Establishing a Green Home Technology Center: An OSU and Community Partnership for Research, Education, and Demonstration of Green Building Technologies to Support Healthy, Energy Efficient, and Sustainable Housing in Ohio

IMPACT. 1: OSU and community partnerships in research, education and Extension on green home technologies -- 2. A Green Home Technology Center (GHTC) -- 3. Workshops on green home technologies.OSU PARTNERS: Office of Energy and Environment; Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering; College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; College of Engineering; OSU Extension; Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Knowlton School of ArchitectureCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: New Albany High School; The USGBC Central Ohio Chapter; Efficiency Smart - American Municipal Power, Inc.; Buckeye Power, Inc.; Ohio Energy Office; Habitat for Humanity MidOhioPRIMARY CONTACT: Lingying Zhoa ([email protected])Reducing energy consumption and the associated environmental impact is a significant challenge we are facing. New green technologies that reduce home energy consumption and improve indoor environmental quality will provide a tremendous opportunity to reduce financial burdens on households, mitigate climate change, and increase the nation's energy security. The goal of this project is to establish a Green Home Technology Center (GHTC) through partnerships with homeowners, builders, and professionals, and to demonstrate and disseminate effective green home technologies for a transformational change in residential energy consumption and environment impact

Determination of (alpha)-dialkylamino acids and their Enantiomers in Geological Samples by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography after Dervatization with a Chiral Adduct of (omicron)-Phthaldialdehyde

Derivatization with (omicron)-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) and the chiral thiol N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) is a convenient and sensitive technique for the HPLC detection and resolution of protein amino acid enantiomers. The kinetics of the reaction of OPA-NAC with (alpha)-dialkylamino acids was investigated. The fluorescence yield of (alpha)-dialkylamino acids was only about 10% of that of protein amino acids when the derivatization was carried out at room temperature for 1-2 min, which is the procedure generally used for protein amino acid analyses. The fluorescence yield of (alpha)-dialkylamino acids can be enhanced by up to ten-fold when the derivatization reaction time is increased to 15 min at room temperature. The OPA-NAC technique was optimized for the detection and enantiomeric resolution of a-dialkylamino acids in geological samples which contain a large excess of protein amino acids. The estimated detection limit for a-dialkylamino acids is 1-2 pmol, comparable to that for protein amino acids

Ab initio calculations of the physical properties of transition metal carbides and nitrides and possible routes to high-Tc

Ab initio linear-response calculations are reported of the phonon spectra and the electron-phonon interaction for several transition metal carbides and nitrides in a NaCl-type structure. For NbC, the kinetic, optical, and superconducting properties are calculated in detail at various pressures and the normal-pressure results are found to well agree with the experiment. Factors accounting for the relatively low critical temperatures Tc in transition metal compounds with light elements are considered and the possible ways of increasing Tc are discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

Phonon and Elastic Instabilities in MoC and MoN

We present several results related to the instability of MoC and MoN in the B1 (sodium chloride) structure. These compounds were proposed as potential superconductors with moderately high transition temperatures. We show that the elastic instability in B1-structure MoN, demonstrated several years ago, persists at elevated pressures, thus offering little hope of stabilizing this material without chemical doping. For MoC, another material for which stoichiometric fabrication in the B1-structure has not proven possible, we find that all of the cubic elastic constants are positive, indicating elastic stability. Instead, we find X-point phonon instabilities in MoC (and in MoN as well), further illustrating the rich behavior of carbo-nitride materials. We also present additional electronic structure results for several transition metal (Zr, Nb and Mo) carbo-nitride systems and discuss systematic trends in the properties of these materials. Deviations from strict electron counting dependencies are apparent.Comment: 5 pages and 4 trailing figures. Submitted to PR

