Fabrication of an Ultrasonic Nebulizer: Rate of Flow and Performance Studies

ABSTRACT

This article describes how to build, in-house, a new type of ultrasonic nebulizer and presents the results of tests to determine its rate of aqueous flow and its performance during the transport of a collagen-based adhesive (ratio of adhesive actually delivered to adhesive misted). It also reports on a consolidation treatment case study carried out with the new ultrasonic misting prototype: the NebulA-MG 14. This case study was applied to powdery paint layers of a medium-sized oil painting on canvas, 111.5?×?86.5?cm. The new device is shown to be both reliable and effective, particularly for consolidating medium and large-sized works.     

Navigating Community College Transfer in Science,Technical, Engineering,and Mathematics Fields

Given financial barriers facing community college students today, and workforce projections in science, technical, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, the costs of unnecessary delays while navigating transfer pathways are high. In this phenomenological study, we analyzed the delay experiences of 172 students (65% female) navigating community college transfer pathways in STEM fields in Massachusetts. When focusing on institutional delays, three central elements emerged: (a) informational setbacks from dissatisfactory advising, (b) imperfect program alignment with four-year institutions, and (c) college resource limitations. Students took unnecessary courses or could not get into courses in a timely manner, resulting in lost time, money, and credit. An accumulation of delays is particularly detrimental to STEM women and men, given the sequential nature of their programming. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Student–teacher relationships matter: Moderating influences between temperament and preschool social competence

Ecological approaches to preschool assessment, which consider both within‐child and environmental variables, are considered best practice for school psychologists. This study employs such a model to investigate the interactive influence of child temperament and student–teacher relationship quality on peer play behaviors. Parents of 44 preschool children (25 girls, 19 boys) ranging in age from 40 to 68 months (mean [M] = 53.00) and primarily White (92.9%) provided ratings of their children's temperaments on the Behavioral Style Questionnaire. Their teachers completed the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale and the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale. Results indicate that (a) student–teacher relationships characterized by low conflict and low dependence are associated with less disruptive peer play, and (b) the association between temperament and disruptive play is attenuated in low conflict student–teacher relationships. Implications for school psychologists include the importance of student–teacher relationships in the context of preschool assessment and intervention planning. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Segmenting Texts Into Meaningful Word Groups: Beginning Readers’ Prosody and Comprehension

It was hypothesized that prosodic reading facilitates beginning readers’ comprehension by allowing them to segment the text into meaningful word groups. Two prosodic features of the oral reading of second-grade students were considered: lack of inappropriate pauses and attention to punctuation. To examine the unique contribution of these features to reading comprehension, fluency (speed and accuracy of reading) and vocabulary were controlled. As expected, both prosodic features were significantly related to comprehension, jointly explaining as much variance as fluency. Accordingly, it might be counterproductive to encourage reading speed and accuracy at the expense of prosody.     

British running performances in the eighteenth century

Our aims were to improve our understanding of human performance before 1850 and to put nineteenth- and twentieth-century performances into a broader historical context. Consequently, 536 foot-races performed in Britain in the 'long' eighteenth century were identified, 53 of which were analysed in detail. The best performances at the end of the eighteenth century were compared with those at the end of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The data for the nineteenth century were marginally better than those for the eighteenth century up to 20 km, but beyond that Thomas Carlisle's time, set in about 1740, of 2 hours for 21 miles was outstanding. Current records are shown to be better than earlier records at all distances from 5 km up to the marathon, the superiority being most pronounced from 15 km upwards.     

The baton exchange during the 4×100 m relay: a mathematical analysis

Using mathematical analysis, we examined the three baton exchanges that occur during a 4×100 m relay. Identical representative 100 m running performances were assumed for each of four elite male athletes, and the calculations were made for optimal or near-optimal positions of the baton exchanges and starting positions of the athletes running the second, third and fourth legs as determined by Ward-Smith and Radford (2002). In this paper, we focus on the calculation of the checkmark position and demonstrate the complexity of the baton exchange process. The results of the mathematical analysis show that, for optimal performance, the checkmark should be located differently for each of the three exchanges in a single race, and is further affected by lane draw and free distance (the distance between the runners at the baton exchange). For a representative free distance of 1 m at each exchange, the checkmark distance ranges from a minimum of 11.04 m at the third exchange in Lane 1 to 12.20 m for the first exchange in Lane 8. Failure by teams and their coaches to consider adequately the complexities of the baton exchanges may help explain why 25.5% of teams in recent World Championships were disqualified or did not finish.     

Preparing the Next Generation of Science Teacher Educators: A Model for Developing PCK for Teaching Science Teachers

Science education doctoral programs often fail to address a critical piece—the explicit attention to the preparation of future science teacher educators. In this article, we argue that, in addition to developing skills and a knowledge base for research, doctoral students must be given the opportunity to observe, practice, and reflect on the pedagogical knowledge necessary to instruct science teachers. In particular, we contend that the construct of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) can be adapted to the context of knowledge for teaching science teachers. We use the PCK construct to propose a model for the development of knowledge for teaching science teachers, grounded in our experiences as doctoral students and faculty mentors. We end by recommending a vision for doctoral preparation and a new standard to be included in the ASTE Professional Knowledge Standards for Science Teacher Educators.