An empirical investigation of the dimensionality of the physical literacy environment in early childhood classrooms

This study investigated the dimensionality of the physical literacy environment of early childhood education classrooms. Data on the classroom physical literacy environment were collected from 245 classrooms using the Classroom Literacy Observation Profile. A combination of confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis was used to identify five separate dimensions of the physical literacy environment; including (a) variety and use of books, (b) variety and use of writing center materials, (c) variety and use of technology, (d) variety of environmental print and (e) variety and use of other literacy-related materials. Overall, these five dimensions demonstrated reasonable reliability and validity. Implications for investigating the physical literacy environment and future directions for research are discussed

The Stability of the Suggested Planet in the nu Octantis System: A Numerical and Statistical Study

We provide a detailed theoretical study aimed at the observational finding about the nu Octantis binary system that indicates the possible existence of a Jupiter-type planet in this system. If a prograde planetary orbit is assumed, it has earlier been argued that the planet, if existing, should be located outside the zone of orbital stability. However, a previous study by Eberle & Cuntz (2010) [ApJ 721, L168] concludes that the planet is most likely stable if assumed to be in a retrograde orbit with respect to the secondary system component. In the present work, we significantly augment this study by taking into account the observationally deduced uncertainty ranges of the orbital parameters for the stellar components and the suggested planet. Furthermore, our study employs additional mathematical methods, which include monitoring the Jacobi constant, the zero velocity function, and the maximum Lyapunov exponent. We again find that the suggested planet is indeed possible if assumed to be in a retrograde orbit, but it is virtually impossible if assumed in a prograde orbit. Its existence is found to be consistent with the deduced system parameters of the binary components and of the suggested planet, including the associated uncertainty bars given by observations.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables; Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (in press

Credibility and adjustment: gold standards versus currency boards

It is often maintained that currency boards (CBs) and gold standards (GSs) are alike in that they are stringent monetary rules, the two basic features of which are high credibility of monetary authorities and the existence of automatic adjustment (non discretionary) mechanism. This article includes a comparative analysis of these two types of regimes both from the perspective of the sources and mechanisms of generating confidence and credibility, and the elements of operation of the automatic adjustment mechanism. Confidence under the GS is endogenously driven, whereas it is exogenously determined under the CB. CB is a much more asymmetric regime than GS (the adjustment is much to the detriment of peripheral countries) although asymmetry is a typical feature of any monetary regime. The lack of credibility is typical for peripheral countries and cannot be overcome completely even by “hard” monetary regimes.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40078/3/wp692.pd

Morphology of supported polymer electrolyte ultra-thin films: a numerical study

Morphology of polymer electrolytes membranes (PEM), e.g., Nafion, inside PEM fuel cell catalyst layers has significant impact on the electrochemical activity and transport phenomena that determine cell performance. In those regions, Nafion can be found as an ultra-thin film, coating the catalyst and the catalyst support surfaces. The impact of the hydrophilic/hydrophobic character of these surfaces on the structural formation of the films has not been sufficiently explored yet. Here, we report about Molecular Dynamics simulation investigation of the substrate effects on the ionomer ultra-thin film morphology at different hydration levels. We use a mean-field-like model we introduced in previous publications for the interaction of the hydrated Nafion ionomer with a substrate, characterized by a tunable degree of hydrophilicity. We show that the affinity of the substrate with water plays a crucial role in the molecular rearrangement of the ionomer film, resulting in completely different morphologies. Detailed structural description in different regions of the film shows evidences of strongly heterogeneous behavior. A qualitative discussion of the implications of our observations on the PEMFC catalyst layer performance is finally proposed

A reversal of climatic trends in the North Atlantic since 2005

In the mid-1990s the North Atlantic subpolar gyre warmed rapidly, which had important climate impacts, such as increased hurricane numbers, and changes to rainfall over Africa, Europe and North America. Evidence suggests that the warming was largely due to a strengthening of the ocean circulation, particularly the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Since the mid-1990s direct and indirect measurements have suggested a decline in the strength of the ocean circulation, which is expected to lead to a reduction in northward heat transport. Here we show that since 2005 a large volume of the upper North Atlantic Ocean has cooled significantly by approximately -0.45C or 1.5x10^22 J, reversing the previous warming trend. By analysing observations and a state-of-the-art climate model, we show that this cooling is consistent with a reduction in the strength of the ocean circulation and heat transport, linked to record low densities in the deep Labrador Sea. The low density in the deep Labrador Sea is primarily due to deep ocean warming since 1995, but a long-term freshening also played a role. The observed upper ocean cooling since 2005 is not consistent with the hypothesis that anthropogenic aerosols directly drive Atlantic temperatures

Strong signature of natural selection within an FHIT intron implicated in prostate cancer risk

