University Of Hawaii Research Articles

Introduction to Volume 10, Issue 4 of topiCS

Two topics grace our journal this month. The first is a single paper in our occasional topic, Visions of Cognitive Science. This one asks, How Good Is Your Evidence and How Would You Know? Professor Ulrike Hahn (Birkbeck, University of London) and her co-authors, Doctors Christoph Merdes and Momme von Sydow (both of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in München, Germany), used simulations of optimal agents to show the costs of misjudging the quality of evidence. They also compare different strategies for estimating that quality. Although theirs is a technical argument, their detailed proofs are illustrated with technical but accessible plots and closely argued with accessible prose. For those readers who have a need to see their detailed proofs, those details are included in the Supplemental Materials that accompany this paper. This issue's multipaper topic is Sociolinguistic Variation and Cognitive Science, which is a collection of fine papers that has been brought together and edited by Professors Jean-Pierre Chevrot (Université Grenoble Alpes), Katie Drager (University of Hawaii at Manoa), and Paul Foulkes (University of York). These Topic Editors have brought together a distinguished group of researchers to provide us with an overview of the current state of the art and excitement in research on sociolinguistic variation. For those of us outside their field but interested in the expansion of cognitive science to new areas, they have written an accessible, incisive, and insightful discussion as to where and how this area of study fits into the overall enterprise of cognitive science. We also remind our readers that, as always, our publisher, Wiley-Blackwell, allows us to offer the Topic Editors’ introduction to their topics to all of our readers as a free download. In case you missed it … A brief mention of topics appearing in recent issues of topiCS. A year ago, in October 2017 (volume 9, issue 4), we featured the Sketching and Cognition topic put together by Topic Editors Professors Kenneth Forbus (Northwestern University) and Shaaron Ainsworth (University of Nottingham). In a field like ours, a year is not much time for new work to gather citations, which makes the 12 citations (as of 2018.09.01) to papers in Forbus and Ainsworth's topic very impressive. Two years ago, in October 2016 (volume 8, issue 4), Topic Editors Sarah Brown-Schmidt (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Melissa Duff (University of Iowa), and William Horton (Northwestern University) put together a topic on Memory and Common Ground Processes in Language Use. Since then, the papers in their topic have received nine citations while the Editors’ introduction to the topic has received an addition four citations. The citations to the Editors’ introduction reflect the careful introduction to their field of research, some of its history, where they see the field going, and how the new work presented in the other nine papers contributes to our understanding of the cognitive issues. (And, of course, the Editors’ introduction is free to all readers from our publisher's website.) To our readers, keep searching and reading topiCS for our high-quality, curated collections of papers on timely topics of interest to the broad cognitive science community. topiCS encourages letters and commentaries on all topics, as well as proposals for new topics. Letters are typically 400–1,000 words (maximum of two published pages) and will be published without abstract or references (possibly one to two but usually none). Commentaries are often solicited by Topic Editors prior to the publication of their topic. However, commentaries after publication are also considered and should range between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Most commentaries would not have an abstract and would not include many references. The Executive Editor and the Senior Editorial Board (SEB) members are constantly searching for new and exciting topics for topiCS. Feel free to open communications with a short note to the Executive Editor (grayw@rpi.edu) or an SEB member (SEB members are listed under the Editorial Board heading on the publisher's homepage for topiCS, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1756-8765/homepage/EditorialBoard.html).

Predicting products of space ice chemistry

In the search for sources of complex organic molecules in space, some researchers have turned to hydrocarbon ices, which exist in interstellar space and on bodies in our solar system, such as Saturn’s moon Titan. Experiments have shown that high-energy electrons generated by ionizing radiation can induce formation of complex organic molecules on these ices. However, researchers still aren’t sure which chemicals form inside of the ices and which form on their surface or in nearby gases. Existing models of space chemistry can’t predict the products of such reactions. At the ACS meeting last week, researchers reported that they used tunable lasers to identify which isomers of small hydrocarbon molecules form within methane ice in laboratory experiments simulating interstellar conditions. Matthew Abplanalp, a graduate student in Ralf I. Kaiser’s group at University of Hawaii, Manoa, and colleagues held methane ice at 5.5 K inside an ultrahigh vacuum, bombarded it with

