Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Thinking About Geometry: Laying A Foundation For Future K-8 Teachers, L. D. Pitt

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

No abstract provided.

A Model General Education Science Course Involving Humanities And Sciences, Education, And Medical School Collaboration, J. P. Chinnici

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

This article described an innovative general education biology course for non-science majors, BIOL 102-Science of Heredity (SOH), stressing active student learning and collaboration [1]. The course has three components. The lecture is taught by J. P. Chinnici and several undergraduate "teacher apprentices"; students receive a classnotes packet, take in-class quizzes, and interact to work on genetic worksheets; incentives include reviewing books, visiting a science museum, and finding albino squirrels. Recitations are taught by graduate students in the Department of Human Genetics; student activities include preparing a family pedigree, writing a term paper, reporting orally and in writing on several media …

Enhancing Finite Mathematics With Global Awareness, D. L. Hydorn

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

This paper describes the project of modifying the course, Finite Mathematics, to meet a Global Awareness course requirement. The components of the revised course are described, including topics, in-class activities, and student evaluation methods, along with a summary of the results of a general education assessment of the course.

Integration Of Technology In Math And Science Education – A Model For Teaching Elementary And Middle School Pre-Service Teachers, R. W. Fisher, J. D. Ha, J. P. Chinnici

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

This paper describes the development and implementation of a course, Integration of Technology in Math and Science Education, to introduce elementary and middle school pre-service teachers to real technology skills that they can use in their future classrooms. Activities allowed the students to learn technology skills while using the Internet to enrich their content skills and share information with their fellow students. The course was designed to allow students to master a variety of technology skills, and see how these skills can be used appropriately in their future classrooms, while also increasing their comfort level to use the technology and …

Mathematics For Non-Science Majors Chemistry Course, D. D. Shillady

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

A chemistry course developed for non-science majors has been taught at Virginia Commonwealth University for the past five years. CHEM 112 uses current event articles from science magazines to make use of a verbal channel of learning in non-science majors, but some mathematics is necessary. Examples are given of successful presentation of nuclear chemistry and data needed for a balanced discussion of global warming. Manipulation of symbols in balancing chemical and nuclear reactions, simple algebra, and logarithms for pH and unit analysis of simple stoichiometric conversions are fundamental to basic chemistry. The population of a voting democracy could benefit from …

The Impact Of A Clinical Faculty Institute On Participants' Skills For Mentoring Novice Teachers, Grades K-8, J. H. Cothron, G. M. Bass Jr.

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

A seven-day Clinical Faculty Institute was implemented to increase the skills of mentor teachers and to develop a cadre of Clinical Faculty for the four participating colleges and universities. The 128 participants entered with "some confidence" in their ability to mentor novice teachers in areas typically taught in methods courses; whereas, they displayed "minimal confidence" in skills typically taught in supervisory courses. By the end of the Institute, participants showed significant changes in their "self-perceptions" of skills in twenty areas, with post-scores clustering between 3.5 and 3.9 on a four-point scale. Future institutes should focus on supervisory skills and then …

A Collaborative Pre-Practicum Apprentice Program Gives A Community College A Jump-Start In Teacher Preparation, G. F. Childers

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

The Virginia Collaborative for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers (VCEPT), funded by a grant from the Division of Undergraduate Education of the National Science Foundation, implemented the VCEPT Pre-Practicum Apprentice Program a couple of years into the grant. Groups of colleges within the Collaborative were to work together to set up an experience for pre-service teachers at their colleges which emphasized mathematics, science, and technology and which gave the pre-service teachers some in-field experience observing instruction in the local schools with lead teachers in these disciplines. Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Virginia Union University (VUU), and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community …

Programs That Work Section, L. D. Pitt

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

No abstract provided.

Tracking Transfer Of Reform Methodology From Science And Math College Courses To The Teaching Style Of Beginning Teachers Of Grades 5-12, E. Judson, D. Sawada

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

The purpose of this study was to determine if reformed science and math courses at community colleges and the university were impacting education majors as they began a teaching career. The reformed courses, in contrast to typical lecture classes, implemented inquiry-based methods that emphasized deep understanding of fundamental science and math concepts. Trained evaluators, utilizing the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) gathered a total of 86 classroom observations to gauge the level of reform that beginning teachers (one to three years’ teaching experience) were implementing in grades 5-12. The pre-service experience of the beginning teachers varied from having had zero …

Evaluating Reform Teaching In College Courses – Action Evaluation Is Action Research, G. M. Bass Jr.

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

No abstract provided.

Chrome: A Pre-College Program For Science, Mathematics, Engineering, And Technology, E. G. Wilson

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

No abstract provided.

Journal Of Mathematics And Science: Collaborative Explorations

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

No abstract provided.

Aims & Scope

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

No abstract provided.

