West Virginia Story: Achievement Gains from a Statewide Comprehensive Instructional Technology Program

This report describes West Virginia\u27s Basic Skills/Computer Education (BS/CE) program and connects its features to gains in student test scores that are practically and statistically significant. The program consists of three components: (1) software that focuses on the state\u27s basic skills goals in reading, language arts, and mathematics; (2) enough computers in the schools so that all students will be able to have easy and regular access to the basic skills software; and (3) professional development for teachers in the use of the software and the use of computers in general. Data were collected from all fifth graders (n=950) in 18 elementary schools selected to represent the range of variables that might influence technology use and student achievement. Survey data were also collected from 290 teachers. Results were analyzed using a model that includes access to software and computers, attitudes toward technology, and teacher training and involvement. The relationship of BS/CE to student achievement, as measured by the Stanford-9 achievement test, is examined. Findings suggest that the BS/CE program had a powerfully positive effect, especially in those schools that used it most intensively. Ten figures and tables illustrate findings. (AEF

Immersive, interactive, web-enabled computer simulation as a trigger for learning: The Next Generation of Problem-based Learning in Educational Leadership

Abstract from ERIC: This paper describes the use of advanced computer technology in an innovative educational leadership program. This program integrates full-motion video scenarios that simulate the leadership challenges typically faced by principals over the course of a full school year. These scenarios require decisions that are then coupled to consequences and scored in the background to create a profile of learner strengths and needs. Because the content has been filmed in an operating school and because of the unique choice-consequence sequences, the immersive and interactive simulation triggers more potent learning than is possible with either previous paper-and-pencil or discussion-based techniques. The scenarios are embedded in a Web-enabled framework that facilitates the provision of individualized feedback tailored to the specific choices made by the learner, and supports the collection of multiple metrics that relate to the performance of the learner and the learning framework itself. Project Authentic Learning for Leaders (ALL) demonstrates the future of teaching and learning in either hybrid (face-to-face instruction plus digital teaching and learning) or in individual anywhere, anytime learning. (Contains 5 figures.

FIRBACK IV: Towards the nature of the 170microns source population

We present a detailed study of the brighter ($> 4\sigma$ detections) sources in the 170$\mu$m FIRBACK northern N1 ISO survey, with the help of complementary data in the optical, radio, and mid-IR domain. For 82% of them, an optical galaxy counterpart is identified, either as the unique source of the IR emission, or as part of a multiple identification. With less than 15% of AGNs, these sources are essentially local, moderate starbursters with a dominating cold dust component. and represent a population of cold galaxies rather neglected up to now. Their colours do not match those of the far-IR Cosmic IR Background (CIB), to which they contribute less than 5%. The bulk of the sources contributing to the CIB is thus to be searched for in more distant galaxies, possibly counterparts of the fainter FIRBACK sources still under study. These bright, local, galaxies however play an important role in the evolution of IR galaxies: they dominate the number counts at high 170 $\mu$m fluxes, and represent half of the contribution at 250 mJy. Although not particularly massive (typically M*), they form more stars than a typical spiral galaxy and many are bulge dominated, that could represent the remnant of a former merger. The fainter part of this population may represent the missing link with the higher-z sources found in sub-mm observations.Comment: 40 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

The discovery of a novel antibiotic for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infections: a story of an effective academic-industrial partnership

Academic drug discovery is playing an increasingly important role in the identification of new therapies for a wide range of diseases. There is no one model that guarantees success. We describe here a drug discovery story where chance, the ability to capitalise on chance, and the assembling of a range of expertise, have all played important roles in the discovery and subsequent development of an antibiotic chemotype based on the bis-benzimidazole scaffold, with potency against a number of current therapeutically challenging diseases. One compound in this class, SMT19969, has recently entered Phase 2 human clinical trials for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infections

Expanding the empirical study of virtual reality beyond empathy to compassion, moral reasoning, and moral foundations

This study utilizes a controlled experimental design to investigate the influence of a virtual reality experience on empathy, compassion, moral reasoning, and moral foundations. With continued debate and mixed results from previous studies attempting to show relationships between virtual reality and empathy, this study takes advantage of the technology for its ability to provide a consistent, repeatable experience, broadening the scope of analysis beyond empathy. A systematic literature review identified the most widely used and validated moral psychology assessments for the constructs, and these assessments were administered before and after the virtual reality experience. The study is comprised of two pre-post experiments with student participants from a university in the United States. The first experiment investigated change in empathy and moral foundations among 44 participants, and the second investigated change in compassion and moral reasoning among 69 participants. The results showed no significant change in empathy nor compassion, but significant change in moral reasoning from personal interest to post-conventional stages, and significant increase in the Care/harm factor of moral foundations. By testing four of the primary constructs of moral psychology with the most widely used and validated assessments in controlled experiments, this study attempts to advance our understanding of virtual reality and its potential to influence human morality. It also raises questions about our self-reported assessment tools and provides possible new insights for the constructs examined

Mid-infrared selection of AGN

Since a large fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is missed in common UV-excess surveys and is even hard to find in radio, near-IR and X-ray surveys, we have used a new AGN selection technique which is expected to be not affected by extinction. Within the scientific verification of the ISOCAM Parallel Survey at 6.7 micron we have discovered objects with exceptional mid-infrared (MIR) emission. They are essentially not detected on IRAS-ADDSCANs and only very few of them show up in the NVSS and FIRST radio surveys. Various colour criteria of the 6.7 micron data with 2MASS and optical wavebands show that the sources reach more extreme IR colours than the sources in the Hubble Deep Field-South and the ELAIS survey. The comparison with known object types suggests that we have found AGN with a pronounced MIR emission, probably due to circum-nuclear dust. First results from optical spectroscopy of ten candidates corroborate this interpretation showing four AGN, two reddened LINER and four extremely reddened emission-line galaxies with MIR/FIR flux ratios higher than for known pure starburst galaxies. The results will make a significant contribution to the debate on the entire AGN population.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication as Letter in Astronomy & Astrophysic

The Bay Area Functional Performance Evaluation: Development and Standardization

The Bay Area Functional Performance Evaluation (BaFPE) was developed i

Strong peoples - strong country: Indigenous heritage monitoring framework summary report

The report titled 'Monitoring Indigenous Heritage within the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program: Final report of the Indigenous Heritage Expert Group' can be viewed through this repository at http://hdl.handle.net/11017/3535This is a summary report of the Strong peoples – Strong country framework, which details information on the framework. The methodology and processes of the expert group are found in, Monitoring Indigenous Heritage within the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program: Final report of the Indigenous Heritage Expert Group (Jarvis, Hill, Buissereth et al. 2019). This summary presents the key elements of the Indigenous heritage monitoring framework for the Great Barrier Reef: Strong peoples – Strong country. It's been extracted from the Indigenous Heritage Expert Group report, which outlines a proposed design for monitoring of the Indigenous heritage theme under the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program

Monitoring the Indigenous heritage within the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program: final report of the Indigenous Heritage Expert Group

An accessible copy of this report is not yet available from this repository, please contact [email protected] for more information