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The INT Science Nuggets are grouped by geographic region as follows: 1) Africa, Near East and South Asia; 2) The Americas; 3) Central and Eastern Europe; 4) East Asia and the Pacific; and 5) Western Europe. Each title is linked to a descriptive paragraph about the activity INT supported.
Africa, Near East and South Asia Titles
Central and Eastern Europe Titles
East Asia and the Pacific Titles
Africa, Near East and South Asia Nuggets
International Research Fellow Awards Program: Cladistic Biogeography of Ants in Madagascar (Brian Fisher, University of California at Davis, INT-9600364)
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Dr. Brian Fisher, a postdoctoral fellow from the University of California at Davis, studied ants in little known areas of Madagascar, cataloging them and revising a species-level classification of them for the region. Madagascar is described as a “megadiversity ecosystem”. The Malagasy ant fauna is important for the understanding of the evolution of ants as a whole. There are an estimated 1000 species in this region, of which 96% are found here and nowhere else. Ants are natural history models for teaching students and the general public about biological subjects such as social behavior, pheromone communication (communication by smell), symbiosis, and population biology. As a result of this project, the conservation community in Madagascar now realizes the urgency of biodiversity research and the role that scientists play in providing the necessary data.
To promote the establishment of International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) sites in the southern Africa region, the Africa, Near East, and South Asia Program in conjunction with the Division of Environmental Biology LTER Program supported the travel of 16 researchers (from Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe) to various U.S. LTER sites in May 2001. Currently one ILTER site exists in Namibia. Other proposed sites include areas of transboundary importance, such as the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and a shared river basin in Mozambique, as well as sites in the Kruger National Park (South Africa) and the Serengeti National Park (Tanzania). The sites draw on each area’s unique resources, but the environmental and ecological problems to be explored concern many other parts of the region, as well as the rest of the world. During this visit the group discussed shared data management procedures, identified specific areas of interest for cross-site collaborations, and planned follow-up activities. The visit also enabled the participants to work together to identify shared problems (such as sources of support and exchange of data) and define overarching areas of research interest.
The development of ILTER sites in Southern Africa enables U.S. and foreign researchers to conduct cross-site studies to compare and synthesize data on long-term ecological processes. Many of the sites will also afford researchers the opportunity to study the impact of transboundary issues (such as shared water resources or the development of transnational parks), and the results can be a valuable benefit in the development of scientifically-based ecosystem management plans. Additionally, the development of shared data management and exchange procedures will enable the larger LTER scientific community to have access to new data.
US-India Research Experiences for Students (Kenneth Keniston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, INT-0138153)
This award supports research experiences in India for graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The opportunity for students to conduct research is a new component of MIT's international program in India, which currently supports experiences in industry and teaching. NSF funding will enable four MIT graduate students to do research at some of India's leading centers of research and higher education. The program is designed to integrate them into groundbreaking research at India's finest institutions, allow them to explore careers in research, and finally, to give them global experience early on in their education and training.
The PI is well connected with Indian institutions/researchers and has recently completed a term as visiting professor at the Nehru Centre for Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. His collaborations with Indian colleagues at the IISc, the Indian Institute of Information Technology, the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, and the National Centre for Biological Sciences have led to the development of opportunities for students in leading edge areas of telecommunications, information technology, genomics, and neurobiology. In addition to providing a unique research experience for MIT graduate students, the project contributes to creating a globally-engaged workforce.
US-Turkey Coop Res: Functionalized Acrylates with Tailored Properties and Applications (Lon Mathias, University of Southern Mississippi, INT-0218222)
This is a cooperative project involving Dr. Lon Mathias, Department of Polymer Science, University of Southern Mississippi and Dr. Duygu Avci, Chemistry Department, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey. They plan to carry out an exchange of professors between the two universities for the purpose of teaching classes, running short courses, an exchange of scientists, graduate and undergraduate students for research purposes. They also plan to establish the first international symposium on multifunctional acrylates involving a workshop and proceedings containing comprehensive overviews of the polymer chemistry, properties and applications of alpha-hydroxymethylacrylates and derivatives (RHMA’s). A novel aspect of the research in the area of multifunctional acrylates, a group of compounds distinguished by their unique cyclization and copolymerization properties, is the extensive use of computational techniques for modeling the chemical reaction kinetics of the molecules.
In this project the collaborators plan to combine their expertise in an important scientific research effort, and to provide international experiences to U.S. graduate and undergraduate students. Previous collaborations between the two teams focused on experimental design and production. The combination of the proposed analytical and computational research and experimental approaches will contribute significantly to the advancement of new knowledge. New multimedia education material will be an outcome of this collaboration, focused on both synthetic and computational aspects of new monomer and polymer systems. These will build on courses taught or to be taught at University of Southern Mississippi and Bogazici by the collaborators.
US-Turkey Workshop on the Izmit Earthquake at the American Geophysical Union Meeting San Francisco, CA – December 1999 (Robert Reilinger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, INT-9912582)
Professor Robert Reilinger of MIT arranged for eight geologists from Turkey to participate in a special session at the 1999 American Geophysical Union Meeting. These visitors had a wealth of experience and data collected during the two 1999 earthquakes in Turkey, measuring 7.4 and 7.2 on the Richter scale. They were able to apprise the participants in the workshop of the on-site conditions and data collected. This information was very helpful in developing a special competition in the Division of Civil and Mechanical Systems for US scientists and engineers to conduct joint earthquake engineering research in Turkey. The projects that were subsequently approved included support for participation by twelve US graduate students in field research in Turkey.
US Southern Africa Coop Res: Int'l Distance Learning on the Environment of South Africa (Stephen A. Macko, University of Virginia, INT-0115438)
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Under a US-Southern Africa collaborative project Professor Stephen Macko, University of Virginia (UVA), Professor Harold Annegarn, University of Witwatersrand (WITS) in South Africa, and Professor Francisco Vieira, University of Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) in Mozambique, explored the use of satellite broadcasts to promote interactions among students and faculty members in the environmental sciences at the three institutions. The 11 broadcasts (seven from UVA, and two each from UEM and WITS) dealt with the large scale land-use/land cover changes which Southern Africa is experiencing, largely brought about by human intervention with the environment, and the impact these changes have on the global environment. The satellite-based broadcasts exposed all students to leading edge technology and scientific content. It also enabled the US graduate and undergraduate students to have direct exposure to and interaction with regional expert lecturers, some of whom made their presentations from their research sites, and African students. The students also interacted with each other through the internet, using classroom internet tools provided by UVA. Approximately 100 undergraduate and 20 graduate students from UVA participated in these seminars, as well as an estimated 40 students from Southern Africa. This project fostered the transfer of knowledge and information on regional, system level environmental problems by harnessing the existing broad spectrum of academic excellence, both at the faculty and student levels, within the partner universities. It also helped create an internationally oriented generation of young environmental scientists in both the United States and Southern Africa.
