Wyoming Space Grant Consortium

Z-scheme type MoO₃–g-C₃N₄ composite prepared with a simple mixing–calcination method shows excellent activity in methyl orange photodegradation.

ABSTRACT Much has been written about the need for schools to engage in activities which promote the academic achievement of students. Two major factors which appear to influence student achievement are an organization's goals and the instructional leadership of the principal. The focus of this study was to investigate whether differences exist between schools which were successful in promoting student achievement and schools which were not successful in promoting student achievement in each of these areas. This paper is based upon a study conducted in an urban school district with a diverse student population. It identified 10 High Achieving Schools and 10 Low Achieving Schools (based upon student gain scores calculated from standardized achievement tests). Data regarding school goals and the instructional leadership of the principal were based upon responses to questionnaires designed to measure staff perceptions of these factors. The findings suggest that no clear differences are evident in the "official" goals selected by schools but differences do appear when the "operative" goals are analyzed. Specifically, the evidence suggests that High Achieving Schools emphasize goals stressing academic excellence to a greater degree than Low Achieving Schools. More important, the evidence from this study also suggests that principals in High Achieving Schools emphasize and engage in activities related to instruction to a much greater degree than principals in Low Achieving Schools. Those activities, which are identified and discussed at length, reinforce the view that a principal's behaviors rather than style are the primary factor in being an instructional leader.

Increased use of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") in unconventional oil and natural gas (O & NG) development from coal, sandstone, and shale deposits in the United States (US) has created environmental concerns over water and air quality impacts. In this perspective we focus on how the production of unconventional O & NG affects air quality. We pay particular attention to shale gas as this type of development has transformed natural gas production in the US and is set to become important in the rest of the world. A variety of potential emission sources can be spread over tens of thousands of acres of a production area and this complicates assessment of local and regional air quality impacts. We outline upstream activities including drilling, completion and production. After contrasting the context for development activities in the US and Europe we explore the use of inventories for determining air emissions. Location and scale of analysis is important, as O & NG production emissions in some US basins account for nearly 100% of the pollution burden, whereas in other basins these activities make up less than 10% of total air emissions. While emission inventories are beneficial to quantifying air emissions from a particular source category, they do have limitations when determining air quality impacts from a large area. Air monitoring is essential, not only to validate inventories, but also to measure impacts. We describe the use of measurements, including ground-based mobile monitoring, network stations, airborne, and satellite platforms for measuring air quality impacts. We identify nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOC), ozone, hazardous air pollutants (HAP), and methane as pollutants of concern related to O & NG activities. These pollutants can contribute to air quality concerns and they may be regulated in ambient air, due to human health or climate forcing concerns. Close to well pads, emissions are concentrated and exposure to a wide range of pollutants is possible. Public health protection is improved when emissions are controlled and facilities are located away from where people live. Based on lessons learned in the US we outline an approach for future unconventional O & NG development that includes regulation, assessment and monitoring.

Inspired by nature, functionalized nanopores with biomimetic structures have attracted growing interests in using them as novel platforms for applications of regulating ion and nanoparticle transport. To improve these emerging applications, we study theoretically for the first time the ion transport and selectivity in short nanopores functionalized with pH tunable, zwitterionic polyelectrolyte (PE) brushes. In addition to background salt ions, the study takes into account the presence of H(+) and OH(-) ions along with the chemistry reactions between functional groups on PE chains and protons. Due to ion concentration polarization, the charge density of PE layers is not homogeneously distributed and depends significantly on the background salt concentration, pH, grafting density of PE chains, and applied voltage bias, thereby resulting in many interesting and unexpected ion transport phenomena in the nanopore. For example, the ion selectivity of the biomimetic nanopore can be regulated from anion-selective (cation-selective) to cation-selective (anion-selective) by diminishing (raising) the solution pH when a sufficiently small grafting density of PE chains, large voltage bias, and low background salt concentration are applied.

Amine-grafted mesoporous silica materials with short channels and large pore diameters have been prepared and used to adsorb CO₂ efficiently.

Pt/TiO₂ nanoparticles were prepared by a solvothermal method and used for high efficiency photocatalytic CO₂ conversion.

The presence of Ga promotes H₂dissociation adsorption, and subsequently improves the process of CO₂hydrogenation to CH₃OH.

BACKGROUND: A novel Ehrlichia, closely related to Ehrlichia ruminantium, was recently discovered from Panola Mountain State Park, GA, USA. We conducted a study to determine if this agent was recently introduced into the United States. METHODS: We developed a sensitive PCR assay based on the conserved gltA (citrate synthase) gene and tested DNA samples extracted from 1964 field-collected and 1835 human-biting Amblyomma americanum from 23 eastern states of the USA. RESULTS: The novel agent was detected in 36 ticks collected from 10 states between 1998 and 2006. Infected ticks were collected both from vegetation (n = 14, 0.7%) and from humans (n = 22, 1.2%). Fragments of the conserved gltA gene and the variable map1 gene were sequenced from positive samples. Two distinct clades, with 10.5% nucleic acid divergence over the 730 bp map1 sequence, were identified. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that the Panola Mountain Ehrlichia was not recently introduced to the United States; this agent has an extensive distribution throughout the range of its tick vector, has been present in some locations for several years, and displays genetic variability. Furthermore, people in several states were exposed to this agent through the bite of infected ticks, underscoring the potential public health risk of this emerging ehrlichiosis.

