Supporting primary students' learning of fraction conceptual knowledge through digital games

With the advent of mobile technologies, well-designed fraction apps can be used to help children gain fraction knowledge, a challenging topic for both teachers and students. The present pilot study adopted a quasi-experimental design to investigate whether children can learn fraction concepts equally well if half of the lesson time (20 min) is replaced with game-based learning. Keeping the total lesson time (40 min) identical, the control group (N = 33) received traditional instruction, and the experimental group (N = 32) was presented with a blended learning approach spending half of the class time (20 min) playing tablet-based fraction games, where each of the learners had their own tablet. The results suggested that in the posttest, the experimental group achieved similar learning gains to the control group and appear to have achieved better performance in the transfer test than the control group. This paper also discusses the efficiency of game-based learning, the mechanism of how fraction games might enhance learning, and the potential of integrating game-based learning in educational settings.     

双膦胺镍-甲基铝氧烷体系催化苯乙烯聚合

研究了具有新型结构的双膦胺镍配合物N,N-双(二苯膦基)-对甲氧基苯胺二氯化镍-甲基铝氧烷(PNP-N i-MAO)催化体系对苯乙烯聚合的催化性能,考察了聚合温度、n(A l)∶n(PNP-N i)、PNP-N i的浓度和苯乙烯的浓度对催化活性、苯乙烯转化率、聚苯乙烯相对分子质量及其分布的影响,并用核磁共振和凝胶色谱对聚苯乙烯的结构进行了表征。实验结果表明,在聚合温度25℃、聚合时间1h、n(A l)∶n(PNP-N i)=300、c(苯乙烯)=2.3m ol/L、c(PNP-N i)=0.4mm ol/L、甲苯为溶剂的适宜条件下,苯乙烯的转化率可达95%以上,催化活性达到5×105g/(m ol.h)左右。核磁共振和凝胶色谱表征结果显示,所得聚苯乙烯为无规结构,重均相对分子质量约为1×104,相对分子质量分布Mw/Mn约为2。     

真空铸造高强度C/Mg复合材料

本文介绍用真空铸造法制造抗拉强度超过1000MPa的高强度C/Mg复合材料。将T300纤维经C-Si-O梯度涂层处理后单向排布于型腔内,在真空下注入ZM-5合金液,凝固后即得C/Mg复合材料零件或试样。试样的抗拉强度在纤维体积分数为0.35时达1050MPa。本文讨论C-Si-O梯度涂层对获得高强度复合材料的作用。     

Update on Alzheimer''s disease

The nation's health care system is undergoing a period of rapid change that will profoundly affect women's health care services and, ultimately, women's health. Although managed care is quickly becoming the predominant mode of health care delivery in the United States, a new, more consumer-focused, and accountable model known as organized systems of care (OSC) is emerging. OSC development has been driven by large private and public employers seeking to purchase the highest quality health care for the best price. The changes in health care delivery encouraged by these innovative employers will provide women with optimal care and attention, which will in turn help them attract and retain a competitive and productive workforce.     

Serum calcium, phosphate and alkaline phosphate levels in epileptic children treated with phenobarbitone

A longitudinal study to estimate the serum calcium, phosphate and alkaline phosphatase levels of 89 ambulatory epileptic children, aged between 3 years and 12 years, and having generalised tonic-clonic seizures, was carried out. None was on any form of medication for the treatment of seizures prior to presentation. Each patient received only phenobarbitone during the period of study. Serum levels of the biochemical parameters were determined at presentation, 6 months and 12 months, while serum phenobarbitone levels were estimated at 6 months and 12 months. Mean serum calcium, phosphate and alkaline phosphatase of the patients remained within the normal range. Using the paired 't' test, the differences in the levels of the parameters at the three measurements were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Serum phenobarbitone levels remained within the therapeutic range during the period of study. Our results show that over a 12-month period, serum levels of calcium, phosphate, and alkaline phosphatase, remain normal in ambulant epileptic children treated with phenobarbitone.     

On loop transformations for generalized cycle shrinking

This paper describes several loop transformation techniques for extracting parallelism from nested loop structures. Nested loops can then be scheduled to run in parallel so that execution time is minimized. One technique is called selective cycle shrinking, and the other is called true dependence cycle shrinking. It is shown how selective shrinking is related to linear scheduling of nested loops and how true dependence shrinking is related to conflict-free mappings of higher dimensional algorithms into lower dimensional processor arrays. Methods are proposed in this paper to find the selective and true dependence shrinkings with minimum total execution time by applying the techniques of finding optimal linear schedules and optimal and conflict-free mappings proposed by W. Shang and A.B. Fortes     

Preparation and characterization of chitosan‐based dispersions

Complexation of chitosan in aqueous solutions by low molecular weight electrolytes is one of the simplest methods for the preparation of aqueous chitosan dispersions. In this work, the influence of storage time, sulfate concentration, method of preparation and surfactant content on some properties of the resultant chitosan dispersions (turbidity, viscosity and zeta potential) was analyzed. Turbidimetry was adequate to monitor the formation of particles, while viscometry was suitable to monitor changes in the dispersing phase. An analysis of the properties of these systems, mainly in terms of particle–particle and macromolecule–macromolecule interactions was carried out. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry