Helping Kindergarteners Make Sense of Numbers to 100

The authors share what was learned about kindergarteners\u27 abilities to make sense of numbers to 100 when one of the authors, Linda Jaslow, took over a kindergarten class from February through the end of the school year. Through examples of how she engaged her students in nine weeks of problem solving and discussions focused on making sense of the number system, we provide evidence that the children grew substantially in their ability to count and show understanding when counting by 10\u27s and using 10\u27s during problem solving. Suggestions for tasks to promote continued growth are also provided. Throughout this teaching experience, Mrs. Jaslow was reminded of the complexity of making sense of our number system, and this article showcases her instructional decision making that was based on inquiry into children\u27s thinking. By valuing children\u27s existing ideas, Mrs. Jaslow could use that thinking to help guide her instruction

Protection by 20-5,14-HEDGE Against Surgically-Induced Ischemia Reperfusion Lung Injury in Rats

Background We previously reported that the cytochrome P450 product 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid has prosurvival effects in pulmonary artery endothelial cells and ex vivo pulmonary arteries. We tested the potential of a 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid analog N-[20-hydroxyeicosa-5(Z),14(Z)-dienoyl]glycine (20-5,14-HEDGE) to protect against lung ischemic reperfusion injury in rats. Furthermore, we examined activation of innate immune system components, high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), in this model as well as the effect of 20-5,14-HEDGE on this signaling pathway. Methods Sprague-Dawley rats treated with 20-5,14-HEDGE or vehicle were subjected to surgically induced, unilateral lung ischemia for 60 minutes followed by reperfusion for 2 hours in vivo. Injury was assessed histologically by hematoxylin and eosin, and with identification of myeloperoxidase immunohistochemically. The HMGB1 and TLR4 proteins were identified by Western blot. Caspase 3 activity or 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide, a yellow tetrazole, incorporation were used to measure apoptosis and cell survival. Results The ischemia reperfusion injury evoked atelectasis and hemorrhage, an influx of polymorphonuclear cells, and increased TLR4 and HMGB1 expression. Caspase 3 activity was increased, and 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide incorporation was decreased. The 20-5,14-HEDGE protected against each of these endpoints, including infiltration of polymorphonuclear cells, with no changes in caspase 3 activity in other organs. Conclusions Lung ischemia reperfusion produces apoptosis and activation of the innate immune system including HMGB1 and TLR4 within 2 hours of reperfusion. Treatment with 20-5,14-HEDGE decreases activation of this response system, and salvages lung tissue

The dynamical behaviour of shallow-marine dunes

In the period 1995-1999, a detailed morpho- and sediment dynamical investigation was carried out in the western Belgian near coastal area, in water depths of -3 to -15 m MLLWS. Through chronosequential bathymetrical and digital side-scan sonar registrations supplemented by intensive samplings, a quantitative monitoring of the most dynamic zones was accomplished. Although, the area is generally devoid of bedforms, well-constraint zones of very large dunes occur where the bed shear stresses are highest. Since, suspended load accounts for more than 80 %, the dimensions seem to be largely controlled by the amount of the total load actually taking part in bedform development. A clear differentiation exists between the morphology of the dunes and their surficial sediments, the troughs being up to 0.30 phi finer than the crests. During the observation period, the similarities in crestline positions were more striking than the differences and showed a maximum shift of only 20 m. The data set allowed to differentiate the vulnerability of the area to varying hydro-meteorological conditions and showed that the area recovers fairly quickly from stormy periods

In vivo Detection of Hyperoxia-induced Pulmonary Endothelial Cell Death Using \u3csup\u3e99m\u3c/sup\u3eTc-Duramycin

Introduction 99mTc-duramycin, DU, is a SPECT biomarker of tissue injury identifying cell death. The objective of this study is to investigate the potential of DU imaging to quantify capillary endothelial cell death in rat lung injury resulting from hyperoxia exposure as a model of acute lung injury. Methods Rats were exposed to room air (normoxic) or \u3e 98% O2 for 48 or 60 hours. DU was injected i.v. in anesthetized rats, scintigraphy images were acquired at steady-state, and lung DU uptake was quantified from the images. Post-mortem, the lungs were removed for histological studies. Sequential lung sections were immunostained for caspase activation and endothelial and epithelial cells. Results Lung DU uptake increased significantly (p \u3c 0.001) by 39% and 146% in 48-hr and 60-hr exposed rats, respectively, compared to normoxic rats. There was strong correlation (r2 = 0.82, p = 0.005) between lung DU uptake and the number of cleaved caspase 3 (CC3) positive cells, and endothelial cells accounted for more than 50% of CC3 positive cells in the hyperoxic lungs. Histology revealed preserved lung morphology through 48 hours. By 60 hours there was evidence of edema, and modest neutrophilic infiltrate. Conclusions Rat lung DU uptake in vivo increased after just 48 hours of \u3e 98% O2 exposure, prior to the onset of any substantial evidence of lung injury. These results suggest that apoptotic endothelial cells are the primary contributors to the enhanced DU lung uptake, and support the utility of DU imaging for detecting early endothelial cell death in vivo

