Science Education in the 21st century:

Advantages, Pitfalls, and Future Trends

An International Symposium and Alumni Association Meeting sponsored by

the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS),

co-sponsored by Colorado State University

March 12, 2010

Symposium Venue

Lory Student Center

Colorado State University

Fort Collins, CO 80523-1370

Tel: 1-970-491-6444

Symposium Lodging

Hilton Fort Collins

425 West Prospect Road

Fort Collins, Colorado 80526

Tel: (970) 482-2626

Organizing Committee

Dr. Hirotaka Sugawara, Director, JSPS Washington DC Office

Dr. Shannon T. Bischoff, Department of English, Linguistics Program

University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez

Dr. Shamim Mirza, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Sciences

University of California at Irvine, CA

Dr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering,

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

Website: http://academic.uprm.edu/~sbischoff/science_education/home.htm

1

Table of ContentsProgram 3

Invited Talks

Akito Arima Science education and training in Japan and the United States 5

Christopher L. Soles Morphology characterization methods for organic photovoltaic devices

and materials 7

Katsuhiko Ariga Supramoleculr materials and hand-operating nanotechnology 8

George W. Rayfield Bacteriorhodopsin for optical device applications 10

Randy Duran The LSAMP center for international research 11

Liyuan Han Highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells 13

Kyoko Yokomori Human SMC complexes in genome maintenance and regulation 15

Akito Masuhara Fabrication of unique shaped fullerene nano/microcrystals and

their characterization 16

Sean Duffy Promoting international scientific literacy: The value of international

experiences for undegraduates 18

Rosita Rivera and Catherine Mazak Science content, language, strategy, and

technology learning in a university-level esl classroom 19

Shannon Bischoff and Laurence Chott Research as undergraduate education 21

Poster Abstracts

Anthony Halog Sustainability science education: Its role in the pursuit of global

climate change 24

Kimberly N. Santiago Vega English for academic and career success in Agricultural Science:

A needs-based curriculum 26

Dawn Doutrich, Cathy Pollock-Robinson, Kerri Arcus, Lida Dekker, and Janet Spuck

Cultural safety in nursing education: Adapting and adopting concepts across boundaries 28

Gregory D. Durgin The IPP program: A possible model for future international collaboration

in science and engineering 29

Ravi Palaniappan, Parveen Wahid, and Leonard Barolli A novel sensor web system for tracking

and surveillance 31

Shamin Mirza, Salma Rahman, George W. Rayfield, Edward W. Taylor, and Abhijit Sarkar

Laser protection materials for space environments 33

Md. Khabir Uddin, and James C. Fishbein Synthesis and thiolytic chemistry of alternative

precursors to the monomethylated metabolite of the cancer chemopreventive oltipraz 35

Elena A. Rozhkova, Ilya Ulasov, Dong-Hyun Kim, Maciej S. Lesniak, T. Rajh, Sam Bader

Val Novosad Biofunctionalized magnetic vortex microdisks for targeted cancer cell destruction 37

2

Program Thursday (March 11, 2010)

6.30 - 9.00: Welcome dinner for the speakers (including organizing committee, EC

of JSPS alumni association, JSPS), Green and Gold Room, Hilton Fort Collins.

Friday (March 12, 2010)

Symposium Venue: Lory Student Center, North Ballroom

Time Speaker Title

Registration/

(poster display,

poster session will

continue 8.00 am

to 3.15 pm)

8.00-8.30 am

(poster session

will continue

8.00 am to 3.15

pm)

Opening Session 8.30-9.00 am Dr William Farland,

Vice President for Research &

Senior Vice President,

Colorado State University

Dr James Cooney,

Vice Provost,

International Programs,

Colorado State University

Dr. Hirotaka Sugawara, Director,

JSPS Washington DC Office

Opening remarks

Keynote Speaker 9.00-9.30 am Dr. Akito Arima, Chairman of

Japan Science Foundation

Chair: Shamim

Mirza

10.00-10.30 am Dr. Christopher Soles, Group

Leader Electronic Materials

Group, Polymer Division,

National Institute of Standards

and Technology (NIST)

Morphology

Characterization Methods

for Organic Photovoltaic

Devices and Materials

10.30-11.00 am Dr. Katsuhiko Ariga

Supermolecules Group & MANA

National Institute for Materials

Science (NIMS)

Supramolecular Materials

and Hand-Operating

Nanotechnology

11.00-11.30 am Prof. George Rayfield,

Department of Physics, University

of Oregon

Bacteriorhodopsin for

Optical Device

Applications

3

Chair: Ranil

Wickramasinghe

12.30-1.00 pm Dr. Randy Duran, Director Office

of Undergraduate Research,

Department of Chemistry,

Louisiana State University

The LSAMP Center for

International Research

1.00-1.30 pm Dr. Liyuan Han Director

Advanced Photovoltaic Center

National Institute for Materials

Science (NIMS)

Highly Efficient Dye-

Sensitized Solar Cells

1.30-2.00 pm Dr. Kyoko Yokomori Associate

Professor University of California

Irvine Department of Biological

Chemistry School of Medicine

Human SMC Complexes in

Genome Maintenance and

Regulation

2.00-2.30 pm Dr. Akito Masuhara Assistant

Professor Institute of

Multidisciplinary Research for

Advanced Materials (IMRAM)

Tohoku University

Fabrication of Unique

Shaped Fullerene

Nano/Microcrystals and

Their Characterization

Chair: Shannon

Bischoff

3.00-3.30 pm Dr. Sean Duffy, Assistant

Professor, Department of

Psychology, Rutgers University,

Camden

Promoting international

scientific literacy: The

value of international

experiences for

undergraduates

3.30-4.00 pm Dr Rosita Rivera, Associate

Professor, Department of English,

University of Puerto Rico at

Mayaguez

Science Content,

Language, Strategy, and

Technology Learning in a

University-level ESL

Classroom

4.00-4.30 pm Dr. Shannon T. Bischoff, Assistant

Professor, Department of English

Linguistics Program, University

of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

Research as undergraduate

education

Closing Remarks 4.30-4.45 pm

US-JSPS Alumni

Association

Annual General

Meeting

4.45-6.00 pm

Venue: Lory Student Center, West Ballroom

Symposium Banquet 6.00-9.00 pm

Saturday (March 13, 2010)

Venue: Lory Student Center, Cherokee Park Ballroom

8.00�10.30 Continental breakfast and US�JSPS Alumni Association Annual

General Meeting

4

10.30�10.40 Closing Remarks Chair US�JSPS alumni and Director JSPS

Washington DC office

5

Science education and training in Japan and United States

Akito Arima

I. Science Education and Academic Achievement in Japan's Primary and Secondary Schools, and

Public Scientific Literacy

1-1. Academic Performance and Problems in Science Among Primary and Lower Secondary Students

1-2. Scientific Literacy in the Japanese Public

1-3. The Necessity for Improved Science Teacher Training in Japan

1-4. Japanese Children Like Science Best: Anticorrelation of Mathematics, Science Achievement and Liking Study

1-5. Universities Must Also be Able to Train Key Technicians to Work in SMEs

II. The Necessity for University-Level Liberal Arts and Science Education and General Education

2-1. Why Departments of Liberal Arts and Science Disappeared from Universities in Japan

2-2. Revive Liberal Arts and Science Education

2-3. Institute First-Stage Undergraduate Study Program with Consistent Liberal Arts and Science Education as a

First Step to Interdisciplinary Education in Undergraduate Departments

III. Two Decades of Abrupt Reform in Japan's Universities

3-1. The Science and Technology Basic Law and the Science and Technology Basic Plan

3-2. Conversion of Japan's National Universities into Corporations

IV. Measures by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to Vitalize University

Education and Research �

V. Points for Improvement in University Education and Research in Japan

VI� Conclusion

6

Biography:

Born: September 13, 1930 Osaka, Japan

Education:

1953 Mar. Graduation from University of Tokyo

1958 Aug. Dr. of Science from Univ. of Tokyo

Professional Experience:

1971 Jan.-1973 Jan. Professor, State Univ. of New York at Stony Brook

1975 Jun. Professor, Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Tokyo

1989 Apr.-1993 Mar. President, Univ. of Tokyo

1993 Oct.-1998 May President, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research(RIKEN)

1995 Apr.-1998 May Chairman of the Central Council for Education

1998 Jul.-2004 Jul. House of Councilors member

1998 Jul.-1999 Oct. Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture

1999 Jan.-1999Oct. Minister of State for Science and Technology

2000 June- Chairman, Japan Science Foundation

2004 Jul.- �� Director, Science Museum

2006 Apr.- Chancellor, Musashi Gakuen

Awards:

1978 Dec. Nishina Memorial Prize

1990 May Wetherill Medal, The Franklin Institute, U.S.A.

1990 Apr. Order Das Grosse Verdienstkreuz, Bonn, Germany

1991 Dec. Kanselarij der Netherlandse. Orden�s Gravenhage, Amsterdam

1993 Apr. Bonner Prize, American Physical Society

1993 Jun. The Japan Academy Prize

1998 Jun. au grade d�officier dans l�ordre national de la Legion d�Honneur, France

2002 Sept. Knight Commander of the British Empire, U.K.

2004 Nov. A person of cultural merits, Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun

7

Morphology characterization methods for organic

photovoltaic devices and materials

Christopher L. Soles

Polymers Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-8541

csoles@nist.gov

Developing photovoltaic devices based on organic semiconductor materials requires materials and processes that

deliver predictable and reproducible performance. One advantage of these organic materials with respect to their

inorganic photovoltaic counterparts is the ease with which they can be solution process using a variety of solvent

deposition and printing methods. However, these soft processing routes can also lead to unpredictable performance

and poor reproducibility because the critical microstructure of the material forms dynamically as the solution dries.

