Patterns—a fundamental idea of mathematical thinking and learning

Taking advantage of patterns is typical of our everyday experience as well as our mathematical thinking and learning. For example a working day or a morning at school displays a certain structure, which can be described in terms of patterns. On the one hand regular structures give us the feeling of permanence and enable us to make predictions. On the other hand they also provide a chance to be creative and to vary common procedures. School students usually encounter patterns in math classes either as number patterns or geometric patterns. There are also patterns that teachers can find in analyzing the errors students make during their calculations (error patterns) as well as patterns that are inherent to mathematical problems. One could even go so far as to say that identifying and describing patterns is elementary for mathematics (cf. Devlin 2003). Practising good interacting with patterns supports not only the active learning of mathematics but also a deeper understanding of the world in general. Patterns can be explored, identified, extended, reproduced, compared, varied, represented, described and created. This paper provides some examples of pattern utilization and detailed analyses thereof. These ideas serve as “hooks” to encourage the good use of patterns to facilitate active learning processes in mathematics.     

Crystallographic report: Bis{[diacetyl‐bis(2,6‐isopropylphenylimine)]nickel(I)(µ‐chloro)}

The first α‐diimine nickel(I) complex having a chloro bridge is reported. The centrosymmetric dinuclear structure of {[ArN?C(Me)C(Me)?NAr]NiCl}₂[Ar?2,6?C₆H₃(i‐Pr)₂] features two chelating α‐diimine ligands and two bridged chlorine atoms, so that a distorted tetrahedral N₂Cl₂ coordination geometry for nickel results. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of ion impinging on the microstructure and field emission of carbon nanotubes

Effects of ion impinging on the microstructure and field electron emission properties of screen-printed carbon nanotube films were investigated. We observed that the plasma treatment modified the microstructure of CNTs along with the remarkable increase of emission site density. With the prolongation of ion impinging time, the emission current falls down first, and then rises up to higher than that of the untreated films. It is proposed that the change of emission characteristics is due to the different emission mechanisms. After the treatment, electrons are emitted predominantly from the nano-nodes on the tube wall instead from the nanotube tips.     

Notiz über Parachloraldehyd

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Synthesis and characterization of new bis(1-aryliminomethylenylnaphthalen-2-oxy)nickel complexes and their catalytic behavior for vinyl polymerization of norbornene

The synthesized 1-aryliminomethylenylnaphthalen-2-ol derivatives reacted with nickel chloride to form bis(1-aryliminomethylenylnaphthalen-2-oxy)nickel complexes. All resultant compounds were structurally characterized by elemental analyses, IR and H NMR, and the structures of the formed complexes were elucidated by X-ray crystal structure analysis. The complexes show high catalytic activities for the vinyl polymerization of norbornene in the presence of methylaluminoxane. The catalytic activity variations have been followed by gas chromatography through monitoring the conversion of norbornene.     

力矩教学剖析

力矩在物理课教学中占有举足轻重的地位．力矩的概念并不难理解，但应用起来却涉及到很多知识点，且能翻出不少新花样．让我们来看下面的问题：放在地面上的板条箱(如图)，受到R=120N力的作用．试求该力对点A的力矩：(1)根据力臂计算；(2)根据该力在作用点B处的分力计算；(3)根据该力在作用线上其它某一适当点处的分力计算．