Prior decisions and experiences about mathematics of students in bridging courses

We report on the survey responses of 51 students attending mathematics bridging courses at a major Australian university, investigating what mathematics, if any, these students had studied in the senior years of schooling and what factors affected their decisions about the level of mathematics chosen. Quantitative findings are augmented by qualitative responses to open-ended questions in the survey as well as excerpts from follow-up emails. The findings show that the major reasons for students taking lower levels of mathematics in senior year(s), or dropping mathematics, include finding enough time for non-mathematics subjects, confidence in mathematical capability, advice and maximizing potential ranking for university admission.     

Classroom note: A simple proof of an interesting Fibonacci generalization

It is reasonably well known that the ratios of consecutive terms of a Fibonacci series converge to the golden ratio. This note presents a simple, complete proof of an interesting generalization of this result to a whole family of ‘precious metal ratios’.     

Power-law decay of the view times of scientific courses on YouTube

The temporal power-law decay is one class of interesting decay processes, usually indicating a long-time correlation and benefiting for a system to perform functions in various time-scales. In this work, I collect the data of the view times versus lectures of some scientific courses on YouTube, according to some special principles. These data can reflect the dynamical property of the spontaneous learning behavior, influenced by the decay of learning interest. The view times versus lectures show an obviously power-law decay process. The power approximates to 1, a universal constant. This finding brings the learning process into the interesting power-law family. It will be of interest in the fields of the human dynamics, psychology and education.     

Effects of therapeutic pulsed ultrasound and dimethylsulfoxide phonophoresis on oxidative stress parameters after injury induced by eccentric exercise

Introduction

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of TPU together with DMSO on oxidative stress parameters after eccentric exercise.

Methods

Thirty and six animals were divided in control; eccentric exercise (EE); EE + saline gel 0.9%; EE + TPU 0.8 W/cm²; EE + DMSO gel; EE + TPU + DMSO gel and submitted to one 90-min downhill run (1.0 km h⁻¹). TPU was used 2, 12, 24, 46 h after exercise session and 48 h after the animals were killed and the gastrocnemius muscles were surgically removed. Production of superoxide anion, creatine kinase (CK) levels, lipoperoxidation, carbonylation, and antioxidants enzymes were analyzed.

Results

Showed that TPU and gel-DMSO improved muscle healing. Moreover, superoxide anion production, TBARS level and protein carbonyls levels, superoxide dismutase and catalase activity were all decreased in the group TPU plus gel-DMSO.

Discussion

Our results show that DMSO is effective in the reduction of the muscular lesion and in the oxidative stress after eccentric exercise only when used with TPU.     

大学物理理论课与实验课的现状 问题与整合

针对目前高校物理教学的现状和问题,结合对本校现状的调查,分析了理论课与实验课脱节等问题的成因,并提出了相应的整合措施.     

运动加强尼尔雌醇抗去卵巢大鼠骨元素代谢紊乱的作用

用测定骨元素含量的方法．研究了运动加强尼尔雌醇抗去卵巢大鼠骨元素代谢紊乱的作用。将健康4月龄雌性SD大鼠40只随机分成4组：A组为假去卵巢组;B组为去卵巢组;C组为去卵巢 CCE3组;D组为去卵巢 CCE3 运动组。运动用大鼠专用跑台中等强度训练,持续10周。结果表明,去卵巢大鼠骨Da、Mg、S、Mn、Zn等含量显著降低,P含量显著增加。CCE3使去卵巢大鼠降低的骨Ca、Mg、S、Mn、Zn等含量显著回升,P含量显著下降。联合应用CCE3和运动使去卵巢大鼠骨Ca、Mg、S、Mn、Zn等含量增加的作用较单纯使用CCE3的作用显著加强。但两者对骨P含量的影响无显著差异。提示运动可加强CCE3对抗由于去卵巢引起的大鼠骨元素代谢紊乱的作用。     

人体中钙的生物化学作用研究进展

综述了人体中钙的生物化学作用,包括：钙在血液循环系统、神经系统,内分泌系统以及运动系统中的生物化学作用及其研究进展。钙是人体内含量最高的矿物质,钙代谢平衡对于维持生命和健康至关重要。     

A new approach for proficiency test exercise data evaluation

In this paper, a new data evaluation method for proficiency test exercises consisting of a combination of a z-test, a zeta test and an uncertainty outlier test is presented. This new method is compared with eight other evaluation methods (both measurement uncertainty using and measurement uncertainty ignoring) in common use and/or recommended by ISO 13528. The data set used to test the evaluation methods is real data and consists of the ⁹⁵Nb results of the National Physical Laboratory Environmental Radioactivity Proficiency Test Exercise 2007. The evaluation of 14 out of 32 results were affected by the choice of method.     

Visualisation of proficiency test exercise results in Kiri plots

A novel graphical method (‘Kiri plots’) for the presentation of proficiency test exercise results is presented. The Kiri plot visualises the evaluation of the proficiency test results based on three statistical tests (the z score, the zeta score and the relative uncertainty outlier test) by defining six zones including a central “in agreement” zone.