US-Egypt Workshop: Explaining the Worldviews of the Islamic Public: Theoretical and Methodological Issues, Cairo, Egypt, December 2002 (Mansoor Moaddel, Eastern Michigan University, INT-0217716)
A U.S.-Egypt Workshop and Seminar on Explaining the Worldviews of the Islamic Public: Theoretical and Methodological Issues, will be held in Cairo, Egypt, December 2002. The U.S. organizer is Dr. Mansoor Moaddel of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology at Eastern Michigan University. The co-organizer is Dr. Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Latif, Professor of Sociology, Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt. This meeting will bring together social scientists from the United States and Islamic countries who were involved in carrying out national surveys of the attitudes and value orientations of the Islamic peoples in Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, and Pakistan. This is the first time that comprehensive comparative surveys have been carried out in several major Islamic countries, generating a sociologically important data set. The questionnaire used in these surveys was based on the World Values Survey questionnaire, as well as a series of items that were specifically designed for Islamic countries. To advance the fundamental knowledge of Islamic societies, the participants will address in a collective fashion several methodological and theoretical concerns. These include comparison of different translations of the questionnaire, an assessment of the final sampling frame used in the study, and an analysis of the findings within varying cultural and political contexts.
This meeting expands the basis of social-scientific understanding of Islamic societies by strengthening the network among social scientists that the comparative survey has generated. It deals with a topic that is of current importance in the United States and the Islamic world.
US-India Coop Res: Evolution of the Cetacean Body Plan--Eocene Whales from India (Hans Thewissen, Northeastern Ohio University, INT-0216710)
Hans Thewissen, Northeastern Ohio University and Sunil Bajpai, Indian Institute of Technology (IITR), Roorkee, India will study what is considered one of the most remarkable evolutionary transformations in the vertebrate fossil record, the transformation of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) from terrestrial quadruped to obligate marine swimmer. They will examine evolutionary processes, the fine patterns and their underlying causes, particularly the organ systems that underwent the greatest changes in the transition from land to water. This project will test hypotheses concerning the evolutionary processes that determined much of the cetacean body plan. The systems studies (locomotion, balance, and sound transmission) are documented by fossils and underlie the success of the order Cetacea. The PIs will integrate traditional anatomical and functional data with new insights from developmental biology to yield a sophisticated and detailed understanding of the evolutionary process in early cetaceans. In order to investigate the evolution of these systems, this project will collect and study fossils in India.
This research provides the investigators with a rare opportunity to study the link between paleontology and development. The US and Indian PIs are eminently well qualified; they have complementary expertise and an established collaboration. Bajpai is the leading authority on fossil cetaceans in India and his institution houses the most significant collections. Beyond the scientific community, this study will enhance the tools for teaching evolution to students as well as for explaining scientific processes to the public. This award will further partnerships among researchers including young scientists, collaborative links between the institutions, and will advance theoretical interests in both countries.
US-Ghana Summer Undergraduate Research Experience for US Students at the University of Cape Coast: Bio Diversity in the Tropics (Daniel A. Wubah, James Madison University, INT-0139175)
Dr. Daniel Wubah, James Madison University, and Dr. Kobina Yankson, University of Cape Coast (UCC), will supervise a total of eight US undergraduate students (four per year) in a summer research program in Ghana. The students’ projects will emphasize the importance of biodiversity to the health of ecosystems, and the human and environmental factors that impact biodiversity. They will participate in group meetings, research seminars, field trips, and technical workshops. Senior level UCC students will serve as peer mentors. The research projects are expected to increase the students’ understanding of the ecology and biodiversity in a tropical region of West Africa, improve their skills in critical thinking and problem solving, and broaden their understanding of how science is conducted in a developing country. The projects will also afford them opportunities to develop collaborative linkages with the Ghanaian faculty and students. The results of this program should increase the US students’ competitiveness for graduate and professional studies within the life sciences. This grant also promotes a collaborative linkage between a predominantly undergraduate institution in the United States and a Sub-Saharan Africa university that is actively engaged in research in the biological sciences.
US-Turkey Coop. Research: Study of Micropatterning of Ferroelectric Thin Films and Size Effects (Adnan Aksay, Princeton University, INT-9810336)
Dr. Adnan Aksay of Princeton University, working with Dr. M. Ozenbas of the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, studied the development of synthesis and processing methodologies for fabrication of ferroelectric/piezoelectric thin films and the characterization of the structure-property relation of these films. The results obtained included development of synthesis and micropatterning methodologies through the use of micromolding for fabricating thin films with mesoscale integration. The characterization of thin films such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) was done using electron microscopy, SFM and electrical measurements.
US-Pakistan Coop Res: The Biology of Butterflies of Northern Pakistan, Gilgit to Khunjerab (David Smith, Florida International University, INT-9700669)
Dr. David Smith of Florida International University, working with the staff of the Pakistan Museum of Natural History, studied and documented the butterflies in the valleys of Northern Pakistan at elevations above 8,000 ft where each valley is isolated from others with the result that the genetic mixing of the fauna is quite rare. They were able to identify and characterize over 25 new varieties of butterflies that are unique to each of the valleys visited and also unknown outside these high mountains in northern Pakistan. The success of this study led to further support by INT and DEB to study other species of insects in these isolated pockets in the Himalayan Mountains.
US-India Coop Res: Investigation of Activity along the Himalayan Main Central Thrust-Present Geomorphology and Past Slip, Garhwal, NW India (Elizabeth Catlos, Oklahoma State University, INT-0217598)
Elizabeth Catlos of Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Indian collaborator Chandra Dubey of the University of Delhi will study mass movements within the Himalayan Main Central Thrust (MCT) shear zone and profiles of major rivers that cross the zone to gain understanding of the mechanisms involved during continental collision. The goal is to use a combined geochemical, structural, and geomorphologic approach to test the hypothesis that the MCT shear zone accommodated slip and has sustained seismic activity since the Miocene. They will also investigate the temporal and spatial distribution of mass movement within the MCT shear zone in NW India. The Himalayas are an ideal natural laboratory for studying continental convergence and this research will have broader significance and implications for most other mountain belts.
