Solubility studies of ultra pure transition elements in ultra pure alkali metals

Solubility of pure iron, molybdenum, niobium, and tantalum in liquid potassiu

A Cross-Institutional Perspective of Pre Laboratory Activities in Undergraduate Chemistry

Pre-laboratory exercises may help reduce cognitive load in the laboratory, boost confidence, develop theoretical understanding and skills, and improve grades on assessment tasks. This study compared pre-laboratory activities at two institutions, Go8-1 and Go8-2, to evaluate which attributes of pre-laboratory activities were perceived by students to best prepare them for laboratory classes. Students were surveyed towards the end of their laboratory course, and were asked a series of Likert-style and open response questions. Factor analysis was used to construct three scales, incorporating items relating to performance and understanding, items relating to affective and personal laboratory experience, and items relating to requiring support with laboratory equipment. No difference between cohorts was observed between the two institutions regarding requiring support with equipment. While Go8-1 students rated performance and understanding more highly than Go8-2 students, the opposite result was observed for affective and personal factors. The factor analysis results and responses to the open response questions indicated that students felt most prepared for laboratory exercises when the pre-class activities touched upon all aspects of the laboratory class. It is recommended that quizzes and video be used in pre-laboratory activities, with these resources covering theory, aims, methods, calculations and data analysis

Climate change and classic Maya water management

Abstract: The critical importance of water is undeniable. It is particularly vital in semitropical regions with noticeable wet and dry seasons, such as the southern Maya lowlands. Not enough rain results in decreasing water supply and quality, failed crops, and famine. Too much water results in flooding, destruction, poor water quality, and famine. We show not only how Classic Maya (ca. A.D. 250-950) society dealt with the annual seasonal extremes, but also how kings and farmers responded differently in the face of a series of droughts in the Terminal Classic period (ca. A.D. 800-950). Maya farmers are still around today; kings, however, disappeared over 1,000 years ago. There is a lesson here on how people and water managers responded to long-term climate change, something our own society faces at present. The basis for royal power rested in what kings provided their subjects materially-that is, water during annual drought via massive artificial reservoirs, and spiritually-that is, public ceremonies, games, festivals, feasts, and other integrative activities. In the face of rulers losing their powers due to drought, people left. Without their labor, support and services, the foundation of royal power crumbled; it was too inflexible and little suited to adapting to change

Regge behaviour of distribution functions and t and x-evolutions of gluon distribution function at low-x

In this paper t and x-evolutions of gluon distribution function from Dokshitzer-Gribov-Lipatov-Altarelli-Parisi(DGLAP) evolution equation in leading order(LO) at low-x, assuming the Regge behaviour of quark and gluon at this limit, are presented. We compare our results of gluon distribution function with MRST 2001, MRST 2004 and GRV '98 parameterizations and show the compatibility of Regge behaviour of quark and gluon distribution functions with perturbative quantum chromodynamics(PQCD) at low-x. We also discuss the limitations of Taylor series expansion method used earlier to solve DGLAP evolution equations, in the Regge behaviour of distribution functions.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

Analysis of Collective Neutrino Flavor Transformation in Supernovae

We study the flavor evolution of a dense gas initially consisting of pure mono-energetic $\nu_e$ and $\bar\nu_e$. Using adiabatic invariants and the special symmetry in such a system we are able to calculate the flavor evolution of the neutrino gas for the cases with slowly decreasing neutrino number densities. These calculations give new insights into the results of recent large-scale numerical simulations of neutrino flavor transformation in supernovae. For example, our calculations reveal the existence of what we term the ``collective precession mode''. Our analyses suggest that neutrinos which travel on intersecting trajectories subject to destructive quantum interference nevertheless can be in this mode. This mode can result in sharp transitions in the final energy-dependent neutrino survival probabilities across all trajectories, a feature seen in the numerical simulations. Moreover, this transition is qualitatively different for the normal and inverted neutrino mass hierarchies. Exploiting this difference, the neutrino signals from a future galactic supernova can potentially be used to determine the actual neutrino mass hierarchy.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, retex4 forma

IMPACT: The Journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning. Volume 12, Issue 1, Summer 2023

The essays in this issue explore how to enhance teaching and student learning in the classroom. Our first contributor argues that providing students the opportunity to write questions about course material is a fruitful way to address students’ reticence about asking questions during class and also may result in students performing better on testable material. Moreover, instructors benefit from having students’ questions because the written questions can also be used by the instructor to know better what students are and are not understanding about course material and alerts instructors to where they can further explain or clarify course material. Finally, our first contributor also suggests that students in interdisciplinary classrooms might especially benefit from writing their questions, while instructors of interdisciplinary courses may find the flexibility with using technology to address the written questions in “real time” via the use of technology especially beneficial. In our second contribution, the author argues that pre-service teachers’ educational curriculum should address the academic literature that links poor musical-rhythmic tendencies with reading struggles for reading learners. The author also argues that the rhythm-reading connection is applicable to interdisciplinary educators because it asks those educators to reflect on possible connections between the body and the acquisition of skills that are usually considered purely intellectual. Our Impact book reviewers cover a varied set of interesting and important topics in this issue. One reviewer informs readers about a handbook on community psychology that prioritizes applied and interdisciplinary work; another reviewer details an author’s synthesis of what contemporary archaeology has now come to understand about Maya civilization’s resilient and complex society through time and within their varied mosaic of managed environments; a different reviewer delves into an author’s exploration of how digital media platforms generate novel opportunities for sufferers of trauma to make sense of their experience, and our final reviewer details an author’s accounting of the history, origins, and evolution of the Camp Fire Girls, one of America’s longest-serving girls’ youth movements, its impact on girls’ lives, and how the organization adapted to and resisted dominant ideologies about girls, culture, and race across time

Associated reading skills in children with a history of Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

A large cohort of 200 eleven-year-old children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) were assessed on basic reading accuracy and on reading comprehension as well as language tasks. Reading skills were examined descriptively and in relation to early language and literacy factors. Using stepwise regression analyses in which age and nonverbal IQ were controlled for, it was found that a single word reading measure taken at 7 years was unsurprisingly a strong predictor of the two different types of reading ability. However, even with this measure included, a receptive syntax task (TROG) entered when reading accuracy score was the DV. Furthermore, a test of expressive syntax/narrative and a receptive syntax task completed at 7 years entered into the model for word reading accuracy. When early reading accuracy was excluded from the analyses, early phonological skills also entered as a predictor of both reading accuracy and comprehension at 11 years. The group of children with a history of SLI were then divided into those with no literacy difficulties at 11 and those with some persisting literacy impairment. Using stepwise logistic regression, and again controlling for IQ and age, 7 years receptive syntax score (but not tests of phonology, expressive vocabulary or expressive syntax/narrative) entered as a positive predictor of membership of the ‘no literacy problems’ group regardless of whether early reading accuracy was controlled for in step one. The findings are discussed in relation to the overlap of SLI and dyslexia and the long term sequelae of language impairment

Ketosis Suppression and Ageing (KetoSAge): The Effects of Suppressing Ketosis in Long Term Keto-Adapted Non-Athletic Females

Most studies on ketosis have focused on short-term effects, male athletes, or weight loss. Hereby, we studied the effects of short-term ketosis suppression in healthy women on long-standing ketosis. Ten lean (BMI 20.5 ± 1.4), metabolically healthy, pre-menopausal women (age 32.3 ± 8.9) maintaining nutritional ketosis (NK) for > 1 year (3.9 years ± 2.3) underwent three 21-day phases: nutritional ketosis (NK; P1), suppressed ketosis (SuK; P2), and returned to NK (P3). Adherence to each phase was confirmed with daily capillary D-beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) tests (P1 = 1.9 ± 0.7; P2 = 0.1 ± 0.1; and P3 = 1.9 ± 0.6 mmol/L). Ageing biomarkers and anthropometrics were evaluated at the end of each phase. Ketosis suppression significantly increased: insulin, 1.78-fold from 33.60 (± 8.63) to 59.80 (± 14.69) mmol/L (p = 0.0002); IGF1, 1.83-fold from 149.30 (± 32.96) to 273.40 (± 85.66) µg/L (p = 0.0045); glucose, 1.17-fold from 78.6 (± 9.5) to 92.2 (± 10.6) mg/dL (p = 0.0088); respiratory quotient (RQ), 1.09-fold 0.66 (± 0.05) to 0.72 (± 0.06; p = 0.0427); and PAI-1, 13.34 (± 6.85) to 16.69 (± 6.26) ng/mL (p = 0.0428). VEGF, EGF, and monocyte chemotactic protein also significantly increased, indicating a pro-inflammatory shift. Sustained ketosis showed no adverse health effects, and may mitigate hyperinsulinemia without impairing metabolic flexibility in metabolically healthy women

A pilot randomised controlled trial of personalised care for depressed patients with symptomatic coronary heart disease in South London general practices: the UPBEAT-UK RCT protocol and recruitment.

ABSTRACT: Background: Community studies reveal people with coronary heart disease (CHD) are twice as likely to be depressed as the general population and that this co-morbidity negatively affects the course and outcome of both conditions. There is evidence for the efficacy of collaborative care and case management for depression treatment, and whilst NICE guidelines recommend these approaches only where depression has not responded to psychological, pharmacological, or combined treatments, these care approaches may be particularly relevant to the needs of people with CHD and depression in the earlier stages of stepped care in primary care settings. Methods: This pilot randomised controlled trial will evaluate whether a simple intervention involving a personalised care plan, elements of case management and regular telephone review is a feasible and acceptable intervention that leads to better mental and physical health outcomes for these patients. The comparator group will be usual general practitioner (GP) care. 81 participants have been recruited from CHD registers of 15 South London general practices. Eligible participants have probable major depression identified by a score of ≥8 on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression subscale (HADS-D) together with symptomatic CHD identified using the Modified Rose Angina Questionnaire. Consenting participants are randomly allocated to usual care or the personalised care intervention which involves a comprehensive assessment of each participant’s physical and mental health needs which are documented in a care plan, followed by regular telephone reviews by the case manager over a 6-month period. At each review, the intervention participant’s mood, function and identified problems are reviewed and the case manager uses evidence based behaviour change techniques to facilitate achievement of goals specified by the patient with the aim of increasing the patient’s self efficacy to solve their problems. Depressive symptoms measured by HADS score will be collected at baseline and 1, 6- and 12 months post randomisation. Other outcomes include CHD symptoms, quality of life, wellbeing and health service utilisation. Discussion: This practical and patient-focused intervention is potentially an effective and accessible approach to the health and social care needs of people with depression and CHD in primary care. Trial registration: ISRCTN21615909