Ion molecule reactions in vinyl fluoride by photoionization. Effects of vibrational excitation on major reaction pathways

Photoionization methods have been used to study the reactions of the molecular ion in vinyl fluoride to yield the ionic products C_3H_3F_2^+, C_3H_4F^+, and C_3H_5^+. Quantitative measurements are reported of the effect of the vibrational state of the reactant ion on the product distribution and overall reaction cross section. Reaction cross sections for all three channels decrease with reactant internal energy. The effect on the reaction pathway producing C_3H_3F_2^+ is especially pronounced, with 0.18 eV of vibrational excitation being sufficient to reduce the reaction probability by 75%. Deactivation of vibrationally excited reactant ions competes with the reaction and is shown to be an efficient process

The Difference between English and Math High School Teachers\u27 Attitudes and Perceptions toward the Inclusion of English Language Learner Students

Within the last 10 years, the United States experienced an influx of non-English speaking students, which challenged teachers, administrators, and other educational stakeholders on how to successfully accommodate these English Language Learners (ELL). This causal-comparative study examined the attitudes and perceptions of secondary English and math teachers in relation to ELL inclusion. Specifically, the study presented the main question of whether there is a difference between English and math teachers’ attitudes and perceptions toward the inclusion of ELLs. Teacher attitudes have been found to play a role in determining student academic achievement; therefore, assessing teacher attitudes toward ELLs could be a factor in determining how best to educate ELLs. The convenience sample of 122 teachers was comprised of secondary English and math teachers in a northeast Alabama school district. A 40-question survey determined teacher attitudes toward ELL inclusion and was adapted from a previous study that focused on mainstream teacher attitudes. The survey was administered to and collected from participants electronically. The survey was scored utilizing a four-point Likert scale collecting an average score for each item. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS® software, in which a t-test analyzed and determined the difference of means between teacher attitudes. The research concluded that the vast majority of English and math teachers had positive attitudes regarding ELL inclusion; however, English teachers were found to have slightly negative attitudes regarding inclusion and perceptions of language and language learning. Recommendations for future research include implementation of teacher education programs to focus coursework on ELL students and ELL inclusion, as well as more professional development opportunities regarding ELL students

Designing and Implementing a Social Media Plan

In this session you will learn how to create and implement a social media plan to improve your social media presence. We will outline the steps for designing a plan, evaluating its success, and establishing sustainable practices

Deep reinforcement learning for multi-domain dialogue systems

Standard deep reinforcement learning methods such as Deep Q-Networks (DQN) for multiple tasks (domains) face scalability problems. We propose a method for multi-domain dialogue policy learning---termed NDQN, and apply it to an information-seeking spoken dialogue system in the domains of restaurants and hotels. Experimental results comparing DQN (baseline) versus NDQN (proposed) using simulations report that our proposed method exhibits better scalability and is promising for optimising the behaviour of multi-domain dialogue systems

Scaling up deep reinforcement learning for multi-domain dialogue systems

Standard deep reinforcement learning methods such as Deep Q-Networks (DQN) for multiple tasks (domains) face scalability problems due to large search spaces. This paper proposes a three-stage method for multi-domain dialogue policy learning—termed NDQN, and applies it to an information-seeking spoken dialogue system in the domains of restaurants and hotels. In this method, the first stage does multi-policy learning via a network of DQN agents; the second makes use of compact state representations by compressing raw inputs; and the third stage applies a pre-training phase for bootstraping the behaviour of agents in the network. Experimental results comparing DQN (baseline) versus NDQN (proposed) using simulations report that the proposed method exhibits better scalability and is promising for optimising the behaviour of multi-domain dialogue systems. An additional evaluation reports that the NDQN agents outperformed a K-Nearest Neighbour baseline in task success and dialogue length, yielding more efficient and successful dialogues

Investigation of kinetics and thermochemistry of ion-molecule reactions using photoionization mass spectrometry