Many parameters influence the drying process and the microstructure formation is often hard to control. It can

therefore be difficult to determine why new materials often underperform. Our goal is to develop an integrated suite

of non-destructive measurement methods to evaluate organic-based photovoltaic devices and tie their electrical and

photovoltaic performance to the interfacial morphology of the active molecules in the device, thereby correlating

performance to the details of the chemical structure, the fabrication methods, and processing parameters. By

providing the measurement link for the structure - processing - performance paradigm, our methods are gear to

accelerate product development, enable standard measurements, and provide a basis for quantitative comparisons in

this emerging technology where device variability and optimization are still poorly understood. To address these

challenges, we have developed a suite of quantitative methods to correlate chemical structure and processing

variables to performance via microstructure measurements. These include a combination of X-ray diffraction,

scattering, and reflectivity, a variety of optical characterization methods including infrared spectroscopy,

spectroscopic ellipsometry, and UV-VIS absorption, several types of microscopy including optical, electron, and

scanning probe microscopy, solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, quantitative calorimetry, and near

edge X-ray absorption fine structure. When carefully integrated together, this barrage of techniques provides

sufficiently detailed morphological information to isolate the contributions of individual structure and processing

variables. This integrated measurement platform provides a rational basis for evaluating current processing methods

and provides a quantitative basis to accelerate materials development by separating the molecular basis for electric

performance from the process induced variability. In this presentation I will provide an overview of our metrology

development efforts for the organic photovoltaic and electronics community.

Christopher Soles currently leads the Energy and Electronics Materials Group within

the Polymers Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

In 1993 Chris received two Bachelors of Science degrees from the University of

Michigan, in Mechanical Engineering as well as Materials Science and Engineering. In

1998 he completed is Doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering, also at the

University of Michigan, under the guidance of Professor Albert Yee. In 1999 he

received a NIST-NRC Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Dr. Wen-li Wu of the

NIST Polymers Division and in 2002 made the transition to a permanent research staff

position. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed publications and received several notable awards, including the

Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (2006) and the United States Department of

Commerce Bronze (2006, 2008) and Silver (2006) Medal Awards. He currently serves as a Technical Program

Chair for the Polymeric Material: Science & Engineering (PMSE) Division of the American Chemical Society.

8

Supramolecular materials and hand-operating

nanotechnology

Katsuhiko ArigaWorld Premier International (WPI) Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science

(NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan, ARIGA.Katsuhiko@nims.go.jp

Functional materials have been wisely constructed via bottom-up approaches as seen in preparation of molecular

patterns and complexes [1-3], organized nanostructures [4-7], and function materials [8]. For example, a novel

hierarchic nanostructure based on layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly and mesoporous technology, so-called

mesoporous silica nanocompartment film (Figure 1), was reported [9]. The resulting mesoporous

nanocompartment films possess special molecular encapsulation and release capabilities so that stimuli-free auto-

modulated stepwise release of water or drug molecules was achieved through the mesopore channels of robust silica

capsule containers embedded in the film. Stepwise release of water was reproducibly observed that originates in the

non-equilibrated rates between evaporation of water from the mesopore channels to the exterior and the capillary

penetration of water from container interior to the mesopore channels. As another LbL hierarchic structure, we also

demonstrated the LbL assembly of mesoporous carbon capsules on a QCM plate and the use of the resulting

structure for selective adsorption of gaseous substances [10]. The related LbL structures of mesoporous carbons

were demonstrated for in situ sensor use based on highly cooperative nanopore-filling adsorption in the liquid phase

[11]. In addition, we are now exploring application of the silica mesoporous capsules for gene delivery. Entrapment

of DNA strands on the silica capsules has been demonstrated as preliminary results.

Not limited to material developments, novel concepts to bridge nano (molecular) structures and bulk systems now

becomes crucial in order to control real nano and molecular functions from our visible worlds. Recently, we propose

a novel methodology �hand-

operating nanotechnology�

where molecular orientation,

organization and even

functions in nanometer-scale

can be operated by our bulk

(hand) operation. As shown

in the following Figure 2,

this concept can be realized

at dynamic two-dimensional

medium, the air-water

interface because this

medium possess both

features of bulk and

molecular dimension. For

example, we successfully

manipulated molecules at the

air-water interface upon bulk

(10-100 cm size) motion of

the entire monolayer and

realized �capture and

release� of aqueous guest

molecules using molecular

machine, steroid cyclophane

[12]. In addition,

mechanically controlled chiral recognition by the armed cyclen monolayer was successfully demonstrated [13].

9

Figure 1. Mesoporous nanocompartment film

Figur e 2. Hand- operating n anotechno logy

References

[1] A. Shundo et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 9494-9495 (2009). (Highlighted in Nature Chemistry)[2] S. Acharya et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 11282-11283 (2009).

[3] F. D'Souza et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 16138-16146 (2009).

[4] S. Acharya et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 4594-4595 (2008).[5] M. Sathish et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 6372-6373 (2009).

[6] R. Charvet et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 18030-18031 (2009).

[7] N. Pradhan et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132, 1212-1213 (2010).[8] K. Ariga et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 129, 11022-11023 (2007).

[9] Q. Ji et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 130, 2376-2377 (2008). (Highlighted in Nature Materials)

[10] Q. Ji et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 4220-4221 (2009).[11] K. Ariga et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 47, 7254-7257 (2008).

[12] K. Ariga et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122, 7835-7836 (2000).

[13] T. Michinobu et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128, 14478-14479 (2006).

Katsuhiko ARIGA:

1987-1992 Assistant Professor (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

1990-1992 Postdoctoral Researcher (University of Texas at Austin)

1992-1998 JST Group Leader (Supermolecules Project) and CREST Researcher

1998-2001 Associate Professor (Nara Institute of Science and Technology)

2001-2003 JST Group Leader (Nanospace Project)

2004- Director of Supermolecules Group, NIMS

2007- Principal Investigator, MANA, NIMS,

2008- Visiting Professor (Tokyo University of Science)

Asian Editor of J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol., Adv. Sci. Lett., and Nanosci. Nanotechnol.

Lett.

Associate Editor of Chem. Lett. and Sci. Technol. Adv. Mater.

Editorial Board Member of Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. and ASC Appl. Mater. Interface

10

Bacteriorhodopsin for optical device applications

George W. RayfieldPhysics Department, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403

Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) is a material of biological origin. It is found in the cell membrane wall of Halobacterium

halobium as a purple membrane sheet. In low oxygen tension the bacterium replaces oxidative phosphorylation with

photophosphorylation. BR functions as a light activated proton pump. A typical purple membrane sheet contains

approximately 105 BR molecules in a two dimensional array. The chromophore (retinal) responsible for light

absorption is located within a pocket of the opsin and is bound via a Schiff base to a lysine residue in the amino acid

sequence.

When BR is illuminated by a laser light flash, transient changes occur in the visible absorption spectrum of the

protein--i.e., the material is photochromic. The optical absorption changes are characterized by a series of

photointermediates, with characteristic rise and fall times that range from less than a picosecond to more than 10

milliseconds. This photochromic property of BR makes it a useful material for optical devices. When the purple

membrane sheets are assembled in an oriented sample, illumination of the sample produces a photovoltage.

Potential Applications of BR include:b

� Photoelectric effect � high speed photodetectors

� Nonlinear optical properties � frequency doubling

� Photochromic effects � laser eye protection, holographic data storage

George W. Rayfield:

Personal Birthplace:San Francisco, California

Education: B.S. in Physics, Stanford, University, Stanford, California, 1958.

M.S. in Engineering Science, University of California-Berkeley,

Berkeley,California, 1964.

Ph.D. in Physics, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 1964

Employment: NASA Ames Laboratory, Moffett Field, California, 1956, aero test technician

Sylvania Microwave Tube Laboratory, Mountain View California, 1958-59, microwave-tube engineer

University of California- Berkeley, Department of Electrical Engineering and Department of Physics, Berkeley, California,

1960-64, research assistant.

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1964-67, assistant professor of physics.

University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 1967-present, Professor of Physics, (since 1985). Previous positions were

Associate Professor of Physics (1968-85); and Assistant Professor of Physics (1967-68).

U.S. Army, Eugene, Oregon, 1986-1990, consultant.

Bend Research, Inc., Bend, Oregon, 1987 -1998, consultant.

Aquarious Inc., PO Box 6695 Pahrump, NV, 2004-present, President

Memberships: American Physical Society Fellow, Biophysical Society, Sigma Xi, American Association for the Advancement of Science,Alfred Sloan Fellow

11

The LSAMP center for international research

Randy DuranDirector Office of Undergraduate Research, Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University

Following up on presentations at JAM meetings in 2006 and 2008, and a strong positive response from the

nationwide community, NSF funded its first �center-level� program in support of international undergraduate

research for LSAMP. As such, the LSAMP Center for International Undergraduate Research Experiences (LSAMP-

INT) was initiated in 2008. In this pilot year, funding was provided such that 16 participants could be recruited from

LSAMP programs nationwide. Our team started with JAM, and then a rapid series of regional meetings that has

included Jackson State, Texas A&M, NY-AMP, CSU-AMP, CAMP, LAMP, Puerto Rico, FGAMP, and others.

Immediately, we found a deep pool of undergraduate talent (of course!) enthusiastically ready to accept the

challenge of getting enough accomplished over 12 weeks of an international research experience to merit co-

authorship in a peer-reviewed publication. We were also very impressed at the willingness of many AMP

coordinators to extend these summer experiences through the fall semester. The enthusiasm also extended to the

faculty mentors, many of whom plan to visit their LSAMP students abroad over the summer. In this spirit, the

LSAMP-INT team invites anyone from the LSAMP community to consider attending the NSF/FAPESP USBrazil

Workshop on Functional and Nanomaterials scheduled for Aug 8-10 on the campus of the State University of

Campinas, near Sao Paulo; contact any of the LSAMPINT team for more information. Participants in LSAMP-INT

program are given deep immersion experiences in a variety of renowned research laboratories around the world. In

particular, the students will be embedded in international REU Sites (iREU). To our delight, before Christmas in this

first year of the program, it became statistically more difficult to get a spot in LSAMP-INT than the get into a

medical school in the US! As a result, this year we were able to increase the opportunities so that the 20 students

listed below could participate. Next year we hope for significantly more slots. Each year, about half of the

participants will be sent to a set of primary iREU Sites involving France, Brazil, Argentina, and Ghana that are

coordinated by the PIs through the University of Florida. The other half of the participants will be embedded in

about 18 other iREU Sites that span much of the world and represent most directorates of NSF depending on the

experience and interest of the LSAMP student participants. The intellectual merit of the program is through the

outstanding research projects involving world-class scientists in varied international settings. The cohort of

participants will also share common predeparture and postprogram experiences designed to maximize the broader

impact of their international research experience. In particular we will involve scientists at the Smithsonian and

Florida Museums of Natural History as a way and enhancing the ability of the participants to communicate their

research to a broader public. Overall, we are thrilled that the LSAMP-INT is poised to participate in the

development of a diverse workforce with global science competencies critical to continued US competitiveness.