Improved Image Quality over 10′ Fields with the ʻImaka Ground-layer Adaptive Optics Experiment

Abstract ʻImaka is a ground-layer adaptive optics (GLAO) demonstrator on the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope with a 24′ × 18′ field of view, nearly an order of magnitude larger than previous AO instruments. In 15 nights of observing with natural guide star asterisms ∼16′ in diameter, we measure median AO-off and AO-on empirical FWHMs of 0.″95 and 0.″64 in R band, 0.″81 and 0.″48 in I band, and 0.″76 and 0.″44 at 1 μm. This factor of 1.5–1.7 reduction in the size of the point-spread function (PSF) results from correcting both the atmosphere and telescope tracking errors. The AO-on PSF is uniform out to field positions ∼5′ off-axis, with a typical standard deviation in the FWHM of 0.″018. Images exhibit variation in FWMM by 4.5% across the field, which has been applied as a correction to the aforementioned quantities. The AO-on PSF is also 10× more stable in time compared to the AO-off PSF. In comparing the delivered image quality to proxy measurements, we find that in both AO-off and AO-on data delivered image quality is correlated with ʻImaka’s telemetry, with R-band correlation coefficients of 0.68 and 0.70, respectively. At the same wavelength, the data are correlated to DIMM and MASS seeing with coefficients of 0.45 and 0.55, respectively. Our results are an essential first step to implementing facility-class, wide-field GLAO on Maunakea telescopes, enabling new opportunities to study extended astronomical sources, such as deep galaxy fields, nearby galaxies, or star clusters, at high angular resolution.

How to start a research lab.

As September approaches, a new cohort of junior faculty members are taking up their first positions as research group leaders. I was there 3 years ago, making career-shaping decisions—sometimes without much mentoring or support. I learned a lot in my first years—how to write a grant, manage rejection, and supervise students, to name just a few—and it was all trial by fire. Though I made it through and had some successes along the way, I certainly could have used advice about how to set up and run my lab. I've learned that my experience is the norm, which inspired me and a group of other early-career principal investigators to interview leaders in our fields about how they built successful research groups. Here are some of the lessons they shared. ![Figure][1] ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER FIND YOUR NICHE. Before you even begin to interview for a faculty job, you need to decide what your lab's focus will be. You must be a pioneer, “carving out a niche for yourself that is unique, and where you'll be at the top of the heap,” says Margaret McFall-Ngai, a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa who was among the first to study squid-bacteria interactions. Identify how your skills intersect with the science that excites you, in the most promising uncharted territory. Plan big while identifying key publication checkpoints along the way. Your tenure case depends on it. FIND YOUR PEOPLE. Good science is done by talented people. “If you have an excellent person who wants to work with you, try to hire them at all costs, even if you have to spend the last of your money,” says Gregor Weihs, a professor of photonics at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. On the flip side, hiring the wrong people can be a real drain on the group. “Never hire just because you can,” Weihs says. Get to know prospective lab members by teaching graduate classes and taking on undergraduates for smaller projects, and use your network to find promising graduate students at other institutions. IT PAYS TO WORK TOGETHER. To secure major funding, “it's better to try and see if you can chase it together rather than all competing for the same buck,” says Melvyn Goodale, a professor of neuroscience at Western University in London, Canada, who helped form an 11-institution research consortium, the Canadian Action and Perception Network. If your goals are aligned with those of other labs, then it makes sense to work together on a joint application rather than against each other. Writing grant applications as a group can help spark new ideas, and many minds working together can increase your chance of success. Even if you don't get funded, writing a group grant can deepen your collaborative relationships for years to come. BUILD A NETWORK. To make connections when you're just starting out, you need to be your own marketing department. “It's not just doing the research; it's making it known,” says Yoshua Bengio, a professor at the University of Montreal in Canada who works on artificial intelligence. These days, a lot of networking is done online. Get on Twitter and follow your 10 favorite research labs. Look at who they follow to find more connections. Tweet about the work you publish and interesting papers you read to help people identify your niche and get to know your research brand. Finally, don't be afraid to reach out to senior faculty members to seek out mentoring, share your work, and ask for input on grant applications. Their feedback will be invaluable, and some day you will pay it forward to a new cohort of junior faculty members. There is knowledge and experience all around. You may be surprised at people's willingness to share it. [1]: pending:yes

