Preparing Science Teachers in an Era of Reform: Practitioners' Perspectives of Methods Courses

With recent national calls for the reform of science education have come standards that delineate not only science content but also assessment, pedagogy, and teachers’ professional development. If teachers must teach science differently, then teacher preparation must change. This study asked 31 inservice secondary science teachers to complete a survey about topics for inclusion in a secondary science methods course. Respondents ranked a list of prespecified topics and had an opportunity to suggest other topics for inclusion in the course. Results showed that the majority of prespecified potential topics were judged important enough by these teachers to warrant inclusion in a methods course, though no individual added topic appeared on more than two surveys. Results demonstrate that these teachers believe teaching many of the traditional topics in science methods courses is still needed. In addition, they advocated the inclusion of several topics that either represent recent technological and theoretical advances, or longstanding ideas that have recently received considerable attention.     

Fast atom bombardment mass spectra of keto acid and keto ester phosphoranes

Positive-ion fast atom bombardment mass spectra of 13 keto acid and keto ester phosphoranes were examined. All compounds gave a protonated molecular ion and characteristic peaks at m/z 303, 279, 262 and 201.     

Collision Avoidance in Bi-Directional AGV Systems

The use of a bi-directional, as opposed to a one-way, transportation system, can increase the operational efficiency of automated guided vehicles in both manufacturing and warehousing environments. However, the full potential will only be realized if the routeing algorithms pay particular attention to the problem of collision avoidance. This paper is concerned with the development of such an algorithm. The method is based on the use of delays and deviations to avoid collisions that could arise when using the shortest routes for each vehicle, and is applicable to any transportation system which can be represented as a network with known travel times.     

Monofunctionalised resorcinarenes

A convenient methodology for introducing single functional groups to the lower rim of resorcinarenes is described. The methodology allows for very convenient differential protection or derivatisation of the upper and lower rims, and a wide range of functional groups (alcohol, carboxylic acid, thiol, amine, carbamate, alkyl halide) can be incorporated as a single unit at the lower rim, opening up the way to further modification at this point and generally widening the scope for further utilising resorcinarenes. Furthermore, our approach has enabled us to link two resorcinarenes together to form novel resorcinarene dimers.     

Determination of 11 aminoglycosides in meat and liver by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

A method using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry was developed for the determination of 11 commonly used aminoglycoside antibiotics in meat. The proposed method is sufficiently sensitive (detection limits of 15 to 40 ppb for the various antibiotics) and highly selective. It is suitable for the quantitation and confirmation of aminoglycosides in a variety of matrixes (pork muscle, fish, and veal liver). Any multiresidue method for aminoglycosides must take into account their high affinity toward sample proteins and the significantly different pK values of the various analytes. The developed method uses a low-pH extraction with trichloracetic acid to ensure complete extraction of the analytes from the matrix. An anion-exchange step is used to remove the acid from the centrifuged extract. Aminoglycosides in this solution of low ionic strength can be quantitatively retained and afterwards eluted from a weak cation-exchanger solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge. The highly selective SPE steps produce clean extracts, which minimize possible suppression of the mass spectrometer signal.     

Fundamental studies of mixed-gas inductively coupled plasmas

The effects of adding foreign gases to the central-gas flow or the intermediate-gas flow of an argon inductively coupled plasma are presented. In particular, the influence of up to 16.7% added helium, nitrogen or hydrogen on radially-resolved electron number density, electron temperature, gas-kinetic temperature and calcium ion emission profiles is examined. It is shown that these gases affect not only the fundamental parameters and bulk properties of the plasma, but also how energy is coupled and transported through the discharge and how that energy interacts with the sample. For example, added helium causes an increase in the gas-kinetic temperature, most likely due to the higher thermal conductivity of helium compared to argon but, in general, does not appear to affect significantly either the electron temperature or electron concentration. The shift in the calcium ion emission profile towards lower regions in the discharge with added helium may be attributable to higher droplet desolvation and particle vaporization rates. In contrast, the addition of nitrogen or hydrogen to an Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma (Ar ICP) results in dramatic changes in all three fundamental plasma parameters: electron number density, electron temperature, and gas-kinetic temperature. The net effect of these molecular gases (N₂ or H₂) on calcium ion emission and on the fundamental plasma parameters is shown to be dependent on the amount of gas added to the plasma and whether the gas is introduced as part of the central- or intermediate-gas flow. In general, nitrogen added to the central-gas flow causes a significant reduction in the number of electrons throughout most of the discharge (over an order of magnitude in certain regions), mainly in the central and upper zones of the ICP. A drop of 3000–5000 K in the central channel electron temperature and a smaller drop in the gas-kinetic temperature are also observed when N₂ is added to the central-gas flow. In contrast, the introduction of nitrogen in the intermediate flow causes about a 1 × 10¹⁵ electrons cm⁻³ increase in the electron concentration in the low, toroidal regions of the plasma and an increase in the gas-kinetic temperature of around 1000 K throughout most of the discharge. As seen with the addition of nitrogen to the central-gas flow, the electron temperature is found to increase in the toroidal zones of the plasma when N₂ is added to the intermediate flow. These combined effects cause a 20-fold depression in the calcium ion emission intensity only a 1.7-fold depression when N₂ is added to the central- or intermediate-gas flows, respectively. On the other hand, hydrogen causes a depression in the electron concentration in the upper areas of the plasma when this gas is added to the central flow but increases the number of electrons in the same region when added to the intermediate flow. Hydrogen also causes a dramatic effect on the electron and gas-kinetic temperatures, significantly increasing both of these parameters throughout the discharge. An increase in the calcium ion emission intensity, accompanied by a downward shift, elongation and broadening of the calcium ion emission profile is also observed with H₂ addition.     