Jorge Medina is currently a junior double majoring in physics and mathematics at California State University-Long

Beach. He has performed research in solid state physics, pharmaceutical engineering and coding theory. Jorge is a

LSU-LSAMP scholar and has received many competitive merit based scholarships such as the American Physical

Society undergraduate scholarship. Jorge Plans to pursue a PhD in Physics and an MBA. He hopes to start his own

business in the defense industry, pharmaceuticals, or PMC. For his 2009 project, Jorge will be participating in the

context of the US/South America REU program. Jorge will be going to the State University of Campinas, also

known as �UNICAMP�. His research project will be in the physics/materials science area to take advantage of his

interest in optics. In addition to learning about Brazilian culture and learning Portuguese in an outstanding setting to

do so as a Spanish-speaker.

Maria Teresa Rodolis is currently a Junior at SUNY New Paltz, majoring in Chemistry with a minor and possible

double major in Cellular Biology. As part of LSAMP-INT, she will be going to the Costa Rica field station operated

by the Organization for Tropical Studies. Maria is the Vice President of the Chi Alpha Epsilon honor society

maintaining a GPA of 3.82. She began doing research in the summer of 2008 with Dr. Preeti Dhar on a project

motivated by an increase in antimicrobial resistance by bacteria and fungus which led to many incurable diseases

such as the flesh eating Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Her research project involves synthesizing

monocyclic -lactams, the molecule responsible for the antimicrobial activity of many antibiotics. By using varying�

starting material, she was able to determine how functional groups affect the -lactam�s properties most importantly�

12

its ability to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungus. Maria has presented her research project at the state

wide LSAMP and CSTEP conference and will be presenting at the national ACS conference in March 2009, where

she hopes to publish her work in the American Chemical Society journal. Maria enjoys working in the laboratory,

hiking, listening to music, dancing and caring for her many pet animals. Help us congratulate these twenty 2009

LSAMP undergraduates going abroad!

1) Samuel Ares, PR-LSAMP, Industrial Biotechnology Major, UPR-Mayaguez will go to CEA, Grenoble, France

2) Jabari Bailey, Georgia LSAMP, Biology major, Morehouse will go to UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

3) Alexander Blair, Georgia LSAMP, Biology major, Morehouse will go to USP, Sao Paulo , Brazil

4) DeMario Butts, Georgia LSAMP, Biology/Chemistry, Morehouse College will go to UNICAMP, Campinas,

Brazil

5) Julie Cojulun, CAMP, Aerospace Engineering, UC�Irvine will go to UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

6) Charlie Corredor, NYC-LSAMP, Chemical Engineering, CCNY will be going to the Universite Pierre Marie

Curie, Paris, France

7) Frederick Crawford, Ohio LSAMP, Chemical Engineering, OSU will go to UNESP-Araraquara, Brazil

8) Julius Edson, NYC-LSAMP, Chemical Engineering, CCNY will go to University of Graz, Austria

9) Willems Leveille, Northeast LSAMP, Civil Engineering, UMass, will go to University of Nairobi, Kenya

10) Jorge Medina, CSU-LSAMP, Physics/Math, CSU-Long Beach will go to UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil

11) Diane Render, FGLSAMP, Math, Albany St will go to Charles University, Czech Republic

12) Maria Rodolis, SUNY LSAMP, Biology, SUNY New Paltz, will go to Organization Tropical Studies Field

Station, Costa Rica

13) Alvaro Rodriguez, TAMUS LSAMP, Molecular Biology, Texas A&M , will go to University of Strasbourg,

France

14) Selisa Rollins, WAESO LSAMP, Chemical Engineering, Arizona State will go to UNESP-Ararquara, Brazil

15) Octavio Romo-Fewell, CSU-LSAMP, Chemistry, San Diego State will go to Chulabhorn-Bangkok, Thailand

16) Pamela Sanchez, NYC-LSAMP, Math/Biology, Queens College, will go to UNESP-Ararquara, Brazil

17) Alison Scott, CSU-LSAMP, Biology, CSU-Los Angeles will go to UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil

18) Matthew Temba, Georgia LSAMP, Math/Economics, Morehouse will go to University of Strasbourg, France

19) Aisha Williams, Illinois LSAMP, Biochemistry/Biology, Chicago State will go to LeLoir Institute, Argentina

20) Justin Wilkerson, TAMUS LSAMP, Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M will go to USP, Sao Paulo, Brazil

By Randy Duran and Mike Scott, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida

Troy Sadler, School of Teaching and Learning, Univ. of Florida

Tom Emmel, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, and

James P. Brown, Morehouse College

duran@chem.ufl.edu www.chem.ufl.edu/~reu

13

Highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Liyuan HanAdvanced Photovoltaics Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan

E-mail: HAN.Liyuan@nims.go.jp

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have been widely investigated as a next-generation solar cell because of low

manufacturing cost [1]. As shown in Fig. 1, DSCs are comprised of a nanocrystalline titanium dioxide (TiO2)

electrode modified with a dye fabricated on a transparent conducting oxide (TCO), counterelectrode (CE), and an

electrolyte solution with a dissolved iodide ion/tri-iodide ion redox couple between the electrodes. The mechanism

of power generation in DSCs is a process whereby the dye on the nanocrystalline TiO2 is excited by light, generating

a fast electron transfer to the conduction band of the TiO2 electrode and further movement toward the front

electrodes. The oxidized dye is subsequently reduced by the electrolyte containing the iodide/triiodide redox couple,

the formation of holes with movement toward the counter electrode through the electrolyte. The principles of DSCs

are therefore different from those that govern conventional solar cells. They are, in fact, more similar to plant

photosynthesis, as light absorption (dye) and carrier transportations in both TiO2 and electrolyte in DSCs occur

separately. In comparison with silicon solar cells, detailed understanding of DSCs mechanisms has been hindered by

the complexity of the TiO2 film with its large surface area.

In this presentation, strategy for improving efficiency of DSCs was reported. Modeling of equivalent circuit of

DSCs, the method for improvement of shirt circuit density (Jsc), open circuit voltage and fill factor were

investigated.

To understand the mechanism of DSC, an internal resistance was studied by the electrochemical impedance

spectroscopy and four internal resistance elements were observed [2]. In our analysis, an equivalent circuit of DSCs

(Fig. 2) was firstly proposed [3]. The series resistance of DSCs is the sum of the internal resistance elements related

to the charge transfer processes at the Pt counter electrode (R1), ionic diffusion in the electrolyte (R3), and the sheet

resistance of TCO (Rh). The charge transportation at the TiO2/dye/electrolyte interface was found to act like the

resistance of a diode as it was dependent on the applied bias voltage.

The decrease of the series-internal resistance was studied based on the equivalent circuit of DSCs in order to

improve of fill factor. It was found that R1 decreases with increase in roughness factor (RF) of Pt counter electrode,

which suggests that increase in the RF of the Pt counter electrode leads to an accelerated rate of I3- reduction through

the increased surface area of the counter electrode [3].

Relationship between R3 and the thickness of the electrolyte layer defined as the distance between the TiO2 electrode

and the Pt counter electrode, and the dependence of Rh on the sheet resistance of the TCO were also investigated. It

was found that both R3 and Rh are proportional to the thickness of the electrolyte layer and the sheet resistance of the

TCO respectively.

14

CE

I3-

TCO

I-

TiO2 Electrolyte

Dye

I

Rh

Rsh

R3

C1

R1

C3

Isc

Fig. 2 Equivalent circuit of DSCs. R1, R3 and Rh are series resistance elements,

Rsh is shunt resistance, C1 and C3 are capacitance element.Fig. 1 Structure of the DSC.

For the purpose of improving Jsc, we attempted a use of haze

factor to estimate the effect of light scattering of TiO2

electrodes. Fig. 3 shows dependence of incident photon to

current conversion efficiency (IPCE) spectra on haze factor,

which is varied in the range from 3% to 76%. IPCE is widely

increased by the increase of haze of TiO2 film, especially in

infrared region [4]. Jsc of 21 mA/cm2 was obtained using the

haze of over 67%. A cell with the series-internal resistance of

1.8 �cm2 and high haze factor was fabricated. Current-voltage

characteristics were measured by Research Center for

Photovoltaic, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science

and Technology (AIST, Japan) using a metal mask and with an

aperture area of 0.219 cm2 under standard AM 1.5 sunlight

(100.0 mW/cm2). An overall conversion efficiency of 11.2%,

which is the highest confirmed efficiency, was achieved [5].

References

[1] B. O�Regan and M. Grätzel, Nature, 353, 737 (1991).

[2] L. Han, N. Koide, Y. Chiba and T. Mitate, Appl. Phys. Lett., 84, 2433 (2004).[3] L. Han, N. Koide, Y. Chiba, A. Islam, R. Komiya, N. Fuke, A. Fukui and R. Yamanaka, Appl. Phys. Lett., 86, 213501 (2005).

[4] Y. Chiba, A. Islam, R. Komiya, N. Koide, and L. Han, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 223505-1 (2006).

[5] Y. Chiba, A. Islam, R. Komiya, N. Koide and L. Han, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 45, L638 (2006).

Liyuan Han is managing director of advanced photovoltaics center and principal investigator�of international center

for materials nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). He received a doctor�s degree fromthe University of Osaka Prefecture. He is specialist in organic synthesis and organic material for electronics. He had

researched Dye-sensitized solar cells for 12 years at Sharp Corporation and moved to current position from June 2008.

His current research interests involve foundational research for improving the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cellsand organic solar cells.

15

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Wavelength (nm)

IPC

E (

%)

Haze 76%

Haze 60%

Haze 53%Haze 36%

Haze 3%

Fig. 3. Dependence of IPCE spectra on haze factor of TiO2

electrodes

Human SMC complexes in genome maintenance and

regulation

Kyoko Yokomori

Department of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine

Chromosome structural changes are important for the maintenance of genome integrity. Loss of genome integrity is

directly associated with cancers and developmental defects. We focus on the Structural Maintenance of

Chromosomes (SMC) family of proteins, which play critical roles in several different aspects of chromosome

structural organization. One of the major SMC protein-containing complexes is called �cohesin�, which is required

for sister chromatid cohesion and equal segregation of chromosomes during mitosis. Although cohesin was initially

discovered for its critical function in mitosis, later studies revealed its role in DNA repair and gene regulation.

Using a laser system, we demonstrated the direct role of cohesin in DNA double-strand break repair in human cells.

Our more recent study revealed the role of cohesin in heterochromatin organization related to a muscular dystrophy.

