Inquiry Based Mathematics Instruction Versus Traditional Mathematics Instruction: The Effect on Student Understanding and Comprehension in an Eighth Grade Pre-Algebra Classroom

This quantitative study provides information obtained through the use of inquiry-based mathematics instruction verses traditional mathematics instruction. The use of each curriculum was implemented into two classrooms of eighth grade pre-algebra students. The study was based on data collected before and after each of the two units of study. Fifty-two suburban eighth grade students represented the sample population. Results of the SPSS analysis showed that both classes made improvement from their pre-test to their post-test for both units but students receiving instruction through inquiry-based instruction showed significantly more improvement on the second unit. These results can be useful for educators considering the adoption of an updated or new mathematics curriculum in their school district

Active 2D Microrheological Studies in Freely-Suspended Smectic Liquid Crystal Films

Thin, freely-suspended smectic liquid crystal films, due to their layered structure, provide an ideal system with which to study two dimensional (2D) hydrodynamics. We have performed some of the first experimental visualizations of actively-driven 2D flow fields, and compared these flow fields to predictions made by theoretical models. First, an experiment testing the flow field generated by a disk-shaped inclusion moving laterally in a film is described. Then an experiment testing the flow field generated by a thin nozzle injecting fluid at a quick rate into a large reservoir is detailed. Results are consistent with the idea that 2D fluids exhibit strong coupling with surrounding bulk fluid

Making Sustainability Affordable in Parlier

As climate change continues to threaten everyday life on Earth, humans from every corner of this planet struggle to keep up with changes due access, attitudes, and most importantly affordability. Over the past decade, governments around the world have invested billions into renewable power. Private investors followed, hoping to cash in on what looked like a transformational shift in the way the world produced electricity and lived sustainability. It felt as though it was a way to add jobs, manage fossil-fuel prices, and curb the impending affects of global warming. Unfortunately, a sustainable world will not happen overnight and requires a sustained effort on all fronts, but are there communities that are more at risk than others? According to the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, most North American studies have shown that areas where low socioeconomic status (SES) communities dwell experience higher concentrations of criteria air pollutants (Hajat, Hsia, & O’Neill, 2015). This has put a disproportionate burden on low income cities around the world placed pressure on public and private entities to deliver a sustainable future. However, as many low income families struggle to put food on their tables, the last thing on many of their minds is the environment, and the ones that do want change struggle to make a lasting effect due to a lack of affordability, education, and motivation. According to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, an organization that establishes comprehensive global standards for greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and reporting, cities are responsible for more than 70 percent of global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (Global Energy & CO2 Status Report). Addressing climate change at the local level is imperative to reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by cities. Through the incorporation of resilient and sustainable adaptation strategies, cities can reduce their GHG emissions as they work towards a cleaner, more resilient future. The purpose of this project is to spread affordable sustainability to lower income communities so that every resident can make a difference, no matter where they live or what they carry in their wallet

'You Gotta Listen to How People Talk': Machines and Natural Language

A fun piece discussing the challenges to and prospects of building machines that are able to produce and understand natural language

Dirty Jobs

Interviews campus staff from the areas of University Veterinarian and Custodial Services

Rollup subsolar array Quarterly technical report, 5 Mar. - 30 May 1969

Thermal cycling and environmental tests for solar arra

A New Decarboxylase: A Mechanistic Characterization of PrFMN Decarboxylase FDC1

The large number of inexpensive carboxylic acids found in nature has spurred research to convert carboxylic acids to an assortment of other functional groups for a range of purposes. To accomplish this, researchers employ a variety of strategies ranging from heat and heavy metals to biocatalysts. Ferulic acid decarboxylase (FDC1) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a member of the UbiD family of decarboxylase enzymes. The UbiD family of proteins consists of prenylated flavin (PrFMN)-dependent enzymes that catalyze the reversible decarboxylation of a wide variety of aromatic carboxylic acids. The UbiD family attracted interest as a biocatalyst to produce chemical feedstocks from renewable sources and as a potential target for antimicrobial research. The UbiD enzyme, FDC1, and its associated protein partner, PAD1, were identified as being responsible for the detoxification of aromatic carboxylic acids in fungi. How PAD1/FDC1 work together to facilitate the decarboxylation of toxic aromatic acids remains an open question. The genes encoding PAD1 and FDC1 were independently expressed in E. coli with the PAD1 homolog UbiX knocked out. Independently, FDC1 and PAD1 were unable to decarboxylate phenylacrylic acids. Moreover, PAD1 failed to decarboxylate any of the phenylacrylic acids by itself. In contrast FDC1 was able to recover its decarboxylase activity upon the addition of PAD1 or its homolog UbiX, indicating FDC1 was solely responsible for the decarboxylase activity. Co-expression of FDC1 and PAD1 coupled with the sole purification of FDC1 exhibited spectral characteristics of a reduced flavin in an aerobic system. This increased the kcat by 8-fold. The holo-FDC1 crystal structure (PDB 4ZAC) provided insight into the decarboxylation mechanism of FDC1. FDC1 was proposed to perform a unique and controversial 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition mechanism. To address the controversial nature of the proposed mechanism KIE and a Hammett analysis were utilized to ascertain whether FDC1 undergoes the proposed mechanism or a completely different mechanism. The solvent isotope effects, normal secondary isotope effects, and the negative slope of the Hammett analysis are consist with the rate-determining step being the breakdown of the PrFMN-product adduct through a non-concerted cyclo-elimination reaction, and provides evidence in favor of the novel 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition mechanism. The proposed mechanism involves the formation of a novel pentacyclic intermediate through a novel 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition mechanism between PrFMN and the β -γ double bond of the substrate, which serves to activate the substrate towards decarboxylation. In order to trap this hypothesized intermediate, a mechanism-based inhibitor 2-fluoro-2-nitro-vinylbenzene (FNVB) was used to trap the putative cyclo-addition intermediate. Upon incubating FNVB with FDC1, there was a red-shift in the flavin spectrum which is reminiscent of an uncharged N5, C4α dialkyl flavin adduct and is consistent with a 1,3-dipolar cycloadduct. Finally by pushing the equilibrium of the FDC1 reaction to favor the formation of product-PrFMN adducts: 7dstyrene-PrFMN and styrene-PrFMN intermediates were isolated and characterized by Tandem Native Mass Spectrometry. FDC1 decarboxylates phenylacrylic acids by forming a novel 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition adduct, followed by a Grob fragmentation, protonation of the intermediate, re-cyclization between the PrFMN and the product, then finally product release. This work lays the groundwork for developing new biocatalysts from these UbiD decarboxylases and the development of a new class of antifungal or antibiotics drugs.  PHDChemistryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144153/1/kferge_1.pd