Analysis of Large Scale Spatial Variability of Soil Moisture Using a Geostatistical Method

Spatial and temporal soil moisture dynamics are critically needed to improve the parameterization for hydrological and meteorological modeling processes. This study evaluates the statistical spatial structure of large-scale observed and simulated estimates of soil moisture under pre- and post-precipitation event conditions. This large scale variability is a crucial in calibration and validation of large-scale satellite based data assimilation systems. Spatial analysis using geostatistical approaches was used to validate modeled soil moisture by the Agriculture Meteorological (AGRMET) model using in situ measurements of soil moisture from a state-wide environmental monitoring network (Oklahoma Mesonet). The results show that AGRMET data produces larger spatial decorrelation compared to in situ based soil moisture data. The precipitation storms drive the soil moisture spatial structures at large scale, found smaller decorrelation length after precipitation. This study also evaluates the geostatistical approach for mitigation for quality control issues within in situ soil moisture network to estimates at soil moisture at unsampled stations

The Influence of Life History Milestones and Association Networks on Crop-Raiding Behavior in Male African Elephants

Factors that influence learning and the spread of behavior in wild animal populations are important for understanding species responses to changing environments and for species conservation. In populations of wildlife species that come into conflict with humans by raiding cultivated crops, simple models of exposure of individual animals to crops do not entirely explain the prevalence of crop raiding behavior. We investigated the influence of life history milestones using age and association patterns on the probability of being a crop raider among wild free ranging male African elephants; we focused on males because female elephants are not known to raid crops in our study population. We examined several features of an elephant association network; network density, community structure and association based on age similarity since they are known to influence the spread of behaviors in a population. We found that older males were more likely to be raiders than younger males, that males were more likely to be raiders when their closest associates were also raiders, and that males were more likely to be raiders when their second closest associates were raiders older than them. The male association network had sparse associations, a tendency for individuals similar in age and raiding status to associate, and a strong community structure. However, raiders were randomly distributed between communities. These features of the elephant association network may limit the spread of raiding behavior and likely determine the prevalence of raiding behavior in elephant populations. Our results suggest that social learning has a major influence on the acquisition of raiding behavior in younger males whereas life history factors are important drivers of raiding behavior in older males. Further, both life-history and network patterns may influence the acquisition and spread of complex behaviors in animal populations and provide insight on managing human-wildlife conflict

Exploring three white American teachers’ dispositional stances towards learning about racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity

This study, situated in the United States, is set in a context where large and growing numbers of children from non-dominant backgrounds populate American public schools while the vast majority of teachers teaching in US schools are white, monolingual women who may not have the requisite expertise to teach children from non-dominant backgrounds. This work focuses on the learning of three white teachers enrolled in a literacy course designed to foster teachers’ understandings of racial, linguistic, and cultural diversity. Results revealed that the three focus teachers, all members of a small online Book Club within the focus course, assumed different dispositional stances towards learning about diversity. Moreover, their overall dispositional stances shaped the ways they positioned themselves as learners in the course as well as what they learned in the course

Reading informational texts: a civic transactional perspective

The Common Core State Standards recommend that elementary students read a high percentage of informational texts. The past decade of high stakes testing has relegated social studies instruction to minimal or nonexistent status in many elementary classrooms. In order to expand teachers’ and students’ understandings of informational text, this paper presents the concept of civic transactional reading as a means to enhance reading instruction in the content area of social studies. Social studies conceptions of civic education and literacy notions of close reading and questioning are integrated as The Common Core Reading Standards and the recently created complementary Social Studies Standards provide a framework for reading Martin Luther King, Jr.\u27s Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Dispositions towards diversity: two pre-service teachers’ experiences of living and teaching in a remote indigenous community

Teacher education programmes are often tasked with preparing predominantly White, middle class, pre-service teachers to be effective in diverse contexts. Many teacher educators consider practicum experiences critical to forming values and dispositions necessary for the teaching profession. This article focuses on the work of two White, middle-class, pre-service teachers, Charlotte and Seraphina, who volunteered to do their practicum in a remote indigenous community in Australia on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. At the beginning of the practicum, both pre-service teachers’ attitudes about the experience were similar; yet, over time they began to develop divergant dispositions or ‘positionality towards diversity’ relative to their unique backgrounds and APY Lands experiences, highlighting certain sensitivities and biases regarding racial, cultural and linguistic diversity. We focus on how Charlotte and Seraphina interpret their experiences, what this can tell us about their professional development, and the possible implications for teacher educators teaching in post-colonial contexts