We also found that cohesin is involved in mitotic spindle assembly, which is distinct from its role in sister chromatid

cohesion. Collectively, these studies reveal multiple functions of cohesin in genome maintenance and regulation in

human cells, dictated by differential protein interactions and subcellular localization.

Dr. Yokomori graduated from the University of Tokyo, Japan with B.S., M.S., D.V.M., and Ph.D. degrees

and also obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. After receiving

postdoctoral training from Dr. Michael Lai at USC and Dr. Robert Tjian at UC Berkeley, she moved to UCI

as a faculty member and has been there for 12 years. Dr. Yokomori investigates the mechanism of

chromosome structural changes and the relationship between chromosome dynamics and regulation of

genome functions in human health and disease. Her research focuses on the SMC family proteins, which

play critical roles in chromosome structural organization. Dr. Yokomori�s laboratory was the first to

demonstrate the mitotic function of SMC proteins in human cells. Her team made seminal contributions to

uncover the roles of SMC protein complexes in different pathways of DNA repair. Her laboratory�s more

recent focus is in the area of epigenetic regulation of transcription by SMC complexes. Her group�s work

revealed the role of a SMC complex in chromatin organization directly related to FSHD muscular

dystrophy, revealing a previously unrecognized molecular pathway in this disease�s pathogenesis. Dr.

Yokomori was a recipient of the March of Dimes Basil O�Connor Starter Scholar Research Award,

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar Award, and FSH Society David and Helen Younger Research

Fellowship, in addition to the funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, California Institute of Regenerative

Medicine, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and California Breast Cancer Research Program.

16

Fabrication of unique shaped fullerene nano/microcrystals

and their characterization

Akito MasuharaGraduate School of Science and Engineering, Department of Organic Device Engineering, Yamagata University,

4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-8510, JAPAN

E-mail: masuhara@yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp

Recently, there are so many reports for fabricating well-defined inorganic nanocrystals, and their unique physical

properties originating from nanostructure are investigated extensively. On the other hand, fullerene molecule

attracted attention from the view points of electronic optical and magnetic properties1-4, depending on �-conjugated

structure. However, fabrication method of C60 nano/microcrystals, inner structure, and physical properties is not still

revealed. There are a few previous studies on fullerene nano/microcrystals. Kasai et al. have prepared C60

nanocrystals with ca. 40 to 50 nm in size by the supercritical reprecipitation method, and their optical properties

markedly depended on crystal size5. However, only spherical fullerene nanocrystals were obtained by this method.

Miyazawa et al. have successfully fabricated C60 nanowhiskers by the use of the liquid-liquid interfacial

precipitation method6. In addition, Nakanishi et al. have reported the nanocones self-assembled made from

chemically modified C60 molecules7. Moreover, the resulting C60 nanocrystals were not monodisperse. On the other

hand, the core-shell type hybridized structures composed of inorganic / organic materials have attracted much

attention8-10. It is the most important to adequately choose core and shell materials, and to fabricate well-defined

interfacial nanostructures to control the interfacial interaction. C60 is regarded as a candidate for the organic section

because of its unique physical and chemical properties, and has been many research interests as mentioned before.

However, C60 nanocomposites have been synthesized in the previous researches are almost the kind of fullerene-

coated metal nanocomposites, which may lead to the limit for some novel affiliations, for example, the great

enhancement of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility predicted by Neeves11.

In this presentation, I will report the fabrication of shape-controlled

and unique shaped fullerene nano/microcrystals using newly

developed technique, named Solvent-Participated Reprecipitation

Process (SPRP). This process was the expanded technique of ordinary

reprecipitation method12. The reprecipitation method is convenient to

fabricate organic nanocrystals. In this method, an organic molecule

was dissolved in a good solvent, and the solution was injected rapidly

into a poor medium for the target molecule. Usually the good and

poor solvents are employed to the compatible each other, and an

organic molecule was precipitated in a poor solvent, and then

nanocrystals are formed stably in a dispersion state. However, it was

difficult to fabricate shape-controlled organic nanocrystals using this

method. On the other hand, SPRP is similar to the reprecipitation method, except for utilizing interaction between

good solvent and the solute molecule. Using SPRP, the shape-controlled C60 nano/microcrystals could be

successfully fabricated for the first time13-15. The shape, for example, spherical, rod-like, fibrous, octahedron, and

multibranched shape, are dependent on several factors such as combination of solvents, solution concentration, and

injection volume. In addition, we have developed a simple and

conventional method to fabricate the Au-coated C60

nano/microcrystals16. Au-coated C60 nano/microcrystals were

prepared by the following two steps. First, C60

nano/microcrystals were fabricated by the SPRP. Next, 200 �l

of HAuCl4 aqueous solution (22.2 mM) was added into the 10

ml of C60 nano/microcrystals dispersion liquid. The mixed

dispersion liquid was aged at a given temperature for 2 hours.

As a result, Au nanoparticles were high-density deposited on

the surface of C60 nano/microcrystals core to form core-shell

17

Figure 1 SEM images of shape-controlledC60

nano/

microcrystals by Solvent-Participated

Figure 2 Various shapes of C60

nano/microcrystals

type nanostructures (fig. 2). The resulting Au-coated C60 nano/microcrystals were characterized by SEM, TEM, ED,

XRD, and EDX measurements.

Au-coated C60 nano/microcrystals was fabricated in the coexistence of HAuCl4, CS2 and ethanol, and independent to

their unique morphologies by this simple method.

To the best of our knowledge, the SPRP described here is the simplest and most convenient in the method so far

developed to fabricate C60 nano/microcrystals, and this report represents the first discovery concerning the vast sizes

and shapes of C60 nano/microcrystals. In addition, we have also succeeded in fabrication of gold-coated C60

nano/microcrystals only by addition of HAuCl4 followed by the subsequent heating treatment. Gold-coated C60 nano/

microcrystals are expected to have great potential in applications such as optoelectronics, advanced catalysis,

bio/chemical sensors and third-order nonlinear optics.

References

[1] W. Andreoni, The Physics of Fullerene-Based and Fullerene-Related Materials series, Physics and Chemistry of Materials with Low-Dimensional Structures, (Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, 23, (2000).

[2] M. Akada, T. Hirai, J. Takeuchi, T. Yamamoto, R. Kumashiro, and K. Tanigaki: Phys. Rev. B, 73, 094509 (2006).

[3] H. Ohashi, K. Tanigaki, R. Kumashiro, S. Sugihara, S. Hiroshiba, S. Kimura, K. Kato, and M. Takata: Appl. Phys. Lett., 84, 520 (2004). [4] F. Yang and S. R. Forrest: Adv. Mater., 18, 2018-2022 (2006).

[5] H. Kasai, S. Okazaki, T. Hanada, S. Okada, H. Oikawa, T. Adschiri, K. Arai, K. Yase, H. Nakanishi: Chem. Lett, 1392-1393 (2000)

[6] K. Miyazawa, Y. Kuwasaki, A. Obayashi, M. Kuwabara: J. Mater. Res., 17, 83-88 (2002).[7] T. Nakanishi, W. Schmitt, T. Michinobu, D. G. Kurth, K. Ariga: Chem. Commun., 5982-5984 (2005)

[8] S. L. Westcott, S. J. Oldenburg, T. R. Lee and N. J. Halas, Langmuir, 14, 5396-5401 (1998).

[9] V. G. Pol, A. Gedanken and J. Calderon-Moreno, Chem. Mater., 15, 1111-1118 (2003).[10] W. Shi, Y. Sahoo, M. T. Swihart and P. N. Prasad, Langmuir, 21 1610-1617 (2005).

[11] A. E. Neeves and M. H. Birnboim, Opt. Lett., 13, 1087-1089 (1988).

[12] H. Kasai, H. S. Nalwa, H. Oikawa, S. Okada, H. Matsuda, N. Minami, A. Kakuta, K. Ono, A. Mukoh and H. Nakanishi, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.,31, L1132-L1134 (1992).

[13] Z. Tan, A. Masuhara, H. Kasai, H. Nakanishi and H. Oikawa, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 47, 1426-1428 (2008).

[14] A. Masuhara, Z. Tan, H. Kasai, H. Nakanishi and H. Oikawa, Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc, 1054 FF11-09 (2008).[15] A. Masuhara, Z. Tan, H. Kasai, H. Nakanishi and H. Oikawa, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 48, 050206 (2009).

[16] A. Masuhara, Z. Tan, H. Kasai, H. Nakanishi and H. Oikawa, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 492, 262-267 (2008).

Akito Masuhara (Assistant Professor):

Institution: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Department of Organic Device Engineering,

Yamagata University

Study Field / Current Study Theme: Organic Materials / Fullerene Nano/Microcrystals, HybridizedOrganic Nanocrystals

Educational Backgrounds (after high school):

�1997 B.S., Analytical chemistry, Gunma University

�1999 M.S., Photo chemistry, Tohoku University

�2002 Dr. Sci., Organic materials, Tohoku University

Professional Backgrounds:

�2002-2004 Post Doctor, Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency

�2004-2007 Assistant Prof., Institute for Chemical Reaction Science, Tohoku University

�2007- Assistant Prof., Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University

�2010.02- Assistant Prof., Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Department of Organic Device Engineering, Yamagata University

18

Promoting international scientific literacy: The value of

international experiences for undergraduates.

Sean DuffyDepartment of Psychology, Rutgers University � Camden, NJ

One of the challenges that students face when engaging in a new scientific culture is that people in different societies

see and think about the world in very different ways. These differences extend from basic psychological processes

such as attention (Kitayama, Duffy, Kawamura, and Larsen, 2003), memory (Duffy & Kitayama, 2007), and

perception (Ji, Peng, & Nisbett), to more complex processes such as cognition (Nisbett, 2003) and self-

understanding (Kitayama, Duffy, & Uchida, 2007). Understanding some of these cultural differences in

psychological processes can help students who seek international experiences better understand the cultural world-

views of the scientists with whom they interact.

In this talk, I will focus on some of these important cultural differences in psychological and social processes that

may play a role in creating barriers for international research, with the hope that programs that aim to provide

international science education (such as the Japanese Society for Promotion of Sciences) may better prepare students

for the challenges they may face in negotiating the challenges inherent in international scientific research and

education. Drawing upon my own experiences as a former JSPS postdoctoral fellow, a fellow of the Kyoto

University Center of Excellence, and the NSF EAPSI program, I will provide some examples of how differences

between U.S. and Japanese scientific cultures provided obstacles for my own research program, and how I attempted

to overcome these challenges through a better understanding of Japanese scientific culture.