The US PI is a first-time NSF awardee and a new Ph.D. of considerable promise. The collaboration is career launching and will provide a framework for future interdisciplinary studies. The international collaboration, which pairs the field expertise of the Indian team with the analytical capabilities of the US team, will enhance this research and offer mutual benefits. For the Indian side, Dubey and his graduate student will be trained in electron and ion microprobe analysis in the U.S. OSU students will gain an international perspective through Dubey’s participation in the OSU School of Geology Seminar Series.
US-Turkey Coop Res: Search for Microscopic Theory for the State-of-the-Art Epitaxial Growth of Semiconductors (Ching Fong, University of California at Davis, INT-9872053)
The growth of excellent quality semiconducting materials is crucial for technological applications. One of these materials is gallium arsenide (GaAs), which is used for computer chips and microwave devices. However, it is difficult to grow GaAs layer by layer on top of a surface (known as the two-dimensional growth process), because three dimensional islands will form to disrupt the growth. In 1996, a French group found a way to grow high quality layered GaAs by adding a third kind of atom, tellurium (Te). In this case, Te is called the "surfactant", and the method is called the "surfactant-mediated growth method (SMGM)". They also found that Te will not make any alloys with the host atoms. Te atoms exchange with the As atoms and migrate to the top layer of the sample. The microscopic mechanism for this exchange was not understood until a model calculation was made. The U.S. team, led by Dr. Ching Fong of the Physics Department of the University of California, Davis, and the Turkish team, led by Dr. Selim Ciraci, of Physics Department of Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, obtained results that elucidate the process of how a Te atom floats to the surface of GaAs after it exchanges with an As atom. In addition, SMGM can be used to grow other semiconducting materials.
US-Nigeria Coop Res: Transition States for Thiophosphoryl Transfer from Phosphinothioates and Related Compounds (Alvan C. Hengge, Utah State University, INT-0217688)
Under a cooperative research project, Professor Alvan Hengge, Utah State University, and Professor Ikenna Onyido, University of Agriculture, Nigeria, will study the reaction mechanisms of phosphonothioates. Phosphoryl group transfer from a variety of phosphorylated compounds is involved in energy transport and control mechanisms in biological systems, and is critical to genetic engineering techniques. For a complete understanding of enzymatic catalysis of phosphoryl transfer, it is necessary to know the characterization of the transition state for the reaction. Professors Hengge and Onyido will measure linear free energy relationships and heavy-atom kinetic isotope effects in order to delineate the hydrolysis mechanisms of a family of thiophosphonic esters. The results are expected to reveal how the hydrolytic mechanism depends upon the basicity of the leaving group, as well as the comparative behavior of a group of substrates that function as, or are structurally related to, pesticides and neurotoxins. This project is at the interface of chemistry and biology, and the results are expected to advance the current knowledge about biological phosphoryl transfer at the molecular level.
Indo-U.S. Collaborative Project: Mineral Processing Reagents, Iron Oxide-Titania Separation (Brij M. Moudgil, University of Florida, INT-9419512)
Researchers at the University of Florida and the Tata Research Development & Design Center in India have succeeded in developing new technologies and reagents for the processing/separation of minerals. Processing of low-grade resources has become a necessity since high quality ores are being depleted at a fast and steady rate. The results are of great practical importance to the aluminum industry and for recovering resources from commonly available waste resources such as red mud. This research has provided the theoretical framework for engineers to grasp the underlying scientific and rational basis for the adsorption of reagents on oxide minerals. The results are important, too, for identifying economically attractive and environmentally sound methods to recover titanium from waste. Furthermore, the findings may lead to developing water treatment schemes, particularly the removal of hazardous viruses and bacteria, which has clear importance toward enhancing public health.
US-Botswana Coop Res: Geologic and Geophysical Investigations of the Southwestern Branch of the East African Rift System (Estella Atekwana, University of Missouri-Rolla, INT-0217831)
Professors Estella Atekwana, University of Missouri-Rolla, Motsoptse Modisi and Henri Kampunzu, University of Botswana, and Stanislas Sebagenzi, University of Lumbambashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo, will study geologic and tectonic processes during incipient rifting in the East African rift. The seismically active Southwestern Branch of the East African Rift System is one of the few places in the world where embryonic rifting can be studied at the beginning of continental extension—before volcanism has occurred. The results should advance the current knowledge about geologic and tectonic processes that occur during the earliest stages of continental expansion. The group will also map zones of potential earthquake activity, and these maps should provide valuable hazard and mitigation information that can be applied to similar rifts that experience some of the largest and most damaging earthquakes in the world. The maps will also provide a detailed picture of the subsurface geology of this part of the Kalahari, which may be important for mineral resource exploration.
The Americas Nuggets
US-Brazil Coop Res: Molecular Phylogeny and Systematics of Neo-tropical Primates (Morris Goodman, Wayne State University, INT-9602913)
A research collaboration between Dr. Morris Goodman and postdoctoral researcher Derek Wildman of Wayne State University and Drs. Paula Schneider and Ira Sampaio of the Federal University of Para, Brazil used DNA sequences from seven genes in order to understand the relationships among different primate species, especially New World monkeys. Comparing the genetic traits of our close relatives can help us understand which genetic changes are uniquely human. The researchers made significant progress in establishing the genetic history among several species of New World monkeys, and also discovered tantalizing clues about the processes that led to the emergence of large brains in primate species. They found that in the relatively large-brained monkeys, apes, and humans, there are differences in both the pattern and timing of gene expression, and that there were also periods of accelerated changes in genes that are responsible for producing and transporting energy in organisms. Changes in genes that are vital to the production of energy are likely related to the emergence of the energetically expensive large neocortex in humans and our relatives. The researchers were also able to obtain blood and DNA samples from all of the neotropical primate genera, thus creating a substantial genetic and technical resource of great value in view of the endangered and threatened status of many of these monkeys.
