The Benefits of Peer Review and a Multisemester Capstone Writing Series on Inquiry and Analysis Skills in an Undergraduate Thesis.

This study examines the relationship between the introduction of a four-course writing-intensive capstone series and improvement in inquiry and analysis skills of biology senior undergraduates. To measure the impact of the multicourse write-to-learn and peer-review pedagogy on student performance, we used a modified Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education rubric for Inquiry and Analysis and Written Communication to score senior research theses from 2006 to 2008 (pretreatment) and 2009 to 2013 (intervention). A Fisher-Freeman-Halton test and a two-sample Student's t test were used to evaluate individual rubric dimensions and composite rubric scores, respectively, and a randomized complete block design analysis of variance was carried out on composite scores to examine the impact of the intervention across ethnicity, legacy (e.g., first-generation status), and research laboratory. The results show an increase in student performance in rubric scoring categories most closely associated with science literacy and critical-thinking skills, in addition to gains in students' writing abilities

Elementos finitos em formulação mista de mínimos quadrados para a simulação da convecção-difusão em regime transiente

Um esquema de elementos finitos mistos de tipo mínimos quadrados é estudado para resolver as equações da convecção-difusão transientes expressas em função tanto do campo incógnito primário como do seu fluxo, incorporando ou não um termo reativo. Uma vez efetuada uma discretização temporal à la Crank-Nicholson, o sistema de equações resultante permite uma aproximação estável desses 2 campos, com elementos finitos contínuos de Lagrange clássicos de grau arbitrário em geometria de tipo simplex ou não, em dimensão espacial qualquer. O esquema é convergente em espaço no sentido da média quadrática no que tange ao campo incógnito primário, a seu gradiente, à variável de fluxo e à divergência desta última, e no tempo num sentido apropriado para cada um desses campos. Os resultados numéricos atestam o bom desempenho do esquema, para quaisquer números de Péclet, confirmando as previsões teóricas, pelo menos no caso de camadas limite estreitas em que o método se mostra fracassado. A técnica é também comparada com outros métodos para resolver essas equações, incluindo 2 propostos recentemente pelo primeiro autor et al.A mixed least-squares finite element scheme designed for solving the transient convection-diffusion equations expressed in terms of both the primal unknown and its flux, incorporating or not a reaction term, is studied. Once a time discretization of the Crank-Nicholson type is performed, the resulting system of equations allows for a stable approximation of both fields, by means of classical Lagrange continuous piecewise polynomial functions of arbitrary degree, in both simplicial and non-simplicial geometry, in any space dimension. The scheme is also convergent in space in the mean-square sense as far as the primal unknown field, its gradient, the flux variable and its divergence are concerned, and in time in an appropriate sense for each one of these four fields. Numerical results certify that the scheme performs well for any Péclet number, thereby allowing to confirm theoretical predictions, at least in the case where there is no narrow boundary layer. In the latter case however the method fails to produce reliable results. The technique is also compared with three existing methods to solve the convection-diffusion equations in the transient case. These include two recent ones proposed by the first author and collaborators.Peer Reviewe

Isolated elliptical galaxies in the local Universe

We have studied a sample of 89 very isolated, elliptical galaxies at z < 0.08 and compared their properties with elliptical galaxies located in a high-density environment such as the Coma supercluster. Our aim is to probe the role of environment on the morphological transformation and quenching of elliptical galaxies as a function of mass. In addition, we elucidate the nature of a particular set of blue and star-forming isolated ellipticals identified here. We study physical properties of ellipticals such as color, specific star formation rate, galaxy size, and stellar age, as a function of stellar mass and environment based on SDSS data. We analyze the blue star-forming isolated ellipticals in more detail, through photometric characterization using GALFIT, and infer their star formation history using STARLIGHT. Among the isolated ellipticals ~ 20% are blue, 8% are star forming, and ~ 10% are recently quenched, while among the Coma ellipticals ~ 8% are blue and just <= 1% are star forming or recently quenched. There are four isolated galaxies (~ 4.5%) that are blue and star forming at the same time. These galaxies, with masses between 7 x 10^9 and 2 x 10^10 h-2 M_sun, are also the youngest galaxies with light-weighted stellar ages <= 1 Gyr and exhibit bluer colors toward the galaxy center. Around 30-60% of their present-day luminosity, but only < 5% of their present-day mass, is due to star formation in the last 1 Gyr. The processes of morphological transformation and quenching seem to be in general independent of environment since most of elliptical galaxies are 'red and dead', although the transition to the red sequence should be faster for isolated ellipticals. In some cases, the isolated environment seems to propitiate the rejuvenation of ellipticals by recent (< 1 Gyr) cold gas accretion.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures (16 pages and 9 figures without appendices). A&A, in pres

A hybrid heuristic for the multi-plant capacitated lot sizing problem with setup carry-over

This paper addresses the capacitated lot sizing problem (CLSP) with a single stage composed of multiple plants, items and periods with setup carry-over among the periods. The CLSP is well studied and many heuristics have been proposed to solve it. Nevertheless, few researches explored the multi-plant capacitated lot sizing problem (MPCLSP), which means that few solution methods were proposed to solve it. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no study of the MPCLSP with setup carry-over was found in the literature. This paper presents a mathematical model and a GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure) with path relinking to the MPCLSP with setup carry-over. This solution method is an extension and adaptation of a previously adopted methodology without the setup carry-over. Computational tests showed that the improvement of the setup carry-over is significant in terms of the solution value with a low increase in computational time.FAPES

Cronotopia em Contos do Modernismo Tardio Brasileiro

A narrativa curta, também denominada conto, no contexto do modernismo tardio brasileiro, é o objeto de estudo deste trabalho. O conto possui uma caracterização própria, diferenciando-se de outras narrativas literárias naquilo que a teoria comumente denomina extensão ou, segundo Carlos Reis e Ana C. Lopes, uma modalidade de variação temporal da narrativa. Todos os elementos que marcam a diversidade deste tipo textual em relação às demais formas narrativas, tais como: brevidade, simplicidade constitutiva, linearidade, concentração de enredo, concentração cronotópica, densidade dramática, singularidade temática, intensidade, univocidade e univalência, estão, de certa maneira, ligados à extensão. A análise e a interpretação dos componentes tempo e espaço na formação do cronótopo são realizadas, nesta pesquisa, com vistas ao reconhecimento de um pathos que, acredita-se, fornece densidade à brevidade do conto moderno. As fontes de pesquisa para análise e interpretação dos contos centraram-se em estudiosos especializados em teoria e crítica literárias que examinaram as categorias temporais e espaciais e aqueles que consideraram o cronótopo no contexto da modernidade, no século XX. Além destes, filósofos e pensadores voltados para o estudo do tempo e do espaço, considerando as narrativas como foco. Palavras-chave: conto literário; cronotopia; pathos cronotópico; modernismo tardio brasileiro; contos de Clarice Lispector, Osman Lins e João Guimarães Rosa

Effective Widths and Effective Number of Phonons of Multiphonon Giant Resonances

We discuss the origin of the difference between the harmonic value of the width of the multiphonon giant resonances and the smaller observed value. Analytical expressions are derived for both the effective width and the average cross-section. The contribution of the Brink-Axel mechanism in resolving the discrepancy is pointed out.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure