The Liberal Professor? An Analysis of the Beliefs of Teacher Educators

There is much discussion in public discourse about the liberal leanings of faculty in higher education. The researchers in this study investigated the validity of this assumption. Using data collected from faculty from colleges of education throughout the country, the belief systems of this group were analyzed. What was discovered was that faculty in colleges of education are not liberal. In fact, the opposite is true. Discussion about the implications of these finding leads to an analysis of current policies and practices

Global mean sea-level rise in a world agreed upon in Paris

Although the 2015 Paris Agreement seeks to hold global average temperature to 'well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels', projections of global mean sea-level (GMSL) rise commonly focus on scenarios in which there is a high probability that warming exceeds 1.5 °C. Using a semi-empirical model, we project GMSL changes between now and 2150 CE under a suite of temperature scenarios that satisfy the Paris Agreement temperature targets. The projected magnitude and rate of GMSL rise varies among these low emissions scenarios. Stabilizing temperature at 1.5 °C instead of 2 °C above preindustrial reduces GMSL in 2150 CE by 17 cm (90% credible interval: 14–21 cm) and reduces peak rates of rise by 1.9 mm yr−1 (90% credible interval: 1.4–2.6 mm yr−1). Delaying the year of peak temperature has little long-term influence on GMSL, but does reduce the maximum rate of rise. Stabilizing at 2 °C in 2080 CE rather than 2030 CE reduces the peak rate by 2.7 mm yr−1 (90% credible interval: 2.0–4.0 mm yr−1)

Relative sea-level change in Connecticut (USA) during the last 2200 yrs

We produced a relative sea-level (RSL) reconstruction from Connecticut (USA) spanning the last ∼2200 yrs that is free from the influence of sediment compaction. The reconstruction used a suite of vertically- and laterally-ordered sediment samples ≤2 cm above bedrock that were collected by excavating a trench along an evenly-sloped bedrock surface. Paleomarsh elevation was reconstructed using a regional-scale transfer function trained on the modern distribution of foraminifera on Long Island Sound salt marshes and supported by bulk-sediment δ13C measurements. The history of sediment accumulation was estimated using an age-elevation model constrained by radiocarbon dates and recognition of pollution horizons of known age. The RSL reconstruction was combined with regional tide-gauge measurements spanning the last ∼150 yrs before being quantitatively analyzed using an error-in-variables integrated Gaussian process model to identify sea-level trends with formal and appropriate treatment of uncertainty and the temporal distribution of data. RSL rise was stable (∼1 mm/yr) from ∼200 BCE to ∼1000 CE, slowed to a minimum rate of rise (0.41 mm/yr) at ∼1400 CE, and then accelerated continuously to reach a current rate of 3.2 mm/yr, which is the fastest, century-scale rate of the last 2200 yrs. Change point analysis identified that modern rates of rise in Connecticut began at 1850–1886 CE. This timing is synchronous with changes recorded at other sites on the U.S. Atlantic coast and is likely the local expression of a global sea-level change. Earlier sea-level trends show coherence north of Cape Hatteras that are contrasted with southern sites. This pattern may represent centennial-scale variability in the position and/or strength of the Gulf Stream. Comparison of the new record to three existing and reanalyzed RSL reconstructions from the same site developed using sediment cores indicates that compaction is unlikely to significantly distort RSL reconstructions produced from shallow (∼2–3 m thick) sequences of salt-marsh peat

Technology and Teaching: A Conversation among Faculty Regarding the Pros and Cons of Technology

Technology is often touted as the savior of education (Collins & Haverson, 2009). However, is technology the panacea that it is made out to be? This paper is an extended conversation among a group of faculty members at three different universities and their attitudes and beliefs about technology and education. Three professors shared their pro-technology stance and three took a less favorable view. The contents of the conversation were then analyzed by a neutral party to extract the various themes that emerged. What was discovered was that were three major threads to the conversation: technology and educational access, online education, and technology and instructional strategies. While there was little agreement, throughout the evolution of the conversation, both sides began to understand each other a little more

