Dynamic Web Tools for Trigonometry

In the last 20 years, computer technology having mathematical capability has been developed, improved, and become widely available, but textbook presentations are still largely free of any discussion that might require technology. Technology could be used in mathematical instruction for student drill and practice, for instructor demonstrations that promote conceptual understanding, or for the exploration of mathematical ideas, but software is often designed to be pedagogically generic, leaving its use to the creativity of the instructor. Technological solutions for local machines can be quite extensive, but cost and time constraints then limit availability for student use. The internet has the capability to provide mathematical instruction at all hours and in all places, with little financial investment by the student. This article describes the issues encountered and addressed by the author as he attempted to include self-authored web-based instructional units into a traditional trigonometry class. This paper was published in issue 5/6, volume 18, of the International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, distributed by Inderscience. DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.2008.022175. Original article: http://www.inderscience.com/search/index.php?action=record&rec_id=22175&prevQuery=&ps=10&m=or\u3

Series Solutions, Factorials, And The Gamma Function

Using a power series to solve an ordinary differential equation will often result in a solution whose general term involves a product of terms from an arithmetic sequence. This paper explores how factorials and the gamma function can be used to rewrite such general terms in a closed form

Dynamic Web Tools for Undergraduate Mathematics

The internet has become widely available, and tools for mathematical computation on the net have now appeared. The authors used webMathematica software to create interactive web pages which allow students and faculty to compute and visualize results directly from a web browser. The nature of the innovation, its significance for instruction, and some implications for student understanding are discussed

An Alternative Approach to Dual Credit

The state of Kansas encourages high school students to earn college credit while still in high school. This presentation describes a dual credit program in college algebra used by JCCC, in which the college retains control of the curriculum, testing, and grading, while the high school provides the instruction

ArraySearch: A Web-Based Genomic Search Engine

Recent advances in microarray technologies have resulted in a flood of genomics data. This large body of accumulated data could be used as a knowledge base to help researchers interpret new experimental data. ArraySearch finds statistical correlations between newly observed gene expression profiles and the huge source of well-characterized expression signatures deposited in the public domain. A search query of a list of genes will return experiments on which the genes are significantly up- or downregulated collectively. Searches can also be conducted using gene expression signatures from new experiments. This resource will empower biological researchers with a statistical method to explore expression data from their own research by comparing it with expression signatures from a large public archive

Allosteric modulation of beta1 integrin function induces lung repair in animal model of emphysema.

Emphysema is a progressive lung disease characterised by loss of lung parenchyma with associated functional changes including decreased tissue elastance. Here we report beta1 integrin is a novel target for tissue repair and regeneration in emphysema. We show a single dose of a monoclonal antibody against beta1 integrin induced both functional and structural reversal of elastase-induced lung injury in vivo, and we found that similar matrix remodelling changes occurred in human lung tissue. We also identified a potential mechanism of action as this allosteric modulation of beta1 integrin inhibited elastase-induced caspase activation, F-actin aggregate formation and changes in cellular ATP levels. This was accompanied by maintenance of beta1?integrin levels and inhibition of caveolin-1 phosphorylation. We propose that allosteric modulation of beta1 integrin-mediated mechanosensing prevents cell death associated with lung injury and progressive emphysema, thus allowing cells to survive and for repair and regeneration to ensue

TPL-2 restricts Ccl24-dependent immunity to Heligmosomoides polygyrus

Funding: This work was supported by the Francis Crick Institute which receives its core funding from Cancer Research UK (FC001220), the UK Medical Research Council (FC001220), and the Wellcome Trust (FC001200). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgments We are indebted to The Francis Crick Institute Flow Cytometry facility, and in particular Bhavik Patel, Graham Preece, Wayne Turnbull and Phil Hobson. We would also like to thank The Francis Crick Institute Procedural Service Section for production of GA lines and Biological Services, especially Trisha Norton, Keith Williams and Adebambo Adekoya for animal husbandry and technical support; to Riccardo Guidi for constructive discussions and technical assistance. We would like to thank Gitta Stockinger and AhR Immunity Laboratory for providing technical support and reagents throughout this study. We also thank Richard Rance and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute’s 454 pyrosequencing team for generating 16S rRNA gene data.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Regional assessment of the ground-water resources in eastern Kankakee and northern Iroquois counties

"ISWS/RI-111."--Cover.Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-61).Enumeration continues through succeeding title

Matching times of leading and following suggest cooperation through direct reciprocity during V-formation flight in ibis

One conspicuous feature of several larger bird species is their annual migration in V-shaped or echelon formation. When birds are flying in these formations, energy savings can be achieved by using the aerodynamic up-wash produced by the preceding bird. As the leading bird in a formation cannot profit from this up-wash, a social dilemma arises around the question of who is going to fly in front? To investigate how this dilemma is solved, we studied the flight behavior of a flock of juvenile Northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) during a human-guided autumn migration. We could show that the amount of time a bird is leading a formation is strongly correlated with the time it can itself profit from flying in the wake of another bird. On the dyadic level, birds match the time they spend in the wake of each other by frequent pairwise switches of the leading position. Taken together, these results suggest that bald ibis cooperate by directly taking turns in leading a formation. On the proximate level, we propose that it is mainly the high number of iterations and the immediacy of reciprocation opportunities that favor direct reciprocation. Finally, we found evidence that the animals' propensity to reciprocate in leading has a substantial influence on the size and cohesion of the flight formations

Using geographic information systems to identify prospective marketing areas for a special library

BACKGROUND: The Center for Disability Resources (CDR) Library is the largest collection of its kind in the Southeastern United States, consisting of over 5,200 books, videos/DVDs, brochures, and audiotapes covering a variety of disability-related topics, from autism to transition resources. The purpose of the library is to support the information needs of families, faculty, students, staff, and other professionals in South Carolina working with individuals with disabilities. The CDR Library is funded on a yearly basis; therefore, maintaining high usage is crucial. A variety of promotional efforts have been used to attract new patrons to the library. Anyone in South Carolina can check out materials from the library, and most of the patrons use the library remotely by requesting materials, which are then mailed to them. The goal of this project was to identify areas of low geographic usage as a means of identifying locations for future library marketing efforts. METHODS: Nearly four years worth of library statistics were compiled in a spreadsheet that provided information per county on the number of checkouts, the number of renewals, and the population. Five maps were created using ArcView GIS software to create visual representations of patron checkout and renewal behavior per county. RESULTS: Out of the 46 counties in South Carolina, eight counties never checked out materials from the library. As expected urban areas and counties near the library's physical location have high usage totals. CONCLUSION: The visual representation of the data made identification of low usage regions easier than using a standalone database with no visual-spatial component. The low usage counties will be the focus of future Center for Disability Resources Library marketing efforts. Due to the impressive visual-spatial representations created with Geographic Information Systems, which more efficiently communicate information than stand-alone database information can, librarians may benefit from the software's use as a supplemental tool for tracking library usage and planning promotional efforts