The impact of integrated STEM professional development on teacher quality

This study of a state‐funded, 3‐year implementation of an integrated STEM professional development (PD) program for teachers from two middle schools in the midwestern U.S. examined if participants in the PD were enabled to transform their practice and perceptions of STEM. An integrated STEM approach includes a focus on the STEM disciplines, along with leveraging social studies/history and English/language arts as important context and tools for solving society’s biggest challenges. Findings in this study indicated that teachers implemented more effective STEM teaching strategies and had more positive perceptions regarding STEM overall. Further, participants became more aware of their personal needs for resources and support to teach through integrated STEM. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

1H and 13C chemical shifts and coupling constants of lupane. Application of two-dimensional NMR techniques

2D NMR techniques (J-resolved ¹³C, ¹³C? ¹³C correlated, ¹H? ¹³C correlated) were used to gather more chemical shift and coupling information on the pentacyclic triterpene, lupane. They confirm and complete ¹³C assignments made earlier, and corroborate the constitution and major configurational details of lupane. Lupane is a parent compound and spectral reference in the study of sedimental demethylated triterpenes.     

Supersymmetric 3D anti-de Sitter space solutions of type IIB supergravity

For every positively curved K?hler-Einstein manifold in four dimensions, we construct an infinite family of supersymmetric solutions of type IIB supergravity. The solutions are warped products of AdS3 with a compact seven-dimensional manifold and have nonvanishing five-form flux. Via the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory correspondence, the solutions are dual to two-dimensional conformal field theories with (0,2) supersymmetry. The corresponding central charges are rational numbers.     

Microbial Baeyer-Villiger oxidation: stereopreference and substrate acceptance of cyclohexanone monooxygenase mutants prepared by directed evolution

[reaction: see text] An array of random mutants of cyclohexanone monooxygenase (CHMO) from Acinetobacter sp. NCIMB 9871 was screened against a library of structurally diverse ketones for modifications in the substrate acceptance profile and stereopreference of the enzymatic Baeyer-Villiger biooxidation. While the set of mutant biocatalysts was initially evolved for the enantiocomplementary oxidation of 4-hydroxycyclohexanone, improved and/or divergent stereoselectivities were observed for several substrates. In addition, expanded substrate acceptance to facilitate biotransformation of sterically demanding ketones was found.     

Implementation of a cohesive zone model for the investigation of the dynamic behavior of a rotating shaft with a transverse crack

The influence of a transverse crack on the vibration of a rotating shaft has been at the focus of attention of many researchers. The knowledge of the dynamic behavior of cracked shaft has helped in predicting the presence of a crack in a rotor. Here, the changing stiffness of the cracked shaft is investigated based on a cohesive zone model. This model is developed for mode-I plane strain and accounts for triaxiality of the stress state explicitly by using basic elastic-plastic constitutive relations. Then, the proposed numerical solution is compared to the switching crack model, which is based on linear elastic fracture mechanics. The cohesive zone model is implemented in finite element techniques to predict and to analyse the dynamic behavior of cracked rotor system. Timoshenko beam theory is used to model the discrete shaft under the effect of gravity, unbalance force and gyroscopic effect. The analysis includes the cohesive function for describing the breathing crack and the reduction of the second moment of area of the element at the location of the crack. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Eliciting and Developing Teachers' Conceptions of Random Processes in a Probability and Statistics Course

The purpose of this study is to examine prospective mathematics specialists' engagement in an instructional sequence designed to elicit and develop their understandings of random processes. The study was conducted with two different sections of a probability and statistics course for K-8 teachers. Thirty-two teachers participated. Video analyses within a collaborative course design were used to support a teaching experiment about teachers' conceptions of random processes. In particular, teachers were asked whether the outcomes of Rock-Paper-Scissors (RPS) are generated randomly or not, were presented with a definition for random selection, and were asked to come to a conclusion about RPS. Teachers struggled to reconcile the equality of winning outcomes for each player with the potential for human interference in the process of generating outcomes. Ultimately, teachers concluded the outcomes were not generated randomly, but encountered a variety of unexpected obstacles along the way.     

N‐Alkyl Ammonium Resorcinarene Salts as High‐Affinity Tetravalent Chloride Receptors

N‐Alkyl ammonium resorcinarene salts (NARYs, Y=triflate, picrate, nitrate, trifluoroacetates and NARBr) as tetravalent receptors, are shown to have a strong affinity for chlorides. The high affinity for chlorides was confirmed from a multitude of exchange experiments in solution (NMR and UV/Vis), gas phase (mass spectrometry), and solid‐state (X‐ray crystallography). A new tetra‐iodide resorcinarene salt (NARI) was isolated and fully characterized from exchange experiments in the solid‐state. Competition experiments with a known monovalent bis‐urea receptor ( 5 ) with strong affinity for chloride, reveals these receptors to have a much higher affinity for the first two chlorides, a similar affinity as 5 for the third chloride, and lower affinity for the fourth chloride. The receptors affinity toward chloride follows the trend K₁?K₂?K₃≈ 5 >K₄, with K_a=5011 m ^?1 for 5 in 9:1 CDCl₃/[D₆]DMSO.