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Tropical cyclone or ISU Cyclone? Semantic science search engine knows that there is a difference

Almost everyone who has used a major internet search engine has had the same experience: Search for "Dodge convertible" and 0.16 seconds later you have 4.3 million links to web pages on dodge ball, Dodge City and convertible debt instruments.

Noesis, a new semantic web search engine developed at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, won't help you find the perfect Charger ragtop, but it is helping scientists who study the environment retrieve the research data they need. It has the potential to help scientists and researchers in many other fields perform more focused and productive searches.

"This is the first semantic scientific search tool, the first time something like this has been used for science," said Dr. Rahul Ramachandran, a research scientist in UAHuntsville's Information Technology and Systems Center.

Noesis replaces the simple word-or-phrase matching search used by most search engines with a discipline-specific semantic "ontology," or knowledge base.

Using Noesis, for instance, an aquatic botantist searching for Mobile Bay sea grass might get a list of additional terms narrowing the search based on taxonomy, location or water type, while filtering out websites offering sea grass mats, oils and lotions that leave your skin silky smooth.

Both the terminology and the structure of relationships between terms in the ontology help Noesis narrow a search to items related to the specific field of study. The algorithm might not understand the difference between tropical cyclone and Iowa State Cyclone, but it will recognize that there is a difference.

"Building an ontology is not an insignificant task," Ramachandran said. "Usually you get the experts together, then they argue and decide what concepts and information to include, and how it is organized. Then we encode it so our system can take it and use it."

While it narrows the search terms, Noesis also broadens the search by adding datasets and scientific publications not routinely included in web searches.

"There are some things you have to configure for a particular domain, such as the specific journals and major data catalogues," said Ramachandran. "It gets complicated fast."

Even in scientific circles, the semantic search has advantages: "In some datasets they might refer to one set of readings as temperature while another site might use sea surface temperature or SST. With a normal search engine you would never see one if you search for the other. What we have is the ontology that does all of that matching for you."

While the first three projects using the Noesis system are all related to meteorology or environmental science, Ramachandran says the system can be adapted to any branch of science or research.

"Everything is the same except the ontology," he said. "It can be configured to different domains for different projects. The hope for the future is there will be a growth of these small ontologies."

Most powerful cosmic explosion brightens student's 1st day on job

Adam Goldstein's first day on the job tending the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) instrument on NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was a doozy.

A graduate physics student at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Goldstein was still learning the ropes the evening of Sept. 16, 2008, nearing the end of his 12-hour on-call shift when the GBM called his cell phone to signal that a burst had been detected.

That in itself wasn't remarkable: GBM detects about one burst a day and it keeps Goldstein's cell phone number handy, along with those of the other GBM team members.

This burst, however, lasted 23 minutes � almost 700 times as long as the two-second average for high-energy gamma-ray bursts. And that was just for starters.

"I was in class the next morning when Alexander (van der Horst, a NASA post-doctoral fellow) called me up and told me the LAT (Fermi's Large Area Telescope) had found photons from that same burst," Goldstein recalls. "At the time, when you get a burst you oooh and aaah but it's not until you can sit down and do the spectral analysis that you know what you've found. And if another instrument looked at it, then you've got the chance to do some real science."

The first significant gamma-ray burst detected by the LAT (Fermi was lifted into orbit in June), this burst bursts with superlatives. When the analysis of spectral data collected by a telescope on the ground was finished in November, the burst's "red shift" put its point of origin about 12 billion light years from Earth. (Seen from Earth it came from just below the star Chi Carina in the southern sky.)

When that distance is factored with the burst's brightness at the Fermi sensors, it becomes the most powerful gamma-ray event ever detected � four times as powerful at the source as the second strongest burst ever detected, said Dr. Valerie Connaughton, a scientist in UAHuntsville's Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) and a member of the GBM team.

"This is the most spectacular burst ever seen at high energy," she said. "If the event that caused this blew out in every direction instead of being a focused beam, it would be equivalent to 4.9 times the mass of the sun being converted to gamma rays in a matter of minutes."

This theory-bruising burst is the subject of research published today in "Science Express," the on-line scientific journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A collaborative effort by more than 250 scientists around the world, it is the first gamma-ray burst findings to be reported from the Fermi telescope.

