Technology Proficiency Among K-12 Award-Nominated Teachers in Tennessee: A Survey of Teachers

The integration of technology in K-12 classrooms is a prevalent topic among school faculty and administrations across the United States. There are many teachers that use technology in distinctive ways, whereas others are more reluctant to adopt technology into their teaching methods. The purpose of this study was to examine two groups of teachers in the state of Tennessee and explore how and why they use technology. The first group of teachers has been nominated for a Tennessee Teacher of the Year award over the past two years. The second group of teachers has never been nominated for the award. There were a total of 48 participants in this study. The questionnaire attempted to assess the usage of technology resources in the classroom by K-12 teachers, as well as the perceived potential of technology as a teaching and learning supplement. The questionnaire gathered demographic information as well as technology use, including: 1) frequency of its use, 2) student use, 3) teacher use, both during instruction and for productivity, 4) how usage has changed over the past three years and 5) beliefs about its potential. Major conclusions to the study were the following: 1) the award-nominated teachers use technology resources more frequently with their classes than their peers who have never been nominated; 2) both groups of participants have the same objectives for student technology use; 3) both groups of participants use technology resources for teaching as well as productivity; 4) both groups of participants have used technology resources similarly over the past three years, although the award-nominated teachers have more recently become comfortable with using technology resources; 5) both groups of participants believe that technology offers a great deal of potential for instruction and learning

Multidisciplinary and Multi-Objective Optimal Design of a Cascade Control System for a Flexible Wing with Embedded Control Surfaces Having Actuator Dynamics

A multidisciplinary and multi-objective optimization approach that integrates the design of the control surfaces’ sizes, active control systems, and estimator for an aircraft’s wing with three control surfaces is developed. Due to its attractive stability robustness properties, a control system based on the LQR (Linear Quadratic Regulator) is built for each control surface. The geometrical parameters of the control surfaces such as the span wise and chord lengths, the design details of the LQR penalty matrices, and the locations of the estimator poles are tuned by a widely used multi-objective optimization algorithm called NSGA-II (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm). Four objectives are considered: minimizing impacts of external gust loads, maximizing stability robustness and extending flutter boundaries, reducing control energy consumption, and minimizing the Frobenius norm of the estimator gains. The solution of the multi-objective optimization problem is a set called Pareto set and the set of the corresponding function evaluation is called Pareto front. The solution set contains various geometrical configurations of the control surfaces with different feedback gains, which represent different degrees of optimal compromises among the design objectives. The optimization results demonstrate the competing relationship between the design objectives and necessity of handling the design problem in a multidisciplinary and multi-objective context. Three major results are obtained from inspecting the profiles of the closed-loop eigenvalues at various airspeeds 1) a unique control gain can be designed for the entire flight envelope, 2) the flutter boundaries can be infinitely extended, and 3) a unique observer gain can be designed for the entire flight envelope. The third chapter of this thesis presents a multi-objective and multidisciplinary optimal design of a cascade control system for an aircraft wing with four aerodynamic ailerons actuated by four identical brushless DC motors. The design of the control system is broken into a secondary and primary control algorithm. The primary control algorithm is designed based on the concept of LQR and then applied to mathematical model of the wing and its control surfaces to calculate their required deflections. The output of the primary controller serves as set-point for the secondary control loop which consists of the dynamic of the DC motor and Proportional Velocity (PV) based controller. Then, an optimal design of the control algorithms is carried out in multi-objective and multidisciplinary settings. Three objectives are considered: 1) the speed of response of the secondary controlled system must be faster than that of the primary one, 2) the controlled system must be robust against external disturbances affecting both control layers, and 3) optimal energy consumption. The decision variables of the primary as well as secondary control algorithms and the sizing elements of the control surfaces form the design parameter space of the optimization problem. Both geometrical and dynamic constraints are applied on the setup parameters. The multi-objective optimization problem (MOP) is solved by NSGA-II, which is one of the popular algorithms in solving MOPs. The solution of the MOP is a set of optimal control algorithms that represent the conflicts among the design objectives. Numerical simulations show that the design goals are achieved, the secondary control is always fast enough to prevent the propagation of disturbances to the primary loop, the inner and outer control algorithms are robust against disturbance inputs, and the primary control loop stays stable when the air stream velocity varies from 80 to 1000 (⁄) even at its worst relative stability value. The presented study may become the basis for multi-objective and multidisciplinary optimal design for aeroelastic structure having actuator dynamics

