Students’ conceptual understanding of a function and its derivative in an experimental calculus course

Calculus has been witnessing fundamental changes in its curriculum, with an increased emphasis on visualization. This mode for representing mathematical concepts is gaining more strength due to the advances in computer technology and the development of dynamical mathematical software. This paper focuses on the understanding of the function and its derivative as viewed by students of a reformed Calculus 1 course offered in two experimental sections at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon. Results have shown that the general approach adopted in the course proved to be unpopular for a great majority of the students, but rewarding for others. Interviews conducted with some students and a study of their performance on very specific exam questions reveal that for most students, the algebraic representation of a function still dominated their thinking; however, these students showed an almost complete understanding of the derivative, particularly the idea of the instantaneous rate of change and/or the slope of a curve at a given point. Furthermore, very few of these students referred to the mechanical methods for finding derivatives.     

A new theory of regular functions of a quaternionic variable

In this paper we develop the fundamental elements and results of a new theory of regular functions of one quaternionic variable. The theory we describe follows a classical idea of Cullen, but we use a more geometric formulation to show that it is possible to build a rather complete theory. Our theory allows us to extend some important results for polynomials in the quaternionic variable to the case of power series.     

A characterization of network representable polymatroids

Meggido [1974] showed that the maximum flow through sets of sources in a multiple sink flow network is a polymatroidal function. Recently, Federgruen and Groenevelt [1985], [1986] have considered polymatroids that can be represented by a multiple source flow network and have improved the runnung time of an important scheduling application.We give a characterization of network representability and relate representable polymatroids to the theory of gammoids.

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Zusammenfassung Meggido [1974] hat gezeigt, daß ein maximaler Fluß durch ein Netzwerk mit mehrfachen Senken eine polymatroidale Funktion beschreibt. Federgruen und Groenvelt [1985], [1986] haben kürzlich solche Polymatroide betrachtet, die durch Flüsse in derartigen Netzwerken repräsentiert werden können und haben so die Laufzeit einer wichtigen Schedulinganwendung verbessern können.Wir geben eine Charakterisierung von Funktionen, die durch derartige Netzflußnetzwerke realisierbar sind. Dabei stellen wir eine Verbindung her zwischen Repräsentierbarkeit und Gammoidtheorie.

     

混合范数空间中函数的Taylor系数

本文研究了混合范数空间Ｈ（ｐ，ｑ，ａ）中解析函数ｆ的Ｔａｙｌｏｒ系数，对０＜ｐ≤２，０＜ｑ＜∞，ａ＞０和２≤ｐ＜∞，０＜ｑ＜∞，ａ＞０两种情形，分别给出了ｆ属于Ｈ（ｐ，ｑ，ａ）的必要条件和充分条件。用上述结果我们还得到了几个关于混合范数空间的乘子定理，这些结果也推广了Ｈａｒｄｙ和Ｌｉｔｔｌｅｗｏｏｄ关于Ｈ＾ｐ空间的相应结论。     

C D : a computer program to generate 1D, 2D and 3D grids of functions dependent on the molecular ab initio electron density

A program to compute many functions dependent on the electron density ρ(r) from the results of ab initio molecular calculations is presented. The program allows the generation of different one-, two-, and three-dimensional grids for further graphical representation or numerical analysis. Other options like extracting separate atom contributions to the function computed or locating maximum and minimum values are also implemented. A number of illustrative applications regarding different ρ(r)-dependent functions are presented and the performance and portability of the program is discussed.     

Dexamethasone delivery to posterior segment of the eye

Due to anatomic barriers and lacrimal drainage it is difficult to obtain therapeutic drug concentrations in the posterior part of the eye after topical drug administrations. Lipophilic cyclodextrins, such as randomly methylated β-cyclodextrin (RMβCD), are known to act both as solubilizers of water-insoluble drugs in aqueous solutions and as penetration enhancers that reduce the barrier function of lipophilic membranes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of RMβCD on dexamethasone delivery from aqueous eye drop solution into rabbit eyes. Dexamethasone (0.5 and 1.5% w/v) drops (50 μl) were administered to the left eye of rabbits (n = 6) and the drug levels measured in different eye tissues 2 h after administration. In aqueous humor dexamethasone levels were 1,190 ± 110 and 1,670 ± 630 ng/g (mean ± SD) after administration of the 0.5 and 1.5% dexamethasone eye drops, respectively. In the retina the levels were 33 ± 7 and 66 ± 49 ng/g, and in optic nerve 41 ± 12 and 130 ± 50 ng/g, respectively. In a previous study the dexamethasone concentration in aqueous humor after topical administration of 1.3% (w/v) dexamethasone eye drops in aqueous 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) solution was determined to be 320 ± 230 ng/g and 66 ± 20 ng/g after administration of Maxidex^® eye drops. Both the hydrophilic HPβCD and the lipophilic RMβCD enhance topical dexamethasone delivery into the eye, but of the two, the lipophilic RMβCD results in higher dexamethasone concentrations.     

Lipschitz Continuity and Interpolation Properties of Some Classes of Increasing Functions

We study local Lipschitz continuity and interpolation properties of some classes of increasing functions defined on the cone Rⁿ ₊₊ of n-vectors with positive coordinates. We also study the so-called self-conjugate increasing positively homogeneous functions.     

Existence of strong minimizers for the Griffith static fracture model in dimension two

We consider the Griffith fracture model in two spatial dimensions, and prove existence of strong minimizers, with closed jump set and continuously differentiable deformation fields. One key ingredient, which is the object of the present paper, is a generalization to the vectorial situation of the decay estimate by De Giorgi, Carriero, and Leaci. This is based on replacing the coarea formula by a method to approximate $SB{D}^p$ functions with small jump set by Sobolev functions, and is restricted to two dimensions. The other two ingredients will appear in companion papers and consist respectively in regularity results for vectorial elliptic problems of the elasticity type and in a method to approximate in energy $GSB{D}^p$ functions by $SB{V}^p$ ones.     

On duality concepts in fractional programming

The paper (Part I) describes an approach to duality in fractional programming on the basis of another kind of conjugate functions. The connections to some duality concepts (the Lagrange-duality and duality concepts of Craven and Schaible) are investigated and some new proofs of strong duality theorems are given.