Facilitating Pre-Service Teachers to Engage Emergent Bilinguals in Productive Struggle

This study utilized a multiple case study with qualitative research to examine how Pre-service teachers (PSTs) might engage Emergent Bilinguals (EBs) in productive struggle—grappling to solve problems (Warshauer, 2015). The researchers created a rubric based on Warshauer’s (2015) case study to record the types of questions PSTs asked as they tutored fourth grade EBs. Warshauer (2015) claimed PSTs should allow students more wait time and ask questions. She referred to such questions as affordance and probing guidance, which facilitates productive struggle. In order to discover more about the PSTs’ thinking, the researchers interviewed the PSTs before and after their first, third, and seventh lesson. The researchers’ findings are that the PSTs struggled to incorporate more affordance and probing guidance-based questions as the semester progressed. However, PSTs use of telling based questions decreased during the semester. Another finding was two of the EBs spoke only English at the beginning of the semester, but later used code switching during the lessons. Perhaps the students felt more comfortable with their surroundings, and speaking in Spanish helped facilitate them to engage in productive struggle. Furthermore, PSTs utilized culturally relevant teaching strategies during their lessons and created an environment to encourage positive mindsets for learning mathematics. Implications are teacher educators should teach PSTs how to engage all students in productive struggle

Reduced dimensionality spin-orbit dynamics of CH3 + HCl reversible arrow CH4 Cl on ab initio surfaces

A reduced dimensionality quantum scattering method is extended to the study of spin-orbit nonadiabatic transitions in the CH3 + HCl reversible arrow CH4 + Cl(P-2(J)) reaction. Three two-dimensional potential energy surfaces are developed by fitting a 29 parameter double-Morse function to CCSD(T)/IB//MP2/cc-pV(T+d)Z-dk ab initio data; interaction between surfaces is described by geometry-dependent spin-orbit coupling functions fit to MCSCF/cc-pV(T+d)Z-dk ab initio data. Spectator modes are treated adiabatically via inclusion of curvilinear projected frequencies. The total scattering wave function is expanded in a vibronic basis set and close-coupled equations are solved via R-matrix propagation. Ground state thermal rate constants for forward and reverse reactions agree well with experiment. Multi-surface reaction probabilities, integral cross sections, and initial-state selected branching ratios all highlight the importance of vibrational energy in mediating nonadiabatic transition. Electronically excited state dynamics are seen to play a small but significant role as consistent with experimental conclusions. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3592732

Effect of pancreatic and/or renal transplantation on diabetic autonomic neuropathy

Thirty-nine Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients were studied prospectively after simultaneous pancreas and kidney (n=26) and kidney grafting alone (n=13) by measuring heart rate variation during various manoeuvers and answering a standardized questionnaire every 6 to 12 months post-transplant. While age, duration of diabetes, and serum creatinine (168.1±35.4 vs 132.7±17.7 mgrmol/l) were comparable, haemoglobin A1 levels were significantly lower (6.6±0.2 vs 8.5±0.3%; p<0.01) and the mean observation time longer (35±2 vs 25±3 months; p<0.05) in the pancreas recipients when compared with kidney transplanted patients. Heart rate variation during deep breathing, lying/standing and Valsalva manoeuver were very similar in both groups initially and did not improve during follow-up. However, there was a significant reduction in heart rate in the pancreas recipient group. Autonomic symptoms of the gastrointestinal and thermoregulatory system improved more in the pancreas grafted subjects, while hypoglycaemia unawareness deteriorated in the kidney recipients. This study suggests that long-term normoglycaemia by successful pancreatic grafting is able to halt the progression of autonomic dysfunction

Brayton-cycle radioisotope heat source design study. Phase I - /Conceptual design/ report

Conceptual designs for radioisotope heat source systems to provide 25 kW thermal power to Brayton cycle power conversion system for space application

Rational Moral Ignorance

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, EarlyView

Solvent response to fluorine-atom reaction dynamics in liquid acetonitrile

Solvent restructuring and vibrational cooling follow exothermic fluorine-atom reactions in acetonitrile.</p

Lattice loop quantum cosmology: scalar perturbations

We study the scalar modes of linear perturbations in loop quantum cosmology. This is done on a lattice where each cell is taken to be homogeneous and isotropic and can be quantized via standard homogeneous loop quantum cosmology techniques. The appropriate interactions between nearby cells are included in the Hamiltonian in order to obtain the correct physics. It is shown that the quantum theory is anomaly-free: the scalar and diffeomorphism constraint operators weakly commute with the Hamiltonian. Finally, the effective theory encoding the leading order quantum gravity corrections is derived and is shown to give the same holonomy-corrected effective equations that have been obtained in previous studies.Comment: 32 pages, v2: Minor change

Nano-porosity in GaSb induced by swift heavy ion irradiation

Nano-porous structures form in GaSb after ion irradiation with 185 MeV Au ions. The porous layer formation is governed by the dominant electronic energy loss at this energy regime. The porous layer morphology differs significantly from that previously reported for low-energy, ion-irradiated GaSb. Prior to the onset of porosity, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy indicates the formation of small vacancy clusters in single ion impacts, while transmission electron microscopy reveals fragmentation of the GaSb into nanocrystallites embedded in an amorphous matrix. Following this fragmentation process, macroscopic porosity forms, presumably within the amorphous phase.The authors thank the Australian Research Council for support and the staff at the ANU Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility for their continued technical assistance. R.C.E. acknowledges the support from the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. DOE (Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER45656)