Supporting Teachers’ Learning about Mathematical Modeling

In the United States, one of the Standards for Mathematical Practice of the Common Core Curriculum (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010) is Model with mathematics. This standard requires that students be taught in a manner that will enable them to ―apply the mathematics they know to solve problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace‖ (p. 7). However many prospective and practicing teachers acquire a pedagogical style that does not support this standard. To promote higher levels of student thinking associated with mathematical modeling, teachers must thus be taught not only what mathematical modeling is, but how it can be effectively incorporated in their lessons and presented to their classes. Teacher training should also include how to develop rubrics for assessment, among which are rubrics that enable students to demonstrate mathematical modeling proficiency in different ways. In this research, the topics addressed include ways professional development can help in-service teachers appreciate the importance of mathematical modeling tasks; concerns about teacher backgrounds in mathematical modeling; and the most effective ways for improving in-service teachers’ knowledge of mathematical modeling and their teaching of mathematical modeling. While the primary focus of this research is on teacher education and training in the United States, the findings from both domestic and international research are clearly significant for those who are responsible for various aspects of teacher preparation worldwide

Implications of Piagetian Theory for Correlating Art and Reading

Piaget tells us that we know something to the extent that we act on it. Because art facilitates the right kinds of action for knowing, or learning, correlating art and reading may well be the vehicle to growth in and enjoyment of communication skills. Therefore, art not only contributes to reading development but also contributes to both the cognitive and the affective development needed for success in all academic areas

Twenty years of conservation and research findings of the Hawai‘i Island Hawksbill Turtle Recovery Project, 1989 - 2009

Reports were scanned in black and white at a resolution of 600 dots per inch and were converted to text using Adobe Paper Capture Plug-in.Prior to 1989, available information on nesting hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) in the Hawaiian Islands was minimal. From 1987 to 1990, personnel from Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park conducted reconnaissance along the southern coastline of Hawai‘i Island to confirm evidence of nesting activity, identify hawksbill nesting beaches, and evaluate threats. Thereafter, the Hawai‘i Island Hawksbill Turtle Recovery Project (HIHTRP) was established to monitor and manage nesting sites, document nesting events, collect baseline data, ensure hatchlings safely reach the ocean, and mitigate threats. Between 1993 and 2009, the number of beaches monitored for nesting activity expanded from eight to 17, with variable coverage at each site. Flipper tagging of nesting adult females has occurred since 1991. Primary findings from twenty years of data collection include: 1) The southern coast of Hawai‘i Island has the highest documented hawksbill nesting activity in the Main Hawaiian Islands; 2) Nesting season (egg laying to hatchling emergence) begins in April and extends to February with a peak egg laying period from late-July to mid-September; 3) The mean seasonal cohort observed was 11.6 ± 1.2 (n= 18) with a range of 3 to 18 turtles; 4) The mean number of nests per turtle was 3.3 ± 0.2 per season (n= 20) with a range of 1 to 6 nests; 5) The mean remigration interval was 3.5 ± 0.1 years (n= 106) with a range of 2 to 10 years; 6) Nesting turtles demonstrated a high degree of nesting site fidelity, with 87% of individuals documented using only one nesting site. Forty-eight of these individuals were documented at the same beach in multiple years. Thirteen percent of nesting females were documented at multiple sites; 7) The mean nest to next crawl inter-nesting interval was 18.6 ± 0.1 days (n= 276) (range 13 to 24 days), while the mean nest to nest inter-nesting interval was 20 ± 0.2 days (n= 277) (range 13 to 30 days); 8) The mean incubation period was 62.5 ± 0.4 days (n= 446) with a range of 50 to 101 days; 9) The mean clutch size was 175.2 ± 1.5 eggs (n= 631) with a range of 78 to 274 eggs; 10) The mean nest hatch success of eggs was 71.9 ± 1.0% (n= 640) with a range of 0 to 100%; 11) Between 1991 and 2009, 100 adult females were tagged, with a mean of 5.3 ± 0.7 (n=19) and range of 1 to 11 per season; 12) Between 1988 and 2009 a total of 742 nests (most occurring at Kamehame, ‘Āpua Point, and Pōhue Bay) were documented with a mean of 35 ± 4.0 (n= 21) and range of 8 to 69 per season; 13) Between 1989 and 2009, over 80,775 hatchlings are estimated to have entered the Pacific Ocean from Hawai‘i Island; 14) Primary threats to nest and hatchling success all of which have been significantly addressed were non-native mammalian predators, alien plants, artificial lights, hatchling stranding, vehicular traffic, and incompatible recreational use of nesting beaches; 15) Volcanism including land subsidence remains as an uncontrollable factor

Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Confirmation of an Anterior Protein Pathway in Normal Rabbit Eyes

Purpose: Contrast-enhanced proton magnetic resonance imaging ( 1H MRI) has been used as a quantitative, noninvasive method to corroborate a pathway for the diffusion of plasma-derived protein into the aqueous humor in the normal rabbit eye. Methods. T1-weighted magnetic resonance images were produced over 1- to 3-hour periods after the intravenous injection of gadolinium diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid. Results. Analysis of the images yielded the time dependence of signal enhancements within the areas of interest. The ciliary body showed an immediate sharp increase, followed by a gradual decrease in signal enhancement with time. Although a gradual increase in signal enhancement was found in the anterior chamber, no significant change occurred in the posterior chamber. A similar MRI experiment with an owl monkey produced parallel, though smaller, signal enhancements in the ciliary body and anterior chamber. Again, however, no significant change was found in the posterior chamber. Conclusions. These results support and extend those of recent fluorophotometric, tracer-localization, and modeling studies demonstrating that in the normal rabbit and monkey eye, plasma-derived proteins bypass the posterior chamber, entering the anterior chamber directly via the iris root

The Effects of Pictorial Realism, Delay of Visual Feedback, and Observer Interactivity on the Subjective Sense of Presence

Two experiments examined the effects of pictorial realism, observer interactivity, and delay of visual feedback on the sense of presence. Subjects were presented pairs of virtual enviornments (a simulated driving task) that differed in one or more ways from each other. After subjects had completed the second member of each pair they reported which of the two had produced the greater amount of presence and indicated the size of this difference by means of a 1-100 scale. As predicted, realism and interactivity increased presence while delay of visual feedback diminished it. According to subjects\u27 verbal responses to a postexperiment interview, pictorial realism was the least influential of the three variables examined. Further, although some subjects reported an increase in the sense of presence over the course of the experiment, most said it reamined unchanged or became weaker

Measuring the neighborhood environment: associations with young girls' energy intake and expenditure in a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neighborhood environments affect children's health outcomes. Observational methods used to assess neighborhoods can be categorized as indirect, intermediate, or direct. Direct methods, involving in-person audits of the neighborhoods conducted by trained observers, are recognized as an accurate representation of current neighborhood conditions. The authors investigated the associations of various neighborhood characteristics with young girls' diet and physical activity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study is based on a subset of participants in the Cohort Study of Young Girls' Nutrition, Environment and Transitions (CYGNET). In-person street audits were conducted within 215 girls' residential neighborhoods using a modified St. Louis Audit Tool. From the street audit data, exploratory factor analysis revealed five neighborhood scales: "mixed residential and commercial," "food and retail," "recreation," "walkability," and "physical disorder." A Neighborhood Deprivation Index was also derived from census data. The authors investigated if the five neighborhood scales and the Neighborhood Deprivation Index were associated with quartiles of total energy intake and expenditure (metabolic equivalent (MET) hours/week) at baseline, and whether any of these associations were modified by race/ethnicity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After adjustment for demographic characteristics, there was an inverse association between prevalence of "food and retail" destinations and total energy intake (for a one quartile increase, OR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.74, 0.96). Positive associations were also observed between the "recreation" and "walkability" scales with physical activity among Hispanic/Latina girls (for a one quartile increase in MET, OR = 1.94, 95% CI 1.31, 2.88 for recreation; OR = 1.71, 95% CI 1.11, 2.63 for walkability). Among African-American girls, there was an inverse association between "physical disorder" and physical activity (OR = 0.31, 95% CI 0.12, 0.80).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that neighborhood food and retail availability may be inversely associated with young girls' energy intakes in contrast to other studies' findings that focused on adults. There is considerable variation in neighborhoods' influences on young girls' physical activity behaviors, particularly for young girls of different racial/ethnic backgrounds.</p