Using Technology Within The Teacher Preparation Program As A Model For Effective Instruction, J. P. Johnson, L. E. Wilkowski

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

This article describes a methods course for teachers of elementary science and how it was enhanced to increase students’ abilities and attitudes toward using technology as a tool in teaching science. The course was enhanced as a result of the Virginia Collaborative for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers (VCEPT) project. Prior to this project, the course was known for its constructivist approach, cooperative group activities, and experiential base that allowed students to actually do and teach elementary science. As a result of VCEPT, the class now also features an elaborate technology component. Technology of many types are regularly modeled …

Experimental And Theoretical Study Of Benzene (Acetonitrile)(N) Clusters, N=1-4, M. Samy El-Shall, George M. Daly, Douglas Wright

Chemistry Publications

Well-resolved spectra of benzene–acetonitrile binary clustersBAn, with n=1–4 have been obtained by the (one-color) resonant two-photonionization technique using the benzene’s B2u←A1g 000 and 610 resonances. The spectra reveal a rapid increase in complexity with the number of acetonitrile molecules in the cluster, associated with van der Waal modes and isomeric forms. While only single cluster origins are found for the benzene–acetonitrile (BA) and the BA2clusters, two and four distinct isomers are identified for the BA3 and BA4clusters, respectively. The origins of the BA and BA2clusters are blueshifted with respect to the free benzene molecule by 38 cm⁻¹ and 26 …

Existence Of Solutions For Discontinuous Functional Equations And Elliptic Boundary-Value Problems, Siegfried Carl, Seppo V. Heikkilä

Mathematics and System Engineering Faculty Publications

We prove existence results for discontinuous functional equations in general Lp-spaces and apply these results to the solvability of implicit and explicit elliptic boundary-value problems involving discontinuous nonlinearities. The main tool in the proof is a fixed point result in lattice-ordered Banach spaces proved by the second author. © 2002 Southwest Texas State University.

Oscillation Criteria For A Class Of Partial Functional-Differential Equations Of Higher Order, Tariel Kiguradze, Takaŝi Kusano, Norio Yoshida

Mathematics and System Engineering Faculty Publications

Higher order partial differential equations with functional arguments including hyperbolic equations and beam equations are studied. Sufficient conditions are derived for every solution of certain boundary value problems to be oscillatory in a cylindrical domain. Our approach is to reduce the multi-dimensional oscillation problem to a one-dimensional problem for higher order functional differential inequalities.

Stability Analysis Of Nonlinear Lyapunov Systems Associated With An Nth Order System Of Matrix Differential Equations, Kanuri N. Murty, Michael D. Shaw

Mathematics and System Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper introduces the notion of Lipschitz stability for nonlinear nth order matrix Lyapunov differential systems and gives sufficient conditions for Lipschitz stability. We develop variation of parameters formula for the solution of the nonhomogeneous nonlinear nth order matrix Lyapunov differential system. We study observability and controllability of a special system of nth order nonlinear Lyapunov systems.

Bringing Up Robot: Fundamental Mechanisms For Creating A Self-Motivated, Self-Organizing Architecture, Doug Blank, Deepak Kumar, Lisa Meeden

Computer Science Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Developmental Approach To Intelligence, Doug Blank, Deepak Kumar, Lisa Meeden

Computer Science Faculty Research and Scholarship

In this paper we present a developmental approach to- ward creating intelligent systems. Although embracing an emergent paradigm, we also propose an architecture such that symbols have their proper place. To explore this methodology, we are developing our system on real robots. Robotic approaches usually invoke the so-called “symbol grounding problem” (Harnad 1990). However, our developmental approach bypasses the problem by generating the symbols. Thus, in a sense, the symbols are inherently grounded to the physical objects they des- ignate. We argue that a general theory of intelligence that takes a top-down perspective will be inherently in- complete.

A Developmental Approach To Anchoring, Doug Blank, Deepak Kumar, Lisa Meeden

Computer Science Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Familial Als-Associated Mutations Decrease The Thermal Stability Of Distinctly Metallated Species Of Human Copper/Zinc Superoxide Dismutase, Daryl K. Eggers, J. A. Rodriguez, J. S. Valentine, J. A. Roe, A. Tiwari, R. H. Brown, L. J. Hayward

Faculty Publications, Chemistry

We report the thermal stability of wild type (WT) and 14 different variants of human copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1) associated with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS). Multiple endothermic unfolding transitions were observed by differential scanning calorimetry for partially metallated SOD1 enzymes isolated from a baculovirus system. We correlated the metal ion contents of SOD1 variants with the occurrence of distinct melting transitions. Altered thermal stability upon reduction of copper with dithionite identified transitions resulting from the unfolding of copper-containing SOD1 species. We demonstrated that copper or zinc binding to a subset of “WT-like” FALS mutants (A4V, L38V, G41S, G72S, D76Y, …

Chemical Analysis By X-Ray Spectroscopy Near Phase Transitions In The Solid State, Juana Vivó Acrivos, L. Nguyen, T. Norman, C. T. Lin, W. Y. Liang, J. M. Honig, P Somasundaran

Faculty Publications, Chemistry

The methods discussed in this work show that the types of changes which may be observed, by precise XAS measurements of Absorbance A versus temperature, across a phase transition are: the changes in the relaxation time of the final states  due to fluctuations near a phase transition; the detection of the anomalous Bragg condition coupled to phonon modes XAS enhancement that identifies the temperature interval where the phonon modes are active, the symmetry changes which introduce new allowed transitions to finite states below an element edge, near Tc indicate what symmetry changes occur, and the method of XTDAFST0 = …

Temperature And Pressure Dependence Of Excitation Spectra As A Probe Of The Solution Structure And Equilibrium Thermodynamics Of A Eu(Iii) Complex Containing A Modified Dota Ligand, Gilles Muller, S. D. Kean, D. Parker, J. P. Riehl

Faculty Publications, Chemistry

No abstract provided.

