Topological Symmetry Groups of Complete Bipartite Graphs

The symmetries of complex molecular structures can be modeled by the {\em topological symmetry group} of the underlying embedded graph. It is therefore important to understand which topological symmetry groups can be realized by particular abstract graphs. This question has been answered for complete graphs; it is natural next to consider complete bipartite graphs. In previous work we classified the complete bipartite graphs that can realize topological symmetry groups isomorphic to $A_4$, $S_4$ or $A_5$; in this paper we determine which complete bipartite graphs have an embedding in $S^3$ whose topological symmetry group is isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}_m$, $D_m$, $\mathbb{Z}_r \times \mathbb{Z}_s$ or $(\mathbb{Z}_r \times \mathbb{Z}_s) \ltimes \mathbb{Z}_2$.Comment: 26 pages, minor revisions; this is the final version accepted by Tokyo Journal of Mathematic

Review of Approaches to Teaching Eliot\u27s \u27Midddlemarch\u27

The editor quotes Gilbert Highet, who wrote \u27Bad teaching wastes a great deal of effort, and spoils many lives which might have been full of energy and happiness\u27. Salutary words indeed, but what about those people who seem to have thought too much about it (Highet suggests that bad teaching results from not thinking enough about it) and too self-consciously at that? This book is a curious mixture of interesting and practical ideas on the one hand and inflated intellectual selfindulgence on the other. Kathleen Blake\u27s introduction summarises the main concerns of the book and its trends. Here is an example: \u27Miller\u27s essay suggests some movement of deconstruction toward the new historicism that analyses texts in ideological and ultimately political terms.\u27 It could have been written by someone like David Lodge, but we would have been aware of the laughter. This is deadly serious, but in all fairness there are sections in the Introduction, as in the rest of the book, which contain helpful approaches and profoundly interesting investigations. The style is frequently clichéd (strategy\u27 is one of the in-words), the jargon and terminology (when it is that) being a constant irritant. One of the good, positive sections is Carol A. Martin\u27s \u27Reading Middlemarch in instalments as Victorian Readers Did\u27, with a more than useful Appendix on the serial reviews of the novel. The over-emphasis on pedagogy is undercut by the fresh enthusiasm of Alison Booth. There is an excellent Middlemarch chronology near the end of the book. But the overall effect is depressing. Some writers, one feels, have forgotten how to read for enjoyment, and are tied, like their students, to the straight-jacket of so many sessions, so many written pieces of work, so much required response. Few of these approaches here would stimulate, since they are enslaved by the variant theories. The book is about Middlemarch as exercises, not about Middlemarch as life, as imagination, as redolent of the deep truths of experience

Creating and Exploring New Worlds: Web 2.0, Information Literacy, and the Uses of Knowledge

See presentation description

Reflection in the Writing Classroom

Yancey explores reflection as a promising body of practice and inquiry in the writing classroom. Yancey develops a line of research based on concepts of philosopher Donald Schon and others involving the role of deliberative reflection in classroom contexts. Developing the concepts of reflection-in-action, constructive reflection, and reflection-in-presentation, she offers a structure for discussing how reflection operates as students compose individual pieces of writing, as they progress through successive writings, and as they deliberately review a compiled body of their work-a portfolio, for example. Throughout the book, she explores how reflection can enhance student learning along with teacher response to and evaluation of student writing.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1119/thumbnail.jp

Beginning at the Beginning: The Faculty View: A Portrait of Students and an Analysis of Them as Learners

A summary of Kathleen Blake Yancey\u27s presentation and workshop, prepared by Margot Soven

Situating Portfolios: Four Perspectives

Yancey and Weiser bring together thirty-one writing teachers from diverse levels of instruction, institutional settings, and regions to create a stimulating volume on the current practice in portfolio writing assessment. Contributors reflect on the explosion in portfolio practice over the last decade, why it happened, what comes next; discuss portfolios in hypertext, the web, and other electronic spaces; and consider emerging trends and issues that are involving portfolios in teacher assessment, faculty development, and graduate student experience.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1117/thumbnail.jp

The Effects of Avian Scavenging on the Decomposition of Sus scrofa

Studies throughout the U.S. have explored the effects of scavengers on bone and flesh to differentiate the marks left by scavengers from those of other previously inflicted trauma. However, there is a tremendous gap in data on the effects of the avian community effects in the northern East Coast area. Avian scavengers, such as turkey vultures (Cathartes aura), which specialize in carrion, and hawks, severely alter postmortem interval of a body left in the open. The purpose of this research was to study the events of postmortem changes due to avian species and the decomposition process in Oswego, New York through utilizing pig (Sus scrofa) cadavers as human proxies. The changes in decomposition of four individual pigs were documented over a period of two months. Two separate environments, wooded and open, were studied to note differences in both decomposition rate and the type of avian species attracted. Insect activity varied across all four enclosures leading to a unique micro-environment at each pig despite the same habitat and exposure to weather conditions. The experimental pigs were predated on by a single avian species, turkey vultures, but they did not heavily affect the rate of decomposition. Insects affected the rate of decomposition the most and scavenger activity was minimal and limited to a few days out of the month. Future studies will look into different rates of decomposition and presence of scavengers throughout different seasons

Self-monitoring and feedback : reducing the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome in keyboard entry tasks.

The purpose of this study was to decrease the risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) during keyboard entry tasks through a combination of training, self-monitoring, feedback, goal-setting and reinforcement. A multiple baseline across subjects was used to assess subjects\u27 posture and hand-wrist positions as they entered text on a keyboard. Following baseline data subjects received training and self-monitored either posture or hand-wrist positions. Later feedback, goal-setting, and reinforcement were given on both behaviors in a staggered fashion. The results indicate dramatic increases in both the percentage of posture items performed correctly and the percentage of time hand-wrist positions were at neutral for all subjects. Implications of the results are discussed