Learning to Understand: Mathematical Preparation of Prospective Teachers

This paper describes the development of a two-course sequence in mathematics content for prospective elementary teachers. Community college and university personnel collaborated to develop a course sequence that would prepare prospective elementary teachers to teach mathematics with an understanding of concepts to support their abstract mathematical knowledge. The strategy was to begin with a broad vision and then focus on the smaller pieces which would achieve that vision. The course changes are validated by documents published by various educational and mathematical groups advocating an increased emphasis on teaching for understanding rather than rote learning. Significant change is difficult without support from colleagues and sufficient time, both necessary to the change process. The noteworthy components of Austin Community College’s revised course are a safe environment in which students become independent learners and written communication as an integral part of the course resulting in students who have increased their conceptual understanding. As a result of taking the course, students accept responsibility for their own learning, have increased self-confidence, and show enthusiasm for mathematics. While requiring a major commitment from faculty, the results are well worth the effort

Alien Registration- Hannigan, Mary M. (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/24576/thumbnail.jp

A computer program for the simulation of failure-responsive systems Technical report no. 6

Computer simulation program in Fortran IV LANGUAGE to facilitate Monte Carlo approach in reliability analysi

A hemispherical, high-solid-angle optical micro-cavity for cavity-QED studies

We report a novel hemispherical micro-cavity that is comprised of a planar integrated semiconductor distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirror, and an external, concave micro-mirror having a radius of curvature $50\mathrm{\mu m}$. The integrated DBR mirror containing quantum dots (QD), is designed to locate the QDs at an antinode of the field in order to maximize the interaction between the QD and the cavity. The concave micro-mirror, with high-reflectivity over a large solid-angle, creates a diffraction-limited (sub-micron) mode-waist at the planar mirror, leading to a large coupling constant between cavity mode and QD. The half-monolithic design gives more spatial and spectral tuning abilities, relatively to fully monolithic structures. This unique micro-cavity design will potentially enable us to both reach the cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) strong coupling regime and realize the deterministic generation of single photons on demand.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, final versio

Traditions of research in community mental health care planning and care coordination: A systematic meta-narrative review of the literature

Context: In response to political and social factors over the last sixty years mental health systems internationally have endeavoured to transfer the delivery of care from hospitals into community settings. As a result, there has been increased emphasis on the need for better quality care planning and care coordination between hospital services, community services and patients and their informal carers. The aim of this systematic review of international research is to explore which interventions have proved more or less effective in promoting personalized, recovery oriented care planning and coordination for community mental health service users. Methods: A systematic meta-narrative review of research from 1990 to the present was undertaken. From an initial return of 3940 papers a total of 50 research articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria, including research from the UK, Australia and the USA. Findings: Three research traditions are identified consisting of (a) research that evaluates the effects of government policies on the organization, management and delivery of services; (b) evaluations of attempts to improve organizational and service delivery efficiency; (c) service-users and carers experiences of community mental health care coordination and planning and their involvement in research. The review found no seminal papers in terms of high citation rates, or papers that were consistently cited over time. The traditions of research in this topic area have formed reactively in response to frequent and often unpredictable policy changes, rather than proactively as a result of intrinsic academic or intellectual activity. This may explain the absence of seminal literature within the subject field. As a result, the research tradition within this specific area of mental health service delivery has a relatively short history, with no one dominant researcher or researchers, tradition or seminal studies amongst or across the three traditions identified. Conclusions: The research findings reviewed suggests a gap has existed internationally over several decades between policy aspirations and service level interventions aimed at improving personalised care planning and coordination and the realities of everyday practices and experiences of service users and carers. Substantial barriers to involvement are created through poor information exchange and insufficient opportunities for care negotiation

Are There Disparities in Health Information Access Among New Mexico Practitioners? Results of a Study

We designed an exploratory study to find out what information resources are available to New Mexico health care practitioners not currently affiliated with the University of New Mexico. We conducted semi-structured interviews of a purposive sample of physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, physician assistants, and pharmacists at the location of their practice in all quadrants of the state, including public health clinics. The interview included nine open-ended questions, which were approved by the UNM Human Research Protections Office. Interviews were recorded on an iPad, transcribed, and coded using nVivo (QSR International), a qualitative data coding software package. Fifty-one practitioners particiipated. Their responses indicate that New Mexico pracitioners not affiliated with UNM: are satisfied with their access to information resources to support clinical decision making; are not satisfied with information resources for their patients; would like access to a wider variety of information resources for both clinical information and for their patients.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hslic-posters-presentations/1044/thumbnail.jp