Fecal steroids as a potential tool for conservation paleobiology in East Africa

Conservation paleobiology seeks to leverage proxy reconstructions of ecological communities and environmental conditions to predict future changes and inform management decisions. Populations of East African megafauna likely changed during the Holocene in response to trends and events in the regional hydroclimate, but reconstructing these populations requires development of new proxies. We examine if fecal steroids are a viable proxy for megafauna populations since they are well preserved in sedimentary archives. We measured eleven fecal steroids in 87 fresh dung samples representing 22 species of megafauna in the Maasai Mara National Reserve (Kenya) and a further seven samples from captive animals. Using this reference library, four distinctive groups are identified, which reflect diet and biochemical modification of these inputs during digestion by the gut microbiome. Carnivore dung is characterized by more than ~ 75% cholesterol and primate dung includes uniquely high proportions of coprostanol. Two groups of herbivore are distinguished by their differing proportions of phytosterols that are consumed by eating plants and 5β-stanols produced during digestion. Under cross validation a random forests statistical model accurately classified 72% of dung samples to the species level using fecal steroids. Variability among individuals and between wild and captive animals suggests that fecal steroids in herbivore dung may reflect diversity and variability in diet, while a lack of variability in carnivore dung indicates that they cannot be identified to the species level in most instances. Our results suggest that fecal steroids may have utility in reconstructing the time-evolving composition megafauna populations in East Africa

Relative Sea-Level Trends in New York City During the Past 1500 Years

New York City (NYC) is threatened by 21st-century relative sea-level (RSL) rise because it will experience a trend that exceeds the global mean and has high concentrations of low-lying infrastructure and socioeconomic activity. To provide a long-term context for anticipated trends, we reconstructed RSL change during the past ~1500 years using a core of salt-marsh sediment from Pelham Bay in The Bronx. Foraminifera and bulk-sediment δ13C values were used as sea-level indicators. The history of sediment accumulation was established by radiocarbon dating and recognition of pollution and land-use trends of known age in down-core elemental, isotopic, and pollen profiles. The reconstruction was generated within a Bayesian hierarchical model to accommodate multiple proxies and to provide a unified statistical framework for quantifying uncertainty. We show that RSL in NYC rose by ~1.70 m since ~575 CE (including ~0.38 m since 1850 CE). The rate of RSL rise increased markedly at 1812–1913 CE from ~1.0 to ~2.5 mm/yr, which coincides with other reconstructions along the US Atlantic coast. We investigated the possible influence of tidal-range change in Long Island Sound on our reconstruction using a regional tidal model, and we demonstrate that this effect was likely small. However, future tidal-range change could exacerbate the impacts of RSL rise in communities bordering Long Island Sound. The current rate of RSL rise is the fastest that NYC has experienced for \u3e1500 years, and its ongoing acceleration suggests that projections of 21st-century local RSL rise will be realized

Cerebral blood flow links insulin resistance and baroreflex sensitivity

Insulin resistance confers risk for diabetes mellitus and associates with a reduced capacity of the arterial baroreflex to regulate blood pressure. Importantly, several brain regions that comprise the central autonomic network, which controls the baroreflex, are also sensitive to the neuromodulatory effects of insulin. However, it is unknown whether peripheral insulin resistance relates to activity within central autonomic network regions, which may in turn relate to reduced baroreflex regulation. Accordingly, we tested whether resting cerebral blood flow within central autonomic regions statistically mediated the relationship between insulin resistance and an indirect indicator of baroreflex regulation; namely, baroreflex sensitivity. Subjects were 92 community-dwelling adults free of confounding medical illnesses (48 men, 30-50 years old) who completed protocols to assess fasting insulin and glucose levels, resting baroreflex sensitivity, and resting cerebral blood flow. Baroreflex sensitivity was quantified by measuring the magnitude of spontaneous and sequential associations between beat-by-beat systolic blood pressure and heart rate changes. Individuals with greater insulin resistance, as measured by the homeostatic model assessment, exhibited reduced baroreflex sensitivity (b = -0.16, p < .05). Moreover, the relationship between insulin resistance and baroreflex sensitivity was statistically mediated by cerebral blood flow in central autonomic regions, including the insula and cingulate cortex (mediation coefficients < -0.06, p-values < .01). Activity within the central autonomic network may link insulin resistance to reduced baroreflex sensitivity. Our observations may help to characterize the neural pathways by which insulin resistance, and possibly diabetes mellitus, relates to adverse cardiovascular outcomes. © 2013 Ryan et al

