MRI Consortium: Acquisition of a Sensofar S-NEOX: Dual Technology 3D Optical Profiler

结构和材料的表面为研究人员提供了关于这些物品如何与环境相互作用或环境如何与它们相互作用的重要故事。了解环境在表面上留下的图案可以带来关于气候、史前的新观点，并可以影响新工程材料的发展。该项目要求的仪器是光学表面轮廓仪，它是一种尖端科学工具，能够以纳米分辨率测量这些表面图案。这一新工具将用于在塔尔萨大学(TU)内的学院以及俄克拉荷马州其他高等教育机构(包括俄克拉荷马大学和俄克拉荷马州立大学)之间开发一个基础广泛的合作研究项目。所要求的仪器将有助于在TU建立一个区域中心，研究各种材料的表面磨损，如牙釉质、石器、陶瓷和涂层。研究生和本科生将是该仪器的主要操作员，使用该工具将使他们在使用尖端研究设备方面获得宝贵的经验。这种经历对培养和激励我们未来的科学和工程领导者至关重要。这台仪器将支持的研究涵盖从人类学到机械工程的多个主题。项目包括利用牙齿磨损成像来确定史前动物的饮食，分析古代工具的磨损模式以调查它们是如何使用和建造的，以及分析受环境影响的先进工程材料的表面。其中一个独特的项目利用了TU收藏的全面文物，其中包括石器和骨骼物品，所有这些物品都是试验性的使用穿戴。此外，屠呦呦还隶属于世界著名的Gilcrease博物馆，该博物馆拥有大量的新世界考古藏品，将提供大量可供研究的物品。随着Gilcrease Helmerich教育和研究中心预计于2014年秋季开业，该仪器将成为TU公共宣传和社区教育的组成部分，并将有助于提高公众对科学、技术、考古、进化和气候变化的理解。将使用所请求的文书产生的一些具体结果包括以下内容。通过研究哺乳动物化石牙齿的磨损，研究人员可以推断这些动物吃什么类型的饮食。从这些数据中，人们可以检验关于饮食作为进化选择过程的重要性的假设，并重建古生态，以提出关于气候变化的问题。对现代和考古组合中的石器和陶瓷的磨损进行分析，将提供有关这些工具是如何制造、使用和丢弃的信息。这提供了对人类社会结构、贸易和运输以及文化和族裔认同的洞察。现代材料容易受到环境退化的影响。了解这一过程，以及如何防止它，对现代工业至关重要。通过研究这些材料的表面，可以更好地了解降解过程，并努力改善材料的耐降解性。

The surfaces of structures and materials tell researchers important stories about how these items interacted with the environment or how the environment interacts with them. Understanding the patterns that the environment leaves on a surface can lead to new ideas about climate, prehistory, and can influence the development of new engineering materials. The instrument requested in this project, an optical surface profilometer, is a cutting-edge scientific tool that enables the measurement of these surface patterns with nanometer resolution. This new instrument will be used to develop a broad-based collaborative research program across colleges within The University of Tulsa (TU) and among other institutions of higher education in Oklahoma, including the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. The requested instrument will help to develop a regional center for research on surface wear on a broad range of materials such as tooth enamel, stone tools, ceramics, and coatings at TU. Graduate students and undergraduate students will be the primary operators of this instrument and access to this tool will give them valuable experience with cutting-edge research equipment. This type of experience is critical to train and inspire our future scientific and engineering leaders.The research that this instrument will support spans topics from anthropology to mechanical engineering. Projects include imaging use wear on teeth to determine the diets of prehistoric animals, analysis of wear patterns on ancient tools to investigate how they were used and constructed, and the analysis of surfaces on advanced engineering materials that have been subjected to environmental exposure. One of the unique projects leverage a comprehensive collection of artifacts housed at TU that contains both lithic and bone items, all with experimental use wear. In addition, TU is affiliated with the world-renowned Gilcrease Museum, which has a significant New World archaeological collection, which will provide ample objects for study. With the anticipated opening of the Gilcrease Helmerich center for education and research in fall 2014, the instrument will be an integral part of TU's public outreach and community education, and will help to improve public understanding of science, technology, archaeology, evolution, and climate change. Some of the specific results that will be produced using the requested instrument include the following. By studying wear on the teeth of fossil mammals, researchers can infer what type of diet these animals ate. From this data, one can test hypotheses regarding the importance of diet as a selection process in evolution and reconstruct paleoecology to ask questions about climate change. The analysis of wear on stone tools and ceramics, both in modern and archaeological assemblages, will provide information on how these tools were manufactured, used and discarded. This provides insight into human social structure, trade and transport as well as cultural and ethnic identification. Modern materials are subjected to environmental degradation. Understanding this process, and how to prevent it, is vital to modern industry. By investigating the surfaces of these materials it is possible to better understand the degradation processes and work to improve materials to be resistant to degradation.