EurekAlert! - Mathematics and Statistics
Sun Apr 24 04:23:14 EDT 2011
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Virginia Tech researcher seeks to improve emergency hospital, community evacuations - (Virginia Tech) When a hurricane or another major threat requires an emergency evacuation of a hospital, or an entire coastal community, the logistics can be a nightmare fraught with dangers, missed cues, and the likelihood of traffic congestion and other problems that can halt or slow an evacuation. Douglas Bish, an assistant professor in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering, is doing research to alleviate some of uncertainties.

Effect of cloud-scattered sunlight on earth's energy balance depends on wavelength of light - (DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) Atmospheric scientists trying to pin down how clouds curb the amount of sunlight available to warm the earth have found that it depends on the wavelength of sunlight being measured. This unexpected result will help researchers improve how they portray clouds in climate models.

Students tackle deforestation, win first prize with video game design - (University of Houston) Tackling deforestation, water pollution and poverty earned University of Houston students top honors in computer game designing at the US finals of the 2011 Microsoft Imagine Cup competition. With the annual contest drawing more than 74,000 of the nation's brightest technology students to Microsoft's headquarters, UH made quite an impact with three of its four finalists winning in game design.

Columbia engineering study links ozone hole to climate change all the way to the equator - (Columbia University) In a study in the April 21 issue of Science, researchers at Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science report their findings that the ozone hole, which is located over the South Pole, has affected the entire circulation of the Southern Hemisphere all the way to the equator. This is the first time that ozone depletion, an upper atmospheric phenomenon confined to the polar regions, has been linked to climate change from the Pole to the equator.

30th annual survey shows Houstonians upbeat about city's future - (Rice University) Klineberg said that as a city at the forefront of the country's demographic revolution, Houston offers a glimpse into America's future, and the survey's assessment of the city may offer important lessons for strengthening the rest of the country

Rensselaer secures $1.5 million from DOE/NNSA to launch new nuclear safety research program - (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) Nuclear criticality safety and reactor safety are at the heart of a new initiative led by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The five-year funding plan calls for $1.5 million to be invested at Rensselaer by the US DoE Nuclear Criticality Safety Program, managed by the National Nuclear Security Administration. The funds will support a new nuclear engineering research program and laboratory at Rensselaer, dedicated to the careful measurement and analysis of high-accuracy nuclear interaction data.

LED efficiency puzzle solved by UC Santa Barbara theorists - (University of California - Santa Barbara) Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, say they've figured out the cause of a problem that's made light-emitting diodes (LEDs) impractical for general lighting purposes. Their work will help engineers develop a new generation of high-performance, energy-efficient lighting that could replace incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.

Scientists discover how to predict learning using brain analysis - (University of California - Santa Barbara) An international team of scientists has developed a way to predict how much a person can learn, based on studies at UC Santa Barbara's Brain Imaging Center.

UTMB's Bhavnani wins award for cutting-edge research in translational bioinformatics - (University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston) Suresh Bhavnani, an associate professor of biomedical informatics in the Institute for Translational Sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, was recently honored for using advanced visual analytical methods to propose a new classification of asthma patients.

Ben-Gurion University students develop thought-controlled, hands-free computer for the disabled - (American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) Ben-Gurion University of the Negev software engineering students have developed innovative technology that could enable people to operate a computer without using a keyboard or mouse -- only their brainwaves.

Pier review - (National Physical Laboratory) On Oct. 5, 2010, the historic Hastings Pier was set on fire, destroying 95 percent of the Grade II listed building, leading to concerns over its future. Now scientists from the UK's National Physical Laboratory are helping to show that the future of the pier is more positive than expected.

Toward a more efficient use of solar energy - (Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) The exploitation and utilization of new energy sources are considered to be among today's major challenges. Solar energy plays a central role, and its direct conversion into chemical energy, for example hydrogen generation by water splitting, is one of its interesting variants. Titanium oxide-based photocatalysis is the presently most efficient, yet little understood conversion process.

Study: Algae could replace 17 percent of US oil imports - (DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) A new study shows that 17 percent of the United States' imported oil for transportation could be replaced by biofuel made from algae. Researchers also determined that the water needed to grow that algae could be substantially reduced by cultivating it in the nation's sunniest and most humid regions.

Louisiana Tech University students receive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships - (Louisiana Tech University) Louis Reis, a Louisiana Tech University biomedical and electrical engineering student, and Mark Wade, a recent summa cum laude graduate in electrical engineering and physics and current graduate student at Tech, have each been awarded Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation.

Midwest ISO wins INFORMS Edelman Award - (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Midwest ISO, which manages one of the world's largest energy markets, won the 2011 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences at a banquet sponsored by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences in Chicago last night.

Rensselaer Professor Xuegang (Jeff) Ban receives NSF CAREER Award - (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) Jeff Ban, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has won an NSF CAREER Award. Ban will use the five-year, $400,000 award to study how mobile devices including GPS and cellular phones can help monitor and optimize traffic systems, and reduce roadway congestion.

US House budget plans would jeopardize scientific research facilities - (American Physical Society) Slashing spending on science, as the House budget plans call for, would harm national scientific research facilities and force scientists to end critical research.

Nuclear security, deep water drilling, black hole signal flares and more at 2011 APS annual meeting - (American Physical Society) The physics of deep water drilling, new energy technologies, science at the LHC, tests of gravity at both very large and small scales, and much more cutting edge science will be featured in talks at this year's April meeting of the American Physical Society. The meeting runs from April 30 to May 3 at the Hyatt Hotel Orange County in Anaheim, Calif.

Scientists have new measure for species threat - (University of Adelaide) A new index has been developed to help conservationists better understand how close species are to extinction.

World's information consumption: 9,570,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes per year - (University of California - San Diego) The world’s roughly 27 million computer servers processed 9.57 zettabytes of information in 2008, according to a paper to be presented April 7 at Storage Networking World’s (SNW’s) annual meeting in Santa Clara, Calif. The surge in information processed by servers creates unprecedented challenges and opportunities for corporate information officers.

Migratory birds, domestic poultry and avian influenza - (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) The persistence and recurrence of H5N1 avian influenza in endemic regions can largely be blamed on movement and infection by migratory birds. In a paper published last week in the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, authors Lydia Bourouiba, Stephen A. Gourley, Rongsong Liu, and Jianhong Wu analyze the interaction between non-migratory poultry and migratory birds in order to investigate the role of the latter in the spread of H5N1.

Science 101: Different teaching fosters better comprehension - (Concordia University) Introductory science courses -- in biology, chemistry, math and physics -- can be challenging for first-year college, CEGEP and university students. Science 101 courses can make or break a student's decision to venture into a scientific field or even pursue higher education.

TextOre license puts ORNL's Piranha in its tank - (DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) TextOre's licensing of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Piranha is enabling the Virginia-based company to introduce a powerful search and mining tool capable of processing large amounts of text data from the Internet.

System aims to improve teachers and teacher training programs - (University of California - Riverside) A system that aims to compare, assess and improve teacher candidates and teacher training programs will be the subject of three papers presented by the University of California -- Riverside's director of teacher education at a national education conference during the next week.

Search for advanced materials aided by discovery of hidden symmetries in nature - (Penn State) A new way of understanding the structure of proteins, polymers, minerals, and engineered materials has been discovered. The discovery, a new type of symmetry in the structure of materials, greatly expands the possibilities for discovering or designing materials with desired properties. The research is expected to have broad relevance in many development efforts involving physical, chemical, biological, or engineering disciplines, including the search for advanced ferroelectric ferromagnet materials for next-generation ultrasound devices and computers.