Using digital stories to reduce misconceptions and mistakes about fractions: an action study

The aim of this study is to determine the mistakes and misconceptions about fractions of the fourth-grade students in a primary school and to eliminate these mistakes and misconceptions through digital stories. The study has been conducted with a total of 25 students in the fourth-grade of a private primary school in Turkey. An action research method based on qualitative research approach has been used in the study. In the preparation of activities related to digital stories, the mistakes and misconceptions that students have regarding fractions are taken into account. As a data collection tool, the Determination of Misconceptions Form consisting of 30 open ended questions about the fractions prepared by the researchers and the observation notes taken during the implementation process have been used. In addition, semi-structured interviews have been conducted to identify views of teachers and students about activities designed with digital stories. The implementation has been carried out for 5 weeks. Qualitative data analysis techniques have been used in analysing the data. As a result of the research, it has emerged that teaching implementations designed with digital stories have eliminated the mistakes and misconceptions that a large majority of students have about fractions. Most of the students who had a limited perception about the concept of fraction before implementation have fully perceived the definition of fractions after the activities designed with digital stories. Likewise, most of the students who incorrectly modelled the operations with fractions before the implementation, have been able to use the correct model for the operations with fractions after the-implementation fractions. When opinions about the activities designed with digital stories have been examined, it has been found that most students’ express positive opinions on digital story use in lessons and found digital stories fun, instructive and constructive.     

The Existence of Solutions for a Nonlinear First-Order Differential Equation Involving the Riemann–Liouville Fractional-Order and Nonlocal Condition

In this paper, we study necessary conditions for the existence and uniqueness of continuous solution for a nonlocal boundary value problem with nonlinear term involving Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative. Our results are based on Schauder fixed point theorem and the Banach contraction principle fixed point theorem. Examples illustrating the obtained results are also presented.     

Substitution reactions of thorium(IV) acetate to synthesize nano-sized carboxylate complexes

Some mixed-ligand thorium(IV) complexes with the general formula [Th(OOCCH₃)_4?nL_n] (L = anions of myristic, palmitic or stearic acid and n = 1–4) have been synthesized by the stepwise substitution of acetate ions of thorium(IV) acetate with straight chain carboxylic acids in toluene under reflux. The complexes were characterized by elemental analyses, spectral (electronic, infrared, NMR and powder XRD) studies, electrical conductance and magnetic susceptibility measurements. Doubly and triply bridged coordination modes of the ligands were established by their infrared spectra and nano-size of the complexes by powder XRD. Room temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements revealed diamagnetic nature of the complexes. Electronic absorption spectra of the complexes showed π → π*, n → π* and charge transfer transitions. Molar conductance values indicated the complex to be non-electrolytes. These are a new type of mixed-ligand thorium(IV) complexes for which a nano-sized, oxygen bridged polymeric structure has been established on the basis of physico-chemical studies.     

The high-mass component (>m/z 10 000) of coal tar pitch by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry and size-exclusion chromatography

The size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) of acetone-soluble, pyridine-soluble and pyridine-insoluble fractions of a coal tar pitch indicates a bimodal distribution in each fraction. The proportion of high-mass material excluded from the SEC column porosity increases with solvent polarity. The polymer calibration of SEC shows the mass range of the small molecules to be from approximately 100 u to approximately 6000 u, with the mass range of the large excluded molecules above 200 000 u and up to several million u. In contrast, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) shows a similar low-mass range of ion abundances (< m/z 6000), but with a smaller range of high-mass ion abundances, from approximately m/z 10 000 to 100 000. The large molecules may have three-dimensional structures to allow molecules of relatively low mass to behave as if they are of large size in SEC. Laser desorption mass spectrometry of the acetone- and pyridine-soluble fractions produced molecular ions of polycyclic aromatics that can be related to the known compositions from gas chromatography (GC) mass spectrometry. The experimental conditions used to generate the bimodal distribution by MALDI-MS involve reducing the ion signal intensities to avoid overload of the detector and enable detection of the high-mass ions, by reducing the high-mass detector voltage (i.e. sensitivity) and increasing the laser power.     

p-Hertz excitation spectroscopy of an optical antenna, optical transmitter-receiver mechanism

o-Xylene sensitized biacetyl fluorescence and phosphorescence have been investigated and photosensitized fluorescence and phosphorescence lifetimes of biacetyl in the vapor phase have been determined. Attempts to detect the triplet of biacetyl by its absorption spectrum were unsuccessful, primarily due to, it is believed, the low extinction coefficients of the triplet, and the low triplet concentrations produced by the optical pumping device at room temperature.     

