‘Retournement’ of the aedeagus in Curculionidae (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea)

Retournement or turning of the aedeagus about its longitudinal axis through about 180o during development is known in Chrysomeloidea (Coleoptera). This change in the orientation of the organ may be observed during the postembryonic development. This change produces certain morphological effects. By observing these morphological features in the imago the retournement may be inferred. Such morphological features in Curculionidae (Coleoptera) are here recorded. From this it has been inferred not only that retournement of the aedeagus is included in the ontogeny of curculionids, but also that the change of orientation of the organ occurs by the same mechanism as in Chrysomeloidea. These inferences attest the notion of a close phyletic relationship between the superfamilies Curculionoidea and Chrysomeloidea

From Automation Joy to Perseverance in Engineering: How Parents Conceptualize the Impact of Robotics on Their Children

The question guiding this research was, in what ways do parents perceive the impact of robotics in advancing their children’s interest in knowledge of and learning about science and engineering. This case study draws on communities of practice and activity theory to explore the lenses through which parents conceptualize the attributes of robotics towards increasing their children’s preparation and interest for engineering. The study revealed that parents perceive the acquisition of pertinent knowledge and skills as outcomes of interdisciplinary and authentic learning opportunities generated through series of goal directed activities. In addition, it was found that parents viewed beneficial characteristics of robotics across a wide range, from individual to collaborative learning; from acquisition of automation skills to immersion in multi-media projects; and from hands-on manipulation of raw materials to contentious discussions regarding optimal designs. In closing, the article situates the parents’ insights within recommendations garnered from some leading reports focused on strategies and conduits for broadening participation in science and engineering

The Act of Negotiating Icky Aspects and Minority Ambitions to Pursue Post-Secondary STEM

The STEM pipeline is viewed as a universal metaphor representing the “path from elementary school to a STEM career” (Hill, Corbett, & Rose, 2010, p. 17). In the last few years, initiatives focused on strengthening the STEM pipeline have expanded in scale and emphases; from broadening the STEM pipeline to diversifying. In spite of multi-pronged efforts on the behalf of various entities, lower rates of participation in the STEM pipeline continue to prevail among individuals from ethnic, racial, and socio-economic groups; especially in physical sciences and engineering (Jacobs & Simpkins, 2005; Kahle, 2004; National Science Foundation, 2013; President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2010, 2012; Rothwell, 2014). Students at the intersectionality of two or more variables of underrepresentation are exponentially disadvantaged within the STEM pipeline (NCES, 2009; Sadler, et al., 2012). If we are to craft effective ways of diversifying the STEM pipeline in the US, we have to start by first exploring socio-cultural variables vis-a´-vis the proportional representation of all segments of the US population (Hill, Corbett, & Rose, 2010; McDermot & Mack, 2014). Harris-Perry (2013) discusses women of color at the intersection of race and gender as they craft their progress in juxtaposition with stereotypes as well as subtle and actual prejudice. Historically, programs created to serve women have primarily benefitted White women and programs designed to serve minorities have mainly served minority men (Ong et al., 2011). And although, female students’ participation is increasing in life and health sciences; their involvement in physical sciences, engineering, and mathematics continues to be at or near historic lows (Hill, Corbett, & Rose, 2010; Rankins, Rankins & Inniss, 2014; Rothwell, 2014). Within the above context, this study explores the journeys and issues of concern/ambiguity of minority female students through last two years of high school into matriculation in postsecondary STEM degrees/majors. The students are enrolled in two high schools located in a starkly under resourced area. The study hypothesizes that the challenges experienced by the female students do not completely dissipate, rather, over time, the students learn to identify adaptive ways to be successful as they make use of available support and guidance

The Surprise Element: How Allaying Parents\u27 Misconceptions Improves a Teacher\u27s Communicative Process

Challenged by parents\u27 misconceptions about the role of cooperative learning activities in developing their gifted children, a teacher began to mentor the parents. The act of mentoring those parents resulted in the teacher\u27s longer-term professional development: specifically, creating a process of seeking structured feedback from parents and following up through iterative cycles of reflection, appraisal, and revision. Many teachers can identify a critical learning juncture that has had a notable influence on their learning and professional growth. Often, teachers locate such epiphanies within everyday teaching practices, advanced studies, or opportunities for professional development (Clarke and Hollingsworth 1994, 2002). The author, an elementary schoolteacher faced with parental opposition to using cooperative learning (CL) and group work in her classroom, set out to clarify parents\u27 assumptions by designing opportunities to uncover and untangle their beliefs. Surprisingly, as a result of responding to the above challenge and achieving success in her initially established goals, the teacher experienced a transformative growth in her processes of communicating with parents

Global Economic Crisis: Impact and Restructuring of the Services Sector in India

The Indian economy has shown considerable resilience to the global economic crisis by maintaining one of the highest growth rates in the world. The services sector accounted for around 88% of the growth rate in real gross domestic product in 2008–09. To demystify the relatively resilient growth of the services sector in India, this study examines both the demand-side and the supply-side factors that have contributed to its growth. To assess the role of external demand, income elasticity of export demand for the aggregated services and some of the disaggregated services of India were estimated.indian services sector; indian economy; global economic crisis

A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY ON NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND AUTONOMIC OBSERVATIONS OF CASPR2-RELATED MORVAN SYNDROME.