2015 Fine Art Graduation Exhibition Catalogue

Graduation Exhibition 2015 Fanshawe College Fine Art Program The Arts ProjectApril 8-18, 2015 Opening ReceptionSaturday April 11, 20157pm-10pm Guest SpeakerJennifer SimaitisMembership Coordinator: The Power Plant Gallery Torontohttps://first.fanshawec.ca/famd_design_fineart_gradcatalogues/1010/thumbnail.jp

A Tale Of Two Transgenes: Aav-Dystrophin And Aav-Spike Reveal Common Themes For Gene Therapy And Vaccines

Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are non-pathogenic, replication defective viruses that can facilitate long-term gene transfer to a variety of tissues in vivo. However, the limited DNA packaging capacity of AAV (~5 kb) poses challenges for the transfer of large genes. Additionally, while AAV is a minimally immunogenic viral vector, the risk of potential immune response against exogenous, AAV-delivered transgene products isn’t fully understood. Here I describe two in vivo AAV-mediated gene transfer projects that utilize engineered, miniaturized versions of larger genes to overcome the AAV packaging capacity for the disparate purposes of gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a degenerative X-linked muscle disease caused by mutations that result in the absence of the giant, rod-shaped structural protein dystrophin. While we have previously demonstrated that systemic delivery of an AAV-deliverable miniaturized form of the dystrophin paralog utrophin (AAV-Utrophin) can complement for absence of dystrophin without the immunogenicity observed against similarly designed AAV-Dystrophin, we believe further improvements can be made to the design of the miniaturized utrophin proteins to improve their functionality and durability. Here we reconstructed the evolution of striated muscle as well as the piecemeal evolution of the dystrophin gene. Based on this evolutionary reconstruction of dystrophin’s origin, we propose a structural model for how the spectrin repeats within the rod domain of dystrophin and utrophin interact to form a continuous, interlocking structure. Using this structural model of the dystrophin/utrophin rod domain, we engineered a new AAV-deliverable utrophin protein (nano4-Utrophin) with a chimeric spectrin repeat capable of maintaining tensile strength along the entire truncated rod domain. We then demonstrate that following systemic administration using AAV9, nano4-Utrophin localizes to the sarcolemma, restores sarcolemmal localization of -Sarcoglycan, and prevents ongoing muscle regeneration in mdx mouse model of DMD. While this project utilized a paralogous protein approach to avoid transgene product immunogenicity, my second project capitalizes on AAV-delivered exogenous transgene immunogenicity. I demonstrate that a single intramuscular injection of AAV6 or AAV9 encoding a modified, N-terminal domain deleted spike protein induces robust cellular immunity and provides long-term protection in k18-hACE2 transgenic mice from lethal SARS-CoV-2 challenge, associated weight loss and pneumonia independent of vaccine-induced neutralizing humoral immunity. In both mice and macaques, vaccine-induced cellular immunity results in the clearance of transduced muscle fibers coincident with macrophage and CD8+ cytotoxic T cell infiltration at the site of immunization. Additionally, mice demonstrate a strong Type-1 polarized cellular immunophenotype and equivalent ex vivo T cell reactivity to peptides of wt and alpha (B.1.1.7) variant spike. These studies demonstrate not only that AAV6 and AAV9 can function as effective vaccine platforms, but also that vaccines can provide long-term efficacy primarily through the induction of cellular immunity

Genetic Structure of the Rice Blast Pathogen (Magnaporthe oryzae) over a Decade in North Central California Rice Fields.

