Preparing STEM Teachers for Integration of NGSS: a Summer Workshop Development

The increasing emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in United States and across the world created the demand for STEM education to start as early as elementary school. Especially in the past decade, the demand for middle schools and high schools to increase the involvement of the STEM components in their curriculum has been on the rise. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)(http://www.nextgenscience.org/) are testimonial to this demand and need. With the fast-pace the NGSS are being adopted by different states, the expectations from science, engineering, and technology teachers to develop and design their courses to reflect the new standards and meet the updated goals increased. To support teachers with the necessary resources and training, a Summer STEM training program and a set of STEM training modules have been developed by a 4-year accredited State College. This paper provides an overview of the STEM initiatives and a step-by-step approach of the design and development of the STEM modules to train K-12 teachers

Effects of various inulin levels on in vitro digestibility of corn silage, perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and common vetch (Vicia sativa L.)/oat (Avena sativa L.) hay

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of various inulin levels on in vitro true dry matter digestibility (IVTDDM) and in vitro neutral detergent fibre digestibility (IVTDNDF) of corn silage (CS), perennial ryegrass (PR), and common vetch/oat hay (VO). Inulin was added to the fermenter at concentrations of 0 (CSC, PRC, VOC), 100 (CS100, PR100, VO100), 200 (CS200, PR200, VO200), and 300 (CS300, PR300, VO300) mg/litre of total culture fluid using an in vitro DaisyII incubator. Each fermenter contained 1600 ml buffer solution and 400 ml rumen fluid. The IVTDDM and IVTDNDF were determined with a DaisyII incubator and rumen fluid obtained from three cannulated Karayaka rams. The IVTDDM values (%) for PRC, PR100, PR200, and PR300 were 70.06 ± 1.133, 73.21 ± 4.153, 70.36 ± 0.506, and 66.69 ± 1.317, respectively. The effects of various inulin levels on IVTDDM and IVTDNDF values of PR were significant (P <0.05). The IVTDDM and IVTDNDF values for CS and VO were not significantly (P >0.05) different. Among the treatments, supplementation of inulin to CS and VO did not have a significant (P >0.05) effect on IVTDDM and IVTDNDF values. The high dose of inulin (PR300) reduced IVTDDM and IVTDNDF, whereas PR100 showed a statistically significant (P <0.05) increase on IVTDDM and IVTDNDF. However, in vivo studies with PR may be required to show the effects of various levels of inulin supplementation to support the IVTD findings of the current study.Keywords: Inulin, in vitro true digestibility, hay, silag

Effects of standard diets from different sources on growth and some organ parameters of rats

ΔΕΝ ΔΙΑΤΙΘΕΤΑΙ ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗThis study aims to determine the effects of open and closed formulated standard diets supplied from different sources on growth performance and internal organ development of laboratory rats. Five-week-old 32 Wistar rats were used. A special control group diet was produced in accordance with the criteria determined by the National Research Council (NRC) (1995). Three different most preferred commercial open and closed-formula diets produced by international and local companies were used as trial groups’ diets. The experiment was carried out for 12 weeks. Weekly feed consumption, body weight change, internal organ weight, intestinal organ weigths and lengths, intestinal villi heigth and crypt depth were measured in groups. The body weight values of the control group and the first group fed with open-formula diet were found at the highest level (P <0.05). The control group diet had a positive effect on small intestine villi heigth and crypt depth (P <0.05). The nutrient contents and energy values of the diets of experimental groups were determined as different from the commercial firm notifications. As a result of the research, it is concluded that the diets prepared with open-formula give more reliable results in the growth performance and development of internal organs of Wistar rats

Flow-induced vibrations of low aspect ratio rectangular membrane wings

An experimental study of a low aspect ratio rectangular membrane wing in a wind tunnel was conducted for a Reynolds number range of 2.4 x 10(4)-4.8 x 10(4). Time-accurate measurements of membrane deformation were combined with the flow field measurements. Analysis of the fluctuating deformation reveals chordwise and spanwise modes, which are due to the shedding of leading-edge vortices as well as tip vortices. At higher angles of attack, the second mode in the chordwise direction becomes dominant as the vortex shedding takes place. The dominant frequencies of the membrane vibrations are similar to those of two-dimensional membrane airfoils. Measured frequency of vortex shedding from the low aspect ratio rigid wing suggests that membrane vibrations occur at the natural frequencies close to the harmonics of the wake instabilities. Vortex shedding frequency from rigid wings shows remarkably small effect of aspect ratio even when it is as low as unity. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.An experimental study of a low aspect ratio rectangular membrane wing in a wind tunnel was conducted for a Reynolds number range of 2.4×104–4.8×104. Time-accurate measurements of membrane deformation were combined with the flow field measurements. Analysis of the fluctuating deformation reveals chordwise and spanwise modes, which are due to the shedding of leading-edge vortices as well as tip vortices. At higher angles of attack, the second mode in the chordwise direction becomes dominant as the vortex shedding takes place. The dominant frequencies of the membrane vibrations are similar to those of two-dimensional membrane airfoils. Measured frequency of vortex shedding from the low aspect ratio rigid wing suggests that membrane vibrations occur at the natural frequencies close to the harmonics of the wake instabilities. Vortex shedding frequency from rigid wings shows remarkably small effect of aspect ratio even when it is as low as unity

A supramolecular peptide nanofiber templated Pd nanocatalyst for efficient Suzuki coupling reactions under aqueous conditions

Cataloged from PDF version of article.A bioinspired peptide amphiphile nanofiber template for formation of one-dimensional Pd nanostructures is demonstrated. The Pd and peptide nanocatalyst system enabled efficient catalytic activity in Suzuki coupling reactions in water at room temperature. The nanocatalyst system can be easily separated and reused in successive reactions without significant loss in activity and structural integrity. This journal is © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry

HandVR: a hand-gesture-based interface to a video retrieval system

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Using one's hands in human-computer interaction increases both the effectiveness of computer usage and the speed of interaction. One way of accomplishing this goal is to utilize computer vision techniques to develop hand-gesture-based interfaces. A video database system is one application where a hand-gesture-based interface is useful, because it provides a way to specify certain queries more easily. We present a hand-gesture-based interface for a video database system to specify motion and spatiotemporal object queries. We use a regular, low-cost camera to monitor the movements and configurations of the user's hands and translate them to video queries. We conducted a user study to compare our gesture-based interface with a mouse-based interface on various types of video queries. The users evaluated the two interfaces in terms of different usability parameters, including the ease of learning, ease of use, ease of remembering (memory), naturalness, comfortable use, satisfaction, and enjoyment. The user study showed that querying video databases is a promising application area for hand-gesture-based interfaces, especially for queries involving motion and spatiotemporal relations. © 2014 Springer-Verlag London