Vol 31, Part I - forums.sou.edu • Index page - Southern Oregon ...

ABSTRACTS – Contributed Papers/Posters
Third, the biological/social explanation [Sigma Xi
Forum, 2011] for why the Scientific Method developed quite
exclusively in the Western/Christian world is due to its founding
principle for day-to-day behaviour: Christ’s Golden Rule
[Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31].
MATHEMATICS
Continuing from Tuesday (refer to page 90 of these Proceedings).
Wednesday, starting at 10:00 a.m. in PONDEROSA PINES 1 & 2
150 Non-Hodgkin-Huxley Model of Cardiac Function,
DAVID BLACKMAN (Retired University of California,
Berkeley and Honorary Professor, Albert Schweitzer International
University; current address: 307 W 2 nd St., Phoenix,
OR. 97535-7733; gribear@mac.com).
There are four theorems derived from first principles,
which are descriptive of cardiac function. Each theorem
has real-world consequences explaining: the connection
between polarization and contraction, leakage current and
T wave alternans, polarization by active transport, and the
origins of the ECG signal. Each of these theorems has realworld
consequences. Theorems 2 and 3 elucidate the origins
of arrhythmia and a treatment for arrhythmia. Since
Rosenbaum’s work, T-wave alternans are both a predictor of
arrhythmia and the signposts to understanding arrhythmia.
The most important consideration is the independence of
active and passive transport of potassium ions. By exploiting
this independence it is possible to get to the root of arrhythmia.
This is an alternative theory to the Hodgkin-Huxley
model for cellular transport. This model exploits the obvious
in concert transport of all the passive channels and leads to a
new mathematical construct called the Hamiltonian dynamic
as an alternate explanation for cessation of passive transport.
151 Experimentation at the Frontiers of Reality in Schubert
Calculus, ZACH TEITLER (Department of Mathematics,
Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID
83725; zteitler@boisestate.edu).
How many lines meet four given lines This is a question
in Algebraic Geometry. It can be worked out by computers
using Computational Algebra, including techniques such
as Grobner bases. But in fact the answer was already known
in the 19th century as one of the first examples of Schubert
calculus. We can show (with pictures!) that the answer is
two. Along the way we’ll get a brief overview of these fields
of mathematics.
But how many of those solutions are real, as opposed to
complex This is the subject of the Shapiro conjecture, which
says that in some conditions all the solutions are real. The
conjecture has been proved in some settings; it remains open
in other settings, and various generalizations are also open.
An intergenerational team of faculty, postdocs, and graduate
students has tested (and continues to test!) the conjecture
using a supercomputing network of moonlighting computers.
We have computed billions of examples using over a
terahertz-year of computing power, giving overwhelming
evidence for the conjecture and discovering new phenomena
beyond the conjecture.
152 Driving Hazards in 2-Spheres, JENS HARLANDER
(Department of Mathematics, Boise State University, 1910
University Drive, Boise, ID 83725; jensharlander@boisestate.edu).
The the early 1990’s Anton Klyachko discovered what
he termed a “funny property of the sphere”. If cars drive
around the boundary of the regions in a tiling of the 2-sphere,
clockwise, continuously and without stopping, then somewhere
a total collision will occur. He used this observation to
settle a major case of the Kervaire conjecture, stated in 1963.
Klyachko’s observation, which he thought of as suitable for a
high school competition, turned out to be the tool needed for
making considerable advances in the _field of combinatorial
topology and group theory. In my talk I will explain Anton
Klyachko’s funny property of the sphere.
contributed
POSTERS
PHYSICS and MATERIALS SCIENCE
153 Pushing the Neutral Atom Microscope Past Conventional
Optical Resolution, PHILIP WITHAM* and ERIK
SÁNCHEZ (Department of Physics, Portland State
University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR, 97207-0751; pjw@
pdx.edu, esanchez@pdx.edu).
Recent advances have made microscopy using a beam
of neutrally charged gas particles a practical reality. This
technique is also called Atomic DeBroglie Microscopy and
Scanning Helium Microscopy. The particle energy used is
under 0.07 eV, roughly 10 5 times lower energy than a typical
SEM or Helium Ion microscope, resulting in a probe beam
that scatters from the first atomic layer of samples, and
with little chance of beam damage. Others working with
molecular beam experiments have shown the potential for
new science using neutral atom scattering. For these reasons,
this form of microscopy has been pursued for twenty years
by a number of researchers, with the first success published
in 2008 by Koch, Rehbein, Schmahl, Reisinger, Bracco,
Ernst, and Holst.
At our lab we developed a Neutral Atom Microscope
(NAM) which produced the first images ever obtained in
reflection mode from gas scattering. This has been improved
to the possibly record resolution of 0.35 µm. It has allowed one
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