Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 20,000 undergraduate students, and a total of over 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts school affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1872, the college became the state's first public land-grant university under the Morrill Act and was renamed the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. In 1892, the college became the first four-year coeducational school in the state. The curriculum at the university originally focused on arts and agriculture. This trend changed under the guidance of Dr. William Leroy Broun, who taught classics and science and believed both disciplines were important in the overall growth of the university and the individual. The college was renamed the Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1899, largely because of Dr. Broun’s influence. The college continued expanding, and in 1960 its name was officially changed to Auburn University to acknowledge the varied academic programs and larger curriculum of a major university. It had been popularly known as "Auburn" for many years. In 1964, under Federal Court mandate AU admitted its first African American student. Auburn is among the few American universities designated as a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research center. Wikipedia.
Hill G.E.,Auburn University
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society | Year: 2013
Why females assess ornaments when choosing mates remains a central question in evolutionary biology. We hypothesize that the imperative for a choosing female to find a mate with nuclear oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) genes that are compatible with her mitochondrial OXPHOS genes drives the evolution of ornaments. Indicator traits are proposed to signal the efficiency of OXPHOS function thus enabling females to select mates with nuclear genes that are compatible with maternal mitochondrial genes in the formation of OXPHOS complexes. Species-typical pattern of ornamentation is proposed to serve as a marker of mitochondrial type ensuring that females assess prospective mates with a shared mitochondrial background. The mitonuclear compatibility hypothesis predicts that the production of ornaments will be closely linked to OXPHOS pathways, and that sexual selection for compatible mates will be strongest when genes for nuclear components of OXPHOS complexes are Z-linked. The implications of this hypothesis are that sexual selection may serve as a driver for the evolution of more efficient cellular respiration.
Ortiz J.V.,Auburn University
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Molecular Science | Year: 2013
Electron propagator theory provides a practical means of calculating electron binding energies, Dyson orbitals, and ground-state properties from first principles. This approach to ab initio electronic structure theory also facilitates the interpretation of its quantitative predictions in terms of concepts that closely resemble those of one-electron theories. An explanation of the physical meaning of the electron propagator's poles and residues is followed by a discussion of its couplings to more complicated propagators. These relationships are exploited in superoperator theory and lead to a compact form of the electron propagator that is derived by matrix partitioning. Expressions for reference-state properties, relationships to the extended Koopmans's theorem technique for evaluating electron binding energies, and connections between Dyson orbitals and transition probabilities follow from this discussion. The inverse form of the Dyson equation for the electron propagator leads to a strategy for obtaining electron binding energies and Dyson orbitals that generalizes the Hartree-Fock equations through the introduction of the self-energy operator. All relaxation and correlation effects reside in this operator, which has an energy-dependent, nonlocal form that is systematically improvable. Perturbative arguments produce several, convenient (e.g. partial third order, outer valence Green's function, and second-order, transition-operator) approximations for the evaluation of valence ionization energies, electron affinities, and core ionization energies. Renormalized approaches based on Hartree-Fock or approximate Brueckner orbitals are employed when correlation effects become qualitatively important. Reference-state total energies based on contour integrals in the complex plane and gradients of electron binding energies enable exploration of final-state potential energy surfaces. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Tugnait J.K.,Auburn University
IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing | Year: 2012
We investigate a spectrum sensing method based on asymptotic analysis of the discrete Fourier transform of the received multiantenna signal, possibly non-Gaussian, for flat-fading primary user signals in white noise under noise variance uncertainty. The proposed approach is based on the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) paradigm for a restricted version of the problem obtained by ignoring the spatial structure of the primary users' received signals, and it permits the noise variances to be different at different antennas without requiring knowledge of their values. Simulation examples show the efficacy of the proposed approach compared with the energy detector and some existing time-domain GLRT approaches. A performance analysis of the proposed detector is carried out and verified via simulations. It is also shown that the proposed test statistic is equivalent to an existing time-domain GLRT statistic except that the latter has been derived under the assumption that received signal is Gaussian whereas we make no such assumption. © 2011 IEEE.
Fergus J.W.,Auburn University
Journal of Power Sources | Year: 2010
Lithium-ion batteries are important for energy storage in a wide variety of applications including consumer electronics, transportation and large-scale energy production. The performance of lithium-ion batteries depends on the materials used. One critical component is the electrolyte, which is the focus of this paper. In particular, inorganic ceramic and organic polymer solid-electrolyte materials are reviewed. Solid electrolytes provide advantages in terms of simplicity of design and operational safety, but typically have conductivities that are lower than those of organic liquid electrolytes. This paper provides a comparison of the conductivities of solid-electrolyte materials being used or developed for use in lithium-ion batteries. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Fergus J.W.,Auburn University
Journal of Power Sources | Year: 2010
One of the challenges for improving the performance of lithium ion batteries to meet increasingly demanding requirements for energy storage is the development of suitable cathode materials. Cathode materials must be able to accept and release lithium ions repeatedly (for recharging) and quickly (for high current). Transition metal oxides based on the α-NaFeO 2, spinel and olivine structures have shown promise, but improvements are needed to reduce cost and extend effective lifetime. In this paper, recent developments in cathode materials for lithium ion batteries are reviewed. This includes comparison of the performance characteristics of the promising cathode materials and approaches for improving their performances. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.