel approach that utilizes the wide range of spectral information captured by the Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI) to retrieve estuarine Chl-a. To validate our approach, we used measurements in Long Island Sound (LIS), a highly urbanized estuary increasingly susceptible to anthropogenic stressors and climate change. Hyperspectral remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) and Chl-a data representing the spatiotemporal diversity of LIS were used to assess the ideal atmospheric correction approach for OLCI and develop a multi-spectral multiple linear regression (MS-MLR) Chl-a algorithm. POLYMER derived Rrs proved to be the preferred atmospheric correction approach. Evaluation of MS-MLR performance in retrieving Chl-a with in situ Rrs showed good agreement with field measurements. Application to OLCI-retrieved Rrs showed significant improvement (20%-30%) in common error metrics relative to other algorithms assessed. The MS-MLR approach successfully captured seasonal cycles and spatial gradients in Chl-a concentration. Application of this method to urban estuaries and coasts enables accurate, high resolution Chl-a observations at the ecosystem scale and across a range of conditions, as needed for conservation and ecosystem management efforts

Boise State Open Educational Resources Staff Training

Join colleagues from the Library, eCampus, Learning Technology Solutions and the IDEA Shop for a morning of learning about OER. Goals include: 1) Participants will learn about OER and how we can help support faculty interested in adopting OER. 2) Participants will meet each other, learn what we do in our respective departments and how we can work together