Late Holocene sea- and land-level change on the U.S. southeastern Atlantic coast

Late Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) reconstructions can be used to estimate rates of land-level (subsidence or uplift) change and therefore to modify global sea-level projections for regional conditions. These reconstructions also provide the long-term benchmark against which modern trends are compared and an opportunity to understand the response of sea level to past climate variability. To address a spatial absence of late Holocene data in Florida and Georgia, we reconstructed ~ 1.3 m of RSL rise in northeastern Florida (USA) during the past ~ 2600 years using plant remains and foraminifera in a dated core of high salt-marsh sediment. The reconstruction was fused with tide-gauge data from nearby Fernandina Beach, which measured 1.91 ± 0.26 mm/year of RSL rise since 1900 CE. The average rate of RSL rise prior to 1800 CE was 0.41 ± 0.08 mm/year. Assuming negligible change in global mean sea level from meltwater input/removal and thermal expansion/contraction, this sea-level history approximates net land-level (subsidence and geoid) change, principally from glacio-isostatic adjustment. Historic rates of rise commenced at 1850–1890 CE and it is virtually certain (P = 0.99) that the average rate of 20th century RSL rise in northeastern Florida was faster than during any of the preceding 26 centuries. The linearity of RSL rise in Florida is in contrast to the variability reconstructed at sites further north on the U.S. Atlantic coast and may suggest a role for ocean dynamic effects in explaining these more variable RSL reconstructions. Comparison of the difference between reconstructed rates of late Holocene RSL rise and historic trends measured by tide gauges indicates that 20th century sea-level trends along the U.S. Atlantic coast were not dominated by the characteristic spatial fingerprint of melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet

Increased threat of tropical cyclones and coastal flooding to New York City during the anthropogenic era

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112 (2015): 12610-12615, doi:10.1073/pnas.1513127112.In a changing climate, future inundation of the United States’ Atlantic coast will depend on both storm surges during tropical cyclones and the rising relative sea-levels on which those surges occur. However, the observational record of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic basin is too short (AD 1851-present) to accurately assess long-term trends in storm activity. To overcome this limitation, we use proxy sealevel records, and downscale three CMIP5 models to generate large synthetic tropical cyclone data sets for the North Atlantic basin; driving climate conditions span from AD 850 to AD 2005. We compare preanthropogenic era (AD 850 – AD 1800) and anthropogenic era (AD 1970 – AD 2005) storm-surge model results for New York City, exposing links between increased rates of sea-level rise and storm flood heights. We find that mean flood heights increased by ~1.24 m (due mainly to sea level rise) from ~AD 850 to the anthropogenic era, a result that is significant at the 99% confidence level. Additionally, changes in tropical cyclone characteristics have led to increases in the extremes of the types of storms that create the largest storm surges for New York City. As a result, flood risk has greatly increased for the region; for example, the 500 year return period for a ~2.25 m flood height during the preanthropogenic era has decreased to ~24.4 years in the anthropogenic era. Our results indicate the impacts of climate change on coastal inundation, and call for advanced risk management strategies.The authors acknowledge funding for this study from NOAA Grants # 424-18 45GZ and # NA11OAR4310101 and National Science Foundation award OCE 1458904.2016-03-2

Taraxerol abundance as a proxy for in situ Mangrove sediment

Mangrove sediments are valuable archives of relative sea-level change if they can be distinguished in the stratigraphic record from other organic-rich depositional environments (e.g., freshwater swamps). Proxies for establishing environment of deposition can be poorly preserved (e.g., foraminifera) in mangrove sediment. Consequently, differentiating mangrove and freshwater sediment in the stratigraphic record is often subjective. We explore if biomarkers can objectively identify mangrove sediment with emphasis on their utility for reconstructing relative sea level. Our approach is specific to identifying in situ sediment, which has received less attention than identifying allochthonous mangrove organic matter. To characterize mangrove and non-mangrove (freshwater) environments, we measured n-alkane, sterol, and triterpenoid abundances in surface sediments at three sites in the Federated States of Micronesia. Elevated taraxerol abundance is diagnostic of sediment accumulating in mangroves and taraxerol is particularly abundant beneath monospecific stands of Rhizophora spp. Taraxerol was undetectable in freshwater sediment. Other triterpenoids are more abundant in mangrove sediment than in freshwater sediment. Using cores from Micronesian mangroves, we examine if biomarkers in sediments are indicative of in situ deposition in a mangrove, and have utility as a relative sea-level proxy. Taraxerol concentrations in cores are comparable to surface mangrove sediments, which indicates deposition in a mangrove. This interpretation is supported by pollen assemblages. Downcore taraxerol variability may reflect changing inputs from Rhizophora spp. rather than diagenesis. We propose that taraxerol is a proxy that differentiates between organic sediment that accumulated in mangrove vs. freshwater environments, lending it utility for reconstructing relative sea level