2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-360
Author(s):  
Meng-Fei Cheng ◽  
Jang-Long Lin ◽  
Ying-Chi Chang ◽  
Hsiao-Wen Li ◽  
Tsung-Yu Wu ◽  
...  

The main purpose of this study was to bridge the gap between how scientists practice and how students learn science. To achieve this, an innovative student-centered curriculum was designed to teach 42 undergraduate students. The program involved scaffolding activities, an interactive computer simulation, and reflection on scientific modeling criteria to address the students’ difficulties in reasoning at the microscopic level and the scientific evaluation of their models during their development of an explanatory model of magnetism. To address the students’ difficulties in reasoning at the microscopic level and the scientific evaluation of their models during their development of an explanatory model of magnetism, the program involved scaffolding activities, an interactive computer simulation, and reflection on scientific modeling criteria. The results of the study indicated that more than half the students developed scientific and coherent microscopic N-S dipole models to explain observed magnetic phenomena, and students’ understanding of the nature of models was significantly enhanced after the instruction. This study contributes to modeling theory and the methods that can help students self-develop scientific models of magnetism as opposed to rote learning. Key words: explanatory models, magnetism, modeling, scientific inquiry, undergraduate students.


1993 ◽  
Vol 247 ◽  
pp. 137-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles S. Campbell

The global behaviour of a granular flow is critically dependent on its interaction with whatever solid boundaries with which it comes into contact, whether they be used to drive, retard or simply bound the flow field. This paper describes the results of a computer simulation study of the effects of roughening boundaries by ‘gluing’ particles to the surfaces. Roughness is commonly used in experimental devices as a way of approximating a no-slip condition between a granular material and the driving surfaces. On a microscopic level, this produces a boundary that extends out into the flow field to the limit of the roughness elements. This has a strong effect on the way that forces, and, in particular, torque, is transmitted to the particles in the neighbourhood of the boundary.


Author(s):  
K. Yoshida ◽  
F. Murata ◽  
S. Ohno ◽  
T. Nagata

IntroductionSeveral methods of mounting emulsion for radioautography at the electron microscopic level have been reported. From the viewpoint of quantitative radioautography, however, there are many critical problems in the procedure to produce radioautographs. For example, it is necessary to apply and develop emulsions in several experimental groups under an identical condition. Moreover, it is necessary to treat a lot of grids at the same time in the dark room for statistical analysis. Since the complicated process and technical difficulties in these procedures are inadequate to conduct a quantitative analysis of many radioautographs at once, many factors may bring about unexpected results. In order to improve these complicated procedures, a simplified dropping method for mass production of radioautographs under an identical condition was previously reported. However, this procedure was not completely satisfactory from the viewpoint of emulsion homogeneity. This paper reports another improved procedure employing wire loops.


Author(s):  
D. J. McComb ◽  
J. Beri ◽  
F. Zak ◽  
K. Kovacs

Investigation of the spontaneous pituitary adenomas in rat have been limited mainly to light microscopic study. Furth et al. (1973) described them as chromophobic, secreting prolactin. Kovacs et al. (1977) in an ul trastructural investigation of adenomas of old female Long-Evans rats, found that they were composed of prolactin cells. Berkvens et al. (1980) using immunocytochemistry at the light microscopic level, demonstrated that some spontaneous tumors of old Wistar rats could contain GH, TSH or ACTH as well as PRL.


Author(s):  
Vivian V. Yang ◽  
S. Phyllis Stearner

The heart is generally considered a radioresistant organ, and has received relatively little study after total-body irradiation with doses below the acutely lethal range. Some late damage in the irradiated heart has been described at the light microscopic level. However, since the dimensions of many important structures of the blood vessel wall are submicroscopic, investigators have turned to the electron microscope for adequate visualization of histopathological changes. Our studies are designed to evaluate ultrastructural changes in the mouse heart, particularly in the capillaries and muscle fibers, for 18 months after total-body exposure, and to compare the effects of 240 rad fission neutrons and 788 rad 60Co γ-rays.Three animals from each irradiated group and three control mice were sacrificed by ether inhalation at 4 days, and at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 18 months after irradiation. The thorax was opened and the heart was fixed briefly in situwith Karnofsky's fixative.


