Teacher beliefs and technology integration practices: A critical relationship

Early studies indicated that teachers’ enacted beliefs, particularly in terms of classroom technology practices, often did not align with their espoused beliefs. Researchers concluded this was due, at least in part, to a variety of external barriers that prevented teachers from using technology in ways that aligned more closely with their beliefs. However, many of these barriers (access, support, etc.) have since been eliminated in the majority of schools. This multiple case-study research was designed to revisit the question, “How do the pedagogical beliefs and classroom technology practices of teachers, recognized for their technology uses, align?”     

Chemical composition of white (Morus alba), red (Morus rubra) and black (Morus nigra) mulberry fruits

In this study, the chemical composition of white (Morus alba L.), red (Morus rubra L.) and black (Morus nigra L.) mulberry fruits grown in the East Anatolia Region of Turkey was investigated. The highest total phenolic and flavonoid contents were observed in black mulberry (1422 mg gallic acid equivalents/100 g fresh matter and 276 mg quercetin equivalents/100 g fresh matter). M. alba had the highest total fat content (1.10%), followed by M. nigra (0.95%) and M. rubra (0.85%), respectively. The major fatty acids in mulberry fruits were linoleic acid (54.2%), palmitic acid (19.8%) and oleic acid (8.41%), respectively. The total soluble solids content of mulberry species varied between 15.9% (M. rubra L.) and 20.4% (M. alba L.), acidity between 0.25% (M. alba L.) and 1.40% (M. nigra L.), pH between 3.52 (M. nigra L.) and 5.60 (M. alba L.), ascorbic acid 19.4 mg/100 g (M. rubra L.) and 22.4 mg/100 g (M. alba L.), respectively. Mineral compositions of the mulberry species were 0.83% N, 235 mg/100 g P, 1141 mg/100 g K, 139 mg/100 g Ca, 109 mg/100 g Mg, 60 mg/100 g Na, 4.3 mg/100 g Fe, 0.4 mg/100 g Cu, 4.0 mg/100 g Mn and 3.1 mg/100 g Zn, respectively.     

Equilibrium and pre-equilibrium calculations of neutron production in medium–heavy targets irradiated by protons up to 100 MeV

In this study, by using equilibrium and pre-equilibrium reaction mechanisms, the (p,xn) cross-sections of the spallation neutron target nuclei ^50,52,53,54Cr and ^63,65Cu were investigated for incident proton energies up to 100 MeV. The excitation functions for pre-equilibrium reaction mechanisms were calculated by using a hybrid model, a geometry dependent hybrid model, the full exciton model and the cascade exciton model. Equilibrium effects were calculated according to the Weisskopf–Ewing model. The calculation results were also compared with the measurements in literature.     

Effects of different dwell-times under low pelletization pressure on the physical properties of the Bi-2212 ceramics

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - We reported the evaluation of superconducting properties of Bi-2212 ceramics prepared under different dwell times between 12 and...     

Integration of simulation modeling and computer aided production management in computer integrated enterprise

Designing efficient and integrated manufacturing systems is the first step in attaining computer integrated enterprises (CIE). Integration of planning and implementation phases of manufacturing is essential for taking full advantage of the CIE. In order to design reliable and efficient manufacturing systems, the designers must consider the impacts of planning decisions made by computer aided production management (CAPM) modules on implementations held in manufacturing cells.

This paper focuses on two issues. The first issue is importance and necessity of integrating CAPM modules with manufacturing cells. The second issue includes major features of the object-oriented approach and their relevance to our objective of modeling a design framework which focuses on integration of CAPM modules and simulation models which emulate the manufacturing cells in the CIE environment.     

Ni(II) removal from aqueous solutions using cone biomass of Thuja orientalis

The biomass of terrestrial-plant materials has high removal capacities for a number of heavy metal ions. The Ni(II) biosorption capacity of the cone biomass of Thuja orientalis was studied in the batch mode. The biosorption equilibrium level was determined as a function of contact time, pH, temperature, agitation speed at several initial metal ion and adsorbent concentrations. The removal of Ni(II) from aqueous solutions increased with adsorbent concentration, temperature and agitation speed of the solution were increased. The biosorption process was very fast; 90% of biosorption occurred within 3 min and equilibrium was reached at around 7 min. It is found that the biosorption of Ni(II) on the cone biomass was correlated well (R2 > 0.99) with the Langmuir equation as compared to Freundlich, BET Temkin and D-R isotherm equation under the concentration range studied. According to Langmuir isotherm, the monolayer saturation capacity (Q(o)) is 12.42 mg g(-1). The pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion kinetic models were applied to test the experimental data for initial Ni(II) and cone biomass concentrations. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model provided the best correlation of the used experimental data compared to the pseudo-first-order and intraparticle diffusion kinetic models. The activation energy of biosorption (E(a)) was determined as 36.85 kJ mol(-1) using the Arrhenius equation. This study indicated that the cone biomass of T. orientalis can be used as an effective and environmentally friendly adsorbent for the treatment of Ni(II) containing aqueous solutions.     

Geometric mean vs. Arithmetic mean in extrusion residence time studies

Geometric mean residence time was compared with the arithmetic mean residence time for a residence time distribution study conducted on a twin‐screw extruder using a salt tracer and electrical conductivity measurements. Electrical conductivity of the cornmeal melt was measured at the die exit. All RTD curves obtained during the study were skewed to the right with very long tails that resulted in inflated arithmetic mean residence times. In order to alleviate the problem of long tails, different approaches were considered. Among these approaches, logarithmic transformation of the time scale to calculate the geometric mean residence time was shown to best represent the residence time distribution in terms of mean residence time and spread of the RTD. The log transformation of the time scale alleviates the problem of inappropriate shifting of the mean residence time due to long tails. The difference between the upper limits and lower limits for the log transformed data was found to be more appropriate to define the spreads of the distributions as the untransformed data resulted in quite variable spreads.