Analysis of betamethasone, dexamethasone and related compounds by liquid chromatography/electrospray mass spectrometry

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS) method has been developed to conclusively differentiate the epimers betamethasone and dexamethasone and various esterification products (betamethasone and dexamethasone 21-acetate, betamethasone and dexamethasone 21-phosphate, betamethasone 17-valerate, betamethasone 21-valerate and betamethasone 17,21-dipropionate) in counterfeit drugs. Good separation with baseline resolution of all epimers or isomers was obtained on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB or Luna C8 column, using a step gradient with mobile phases of 0.05 M ammonium acetate and acetonitrile. Betamethasones can also be distinguished by the relative abundance of their m/z 279 ion in the positive electrospray tandem mass spectra. The LC/MS or LC/MS/MS method developed was successfully applied to the analysis of drug product samples, i.e. creams and tablets.     

THE EFFECT OF ACCEPTOR GROUP VARIATION ON THE SOLVATOCHROMISM OF DONOR-ACCEPTOR FLUOROPHORES

Abstract The absorption and emission characteristics of five hydroxytetrahydrochrysenes substituted with acceptor groups (nitro, cyano, methylketone, 1° amide and methyl ester) (THC-NO₂, THC-CN, THC-COCH₃, THC-CONH₂ and THC-CO₂CH₃, respectively) were investigated in an extensive set of solvents. The order of absorption and fluorescence bathochromicity are: THC-NO₂ > THC-COCH₃ > THC-CN ≥ THC-CO₂CH₃ > THC-CONH₂ and THC-NO₂ >> THC-COCH₃ > THC-CO₂CH₃ > THC-CN > THC-CONH₂, respectively. The emission spectra of these compounds are sensitive to the solvent polarity (E_T[30] scale) in the order: THC-NO₂ > THC-COCH₃ > THC-CO₂CH₃ > THC-CONH₂ > THC-CN. The response of the emission maxima of these compounds to the solvent polarity and hydrogen-bond donor/acceptor properties (π*/α/β and acity/basity scales) was also determined. The emission energies of THC-NO₂ were most sensitive to π*, β, acity, and basity of the solvent; those of the amide were least sensitive to the solvent π*, β, and basity. The ground- and excited-state dipole moments were determined by semiempirical molecular orbital calculations and the absorption/fluorescence solvent-shift method, respectively. THC-NO₂ had the largest ground- and excitedstate moments. The ester and amide had the smallest ground- and excited-state moments, respectively. In general, unsatisfactory results were obtained for correlations of the emission and absorption energies, fluorescence solvatochromism and the ground- and excited-state dipole moments with the Hammett substituent constants of the five acceptor groups. Acceptable correlations were obtained for the absorption and emission energies and the fluorescence solvatochromism with the substituent constants if the cyano compound was excluded.     

A multi-technique surface study of the mercury(II) chalcogenide ion-selective electrode in saline media

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), rotating disc electrode-electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (RDE-EIS) and synchrotron radiation-grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (SR-GIXRD) have been used to study the response mechanism of the mercury(II) chalcogenide ion-selective electrode (ISE) in saline media. XPS and SIMS have shown that the chalcogenide surface is poisoned by silver chloride, or a mixture of silver halides, on continuous exposure to synthetic and real seawater. Significantly, the in-situ SR-GIXRD study demonstrated that electrode fouling in synthetic seawater is linked to the formation of poorly crystalline or amorphous silver chloride, and that the low level of free mercury(II) in a calibration buffer (i.e., 10(-14) M) is able to undergo metathesis with silver(II) sulfide in the membrane generating mercury(II) sulfide. Significantly, the results of this detailed surface study have shown that silver chloride fouling of the electrode is ameliorated in real seawater comprising natural organic ligands, and this has been attributed to the peptization of silver chloride by the surfactant-like nature of seawater ligands at pH 8. RDE-EIS aging studies have revealed that the chalcogenide membrane experiences a sluggish charge transfer reaction in seawater, and contrary to a previous report for a static electrode, the seawater matrix does not passivate the RDE. The results of this XPS, SIMS, RDE-EIS and SR-GIXRD study have elucidated the response mechanism of the mercury(II) ISE in saline media.     

3M Petrifilm Staph Express Count plate method for the enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus in selected types of meat, seafood, and poultry: collaborative study

The 3M Petrifilm Staph Express Count plate method was compared with AOAC Official Method 975.55 for the enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus in selected foods. Four foods--cooked, diced chicken; cured ham; smoked salmon; and pepperoni--were analyzed for S. aureus by 12 collaborating laboratories. For each food tested, the collaborators received 8 blind test samples consisting of a control sample, a low inoculation level, a medium inoculation level, and a medium inoculation level with background flora, each in duplicate. The mean log10 counts for the methods were comparable for all 4 foods. The repeatability and reproducibility variances of the 24 h Petrifilm Staph Express Count plate method were similar to those of the 72 h standard method.