Author(s):  
D.F. Clapin ◽  
V.J.A. Montpetit

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the accumulation of abnormal filamentous proteins. The most important of these are amyloid fibrils and paired helical filaments (PHF). PHF are located intraneuronally forming bundles called neurofibrillary tangles. The designation of these structures as "tangles" is appropriate at the light microscopic level. However, localized domains within individual tangles appear to demonstrate a regular spacing which may indicate a liquid crystalline phase. The purpose of this paper is to present a statistical geometric analysis of PHF packing.


Author(s):  
Rick L. Vaughn ◽  
Shailendra K. Saxena ◽  
John G. Sharp

We have developed an intestinal wound model that includes surgical construction of an ileo-cecal patch to study the complex process of intestinal wound healing. This allows approximation of ileal mucosa to the cecal serosa and facilitates regeneration of ileal mucosa onto the serosal surface of the cecum. The regeneration of ileal mucosa can then be evaluated at different times. The wound model also allows us to determine the rate of intestinal regeneration for a known size of intestinal wound and can be compared in different situations (e.g. with and without EGF and Peyer’s patches).At the light microscopic level it appeared that epithelial cells involved in regeneration of ileal mucosa originated from the enlarged crypts adjacent to the intestinal wound and migrated in an orderly fashion onto the serosal surface of the cecum. The migrating epithelial cells later formed crypts and villi by the process of invagination and evagination respectively. There were also signs of proliferation of smooth muscles underneath the migratory epithelial cells.


Author(s):  
R.V.W. Dimlich ◽  
M.H. Biros

In severe cerebral ischemia, Purkinje cells of the cerebellum are one of the cell types most vulnerable to anoxic damage. In the partial (forebrain) global ischemic (PGI) model of the rat, Paljärvi noted at the light microscopic level that cerebellar damage is inconsistant and when present, milder than in the telencephalon, diencephalon and rostral brain stem. Cerebellar injury was observed in 3 of 4 PGI rats following 5 minutes of reperfusion but in none of the rats after 90 min of reperfusion. To evaluate a time between these two extremes (5 and 90 min), the present investigation used the PGI model to study the effects of ischemia on the ultrastructure of cerebellar Purkinje cells in rats that were sacrificed after 30 min of reperfusion. This time also was chosen because lactic acid that is thought to contribute to ischemic cell changes in PGI is at a maximum after 30 min of reperfusion.


Author(s):  
A. Angel ◽  
K. Miller ◽  
V. Seybold ◽  
R. Kriebel

Localization of specific substances at the ultrastructural level is dependent on the introduction of chemicals which will complex and impart an electron density at specific reaction sites. Peroxidase-antiperoxidase(PAP) methods have been successfully applied at the electron microscopic level. The PAP complex is localized by addition of its substrate, hydrogen peroxide and an electron donor, usually diaminobenzidine(DAB). On oxidation, DAB forms an insoluble polymer which is able to chelate with osmium tetroxide becoming electron dense. Since verification of reactivity is visual, discrimination of reaction product from osmiophillic structures may be difficult. Recently, x-ray microanalysis has been applied to examine cytochemical reaction precipitates, their distribution in tissues, and to study cytochemical reaction mechanisms. For example, immunoreactive sites labelled with gold have been ascertained by means of x-ray microanalysis.


Author(s):  
J. Barbillat ◽  
M. Delhaye ◽  
P. Dhamelincourt

Raman mapping, with a spatial resolution close to the diffraction limit, can help to reveal the distribution of chemical species at the surface of an heterogeneous sample.As early as 1975,three methods of sample laser illumination and detector configuration have been proposed to perform Raman mapping at the microscopic level (Fig. 1),:- Point illumination:The basic design of the instrument is a classical Raman microprobe equipped with a PM tube or either a linear photodiode array or a two-dimensional CCD detector. A laser beam is focused on a very small area ,close to the diffraction limit.In order to explore the whole surface of the sample,the specimen is moved sequentially beneath the microscope by means of a motorized XY stage. For each point analyzed, a complete spectrum is obtained from which spectral information of interest is extracted for Raman image reconstruction.- Line illuminationA narrow laser line is focused onto the sample either by a cylindrical lens or by a scanning device and is optically conjugated with the entrance slit of the stigmatic spectrograph.


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