Pyridoimidazolium Cationic Dyes: Theory, Synthesis, And Sub-Cellular Localization, Robert William Rambacher

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

(PICs, Figure 1) are a new class of fluorescent dyes which are prepared by an exceedingly flexible methodology. Using computational chemical methods, the excitation and emission maxima of these dyes were simulated. This was best accomplished through geometry optimization (MM+) followed by calculating the electronic spectrum with ZINDO/S. This protocol has been found to be effective and has the potential to greatly streamline the design of new longer wavelength dyes. Several new longer wavelength dyes have now been identified as synthetic targets.

The presence of amino groups on a known fluorescent ring system is well established to markedly affect the …

Sythesis And Characterization Of [(C5r5) M (Co)2 (L2)]+: R=H, Me And Ph; M=Cr And Mo; L2=Dmpe And Dppe, Brian Dearman

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

For two decades much research has been concentrated on open-shell transition metal complexes as chemical intermediates. To date, most efforts have concentrated on electron deficient, 17-electron (17e) compounds; however past research has shown that electronically supersaturated, 19-electron (19e) complexes can also participate as intermediates in many reactions. Yet, excluding (C₅ H₅)Fe(C₆ H₆) type complexes, very few of these compounds have been prepared.^2,3 To better understand the nature of 19e, the preparation of another series of compounds is desirable.

The addition of the bidentate Lewis bases 1,2- bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane (dmpe) or 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (dppe) to a …

A Gis Approach For The Abandoned Mine Inventory With Haul Roads Of The Monongahela National Forest To Provide A Comparative Analysis Of Usfs/Usace Collection Procedures And Image Basemap Selection For Cartographic Representation, John R. Ferguson Ii

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The Monongahela National Forest spans 10 counties in eastern central West Virginia. It has been an area of high mining and timbering activities throughout much of the early to mid twentieth century. As a result, the United States Forest Service (USFS) has focused reclamation and remediation efforts on the abandoned mine land areas. Much of the area has been subjected to mining after effects such as acid mine drainage, structural remains, gob/spoil piles, garbage piles, mine portals, and highwalls. In 1998 the USFS contracted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to locate these mining remains and provide a …

Studies Of Ppi Dendrimers: Structures, Properties, And Potential Applications, Dian He

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The research reported in this thesis focused on poly (propylene imine) (PPI) dendrimers, in terms of their structures, properties and potential applications. Different analytical techniques, including our main research tool, NMR spectroscopy, as well as AFM imaging and UV-vis spectroscopy, were used for the elucidation of structural information. The study showed (1) PPI dendrimers tend to have the extended chain conformation in polar solvents because of the strong interaction between solvent and dendrimer molecules, while in nonpolar solvents the dendrimers are inclined to have the back-folded chain conformation as a result of the weaker interaction between …

The Effect Of Phase Separation On Charge Ordering State In La12xcaxmno3 (X ¼ 1/2, 2/3, And 3/4), H. D. Zhou, G. Li, S. J. Feng, Y. Liu, T. Qian, Xiaojuan Fan, X. G. Li

Physics Faculty Research

The magnetic phase separation characteristics are found in manganese perovskite La_1/3Ca_2/3MnO₃ by electron spin resonance (ESR) and magnetization measurements. An extra resonance signal observed in ESR spectra just above the charge ordering (CO) temperature T_CO provides strong evidence for the existence of ferromagnetic (FM) clusters near the CO state. The investigation of the resistivity of La_1-xCa_xMnO₃ (x=1/2, 2/3, and 3/4) in different magnetic fields up to 14 T shows that the effect of magnetic fields on CO state decreases with increasing x. Our results indicate that the percolative characteristics …

Watershed Solutions: Collaborative Problem Solving For States And Communities, National Policy Consensus Center

National Policy Consensus Center Publications and Reports

In July 2002, the National Policy Consensus Center (NPCC) hosted a colloquium for people involved in watershed collaborations, academics, and other experts from government and non-profit organizations. Its aim was to identify lessons learned from successful watershed initiatives, and to develop recommendations for governors and other state officials on ways to enhance the use and effectiveness of watershed partnerships. This report is an outgrowth of that conference.

Studies on watershed collaborations are beginning to identify what makes them successful and what some of the barriers are to greater success. For example, contrary to the fears of some observers, successful collaborations …