Rice blast, caused by the ascomycete Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the most destructive rice diseases worldwide. Even though the disease has been present in California since 1996, there is no data for the pathogen population biology in the state. Using amplified fragment length polymorphisms and mating-type markers, the M. oryzae population diversity was investigated using isolates collected when the disease was first established in California and isolates collected a decade later. While in the 1990 samples, a single multilocus genotype (MLG) was identified (MLG1), over a decade later, we found 14 additional MLGs in the 2000 isolates. Some of these MLGs were found to infect the only rice blast-resistant cultivar (M-208) available for commercial production in California. The same samples also had a significant decrease of MLG1. MLG1 was found infecting the resistant rice cultivar M-208 on one occasion whereas MLG7 was the most common genotype infecting the M-208. MLG7 was identified in the 2000 samples, and it was not present in the M. oryzae population a decade earlier. Our results demonstrate a significant increase in genotypic diversity over time with no evidence of sexual reproduction and suggest a recent introduction of new virulent race(s) of the pathogen. In addition, our data could provide information regarding the durability of the Pi-z resistance gene of the M-208. This information will be critical to plant breeders in developing strategies for deployment of other rice blast resistance genes/cultivars in the future

Simulation of Creep in Micron Scale Crystalline Materials for High Temperature Thermal Protection Systems

The use of thermal barrier coatings over the past few decades has significantly improved the performance of gas turbine engines by reducing the operating temper-ature of engine components. However, these multilayer systems are not able to be used to their full potential due to the difficulty of accurately modeling the complex interplay of physical phenomena, such as creep and oxidation, that contribute to failure. In order to address this issue, more physics-based failure prediction models need to be developed. One potential way to do this is through the use of dislocation dynamics (DD) models. A DD framework was recently developed which incorporates high temperature effects such as vacancy diffusion assisted dislocation climb in ad-dition to dislocation glide. However, the effects of certain parameters on simulations of dislocation creep had been unexplored. In particular, the effect of the distance required for a dislocation to climb to a new slip plane, the critical climb distance, was not evaluated and the vacancy relaxation volume was set at zero, negating its effect on the calculation of vacancy diffusion. The present work aims to address this by studying the effect of the critical climb distance and the vacancy relaxation volume on the creep response of micron scale single crystals. The critical climb distance was found to have an approximately inversely proportional effect on the steady state creep rate, but did not affect the stress dependence of the creep rate, while the use of a nonzero vacancy relaxation volume was found to have a slight effect on both the steady state creep rate and the stress dependence of the creep rate. Furthermore, the use of a nonzero vacancy relaxation volume introduced the effect of the pressure gradient into the vacancy diffusion simulation

UV photon-counting CCD detectors that enable the next generation of UV spectroscopy missions: AR coatings that can achieve 80-90% QE

We describe recent progress in the development of anti-reflection coatings for use at UV wavelengths on CCDs and other Si-based detectors. We have previously demonstrated a set of coatings which are able to achieve greater than 50% QE in 4 bands from 130nm to greater than 300nm. We now present new refinements of these AR-coatings which will improve performance in a narrower bandpass by 50% over previous work. Successful test films have been made to optimize transmission at 190nm, reaching 80% potential transmission

Combined Superbase Ionic Liquid Approach to Separate CO2 from Flue Gas

[Image: see text] Superbase ionic liquids (ILs) with a trihexyltetradecylphosphonium cation and a benzimidazolide ([P(66614)][Benzim]) or tetrazolide ([P(66614)][Tetz]) anion were investigated in a dual-IL system allowing the selective capture and separation of CO(2) and SO(2), respectively, under realistic gas concentrations. The results show that [P(66614)][Tetz] is capable of efficiently capturing SO(2) in preference to CO(2) and thus, in a stepwise separation process, protects [P(66614)][Benzim] from the negative effects of the highly acidic contaminant. This results in [P(66614)][Benzim] maintaining >53% of its original CO(2) uptake capacity after 30 absorption/desorption cycles in comparison to the 89% decrease observed after 11 cycles when [P(66614)][Tetz] was not present. Characterization of the ILs post exposure revealed that small amounts of SO(2) were irreversibly absorbed to the [Benzim](−) anion responsible for the decrease in CO(2) capacity. While optimization of this dual-IL system is required, this feasibility study demonstrates that [P(66614)][Tetz] is a suitable sorbent for reversibly capturing SO(2) and significantly extending the lifetime of [P(66614)][Benzim] for CO(2) uptake