The suitability of six mono(alkylamino)silane precursors for growing SiO₂ films <italic>via</italic> ALD is assessed with DFT calculations.

A diverse, well-preserved assemblage of nautiloid cephalopods was collected from the Treptoceras duseri shale, a 1.5-m-thick claystone within the Waynesville Formation (Late Ordovician, early Richmondian) exposed in southwest Ohio. The strata, the enclosed fauna, and its taphonomy indicate deposition in a low-energy, mud-bottom marine environment, in water depths of 20–25 m, below wave base but within the zone of storm-current reworking. Nautiloid specimens consist of complete conchs that have been replaced by calcite. Twelve species of nautiloids, belonging to eight genera, representative of four orders, have been collected from the shale in southwest Ohio. Longiconic orthocones are clearly the dominant nautiloid morphotype present, with the assemblage dominated by three species of the longiconic orthocerid Treptoceras and with fewer numbers of the endocerid Cameroceras and the slender orthocerid Isorthoceras ?, the cyrtoconic oncocerids Oncoceras and Manitoulinoceras , and rare specimens of the orthocerid Gorbyoceras , the oncocerid Zittelloceras , and the ascocerid Schuchertoceras . Nautiloid taphonomy, the diversity of nautiloid taxa present, the lack of postmortem buoyancy in the shells of the more common taxa, the recurrent nature of this assemblage, and the restricted distribution of this Treptoceras–Cameroceras fauna to portions of eastern North America in the Late Ordovician suggest that this nautiloid assemblage represents an in-situ accumulation of nautiloids representative of a living assemblage. These nautiloids were important elements associated with benthic communities in these epeiric sea mud-bottom environments and not simply assemblages of drifted, necroplanktonic shells.

To choose a proper functional among the diverse density functional approximations of the electronic exchange-correlation energy for a given system is the basis for obtaining accurate results of theoretical calculations. In this work, we first propose an approach by comparing the calculated ΔE0 with the theoretical reference data based on the corresponding experimental results in a gas phase reaction. With ΔE0 being a criterion, the three most typical and popular exchange-correlation functionals (PW91, PBE and RPBE) were systematically compared in terms of the typical Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reactions in the gas phase. In addition, verifications of the geometrical and electronic properties of modeling catalysts, as well as the adsorption behavior of a typical probe molecule on modeling catalysts are also suggested for further screening of proper functionals. After a systematic comparison of CO adsorption behavior on Co(0001) calculated by PW91, PBE, and RPBE, the RPBE functional was found to be better than the other two in view of FTS reactions in gas phase and CO adsorption behaviors on a cobalt surface. The present work shows the general implications for choosing a reliable exchange-correlation functional in the computational catalysis of a surface.

A Pd–CeO₂/α-Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst was used as a catalyst for CO oxidative coupling to diethyl oxalate with the CO conversion significantly increased.

Based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the detailed mercury oxidation/chemical adsorption mechanisms on the N-doped CuCo2O4(110) surface are studied. The DFT calculations show that Ow (bonded with one Cu(2+) ion and one Co(3+) ion) is far more active than Os (bonded with three Co(3+) ions) and the mercury oxidation/chemical adsorption activation energy (Ea) on the virgin CuCo2O4(110) surface involving Ow is 0.85 eV. The physically adsorbed mercury overcomes the Ea and enters the energy well that plays an important role in mercury oxidation/chemical adsorption. Nitrogen doping can greatly increase the activity of Ow and decrease the activity of Os at the same time, which greatly affect the mercury oxidation/chemical adsorption abilities on the CuCo2O4(110) surface, and the Ea variation of mercury oxidation/chemical adsorption is as follows: 0.85 eV (virgin CuCo2O4(110)) → 0.76 eV (one N-doped CuCo2O4(110)) → 0.69 eV (two N-doped CuCo2O4(110)) → 0.48 eV (three N-doped CuCo2O4(110)). In addition, N-doping can decrease the adsorption energy of mercury and mercuric oxide. The effect of N-doping on the bonding mechanism of mercury adsorption on the CuCo2O4(110) surface is analyzed by the local density of state (LDOS) and the natural bonding orbital (NBO). The calculation results correspond well to the experimental data.

Calendars Get access Calendars. By Annie Finch. Dorset: Tupelo P, 2003. 80 pp. Cloth $22.95. Paper $14.95. C. L. Rawlins C. L. Rawlins Big Laramie RiverWyoming Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Volume 12, Issue 1, Winter 2005, Pages 267–269, https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/12.1.267 Published: 01 January 2005