I will also discuss an international study program I have developed for exposing U.S. college students to scientific

research in Japan. I will discuss some of the short- and long-term benefits of engaging students in another culture,

and outline some of the benefits and limitations that arise in exposing undergraduate students to Japanese culture

and society.

Sean Duffy received his Ph.D. in developmental psychology from

the University of Chicago, where he explored culture’s influence

on visual perception. He subsequently completed a postdoctoral

fellowship at the Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor, MI,

where he was also associated with the University of Michigan’s

Department of Social Psychology and the Max Planck Institute for

Human Development in Berlin. Duffy worked in Japan in

collaboration with the psychologists Shinobu Kitayama and Shoji

Itakura at Kyoto University. Duffy is currently an assistant

professor of psychology at Rutgers University in Camden, New

Jersey, where he conducts research on environmental

psychology, cognitive psychology, and developmental psychology

19

Science content, language, strategy, and technology learning

in a university-level ESL classroom

Rosita L. Rivera and Catherine MazakDepartment of English University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus

1. Statement of the Problem

The authors of this paper attempted to solve the problem of remedial or pre-basic English by implementing a

content-based, technology-enhanced English curriculum for thirty incoming agriculture students at UPRM. The

goal was to investigate how teaching English in this way might motivate students while at the same time increasing

their English language proficiency. Participants were agricultural and food science majors because they were over-

represented in Pre-basic English classes at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. Agriculture and food science

students made up 7.8% of the entire UPRM undergraduate population in 2006-2007, although on average they make

up around 14% of pre-basic students (http://oiip.uprm.edu). In 2006, students in the college of agriculture at UPRM

were tied with Engineering students for the longest time to degree completion, 6.41 years (http://oiip.uprm.edu)

[1], despite the fact that undergraduate agricultural and food science programs are designed to take four years while

undergraduate engineering programs are designed to take five years. In a 2006 English department survey,

agricultural science and food science students were found to have a high rate of dissatisfaction with English courses,

which may be a factor in low retention rates, as students are continually frustrated with passing the Basic English

requirement. The college of agriculture and food science already has the worst retention rates of all the faculties at

the UPRM (http://oiip.uprm.edu). As the premier agricultural and food science campus on the island, it was

imperative that we improve the educational experiences of agricultural and food science students in English.

External funding for the project was provided by the United States Department of Agriculture Hispanic Serving

Institutions Education Grants Program. The present study presents preliminary data analysis based on a series of

three courses designed based on the a modified Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) model

[2] based on analysis of a science content-based [3], technology-enhanced basic English curriculum.

2. Methods

The main research question that guided the study was: What is the relationship between language, science content,

strategy, and technology learning in a university-level content-based, computer-mediated English classroom? In

order to answer this question, the following sub-questions were addressed: How does technology use enhance

English language learning? How does access to technologies facilitate content-based language learning?

This study employed quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and data analysis. The study was

divided into three different stages: needs analysis, curriculum design, and assessment of the curriculum. Our

program was designed as a set of three courses: a three-week intensive summer session held in June 2008, a three-

credit section of INGL 3101 (Basic English I) held in first-semester 2008-2009, and a three-credit section if INGL

3102 (Basic English II) held in second semester 2008-2009. Students selected for the summer intensive program

travelled together as a cohort through the remaining two semesters. The summer session effectively replaced the

non-credit Pre-basic English course; students were required to pass a performance-based exam at the end of the

session which allowed them to register in INGL 3101. At the end of the third week, students took an �exit exam.�

The exam had four sections which were based on the four basic skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The

exam was also based on performance or authentic assessment as opposed to the traditional norm-referenced criterion

exam. As such, our context differs in that both teaching and testing were conducted following an authentic approach

to language use and assessment.

The researchers did not have the knowledge of agricultural and food sciences necessary to teach �hard-science�

content. In order to address this issue, collaboration was established with professors from agricultural sciences,

asking them for materials that they used in English, what kinds of activities they wanted their students to be able to

do in English, and even inviting them to offer lectures in the class. General audience texts about agriculture-related

issues were selected as course materials. These were also authentic texts which were written for native English

speakers and were not modified for an ESL audience.

20

3. Results

The main research question was: What is the relationship between language, content, strategy, and technology

learning in a university-level content-based, computer-mediated English classroom?

Focus group research confirmed that students recognized the importance of the four types of learning and found the

curriculum to improve their skills in all four areas. The design of the curriculum also increased student motivation

to learn English and facilitated students� transition to college life by giving them an orientation to their chosen field

of study.

In order to answer this the following sub-questions were addressed: How does technology use enhance English

language learning? How does access to technologies facilitate content-based language learning?

The use of English and technology was also a source of intrinsic motivation [4]. Technology served as a tool that

allowed them to see beyond the use of language for the four basic skills. They understood technology as the means

to use language both in writing and reading. Further, the use of technology facilitated their speaking when

presenting to an audience. For instance, by becoming knowledgeable of how to do a PowerPoint presentation, their

self-confidence and self-esteem became salient as well. They commented on how their formal presentation was very

challenging at first since they were scared of speaking in public. Once they realized that they were able to do it, they

became more motivated to participate by speaking in class. Thus, motivation was another factor facilitated by the

use of technology when assessing speaking skills. Participants also became aware of the broader audience that new

technologies bring to a technology enhanced classroom such as the use of blogs which are available for others to

read and comment. Thus, writing became not only a tool for classroom participation, but also a source of intellectual

exchange among agricultural and food sciences audiences in the real world.

4. Conclusions

One of the goals of the program was for students to understand that language learning does not happen in isolation

since language per se is not a content area. They understood that language happens in relation to a given content (in

this case agricultural science). By the same token, they realized that technology is similar to language in that sense.

Technology in itself provides the means for communication which is necessary to be successful at the academic

level. Thus, the students were able to make the connection within the CALLA model: language-content-technology-

strategy based instruction. Based on this statement, students should be able to continue making such connections

throughout their science courses at this university. Further, this should allow for students to become more involved

with their content courses by recontextualizing the strategies they learned in this course. Pedagogical implications

include the possibility of replicating the same study and curriculum design in a different context where language and

science are learned simultaneously.

5. References

[1] Institutional Office for Research and Planning, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (http://oiip.uprm.edu)

[2] M. A. Snow & M.D. Brinton, Eds. �The content-based classroom: Perspectives on integrating language and content.� (White

Plains NY, Longman, 1997).

[3] F.L. Stoller. �Content-based instruction: Perspectives on curriculum planning.� in Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 24,

261-283 (1997).

[4] H.D. Brown. �Teaching by principles.� (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents 2007).

Rosita L. Rivera is assistant professor in the English Department at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

Campus where she teaches English as a second language (ESL) courses and coordinates the ESL Program. She also

teaches graduate courses in the areas of applied linguistics, curriculum design and assessment. She has also taught in

public and private schools in California, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico. She is currently the co-director of two

federally funded projects sponsored by USDA. Both projects integrate research, curriculum design and assessment

of ESL courses for agricultural science and food science majors.

21

Research as undergraduate education

Shannon T. Bischoff and Laurence R. Chott

Department of English, University of Puerto Rico

email: bischoff.st@gmail.com

Most of us have been trained to be research scientists; however, many of us are both research scientists and

teachers. In terms of teaching and research, especially when it comes to undergraduates and the current economic

crisis, this dual role presents a number of challenges:

� How do we manage our research schedule and teach an increasing number of undergraduates?

� How do we teach research techniques needed for advanced courses and graduate school without necessary

laboratory courses?

� How do we introduce the complexity of the field, which is where most interests lies for researchers, in an

introductory course?

� How do we get students to apply their critical and analytical thinking skills in an academic setting?

� How do we identify bright students with the potential to go further in the field, at an early stage?

Since many of us have not been trained to be teachers, we often focus our time and energy on graduate students,

especially in terms of research, and hope many of the aforementioned issues simply go away or are addressed by

more energetic colleagues. There is however a simple solution to many of these issues: undergraduate research.

In many ways undergraduate research is simpler than graduate research projects, if planned well. Each year we

develop one undergraduate research project to incorporate into a class or to be conducted outside the classroom.

Each project adheres to some simple goals:

� identify a project that relates to professor's research that can be done within 4 to 6 months;

� identify a conference where results can be presented;

� outline the goals of the project and the steps to reaching the goals, four of which we consider rudamentary:

� submit an abstract to a conference (to be presented by student(s));

� invite student(s) volunteer(s) to present research project in an introductory course;

� encourage the students whatever their abilities (students have always risen to my expectations, and

often gone beyond);

� identify natural talents student volunteers possess and foster these talents;

� identify student volunteers who will follow through on the research project (even those that drop out will

benefit, however); consider funding options only if the project reaches its goals and the students wish to go

further.

22

There are institutions that support undergraduate research, such as the following:

� Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP)

http://www.cic.net/Home/Students/SROP/Introduction.aspx

� NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)

http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5517&from=fun

� Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR)

http://www.cur.org/conferences/responsibility/ResRespons.html

� Most campuses have seed money or travel money for students and faculty

On the other hand, volunteerism allows students to discover on their own how committed and how passionate they

are about a given field. The remainder of this paper presents an example of a project involving information storage

and retrieval that followed the above strategy and met with great success.

Dr. Bischoff is Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Puerto Rico

Mayaguez. In the fall he will join the faculty at Indiana Purdue. He specializes in formal

linguistic theory, computational linguistics, and anthropological linguistics. His articles

have appeared in Studia Linguistica, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, Natural

Language Processing, and elsewhere. He has also authored and edited books with MIT

Press, University of Arizona Press, LINCOM Europa, among others. His publications

cover computational issues in linguistics, formal theory, and anthropological linguistics.

He has served as a reviewer and panelist for the National Science Foundation's panels

on Linguistics, EAPSI, and DEL programs. He has received various awards and grants

including a JSPS fellowship and an NSF fellowship. He received a PhD with a double major in Formal Linguistics

and Anthropological Linguistics and a minor in Computational Linguistics from the University of Arizona in 2007.

