Preparing K‐8 Preservice Teachers in a Content Course for Standards‐Based Mathematics Pedagogy

Many K–8 preservice teachers have not experienced learning mathematics in a standards‐based classroom. This article describes a mathematics content course designed to provide preservice teachers experiences in learning mathematics that will help build a solid foundation for a standards‐based methods course. The content course focuses on developing preservice teachers' mathematical knowledge, as well as helping them realize what it means to learn mathematics that is taught using the pedagogy in the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics ( National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000 ). Furthermore, findings are presented from a study on this course that describe students' pre‐ and postcourse beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions of what it means to learn and teach mathematics. These findings provide evidence that the students in the study are beginning to understand what is meant by a standards‐based classroom. Data were collected from surveys and interviews. Quotes from the students who aspire to be elementary teachers are used throughout the article to support the points.     

Does botulinum toxin alter laryngeal secretionsand mucociliary transport?

Localized botulinum toxin injection disrupts cholinergic transmissionand has potential to cause focal dysautonomia. Mucociliary transport and laryngeal secretions are thought to be mediated in part by autonomic, cholinergic transmission. We questioned whether patients who receive Botox® injection for adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) report postinjection symptoms possibly related to altered mucociliary clearance or laryngeal secretions. Medical histories, audiotaped interviews, and symptom ratings were retrospectively examined for 29 patients with ADSD who were followed after one or more Botox injections. Patients had received bilateral, percutaneous Botox injections of 2.5 units using an EMG-guided approach. One or more weeks after injection, four patients reported either burning, tickling, or irritation of the larynx/throat, excessive thick secretions, or dryness. Symptoms recurred with subsequent injections in two patients and were not associated with swallowing difficulty. These symptoms are consistent with, but not diagnostic of, the known effects of botulinum toxin on cholinergic, autonomic transmission.     

Psychometric Re‐evaluation of the Image of Science and Scientists Scale (ISSS)

An enduring concern among science education researchers is the “swing away from science” ( Osborne. 2003 ). One of their central dilemmas is to identify—or construct—a valid outcome measure that could assess curricular effectiveness, and predict students' choices of science courses, university majors, or careers in science. Many instruments have been created and variably evaluated. The primary purpose of this paper was to re‐evaluate the psychometric properties of the Image of Science and Scientists Scale (ISSS) ( Krajkovich 1978 ). In the current study, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the dimensionality of the 29‐item ISSS, which was administered to 531 middle school students in three San Antonio. Texas school districts at the beginning of the 2004–2005 school year. The results failed to confirm the presumed 1‐factor structure of the ISSS. but instead showed a 3‐factor structure with only marginal fit with the data, even after removal of 12 inadequate items. The three dimensions were “Positive Images of Scientists” (5 items). “Negative Images of Scientists” (9 items), and “Science Avocation” (3 items). The results do not support use of the original form of the ISSS for measuring “attitudes toward science,”“images of scientists. “or “scientific attitudes. “Shortening the scale from 29 to 17 items makes it more feasible to use in a classroom setting. Determining whether the three dimensions identified in our analysis. “Positive Images of Scientists. ““Negative Images of Scientists. “and “Science Avocation “contain useful assessments of middle school student impressions and attitudes will require independent investigation in other samples.     

Asymptotic analysis of nonselfadjoint operators generated by coupled Euler‐Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam model

In the current paper, we present a series of results on the asymptotic and spectral analysis of coupled Euler‐Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam model. The model is well‐known in the different branches of the engineering sciences, such as in mechanical and civil engineering (in modelling of responses of the suspended bridges to a strong wind), in aeronautical engineering (in predicting and suppressing flutter in aircraft wings, tails, and control surfaces), in engineering and practical aspects of the computer science (in suppressing bending‐torsional flutter of a new generation of hard disk drives, which is expected to pack high track densities (20,000+TPI) and rotate at very high speeds (25,000+RPM)), in medical science (in bio mechanical modelling of bloodcarrying vessels in the body, which are elastic and collapsible). The aforementioned mathematical model is governed by a system of two coupled differential equations and a two parameter family of boundary conditions representing the action of the self‐straining actuators. This linear hyperbolic system is equivalent to a single operator evolution equation in the energy space. That equation defines a semigroup of bounded operators and a dynamics generator of the semigroup is our main object of interest. We formulate and proof the following results: (a) the dynamics generator is a nonselfadjoint operator with compact resolvent from the class ??p with p > 1; (b) precise spectral asymptotics for the two‐branch discrete spectrum; (c) a nonselfadjoint operator, which is the inverse of the dynamics generator, is a finite‐rank perturbation of a selfadjoint operator. The latter fact is crucial for the proof that the root vectors of the dynamics generator form a complete and minimal set. In our forthcoming paper, we will use the spectral results to prove that the dynamics generator is Riesz spectral, which will allow us to solve several boundary and distributed controllability problems via the spectral decomposition method. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Concerning multiplier automorphisms of cyclic Steiner triple systems

