2011 Research Report

The human body normally produces an immune-response messenger known as Interleukin-6 (IL-6) to combat infections, burns and traumatic injuries. Scientists have found, however, that in people who have breast or prostate cancer, the body fails to turn off the response and overproduces the protein molecule IL-6, causing inflammation.

A group of enzymes implicated in a wide range of human diseases are important targets for anti-cancer therapies and the targets of a study by a molecular biologist to more fully understand the enzymes by helping to better define the group's family tree.

Of all the American school children receiving special education services, the largest number suffer from learning language impairments, including a subset of children that have language as their only deficit. Specifically Language Impaired (SLI) children have weakened language ability but otherwise possess normal hearing, education and intelligence.

Thin films are used in industry to create a variety of products, such as semiconductors, optical coatings, pharmaceuticals and solar cells. A new mathematical approach developed by Jacques Amar, Ph.D., professor of physics at the University of Toledo, accelerates some complex computer calculations used to simulate the formation of micro-thin materials.

A superconductor is an amazing state of matter in which a macroscopic number of electrons pair up and condense into a coherent state exhibiting remarkable properties, such as zero resistance and perfect diamagnetism.

In the past decade, a series of useful molecular systems – known as phototriggers, photoswitches, photocaging groups or photoremovable protecting groups (PRPGs) – have been used in a wide variety of applications, playing a key role in the release of fragrances from household goods, as an aid in multi-step syntheses and in drug and gene delivery.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) attract great attention for their strong potential in applications involving aerospace/naval materials, nano-electrical products, optical devices, chemical sensors, catalyst supports, water/gas treatments, drug carriers and artificial tissues.

Over time, the properties of polymer materials slowly change through a process known as aging. Aging can cause changes in volume, which may lead to cracks in a material, and alter mechanical properties, making it more brittle. Thus, aging can seriously impact the performance of polymer products used in a wide range of applications.

A team of engineering students at The Ohio State University’s (OSU) Center for Automotive Research (CAR) recently began running aerodynamics simulations, one of the first steps in the complex process of designing, building and racing the fourth iteration of their record-breaking, alternative-fuel streamliner.

The overarching driver for the development of fuel-cell power is its potential to provide clean, highly efficient power generation. A fuel cell produces electricity from fuel (on the anode side) and an oxidant (on the cathode side), which react in the presence of electrolytes, substances containing free ions that make the substance electrically conductive.

Turbomachinery, such as that found in compressors and turbines, is instrumental in today's aeronautic, automotive, marine, space and industrial power generation. To achieve the most efficient propulsion and power systems, engine designers must understand the physics of very complex air-flow fields produced within multiple stages of constantly rotating rotors and stators.

Slated for launch in 2019-20, the Surface Water and Ocean Topo-graphy (SWOT) satellite mission is a collaborative project of NASA and the French space agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales. SWOT features a swath-mapping radar interferometer that will provide data on inland bodies of water, as well as mapping ocean circulation at high spatial resolution.

College geoscience students with mobility impairments soon will be able to explore a computer simulation of a large cave system to meet degree requirements of field-based learning experiences.

Supercomputing centers allow astronomers to create extremely sophisticated models that are not feasible to build on desktop systems. However, simulating the multitude of elements involved in these galactic processes remains an enormous challenge.

The Center for Surveillance Research (CSR), a National Science Foundation Industry/ University Cooperative Research Center, is a collaborative effort by academia, government and industry to conduct pre-competitive research and student training.

A recently developed, evolutionary computation approach offers researchers an alternative approach to search for models that can best explain experimental data derived from applications such as economics. Esmail Bonakdarian, Ph.D., a Franklin University assistant professor of computing sciences and mathematics, leveraged Ohio Supercomputer Center resources to test the underlying algorithm.

In huge tunnels below the Swiss-Franco border, the European Organization for Nuclear Research's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is operating at half of its peak energy goal of 14 TeV or 'teraelectronvolts.' With the assistance of detectors built into the collider, physicists are searching for answers to questions about the birth of the universe, the existence of alternate dimensions and other key f