Previously, a candidate gene linkage approach on brother pairs affected with prostate cancer identified a locus of prostate cancer susceptibility at D3S1234 within the fragile histidine triad gene (FHIT), a tumor suppressor that induces apoptosis. Subsequent association tests on 16 SNPs spanning approximately 381 kb surrounding D3S1234 in Americans of European descent revealed significant evidence of association for a single SNP within intron 5 of FHIT. In the current study, resequencing and genotyping within a 28.5 kb region surrounding this SNP further delineated the association with prostate cancer risk to a 15 kb region. Multiple SNPs in sequences under evolutionary constraint within intron 5 of FHIT defined several related haplotypes with an increased risk of prostate cancer in European-Americans. Strong associations were detected for a risk haplotype defined by SNPs 138543, 142413, and 152494 in all cases (Pearson's χ2 = 12.34, df 1, P = 0.00045) and for the homozygous risk haplotype defined by SNPs 144716, 142413, and 148444 in cases that shared 2 alleles identical by descent with their affected brothers (Pearson's χ2 = 11.50, df 1, P = 0.00070). In addition to highly conserved sequences encompassing SNPs 148444 and 152413, population studies revealed strong signatures of natural selection for a 1 kb window covering the SNP 144716 in two human populations, the European American (π = 0.0072, Tajima's D= 3.31, 14 SNPs) and the Japanese (π = 0.0049, Fay & Wu's H = 8.05, 14 SNPs), as well as in chimpanzees (Fay & Wu's H = 8.62, 12 SNPs). These results strongly support the involvement of the FHIT intronic region in an increased risk of prostate cancer. © 2008 Ding et al

Comprehensive resequence analysis of a 97 kb region of chromosome 10q11.2 containing the MSMB gene associated with prostate cancer

Genome-wide association studies of prostate cancer have identified single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in a region of chromosome 10q11.2, harboring the microseminoprotein-β (MSMB) gene. Both the gene product of MSMB, the prostate secretory protein 94 (PSP94) and its binding protein (PSPBP), have been previously investigated as serum biomarkers for prostate cancer progression. Recent functional work has shown that different alleles of the significantly associated SNP in the promoter of MSMB found to be associated with prostate cancer risk, rs10993994, can influence its expression in tumors and in vitro studies. Since it is plausible that additional variants in this region contribute to the risk of prostate cancer, we have used next-generation sequencing technology to resequence a ~97-kb region that includes the area surrounding MSMB (chr10: 51,168,025–51,265,101) in 36 prostate cancer cases, 26 controls of European origin, and 8 unrelated CEPH individuals in order to identify additional variants to investigate in functional studies. We identified 241 novel polymorphisms within this region, including 142 in the 51-kb block of linkage disequilibrium (LD) that contains rs10993994 and the proximal promoter of MSMB. No sites were observed to be polymorphic within the exons of MSMB

Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences

ABSTRACT Polycrystalline thin films (PTF) of p-WSe2, p-WS2, and p-MoSe2 have been prepared and characterized with respect to their photoelectrochemical properties, p-WS2 showed the highest open-circuit photovoltages and the highest conversion efficiencies in various redox couples. In addition, the band structure of all the films has been determined experimentally and compared to those reported for single crystals. Over the last two decades a great deal of interest has developed in the area of photoelectrochemistry, particularly in the application of photoelectrochemical systems to the problem of solar energy conversion and storage. The interest is to develop new energy sources to supplement and eventually replace fossil fuels. The first photoelectrochemical experiment was performed in 1839 by Becquerel (1), who demonstrated that a voltage and current are generated when a silver chloride electrode, immersed in an electrolytic solution and connected to a counterelectrode, is illuminated. Although the concept of a semiconductor did not exist at that time, it is now clear that the electrode which Becquerel used had semiconducting properties. In 1955, Brattain and Garett (2) used germanium as the first semiconductor electrode in photoelectrochemistry. Since then, the knowledge of semiconductors has grown steadily. Fujishima and Honda (3) were the first to point out the potential application of photoelectrochemical systems for solar energy conversion and storage. They demonstrated that the photo-oxidation of water to 02 was possible by utilizing an n-type semiconducting titanium dioxide photoanode. Since then, there has been a large and rapidly growing international interest in the study of photoelectrochemistry of semiconductors (4). The effective use of solar energy in photovoltaic or photoelectrochemical applications depends in part on the development of materials that can show high conversion efficiencies and long-term stability under operation. In ad-*Electrochemical Society Active Member. **Electrochemical Society Student Member. dition, the desirable materials should have a bandgap that closely matches the solar spectrum and be made of readily available and inexpensive materials. We have focused our attention on the transition metal dichalcogenides (e.g., WSe2, WS2, MoSe2, and others), also known as layered or d-d semiconductors. Tributsch's (5, 6) pioneering work on the use of these materials has stimulated intensive research in this area, and single Crystals of a number of materials have been studied extensively in both aqueous and nonaqueous solvents and in photovoltaic and photoelectrosynthetic cells. The advantages of using these materials are that they have bandgaps (1.1-1.6 eV) that closely match the solar spectrum and exhibit high conversion efficiencies as single crystals. In addition, they can achieve long-term stability due to the fact that the transitions are localized in the nonbonding d orbitals of the metal. These materials consist of metal dichalcogenide sandwiches (e.g., Se-W-Se) held together by van der Waals forces. The fact that there is strong covalent bonding within the layers, but only weak interactions between layers, makes these materials highly anisotropic in their properties. For example, the surface parallel to the C axis (IIC) is more conducting than the surface perpendicular to the C axis (• Therefore, edges and surface imperfections on the surface parallel to the C axis act as efficient recombination centers for photogenerated carriers or products (7

allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation hct in the eighth decade of life how much does age matter

n/