Synergies among students’ thinking modes and representation types in linear algebra: employing statistical implicative analysis

In this work, students’ thinking modes and representation types in linear algebra are investigated through statistical implicative analysis techniques. Specifically, our research question considers the implicative relationships between students’ thinking modes and representation types of linear algebra. The participants were 74 undergraduate linear algebra students enrolled in the department of mathematics education of a government university located in western Turkey. The data was collected using six paper-and-pencil tasks, relating to a context of linear equations, matrix algebra, linear combination, span, linear independency–dependency and basis. A document analysis technique was used to analyze the data within a theoretical lens of thinking modes and representation types. To delineate similarity diagrams, hierarchical trees, and implicative models (which will be detailed in the paper), an R version of Cohesion Hierarchical Implicative Classification software was used. According to the results, students’ analytic structural thinking modes on linear combination and span and linear independency significantly imply the use of algebraic and abstract representations. The results also confirm that the notions of linear combination and span and linear dependency/independency are core elements for theoretical thinking and are needed for learning linear algebra.     

Understanding kindergarten teachers’ perspectives of teaching basic geometric shapes: a phenomenographic research

Geometry is one of the disciplines children involve within early years of their lives. However, there is not much information about geometry education in Turkish kindergarten classes. The current study aims to examine teachers’ perspectives on teaching geometry in kindergarten classes. The researchers inquired about teachers’ in-class experiences in geometry and asked a series of questions such as “what are the benchmarks in your kindergarten class?”; “what kind of tools and materials you use to teach geometry in your class?”; “what shape do you teach first in your kindergarten class?”; “what do you expect to hear when you asked your students ‘what is square’?”; “how do you teach rectangular?”. The study utilized one of the qualitative research methods, namely phenomenography, to collect the data and analyze the data. The study involved with eight kindergarten teachers who work in different schools in central Kutahya, Turkey. The researchers collected data by conducting face-to-face half-structured interviews. The findings of this phenomenographic research showed that kindergarten teachers have some difficulties in teaching geometry and have lack of knowledge and skills in teaching geometry in kindergarten classes.     

An experimental and three dimensional numerical study on the wind-related heat transfer from a rectangular flat plate model collector flush mounted on the roof of a model house

Experimental and three dimensional numerical work was performed to evaluate the average heat transfer coefficients for forced convection heat transfer from the surface of a rectangular flat plate model collector flush mounted on the roof of a model residential house. Examined parameters are the roof tilt angle, windward and leeward orientations. Experiments were carried out for mass transfer using the naphthalene sublimation technique. The final results were presented in terms of heat transfer parameters using the analogy between heat and mass transfer. Numerical study was performed using Ansys Fluent 6.3. Results of experimental study are in good agreement with that of numerical study. It is observed that heat transfer coefficient decreases very slowly with increasing angle of attack and it can be stated that angle of attack does not have a strong effect on heat transfer coefficients in the range investigated. It is also observed that heat transfer coefficients on the leeward orientation are lower than those of the windward orientation. Flow separation was observed on collector surface in leeward orientation.     

Reductive metallation of 6-methyl-2,3-diphenylquinoxaline. Synthesis of 1,4-dihydro-1,4-diazine derivatives

The reductive metallation of 6-methyl-2,3-diphenylquinoxaline 1 with sodium metal in tetrahydrofuran and inert atmosphere to a monomeric dianion 2 has been explored and the nucleophilicity of this disodium adduct was investigated with various alkylation and acylation reagents. An annulation of the pyrazine ring system was accomplished by treating the dianion with polymethylene chlorides, Cl(CH₂)_nCl, n = 3,4.     

Use of surfactants to remove water-based inks from plastic film: effect of calcium ion concentration and length of surfactant hydrophobe

Effective plastic film deinking could permit the reuse of recycled polymer to produce clear film, reduce solid waste for landfills, reduce raw material demand for polymer production, and aid process economics. In this study, the deinking of a commercial polyethylene film printed with water-based ink was studied using surfactants in the presence of hardness ions (calcium ions) at various pH levels. The electrostatic properties of ink particles in a washing bath were also investigated. Synthetic anionic surfactant or fatty acid soap in the presence of calcium ions at alkaline pH levels was found to be nearly as effective at deinking as cationic, nonionic, or amphoteric surfactants alone. However, adding calcium ions decreases the deinking effectiveness of cationic, nonionic, and amphoteric surfactants. Increasing the length of the ionic surfactant hydrophobe enhances deinking. Zeta potential measurements showed that water-based ink particles in water reach the point of zero charge (PZC) at a pH of about 3.6, above which ink particles are negatively charged, so cationic surfactant tends to adsorb better on the ink than anionic surfactant above the PZC in the absence of calcium. As the cationic surfactant concentration is varied between 0.005 and 25 mM, the zeta potential of the ink particles reverses from negative to positive owing to adsorption of cationic surfactant. For anionic surfactants, added calcium probably forms a bridge between the negatively charged ink and the negatively charged surfactant head groups, which synergizes adsorption of the surfactant and aids deinking. In contrast, calcium competes for adsorption sites with cationic and nonionic surfactants, which inhibits deinking. All the surfactants studied here disperse ink particles effectively in the washing bath above pH 3 except for the ethoxylated amine surfactant.     