Side chain dependence of intensity and wavenumber position of amide I' in IR and visible Raman spectra of XA and AX dipeptides

A series of AX and XA dipeptides in D2O have been investigated by FTIR, isotropic, and anisotropic Raman spectroscopy at acidic, neutral, and alkaline pD, to probe the influence of amino acid side chains on the amide I' band. We obtained a set of spectral parameters for each peptide, including intensities, wavenumbers, half-widths, and dipole moments, and found that these amide I' parameters are indeed dependent on the side chain. Side chains with similar characteristic properties were found to have similar effects on the amide I'. For example, dipeptides with aliphatic side chains were found to exhibit a downshift of the amide I' wavenumber, while those containing polar side chains experienced an increase in wavenumber. The N-terminal charge causes a substantial upshift of amide I', whereas the C-terminal charge causes a moderate decrease of the transition dipole moment. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations on the investigated dipeptides in vacuo yielded different correlations between theoretically and experimentally obtained wavenumbers for aliphatic/aromatic and polar/charged side chains, respectively. This might be indicative of a role of the hydration shell in transferring side chain-backbone interactions. For Raman bands, we found a correlation between amide I' depolarization ratio and wavenumber which reflects that some side chains (valine, histidine) have a significant influence on the Raman tensor. Altogether, the obtained data are of utmost importance for utilizing amide I as a tool for secondary structure analysis of polypeptides and proteins and providing an experimental basis for theoretical modeling of this important backbone mode. This is demonstrated by a rather accurate modeling for the amide I' band profiles of the IR, isotropic Raman, and anisotropic Raman spectra of the beta-amyloid fragment Abeta(1-82).     

The Behavior of 3,3-Diphenylindan-1,2-dione Towards Alkyl Phosphites

Summary. The reaction of 3,3-diphenylindan-1,2-dione with trimethyl phosphite in dry benzene at room temperature for about 15 h led to the formation of a mixture containing dimethyl (3,3-diphenyl-2-methoxy-1-indenyl)phosphate and dimethyl (3,3-diphenyl-1H-2-oxo-1-indanyl)phosphate, whereas with triisopropyl phosphite, diisopropyl (3,3-diphenyl-2-isopropoxy-1-indenyl)phosphate is the only product. Treatment of the dione with dialkyl phosphites under different experimental conditions gave dialkyl (3,3-diphenyl-1-hydroxy-2-oxo-1-indanyl)phosphates. Reaction mechanisms are presented which account for the experimental results. Structural assignments of the new compounds are based on the spectroscopic evidences and two examples were elucidated by X-ray crystallography.     

A computational investigation of the reactions of methylene, chlorocarbene, and dichlorocarbene with cyclopropane

The reactions of CH(2), CHCl, and CCl(2) with cyclopropane, 1, have been examined computationally. In all cases the lowest energy reaction between the carbene and 1 is predicted to be C-H insertion. In the reaction of CH(2) with 1, the transition state for C-C insertion leading to cyclobutane is 1.7 kcal/mol higher in enthalpy than the transition state for C-H insertion at the G3B3 level. A pathway higher in energy than C-H insertion in the reactions of CHCl and CCl(2) with 1 involves two-bond cleavages generating ethylene along with chloro and dichloroethylene, respectively.     

Polyphenolic Profile of Callistemon viminalis Aerial Parts: Antioxidant,Anticancer and In Silico 5-LOX Inhibitory Evaluations

Five new compounds viz kaempferol 3-O-(4″-galloyl)-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1‴→6″)-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (1), kaempferol 3-O-β-d-mannuronopyranoside (2), kaempferol 3-O-β-d-mannopyranoside (3), quercetin 3-O-β-d-mannuronopyranoside (4), 2, 3 (S)- hexahydroxydiphenoyl]-d-glucose (5) along with fifteen known compounds were isolated from 80% aqueous methanol extract (AME) of C. viminalis. AME and compounds exerted similar or better antioxidant activity to ascorbic acid using DPPH, O₂⁻, and NO inhibition methods. In addition, compounds 16, 4, and 7 showed cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cell lines while 3, 7 and 16 exhibited strong activity against HepG2. An in silico analysis using molecular docking for polyphenolic compounds 2, 3, 7, 16 and 17 against human stable 5-LOX was performed and compared to that of ascorbic acid and quercetin. The binding mode as well as the enzyme-inhibitor interactions were evaluated. All compounds occupied the 5-LOX active site and showed binding affinity greater than ascorbic acid or quercetin. The data herein suggest that AME, a source of polyphenols, could be used against oxidative-stress-related disorders.