A spatial analysis of seagrass habitat and community diversity in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area

The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) in north eastern Australia spans 2,500 km of coastline and covers an area of ~350,000 km2. It includes one of the world’s largest seagrass resources. To provide a foundation to monitor, establish trends and manage the protection of seagrass meadows in the GBRWHA we quantified potential seagrass community extent using six random forest models that include environmental data and seagrass sampling history. We identified 88,331 km2 of potential seagrass habitat in intertidal and subtidal areas: 1,111 km2 in estuaries, 16,276 km2 in coastal areas, and 70,934 km2 in reef areas. Thirty-six seagrass community types were defined by species assemblages within these habitat types using multivariate regression tree models. We show that the structure, location and distribution of the seagrass communities is the result of complex environmental interactions. These environmental conditions include depth, tidal exposure, latitude, current speed, benthic light, proportion of mud in the sediment, water type, water temperature, salinity, and wind speed. Our analysis will underpin spatial planning, can be used in the design of monitoring programs to represent the diversity of seagrass communities and will facilitate our understanding of environmental risk to these habitats

A global health action agenda for the Biden administration

Joe Biden will assume the US presidency at a time of unprecedented global health crises, with the COVID-19 pandemic and major setbacks in reducing poverty, hunger, and disease. The COVID-19 pandemic offers rare opportunities for the US President-elect to spearhead long-overdue structural changes and revitalise global health leadership. Building trust among global partners will be challenging, given the USA\u27s withdrawal from, and disruption of, international cooperation under the presidency of Donald Trump. The USA will have to lead in a different, more collaborative way. Here, we offer a Global Action Agenda for the Biden Administration

What Couples Say about Their Recovery of Sexual Intimacy after Prostatectomy: Toward the Development of a Conceptual Model of Couples' Sexual Recovery after Surgery for Prostate Cancer

IntroductionInterventions designed to help couples recover sexual intimacy after prostatectomy have not been guided by a comprehensive conceptual model.AimWe examined a proposed biopsychosocial conceptual model of couples' sexual recovery that included functional, psychological, and relational aspects of sexuality, surgery‐related sexual losses, and grief and mourning as recovery process.MethodsWe interviewed 20 couples preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively. between 2010 and 2012. Interviews were analyzed with Analytic Induction qualitative methodology, using NVivo software. Paired t‐tests described functional assessment data. Study findings led to a revised conceptual model.Main Outcome MeasuresCouples' experiences were assessed through semi‐structured interviews; male participants' sexual function was assessed with the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite and female participants' sexual function with the Female Sexual Function Index.ResultsPreoperatively, 30% of men had erectile dysfunction (ED) and 84% of partners were postmenopausal. All valued sexual recovery, but worried about cancer spread and surgery side effects. Faith in themselves and their surgeons led 90% of couples to overestimate erectile recovery. Postoperatively, most men had ED and lost confidence. Couples' sexual activity decreased. Couples reported feeling loss and grief: cancer diagnosis was the first loss, followed by surgery‐related sexual losses. Couples' engagement in intentional sex, patients' acceptance of erectile aids, and partners' interest in sex aided the recovery of couples' sexual intimacy recovery. Unselfconscious sex, not returning to erectile function baseline, was seen as the end point. Survey findings documented participants' sexual function losses, confirming qualitative findings.ConclusionsCouples' sexual recovery requires addressing sexual function, feelings about losses, and relationship simultaneously. Perioperative education should emphasize the roles of nerve damage in ED and grief and mourning in sexual recovery. Wittmann D, Carolan M, Given B, Skolarus TA, Crossley H, An L, Palapattu G, Clark P, and Montie JE. What couples say about their recovery of sexual intimacy after prostatectomy: Toward the development of a conceptual model of couples' sexual recovery after surgery for prostate cancer. J Sex Med 2015;12:494–504.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110610/1/jsm12732.pd