SCALA: Towards a physical calibration of CALSPEC standard stars based on a NIST-traceable reference for SNIFS

SCALA is a physical calibration device for the SuperNova Integral Field Spectrograph (SNIFS), mounted to the University Hawaii 2.2m telescope on Mauna Kea. For type Ia supernova (SN Ia) cosmology programs, an improved fundamental calibration directly translates into improved cosmological constraints. The aim of SCALA is to perform a fundamental calibration of the CALSPEC (Bohlin 2014) standard stars, which are currently calibrated relative to white dwarf model atmospheres.

(Invited) Fuel Cell Contamination

As fuel cell systems become more commercially competitive, and as automotive fuel cell research and development trends toward decreased catalyst loadings and thinner membranes, fuel cell operation becomes even more susceptible to contaminants. Contaminants derived from fuel cell system components such as structural materials, lubricants, greases, adhesives, sealants, and hoses have been shown to affect the performance and durability of fuel cell systems. Between July 2009 and September 2013, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) led a team to study the effect of system contaminants on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. The team, made up of industry (GM), universities (University of South Carolina, University of Hawaii, and Colorado School of Mines (CSM)), and a national laboratory partner (Los Alamos National Laboratory), screened about 60 balance of plant (BOP) materials. Knowledge of the material contamination potential of various system components can be used by the fuel cell industry in selecting appropriate BOP materials and in cost-benefit analyses. Our goal was to increase the understanding of fuel cell system contaminants and to help guide the implementation and, where necessary, development of system materials that will help enable fuel cell commercialization. NREL and CSM also studied the effect of membrane degradation model compounds of commercial Nafion and 3M commercial perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes. Such compounds are derived from PFSA membranes when exposed to certain peroxides and hydroxyl radicals.1,2 Two compounds in particular, perfluoro(2-methyl-3-oxa-5-sulfonic pentanoic) acid (DA-Naf) and perfluoro(4-sulfonic butanoic) acid (DA-3M), arise along with HF as the main membrane degradation compounds of Nafion and a 3M commercial PFSA membrane, respectively.3.4 These degradation products have been shown to adsorb on Pt-based electrocatalysts, leading to a loss in catalyst electrochemical surface area (ECA), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity, or both.5,6 Other model compounds were also studied to gain fundamental insight on the adsorption effects solely due to sulfonic acid functional group, the carboxylic acid functional group, as well as that of the fluorocarbon chain length. Recently, NREL and 3M examined the effect of perfluoro imide acid (PFIA) ionomer degradation products on the ORR activity by performing a series of rotating disc electrode (RDE) experiments. PFIA is a new multi-acid side chain ionomer that 3M Fuel Cell Components Group is developing for fuel cell applications, with the goal of improved conductivity compared to Nafion when operated at dry conditions. During an accelerated stress test (open circuit voltage (OCV) hold), 3M reported that a PFIA-containing fuel cell showed a decay in the OCV in the first 200 h and then an increase in the membrane resistance for the remaining 600 h.7 It is suspected that the oxidative degradation of the PFIA polymer may be similar to that of the PFSA systems. Three model compounds were provided by 3M and systematically studied at NREL with respect to the effect of the potential PFIA degradation products on ORR activity. This presentation will briefly summarize the past efforts related to contaminants derived from fuel cell system components, along with the interactive material screening data tool that was developed to archive the results from these studies and make them publicly available,8 as well as the RDE studies of PFSA and PFIA membrane degradation model compounds. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308 with Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, the Manager and Operator of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Model compounds were provided by 3M for this study.

