The STCC Science Teaching Intern Project

The Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) Science Teaching Intern Project was implemented as a pilot study to give community college students an opportunity to experience science teaching. At the same time, it provided seventh graders in inner city middle schools opportunities to interact with college students and to take advantage of science resources not usually available to them. Interns attended weekly meetings and participated in an all-day science field trip at the college. Most participants also made observations in a middle school science classroom and presented a science activity in the classroom. Not only did the project provide a partnership between STCC and two Springfield public schools, but it also involved interaction with the University of Massachusetts School of Education, since a doctoral candidate provided expertise in education methodology and in evaluation of the project. The project was evaluated by the interns, the two K-12 teachers, the seventh graders, and by the doctoral candidate. There was clear enthusiasm for the project provided by all the sources. The conversion of this project into a one-credit course is currently under development

Investigating the mechanism of acoustically activated uptake of drugs from Pluronic micelles

BACKGROUND: This paper examines the mechanism of ultrasonic enhanced drug delivery from Pluronic micelles. In previous publications by our group, fluorescently labeled Pluronic was shown to penetrate HL-60 cells with and without the action of ultrasound, while drug uptake was increased with the application of ultrasound. METHODS: In this study, the amount of uptake of two fluorescent probes, Lysosensor Green (a pH-sensitive probe) and Cell Tracker Orange CMTMR (a pH-independent probe), was measured in HL-60 and HeLa cells. RESULTS: The results of our experiments show that the increase in drug accumulation in the cells as a result of ultrasonication is not due to an increase in endocytosis due to ultrasonication. CONCLUSIONS: We hypothesize that sonoporation plays an important role in the acoustically activated drug delivery of chemotherapy drugs delivered from Pluronic micelles

Functional solution for comfortable parking of the personal motor transport

In the paper, a system for automated accounting and assignment of parking spaces near big shopping centers is described. A comparative analysis of existing parking management systems is presented. The project described in the paper could be interesting for household management companies, shopping centers, and security services. A comfortable parking increases attractiveness of a place and could lead to sales growth. Smart parking is the part of a smart city creation.В статье описана система, предназначенная для автоматизированного учета и распределения парковочных мест на автостоянках. Приводится анализ существующих систем управления парковкой, отмечаются их достоинства и недостатки. Авторы полагают, что представленный проект может представлять интерес для управляющих организаций торговых центров и служб безопасности. Комфортное пребывание водителей на парковке увеличивает привлекательность такого объекта и повышает спрос на предоставляемые услуги. Умная парковка является одним из направлений в реализации умного города

New possibilities of modern web-programming

Статья посвящена современным технологиям веб-программирования и использованию новых технических возможностей в реальных проектах по созданию программного обеспечения. В статье описаны новейшие фреймворки для создания клиентской части веб-приложения, а также рассказано о программной реализации веб-приложения на технологии React. Целью создания программной реализации является наглядная демонстрация преимуществ инновационных технологий веб-программирования в создании и внедрении веб-приложений над устаревшими технологиями.The article is devoted to modern web programming techniques and to using new technological possibilities in real projects of software engineering. The article tells about the newest frameworks used to make a client of a web application, as well as about web application implementation using React. The goal of the implementation is to clearly demonstrate the advantages of innovative web programming techniques in creating web applications over the deprecated techniques

Growing Scale-Free Networks with Tunable Clustering

We extend the standard scale-free network model to include a ``triad formation step''. We analyze the geometric properties of networks generated by this algorithm both analytically and by numerical calculations, and find that our model possesses the same characteristics as the standard scale-free networks like the power-law degree distribution and the small average geodesic length, but with the high-clustering at the same time. In our model, the clustering coefficient is also shown to be tunable simply by changing a control parameter - the average number of triad formation trials per time step.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Interlayer Registry Determines the Sliding Potential of Layered Metal Dichalcogenides: The case of 2H-MoS2

We provide a simple and intuitive explanation for the interlayer sliding energy landscape of metal dichalcogenides. Based on the recently introduced registry index (RI) concept, we define a purely geometrical parameter which quantifies the degree of interlayer commensurability in the layered phase of molybdenum disulphide (2HMoS2). A direct relation between the sliding energy landscape and the corresponding interlayer registry surface of 2H-MoS2 is discovered thus marking the registry index as a computationally efficient means for studying the tribology of complex nanoscale material interfaces in the wearless friction regime.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Quantization of the Riemann Zeta-Function and Cosmology

Quantization of the Riemann zeta-function is proposed. We treat the Riemann zeta-function as a symbol of a pseudodifferential operator and study the corresponding classical and quantum field theories. This approach is motivated by the theory of p-adic strings and by recent works on stringy cosmological models. We show that the Lagrangian for the zeta-function field is equivalent to the sum of the Klein-Gordon Lagrangians with masses defined by the zeros of the Riemann zeta-function. Quantization of the mathematics of Fermat-Wiles and the Langlands program is indicated. The Beilinson conjectures on the values of L-functions of motives are interpreted as dealing with the cosmological constant problem. Possible cosmological applications of the zeta-function field theory are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, corrected typos, references and comments adde

Approximating multi-dimensional Hamiltonian flows by billiards

Consider a family of smooth potentials $V_{\epsilon}$, which, in the limit $\epsilon\to0$, become a singular hard-wall potential of a multi-dimensional billiard. We define auxiliary billiard domains that asymptote, as $\epsilon\to0$ to the original billiard, and provide asymptotic expansion of the smooth Hamiltonian solution in terms of these billiard approximations. The asymptotic expansion includes error estimates in the $C^{r}$ norm and an iteration scheme for improving this approximation. Applying this theory to smooth potentials which limit to the multi-dimensional close to ellipsoidal billiards, we predict when the separatrix splitting persists for various types of potentials