Academic maturity of students in an extended programme in mathematics

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the students who are registered in the University of Pretoria’s academic development programme, named the Four-year Programme (FYP). The programme was introduced as a gateway for students who are underprepared but have the potential to succeed and then continue their studies into the mainstream science programmes. Our research focuses on measuring the change in the academic maturity of these students. In the theoretical framework that we developed, academic maturity is subdivided into two components namely non-subject based maturity and subject based maturity (mathematical maturity). This paper focuses on measuring non-subject based academic maturity. The survey used for this purpose is called the Student Academic Readiness Survey (STARS), taken at the beginning of the year and after the first semester respectively. The results of the surveys are compared to measure the change in students’ views. Results show that in all constructs there is a surprising decline in students’ perceptions regarding their own abilities over the first semester at university. We use the Dunning–Kruger effect to explain this unexpected decline, in that students seem to develop a more realistic view of their own maturity, which in itself can be seen as a growth in academic maturity.     

Spectroscopic properties of tyrosyl radicals in dipeptides

Redox-active tyrosine residues play important roles in long-distance electron reactions in enzymes, including prostaglandin H synthase, galactose oxidase, ribonucleotide reductase, and photosystem II. Magnetic resonance and vibrational spectroscopy provide methods with which to study the structures of redox-active amino acids in proteins. In this report, ultraviolet photolysis was used to generate tyrosyl radicals from polycrystalline tyrosinate or dipeptides, and the structure of the radical was investigated with EPR and reaction-induced FT-IR spectroscopy at 77 K. Photolysis at 77 K is expected to generate a neutral tyrosyl radical through oxidation of the aromatic ring. EPR and FT-IR results obtained from (13)C-labeled tyrosine were consistent with that expectation. Surprisingly, labeling of the tyrosyl amino group with (15)N also resulted in isotope-shifted bands in the photolysis spectrum. The force constant of a NH deformation mode increased when the tyrosyl radical was generated. These data suggest an interaction between the pi system of the tyrosyl radical and the amino group. In spectra acquired from the dipeptides, evidence for a sequence-dependent interaction between the tyrosyl radical and the amide bond of the dipeptide was also obtained. We postulate that perturbation of the amino or the amide/imide groups may occur through a spin polarization mechanism, which is indirectly detected as a change in NH force constant. This conclusion is supported by density functional calculations, which suggest a conformationally sensitive delocalization of spin density onto the amino and carboxylate groups of the tyrosyl radical. These experiments provide a step toward a detailed spectral interpretation for protein-based tyrosyl radicals.     

Role for bound water and CH-pi aromatic interactions in photosynthetic electron transfer

Photosystem I (PSI) is one of two photosynthetic reaction centers present in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria and catalyzes the reduction of ferredoxin and the oxidation of cytochrome c or plastocyanin. The PSI primary chlorophyll donor, which is oxidized in the primary electron-transfer events, is a heterodimer of chl a and a' called P700. It has been suggested that protein relaxation accompanies light-induced electron transfer in this reaction center (Dashdorj, N.; Xu, W.; Martinsson, P.; Chitnis, P. R.; Savikhin, S. Biophys. J. 2004, 86, 3121. Kim, S.; Sacksteder, C. A.; Bixby, K. A.; Barry, B. A. Biochemistry 2001, 40, 15384). To investigate the details of electron transfer and relaxation events in PSI, we have employed several experimental approaches. First, we report a pH-dependent viscosity effect on P700+ reduction; this result suggests a role for proton transfer in the PSI electron-transfer reactions. Second, we find that changes in hydration alter the rate of P700+ reduction and the interactions of P700 with the protein environment. This result suggests a role for bound water in electron transfer to P700+. Third, we present evidence that deuteration of the tyrosine aromatic side chain perturbs the vibrational spectrum, associated with P700+ reduction. We attribute this result to a linkage between CH-pi interactions and electron transfer to P700+.     

Ligand‐Free Palladium‐Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidative Coupling of Carboxylic Anhydrides with Arylboronic Acids

We report a new, effective and environmentally friendly protocol for selective aerobic oxidative coupling of arylboronic acids with carboxylic anhydrides in the presence of ligand‐free palladium catalyst. The aryl benzoates are obtained in good to excellent yields.     

Study on the cationic modification and dyeing of ramie fiber

A modification procedure for ramie fiber using 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (CHPTAC) as a cationic agent and NaOH as a catalyst was developed in this paper. The morphological and structural transformations of the fiber induced by modification were determined by XRD (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). XRD results show that the crystal structure of the modified fiber was still preserved although its crystallinity was decreased, which was confirmed from the TGA results. The mechanisms for the modification and dyeing of ramie fiber were analyzed, and the optimum modification conditions were determined to be the CHPTAC concentration of 30 g L⁻¹, the NaOH concentration of 15 g L⁻¹, the reaction temperature of 50 °C, and the reaction time of 60 min. The raw and the modified fibers were dyed with C.I. reactive red 2. The K/S values for the cationic modified fiber increased to be three times as high as the unmodified fiber. The dye uptakes increased greatly with an increase in the nitrogen contents up to 0.4% on the modified fibers.     

丝氨酸蛋白酶中催化三元组内氢键的作用

为了探究丝氨酸蛋白酶催化效率的来源,本文分别研究了丝氨酸酶催化水解多肽CI2、MCTI-A和六肽(SUB)的过程中催化三元组内的氢键所起的作用. 首先采用QM/MM-MD方法计算了在酶-底物复合物和过渡态下组氨酸和天冬氨酸之间质子转移的自由能曲线. 结果表明低能垒氢键仅在CI2酰化反应的过渡态区域形成,而在MCTI-A和SUB酰化反应中均是正常氢键. 与MCTI-A相比,CI2和SUB体系中氢键强度在过渡态时显著增强,因此相应的酰化反应能垒明显降低. 过渡态区域形成的低能垒氢键显然有助于加速酰化反应,同时研究也表明正常氢键也有可能降低能垒. 氢键降低能垒的关键则在于过渡态下氢键强度的增加程度,而不是其是否生成了低能垒氢键. 本文为研究催化三元组间的氢键在丝氨酸蛋白酶中的作用提供了新思路,并有助于理解丝氨酸蛋白酶中催化三元组的催化机制.     

A linked electron pair functional

A modification of the variational configuration interaction functional in the first-order interacting space for molecular electronic structure is presented. The modified functional is a fully linked expression that by construction is extensive and invariant to transformations of the underlying orbital basis and is exact for an ensemble of separated two-electron subsystems. In addition, an approximation to variational coupled cluster is generated through truncation of the exponential cluster operator. When combined, these methods demonstrate accuracy that exceeds that of the standard coupled-cluster method, in particular in situations where the reference Slater determinant is not a good approximation.     

提高大学物理实验教学质量的措施与设想

本提出了提高大学物理实验教学质量的一些措施与设想。并加以简要论述。