The day after the burst, when Goldstein learned that his first burst was noteworthy, he called his parents in Pineville, Missouri, to share the news that his dreams were coming to fruition.

"The next day I talked to them when I found out what a big deal it was," said Goldstein, who is completing a catalogue of gamma-ray burst data from an earlier orbiting detector as part of his thesis research. "I have always wanted to work with NASA, so for me this is an ideal place to be."

Goldstein's enthusiasm has spread to his family. One of the "honors" accorded a scientist when a burst is seen on his or her shift is the responsibility of writing a circular describing the burst's coordinates and characteristics for the Gamma-ray burst Coordinates Network (GCN). Since posting his description of the Sept. 16 burst, Goldstein said, his father Scott has taken to routinely checking the GCN to see if his son has posted anything new.

The Sept. 16 burst is a theory bender because theories developed to explain gamma-ray bursts � believed to be the most powerful explosions since the Big Bang � don't "allow" some of the behaviors seen by the Fermi instruments.

This includes the 23-minute duration. Roaring through space for 12 billion years tends to s-t-r-e-t-c-h waves of electromagnetic energy. Accounting for that stretching means the burst was a solid four minutes in duration when it was created.

"It is difficult to imagine keeping a central gamma-ray �engine' active for that period of time," said Dr. Michael Briggs, a CSPAR scientist and GBM team member.

Another problem is in the energy itself. Most gamma-ray bursts start hot with high-energy gamma rays, then fade to progressively weaker rays. The Sept. 16 burst started "cool," with the high-energy gamma rays showing up almost five seconds later. That wasn't expected.

And the burst had both high and low energy photons at the same time for about 200 seconds (also not expected), said Briggs. "It means everything that created both sets of rays happened in the same space at the same time, which is very difficult to explain."

After not quite three and a half minutes the cooler gamma rays became too weak to detect, but the high-energy rays continued for at least 20 more minutes. (It was still going when the burst moved out of the LAT's field of view.) If the cataclysmic cosmic event that caused the burst was fading away, why would the weaker gamma rays disappear while the strong ones stick around?

Gamma rays are at the highest end of the energy spectrum, with as much as one million times as much energy per photon as X-rays. Gamma-ray bursts are believed to come from dying stars that explode or collapse, potentially releasing as much energy in a few seconds (or minutes) as our sun will generate in billions of years.

Goldstein was the first (and is still the only) UAHuntsville graduate student to join the GBM team but several post-doctoral students have joined since the success of his first night, swelling the team to about ten. While the GBM instrument notifies team members and other scientists around the world when it detects a burst, someone has to be on-duty tending the instrument at all times. This responsibility is rotated in 12-hour shifts between the team in UAHuntsville's Cramer Hall and scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

Mother, daughter will receive doctorate degrees from UAHuntsville

A daughter is a mother's gender partner, her closest ally in the family confederacy, an extension of her self. And mothers are their daughters' role model, their biological and emotional road map, the arbiter of all their relationships.
~ Victoria Secunda

Timing is everything.

For mother, Patricia L. Roden, and daughter, Miranda Roden Bowie, synchronized timing means the two will graduate together on Friday from The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville) with doctorate degrees in computer science and applied mathematics, respectively.

"Our advisors, Dr. Letha Etzkorn, associate professor of computer science (for Roden), and Dr. Peter Slater, professor of mathematics and computer science (for Bowie), realized that if my mother slowed down and I sped up, we could graduate together," said Bowie.

Even with the fine-tuning of their academic schedules some would call Roden and Bowie's graduation together coincidence � even predictable, given the time span it takes for a woman to begin a career, start a family and place a career on hold along with any aspirations to pursue advanced college degrees. But coincidence doesn't factor into the deep, emotional bond mother and daughter share. "I feel the bond that Miranda and I share is much more than a mother�daughter one � it is one of best friends," Roden explained. "Miranda and I share so many things and have so many common interests � We are so much alike that it is sometimes scary, especially for her to see how much she is like her mother. Miranda and I are also sisters in Christ, sharing a bond in our faith."

