Socio-musical connections and teacher identity development in a university methods course and community youth symphony partnership

In this article we describe the experiences of nine preservice music teachers enrolled in the first semester of a newly designed instrumental methods course in which a traditional lecture format was replaced with experiential, student-driven, service-oriented activities. Students were entrusted with organizing and directing a community youth symphony, including sharing of teaching and all administrative responsibilities (e.g., recruiting, fundraising, repertoire selection, community outreach). While the first author was the professor and designer of the course, the second author acted as an outside observer, collecting data through rehearsal observations, student interviews, and study of course artifacts. Findings suggest that students benefitted from opportunities to observe and collaborate with the professor and classmates in real-world teaching settings. Furthermore, students demonstrated evidence of growth and maturation over the course of the semester in teaching skills, professional identity, and socio-musical connections. The article closes with a description of how student recommendations for course improvement were implemented in subsequent semesters

Experimental Outlook for the Pentaquark

A critical look is taken at both positive and null evidence for the $\Theta^+$ pentaquark. Potential problems with experiments will be discussed and the question of what conclusion can be drawn from both the positive and the null results is examined. First the question of existence of the $\Theta^+$ pentaquark is considered, followed by a discussion of new experiments that are either planned or in progress to answer questions about its mass, width and isospin. Finally, indirect evidence for the parity of the $\Theta^+$ is examined, and suggestions for experiments to measure its parity directly are given.Comment: MESON2004 conference proceedings, 10 pages, 1 figur

Phenalene-phosphazene complexes: effect of exocyclic charge densities on the cyclotriphosphazene ring system

The synthesis and properties of a new series of 1,9-diamino-substituted phenalene complexes of the cyclotriphosphazene ring system is described. One of the compounds is shown to be amphoteric, and this behavior allows an examination of the response of the phosphazene linkage to variations in exocyclic charge density at the spiro center in a plane perpendicular to the cyclotriphosphazene ring system. ^(31)P NMR spectroscopy indicates that substituent lone pairs with this orientation are not effective in long-range delocalization within the phosphazene linkage (in accord with our theoretical model of spiro delocalization). An X-ray crystal structure of one compound (7) identifies the presence of clathrated molecules of chloroform together with doubly hydrogen-bonded pairs of the phenalene-phosphazene complexes in the lattice. Crystal data for 7 (C_(13)H_8Cl_4N_5P_3•CHCl_3): monoclinic space group P2_1/c, a = 12.401 (4) Å, b = 28.404 (6) Å, c = 12.962 (3) Å, β = 91.76 (2)°, V = 4564 (2) Å^3, Z = 8, R = 0.050 for 4525 reflections

Field guide for didymo DNA sample collection

This protocol is designed for work in two-person teams for both safety and to maximise sample integrity

Sexuality and the ‘relations of ruling’ : using institutional ethnography to research lesbian and gay foster care and adoption

This article makes use of institutional ethnography to research foster care and adoption by lesbians and gay men, drawing on the work of the feminist sociologist Dorothy E. Smith in order to demonstrate the investigation of social work institutional categories and the ‘relations of ruling’. Through an analysis of the ways in which ‘gender’ and the idea of the ‘gender role model’ is used within the assessment of gay and lesbian foster carers and adopters, the author shows how these categories are produced and used to police relationship forms and to identify ‘deviant instances’

A sensitive genetic-based detection capability for Didymosphenia geminata

It is now well recognized that the increase in global transportation over the last two decades has brought with it an increased potential for the introduction of unwanted microorganisms (aquatic or terrestrial) that may have drastic effects on human and ecosystem health and agriculture. We have developed and validated a unique genetic fingerprinting tool for D. geminata. In concert, we developed field collection and preservation techniques specific for D. geminata along with genetic-based procedures that can now reliably detect D. geminate from a complex environmental community with a high degree of sensitivity. Recent work (Phase 2) has shown that the described methods will provide detection levels from <1 – 10,000 cells ml-1. We contend that the genetic based detection approaches used in this study offer great promise to meet the increasing demands to monitor the global threat from invasive micro-organisms

Comment on The Evidence for a Pentaquark and Kinematic Reflections

The Regge exchange model used by Dzierba et al. is shown to be questionable, since the pion pole term is not allowed. Hence the Regge amplitudes in their calculation are exaggerated. The amount of kinematic reflection in the mass spectrum of the (nK+) system, which is one decay channel of a possible pentaquark, is not well justified in the fitting procedure used by Dzierba et al., as shown by comparison with the (K+K-) invariant mass spectrum, which is one decay channel of the a_2 and f_2 tensor mesons. While kinematic reflections are still a concern in some papers that have presented evidence for the pentaquark, better quantitative calculations are needed to demonstrate the significance of this effect.Comment: Comment submitted to Phys. Rev. D (no figures