Stabilization of Glucose Oxidase and Alcohol Oxidase Based Biosensors By Immobilization in Electrochemically Generated Poly-o-Phenylenediamine Under High Hydrostatic Pressure

Electrochemical biosensors have applications in medical diagnostic, agriculture, and food. In the food industry, glucose oxidase (GOX) and alcohol oxidase (AOX) based biosensors can be valuable for real-time detection and quality control of glucose and ethanol. The global market for electrochemical biosensors are expected to reach $23.7 billion by 2022 and thousands of research papers have been published annually since 2011. However, compared to the number of publications, there are very few commercial electrochemical enzyme-based biosensors currently available on market. Glucose and lactic acid biosensors are the most common commercial devices. High price and low stability of other enzymes are arguably the two main limiting factors. Therefore, it is critical to improve the biosensor stability. Enzyme covalent immobilization, addition of solutes like sugars and polyols, and crosslinking have been used for stabilization of enzyme biosensors. High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) has also been used to stabilize enzymes but not for biosensor fabrication because upon depressurization, enzymes return to their native, less stable state. Here we report the fabrication of stabilized of GOX and AOX based biosensors using entrapment under HHP. An electrochemical cell was fabricated to fit for the HHP reactor with a custom-made electrical feed-through connectors rated to up to 700 MPa (model U111, Warsaw, Poland). Two platinum wires (diameter 0.8128 mm) were inserted into a piece of Teflon rod to be the working and counter electrode. One Ag|AgCl electrode pellet was held in a heat shrinking tube (filled with 3 M KCl) with a porous glass frit to be the reference electrode. The platinum electrodes were polished and platinized before using. GOX or AOX was entrapped by electrochemical polymerization in 5 mM o-phenylenediamine at 650 mV vs. Ag|AgCl (3 M KCl) at 0.1 to 420 MPa or 0.1 to 240 MPa, respectively. The GOX biosensors were heated at 70 °C for 180 min and amperometric response was measured at 700 mV vs. Ag|AgCl (3 M KCl) every 20 min in 20 mM glucose solution. The AOX biosensors were heated at 50 °C for 10 min and amperometric response was measured at 700 mV vs. Ag|AgCl (3 M KCl) every 2 min in 100 mM ethanol solution. The amperometric response was measured using a commercial potentiostat (Reference 600, Gamry, Warminster, PA) or a low-cost portable wireless (Bluetooth) potentiostat developed in house (ABE-stat, University of Hawaii). After 180 min, the measured current decreased to 18.8% for GOX biosensors immobilized at 0.1 MPa, while to 47.3% for those immobilized at 420 MPa. After 10 min, the measured current decreased to 23.3% for AOX biosensors immobilized at 0.1 MPa, while to 34.8% for those immobilized at 240 MPa. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results showed no significant difference of the charge transfer resistance between GOX biosensors immobilized at 0.1 MPa and 180 MPa. To our knowledge, this is the first report of using HHP to improve the stability of enzyme-based biosensors. In the range of 0.1 to 420 MPa or 0.1 to 240 MPa, GOX and AOX biosensor stability increased with increasing pressure, respectively. The combination of HHP with cross-linking or chemical modification to further increase the stability of enzyme based biosensors is presented as well.

Judge declines to recognize hostile learning environment

Case name: Toma v. University of Hawaii, No. 16‐00499 (D. Hawaii 01/16/18).

Home Healthcare and Hospice: A Pacific Islands Perspective.

The Pacific Islands Geriatric Education Center of the University of Hawaii conducted situational assessments of caregivers, older adults, and healthcare professionals in the Republic of Palau. The findings revealed an urgent need for a solution to the identified crisis of an aging population, increasing chronic diseases and their corresponding impact on caregivers and society. In 2010, the National Healthcare Financing Act was signed into law, becoming Palau's first step in helping residents and workers in Palau pay for medical expenses. This program is referred to as the Health Care Fund and consists of two parts: National Health Insurance and Medical Savings Account. Advocacy and promotion of home healthcare services in Palau was facilitated by the Pacific Islands Geriatric Education Center. Because of these efforts, systems changed to establish home healthcare services and expand the Health Care Fund with a proposed Home Health Insurance Benefit from the National Health Insurance. This is a huge leap forward to improve access to care for older adults and homebound in Palau.