Roden said she and her daughter share a strong love of mathematics, theater and sports. Their zeal for learning is evident � between the two of them they have earned nearly 10 academic degrees.

"We spent many hours working mathematics problems together on the couch as she was growing up, competing to see who could complete the task first and who solved the problem most elegantly," Roden said. "One of us can state an incomplete thought which no one else understands, but the other can translate or complete the thought. We even find ourselves walking at the same pace with our steps making one sound instead of two."

Besides being her staunchest supporter, Bowie said, "My mother is more than just my Mom. She is a mentor, an inspiration and a best friend. We enjoy our time together whether we are trying to decide who has the better solution to a calculus problem or yelling at the top of our lungs at a football game."

Earlier this year, the two "best friends" planned Bowie's wedding together, while both was preparing to defend their dissertations. "Luckily for me, I have the best mother in the world. She is a much better party planner than I am and was gracious enough to help me out. Truthfully, she did most of the work and I am forever grateful," said Bowie.

Not only did Bowie get married a few months ago, she also started teaching at The University of North Alabama (UNA) close to the same time. "It was very difficult to adjust to a new job and married life, while completing and defending my dissertation. Needless to say, my husband, Jason, has not seen much of me during our first five months of marriage."

Roden acknowledged dealing with some stressful periods personally and professionally over the years aggravated a chronic disease, Crohn's, that she battles from time to time. The debilitating illness is an inflammatory condition affecting the colon and or part of the small intestine.

"I began my work on my computer science degree in 1983, one year after my daughter was born. Not too long after that, the stress of working fulltime, being a wife and mother as well as trying to commute 60 miles to Huntsville one or two nights a week began to aggravate my Crohn's disease. In order to try to alleviate the stress level, I discontinued my work on the degree in 1987. I also had to undergo three major surgeries related to my disease," Roden said.

When her daughter began her graduate work at UAHuntsville in 2004, Roden said it was encouragement for her to consider returning to complete her doctorate degree as well. "All my coursework had been completed with only the dissertation part remaining. I began work on the degree in 1983 and worked until 1987, and I restarted in 2004 and ended this December."

Roden will receive a doctorate in computer science with a concentration in mathematics. Bowie, who began working on her graduate degree more than four years ago, will earn a doctorate in applied mathematics with a concentration in computer science.

The mother�daughter team said they attended UAHuntsville because of the institution's outstanding reputation in the fields of mathematics and computer science.

"I cannot begin to describe the helpfulness of the faculty in the computer science department ... My advisor, Dr. Etzkorn, as well as the members of my committee who were willing to sacrifice their time and energy to help me with my degree are remarkable," said Roden.

After graduation, Roden and Bowie who both received undergraduate degrees from UNA, will continue their collegiate teaching career at the university.

Roden pointed out that she and Miranda began their teaching career at UNA at the very same age. "Miranda even moved into my old office this fall as I moved into the (larger) office of a retiring professor," she added.

What's the next step(s) for the mother-daughter duo?

"First, I plan to rest," said Roden. "Professionally, I have applied for promotion � I plan to continue my research and look for opportunities to teach abroad. My very understanding husband, Randy, of 35 years has survived these last four years with evenings of eating alone or watching me study. I'm sure he will be happy to see some home cooked meals and a cleaner house," Roden said.

Bowie, said she and husband, Jason, a graphic designer at The TimesDaily newspaper in Florence, plan to relax by watching a lot of football and decorating for their first Christmas together.

Earth has warmed 0.4 C in 30 years

Half of the globe has warmed at least one half of one degree Fahrenheit (0.3 C) in the past 30 years, while half of that -- a full quarter of the globe -- warmed at least one full degree Fahrenheit (0.6 C), according to Dr. John Christy, a professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center (ESSC) at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Globally, Earth's atmosphere warmed an average of about 0.4 C (or about 0.72 degrees Fahrenheit) in 30 years, according to data collected by sensors aboard NOAA and NASA satellites. More than 80 percent of the globe warmed by some amount.

A map of Earth's climate changes since December 1, 1978, (when satellite sensors started tracking the climate) doesn't show a uniform global warming. It looks more like a thermometer: Hot at the top, cold at the bottom and varying degrees of warm in the middle.