Introduction: The defining feature of Morvan syndrome is cerebral, autonomic, and peripheral hyperexcitability; this is caused by the antibody against contactin-associated protein 2 (CASPR2). The study aimed to examine the cognitive, autonomic, electrophysiologic, polysomnographic, and clinical spectrum of Morvan syndrome patients associated with CASPR2.  Methods:  A retrospective study was conducted. Samples of serum and CSF positive for CASPR2 antibodies for three years were evaluated. Those with Morvan syndrome, identified by clinical and electrophysiologic basis, were among them.   Results:  Among the patients with Morvan syndrome, 28 (M: F = 10:4) had an onset of 37.1 ± 17.5 years. Clinical characteristics included spastic speech (4), dysphagia (4), behavioral abnormalities (4), seizures (2), cold intolerance (2), muscular twitching (24), sleeplessness (24), pain (22), paresthesias (18), hyperhidrosis (14), hypersalivation (12), double incontinence (6). Myokymia (24), hyperactive tendon reflexes (20), and tremor (12) were found during the neurologic examination. Neuromyotonia (24) and higher spontaneous activity (14) were seen on the EMG. Six cases of insomnia, two cases of absentee deep sleep, two instances of high-frequency beta activity, one point of REM behavior disorder, and one case of periodic leg movements were found in the polysomnography results of twelve patients. Neuropsychological testing showed slight temporal and left frontal involvement. No cancers were identified during the workup. Each patient received steroids. Ten neuropathic pain patients had complete neurologic remission at follow-up.  Conclusion:  This work has advanced the understanding of Morvan syndrome linked to CASPR2. It is critical for greater awareness and early detection because immunotherapy may be able to treat it.  Recommendation:  Regularly get evaluated for the majority of common investigations, including brain MRIs, EEGs, PET scans, and CSF analyses. Individuals who should undergo regular evaluations are those presenting characteristic symptoms such as spastic speech, dysphagia, behavioral abnormalities, seizures, and neuromuscular issues

Prediction of dissolution time of gerromanganese in hot metal and steel bath

Mathematical models enable us to study metallurgical processes in depth. Significant improvements in plant operation cannot, in general, be brought about without quantification of the impact of the operating parameters on the end product. It is for this reason that mathemati-cal models have become popular in the steel industry, particularly with the advent of low-cost, high speed personal computers. Another reason why modelling is necessary is because increasingly alterations in operating parameters have to be made to bring about changes in heat or mass transfer. The gut-feelings of the plant operator are no longer able to deliver the goods because such feelings are developed by repeated exposure to quanti-fiable changes in the process brought about by alterat-ions, deliberate or otherwise, in the operating parameters. Some of these basic parameters are not measured, for example heat transfer coefficient in case of a solid particle dissolving in a liquid bath, and therefore it would be futile to expect gut-feelings to offer solutions as to how dissolution time would be effected by a change in the type of ferroalloy or by change in its size. The deter-mination of the dissolution time of ferroalloys is import-ant as it indicates to the process control engineer the minimum time necessary before the bath can be subjected to the next step of processing. Changes in the bath superheat; the size and the initial temperature of the ferroalloy and the bath hydrodynamics influence the dissolution time. Determining this dissolution time by experimentation is extremely difficult and would involve a series of experi-ments with different types of ferroalloys under varying conditions. On the other hand, the dissolution time can be obtained using a mathematical model of the dissolution kinetics of ferroalloys which after proper validation can be used to assess the dissolution behaviour of the ferro-alloy under a variety of conditions. At TATA STEEL blast furnace hot metal is used to cast ingot molds. The com-position of the blast furnace hot metal desired for making ingot moulds demands the addition of 20 kg each of ferro-manganese & ferro-silicon in the 12 tonne transfer ladles into which the blast furnace metal is poured at the ingot mould foundry (IMF). Owing to the low temperature of hot metal at IMF, casting commences immediately and a complete dissolution of the ferroalloy is often not possible. A mathematical model for calculating dissolution time for a solid particle in a liquid metal has been developed at R&D Division of Tata Steel. The model has been developed with the feasibility of predicting dissolution times for eases where the ferroalloy has a melting point lower as well as higher than the bath temperature. The model has been validated against data published in literature and applied to predict dissolution times of ferroalloys in steel and blast furnace hot metal. This model was used to study dissolution of ferroalloys in foundry and to evolve suitable corrective measures. On the basis of this study additions are being optimized at the IMF in' Tata Steel

Interference Alignment in Regenerating Codes for Distributed Storage: Necessity and Code Constructions

Regenerating codes are a class of recently developed codes for distributed storage that, like Reed-Solomon codes, permit data recovery from any arbitrary k of n nodes. However regenerating codes possess in addition, the ability to repair a failed node by connecting to any arbitrary d nodes and downloading an amount of data that is typically far less than the size of the data file. This amount of download is termed the repair bandwidth. Minimum storage regenerating (MSR) codes are a subclass of regenerating codes that require the least amount of network storage; every such code is a maximum distance separable (MDS) code. Further, when a replacement node stores data identical to that in the failed node, the repair is termed as exact. The four principal results of the paper are (a) the explicit construction of a class of MDS codes for d = n-1 >= 2k-1 termed the MISER code, that achieves the cut-set bound on the repair bandwidth for the exact-repair of systematic nodes, (b) proof of the necessity of interference alignment in exact-repair MSR codes, (c) a proof showing the impossibility of constructing linear, exact-repair MSR codes for d < 2k-3 in the absence of symbol extension, and (d) the construction, also explicit, of MSR codes for d = k+1. Interference alignment (IA) is a theme that runs throughout the paper: the MISER code is built on the principles of IA and IA is also a crucial component to the non-existence proof for d < 2k-3. To the best of our knowledge, the constructions presented in this paper are the first, explicit constructions of regenerating codes that achieve the cut-set bound.Comment: 38 pages, 12 figures, submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory;v3 - The title has been modified to better reflect the contributions of the submission. The paper is extensively revised with several carefully constructed figures and example