Intraspecific and interspecific variation in prickly poppy resistance to non-native generalist caterpillars

Background: Prickly poppies (genus Argemone , Papaveraceae) epitomize well-defended plants. With high prickle densities and exudation of bright yellow latex from glaucous leaves, there are few reports of herbivore damage on these plants. Yet, little ecological work has examined within-plant or among-species variation in levels of anti-herbivore defenses in prickly poppies.Questions: Are prickly poppies well defended against generalist herbivores? Does chemical defense vary within prickly poppy plants in a pattern consistent with optimal defense theory?Species study: Argemone glauca, A. mexicana , A. ochroleuca, A. platyceras were examined in bioassays using generalist caterpillars, Agrotis ipsilon Hufnagel and Chrysodeixis eriosoma Doubleday (Noctuidae).Study sites and dates: Seeds were collected from field populations in Mexico (2015) and Hawaii (2011); experiment was conducted at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Fall 2015.Methods: Using a pair of no-choice bioassays, variation in the quality of whole-leaf and chemical extract infused artificial diets for caterpillar development was assessed.Results: Survivorship was lowest on the control lettuce diet, and varied little between poppy diets although pupal mass was marginally lower for caterpillars reared on A. platyceras than A. ochroleuca . Isolating the effects of plant chemistry, C. eriosoma performance was most strongly reduced by seed extracts, with an extension in pupal development time by one week compared to herbivores reared on other diets, as well as a significant reduction in mean adult mass.Conclusions: These results are consistent with optimal defense theory, reflecting greater allocation of defense in tissues of high fitness value ( i.e., seeds). Future work with native herbivores, chemical analyses, and investigations into alternative functions for these plant traits would shed new light on this interesting group of plants.

Coral Reefs at the Crossroads. Coral Reefs of the World, Volume 6. Edited by Dennis K. Hubbard, Caroline S. Rogers, Jere H. Lipps, and George D. Stanley, Jr. Dordrecht (The Netherlands): Springer. $179.00 (hardcover); $139.00 (ebook). xx + 300 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-94-017-7565-6 (hc); 978-94-017-7567-0 (eb). 2016.

Previous articleNext article No AccessConservation BiologyCoral Reefs at the Crossroads. Coral Reefs of the World, Volume 6. Edited by Dennis K. Hubbard, Caroline S. Rogers, Jere H. Lipps, and George D. Stanley, Jr. Dordrecht (The Netherlands): Springer. $179.00 (hardcover); $139.00 (ebook). xx + 300 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-94-017-7565-6 (hc); 978-94-017-7567-0 (eb). 2016.Robert H. RichmondRobert H. RichmondKewalo Marine Laboratory, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii Search for more articles by this author Kewalo Marine Laboratory, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HawaiiPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 93, Number 2June 2018 Published in association with Stony Brook University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/698054 Views: 14Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Catholics and Anti-Catholicism in Chosŏn Korea. By Don Baker and Franklin Rausch. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 2017. xv + 308 pp. $69.00 cloth.

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Patient choice of adjunctive nonpharmacologic pain management during first-trimester abortion: a randomized controlled trial

ObjectiveTo determine if offering patients a choice of adjunctive nonpharmacologic pain management during first-trimester aspiration abortion results in lower pain scores when compared with standard care. Study designWe enrolled women receiving first-trimester aspiration abortion at the University of Hawaii. We randomized patients to standard care (control) or standard care plus a choice of nonpharmacologic pain management options (intervention). Standard care was ibuprofen 800 mg orally at least 30 min preprocedure, lidocaine paracervical block and anticipatory guidance from the provider. We measured pain on a 100-mm visual analog scale immediately postprocedure with adequate sample size to detect a 20-mm difference in pain scores. ResultsSeventy-four women participated in the trial and reported an overall mean pain score of 61.9±27.0. Participants in the control and intervention groups reported similar overall mean pain scores (control 60.6±28.8, intervention 63.3±28.5). We found procedure time, complications, provider-perceived case difficulty and patient satisfaction with pain management to be similar between groups. Providers underestimated participant pain compared to participants' own scores (mean physician estimate of participant pain: 46.3±18.5, mean participant pain score: 61.9±27.0, p<.01). Intervention group participants most frequently selected ambient music (59%) as the nonpharmacologic intervention. Forty-one percent (15/37) of participants in the intervention group chose more than one nonpharmacologic intervention. ConclusionsParticipants in the control group reported similar pain scores to participants in the intervention group. Procedure time and difficulty were similar between the two groups. ImplicationsIncorporating patient choice into a nonpharmacologic pain management model did not result in lower pain scores. This approach did increase the patient's visit time. Abortion providers frequently use nonpharmacologic pain management in the United States, and these techniques did not negatively impact patient pain scores in our study.