US-Argentina Coop Res: Catalytic Activation of Lower Alkanes, Dehydrogenation and Alkylation Reactions (Daniel E. Resasco, University of Oklahoma, INT-9415590)
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A US-Argentina collaboration studied processes to produce olefins, oxygenates and higher hydrocarbons, which are industrially important chemicals. These studies identified catalysts that are able to give good yields of desired products at relatively low temperatures, resulting in energy savings and efficient conversions of raw starting materials to desired products. In the course of this work, seven US graduate students and two undergraduates worked directly with the Argentinean scientists, giving them exposure to international science while being trained in forefront engineering research with significant practical payoff.
US Costa Rica Participation of US Undergraduates in a Research Oriented Tropical Biology Program (Gary Hartshorn, Organization of Tropical Studies, INT-9815011)
An international project has enabled US students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and from underrepresented groups to participate in an Organization of Tropical Studies (OTS) ecology course in Costa Rica. The students were exposed to hands-on, field-oriented research, and the international experience was a first for many of them. While some of the students had no prior familiarity with scientific research outside of a laboratory, and some were initially tentative about exploring the tropical forest and engaging in hands-on research, by the end of the course they had not only learned from their experience but also felt that the course was academically enriching and an opportunity for personal growth.
AAAS Latin American Lecture Series on Women in Science (Marina Ratchford, American Association for the Advancement of Science, INT-0224869)
This award will support the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in a partnership with three scientific organizations in Latin America to showcase the achievements of distinguished U.S. women scientists to wide audiences in Latin America. Organized by Marina Ratchford of the AAAS Division of International Programs, the initiative seeks to increase both the visibility of U.S. women scientists’ careers, and the participation of women in the scientific enterprise in Latin America.
The AAAS will organize three panels, each comprising three U.S. women scientists interested in sharing their experiences with Latin American colleagues. Panelists will be selected, not only on their outstanding scientific careers, but also on how their experiences furnish compelling strategies to overcome the challenges of pursuing scientific careers. It is expected that the selected panelists will serve as role models for women in the U.S. and Latin America.
Selected panelists will develop lectures and visual materials to be presented at the Annual Meetings of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC); Costa Rica’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICIT); and the Panamanian Association for the Advancement of Science (APANAC). These venues will gather a diversity of participants that include scientists, educators, students, policymakers and journalists. AAAS will work with host associations to arrange additional activities to take place around the Annual Meeting lectures, including visits to local universities, schools, museums, and research institutes. Lecturers will provide a report about their interaction with Latin American colleagues, including suggestions to increase the participation of women in science and international cooperation among women scientists.
US-Brazil Coop Res: Resource Partitioning Among Woody Plants of a Species-Rich Cerrado (Guillermo H. Goldstein, University of Hawaii, INT-9415987)
In a study that has implications for hydrology and global climate change, US researchers from the University of Hawai are involved in an international collaboration with Brazilian scientists studying water utilization in several woody species in a savanna ecosystem characterized by strong seasonal precipitation. Understanding this process is important because it aids in determining the extent of temporal and spatial partitioning of soil water and nutrient resources. This study represents the most comprehensive work to date on the water economy of woody species in the Cerrado of Brazil, which is the second, most extensive vegetation type in South America and should prove useful in increasing our understanding of this important process in plants. Students from the US, and from Brazil and Argentina participated in the study.
International Research Fellowship Program: Exotic Species Invasion: Direct and Indirect Interference in Native Species Persistence (Mexico) (Kelly G. Lyons, INT-0202653)
Dr. Kelly Lyons was awarded a twenty-two month fellowship under the International Research Fellowship Program to work with Dr. Alberto Burquez at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Hermosillo, Mexico on the topic of invasive species. Their project will test the general hypothesis that the presence of an invasive, exotic plant species negatively affects native plant species with emphasis on documenting changes in native species abundance and separating effects of direct and indirect interactions. Four studies will be conducted. Three of these will employ paired plots in invaded and non-invaded areas along an invasion front in intact, native habitat. A descriptive study (1) will test whether the presence of an exotic species adversely affects native species through direct and/or indirect means by correlating native and exotic species' abundance on either side of an invasion front. Two studies will employ descriptive and manipulative experiments to test the hypothesis that an aggressive exotic impacts native species' fitness indirectly by altering community food web dynamics and pollinator mutualisms. Finally, through experimental removal of an exotic, a fourth study will examine exotic species' effects on native species persistence. The investigation will take place in the Plains of Sonora subdivision in the Sonora Desert near Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico where the aggressive perennial grass Pennisetum ciliare (buffelgrass) has been introduced for rangeland improvement. This exotic species is spreading from grazed areas into natural, intact habitats and is a widely perceived threat to native biodiversity. These studies are expected to demonstrate the role of exotic species invasions in the decline of native species abundance and fitness and highlight the more elusive, indirect mechanisms mediated by native pollinators and insect herbivores. Invasive species honor no boundaries, and this project will facilitate a dialogue between the U.S. and Mexico on this pressing conservation issue.
US-Chile Coop Res: Pattern Formation in Vertically Oscillated Granular Materials (Harry Swinney, University of Texas at Austin, INT-9415709)
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In a US-Chile Cooperative Research project, Dr. Harry Swinney, University of Texas, Austin, collaborated with Dr. Francisco Melo, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, on the physics of granular flow. Granular flows play an important role in industries such as mining, agriculture, construction, and pharmaceuticals, where the flowing materials can be coal, rice grains, sand or pills. However, the efficiency of moving these materials is typically 50%, whereas fluids are often 90% efficient. Understanding the fundamental processes governing the flow of granular materials would bring about greater efficiencies in handling them. The results of these investigations have received substantial attention and have stimulated considerable theoretical and experimental research on spatial patterns in granular media.
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Dr. Larry Atkinson and colleagues from Old Dominion University are collaborating with Chilean oceanographers on a study of the coastal ocean ecosystem of the Chilean Inland Sea. Red tide outbreaks have been reported, which have caused massive mortalities in salmon farming in the area. These joint studies constitute one of the steps toward increasing understanding of the mechanisms that trigger red tide events. Data from the project and a numerical circulation model are available on the internet for use by others (http://www.ccpo.odu.edu/~andres/accis-data.html). The results apply especially to fishing and other aquaculture interests and will aid decision makers worldwide on the impacts of human activities on this important economic crop.
