Developing a Simple NMR Interface: WWNMR

We have designed and implemented an automated walkup NMR computer application for use by synthetic chemists. The Wyeth Walkup NMR (WWNMR) application is a TCL/TK graphical user interface front-end to Varian's NMR automation routines. The key feature of WWNMR is that the chemists are isolated from the spectrometer's control program (VNMR) and only enter information to WWNMR windows for a sample to be run. The resulting data can be printed out on paper, or stored on disk for easy access by all users at their desktops. Proton and carbon NMR experiments are available. An overview of the WWNMR application will be presented.     

Fatigue processes in metals—role of aqueous environments

The response of a wide range of metals under the action of an applied stress and in environments spanning an entire range of aggressiveness, from the very inert to aggressive has been the subject of several investigations. Most of these studies have focused on mechanisms governing fatigue crack propagation and little attention has been paid to the effect of environment on fatigue crack initiation. A comprehensive understanding of the influence of aqueous environments has been hampered by the complexity of the problem, the difficulties in understanding the various micromechanisms governing crack initiation and crack propagation and by an absence of a truly interdisciplinary attack of the problem. In this paper, several of the fatigue crack initiation models are presented and the micromechanisms governing fatigue crack initiation are examined. The various processes that control the phenomenon of cracking including aqueous environment enhanced fatigue crack growth are also highlighted in this review.     

Determination of the Impact of Glycolate on Cs,Sr, and Actinide Separations in High-Level Waste

The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), responsible for vitrifying high-level waste (HLW) at the Savannah River Site (SRS), is planning to introduce glycolic acid as a reductant during chemical conditioning of the waste prior to vitrification. A portion of this glycolic acid may be recycled back to the tank farm as sodium glycolate. Since glycolate can serve as a complexing agent for a variety of metallic ions, recent studies were performed to examine the effect of glycolate on the removal of Sr and actinides by monosodium titanate (MST) and modified MST (mMST) and the separation of Cs by the caustic-side solvent extraction (CSSX) process.     

Analysis‐preserving video microscopy compression via correlation and mathematical morphology

The large amount video data produced by multi‐channel, high‐resolution microscopy system drives the need for a new high‐performance domain‐specific video compression technique. We describe a novel compression method for video microscopy data. The method is based on Pearson's correlation and mathematical morphology. The method makes use of the point‐spread function (PSF) in the microscopy video acquisition phase. We compare our method to other lossless compression methods and to lossy JPEG, JPEG2000, and H.264 compression for various kinds of video microscopy data including fluorescence video and brightfield video. We find that for certain data sets, the new method compresses much better than lossless compression with no impact on analysis results. It achieved a best compressed size of 0.77% of the original size, 25× smaller than the best lossless technique (which yields 20% for the same video). The compressed size scales with the video's scientific data content. Further testing showed that existing lossy algorithms greatly impacted data analysis at similar compression sizes. Microsc. Res. Tech. 78:1055–1061, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Bilateral Laplace Transforms on Time Scales: Convergence, Convolution, and the Characterization of Stationary Stochastic Time Series

The convergence of Laplace transforms on time scales is generalized to the bilateral case. The bilateral Laplace transform of a signal on a time scale subsumes the continuous time bilateral Laplace transform, and the discrete time bilateral z-transform as special cases. As in the unilateral case, the regions of convergence (ROCs) time scale Laplace transforms are determined by the time scale’s graininess. ROCs for the bilateral Laplace transforms of double sided time scale exponentials are determined by two modified Hilger circles. The ROC is the intersection of points external to modified Hilger circle determined by behavior for positive time and the points internal to the second modified Hilger circle determined by negative time. Since graininess lies between zero and infinity, there can exist conservative ROCs applicable for all time scales. For continuous time (ℝ) bilateral transforms, the circle radii become infinite and results in the familiar ROC between two lines parallel to the imaginary z axis. Likewise, on ℤ, the ROC is an annulus. For signals on time scales bounded by double sided exponentials, the ROCs are at least that of the double sided exponential. The Laplace transform is used to define the box minus shift through which time scale convolution can be defined. Generalizations of familiar properties of signals on ℝ and ℤ include identification of the identity convolution operator, the derivative theorem, and characterizations of wide sense stationary stochastic processes for an arbitrary time scales including autocorrelation and power spectral density expressions.     