This is a pattern of warming not forecast by any of the major global climate models.

The area of fastest warming is clustered around the Northern Atlantic and Arctic oceans, stretching from Arctic Canada across Greenland to Scandinavia. The greatest warming has been on opposite ends of Greenland, where temperatures have jumped as much as 2.5 C (about 4.6 degrees F) in 30 years.

During the same time, however, much of the Antarctic has cooled, with parts of the continent cooling as much as Greenland has warmed. But areas of cooling were isolated: Only four percent of the globe cooled by at least half of one degree Fahrenheit.

"If you look at the 30-year graph of month-to-month temperature anomalies, the most obvious feature is the series of warmer than normal months that followed the major El Nino Pacific Ocean warming event of 1997-1998," said Christy. "Right now we are coming out of one La Nina Pacific Ocean cooling event and we might be heading into another. It should be interesting over the next several years to see whether the post La Nina climate 're-sets' to the cooler seasonal norms we saw before 1997 or the warmer levels seen since then."

Virtually all of the warming found in the satellite temperature record has taken place since the onset of the 1997-1998 El Nino. Earth's average temperature showed no detectable warming from December 1978 until the 1997 El Nino.

Color maps of local temperature anomalies:
World Map
North America Map

The processed temperature data is available on-line at: vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/data/msu/t2lt/uahncdc.lt.

As part of an ongoing joint project between The University of Alabama in Huntsville, NOAA and NASA, Christy and Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist in the ESSC, use data gathered by microwave sounding units on NOAA and NASA satellites to get accurate temperature readings for almost all regions of the Earth. This includes remote desert, ocean and rain forest areas for which reliable climate data are not otherwise available.

The satellite-based instruments measure the temperature of the atmosphere from the surface up to an altitude of about eight kilometers above sea level.

Once the monthly temperature data is collected and processed, it is placed in a "public" computer file for immediate access by atmospheric scientists in the U.S. and abroad.

Neither Spencer nor Christy receives any research support or funding from oil, coal or industrial companies or organizations, or from any private or special interest groups. All of their climate research funding comes from state and federal grants or contracts.

UAHuntsville to recognize Ernst Stuhlinger's contributions to science through symposium

Ernst Stuhlinger, a world-renowned space scientist, will be recognized for his unique contributions to aerospace scientific and technological advancements with a symposium at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Dr. Stuhlinger, an original member of the Wernher von Braun rocket team, passed away earlier this year at his Huntsville home.

This program is being organized and sponsored by the Louis Salmon Library at UAHuntsville. The event will be held at the University Center on November 18.

After retiring from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Dr. Stuhlinger was active at UAHuntsville as an adjunct faculty members and researchers for several years. He was given an honorary doctorate from the university in 1976.

The symposium is organized to address four key areas of interest that are related to Dr. Stuhlinger's special skills and involvement during his lengthy career in our national space program, according to co-chairs David Christensen and Charles Lundquist.

These areas include: space science, electric vehicles, electrical space propulsion and advanced space transportation. Each of these areas will be discussed by his associates and co-workers and will describe his personal involvement. The current status and implications for future activities in these areas will also be reviewed by knowledgeable presenters.

A fee for the symposium is $85 ($100 after November 11) and includes attendance to the symposium, refreshment breaks, lunch, and banquet.

A related activity prepared by the Library Archives will establish a collection of documents and memorabilia dedicated to Dr. Stuhlinger. Initially, this will be a compilation of material currently in the archives and donated by Dr. Stuhlinger's friends and associates. Selected pieces of this collection will constitute one of the exhibits at the symposium. It will be a living collection to which additions will be welcome.

Go to UAHuntsville's Continuing Education website to register or get more information � http://www.coned.uah.edu and click on the Stuhlinger Symposium button. Or you can register by telephone during business hours by calling 256.824.6010 or 256.448.4031.

For more information, contact David Christensen at dabchris@aol.com, or Charles Lundquist at lundquc@uah.edu.

UAHuntsville student receives prestigious scholarship from national space organization

Ashley Campbell, a senior at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, is one of four students in the nation to be awarded a scholarship from the Universities Space Research Association.

