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.     

Sampling and recovery of multidimensional bandlimited functions via frames

In this paper, we investigate frames for L₂d[−π,π] consisting of exponential functions in connection to oversampling and nonuniform sampling of bandlimited functions. We derive a multidimensional nonuniform oversampling formula for bandlimited functions with a fairly general frequency domain. The stability of said formula under various perturbations in the sampled data is investigated, and a computationally manageable simplification of the main oversampling theorem is given. Also, a generalization of Kadec's 1/4 theorem to higher dimensions is considered. Finally, the developed techniques are used to approximate biorthogonal functions of particular exponential Riesz bases for L₂[−π,π], and a well-known theorem of Levinson is recovered as a corollary.     

What is a design? How should we classify them?

Design theory crosses the boundary between mathematics and statistics, and includes a wide range of disparate types of design. In this paper we present a classification scheme which aims to include as many important types as possible, based on a balance among concept, representation and use.     

Parallel integer relation detection: Techniques and applications

Let be a vector of real numbers. An integer relation algorithm is a computational scheme to find the integers , if they exist, such that . In the past few years, integer relation algorithms have been utilized to discover new results in mathematics and physics. Existing programs for this purpose require very large amounts of computer time, due in part to the requirement for multiprecision arithmetic, yet are poorly suited for parallel processing.

This paper presents a new integer relation algorithm designed for parallel computer systems, but as a bonus it also gives superior results on single processor systems. Single- and multi-level implementations of this algorithm are described, together with performance results on a parallel computer system. Several applications of these programs are discussed, including some new results in mathematical number theory, quantum field theory and chaos theory.

     

Parametric Integer Programming Analysis: A Contraction Approach

An algorithm is presented for solving families of integer linear programming problems in which the problems are "related" by having identical objective coefficients and constraint matrix coefficients. The righthand-side constants have the form b + θd where b and d are conformable vectors and θ varies from zero to one.The approach consists primarily of solving the most relaxed problem (θ = 1) using cutting planes and then contracting the region of feasible integer solutions in such a manner that the current optimal integer solution is eliminated.The algorithm was applied to 1800 integer linear programming problems with reasonable success. Integer programming problems which have proved to be unsolvable using cutting planes have been solved by expanding the region of feasible integer solutions (θ = 1) and then contracting to the original region.     

A twistor correspondence and Penrose transform for odd-dimensional hyperbolic space

For odd-dimensional hyperbolic space , we construct transforms between the cohomology of certain line bundles on (a twistor space for ) and eigenspaces of the Laplacian and of the Dirac operator on . The transforms are isomorphisms. As a corollary we obtain that every eigenfunction of or on extends as a holomorphic eigenfunction of the corresponding holomorphic operator on a certain region of the complexification of . We also obtain vanishing theorems for the cohomology of a class of line bundles on .

     

Nonuniform Sampling and Recovery of?Multidimensional Bandlimited Functions by?Gaussian Radial-Basis Functions

Let S⊂ℝ ^d be a bounded subset with positive Lebesgue measure. The Paley-Wiener space associated to S, PW _S , is defined to be the set of all square-integrable functions on ℝ ^d whose Fourier transforms vanish outside S. A sequence (x _j :j∈ℕ) in ℝ ^d is said to be a Riesz-basis sequence for L ₂(S) (equivalently, a complete interpolating sequence for PW _S ) if the sequence (e^-iáx_j,·?:j ? \mathbb N)(e^{-i\langle x_{j},\cdot \rangle }:j\in \mathbb {N}) of exponential functions forms a Riesz basis for L ₂(S). Let (x _j :j∈ℕ) be a Riesz-basis sequence for L ₂(S). Given λ>0 and f∈PW _S , there is a unique sequence (a _j ) in ℓ ₂ such that the function

Generalized covering designs and clique coverings

Inspired by the “generalized t‐designs” defined by Cameron [P. J. Cameron, Discrete Math 309 (2009), 4835–4842], we define a new class of combinatorial designs which simultaneously provide a generalization of both covering designs and covering arrays. We then obtain a number of bounds on the minimum sizes of these designs, and describe some methods of constructing them, which in some cases we prove are optimal. Many of our results are obtained from an interpretation of these designs in terms of clique coverings of graphs. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 19:378‐406, 2011     

Multistability,bifurcations, and biological neural networks: A synaptic drive firing model for cerebral cortex transition in the induction of general anesthesia

This paper focuses on multistability theory for discontinuous dynamical systems having a set of multiple isolated equilibria and/or a continuum of equilibria. Multistability is the property whereby the solutions of a dynamical system can alternate between two or more mutually exclusive Lyapunov stable and convergent equilibrium states under asymptotically slowly changing inputs or system parameters. In this paper, we extend the definition and theory of multistability to discontinuous autonomous dynamical systems. In particular, nontangency Lyapunov-based tests for multistability of discontinuous systems with Filippov and Carathéodory solutions are established. The results are then applied to excitatory and inhibitory biological neuronal networks to explain the underlying mechanism of action for anesthesia and consciousness from a multistable dynamical system perspective, thereby providing a theoretical foundation for general anesthesia using the network properties of the brain.     

Acoustic waves in a liquid with a bubble screen

In this work, certain peculiarities of the dynamics of pressure waves in a liquid containing bubbles are studied. The specification of a model of bubbly liquids with regard to acoustic damping of the bubbles is considered. Our theoretical results are compared with experimental ones.Received: 30 June 2002, Accepted: 2 February 2003, Published online: 11 June 2003