23

Poster Abstracts

24

Sustainability science education: Its role in the pursuit

global climate changeAnthony Halog

Research Group for Industrial Ecology, LCA and Systems Sustainability, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA

Email: Anthony.halog@maine.edu

1. Introduction

The rate of Climate Change, which has repercussions to human and natural system well-being, is one of our major

global challenges. The increasing trend of global temperatures over the centuries shows that human activities (i.e.

industries, land use changes) affect the ecosystem equilibrium. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly

carbon dioxide and methane, which are emitted directly and indirectly from human activities, are contributing to

global climate change. Thus, it is important to understand the coupling of human and natural systems to mitigate the

effects of climate change.

Faculty members throughout the world are preparing students to meet the growing demand for those trained in

industrial ecology (IE) � the science of sustainability. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) accounts the emissions from

extraction of primary resources (cradle) to disposal of wastes and residuals (grave) and even back to cradle. A new

400-level interdisciplinary course in IE and LCA is offered to undergraduate students in forestry, natural science,

agriculture, engineering, business administration, public policy, geography, education, economics, human ecology

and resource management at the University of Maine.

2. Purpose of the project

Whereas IE is clearly a transdisciplinary approach, university curricula are traditionally based on single discipline.

The aim of this project is to integrate life cycle thinking into university curriculum. This means to expose students

through courses dedicated solely to sustainability and find out the most effective method to teach the principles of IE

and LCA to undergraduate students.

We built LCA capacity in two areas: availability of teaching resources and funding of classroom active learning

activities. One of the priorities is the development of learning resources to teach LCA course including case studies,

inventory and impact information, homework and exercises, textbooks, and software.

3. Outcomes

Project selection is a key to student engagement and confidently lifelong application of sustainability concepts

learned. Each student or group of students analyses a product or process related to their research interests, a job-

related project, a personal interest, or infrequently as suggested by the instructor.

Moreover, we found that providing undergraduate students with adequate feedback in three interim LCA reports is

an effective strategy. Interim report content, responses to instructor comments and research findings as each project

progresses were incorporated into final written reports.

The use of case studies and in-class and team exercises has been found to be effective. This follows from teaching

research that illustrates differences on how students learn and limitations in the more traditional, less participatory

lecture methods. Working in team project is well suited model for an interdisciplinary experience, allowing students

with different skill sets to work together on solving a problem or describing a system.

4. Impacts and benefits on students

The primary benefits and impacts on students are:

� Students� awareness to embrace the concept of life cycle thinking;

� Access to WebCT with links to key public available data websites and a list of other inventory sources;

� Availability of downloadable course materials and assignments; and

� Practice of software package to support LCA project implementation.

25

Generally, students benefited not only from the experiences in preparing their own LCA projects, but also from class

discussions and oral presentations made by students from different departments. Students have walked away with a

variety of impressions of LCA-interdisciplinary focused.

5. Implication of results to meeting university priorities

In line with the university�s policy to promote interdisciplinary research in the area of sustainable development of

forest bio-products, this project has increased the awareness of students on environmental and sustainable

development issues as well as improving the availability of teaching resources in LCA. This project demonstrates

the increasing need to incorporate LCA and sustainability assessment across the university curriculum.

26

English for academic and career success in agriculture

science: A needs-based curriculum

Kimberly N. Santiago Vega

University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus

E-mail: kimberlynelly@gmail.com

1. Introduction

This investigation seeks to understand the need of language use across the disciplines and has the purpose of

creating and piloting a two-course English curriculum based on the academic and future employment needs of

undergraduate agricultural science majors. Whereas 37% of students entering science, technology, engineering, and

math majors at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) enter with low English language proficiency

(defined by the university as an English College Entrance Examination Board score of 569 or lower), 60% of these

students are agricultural science majors. Although most of these students enter at this level, they are expected to

increase their English proficiency at a higher rate than other students who enter at higher proficiency levels in the

same period of time (4 semesters) and although they are required to study four semesters of English, the curriculum

is not aligned with disciplinary uses of English (for example, reading an animal physiology textbook). This project

seeks to remedy this situation by studying how students use English in their academic work outside of the English

classroom.

In an age characterized by globalization, the agricultural workforce of tomorrow will be increasingly multicultural

and multilingual. Because currently English is the undisputed international language of science and technology,

educators and policy makers need to understand the role that language plays in academic content learning in order to

ensure the success of agricultural science majors. It is also imperative to stress bilingualism as essential for

contemporary scientific education. This project seeks to understand the role of English language proficiency in the

learning of agriculture, science, and other content for native-Spanish-speaking undergraduates at UPRM.

Most job opportunities for agriculture majors both inside and outside of Puerto Rico require English proficiency. In

comparison to other majors, agricultural science students need high English proficiency in order to increase job

opportunities, figuring that the best-paying, most stable jobs lie within the USDA and mega-agriculture U.S. based

companies such as Monsanto and Pioneer. Perhaps more than any other majors on campus, agricultural science

students need high English proficiency in order to increase their job prospects, yet they are ill-positioned to do so as

a group from the beginning. Another common problem confronted by these students is that most of the textbooks

used in their science courses are in English while the language of instruction is in Spanish.

This project has as its core the idea that language is best learned when embedded in a context. Researchers of

second language acquisition have shown that studying language in context facilitates language acquisition. In

addition, the study of language in a context in which the student is interested increases student motivation as well as

the knowledge of field-specific vocabulary and rhetorical structures that will play a central role in their development

as young scholars and professionals [1,2] (Brinton, Wesche, and Snow, 2003; Leki, 2007). For this reason, this

project proposes curricular changes in English designed specifically for agricultural science majors. This curricular

change could also impact other areas of science education.

The study will significantly advance understanding of the role of English as a second language (ESL) in science

content learning, potentially improving science education for this underserved population and it will complete an

assessment cycle as it (1) investigates students� needs, (2) implements a pilot curriculum to meet these needs, and

(3) evaluates that implementation. The project will also benefit from the cooperation of TARS (the Tropical

Agriculture Research Station) and NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service), who will provide access to

information about the English language skills needed by graduates who wish to seek employment with one of these

agencies. In the last year of the project, we will offer a specially designed English course for agricultural science

majors based on the findings of our research.

27

2. Acknowledgements

This research has been funded by the USDA Award #�s 2009-38422-19869 and � � 2007 38442 18028.

This research has been directed by P.I. Dr. Cathy Mazak and CO-P.I. Dr. Rosita L. Rivera.

3. References

[1] D. Brinton, M. Snow and M. Wesche, Content-based second language instruction (University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI, 2003).[2] I. Leki, Undergraduates in a second language: Challenges and complexities of academic literacy development (Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah,

NJ, 2007).

28

Cultural safety in nursing education:

Adapting and adopting concepts across boundaries

Dawn Doutrich, Cathy Pollock-Robinson, Kerri Arcus, Lida Dekker, Janet Spuck, Washington State University, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Avenue, Vancouver, WA. 98606

Doutrich@vancouver.wsu.edu

1. Purpose

This project came about from dissatisfaction with ways that teaching and learning about culture have been

conducted in the U.S. One critical analysis of �culture� in U.S. nursing literature identifies issues of relative power

and how the essentialist view assumes group unity and tends to use interchangeable definitions of culture and

ethnicity [1]. Additionally, this view does not take into account the fact that individuals often have multiple

identities and seems to leave out questions of power and privilege. Cultural safety is the effective nursing or

midwifery practice of a person or family from another culture, and safety is determined by that person or family

[2,3,4]. Methods: Data were comprised of narrative interviews with 12 nurse participants describing their

experiences of cultural safety in practice and education. Two U.S. nurse researchers traveled to New Zealand and

were joined by a New Zealand nurse researcher. Most participants were New Zealand nurse educators who were

born and practiced there. Participants were selected through snowball, purposive, and convenience sample methods.

The analytic team was comprised of U.S. and New Zealand nurse educators. Systematic analysis using Ethnograph

Software� was conducted.

2. Thematic Findings

1)�Know where you come from�; 2) �Reflection is key�; 3) Cultural safety is evolving; 4) Situating populations

socio-politically; 5) Power differentials; 6) Partnerships�learning to �walk alongside�; 7) Concern about �getting

it right.�

3. Promising practices

1) New course, �Cultural Safety and Social Justice in Global Society.�2) Assignments include personal narrative and

reflection (narrative pedagogy) in all programs, BSN, MN, and PhD. 3) �Cultural Moments� for faculty, students,

and practice (awareness and outcome data). 5) U.S. Native American research and community healing introduced in

courses. 6) Cultural safety linked with patient safety, health literacy, ethics, and regulation in practice.

4. References

[1] Gray, D.P. & Thomas, D. (2005), Critical analysis of "culture" in nursing literature: Implications for nursing education in the United States inAnnual Review of Nursing Education (vol. 3). Oermann, M.H. & Heinrich, K.T..

[2] Nursing Council of New Zealand. 2005.Guidelines for Cultural Safety, the Treaty of Waitangi, and Maori Health in nursing education and

practice, accessed October 1, 2009 from http://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/Cultural%20Safety.pdf

[3} Ramsden, I. (2002). Cultural safety and nursing education in Aotearoa and Te Waipounam. Victoria University of Wellington

[4] Richardson, F. & Carryer, J. (2005). Teaching cultural safety in a New Zealand nursing education program. Journal of Nursing Education,44(5), 201-208.

29

The IPP program: A possible model for future international

collaborations in science and engineeringGregory D. Durgin

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

durgin@gatech.edu

1. History

The author spent one year at the University of Osaka in 2001 on a long-term JSPS fellowship and returned to the

United States convinced that US-born science and engineering graduate students needed to globalize their research

experiences. This attribute was built into the formation of the Georgia Tech Propagation Group (GTPG), a research

group in that provides rich international experiences to its students as part of a basic research mission. The result,

the International Propagation Partners (IPP) program, has lead to fruitful graduate student exchanges and

collaborations between partners in Japan and New Zealand [4].

2. Program Goals

There are several unique attributes of the IPP program, many of which add value to students and the research

mission that are not possible through conventional collaborative programs.

Global Science: US technical graduates work alongside international engineers and scientists without ever leaving

their country. A medium-term (semester) international research experience allows a graduate student a chance to

work in a foreign, unfamiliar environment and cultivate a great deal of empathy towards their future colleagues. All

GTPG PhD students are expected to spend 1 term overseas, with the stated goal of providing an enjoyable,

productive cultural exchange without devolving into a �tourist experience� that many, larger programs become.

Continuity: The IPP program stresses long-standing, relational continuity with its partner laboratories,

demonstrating the strengths of small, grass-roots collaborations in science and engineering. Partner labs each have

relationships of 10+ years with the author.