Evaluation of harassment of migrating double-crested cormorants to limit depredation on selected sport fisheries in Michigan

Diverse management techniques have been used to mitigate conflicts between humans and double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) including harassment methods supplemented by lethal take. In this study we evaluated impacts of programs to harass spring migrating cormorants on the walleye (Sander vitreus) fishery in Brevoort Lake and the yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and walleye fisheries at Drummond Island. Cormorant foraging declined significantly (p < 0.05) at both locations subsequent to initiation of harassment programs. Overall harassment deterred 90% of cormorant foraging attempts while taking less than 6% lethally on average at each site. Yellow perch were a predominate prey item in number and biomass at both locations. Walleye made up a small proportion of the diet at both locations. However, both walleye and yellow perch abundance increased significantly (p < 0.05) at Drummond Island. Walleye abundance at age 3 increased to record levels in 2008 following 3 years of cormorant management at Brevoort Lake. The estimated cormorant consumption of age-1 walleye in the absence of management at Brevoort Lake during 2005 would account for 55% of the record 2006 age-1 walleye population. These results support the hypothesis that cormorant predation on spawning aggregations of sportfish was a significant mortality factor and cormorant management reduced sportfish mortality and increased abundance at both locations. Continuation of harassment programs and fishery assessments will determine whether improvement of targeted sport fisheries through control of spring migrating cormorants is sustainable.     

Phosphorous Levels in Peeled and Deveined Shrimp Treated with Sodium Tripolyphosphate

Using volumetric and spectrophotometric methods for the determination of phosphorous, untreated shrimp were shown to have high and variable phosphorous content. When peeled and deveined shrimp were treated with 0.5% and 1.0% sodium tripolyphosphate (STP) solutions, the STP uptake was shown to be low. At these low treatment concentrations the phosphorous content in the treated shrimp did not exceed the range of natural phosphorous found in untreated shrimp. When higher treatment concentrations were used, treated thrimp could be identified. The stability of STP in treated shrimp during frozen storage was investigated using a P³² STP isotope. After 2 wk of frozen storage at –26°C only 12% of the total activity could be attributed to STP. At the same time, pyrophosphate was present at a level of 25% and orthophosphate at 27%. During further frozen storage, the STP concentration remained at approxinately 12%, pyrophosphate dropped down to as low as 2% while orthophosphate gradually increased reaching 45% of total activity at the end of 10 wk storage period.     

Evaluation of intermodel agreement using ISO 13655 M0, M1, and M2 measurement modes in commercial spectrophotometers

Spectrophotometers are routinely used for color measurement and color management in many commercial printing and proofing workflows. In the case of media containing optical brightening agents, ultraviolet (UV)‐induced fluorescence has led to poor levels of agreement between models from different manufacturers, and different models from the same manufacturer. A relevant standard, ISO 13655, has been revised and now clearly defines measurement modes and conditions for the UV component in spectrophotometers. ISO 13655:2009—Graphic Technology—Spectral Measurement and Colorimetric Computation for Graphic Arts Images now defines four measurement modes: M0, M1, M2, and M3. The intermodel difference between 10 commercially available spectrophotometers is evaluated for different substrate types in measurement modes (M0, M1, and M2) as allowed by each instrument. In particular, the authors compare devices using M0 legacy mode versus newer instruments that are compliant with the new M1 and M2 (UV‐included and UV‐excluded) measurement modes. A finding with significant practical applications is that there is greatly improved intermodel agreement between the new generation of ISO 13655‐compliant instruments in M1 (D50) mode when compared with the previous generation of hand‐held spectrophotometers. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 42, 27–37, 2017     

Controlled manipulation of molecular samples with thenanoManipulator

The nanoManipulator system adds a virtual-reality interface to an atomic-force microscope (AFM), thus providing a tool that can be used by scientists to image and manipulate nanometer-sized molecular structures in a controlled manner. As the AFM tip scans the sample, the tip-sample interaction forces are monitored, which, in turn, can yield information about the frictional, mechanical, material, and topological properties of the sample. Computer graphics are used to reconstruct the surface for the user, with color or contours overlaid to indicate additional data sets. Moreover, a force feedback stylus, which is connected to the tip via software, allows the user to directly interact with the macromolecules. This system is being used to investigate carbon nanotubes, DNA, fibrin, adeno- and tobacco mosaic virus. It is now also possible to insert this system into a scanning electron microscope which provides the user with continuous images of the sample, even while the AFM tip is being used for manipulations