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A laboratory experiment is described for beginning, nonmajor chemistry students, which allows students to examine the phenomena of fluorescence and chemiluminescence, as well as gain experience in basic organic synthesis. Students synthesize fluorescein and bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate (TCPO) to explore fluorescence and chemiluminescence by assembling a biphasic glow stick. The experiment gives students the opportunity to understand the chemistry behind common “real-life” experiences of glow stick illumination and fluorescent lighting or inks and to synthesize compounds that exhibit these phenomena. Students’ survey data between 2013 and 2016 show that the experiment was enjoyable to undergraduate nonscience majors (4.3 of 5 cumulative, 4.8 in 2016) and relevant to their lives (4.0 of 5 cumulative, 4.4 in 2016).

With the increasing concern about the depletion of fossil reserves and greenhouse gas emissions, it is desired to replace coatings which are made using petrochemical-based materials with renewable alternatives such as bio-based polymers. In this paper, fully bio-based thermosets for coatings were prepared from epoxidized sucrose soyate derived from sucrose and soybean oil fatty acid along with citric and malic acids found naturally in juices with the assistance of different solvents. The solvents with reasonable boiling point and good miscibility with citric acid and malic acid, such as water, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, and 1,4-dioxane, were screened and used to investigate their effects on the curing and properties of the fully bio-based thermosets. The curing reactivity was studied by examining the gel time and nonisothermal curing process with DSC. The thermal and mechanical properties as well as coating performance properties were also investigated.

A new 100 % bio-based thermosetting coating system was developed from epoxidized sucrose soyate crosslinked with blocked bio-based dicarboxylic acids. A solvent-free, green method was used to block the carboxylic acid groups and render the acids miscible with the epoxy resin. The thermal reversibility of this blocking allowed for the formulation of epoxy-acid thermoset coatings that are 100 % bio-based. This was possible due to the volatility of the vinyl ethers under curing conditions. These systems have good adhesion to metal substrates and perform well under chemical and physical stress. Additionally, the hardness of the coating system is dependent on the chain length of the diacid used, making it tunable.

The primary goal of the Human Connectome Project (HCP) is to delineate the typical patterns of structural and functional connectivity in the healthy adult human brain. However, we know that there are important individual differences in such patterns of connectivity, with evidence that this variability is associated with alterations in important cognitive and behavioral variables that affect real world function. The HCP data will be a critical stepping-off point for future studies that will examine how variation in human structural and functional connectivity play a role in adult and pediatric neurological and psychiatric disorders that account for a huge amount of public health resources. Thus, the HCP is collecting behavioral measures of a range of motor, sensory, cognitive and emotional processes that will delineate a core set of functions relevant to understanding the relationship between brain connectivity and human behavior. In addition, the HCP is using task-fMRI (tfMRI) to help delineate the relationships between individual differences in the neurobiological substrates of mental processing and both functional and structural connectivity, as well as to help characterize and validate the connectivity analyses to be conducted on the structural and functional connectivity data. This paper describes the logic and rationale behind the development of the behavioral, individual difference, and tfMRI batteries and provides preliminary data on the patterns of activation associated with each of the fMRI tasks, at both group and individual levels. © 2013.

Avifauna was sampled in 8 developmental stages of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantations and in 2nd growth pine-hardwood forests during the summer, winter, and spring seasons of 1979-80 in the central Piedmont of Virginia. During summer, the number of birds (N) peaked in the 2and 5-year-old plantations and dropped significantly (P < 0.05) in older plantations. Average N of species/stand (S), total N of species in all stands of a given developmental stage (T), and species diversity (H') followed a similar trend. N, S, and T were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in the 2nd growth forests than in younger plantations. N, S, T, and H' were lower in winter than in other seasons sampled. N, S, and H' values were higher in the 2-5-year-old pine plantations than in the older, 7-24-year-old plantations. Values for 2nd growth forests were comparable to those in the 7-24-year-old plantations. In the spring breeding season, N, S, T, and H' were similar to those found during the later summer period. Species equitability (J') remained relatively high in all stands surveyed. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 50(3):406-413 Loblolly pine is one of the major tree species used by the forest industry in Virginia. Although not native to the study area in the central Piedmont, it was introduced in the early 1930's and has proved more profitable than the native pines (Williston and Huckenpahler 1958, Smally and Pierce 1972). Abandoned farmlands were used as plantation sites until the mid-1950's when this type of land increased in value. Forest industries then were compelled to use lower value, 2nd growth hardwood stands for plantation sites by clearcutting and planting loblolly pine. This conversion practice has created major changes in the composition and structure of the vegetation found in the central Piedmont (Felix et al. 1983) and may have effects on nongame wildlife species. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of establishment and development of loblolly pine plantations on the relative density, abundance, and diversity of breeding and winter resident songbirds. We would like to acknowledge P. T. Bromley and J. D. Fraser for their reviews of earlier drafts of this paper.