EDGE newsletters contain brief descriptions of research activities and discoveries at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and provides links to researchers, centers, and sources of additional information.

Method to establish genetic markers receives patent

Researchers at Technion University in Haifa, Israel, and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., have been awarded a patent for developing a novel way to establish genetic markers for bacteria such as E. coli (“Abundant, well distributed and hyperpolymorphic simple sequence repeats in prokaryote genomes and use of same for prokaryote classification and typing,” No. 6,322,985).

“The research will improve our ability to detect and identify bacteria that has tainted food or entered a surface water, and thereby improves the sensitivity and speed of detection,” says Eric Hallerman, associate professor in fisheries and wildlife sciences at Virginia Tech. “This will help to determine whether E. coli in a stream came from cattle, chickens, humans, or wildlife, and enable water pollution control authorities to target their actions where it will make a difference.”

This research was the result of Hallerman’s work while on sabbatical in Israel. His co-patent holders are Yechezkel Kashi, Riva Gur-Arie, Cyril Cohen, Yuval Eitan, and Leora Shelef of Technion University.
The patent was assigned to Technion Research and Development Foundation Ltd. of Haifa.
Hallerman serves on the National Research Council Standing Committee on Biotechnology, Food and Fiber Production, and the Environment. His research interests include genetics of fish and wildlife species, genetic improvement of aquaculture stocks, aquaculture biotechnology, and related public policy.

Contact Hallerman at 540-231-3257 or ehallerm@vt.edu.

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Making it easy to program your VCR — from the Internet?

Optim Systems Inc., a small high-tech company in Northern Virginia, had developed ways to connect many non-computer devices to the Internet, such as cell phones, hand-held computers, and even weather sensors and door sensors. They are also developing the ability to connect to home appliances, such as VCRs and the refrigerator.

However, the company needed a way to develop easy-to-understand user interface designs. They called Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology, which referred them to computer scientists at Virginia Tech.
Faculty member Rex Hartson, who specializes in human-computer interaction, and his students developed a usability engineering process. “We developed a process for designing and constructing interfaces that are almost intuitive from the user’s perspective,” he explains.

The researchers gave Optim Systems a usability engineering process and helped them build a high-fidelity prototype.

As another outcome, a student wrote his master’s thesis as a case study of the problem and solution.

Contact Hartson at 540-231-4857 or hartson@vt.edu Also, visit the web site on usability methods and tools at http://miso.cs.vt.edu/~usab/.

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Forests can restore surface mined land

The mountains of eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and Southwest Virginia are blessed with natural resources, the most notable being timber and coal. Huge amounts of timber were cut between 1880 and 1930. Toward the end of the virgin timber harvest, coal mining became the region’s economic mainstay. Now the nationwide demand for hardwood products offers profits from second-growth forests.

The forests also restore the mountains’ beauty and wildlife, attracting vacationers and others who enjoy the land for recreational purposes – and who enrich the local economy in the process.
However, returning forests to the drastically disturbed mined land required the integration of reclamation policy and procedure, forest biology, economic incentives, and common sense, says James Burger, Virginia Tech professor of forestry.

Virginia Tech research results helped changed regulations in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky by demonstrating that “forestry by design” meets the spirit of the law requiring that land be returned to its former use and productivity. As a result, millions of trees have been planted on thousands of acres. And in 1999, the Society of American Foresters gave their reforestation award to a mining company for the first time.

Contact Burger at jaburger@vt.edu or 540-231-7680.
Read a longer article at about this topic.

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