US-Mexico Collaborative Analysis of the Pathways of Control of Dimorphism in Ustilago Maydis (Scott Gold, University of Georgia, INT-0203661)
This U.S.-Mexico award supports a collaborative project between Dr. Scott Gold, of the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia and Dr. Jose Ruiz-Herrera of the Centro de Investigaciones y de Estudios Avanzados (Cinvestav) in Irapuato, Mexico. The researchers are studying corn smut fungi, a plant disease of cultivated maize, whose close relatives are important pathogens of many grain crops. The Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences is also providing partial support for this project
Smut fungi grow in two morphologies, one form is a budding yeast whereas the second is typical of most fungi and is made up of long tubular cells of filaments. In corn smut, yeast cells cannot attack the plant but the filamentary form can. These two forms are also common in animal and human fungal pathogens and, again, morphology is often correlated with the ability to cause disease. The researchers have discovered mutations in genes that control the ability of the fungus to alternate between these two forms. The mutations thus far characterized dramatically affect smut disease progression. However, the morphogenetic stimuli used by the two research groups differ, the U.S side studying the signal transduction pathways and the Mexican side studying the effects of pH variations, with both groups observing similar phenotypic results in their studies. The work proposed here will continue to determine the relationship between these morphogenetic pathways by means of various experimental approaches. The information to be derived from this collaboration is likely to increase our understanding of fungal growth and diseases in general. In addition, the involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in the collaboration will provide them with a significant international research and cultural experience.
US-Argentina Coop Res: Studies of Strongly Disordered Anisotropic Superconductors and Non-Adiabatic Spin-Phonon Effects (Alberto Rojo, University of Michigan, INT-9602962)
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A research collaboration between Dr. Alberto Rojo of the University of Michigan and Dr. Carlos Balseiro of the Centro Atomico de Bariloche in Argentina has led to the first experiment in which phonon squeezing has been observed in condensed matter. Phonon squeezing refers to one of the ways to control noise at a microscopic scale and these findings are relevant to the control of mechanical vibrations in nanotechnology devices at low temperatures. The research has led to novel results, not only in the phenomenon of phonon squeezing but also in the theory of superconductivity, two areas of topical interest because they entail fundamental scientific questions and because they involve issues of technological impact.
US-Venezuela Coop Res: Modeling Adsorption and Dynamics of Water and Aqueous Solutions on Activated Carbon (Keith Gubbins, Cornell University, INT-9602960)
A research collaboration between Dr. Keith E. Gubbins of Cornell University and Dr. Erich Muller of Simon Bolivar University, Caracas, Venezuela has led to the development of a useful model of the adsorption of water in a wide range of porous materials. Examples of such materials are activated carbons, silica gels, zeolites (molecular sieves) and other recently synthesized porous materials that are widely used in industry for drying and purification of gases, water purification, and to enhance chemical reactions. The take-up of water by these materials varies greatly with the reaction and purification processes to be used.
This research collaboration has clearly shown that a combination of selective adsorption and diffusion is critical and that adsorption can be controlled through an appropriate design of pore structure. Moreover, it also suggests ways to design improved porous materials that will minimize problems with water adsorption, and hence optimize industrial purification and reaction processes.
Central and Eastern Europe Nuggets
US Baltics/Former Soviet Union/Central European Workshops in Environmental Chemistry, Short Term US Visits by early Career Scientists from the Region (John Malin, American Chemical Society, INT-9711279)
The demise of the Soviet economic system at the beginning of the 1990's focused world attention on newly revealed environmental problems in Central and Eastern Europe. With support from the Central and Eastern Europe Program, the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Office of International Activities organized a series of three workshops that brought U.S. investigators to Central and Eastern Europe to discuss and propose solutions to shared environmental problems. ACS also organized a series of return research visits to the U.S. for junior environmental scientists from Central and Eastern Europe. The individual interactions that grew from the workshops and research visits have yielded a number of long-term scientific projects, currently being carried out by a diverse, globally-engaged workforce of scientists and engineers. The outcomes include: (1) A multi-million dollar radionuclide cleanup project at Sillmae, Estonia, (2) Fulbright - supported exchange visits of Baltic scientists at U.S. institutions, (3) a DOE project to improve the Estonian power grid, (4) a Central/Eastern European - U.S. list server at Duke University for continual exchange of ideas, (5) Central/Eastern European participation in workshops in specific areas, (e.g. creating new environmental electrochemical sensors), and (6) participation of scientists from the region in new U.S. programs to advance environmentally benign chemical products and processes.
US Former Soviet Union-EU Geology Field Mapping Course in the Kyrgyz Tien Shan, Central Asia (Ray Weldon, University of Oregon - Eugene, INT-0209874)
This international field camp will bring together students from the United States, European Union and Central Asia to learn geologic mapping skills. This is an excellent training opportunity for students to learn the techniques of field structural geology and neotectonics. It will also enhance the development of ties among the next generation of geoscientists.
The Tien Shan Mountains offer superb exposure and complex geology where the students will be able to address some of the most fundamental questions on mountain building and interactions of older and younger deformational events. The Tien Shan will introduce the students to a completely new class of structures that are not well exposed in the US. The mapping projects are designed to answer specific scientific questions about the active deformation in the Tien Shan, as well as to provide excellent learning situations for the students. This project will also further understanding of the geology and geodynamics of the Tien Shan orogen, that currently absorbs half of the shortening caused by the collision of Eurasia and the Indian subcontinent.
US-Czech Astronomical Research on Morphologies of Eclipsing and Non-eclipsing Algols (Mercedes Richards, University of Virginia, INT-9512791)
Dr. Mercedes Richards of the University of Virginia and her counterpart from the Czech Republic have made significant advances in the field of interacting binary star research. The large number of interacting binaries studied so far had one aspect in common: these binaries are eclipsing, which means that we happen to view them very nearly edge-on, in the orbital plane. This fact permits us to derive reliable data about the sizes, masses, and other parameters of both components – provided circumstellar matter does not obscure the view, which it often does because of our location in the solar system. Therefore it is desirable to observe binaries outside the orbital plane. This project was the first one to attack this problem head-on. It was based on the fortunate circumstance that the Czech team has for years concentrated on a systematic search for Be stars (B-type stars with emission lines) that are at the same time binaries. Some of them appear to be of the type studied by the P.I. (the Algols). This project was an excellent opportunity to join forces for a systematic study of Algol binaries seen at various degrees of inclination. The results produced by the P.I. were termed by the referee for the Astrophysical Journal as "the most definitive paper every written on accretion and accretion studies in Algol binaries".
