Teachers’ Increased Use of Informational Text: A Phenomenological Study of Five Primary Classrooms

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explain how the Common Core State Standards may have influenced teachers\u27 practices and philosophies regarding literacy instruction. Conducted in five kindergarten through second-grade classrooms within one elementary school, this research study collected semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and teacher-reported lesson plans over fourteen weeks. We observed that one of the largest instructional shifts due to the implementation of new standards was in the area of informational text use. This change came about not due to the volume of empirical research stating the benefits of such texts, but rather because of an educational policy change. These findings hold implications for K-12 schools and for teacher education programs which are, in many instances, caught between the research, policies, and practice

Vanishing Fe 3d orbital moments in single-crystalline magnetite

We show detailed magnetic absorption spectroscopy results of an in situ cleaved high quality single crystal of magnetite. In addition the experimental setup was carefully optimized to reduce drift, self absorption, and offset phenomena as far as possible. In strong contradiction to recently published data, our observed orbital moments are nearly vanishing and the spin moments are quite close to the integer values proposed by theory. This very important issue supports the half metallic full spin polarized picture of magnetite.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Dual HLA B*42 and B*81-reactive T cell receptors recognize more diverse HIV-1 Gag escape variants

Closely related HLA alleles presenting similar HIV-1 epitopes can be associated with variable clinical outcome. Here the authors report their findings on CD8+ T cell responses to the HIV-1 Gag-p24 TL9 immunodominant epitope in the context of closely related protective and less protective HLA alleles, and their differential effect on viral contro

Element-Specific Depth Profile of Magnetism and Stoichiometry at the La0.67Sr0.33MnO3/BiFeO3 Interface

Depth-sensitive magnetic, structural and chemical characterization is important in the understanding and optimization of novel physical phenomena emerging at interfaces of transition metal oxide heterostructures. In a simultaneous approach we have used polarized neutron and resonant X-ray reflectometry to determine the magnetic profile across atomically sharp interfaces of ferromagnetic La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 / multiferroic BiFeO3 bi-layers with sub-nanometer resolution. In particular, the X-ray resonant magnetic reflectivity measurements at the Fe and Mn resonance edges allowed us to determine the element specific depth profile of the ferromagnetic moments in both the La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 and BiFeO3 layers. Our measurements indicate a magnetically diluted interface layer within the La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 layer, in contrast to previous observations on inversely deposited layers. Additional resonant X-ray reflection measurements indicate a region of an altered Mn- and O-content at the interface, with a thickness matching that of the magnetic diluted layer, as origin of the reduction of the magnetic moment.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, supplemental material include

The Emendation Eorle (Heruli) in Beowulf, Line 6a: Setting the Poem in “The Named Lands of the North”

A defence of the emendation of eorl to Eorle 'Heruli' in Beowulf 6a

Tritium in surface soils at the Mixed Waste Landfill, Technical Area 3, Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico

The Environmental Restoration Project at Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico is tasked with assessment and remediation of the Mixed Waste Landfill in Technical Area 3. The Mixed Waste Landfill is an inactive, low-level radioactive and mixed waste disposal site. The Mixed Waste Landfill was subject to an extensive surface soil sampling program for tritium in July 1993. Results indicate that surface soils at the landfill contain significant levels of tritium. The classified area of the landfill contains the highest levels of tritium. Results also indicate that tritium has migrated beyond the fenced boundary of the classified area of the landfill

MODIS time series contribution for the estimation of nutritional properties of alpine grassland

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Remote Sensing on 17th February 2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.5721/EuJRS20164936Despite the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has been used to make predictions on forage quality, its relationship with bromatological field data has not been widely tested. This relationship was investigated in alpine grasslands of the Gran Paradiso National Park (Italian Alps). Predictive models were built using remotely sensed derived variables (NDVI and phenological information computed from MODIS) in combination with geo-morphometric data as predictors of measured biomass, crude protein, fibre and fibre digestibility, obtained from 142 grass samples collected within 19 experimental plots every two weeks during the whole 2012 growing season. The models were both cross-validated and validated on an independent dataset (112 samples collected during 2013). A good predictability ability was found for the estimation of most of the bromatological measures, with a considerable relative importance of remotely sensed derived predictors; instead, a direct use of NDVI values as a proxy of bromatological variables appeared not to be supported

Structural and magnetic deconvolution of FePt/FeOx-nanoparticles using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Recently, magnetite nanoparticles have attracted much attention, due to their technological potential based on different optic, magnetic and catalytic sections. In particular, the magnetic properties of hybrid nanocrystals can be tailored by the combination of complementary magnetic materials like for example magnetite and FePt. In order to analyse the related magnetic and structural properties of the resulting bi-component systems, we present x-ray absorption and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism studies at the Fe L2,3 edges simultaneously performed in total electron yield and transmission mode, done at room and low temperatures. This provides in particular the separation of volume- and surface-related properties. The investigated system was made up of FePt/FeOx hybrid nanocrystals, which could be uniquely tuned in size and volume ratios. These measurements have been combined with magnetometry and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies. The separation between surface and bulk has been done by a deconvolution of the absorption spectra in terms of a linear superposition of reference spectra. With this universally applicable technique we are able to experimentally determine that the outer FeOx shell fraction at the surface has a strongly reduced magnetization and is of maghemite character, while the inner part is more magnetite like. So the technique shown here can be used to characterize nanoparticular systems and determine their structural and magnetic properties

Complex-Orbital Order in Fe_3O_4 and Mechanism of the Verwey Transition

Electronic state and the Verwey transition in magnetite (Fe_3O_4) are studied using a spinless three-band Hubbard model for 3d electrons on the B sites with the Hartree-Fock approximation and the exact diagonalisation method. Complex-orbital, e.g., 1/sqrt(2)[|zx> + i |yz>], ordered (COO) states having noncollinear orbital moments ~ 0.4 mu_B on the B sites are obtained with the cubic lattice structure of the high-temperature phase. The COO state is a novel form of magnetic ordering within the orbital degree of freedom. It arises from the formation of Hund's second rule states of spinless pseudo-d molecular orbitals in the Fe_4 tetrahedral units of the B sites and ferromagnetic alignment of their fictitious orbital moments. A COO state with longer periodicity is obtained with pseudo-orthorhombic Pmca and Pmc2_1 structures for the low-temperature phase. The state spontaneously lowers the crystal symmetry to the monoclinic and explains experimentally observed rhombohedral cell deformation and Jahn-Teller like distortion. From these findings, we consider that at the Verwey transition temperature, the COO state remaining to be short-range order impeded by dynamical lattice distortion in high temperature is developed into that with long-range order coupled with the monoclinic lattice distortion.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in J. Phys. Soc. Jp