Chemistry Departments in Predominantly Black Institutions

Chemistry programs in 87 predominantly Black institutions were compared by questionnaire survey. Advanced undergraduate courses were offered for chemistry majors by 86% of these schools, but only 28% offered research and independent study for undergraduates. Although there were extremes, most of the faculty taught 15 to 18 contact hours and their median salaries were below the national median. Library support seemed adequate with 1 to 1.5% of the total library materials being chemistry books, texts and reference, and the libraries of most schools had holdings of 15 principal chemistry-related journals. More than 90% of the schools were well-equipped with laboratory instrumentation for the undergraduate program. One-third of the schools were recipients of current grants, but less than 50% of these grants were for research. At the time of the survey there was a median of 13 chemistry majors in the schools, but this has been increasing since. On the basis of 45% response from individual faculty members of these schools, all faculty members had post-baccalaureate degrees, with 2/3 holding the doctoral degree. Only about 2/3 of the respondents indicated professional activity via scientific meeting attendance and/or recent publication. Most respondents (92%) were members of the American Chemical Society, but membership in other professional societies was much less common. Responses by these faculty members indicated that up-to-date instructional methods were generally being used

Magnetic properties of Mn-doped Ge46 and Ba8Ge46 clathrates

We present a detailed study of the magnetic properties of unique cluster assembled solids namely Mn doped Ge46 and Ba8Ge46 clathrates using density functional theory. We find that ferromagnetic (FM) ground states may be realized in both the compounds when doped with Mn. In Mn2Ge44, ferromagnetism is driven by hybridization induced negative exchange splitting, a generic mechanism operating in many diluted magnetic semiconductors. However, for Mn-doped Ba8Ge46 clathrates incorporation of conduction electrons via Ba encapsulation results in RKKY-like magnetic interactions between the Mn ions. We show that our results are consistent with the major experimental observations for this system.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Digital Health Game on Cervical Health and its Effect on American Women's Cervical Cancer Knowledge

Game-based learning (GBL) remains an exciting idea in the realm of serious games, with hopes that games can be used as educational tools that would be supplemental to or even replacements for traditional ways of learning about various topics. We wanted to scientifically investigate if a game that teaches women about HPV and cervical cancer would be more effective in serving the interests of public health than pamphlets and websites dedicated to teaching the topic. We also wanted to know if such a game was equally effective to the non-English speaking segments of the U.S. population, and translated the entire game into Vietnamese and Korean in order to see if women of these groups also equally benefitted from playing the game and if they were more knowledgeable about the topic after playing the game. After developing this game, we invited 111 people who speak English, Vietnamese and Korean to play the game on our computer. We analyzed the feedbacks the participants gave us to arrive at conclusions regarding the effectiveness of using educational games to disseminate health information.Computer Science, Department o

Efficacy of Surrogate Measures in Performance-Based Design of Water Distribution Networks

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Cefixime and Ofloxacin fixed dose combination induced petechial rash: a case report

Petechial rash is a type of rash which is associated with many infectious and non-infectious conditions. We present a case of Petechial rash induced by administration of cefixime with ofloxacin tablet. A eighteen year old male patient reported to us with a presentation of rash with itching for three days on administration of the fixed dose combination of cefixime + ofloxacin along with paracetamol for the previous symptoms of fever with chills, headache and bodyache. Patient describes itching in the rash which is increasing. The duty doctor attended the patient and immediately stopped the further administration of the offending medication. The patient was prescribed tablet cetirizine orally along with calamine lotion for local application. The patient reported back in for follow-up and was without any residual rashes or other such complaints. He was advised to remember and cautious from the use of drugs in the offending category