Natural Attenuation of Metals along the Tisza River Floodplain-Wetlands Continuum (Hungary) (Domy Adriano, University of Georgia, INT 0121402)
Water and big river research topics have increasing global significance. In Hungary, environmental problems are exacerbated annually by floods on the Tisza that expose the wetlands to high concentrations of zinc, cyanide and copper coming from poorly maintained industrial infrastructure in neighboring countries.
This U.S.-Hungary workshop will bring together expert scientists and engineers as well as postdoctoral associates and students to examine the environmental issues associated with metal contamination of the Hungarian Tisza River throughout its floodplain and wetlands. The organizers are Prof. Domy Adriano of the University of Georgia’s River Ecology Lab and Prof. Nemeth Tamas, of the Hungarian Research Institute for Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry. Their objective is to determine the key scientific issues and to help define research priorities that are longer-term and cross-disciplinary. To accomplish this, workshop discussions will feature pollutant cycling and the effects on local aquatic and terrestrial environments.
Specifically, the U.S. and Hungarian organizers intend to use this forum to: 1) formulate hypotheses regarding the rates and mechanisms of natural attenuation, from the landscape to molecular levels; 2) determine bio-availability and the natural attenuation of metals in the Tisza’s chronically contaminated landscape; 3) relate the kinetics of metal attenuation to biological responses and chemical indices; and 4) develop novel monitoring protocols and enhanced predictive models for managing ecological habitats, in the context of land use and water management policies. Overall the participants are motivated by the goal of defining suitable environmental management and mitigation strategies. If successful, this workshop should lead to the delineation of collaborative and linked US-Hungarian subprojects on ecological and engineering topics that will yield results applicable to the metal pollution problems found in big rivers around the world.
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New evidence suggests that the flooding of a land bridge that once connected Asia and America, destroying a key evolution superhighway, occurred about 2 million years earlier than thought. Based on the results of a U.S.-Russia collaborative research project, U.S. and Russian scientists determined the date of the Bering Strait's opening by studying Astarte clams found in southern Alaska. This clam used to live exclusively in Arctic and North Atlantic oceans, and could only have crossed into North Pacific waters through the strait. The first occurrence of Astarte in the North Pacific and, therefore, the first opening of Bering Strait was likely to have been in the late Miocene (more than 5.32 million years ago). The US scientist, Louis Marincovich, Jr., of the California Academy of Sciences, said "We believe water flowed south through the strait at the time, and would explain why a creature like Astarte appeared near Alaska long before Pacific mollusks arrived in the North Atlantic." Marincovich stated that the opening of the Bering Strait also drastically changed the Arctic's climate, which once supported pleasant Mediterranean-style conditions and lush forests. He added that the revised opening date will allow researchers to more accurately document ancient climates.
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A US-Bulgaria project encompassed coordinated experimental and theoretical work on novel techniques in ultrashort light pulse generation and measurement – an area of great interest in laser optics. Dr. Margaret Murnane of the University of Michigan has studied a very fundamental question - the optical nonlinear response time of materials, which is normally thought to be essentially the period of an electron. Deviations from that assumption could shed additional light on atomic and molecular structure, and show how electrons couple to the rest of the atoms and to molecules. The team from Bulgaria brought theoretical expertise, which complemented the experimental expertise of the US researchers. The scientists developed the first completely 3-D models of solid-state lasers. The research resulted in 6 journal papers, including invited reviews, and 19 presentations at major international conferences or universities, many of which were invited talks. The P.I. since has received a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant”.
Celebration 2000: A Seismic Investigation of Lithospheric Structure in the Trans-European Suture/Carpathian Mountains Region (CEE) (George R. Keller, University of Texas at El Paso, INT-0001356)
Central Europe has experienced a complex tectonic history that poses a major challenge to efforts to understand the structure and evolution of this geologically significant region. The term Trans-European Suture (TESZ) has been coined to refer to the convoluted collage of structures formed by tectonic events. Several years ago, the European scientific community recognized that major geophysical experiments are needed to unravel the structural effects of these events. Polish geophysicists reacted quickly, and organized a very large seismic experiment (POLONAISE) that was begun in 1997. Funding from the Central and Eastern Europe Program to support the shipment of 200 instruments and travel of U.S. researchers to Poland played a key role in the success of this experiment that has already been featured in two volumes of an international refereed journal. Danish, Finnish, Lithuanian, Canadian, Swedish, and German groups also participated in this experiment that revealed a surprisingly thick (20 km) accumulation of sedimentary rocks in the Polish trough region and important structural details along the TESZ. The productive collaborations established during POLONAISE demonstrated that complex projects such as this can be undertaken only by pooling the expertise, instrumentation, and human resources of several countries. The success of POLONAISE led to the organization of an even bigger experiment focused on the area to the south. This effort involved a large consortium of institutions (28 in all) and is called CELEBRATION 2000 (Central European Lithospheric Experiment Based on Refraction, 2000).
East Asia and the Pacific Nuggets
Summer Programs in Asia for U.S. Graduate Students
Since their start in Japan in 1990, in Korea in 1995, and in Taiwan in 2000, the Summer Programs in Asia for U.S. Graduate Students have enabled more than 700 American graduate students to gain first‑hand experience in a Japanese, Korean or Taiwanese research laboratory. Of the 75-100 participants supported each year, approximately 30% are female and 25% are underrepresented minorities.
In addition to a research internship, the Summer Programs provide introductory foreign language training, and exposure to science and science‑policy infrastructure. The goals of the program are to introduce U.S. graduate students to Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese science and engineering research laboratories and to initiate personal relationships that will better enable students to collaborate with foreign counterparts in the future. A long‑term goal of the program is to enable the United States to gain maximum benefit from international scientific and technical interactions.
