An Overview of Transfer Conditions: Exploring Latino Community College Students in Texas

This paper begins exploring the transfer conditions for Latino community college students in Texas. We provide an overview of the high school schooling conditions for Latinos; the experiences of Latinos in the community college; and some models that can increase the transfer and graduation rates for Latina/o community college students.Educatio

Reward Reactivity and Dark Flow in Slot-Machine Gambling: “Light” and “Dark” Routes to Enjoyment

Background and aims: Slot machines are a very popular form of gambling. In this study, we look at two different routes to enjoying slots play. One route involves the degree to which players react to rewards. The other route involves what we call dark flow – a pleasurable, but maladaptive state where players become completely engrossed in slots play, providing an escape from the depressing thoughts that characterize their everyday lives. Methods: One hundred and twenty-nine high-frequency slots players were tested on slot-machine simulators set up in the lobby of a casino. We measured reward reactivity using post-reinforcement pauses (PRPs) and the force with which players pressed the spin button following different slot-machine outcomes. For each player, we calculated the slopes of PRPs and force as a function of credit gains. We also assessed players’ slots game enjoyment and their experience of dark flow, depression, and problem gambling. Results: Both the PRP and the force measures of reward reactivity were significantly correlated with players’ enjoyment of the slots session, but neither measure was correlated with either problem gambling or depression. Ratings of dark flow were strongly correlated with slots enjoyment (which accounted for far more positive affect variance than the reward reactivity measures) and were correlated with both problem gambling scores and depression. Discussion and conclusions: Our results suggest that of these two routes to enjoying slot-machine play, the dark flow route is especially problematic. We contend that the dark flow state may be enjoyable because it provides escape from the negative thoughts linked to depression

Evolution of a Simulation Testbed into an Operational Tool

This paper describes the evolution over a 20-year period of the Future ATM (Air Traffic Management) Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) from a National Airspace System (NAS) based simulation testbed into an operational tool. FACET was developed as a testbed for assessing futuristic ATM concepts, e.g., automated conflict detection and resolution. NAS Constraint Evaluation and Notification Tool (NASCENT) is an application, within FACET, for alerting airspace users of inefficiencies in flight operations and advising time- and fuel-saving reroutes.It is currently in use at American Airlines Integrated Operations Center in Fort Worth, TX. The concepts assessed,research conducted, and the operational capability developed, along with the NASA support and achievements are presented in this paper

Intentional Technology For Teaching Practice

In today’s era, where educational technology is in a near-constant state of evolution, the imperative is not just to adopt technology, but to do so with a defined purpose and strategy. As educators within military education there is a growing need to discern which technological tools and practices align best with our mission and the goals we set for our students. Teaching is more than just transferring knowledge—it’s about fostering environments conducive to growth, critical thinking, and lifelong learning. This e-book contains collective insights, experiences, and reflections from faculty participating in a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) a yearlong, structured, community of practice, engaged in the thoughtful exploration of educational technology topics during the academic year of 2022-2023 at the Air Force Institute of Technology. Whether by leveraging social annotation tools to engage students in reading, formulating effective methods to produce and utilize educational content, innovating with game-based learning, or seamlessly integrating multiple applications for meaningful classroom experiences, our aim is to provide you with insights and actionable guidance for use within your own classrooms

Identifying Novel Biomarkers Ready for Evaluation in Low-Prevalence Populations for the Early Detection of Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers : A Systematic Review

Funding This study and the journal’s rapid service fee were supported by the CanTest Collaborative (funded by Cancer Research UK C8640/A23385) of which Fiona M. Walter is Director, Jon Emery is an Associate Director, Mike Messenger is co-investigator, and Natalia Calanzani and Garth Funston are researchers. The funder of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report. Paige Druce, Kristi Milley and Jon Emery are supported by the Cancer Australia Primary Care Collaborative Cancer Clinical Trials Group (PC4). Mike Messenger is funded by the NIHR Leeds In Vitro Diagnostic Co-operative (UK). No Open Access Fee was received by the journal for the publication of this article.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Pixels to pasture: using machine learning and multispectral remote sensing to predict biomass and nutrient quality in tropical grasslands

The livestock sector in rural Colombia is critical for employment and food security but is heavily affected by climate and its change. There is a need for solutions to address key challenges arising from vulnerabilities that impact the productivity and sustainability of forages and the livestock sector. Increasing the yields of forage crops can improve the availability and affordability of livestock products while also easing the pressure on land resources. This study aims to develop remote sensing-based approaches for forage monitoring and biomass prediction in Colombia to support decision-making towards increased productivity, competitiveness and reduction of environmental impacts. Ten locations were sampled between 2018 and 2021 across climatically distinct areas in Colombia, comprising five farms in Patía in Cauca department, four farms in Antioquia department, and one research farm at Palmira in Valle de Cauca department. Ash content (Ash), crude protein (CP %), dry matter content (DM g/m2) and in-vitro digestibility (IVD %) were measured from Kikuyu and Brachiaria grasses during the field sampling campaigns. Multispectral bands from coincident Planetscope acquisitions along with various derived vegetation indices (VIs) were used as predictors in the model development. For each site and forage parameter, the importance of specific predictors varied, with the NIR band and Red-Green ratio generally performing best. To determine the optimum models, the effects of using a 1) averaging kernel, 2) feature selection approaches, 3) various regression algorithms and 4) meta learners (simple ensembling and stacks) were explored. Algorithms belonging to classes of commonly used models; Decision Trees, Support Vector Machines, Neural Networks, distance-based methods, and linear approaches were tested. The performance evaluation based on unseen test data revealed that CP and DM prediction performed moderately well for all three sites (R2 0.52 – 0.75, RMSE 1.7 – 2 % and R2 0.47 – 0.65, RMSE 182 – 112 g/m2 respectively). The best performing models varied by site and response variable, with Regularized Random Forest, Partial Least Squares, Random Forests, Bagged Multivariate Adaptive Regression and Bayesian Regularized Neural Networks being the top performing algorithms and Random Forest Stack being the best performing meta learner. The workflow and thorough analysis of performance affecting factors presented in this study can benefit timely grassland monitoring and biomass prediction at the local level and help contribute to the sustainable management of tropical grasslands in Colombia

