Wichita State University

About: Wichita State University is a education organization based out in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 4988 authors who have published 9563 publications receiving 253824 citations. The organization is also known as: WSU & Fairmount College.

Geometric constraint satisfaction using optimization methods

Abstract: The numerical approach to solving geometric constraint problems is indispensable for building a practical CAD system. The most commonly-used numerical method is the Newton–Raphson method. It is fast, but has the instability problem: the method requires good initial values. To overcome this problem, recently the homotopy method has been proposed and experimented with. According to the report, the homotopy method generally works much better in terms of stability. In this paper we use the numerical optimization method to deal with the geometric constraint solving problem. The experimental results based on our implementation of the method show that this method is also much less sensitive to the initial value. Further, a distinctive advantage of the method is that under- and over-constrained problems can be handled naturally and efficiently. We also give many instructive examples to illustrate the above advantages.

Do Campaign Contributions and Lobbying Expenditures by Firms Create “Political” Capital?

Abstract: We examine the relation between a firm’s campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures and its Tobin’s q. We follow other studies that use q to measure the value of the firm’s intangible capital (e.g., the value of advertising, R&D, or environmental performance). Researchers have found a positive and significant relation between intangible assets and q. If political capital exists, it is an intangible asset. However, we find little relation between q and political contributions, suggesting that campaign contributions may not have long term effects on political markets. This is consistent with the view that contributions are done by firms as a response to a short term opportunity not as a way of building long-term political capital.

Elastic-Plastic Model of Adhesive-Bonded Single-Lap Composite Joints

Abstract: An analytical model for determining adhesive stress distributions within the adhesive-bonded single-lap composite joints was developed. ASTM D3165 ‘‘Strength Properties of Adhesives in Shear by Tension Loading of Single-Lap-Joint Laminated Assemblies’’ test specimen geometry was followed in the model derivation. In the model derivation, the composite adherends were assumed linear elastic while the adhesive was assumed elastic-perfectly plastic following von Mises yield criterion. Laminated Anisotropic Plate Theory was applied in the derivation of the governing equations of the bonded laminates. The adhesive was assumed to be very thin and the adhesive stresses are assumed constant through the bondline thickness. The entire coupled system of equations was determined through the kinematics relations and force equilibrium of the adhesive and the adherends. The overall system of governing equations was solved analytically with appropriate boundary conditions. Computer software Maple V was used as the solution...

Ultrafast photoinduced energy and electron transfer in multi-modular donor-acceptor conjugates.

Abstract: New multi-modular donor- acceptor conjugates featuring zinc por- phyrin (ZnP), catechol-chelated boron dipyrrin (BDP), triphenylamine (TPA) and fullerene (C60), or naphthalenedi- A (NDI) have been newly designed and synthesized as photosynthetic an- tenna and reaction-center mimics. The X-ray structure of triphenylamine-BDP is also reported. The wide-band captur- ing polyad revealed ultrafast energy- transfer (kENT = 1.0 � 10 12 s � 1 ) from the singlet excited BDP to the covalently linked ZnP owing to close proximity and favorable orientation of the enti- ties. Introducing either fullerene or naphthalenediimide electron acceptors to the TPA-BDP-ZnP triad through metal-ligand axial coordination result- ed in electron donor-acceptor polyads whose structures were revealed by spectroscopic, electrochemical and computational studies. Excitation of the electron donor, zinc porphyrin re- sulted in rapid electron-transfer to co- ordinated fullerene or naphthalenedi- A yielding charge separated ion- pair species. The measured electron transfer rate constants from femtosec- ond transient spectral technique in non-polar toluene were in the range of 5.0 � 10 9 -3.5 � 10 10 s � 1 . Stabilization of the charge-separated state in these multi-modular donor-acceptor polyads is also observed to certain level.