Reciprocity: To date, the IPP program has been able to maintain reciprocity in its visits, hosting the same number of

international students from Japan and New Zealand than it sends overseas. This ensures fairness and symmetry in

the program, as well as providing extra incentives for serving as a good host for visiting students.

Complementarity: The partner laboratories in this program in the general field of electrical and communications

engineering, have complementary expertise. Sampei laboratory at Osaka University has system-level wireless

communications expertise, while GTPG emphasizes experimental work and physical-layer radio studies. This has

led to research publications that neither group could have conducted by themselves [1-2,6]. Similar outcomes

resulted from the New Zealand collaborations [1,5].

Creativity: Although not a stated goal of the program, a tremendous added benefit for the US students that

participate in IPP exchanges was the boost in creative outputs during critical portions of their advanced studies.

Each participant wrote significant portions of papers, proposals, and dissertations while overseas.

3. Future

The IPP program, while small, has been well received by graduate students in the GTPG, quickly becoming part of

the student group culture. Based on past successes, a future goal could be a larger, more integrated research

collaborative project like those that exist between many intra-national university research groups. In terms of

educational impact, there is a need to develop quantitative assessments of these experiences so that the costs of

international collaborations can be justified. Investigation is also required into how the benefits of IPP-style

exchanges could be maintained when scaled to a larger program for emulation by other institutions.

4. References

[1] A.C.M. Austin, M.J. Neve, G. B. Rowe, R.J. Pirkl. �Modeling the Effects of Nearby Buildings on Inter-Floor Radio-Wave Propagation.� IEEE Trans. Antennas

and Propagation, July 2009.

[2] G.D. Durgin, S. Sampei, N. Morinaga. �Computer Simulation of Multiple Transmitter, Multiple Receiver Wireless Channels.� YRP Wireless Summit 2001.

30

Yokosuka, JAPAN. 17 July 2001. 4 pages.

[3] G.D. Durgin, S. Sampei, N. Morinaga. �Design of Multi-Antenna Wireless Systems in Multipath Environments.� Wireless and Personal Multi-media

Communications 2001. Aalborg, DENMARK. Sept 2001. 5 pages.

[4] The International Propagation Partners Program.

http://www.propagation.gatech.edu/Documents/Resources/IPPsummary.pdf.

[5] R.J. Pirkl, G.D. Durgin, A.C.M. Austin, M.J. Neve, �Extracting UTD Wedge Diffraction Coefficients from Electric Field Measurements.� URSI 09, Boulder CO,

Jan 2009.

[6] M. Yamanaka, M. Enomoto, R.J. Pirkl, G.D. Durgin, S. Sampei, N. Morinaga. �The Minimum Number of Adaptive Array Antenna Elements for Interference

Suppression in Ubiquitous Communication Environments.� IEEE WCNC, Budapest Hungary, 1 April 2009.

31

A novel sensor web system for tracking and surveillanceRavi Palaniappan, Parveen Wahid, Leonard Barolli1

Institute for Simulation & Training, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA1Fukuoka Institute of Technology, Fukuoka, Japan

rpalania@ist.ucf.edu

1. Introduction

Recent advances in MEMS devices have fueled the growth of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) for use in various

fields such as location tracking systems. A wireless sensor network is a network of distributed sensor nodes each

equipped with its own sensors, computational resources and transceivers. These sensors are designed to be able to

sense specific phenomenon over a large geographic area and communicate this information to the user. Most sensor

networks are designed to be stand-alone systems that can operate without user intervention for long periods of time.

The sensor nodes have limited on-board processing capability to reduce battery consumption, weight and cost. The

problem of localization and tracking of sensor nodes has been widely researched. The proposed work involves

research in two distinct areas of wireless sensor network, a) sensor node localization and b) sensor node tracking in

real-time

In general sensor nodes are deployed in areas to locate and monitor different physical phenomenon such as

humidity, soil and water levels. They can also be used to track entities such as fire-fighters in a building when they

are carrying a mobile sensor in their gear. Our research addresses the requirements of the latter case. Our proposed

system will eliminate the need for setting up an infrastructure of sensors as the nodes will be able to localize

automatically and track a mobile sensor in near real-time. This work makes use of the inherent capabilities of

wireless sensors for localization and tracking. The nodes use a simple measure of connectivity to gather reference

data points and localize themselves.

2. Research Goals and Contribution

The issues addressed in this paper deal with the following design goals

� Small wireless sensor devices lack GPS capability and therefore need a localization scheme

� The small nodes have short range RF transceivers which can be used for localization

� The nodes have to be deployed Ad-hoc and cannot have any pre-planning or infrastructure setup.

� The localization and tracking should be adaptive to the number of nodes available at any given time

The main contributions of this work are

� It presents a unique method of localization that builds on a few initial anchor nodes at known locations to

locate all the sensor nodes in the grid.

� It demonstrates a method to track a target sensor node in real-time by using static reference nodes that

continuously re-localize their position information to track the target.

� It demonstrates the capability to use multiple transmit powers and frequencies to improve the tracking

efficiency.

3. Acknowledgment

This work was in part funded by the Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences and National Science Foundation for

the Summer Program 2009. The authors would also like to thank Fukuoka Institute of Technology and the

University of Central Florida for their support and encouragement.

32

Fig. 1. Error distance (in feet) of tracked sensor as the power of the base stations or reference nodes are increased

Fig. 2. The error distance measured as a function of frequency

Fig 3. Error distance as a function of Transmit Power

4. References

[1] V. P. Thomas Clouqueur, Parameswaran Ramanathan, Kewal K. Saluja, "Sensor Deployment Strategy for Target Detection," Proceedings ofthe 1st ACM international workshop on Wireless sensor networks and applications, 2002.

[2] S. B. Andrew Jamieson, Paddy Nixon Duncan Smeed, "MiPOS - the Mote Indoor Positioning System," presented at

International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks, Imperial College, United Kingdom, 2004.[3] G. V. Cesare Alippi, "A RSSI-based and calibrated centralized localization technique for Wireless Sensor Networks,"

presented at Proceedings of the Fourth Annual IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and

Communications Workshops (PERCOMW�06), 2006.[4] P. Enge and P. Misra. Special issue on GPS: The global positioning system. Proceedings of IEEE, 87(1):3�172, January

1999

33

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1 2 3 4 5

# of base stations

Err

or

Dis

tan

ce

(ft

)

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5 dBm

10 dBm

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

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1 2 3 4

# of Freq used

Err

or

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tan

ce

(ft

)

Error Distance

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

0 dBm 5 dBm 10 dBm

# of Tx powers

Err

or

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tan

ce

(ft

)

Error Distance

Laser protection materials for space environments

Shamim Mirza,a Salma Rahman,a George W. Rayfield,b Edward W. Taylorc, and Abhijit Sarkara

aMichigan Molecular Institute, Mildand, MI 48640, USA

sarkar@mmi.orgbDepartment of Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA

rayfield@uoregon.educInternational Photonics Consultants, 30 Tierra Monte NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87122, USA

INTPHOTON@aol.com

1. Introduction

Optical power limiters (OPL) are nonlinear materials that limit the amount of energy transmitted by exhibiting a

drop in transmittance as the energy of incident laser pulses increases above a certain threshold value. They have

potential for protecting optical sensors or other optical devices from laser-pulse damage. The interest in OPL for use

in the space environment is due to the increasingly large number of space based missions and applications that

require laser protection. Temperature and space radiation-induced effects in optical and electronic materials are well

known and can cause disruption in OPL functions or in the worst case, can cause failure of the sensor. Therefore,

materials that can withstand the space environment, has been an area of much exploration in recent years. Some of

the best-performing optical limiters are materials containing chromophores that work via reverse saturable

absorption, multiphoton absorption or nonlinear scattering mechanism; however, such materials are difficult to

prepare and suffer from stability problems. In this presentation, a new polymeric OPL material based on multi-

chromophore/mechanistic approach is described. The origin of the OPL properties in these materials and preliminary

results of ionizing radiation effect on the OPL properties for the films are discussed.

2. Gamma irradiation of the OPL films

For a shielding material for protection of the spacecraft, an approximate dose rate would be 10 Gy/year (1 krad/yr)

in a shielded location of the spacecraft interior would be expected in a typical space orbit. Protons and electrons

compose the major portion of the total yearly received dose. The gamma rays used in our irradiation experiments

provided an economical and rapid simulation of the expected integrated proton and electron total dose which far

exceeded the yearly total dose by several decades. This preliminary exposure was done deliberately to determine the

radiation resistance of the material under highly accelerated conditions. Gamma-ray irradiation of the OPL films

was conducted using the Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) Gamma-ray Irradiation Facility (GIF) 147 kilocurie Co60

source providing primary photon energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV. The samples were mounted in a Pb-Al shielding

container provided by the GIF along with CaF2 thermolumenescent detector (TLD) arrays consisting of 4 TLDs per

array. The array arrangement provided multiple dose point readings for averaging the total dose across the sample

target area. Irradiated TLD arrays and selected samples were removed following each incremental irradiation

allowing remaining samples and TLDs to accumulate additional doses in subsequent irradiations to reach a high

total dose. The SNL dosimetry was optimized using the container in order to attenuate scattered-low energy photons

since the presence of these photons in the incident spectrum can cause dosimetry errors. The placement of containers

assured that lower energy photons (< 1 MeV) were attenuated or absorbed in the container walls. The container also

prevented unwanted exposure of the samples to sustained periods of room lighting which is known to induce "aging"

in some organic-polymer samples via photo-degradation processes. The glow-curve readings of the TLDs and the

dose and dose rate statistics were performed by the SNL Radiation Metrology Laboratory (RML). The averaged

dose reading shown in Tables 1 is RML estimate based on random uncertainties in TLD responses at Co60 energies

and is reported at the 1-sigma level. At Co60 energies, the dose (Si) is calculated as dose (Si) = dose (CaF2) x 1.02.

Conversion to the SI unit of radiation absorbed dose is the Gray (Gy) where 1 Gy = 100 rad. The average dose rate

was approximately 8.1 rad(Si)/s. The OPL films, including the control one, were indirectly exposed for a period of

~35 minutes to room lighting (incandescent and fluorescent) during the films mounting in the shielding container

and also for ~ 10 minutes during removal from the container. The ambient room temperature during handling and

irradiation of the samples averaged 69 ± 3.5 °F. The uncertainty in the dosimetry measurements was ~ 8%. The

effect of gamma irradiation on the glass substrate was obvious from the change in percentage transmission (%T) at

532 nm and the OPL film transmission measurement was adjusted to compensate for these losses. While the glass

34

substrates were noticeably darkened following irradiation, the irradiated OPL films did not exhibit darkening and

consequently did not show any effect on their percentage of transmission.