The Allen Telescope Array Pi GHz Sky Survey I. Survey Description and Static Catalog Results for the Bootes Field

The Pi GHz Sky Survey (PiGSS) is a key project of the Allen Telescope Array. PiGSS is a 3.1 GHz survey of radio continuum emission in the extragalactic sky with an emphasis on synoptic observations that measure the static and time-variable properties of the sky. During the 2.5-year campaign, PiGSS will twice observe ~250,000 radio sources in the 10,000 deg^2 region of the sky with b > 30 deg to an rms sensitivity of ~1 mJy. Additionally, sub-regions of the sky will be observed multiple times to characterize variability on time scales of days to years. We present here observations of a 10 deg^2 region in the Bootes constellation overlapping the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey field. The PiGSS image was constructed from 75 daily observations distributed over a 4-month period and has an rms flux density between 200 and 250 microJy. This represents a deeper image by a factor of 4 to 8 than we will achieve over the entire 10,000 deg^2. We provide flux densities, source sizes, and spectral indices for the 425 sources detected in the image. We identify ~100$ new flat spectrum radio sources; we project that when completed PiGSS will identify 10^4 flat spectrum sources. We identify one source that is a possible transient radio source. This survey provides new limits on faint radio transients and variables with characteristic durations of months.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; revision submitted with extraneous figure remove

The Allen Telescope Array Twenty-centimeter Survey - A 690-Square-Degree, 12-Epoch Radio Dataset - I: Catalog and Long-Duration Transient Statistics

We present the Allen Telescope Array Twenty-centimeter Survey (ATATS), a multi-epoch (12 visits), 690 square degree radio image and catalog at 1.4GHz. The survey is designed to detect rare, very bright transients as well as to verify the capabilities of the ATA to form large mosaics. The combined image using data from all 12 ATATS epochs has RMS noise sigma = 3.94mJy / beam and dynamic range 180, with a circular beam of 150 arcsec FWHM. It contains 4408 sources to a limiting sensitivity of S = 20 mJy / beam. We compare the catalog generated from this 12-epoch combined image to the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), a legacy survey at the same frequency, and find that we can measure source positions to better than ~20 arcsec. For sources above the ATATS completeness limit, the median flux density is 97% of the median value for matched NVSS sources, indicative of an accurate overall flux calibration. We examine the effects of source confusion due to the effects of differing resolution between ATATS and NVSS on our ability to compare flux densities. We detect no transients at flux densities greater than 40 mJy in comparison with NVSS, and place a 2-sigma upper limit on the transient rate for such sources of 0.004 per square degree. These results suggest that the > 1 Jy transients reported by Matsumura et al. (2009) may not be true transients, but rather variable sources at their flux density threshold.Comment: 41 pages, 19 figures, ApJ accepted; corrected minor typo in Table

Old World megadroughts and pluvials during the Common Era

Climate model projections suggest widespread drying in the Mediterranean Basin and wetting in Fennoscandia in the coming decades largely as a consequence of greenhouse gas forcing of climate. To place these and other “Old World” climate projections into historical perspective based on more complete estimates of natural hydroclimatic variability, we have developed the “Old World Drought Atlas” (OWDA), a set of year-to-year maps of tree-ring reconstructed summer wetness and dryness over Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during the Common Era. The OWDA matches historical accounts of severe drought and wetness with a spatial completeness not previously available. In addition, megadroughts reconstructed over north-central Europe in the 11th and mid-15th centuries reinforce other evidence from North America and Asia that droughts were more severe, extensive, and prolonged over Northern Hemisphere land areas before the 20th century, with an inadequate understanding of their causes. The OWDA provides new data to determine the causes of Old World drought and wetness and attribute past climate variability to forced and/or internal variability

The Ocean is Losing its Breath: Declining Oxygen in the Worlds Ocean and Coastal Waters

'The Ocean is Losing its Breath' presents a summary of scientific experiments, observations and numerical models addressing the following questions: How has the oxygen content in the open ocean and coastal waters changed over the past century and through geological time? What are the mechanisms behind this oxygen decline? How is ocean oxygen content predicted to change over the rest of the twenty-first century? What are the consequences of low and declining oxygen concentrations in the marine environment? This document was prepared by a group of concerned scientists from across the world, the IOC expert group, the Global Ocean Oxygen Network GO2 NE, established in 2016, which is committed to providing a global and multidisciplinary view on deoxygenation, with a focus on understanding its various aspects and impacts