Conceptions of Intelligence in an Academic Community

A phenomenological stance is adopted in this inquiry into the concept of intelligence. The term intelligence is discussed as a uniquely Western concept that has been defined and refined, with significant implications for people in educational settings. A brief critical literature review includes discussion of some influential models of human thought and intelligence measurement and their application in school settings. Three practicing University of Hawaii at Manoa professors are engaged individually in reflective conversations, during which they discuss their notions of intelligence together with the researcher. From their shared conversations, meanings emerge which are expressed here in separate descriptive interpretations for each professor. The emergent understandings are intended to explore and illuminate some current conceptions of intelligence in an academic setting. From these descriptions educators and researchers may recognize relevant meanings for themselves regarding the improvement of the school learning situation.

The transformation of the Wang Yangming scholarship in the West, ca. 1960–1980: a historical essay

ABSTRACTStudents of Ming philosophy and the thought of Wang Yangming likely know that the 1960s–1970s was a period during which many scholarships in this field of study were produced in the English language. Indeed, it has been almost half a century since a group of scholars came together at the University of Hawaii to present papers on Wang Yangming in commemoration of the fifth centenary of his birth. That group included, for example, Wing-tsit Chan, David Nivison, and Du Weiming. These scholars, along with two others not present—Julia Ching and Carsun Chang—played a transformative role in introducing Wang Yangming to an English-reading audience. But, the history behind their achievement, as well as how they interpreted him for that audience, has yet to be written. This paper provides a synopsis of that history, explaining why the scholars chose to write about him and what they said about his life and ideas.

Acquisition War-Gaming Technique for Acquiring Future Complex Systems: Modeling and Simulation Results for Cost Plus Incentive Fee Contract

This paper provides a high-level discussion and propositions of frameworks and models for acquisition strategy of complex systems. In particular, it presents an innovative system engineering approach to model the Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition process and offers several optimization modules including simulation models using game theory and war-gaming concepts. Our frameworks employ Advanced Game-based Mathematical Framework (AGMF) and Unified Game-based Acquisition Framework (UGAF), and related advanced simulation and mathematical models that include a set of War-Gaming Engines (WGEs) implemented in MATLAB statistical optimization models. WGEs are defined as a set of algorithms, characterizing the Program and Technical Baseline (PTB), technology enablers, architectural solutions, contract type, contract parameters and associated incentives, and industry bidding position. As a proof of concept, Aerospace, in collaboration with the North Carolina State University (NCSU) and University of Hawaii (UH), successfully applied and extended the proposed frameworks and decision models to determine the optimum contract parameters and incentives for a Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF) contract. As a result, we can suggest a set of acquisition strategies that ensure the optimization of the PTB.

Alissa J. Hartig, Connecting Language and Disciplinary Knowledge in English for Specific Purposes: Case studies in law

This book, which explores the relationship between linguistic and disciplinary knowledge, belongs to the “New Perspectives on Language and Education” series co-edited by two major professors of language-in-education, Viv Edwards, from the University of Reading, United Kingdom, and Phan Le Ha, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, United States. Alissa Hartig’s study is truly international in scope: it examines the development of international students’ legal writing competence, builds on he...