Table 1. Transmittance at 532 nm of gamma-ray pre- and post-irradiated OPL filters.

4. Optical power limiting properties of the films

The OPL experimental results obtained for gamma-ray irradiated OPL film, 1 and the nonirradiated control OPL

film, 2 are presented in Fig. 1. For these samples, the OPL onset occurred at approximately 5 J of input energy,�

while the output clamping energy level, i.e. the threshold energy level at which the output laser energy is maximum,

was at ~2 J. As can be seen in Fig. 1, the onset of laser induced damage threshold is slightly lowered compared to�

the control 2 following irradiation of 1. However, irradiation of another set of OPL films suggest that gamma-ray

irradiation at higher dose appears to increase the laser damage threshold. This behavior further suggests that the

gamma-rays may be interacting with the OPL material to produce an enhancement to the thin film responses. The

somewhat larger values of clamping energy for this second set of samples are attributed to their higher percentage of

transmission. The clamping energy and the activation energy

of the gamma-ray irradiated samples are clearly improved

compared to control OPL film. The optical power limiting

results indicate that when NLS-1 along with fullerene and

disperse red 1 are suspended in a HB-PCS host, they absorb

incident light and convert the polymer into a state that scatters

light. Although it is still not understood what happens to the

HB-PCS when energy is transferred from the NLS-1 to the

polymer matrix, it is expected that either a physical or

structural change occurs. It should be noted that NLS-1

chromophore works by inducing nonlinear scattering when a

highly intense laser beam interacts with the chromophores.

For the samples in this study, the optical power limiting effect

is the result of scattering originating from micro plasma

bubble formation.

Fig. 1. Pre- and post- gamma-ray irradiation responses of OPL films.

5 Summary

NLS-1, if appropriately combined with other organic and inorganic chromophores in a hyperbranched polymer

matrix, possesses a huge potential in the area of OPL devices for the protection of sensors, including human eyes.

These OPL materials are also promising candidates for space based applications. The preliminary data suggests that

suitable OPL films can be prepared based on multicomponent chromophores in polymers that can withstand the

space environment. The plasticity and flexibility of various host materials should allow one to design and fabricate a

range of optimized structures to meet different requirements.

35

Synthesis and thiolytic chemistry of alternative precursors to

the monomethylated metabolite of the cancer

chemopreventive oltipraz

Md. Khabir Uddina,b and James C. Fishbeina

aDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, Maryland 21250bInnovative Labs, LLC., 85 Commerce Drive, Hauppauge, New York 11788

E-mail: khabir@innovativelabsny.com

1. Introduction

Cancer chemoprevention involves the use of natural or synthetic compounds to reduce the risk of developing cancer

or potentially inhibit the carcinogenic process. We are currently engaged to understand the molecular basis or

mechanism of the cancer chemopreventive action of dithiolethiones (1.2-dithiole-3-thiones) [1,2]. Oltipraz 1

(Scheme1), is a member of a class of compounds called dithiolethiones and has been in phase II clinical trials for the

prevention of aflatoxin-induced hepatocellualr carcinoma. Dithiolethiones are belived to afford protection from

electrophilic and oxidative stress because they raise the labels of many phase 2 enzymes such as such as glutathione

S-transferases (GSTs), and NAD(P)H, quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1). These enzymes trap reactive electrophiles

and reactive oxygen species and also conjugates that prepare metabolites for export. The induction of phase 2

enzymes by dithiolethiones is mediated, at least in part, by antioxidant response element (ARE) that is found in the

upstream regulatory region of many phase 2 genes. The transcription factor Nrf2 which binds to the ARE, appears to

be essential for the induction of prototypical phase 2 enzymes. Very recently, it is shown that hydrogen peroxide is a

secondary messenger in phase 2 enzyme induction by cancer chemopreventive dithiolthiones including oltipraz [2].

Oltipraz, 1 is extensively metabolized, mainly to the dimethylated metabolite, 2, which is not an inducer of phase 2

enzymes. It has been shown that the major unmethylated metabolite, 4 is a phase 2 enzyme inducer with a potency

on par with oltipraz itself [1-2]. It was suggested that monomethylated metabolites, 5 and 6 that can be found under

subsequent enzymatic methylation of biologically active, 4, as other alternate metabolites prior to form the

dimethylated metabolite, 2 [1]. Therefore, we are interested in the synthesis of prodrugs 8 and 11, to serve as

alternative precursors to the monomethylated metabolites, 5 and 6, of the cancer chemopreventive oltipraz, 1, to test

whether they possess similar biological activities. In this presentation, we will be discussed the synthetic strategy,

structure elucidation, thiolytic chemistry, and the quinone-oxidoreductase (NQO1) activity of the monomethylated

metabolites, 5 and 6, of the oltipraz.

36

N

N

SS

S

HN

N

S

S

HN

N

S

S

N

N

SS

O

HN

N

S

SMe

HN

N

SMe

SN

N

SMe

SMe

GSH or

enzyme

1

4a 4b 2

5

6

3

~ 11 metabolitesGSH

GSH

enzyme enzyme

GSH

N

N

S

S

7

SMe

SMeN

N

S

SMe

8

SMe

N

N

SMe

S11

SMe

N

N

SMe

S )2

GSH

N

N

S

SMe

)2

GSH

15

12

slow

fast

Scheme 1.

2. Result and Dicussion

Alternate precursors, 8 and 11 have been synthesized in multisteps from the cancer chemopreventive oltipraz and

subsequently characterized by elemental analysis, 1H, 13C NMR spectroscopy and two-dimensional methods of

HMQC and HMBC. In the presence of GSH at physiological pH, �prodrugs� 8 and 11, decompose rapidly to

generate the corresponding monomethylated metabolites, 5 and 6, which have been monitored by UV-visible

spectrophotometer, HPLC and characterized by LC-MS. Furthermore, many attempts have been performed to

synthesis and isolation of the corresponding monomethylated metabolites, 5 and 6. The monomethylated metabolite,

5 could be isolated and its characterization performed by both 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. However, the isolation

could not be possible for 6 due to its extensive oxidation in the absence of GSH. The oxidized precursors, 12 and 15,

also generated the corresponding monometylated metabolites, 5 and 6 in the presence of GSH. Treatment with

�prodrugs� 8, 11, 12, and 15, for 48h incubation, of mouse Hepa

1C1C7 cells in culture media induce the phase 2 enzyme quinone

reductase with potencies on par with oltipraz itself. As shown in Fig.

1, plots of NQO1D/NQO10, the ratio of NQO1 activity in Hepa 1c1c7

cells in the presence of drug divided by the NQO1 activity in Hepa

1c1c7 cells in the absence of drug concentration. Data for olitipraz 1,

8, 11 in closed tiangles (CDNQO1=11.0 ± 1.11 �M), closed circles

(CDNQO1 = 10.1 ± 0.32 �M), closed squares (CDNQO1 = 10.8 ± 0.90

�M), respectively, after incubation with cells for 48 h. Data for 8,

11 in open circles (CDNQO1 = 6.1 ± 0.29 �M), and open squares

(CDNQO1 = 11.2 ± 0.33 �M), are for experiments in which the drugs

were first mixed with cell culture medium supplemented with 5 mM

GSH, allowed to react for 5 min, and then placed on cells and

incubated for 48 h.

Figure 5. Plots of NQO1D/NQO10 in Hepa 1c1c7 cells.

3. References[1] Petzer, J. P.; Navamal, M.; Johnson, J. K.; Kwak, M-K.; Kensler, T. W.; Fishbein. J. C. Phase 2 enzyme induction by the major metabolite of

Oltipraz. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2003; 16: 1463-1469.

[2] Holland, R.; Navamal, M.; Velayutham, M.; Johnson, Zweier, J. L.; Kensler, T. W.; Fishbein. J. C. Hydrogen peroxide is a secondary

messenger in phase 2 enzyme induction by cancer chemopreventive dithiolethiones. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2009; 22: 1427-1434.

37

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

NQO1D

NQO10

Concentration �M

Biofunctionalized magnetic vortex microdisks for targeted

cancer cell destruction

Elena A. Rozhkova 1 , Ilya Ulasov2, Dong-Hyun Kim3 , Maciej S. Lesniak2, T. Rajh1, Sam Bader1,3, Val Novosad3

1 Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Labpratory, Argonne, IL, USA, 2 Brain Tumor Center, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

3 Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA.

email:rozhkova@anl.gov1. Introduction

Functional nanoscale materials that possess specific physical or chemical properties are able to leverage signal

transduction in vivo. Once these hard materials integrated with biomolecules they combine properties of both

inorganic and bioorganic moieties for successful interfacing with a cell, the smallest, yet sufficient structural and

functional unit of life, for direct manipulation and changing biochemical pathways via energy transduction. These

systems are appealing for wide range of application from the life sciences and nano-medicine to advanced catalysis

and clean energy production. In my talk I will overview our recent results on interfacing of functional nano-bio

hybrid materials with cellular machinery for nano-actuation and triggering important biochemical pathways.

I wall talk on our recent results on interfacing of soft magnetic materials

with unique spin vortex state with cellular machinery under magnetic

field stimuli. Interfacing of the whole eukaryotic cell with

biofunctionalized lithographically defined ferromagnetic microdisks

(MDs) with a spin-vortex ground state for cellular pathways actuation is

another example of successful application of energy and information

transduction principle in vivo. The nano-bio hybrid based on iron-nickel

permalloy/gold core-shell particles chemically functionalized with an

antibody was applied the for direct mechanical energy conversion into

biochemical (ionic or electric) signal in vivo. Thus, an application of an

unprecedentedly low frequency AC magnetic field of tens of Hertz

resulted in the discs oscillations and in remarkable altering of cellular

internal equilibrium (homeostasis), such as nucleus morphology

changes and severe nuclear DNA scission owing to direct energy

transduction and amplification. Such profound biological effect may be

connected with non-specific induction of ionic channels or gates and triggering intracellular ionic currents.

2. References:

[1] D.-H. Kim, E. A. Rozhkova, I. V. Ulasov, S. D. Bader, T. Rajh, M. S. Lesniak, Valentyn Novosad. Biofunctionalized Magnetic VortexMicrodisks for Targeted Cancer Cell Destruction. Nature Materials (2010),

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