Affect graphing: leveraging graphical representations in the study of students’ affect in mathematics

Educational Studies in Mathematics - Affect (e.g., beliefs, attitudes, emotions) plays a crucial role in mathematics learning, but reliance on verbal and written responses (from surveys,...     

论模糊BH-代数

引入了模糊BH－代数和模糊拓扑BH－代数的概念，给出了一些有关的性质，并用Foster关于同态象和同态逆象的结构讨论了模糊拓扑BH－代数。     

Issues in Implementing a Structured Problem-based Learning Strategy in a Volcano Unit: A Case Study

The purpose of this study was to understand how an 8th grade science class used a structured problem-based learning (PBL) strategy to study volcanoes and to discuss some of the issues that science teachers might encounter when designing and implementing the PBL strategy. This study took place at Collins Middle School, which is located in a cosmopolitan community in Illinois. The PBL lessons, which a teacher taught cooperatively with his student-teacher, required ten class periods to study two real-life volcanic phenomena. The guiding research questions were: (a) in what ways did the teachers (Mr. Brown and Ms. Jones) facilitate student learning about volcanoes using the PBL strategy?; and (b) what were the students’ engagements like during the PBL classes on a volcano unit? This study’s findings supported three main assertions: first, the teachers’ questions and group dynamics guided and facilitated the students’ course of learning; second, with the teachers’ specific guidance, the students collaboratively built up their supporting evidence; most of the supporting evidence was much more developed than just listing the terms or simple facts on volcanoes; and, third, there existed a tension between the teachers’ ideals and the implementation of the PBL strategy. They tended to slip into the traditional role of focusing on scientific facts about volcanoes.     

A large-area hemispherical perforated bead microarray for monitoring bead based aptamer and target protein interaction

Herein, we present a large-area 3D hemispherical perforated microwell structure for a bead based bioassay. Such a unique microstructure enables us to perform the rapid and stable localization of the beads at the single bead level and the facile manipulation of the bead capture and retrieval with high speed and efficiency. The fabrication process mainly consisted of three steps: the convex micropatterned nickel (Ni) mold production from the concave micropatterned silicon (Si) wafer, hot embossing on the polymer matrix to generate the concave micropattened acrylate sheet, and reactive ion etching to make the bottom holes. The large-area hemispherical perforated micropatterned acrylate sheet was sandwiched between two polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel layers. The bead solution was injected and recovered in the top PDMS microchannel, while the bottom PDMS microchannel was connected with control lines to exert the hydrodynamic force in order to alter the flow direction of the bead solution for the bead capture and release operation. The streptavidin-coated microbead capture was achieved with almost 100% yield within 1 min, and all the beads were retrieved in 10 s. Lysozyme or thrombin binding aptamer labelled microbeads were trapped on the proposed bead microarray, and the in situ fluorescence signal of the bead array was monitored after aptamer-target protein interaction. The protein-aptamer conjugated microbeads were recovered, and the aptamer was isolated for matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis to confirm the identity of the aptamer.