Long-lived lop-sided modes of annular disks orbiting a central mass

We demonstrate the existence of long-lived, large-amplitude eccentric modes in massive, annular particle disks in orbit about a central mass. The lopsided modes we have found precess slowly in the prograde direction at a rate which increases with disk mass and decreases with the amplitude of the distortion. The lopsidedness generally survives for as long as we run the calculations and may last indefinitely; we found no significant decay in over 700 disk-particle orbits in one case. These strongly non-linear modes are readily created using a number of different perturbing rules, but we find no evidence for linear instabilities in unperturbed disks. Our results suggest that Tremaine's eccentric disk model for the nucleus of M31 may be viable, but none of our models matches all aspects of the observational data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in ApJ Letters, LaTeX (uses emulateapj.sty

Extended symmetrical classical electrodynamics

In the present article, we discuss a modification of classical electrodynamics in which ``ordinary'' point charges are absent. The modified equations contain additional terms describing the induced charges and currents. The densities of the induced charges and currents depend on the vector k and the vectors of the electromagnetic field E and B. It is shown that the vectors E and B can be defined in terms of two 4-potentials and the components of k are the components of the 4-tensor of the third rank. The Lagrangian of modified electrodynamics is defined. The conditions are derived at which only one 4-potential determines the behavior of the electromagnetic field. It is also shown that static modified electrodynamics can describe the electromagnetic field in the inner region of the electric monopole. In the outer region of the electric monopole the electric field is governed by the Maxwell equations. It follows from boundary conditions at the interface between the inner and outer regions of the monopole that the vector k has a discrete spectrum. The electric and magnetic fields, energy and angular momentum of the monopole are found for different eigenvalues of k

Quantitative pharmacologic MRI: Mapping the cerebral blood volume response to cocaine in dopamine transporter knockout mice

The use of pharmacologic MRI (phMRI) in mouse models of brain disorders allows noninvasive in vivo assessment of drug-modulated local cerebral blood volume changes (ΔCBV) as one correlate of neuronal and neurovascular activities. In this report, we employed CBV-weighted phMRI to compare cocaine-modulated neuronal activity in dopamine transporter (DAT) knockout (KO) and wild-typemice. Cocaine acts to block the dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin transporters (DAT, NET, and SERT) that clear their respective neurotransmitters from the synapses, helping to terminate cognate neurotransmission. Cocaine consistently reduced CBV, with a similar pattern of regional ΔCBV in brain structures involved inmediating reward in both DAT genotypes. The largest effects (−20% to −30% ΔCBV) were seen in the nucleus accumbens and several cortical regions. Decreasing response amplitudes to cocaine were noted in more posterior components of the cortico-mesolimbic circuit. DAT KO mice had significantly attenuated ΔCBV amplitudes, shortened times to peak response, and reduced response duration in most regions. This study demonstrates that DAT knockout does not abolish the phMRI responses to cocaine, suggesting that adaptations to loss of DAT and/or retained cocaine activity in other monoamine neurotransmitter systems underlie these responses in DAT KO mice

Spin transport in a unitary Fermi gas close to the BCS transition

We consider spin transport in a two-component ultracold Fermi gas with attractive interspecies interactions close to the BCS pairing transition. In particular, we consider the spin-transport relaxation rate and the spin-diffusion constant. Upon approaching the transition, the scattering amplitude is enhanced by pairing fluctuations. However, as the system approaches the transition, the spectral weight for excitations close to the Fermi level is decreased by the formation of a pseudogap. To study the consequence of these two competing effects, we determine the spin-transport relaxation rate and the spin-diffusion constant using both a Boltzmann approach and a diagrammatic approach. The former ignores pseudogap physics and finite lifetime effects. In the latter, we incorporate the full pseudogap physics and lifetime effects, but we ignore vertex corrections, so that we effectively calculate single-particle relaxation rates instead of transport relaxation rates. We find that there is qualitative agreement between these two approaches although the results for the transport coefficients differ quantitatively.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Airfoil section characteristics as applied to the prediction of air forces and their distribution on wings

The results of previous reports dealing with airfoil section characteristics and span load distribution data are coordinated into a method for determining the air forces and their distribution on airplane wings. Formulas are given from which the resultant force distribution may be combined to find the wing aerodynamic center and pitching moment. The force distribution may also be resolved to determine the distribution of chord and beam components. The forces are resolved in such a manner that it is unnecessary to take the induced drag into account. An illustration of the method is given for a monoplane and a biplane for the conditions of steady flight and a sharp-edge gust. The force determination is completed by outlining a procedure for finding the distribution of load along the chord of airfoil sections

Affective iconic words benefit from additional sound–meaning integration in the left amygdala

Recent studies have shown that a similarity between sound and meaning of a word (i.e., iconicity) can help more readily access the meaning of that word, but the neural mechanisms underlying this beneficial role of iconicity in semantic processing remain largely unknown. In an fMRI study, we focused on the affective domain and examined whether affective iconic words (e.g., high arousal in both sound and meaning) activate additional brain regions that integrate emotional information from different domains (i.e., sound and meaning). In line with our hypothesis, affective iconic words, compared to their non‐iconic counterparts, elicited additional BOLD responses in the left amygdala known for its role in multimodal representation of emotions. Functional connectivity analyses revealed that the observed amygdalar activity was modulated by an interaction of iconic condition and activations in two hubs representative for processing sound (left superior temporal gyrus) and meaning (left inferior frontal gyrus) of words. These results provide a neural explanation for the facilitative role of iconicity in language processing and indicate that language users are sensitive to the interaction between sound and meaning aspect of words, suggesting the existence of iconicity as a general property of human language