Ms. Campbell is majoring in physics and mathematics, was chosen to receive the John R. Sevier Memorial Scholarship.

"It�s a tremendous and well-deserved honor for Ashley Campbell to be awarded this prestigious scholarship," said College of Science Dean Jack Fix. "Ashley is a fine representative of the type of students who contribute so much to our college and our science programs. She is a considerable talent."

The USRA Scholarship Program is an annual award program that provides college scholarships to outstanding students who have shown a career interest in the physical sciences or engineering with an emphasis on space research or space science education.

Students from Texas A&M University, Iowa State University and the Florida Institute of Technology were the other three scholarship recipients.

"This program is an excellent example of USRA's efforts supporting education and workforce development in the fields of space science and aerospace technology," said Dr. Hussein Jirdeh, USRA�s Director of University Relations. "We are very proud to provide this support to such a talented and promising group of young scholars and future scientists and engineers."

The University of Alabama in Huntsville is a leading technological university. Half of the university�s graduates earn a degree in science or engineering. The university is ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the 175 best national doctoral universities in the nation. More information can be found about the university at www.uah.edu.

The Universities Space Research Association was established by the National Academy of Sciences and is a private, nonprofit consortium of 102 universities offering advanced degrees in space- and aeronautics-related disciplines.

USRA's mission is to conduct leading-edge research, develop innovative technologies, promote education and policy across the breadth of space science, and operate premier science and technology facilities by involving universities, private industry and government.

Information on the USRA scholarship program is available at http://www.usra.edu/cs/usra_scholarship_program.

30 Year Problem Solved

Symposium honors Radonovich

Lew and Barbara Radonovich, center, listen to Kenneth Klabunde, Kansas State University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, talk about his days working with Radonovich, before he begins to lecture on Nanotechnology at the Shelby Center for Science and Technology. The lecture was part of a symposium held in honor of Radonovich's service to the University.

UAHuntsville mathematician solves problem after more than 30 years

When Dr. Claudio Morales presents his findings on the Leray-Schauder condition to a regional mathematics conference later this month, it will be the culmination of work that started more than 30 years ago.

Morales presents his findings on his home turf when the southeastern section of the American Mathematical Society meets Oct. 24-26 at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

"Over 30 years ago I became aware of this problem when my Ph.D. advisor wrote about it," said Morales, a professor of mathematical sciences at UAHuntsville. He started work on the problem soon after, but really focused on it after he joined the UAHuntsville faculty.

"When I came here in 1982 I really worked hard to solve this problem," he said. "I never stopped working on it. I didn't work on it constantly, but I never put it completely aside."

Instead, Morales spent the last 26 years working on related problems in an area of mathematics known as fixed point theory on infinite dimensional vector spaces. It was the work in related areas that ultimately led to the solution of the bigger problem.

"Suddenly I was able to put together some ideas that came from my other work," he said. "I realized I could apply what I was working on to my old problem. I was extremely excited that day."

His solution, which was published in a September edition of "Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society," is sending ripples across the mathematical world. Mathematicians from Canada, Greece and Japan may come to Huntsville to meet Morales and hear his presentation.

"This is very exciting," he said.

Morales' presentation is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 25, in a session that begins at 2:30 p.m. in room 103 of UAHuntsville's Shelby Center for Science and Technology.

The problem posed by the University of Iowa's William Kirk (who will be at the conference) in 1975 asked whether there is a fixed point for a nonexpansive mapping defined on a closed bounded and convex set, with nonempty interior under the Leray-Schauder condition. (The answer is: Yes.)

Although the Huntsville meeting is a regional AMS conference, the work behind the 237 scheduled presentations comes from mathematicians in 35 states, the District of Columbia and 21 countries.

More information about the AMS conference at UAHuntsville is available on-line at: http://www.ams.org/amsmtgs/2145_program.html

Dr. Sundar Christopher speaks at United Nations symposium

Calendar
Wed., Dec. 10
ATS seminar, Jeff Luvall, NASA/MSFC, 12:45 p.m., Cramer 4065

Dec. 12-13
Fall commencement

Dec. 24 - Jan. 1
Winter break