Chapter I introduces the methodology of photoionization mass spectrometry and lists common applications, including study of ionmolecule reactions. A major advantage of photoionization in the study of ion chemistry lies in the favorable photoionization threshold laws, which frequently permit accurate knowledge of the internal energy distribution of reactant ions. Study of reactions as this distribution is varied allows measurement of the effects of reactant ion internal energy on the reaction kinetics. The photoionization mass spectrometer consists of a discharge lamp, a one-meter normal incidence vacuum monochromator, and a medium pressure quadrupole mass spectrometer. The instrument and its operating conditions are detailed. Chapter II contains a photoionization study of the reactions of the molecular ion in vinyl fluoride to yield the ionic products C3H3F2+, C3H4F+, and C3H5+. Quantitative measurements are reported of the effect of the vibrational state of the reactant ion on the product distribution and overall reaction cross section. Reaction cross sections for all three channels decrease with reactant internal energy. The effect on the reaction pathway producing C3H3F2+ is especially pronounced, with 0.19 eV of vibrational excitation being sufficient to reduce the reaction probability by 80%. Deactivation of vibrationally excited reactant ions competes with the reaction and is shown to be an efficient process. Chapter III details a study of the major ion-molecule reaction pathways in ketene and ketene-d2 by photoionization mass spectrometry and ion cyclotron resonance spectroscopy. For processes involving the molecular ion, the variation of reaction cross section with ion vibrational state is pronounced. The threshold determined for the endothermic process CH2CO+ + CH2CO → C2H4+ + 2CO provides a novel confirmation of the recent redetermination of the heat of formation of ketene. In Chapter IV photoionization efficiency data are presented for the parent and major fragment ions in 2,2-difluoropropane and 2-fluoropropane. Appearance potentials for CH3 and CH4 loss may be used to relate the heats of formation of the olefin radical cations and fluorinated ethyl carbonium ions to the parent neutral and to one another. A thermochemical cycle allows determination of the proton affinities of vinyl fluoride and 1,1-difluoroethylene. The fragmentation thresholds in 2-fluoropropane appear to be too high by 7-9 kcal/mole. standard heats of formation determined by this study are: (CH3)2CF2, -129.8 ± 3.0 kcal/mole; CH3CF2+, 108.5 ± 3.2 kcal/mole; (CH3)2CF+, 138.0 ± 1.6 kcal/ mole; CH3CHF+, 162.6 ± 1.1 kcal/mole.</p

Examining Differences in Rural, Micropolitan, and Metropolitan School Psychologists Roles and Delivery of Mental Health Services

Mental health service delivery in rural settings has become increasingly limited while rates of mental health concerns among youth have increased. Schools form a common hub in rural areas and they present an opportunity for the assessment of developing disorders as well as a means for delivering mental health services in an affordable and acceptable fashion. School psychologists supporting rural school districts are presented with a unique opportunity to provide various aspects of rural mental health service delivery. Over the last 40 years, little research has been published on rural school psychologist’s roles and responsibilities and their relationship to mental health service delivery. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in the roles, responsibilities, and delivery of mental health services between rural school psychologists and micropolitan/metropolitan practitioners. A survey was created utilizing feedback from Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Following a feedback session, the final survey was sent to participants who were recruited utilizing the National Association of School Psychologists email list. Findings showed that micropolitan school psychologists spend significantly more time in mental health assessment and advocacy when compared to rural school psychologists. When examining where rural, micropolitan, and metropolitan school psychologists spend the majority of their time, participants indicated that over half of their time is spent in special education assessment

Use of routinely collected data in a UK cohort of publicly funded randomised clinical trials [version 2]

Routinely collected data about health in medical records, registries and hospital activity statistics is now routinely collected in an electronic form. The extent to which such sources of data are now being routinely accessed to deliver efficient clinical trials, is unclear. The aim of this study was to ascertain current practice amongst a United Kingdom (UK) cohort of recently funded and ongoing randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in relation to sources and use of routinely collected outcome data. Recently funded and ongoing RCTs were identified for inclusion by searching the National Institute for Health Research journals library. Trials that have a protocol available were assessed for inclusion and those that use or plan to use routinely collected health data (RCHD) for at least one outcome were included. RCHD sources and outcome information were extracted. Of 216 RCTs, 102 (47%) planned to use RCHD. A RCHD source was the sole source of outcome data for at least one outcome in 46 (45%) of those 102 trials. The most frequent sources are Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Office for National Statistics (ONS), with the most common outcome data to be extracted being on mortality, hospital admission, and health service resource use. Our study has found that around half of publicly funded trials in a UK cohort (NIHR HTA funded trials that had a protocol available) plan to collect outcome data from routinely collected data sources. This is much higher than the figure of 8% found in a cohort of 189 RCTs published since 2000, the majority of which were carried out in North America (McCord et al ., 2019)