History of bioacoustics research on aquatic and marine organisms in Hawaii

Modern bioacoustic research with aquatic animals began in Hawaii in the 1968–1969 period when three independent programs started almost simultaneously. Two faculty members began studying various facets of hearing in fish at the University of Hawaii. Another faculty member from a different department established a laboratory in which dolphin hearing and echolocation were among some of the topics studied. The Navy started a dolphin facility to train dolphins to perform Navy related tasks. The Navy program also included research on dolphin echolocation including a study comparing the performance of two dolphins and a Straza-500 CTFM sonar in target detection. The Navy facility closed in 1993 but some of the bioacoustics research was transferred to the University’s Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island about a mile from the former Navy facility in the same bay. The HIMB program expanded into field research with spinner dolphins and humpback whales, and passive acoustic monitoring of marine organisms. The local National Marine Fisheries Service of NOAA became a close partner in the PAM development and studies. This presentation will focus of the bioacoustic research performed with marine mammals highlighting some of the more important findings and contributions to the field.

Reactions

OPINION Reactions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail C&EN, 2018, 96 (9), p 2February 26, 2018Cite this:C&EN 96, 9, 2Letters to the editor Palytoxin We read with interest Emma Hiolski’s article entitled “Palytoxin: The danger hidden in tropical aquariums” that described palytoxin as the Mount Everest of chemistry due to its remarkable chemical complexity (Jan. 8, page 12). As detailed, professor Kishi’s synthesis in the ’90s was in no doubt a tremendous accomplishment in assembling its structure, having a backbone of 115 carbon atoms! What was overlooked by the author was an equally important history that is sadly often downplayed in the chemical literature in favor of chemical synthesis, and that has to do with the discovery and characterization of the natural product itself; palytoxin in this case during the ’70s and early ’80s. That work was led by the late Richard E. Moore of the University of Hawaii, who reported its structure and stereochemistry in two [Journal of the American Chemical Society] articles in 1981 and 1982 (DOI: 10.1021/ja00399a093 and DOI: 10.1021/ja00377a064). That work was the culmination of over a decade of research of incredible ingenuity at a time when chromatography, NMR, and other modern conveniences that we take for granted today were nonexistent or in their infancy. Additional discovery work by professor Daisuke Uemura from Shizuoka University at the time amplified the structure of palytoxin and its derivatives (Tetrahedron Lett. 1981, DOI: 10.1016/S0040-4039(01)90551-9). It was this collection of discovery work that made it possible for Kishi and others to finally assign a chemical structure to the name and fascinating history of palytoxin.So let’s not forget about the incredible chemists who illuminate for us the chemical faces of nature’s molecules that continue to inspire us in many scientific disciplines.Bradley Moore (son of Richard E. Moore)La Jolla, Calif.William FenicalDel Mar, Calif. Corrections Jan. 29, page 10: In the science brief on a possible technique to search for extraterrestrial life, the pair of gases given as the atmospheric disequilibrium on Earth was incorrect. They should be methane and oxygen.Feb. 12, page 14: In a news story about NIGMS’s decision to stop funding a predoctoral fellowship, the number of fellowships should have been 85 since 2015, not per year. The NSF fellowships mentioned in the story are also available in the early years of graduate school, not just before students enter graduate school.Feb. 19, page 20: In the feature story on vaccines against drugs of abuse, the reference for the oxycodone vaccine entry in the table is incorrect. It is PLOS One 2014, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096547.

Sweets in an unexpected place and unexpected ingredients in sweets

Chocolate in space Chemists at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, have confirmed that Earthlings’ favorite food can be found in an unexpected place: outer space. The team has identified the compounds that give chocolate its addictive flavor among the molecules that are likely formed in the interstellar medium (ChemPhysChem 2018, DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201701350). UH Manoa chemistry graduate student Matthew Abplanalpwasn’t looking for a food fix when he started his research. His experiments examine the chemistry that happens in the icy solid phase of space, as opposed to the hot gas phase. “We are trying to fill in the gaps of what can’t be described fully by gas-phase processes,” Abplanalp tells Newscripts. To do that, his team creates an Earth-bound replica of those icy conditions in a stainless steel chamber cooled to –268 °C. They deposit a frozen mixture similar to that found in space inside the vessel, seal it in a