S'COOL Student Bookmark

This bookmark provides basic information about the importance of ground truth measurements for investigative science and the formation of clouds. It also provides information about an opportunity for students to participate in a real-time collaborative scientific experiment with NASA scientists: the Student Cloud Observations On Line (S'COOL) project. S’COOL is a component of NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project. S'COOL project participants make ground truth measurements for the CERES experiment. Ground truth measurements are land-based observations to compare with satellite data for the purpose of improving the satellite results. Educational levels: Intermediate elementary, Middle school

Acquisition and analysis of coastal ground-truth data for correlation with ERTS-1 imagery

The author has identified the following significant results. Radiance profiles drawn along cruise tracks have been examined for use in correlating digital radiance levels with ground truth data. Preliminary examination results are encouraging. Adding weighted levels from the 4 MSS bands appears to enhance specular surface reflections while rendering sensor noise white. Comparing each band signature to the added specular signature ought to enhance non-specular effects caused by ocean turbidity. Preliminary examination of radiance profiles and ground truth turbidity measurements revealed substantial correlation

On-the-fly Historical Handwritten Text Annotation

The performance of information retrieval algorithms depends upon the availability of ground truth labels annotated by experts. This is an important prerequisite, and difficulties arise when the annotated ground truth labels are incorrect or incomplete due to high levels of degradation. To address this problem, this paper presents a simple method to perform on-the-fly annotation of degraded historical handwritten text in ancient manuscripts. The proposed method aims at quick generation of ground truth and correction of inaccurate annotations such that the bounding box perfectly encapsulates the word, and contains no added noise from the background or surroundings. This method will potentially be of help to historians and researchers in generating and correcting word labels in a document dynamically. The effectiveness of the annotation method is empirically evaluated on an archival manuscript collection from well-known publicly available datasets

The truth, but not yet: Avoiding naïve skepticism via explicit communication of metadisciplinary aims

Introductory students regularly endorse naïve skepticism—unsupported or uncritical doubt about the existence and universality of truth—for a variety of reasons. Though some of the reasons for students’ skepticism can be traced back to the student—for example, a desire to avoid engaging with controversial material or a desire to avoid offense—naïve skepticism is also the result of how introductory courses are taught, deemphasizing truth to promote students’ abilities to develop basic disciplinary skills. While this strategy has a number of pedagogical benefits, it prevents students in early stages of intellectual development from understanding truth as a threshold concept. Using philosophy as a case study, I argue that we can make progress against naïve skepticism by clearly discussing how metadisciplinary aims differ at the disciplinary and course levels in a way that is meaningful, reinforced, and accessible

S'COOL Brochure

This brochure describes and promotes the S'COOL program. S'COOL, the Students' Cloud Observations On Line, is a component of NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project. Participants make ground truth measurements for the CERES experiment to compare with satellite data for the purpose of improving the satellite results. Educational levels: Intermediate elementary, Middle school, High school

Public servant schools in Canada: A concept for reconciliation

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has called on federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments of Canada to educate public servants about the history and legacy of Indian residential schools and related topics, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This article advances this call to action by conceptualizing “public servant schools” as government organizations that provide learning opportunities to public servants. The Canadian adult education literature, however, is largely silent on this topic, even though numerous examples can be found across branches and levels of governments within Canada. Drawing on material acquired through the Access to Information Act, this article breathes life into this topic by documenting the Canada School of Public Service and elements of its curriculum related to the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The effects of self-awareness on body movement indicators of the intention to deceive

A study was conducted to investigate the body movements of participants waiting to be interviewed in one of two conditions: preparing to answer questions truthfully or preparing to lie. The effects of increased self-awareness were also investigated, with half of the participants facing a mirror; the other half facing a blank wall. Analysis of covertly obtained video footage showed a significant interaction for the duration of hand/arm movements between deception level and self-awareness. Without a mirror, participants expecting to lie spent less time moving their hands than those expecting to tell the truth; the opposite was seen in the presence of a mirror. Participants expecting to lie also had higher levels of anxiety and thought that they were left waiting for less time than those expecting to tell the truth. These findings led to the identification of further research areas with the potential to support deception detection in security applications