Arylthio analogs of 5,8-quinolinedione: Synthesis,characterization, antibacterial,and antifungal evaluations

Abstract

A set of bis(arylthio) substituted 5,8-quinolinedione derivatives were synthesized and investigated for their in vitro antimicrobial effect. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of 6,7-bis(arylthio)-5,8-quinolinedione (4a–f) and 6,7-bis(arylthio)-2-methyl-5,8-quinolinedione (5a–f) were evaluated against four gram-negative bacteria, three gram-positive bacteria, and three fungi strains. The bis(methoxyarylthio) 5,8-quinolinedione analogs presented better activity against especially gram-positive bacteria compared to bis(halogenarylthio) 5,8-quinolinedione analogs. Bis(3-methoxyarylthio) 5,8-quinolinedione (4e) had the same activity of the reference drug against Staphylococcus aureus. Bis(2-methoxyarylthio) 5,8-quinolinedione (4f) showed two-and-a half-fold better activity with 89.69?μM against Enterococcus faecalis, and two-fold better activity with 11.20?μM against Staphylococcus epidermidis. Bis(2-methoxyarylthio)-2-methyl-5,8-quinolinedione 5f exhibited five-fold higher antibacterial activity with 43.44?μM against E. faecalis and also eight-fold activity of the reference drug with 2.71?μM against S. epidermidis.     

Prediction of protein pKa with representation learning

The behavior of proteins is closely related to the protonation states of the residues. Therefore, prediction and measurement of pK_a are essential to understand the basic functions of proteins. In this work, we develop a new empirical scheme for protein pK_a prediction that is based on deep representation learning. It combines machine learning with atomic environment vector (AEV) and learned quantum mechanical representation from ANI-2x neural network potential (J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2020, 16, 4192). The scheme requires only the coordinate information of a protein as the input and separately estimates the pK_a for all five titratable amino acid types. The accuracy of the approach was analyzed with both cross-validation and an external test set of proteins. Obtained results were compared with the widely used empirical approach PROPKA. The new empirical model provides accuracy with MAEs below 0.5 for all amino acid types. It surpasses the accuracy of PROPKA and performs significantly better than the null model. Our model is also sensitive to the local conformational changes and molecular interactions.

We developed new empirical ML model for protein pK_a prediction with MAEs below 0.5 for all amino acid types.     

Comparative Studies on Essential Oil and Phenolic Content with In Vitro Antioxidant,Anticholinesterase, Antimicrobial Activities of Achillea biebersteinii Afan. and A. millefolium subsp. millefolium Afan. L. Growing in Eastern Turkey

The potential applications of Achillea species in various industries have encouraged the examination of their phytochemical components along with their biological potential. In the present study, phenolic contents and essential oil compositions together with the in vitro biological activities of the aerial parts from Achillea biebersteinii Afan. and Achillea millefolium subsp. millefolium Afan. collected from Turkey were evaluated. Different solvent extracts (n-hexane, chloroform, methanol, water) were prepared and their antimicrobial, anticholinesterase, and antioxidant activities were studied. The LC-MS/MS results revealed the presence of 16 different phenolic compounds, including chlorogenic acid, rutin, quercetin, and luteolin glycosides, in methanolic extracts. According to GC-FID and GC/MS results, the primary components of the oils were identified as 1,8-cineole (32.5%), piperitone (14.4%), and camphor (13.7%) in A. biebersteinii and 1,8-cineole (12.3%) and β-eudesmol (8.9%) in A. millefolium subsp. millefolium. The infusion and methanolic extracts of both species were found to be rich in their total phenolic content as well as their antioxidant and anticholinesterase activity. In contrast, the n-hexane and chloroform extracts of both species showed strong antimicrobial activity with MIC values ranging from 15 to 2000 μg/mL. Our findings suggest that the investigated Achillea species could be evaluated as potent natural agents, and further studies into the promising extracts are needed.     

Synthesis of novel C2-symmetric chiral crown ethers and investigation of their enantiomeric recognition properties

A series of new C₂-symmetric chiral aza crown ether macrocycles 1–4 have been synthesized from (S)-3-aryloxy-1,2-propanediol and (S)-1,2-propanediol for the enantiomeric recognition of amino acid ester derivatives. These new macrocycles have been shown to be strong complexing agents for primary organic ammonium salts (with K up to 176.93 M^?1 and ΔG° up to 12.81 kJ mol^?1) by ¹H NMR titration. These macrocyclic host exhibited enantioselective bonding toward the d-enantiomer of phenylalanine methyl ester hydrochloride with K_D/K_L up to 6.87 in CDCl₃ with 0.25% CD₃OD.