Botanically Inclined: Elementary Students\u27 Knowledge of Plant Structures and Their Functions Captured in Drawings

School gardens provide numerous educational opportunities and many elementary schools in Maine are supporting these nature-based learning experiences. However, there is a lack of information about how school gardens are associated with student learning of plants. This research investigated student knowledge of plant growth and reproduction at a school with a garden and explored how this knowledge is associated with how much time students spend in a garden. An activity was designed, based on the Next Generation Science Standard performance expectation 4-LS1-1, asking students to draw a plant and label the different structures, including explanations of their functions. The activity also asked students about their experiences in a garden. Thirty-three responses were collected from fifth-grade students at an elementary school in Penobscot County in Maine and then analysed using a tallying system and rubric developed by the researchers in this study. Students were placed into levels of understanding of plant structure and function determined by the rubric. The results of this case study show that students’ mental models of plants are typically flowers; 64% of students drew flowers when asked to draw a plant. On average, students that drew flowers received higher rubric scores for their understanding of plant reproduction compared to students that drew either trees or other plants. The larger variability in scores for the reproduction section of the rubric as compared to scores for the growth and survival section highlights the impact that students’ reproductive plant knowledge has on their overall understanding of plant structure and function. In terms of overall understanding of plants, most students fell into either the emerging (16 students) or expected (ten students) level of understanding. This study did not find a significant difference in mean overall scores between students who spent different amounts of time in a garden. This research is consistent with prior conclusions that in students’ mental models of plants are generally flowers. Additionally, the lack of relationship between the amount of time spent in a garden and students’ knowledge of plant structure and function does allow for further exploration of what students are doing when spending time in a garden. The actual activities they may be participating in could relate to the plant knowledge, or even misconceptions, they are obtaining. Further work on this topic could involve deeper research into how students are learning about plants and the differences in their learning of plant reproduction and growth

The importance of hole concentration in establishing carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in Mn doped Ge

In the present work, we have prepared Mn-doped Ge using different annealing approaches after Mn ion implantation, and obtained samples with hole concentrations ranging from 10^18 to 2.1x10^20 cm^-3, the latter being the highest reported so far. Based on the magnetotransport properties of Mn doped Ge, we argue that the hole concentration is a decisive parameter in establishing carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in magnetic Ge.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Value creation and value capture of advanced electricity meter information

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-112).Advanced or smart metering has been a hot topic in the electricity community for several years. Despite the excitement about the technology, few business cases are actually able to justify the investment cost. One reason for the gap between costs and benefits is that major benefits such as avoided investments have long payback times and are difficult to monetize. However, another aspect which is largely overlooked is the value creation through nonelectricity market related business models. These business models range from advertising over customer profiling up to insurance or juridical usage of data gathered from advanced meters. This paper summarizes the finding of a number of studies on the value of smart meter information on electricity market related benefit and gives an overview of non-electricity market related business models. The paper gives quantitative estimates of the value for electricity related activities such as energy efficiency, avoided investment and dynamic pricing. In additional it provides a qualitative analysis of the value and barriers of nonelectricity market business activities. In addition to this the study also gives a short outlook on how this value might be captured and which players are best positioned to capture significant shares of the total created value.by Ulf Oesterlin.S.M

Low cycle fatigue testing in high pressure gaseous hydrogen using tubular specimens

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Kategorisierung und Auswertung der Therapieinhalte der physiotherapeutischen Intervention für die obere Extremität bei Patienten nach einem Schlaganfall am Beispiel einer Multicenterstudie

Hintergrund: Motorische Beeinträchtigungen, auch der oberen Extremität, zählen mit Abstand zu den häufigsten Symptomen bei Patienten nach einem Schlaganfall. Die Physiotherapie ist bei der Wiederherstellung der motorischen Funktionen eine anerkannte Behandlungsdisziplin. Therapieinhalte der physiotherapeutischen Intervention werden in Studien allerdings oft unzureichend beschrieben und sollen deshalb in dieser Arbeit genauer untersucht werden. Ziel der Studie ist die Kategorisierung und Auswertung der Therapieinhalte physiotherapeutischer Interventionen für die obere Extremität bei Patienten nach einem Schlaganfall am Beispiel einer Multicenterstudie.Methode: Es wurde eine retrospektive, qualitative Inhaltsanalyse durchgeführt. Hierfür wurde der Inhalt von 16 Physiotherapiebehandlungen von insgesamt 14 Patienten zuerst kategorisiert und anschließend ausgewertet. Zur Kategorisierung wurde ein bereits evaluiertes, leicht modifiziertes Kategorisierungsmodell mit 3 Hauptkategorien verwendet. Mit den Assessments BBT und CAHAI wurden mögliche Verbesserungen der Hand- und Armfunktion überprüft.Ergebnisse: Nach der Kategorisierung der Therapieinhalte ergab sich folgende Verteilung der durchgeführten physiotherapeutischen Interventionen in den 3 Hauptkategorien: Von allen durchgeführten Interventionen wurden 76% dem neuromuskulären, 23% dem körperstrukturellen und 1% dem sensorischen Bereich zugeordnet. Bei der Wiederherstellung der motorischen Funktion der oberen Extremität scheinen neuromuskuläre Interventionen von besonderer Bedeutung zu sein. Verbesserungen beim BBT und CAHAI konnten in keinen Zusammenhang mit den Therapieinhalten gebracht werden.Diskussion: Aufgrund der geringen Probandenzahl können nur Vermutungen über die Gründe der Verbesserungen der BBT- und CAHAI-Werte angestellt werden. Weitere Untersuchungen mit höherer Probandenzahl sind erforderlich, um mögliche Zusammenhänge zwischen den Therapieinhalten und der Verbesserung der motorischen Funktion der oberen Extremitäten erklären zu können.Schlüsselwörter: Rehabilitation, obere Extremität, motorische Funktion, Schlaganfall, qualitative Inhaltanalyse, konventionelle Physiotherapi