International Research Fellow Awards: Diatom Diversity and Training in Mongolia’s Lake Hovsgol National Park (Mark Edlund, University of Michigan, INT-9802816)
| Dr. Mark B. Edlund, a postdoctoral fellow, and his collaborators, Dr. Eugene Stoermer, University of Michgan and Dr. Ts. Jamsran of Mongolian State University, undertook a survey of the algal biodiversity of Lake Hovsgol in Mongolia. Lake Hovsgol is an ancient ecosystem in a tectonic basin. It is one of the largest, most pristine oligotrophic (deficient in plant nutrients) lakes on earth. Lakes such as this have existed for millions of years and are natural laboratories for the study of ecology and evolution. Lake Hovsgol has been named Mongolia's first International Long-Term Ecological Research site. Because this site is at risk ecologically, it is important to document its diversity. In addition to performing this documentation, Dr. Edlund worked with Mongolian scientists, helping to train them and prepare them for future research collaborations with the United States. One result of this research is a web site created by the PIs, designed to manage and provide access to information regarding this project (www.umich.edu/~mongolia/) | |
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Innovations in Internalization: Building Multi-Sector Partnership for Research; Education and Economic Development (China) (Gretchen Kalonji, University of Washington, EHR-0125122 (co-funded by INT))
This activity has the following goals: (1) create new team-based approaches for faculty, students, government and industry partners to collaborate on international research and education, (2) translate the work of these teams into products, systems, and services, (3) produce a scientific and engineering workforce to work in an international marketplace. Teams of faculty and students from the University of Washington and Sichuan University in Chengdu, China will be working collaboratively on water resource management, waste water treatment, forest ecology, environmentally-friendly materials processing, biodiversity, and the impact of humans on the ecology.
The focus of the project is on building sustainable relationships for research-education-economic development. Innovation outcomes include creation of a workforce to participate in the emerging Chinese market, creation of the opportunities for small businesses to participate in academic research and to gain access to new international business opportunities, increase trade with China for Washington, and "internationalization" of some of the faculty at the University of Washington.
Korea-US Science and Engineering Summer Camp (Michael G. Snyder, American Association For Advancement of Science, INT-0208632)
This award supports a pilot Korea-U.S. science and engineering summer camp for high school students. The camp is organized as a joint effort between the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation, with partial funding for U.S. participation from the Korea-U.S. Science Cooperation Center and NSF. This program will provide an opportunity for American participants to join with Korean students and researchers in a hands-on science, technology, engineering and mathematics research experience. The outcome will be early exposure to research experiences, involvement in innovative projects developed by teams of student participants, learning about the research process and careers, improved awareness of international scientific and engineering cooperation, and increased understanding of how research is approached in a different society/culture.
US-Japan Coop Sci: Development of Materials with Ultra-Fine Grain Sizes (Terence Langdon, University of Southern California, INT-9602919)
Professor Terence Langdon of the University of Southern California is engaged in an international collaboration with Professor Minoru Nemoto of Kyushu University in Japan. The project seeks to understand the underlying science of superplastic forming, an industrial process in which sheet metal is formed into complex shapes. This forming process is now widely developed for aluminum-based and titanium-based materials. The collaborative project has applied the Equal-Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) technique to reduce the grain sizes of aluminum-based alloys to the submicrometer range. Alloys with grain sizes in the nanometer range have the potential for superplastic-like flow at relatively low temperatures. The application of such new techniques could greatly benefit the superplastic forming industry by decreasing the forming time, for each part, from about 20-30 minutes to only several seconds. A reduction in processing time of that magnitude would impact all related aspects of manufacturing and mechanical design, with applications in fields ranging from aerospace to architecture to sporting goods. If the developing nanotechnologies are adopted for industrial use, there will be significant contributions to the public welfare through advances in manufacturing processes and in the design of consumer products.
Western Europe Nuggets
US-Switzerland Coop Res: Monolithic High-speed Photoreceivers, Wavelength and Polarization Sensors on Si (M. Selim Unlu, Boston University, INT-0201582)
This three-year award supports fabrication of a prototype single chip of integrated opto-electronic transreceivers for use in high speed, optical telecommunications and data transmissions by fiber channels. The goal is to merge silicon technology, the dominant material in electronic and computing devices, and photodetectors. Researchers and students at national centers of photonics research - Boston University’s Photonics Center, the Swiss National Competence Center for Research in Photonics, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s (Lausanne) new Microelectronics System Laboratory – combine resources and expertise to fabricate a resonant-cavity photodetector using a unique double-SOI silicon process. Led by M. Selim Unlu in the US, Marc Ilegems, and Yusuf Leblebici in Switzerland, researchers will work together to design, fabricate and characterize a novel opto-electronic device and train students in new techniques. US expertise and research will be advanced by unique Swiss expertise in compound semiconductor materials and photonic crystal devices.
Professor Frank Pfenning and several students from the Carnegie Mellon University are engaged in international cooperation with a German group headed by Dieter Hutter of the German Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Saarbrücken. The project focuses on the difficult problem of developing a logical framework, known as a meta-language, which would allow programmers to program various forms of formal reasoning. Such a meta-language would make possible advances in computer-generated proofs, allow the proofs to be written in natural language (as opposed to a string of difficult-to-interpret symbols), open the door for new applications in artificial intelligence, and allow the development of new software while checking its validity at the same time, thereby reducing the great expense to society of producing incorrect software. The German group is an international leader in this area and has developed several cutting-edge systems for inductive theorem proving and software checking that are being used by German industry and the federal government in Germany. The collaboration combines unique experience and expertise in pursuit of an important and difficult problem whose solution will be of benefit not just to the scientific community, but also to many sectors of society.
US-Germany Coop Res: Speciation of Methylcyclopentadienyl Manganese Tricarbonyl by High Performance-Diode Laser Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (David Butcher Western Carolina University, INT-9902679)
Professor David Butcher and several students from Western Carolina University are engaged in international collaboration with a German group headed by Kay Niemax and Michael Bolshov of the Institute for Spectrochemistry and Applied Spectroscopy at the University of Dortmund. The project couples state-of-the-art methods in chemical analysis with the latest advance in laser atomic absorption spectrometry in order to analyze compounds that result from the combustion of methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT), which has been used in fuel additives to gasoline since 1995. Controversy has developed over possible health risks associated with MMT, but not enough is known because of a lack of data on the exact nature of the residual after combustion in automobile engines. The new combination of analytical techniques derived from combining the German and US expertise has made it possible to cheaply and easily obtain fundamental information regarding the combustion and toxicity of MMT, and thereby assess the risk to society of using it in gasoline.