Colon-Specific Drug Delivery Behavior of pH-Responsive PMAA/Perlite Composite

The preparation, characterization, and in vitro release of 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) from methacrylic acid (MAA)/perlite composites (APC) prepared via a sol–gel route are reported. The free-radical graft polymerization of methacrylic acid (MAA) onto perlite particles was studied experimentally. The grafting procedure consisted of surface activation with 3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate (TSPA), followed by free-radical graft polymerization of methacrylic acid (MAA) in ethyl acetate with 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) initiator. The composition of the composites hybrid materials was determined by FTIR spectroscopy. Equilibrium swelling studies were carried out in enzyme-free simulated gastric and intestinal fluids (SGF and SIF, respectively). The dried composites were immersed in a saturated solution of 5-ASA in water overnight and dried over a period of three days at room temperature and the in vitro release profiles were established separately in both (SGF, pH 1) and (SIF, pH 7.4). The 5-ASA concentration of the solution was measured using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer (205 nm) at different time intervals. The in vitro drug release test revealed that the release rate of 5-ASA in buffer solutions increased with the silica content in the composites; on the contrary, the increase of the content of 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TSPA), a coupling agent, decreased the drug release rate

The modulation of acute methamphetamine on the neuronal network oscillations in rat hippocampal CA3 area.

Gamma frequency oscillations (γ, 30–100 Hz) have been suggested to underlie various cognitive and motor functions. The psychotomimetic drug methamphetamine (MA) enhances brain γ oscillations associated with changes in psychomotor state. Little is known about the cellular mechanisms of MA modulation on γ oscillations. We explored the effects of multiple intracellular kinases on MA modulation of γ induced by kainate in area CA3 of rat ventral hippocampal slices. We found that dopamine receptor type 1 and 2 (DR1 and DR2) antagonists, the serine/threonine kinase PKB/Akt inhibitor and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonists prevented the enhancing effect of MA on γ oscillations, whereas none of them affected baseline γ strength. Protein kinase A, phosphoinositide 3-kinase and extracellular signal-related kinases inhibitors had no effect on MA. We propose that the DR1/DR2-Akt-NMDAR pathway plays a critical role for the MA enhancement of γ oscillations. Our study provides an new insight into the mechanisms of acute MA on MA-induced psychosis

Sitting comfort and discomfort and the relationships with objective measures

The concepts of comfort and discomfort in sitting are under debate. There is no widely accepted definition, although it is beyond dispute that comfort and discomfort are feelings or emotions that are subjective in nature. Yet, beside several subjective methodologies, several objective methods (e.g. posture analysis, pressure measurements, electromyography (EMG)) are in use to assess sitting comfort or discomfort. In the current paper a theoretical framework is presented, in which comfort and discomfort were defined and the hypothetical associations with underlying factors were indicated. Next, the literature was reviewed to determine the relationships between objective measures and subjective ratings of comfort and discomfort. Twenty-one studies were found in which simultaneous measures of an objective parameter and a subjective rating of comfort or discomfort were obtained. Pressure distribution appears to be the objective measure with the most clear association with the subjective ratings. For other variables, regarding spinal profile or muscle activity for instance, the reported associations are less clear and usually not statistically significant

Discussion of "Statistical Modelling of Citation Exchange Between Statistics Journals," by Hennig, C. Liao, T. F.

Rankings of scholarly journals based on citation data are often met with skepticism by the scientific community. Part of the skepticism is due to disparity between the common perception of journals' prestige and their ranking based on citation counts. A more serious concern is the inappropriate use of journal rankings to evaluate the scientific influence of authors. This paper focuses on analysis of the table of cross-citations among a selection of Statistics journals. Data are collected from the Web of Science database published by Thomson Reuters. Our results suggest that modelling the exchange of citations between journals is useful to highlight the most prestigious journals, but also that journal citation data are characterized by considerable heterogeneity, which needs to be properly summarized. Inferential conclusions require care in order to avoid potential over-interpretation of insignificant differences between journal ratings. Comparison with published ratings of institutions from the UK's Research Assessment Exercise shows strong correlation at aggregate level between assessed research quality and journal citation `export scores' within the discipline of Statistics.Comment: To be published with discussion on Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series