The Development of Instruments for Assessment of Instructional Practices in Standards-Based Teaching

We provide a description and rationale for the development of two instruments: 1) a classroom observation protocol; and, 2) a teacher interview protocol—designed to document the impact of reform-based professional development with undergraduate mathematics and science faculty, and its impact on the resultant preparation of teachers. Constructed upon review of the research on teaching and standards documents in mathematics and science, these instruments form the basis for data collection in a three-year longitudinal study of teaching practice among early career teachers as well as undergraduate college faculty. In addition, we suggest further applications of the observation protocol beyond the original purpose of our research study

Exhaust jet wake and thrust characteristics of several nozzles designed for VTOL DOWNWASH suppression. Tests in and out of ground effect with 70 deg F and 1200 deg F nozzle discharge temperatures

Jet wake degradation and thrust characteristics of exhaust nozzles designed for VTOL downwash suppression and fuselage and ground effect

Cosmic No Hair for Collapsing Universes

It is shown that all contracting, spatially homogeneous, orthogonal Bianchi cosmologies that are sourced by an ultra-stiff fluid with an arbitrary and, in general, varying equation of state asymptote to the spatially flat and isotropic universe in the neighbourhood of the big crunch singularity. This result is employed to investigate the asymptotic dynamics of a collapsing Bianchi type IX universe sourced by a scalar field rolling down a steep, negative exponential potential. A toroidally compactified version of M*-theory that leads to such a potential is discussed and it is shown that the isotropic attractor solution for a collapsing Bianchi type IX universe is supersymmetric when interpreted in an eleven-dimensional context.Comment: Extended discussion to include Kantowski-Sachs universe. In press, Classical and Quantum Gravit

Referential Ambiguity in the Narrative Productions of African American Adults Proposal for CAC 2014

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Bianchi VIII Empty Futures

Using a qualitative analysis based on the Hamiltonian formalism and the orthonormal frame representation we investigate whether the chaotic behaviour which occurs close to the initial singularity is still present in the far future of Bianchi VIII models. We describe some features of the vacuum Bianchi VIII models at late times which might be relevant for studying the nature of the future asymptote of the general vacuum inhomogeneous solution to the Einstein field equations.Comment: 22 pages, no figures, Latex fil

Dynamics of spatially homogeneous solutions of the Einstein-Vlasov equations which are locally rotationally symmetric

The dynamics of a class of cosmological models with collisionless matter and four Killing vectors is studied in detail and compared with that of corresponding perfect fluid models. In many cases it is possible to identify asymptotic states of the spacetimes near the singularity or in a phase of unlimited expansion. Bianchi type II models show oscillatory behaviour near the initial singularity which is, however, simpler than that of the mixmaster model.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, LaTe

Self-similar Bianchi models: I. Class A models

We present a study of Bianchi class A tilted cosmological models admitting a proper homothetic vector field together with the restrictions, both at the geometrical and dynamical level, imposed by the existence of the simply transitive similarity group. The general solution of the symmetry equations and the form of the homothetic vector field are given in terms of a set of arbitrary integration constants. We apply the geometrical results for tilted perfect fluids sources and give the general Bianchi II self-similar solution and the form of the similarity vector field. In addition we show that self-similar perfect fluid Bianchi VII$_0$ models and irrotational Bianchi VI$_0$ models do not exist.Comment: 14 pages, Latex; to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Detection of microorganisms at high altitudes

This article does not have an abstract

Gravitational Entropy and Quantum Cosmology

We investigate the evolution of different measures of ``Gravitational Entropy'' in Bianchi type I and Lema\^itre-Tolman universe models. A new quantity behaving in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics is introduced. We then go on and investigate whether a quantum calculation of initial conditions for the universe based upon the Wheeler-DeWitt equation supports Penrose's Weyl Curvature Conjecture, according to which the Ricci part of the curvature dominates over the Weyl part at the initial singularity of the universe. The theory is applied to the Bianchi type I universe models with dust and a cosmological constant and to the Lema\^itre-Tolman universe models. We investigate two different versions of the conjecture. First we investigate a local version which fails to support the conjecture. Thereafter we construct a non-local entity which shows more promising behaviour concerning the conjecture.Comment: 20 pages, 7 ps figure

The Asymptotic Behaviour of Tilted Bianchi type VI0_0 Universes

We study the asymptotic behaviour of the Bianchi type VI$_0$ universes with a tilted $\gamma$-law perfect fluid. The late-time attractors are found for the full 7-dimensional state space and for several interesting invariant subspaces. In particular, it is found that for the particular value of the equation of state parameter, $\gamma=6/5$, there exists a bifurcation line which signals a transition of stability between a non-tilted equilibrium point to an extremely tilted equilibrium point. The initial singular regime is also discussed and we argue that the initial behaviour is chaotic for $\gamma<2$.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, to appear in CQ