The acid ionization constant, K[subscript a], of acetic acid and the base ionization constant, K[subscript b], of ammonia are determined easily and rapidly using a datalogger, a pH sensor, and a conductivity sensor. To decrease sample preparation time and to minimize waste, sequential aliquots of a concentrated standard are added to a known volume…

This article presents the text of a speech presented at The International Writing Centers Association and the National Conference on Peer Tutoring (IWCA-NCPTW) joint conference in Baltimore, Maryland, in November 2010. It stemmed from a larger project--a collection of previously published and new essays titled "Writing Together: Collaboration in…

Although the siphon has been in use since ancient times, the exact mechanism of operation is still under discussion. For example, most dictionaries assert that atmospheric pressure is essential to the operation of a siphon rather than gravity. Although there is general agreement that gravity is the motivating force in a siphon, there is…

Saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR has emerged as one of the most popular ligand-based NMR techniques for the study of protein-ligand interactions. The success of this technique is a consequence of its robustness and the fact that it is focused on the signals of the ligand, without any need of processing NMR information about the receptor…

The siphon is a very useful example of early technology, the operation of which has long been well understood. A recent article makes the claim that established beliefs regarding this device are incorrect and proposes a "chain model" in which intermolecular forces within the fluid play a large role while atmospheric pressure does not. We have…

What follows is a description of several activities involving the Stefan-Boltzmann radiation law that can provide laboratory experience beyond what is normally found in traditional introductory thermodynamics experiments on thermal expansion, specific heat, and heats of transformation. The activities also provide more extensive coverage of and…

A concurrent-chains procedure was used to examine choice between segmented (two-component chained schedules) and unsegmented schedules (simple schedules) in terminal links with equal inter-reinforcement intervals. Previous studies using this kind of experimental procedure showed preference for unsegmented schedules for both pigeons and humans. In…

This undergraduate organic laboratory experiment consists of three different reactions occurring in the same flask: a cycloaddition reaction, preceded by decarboxylation and nucleophilic substitution reactions. The decarboxylation and cycloaddition reactions occur using identical Cu(I) catalyst and conditions. Orange, lemon, and other citrus fruit…

In this paper, a short introductory course to introduce field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based digital control of dc/dc switching power converters is presented. Digital control based on specific hardware has been at the leading edge of low-medium power dc/dc switching converters in recent years. Besides industry's interest in this topic, from…

Most psychology curricula require the completion of coursework on the physiological bases of behavior. However, delivery of this critical content in a laboratory format is somewhat rare at the undergraduate level. To fill this gap, this article describes the design and implementation of an undergraduate laboratory course in psychophysiology at a…

Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful analytical technique that is now widely used in the chemical, physical, engineering, and life sciences, with rapidly growing applications in many areas including clinical, forensic, pharmaceutical, and environmental fields. The increase in use of MS in both academic and industrial settings for research and…

Chiropractic and medical colleges have experienced a significant increase in the number of female applicants in recent years, a percentage of whom are pregnant or become pregnant following admission. It is therefore important to ask the question: How do institutions that educate future health care providers address the issue of pregnancy and the…

This article describes the emerging role of educational multiuser virtual environments, specifically Second Life[TM], in anatomical sciences education. Virtual worlds promote inquiry-based learning and conceptual understanding, potentially making them applicable for teaching and learning gross anatomy. A short introduction to Second Life as an…

The twofold purpose of the present study was, first, to determine whether training intervention programs designed to help people support the autonomy of others are effective and, second, to identify the set of conditions that allowed these interventions to be most effective. A meta-analysis of the findings from 19 studies with 20 effect sizes…

We present an integrative laboratory investigation incorporating skills from inorganic chemistry, analytical instrumentation, and physical chemistry applied to a laboratory-scale model of the environmental problem of chlorinated ethylenes in groundwater. Perchloroethylene (C[subscript 2]Cl[subscript 4], PCE) a common dry cleaning solvent,…