US-France Coop Res: Computing the Real Hazard to the Earth from Comets and Asteroids (William F. Bottke, Southwest Research Institute, INT-0128350)
Researchers on this three-year award propose new models and computing techniques to locate the most hazardous and hard to find comets, asteroids, and other near earth objects (NEOs), to estimate their future trajectories and frequency of impact on Earth and other planets. An international team led by William F. Bottke of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, and Alessandro Morbidelli of the Observatoire de Nice in France address the origin and evolution of near earth objects, a population of asteroids and comets crossing or nearly crossing the Earth’s orbit. Present knowledge of orbital and size distributions of the NEO population is limited and only a modest fraction has been discovered. Building on US-French orbital and distribution models, the researchers will design NEO surveys to determine location, to compute frequency of impacts on Earth and relative collision rate on the moon and terrestrial planets.
The United Nations and the United States Congress have declared NEOs a global problem. Its solution defies one nation’s ability and requires cooperation on a global scale, and expertise and observations from many international groups. This US-France project uses data collected through observations worldwide and by the first-rate planetary research group at the Observatoire de Nice. The US research team’s effort in large-scale numerical simulations and statistics on comet and asteroid orbital evolution is complemented by French expertise on their dynamics and in the physics of collision fragmentation.
US-Germany Dissertation Enhancement: Direct Radiative Forcing of Climate by Anthropogenic Aerosol Particles (Mark Rood, University of Illinois, INT-9818402)
A Dissertation Enhancement award supported a student of Professor Mark Rood’s group in the Civil Engineering department of the University of Illinois to spend several months working on his dissertation under the tutelage of Alfred Widensohler at the Institute for Tropospheric Research in Leipzig, Germany. The student focused on understanding how aerosol particles affect the global climate and how they respond to the sun’s radiation. This project enabled the student to gain experience in a foreign laboratory and to make contacts with an international group of scientists. In addition, the facilities and expertise of the German side were complementary to those on the US side, allowing the student to combine the capabilities of both sides as he pursues the Ph.D. degree. The student acquired experience and contacts that will prepare and assist him to continue to perform cutting-edge research in an increasingly diverse and global research environment.
US-France Research experiences for Undergraduates in Chemistry (Randolph S. Duran, University of Florida, CHE-9732161, CHE-9820289, CHE-0097385, CHE-0139505, EEC-9732420, EEC-9840810 (co-funded by INT)
In the summer of 1998, CHE and INT launched what is now its largest international site for Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), the US-France REU Program in Chemistry, Particle Science, Optics and Lasers. Administered by the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida in an exchange format, the program allows US undergraduate students to conduct independent research projects in a network of world renowned research institutions in Paris, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Grenoble, LeMans, Strasbourg, Marseille, and Lyon. The US-France REU Program has sent 57 US students and one secondary school teacher to France and has received 57 French students at the University of Florida and Central Florida’s national REU sites in its first four years. This program positions US students for careers in today’s highly competitive global market and inspires life-long research careers.
US students participate in research with a focused international component normally not found in the United States. Projects are selected from a roster developed jointly with researchers at French universities, at the “ivy league” Grandes Ecoles and at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Europe’s largest research organization. Student research is showcased at mid summer conferences on interdisciplinary topics such as “Advanced Materials,” and “Interface between Chemistry, Materials, and Biology.”
Early results demonstrate that undergraduates who participated in the program are highly motivated to select research careers. Currently, over 50% of the US-France REU graduates are enrolled in doctoral programs and a dozen have received prestigious NSF Graduate Fellowships, Goldwater Fellowships, and Rhodes Scholarships. For instance, Wildeliz Torres, who did research in polymer chemistry at the University Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris) in 1998, is now pursuing her doctoral degree at the University of Puerto Rico. Jennifer Logan, another US-France REU graduate, is a NSF Graduate Fellow at the University of Florida.
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US-Germany International Research Fellowship Program: Prediction of Bone Strength in Fracture Healing Using Quantitative Computed Tomography and Finite Element Analysis (Sandra J. Shefelbine, Germany, INT-0202562)
Dr. Sandra J. Shefelbine was awarded a twenty-four month fellowship under the International Research Fellowship Program to work with Dr. Lutz Claes at the University of Ulm's Institute of Orthopedic Research and Biomechanics, in Germany. This project proposes a non-invasive method for assessing bone strength during fracture healing. It will combine quantitative computer tomography (QCT) and finite element analysis of a fracture callus in a rat femur in order to predict bone stiffness during fracture healing. This will be done by: the development of a model of fracture healing in the rat femur; imaging the healing fracture using microcomputer tomography (CT); creating a finite element model of the healing fracture to predict bone strength; and validating the finite element predictions with mechanical testing of the bones in bending and torsion. The combination of QCT and finite element modeling in determining the bone strength in fracture healing will be a powerful technique for determining detailed, quantitative information during the healing process. The Institute is a well-known lab for experimental biomechanics. Dr. Claes' lab focuses on the effects of mechanics on fracture healing and has a wide range of experimental facilities.
US-France Coop Res: Development of Multiple- Collector SIMS Techniques for High Precision Isotopic Analyses (Kevin McKeegan, UCLA, INT-9726772)
Results from an NSF-CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) cooperative research project suggest a new type of extinct radioactivity in primitive meteorites. Published as the cover article in Science, the discovery was made by Kevin D. McKeegan of the University of California, Los Angeles and Marc Chaussidon at the Centre de Recherches Petrographiques et Geochimiques (CRPG) in Nancy, France. Using a new generation high sensitivity, high resolution secondary ion mass spectrometer (ims) at UCLA, and advanced ims 1270 ion microprobe in Nancy, both fitted with an advanced multiple ion beam collector, the US-French team probed samples from the Allende meteorite, a primitive chondrite meteorite. In experiments with the Nancy instrument, a ~40 micrometer diameter melilite crystal inclusion was produced that contained a small concentration of short-lived radioactive beryllium-10. This radionuclide is produced only by nuclear spallation reactions and its existence in early solar system materials, such as the Allende meteorite, suggests intense irradiation processes in the solar nebula and a new type of primitive radiation.
Although initially aimed at developing new techniques for measuring isotopic abundance in geological and extraterrestrial samples and focused on optimization of the new US and French instruments, the project led to discoveries in astrophysics and advanced the accuracy and precision of isotopic analysis.
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