A cyclic Steiner triple system, presented additively over Z _v as a set B of starter blocks, has a non-trivial multiplier automorphism λ ≠ 1 when λB is a set of starter blocks for the same Steiner triple system. When does a cyclic Steiner triple system of order v having a nontrivial multiplier automorphism exist? Constructions are developed for such systems; of most interest, a novel extension of Netto's classical construction for prime orders congruent to 1 (mod 6) to prime powers is proved. Nonexistence results are then established, particularly in the cases when v = (2^β + 1)^α, when v = 9p with p ≡ 5 (mod 6), and in certain cases when all prime divisors are congruent to 5 (mod 6). Finally, a complete solution is given for all v < 1000, in which the remaining cases are produced by simple computations.     

On the Characterisation of AG(n,q) by its Parameters asa Nearly Triply Regular Design

We show that a non-symmetric nearly triply regular designD with and in which every line has at least q points is AG(n,q) for prime power q > 2 and positiveinteger n 3.     

A fully integrated high-throughput screening methodology for the discovery of new polyolefin catalysts: discovery of a new class of high temperature single-site group (IV) copolymerization catalysts

For the first time, new catalysts for olefin polymerization have been discovered through the application of fully integrated high-throughput primary and secondary screening techniques supported by rapid polymer characterization methods. Microscale 1-octene primary screening polymerization experiments combining arrays of ligands with reactive metal complexes M(CH(2)Ph)(4) (M = Zr, Hf) and multiple activation conditions represent a new high-throughput technique for discovering novel group (IV) polymerization catalysts. The primary screening methods described here have been validated using a commercially relevant polyolefin catalyst, and implemented rapidly to discover the new amide-ether based hafnium catalyst [eta(2)-(N,O)[bond](2-MeO[bond]C(6)H(4))(2,4,6-Me(3)C(6)H(2))N]Hf(CH(2)Ph)(3) (1), which is capable of polymerizing 1-octene to high conversion. The molecular structure of 1 has been determined by X-ray diffraction. Larger scale secondary screening experiments performed on a focused 96-member amine-ether library demonstrated the versatile high temperature ethylene-1-octene copolymerization capabilities of this catalyst class, and led to significant performance improvements over the initial primary screening discovery. Conventional one gallon batch reactor copolymerizations performed using selected amide-ether hafnium compounds confirmed the performance features of this new catalyst class, serving to fully validate the experimental results from the high-throughput approaches described herein.     

Kinetics and thermodynamics of copper(II) binding to apoazurin

The binding of copper(II) to apoazurin has been probed by isothermal titration calorimetry in cholamine buffer at pH 7.0. The standard enthalpy change was determined to be -10.0 +/- 1.4 kcal/mol. Each calorimetric trace reveals an initial exothermic phase followed by an endothermic phase. The calorimetric data could be fit to a kinetic model involving a bimolecular combination of copper(II) and apoazurin in an exothermic process (k = 2 +/-1 x 103 M-1 s-1, DeltaH degrees = -19 +/- 3 kcal/mol) to form an intermediate that spontaneously converts to Cu(II)-azurin in an endothermic process (k = 0.024 +/- 0.01 s-1, DeltaH degrees = +9 +/- 3 kcal/mol). These data suggest that copper(II) first combines with apoazurin in an irreversible process to form an intermediate that converts to copper(II)-azurin in a process driven by the release of water. The overall standard free energy of copper(II) binding to apoazurin is estimated to be -18.8 kcal/mol.     

Structure and dynamics of t-butyldimethylsilyl amides

A series of N-alkyl- and N-aryl-t-butyldimethylsilyl amides have been prepared by amination and their structures determined by IR and NMR spectroscopy. Like their trimethylsilyl counterparts, the N-alkyl derivatives exist as amides while the N-aryl derivates exist as amide/imidate mixtures. The percentage of imidate and the free energies of activation for the imidate/amide exchange in the aryl derivatives are greater than those in the trimethylsilyl derivatives. The barriers to rotation in the amide form of the aryl derivatives are similar to those of the trimethylsilyl derivatives. The barrier for rotation in t-butyldimethylsilyl-N-methyl formamide, however, is lower than that of the trimethylsilyl derivative. Isomer ratios and free energies of activation are rationalized in terms of the steric effect of the t-butyl group.