The Effects of Word Context and Meaning Upon Second Grade Students\u27 Word Recognition Ability

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this investigation was to study children\u27s ability to read words presented in isolation or in a meaningful context. Furthermore, this investigation attempted to determine whether differences exist in children\u27s ability to read polysemous words in two settings: (1) when they are used in their most common meaning in a sentence, and (2) when they are used in a less common meaning in a sentence. Summary of the Procedures: The sample for this investigation was comprised of second grade students drawn from five elementary schools in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Students from seven classrooms participated. They were systematically assigned to one of three Student Groups according to alphabetical order by class. All testing was conducted by the researcher during the time period of March 12 through April 6, 1973. Only those students present for all testing were included in the final sample of 97 students. The instruments used in this investigation were: The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Primary B; and the Word Recognition Instrument. The PPVT was used to gain a general indication of IQ for each subject. An estimate of reading ability was gained from the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test which was administered by classroom teachers during September, 1972. The Word Recognition Instrument, designed by the researcher, was used to assess the word recognition ability of the subjects in three contexts: (1) the word in isolation, (2) the word used in a sentence in its most common meaning, and (3) the word used in a sentence in a less common meaning. Sixty polysemous words were randomly selected from the Stone- Bartschi word list, levels 21-32, for inclusion in the Word Recognition Instrument. The most common meaning and a less common meaning were determined for each of these words. Sentences were composed using each word in each of the two meanings. These sentences, along with the words in isolation, were then randomly divided into three groups, controlling for word level and condition (isolation, common meaning sentence, less common meaning sentence). These groups became Word Recognition Instrument, Form A, B, and C, and each one was randomly assigned to one of the Student Groups. Students were asked to read aloud the words or sentences as they were presented to them. The student\u27s response on each of the key words was noted, whether correct or incorrect, within the time limits established. Responses on words other than the key words were disregarded for purposes of this study. The analysis of the data involved the use of a one-way regression analysis of variance and a related t test. Reliability of the Word Recognition Instrument was determined using Cronbach\u27s Alpha. Conclusions: This investigation has provided evidence which supports the following conclusions, subject to the limitations of the study: 1. Second grade students appear to be able to pronounce poly- semous words equally well whether they are presented in isolation or in a sentence using the word in its most common meaning. 2. The context in which a word is used may cause confusion for second grade students if that context is an unfamiliar one. 3. There is no difference in second grade students\u27 ability to pronounce words in context or isolation by either sex or age. 4. More intelligent students are able to read more words used in varying meanings than are less intelligent students. 5. The advice of reading experts against presenting words to children in isolation may not be justified

Dynamics in the deep Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean, inferred by thermistor chain time series

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 37 (2007): 1066–1076, doi:10.1175/JPO3032.1.A 50-day time series of high-resolution temperature in the deepest layers of the Canada Basin in the Arctic Ocean indicates that the deep Canada Basin is a dynamically active environment, not the quiet, stable basin often assumed. Vertical motions at the near-inertial (tidal) frequency have amplitudes of 10– 20 m. These vertical displacements are surprisingly large considering the downward near-inertial internal wave energy flux typically observed in the Canada Basin. In addition to motion in the internal-wave frequency band, the measurements indicate distinctive subinertial temperature fluctuations, possibly due to intrusions of new water masses

Evaluation of an Online Instructional Database Accessed by QR Codes To Support Biochemistry Practical Laboratory Classes

An online instructional database containing information on commonly used pieces of laboratory equipment was created. In order to make the database highly accessible and to promote its use, QR codes were utilized. The instructional materials were available anytime and accessed using QR codes located on the equipment itself and within undergraduate student practical handouts. The database and access mechanism was evaluated during multiple undergraduate practical sessions, and the students were able to provide feedback through completion of a questionnaire. The majority of the participating students reported that the QR Instructor was easy or very easy to use (89%) and made using the laboratory equipment easier or much easier (70%). Just under two-thirds (63%) of the students felt that having used the QR Instructor they were more confident in using the equipment than before, and three-quarters (75%) of students stated that they felt better or much better equipped to use similar equipment in their future employment. Overall, 90% of those students who responded to the questionnaire said that they would recommend the use of the online instructional database. The proposed system therefore has been shown to enable easy access for students to online instructional information as well as enhancing the learning experience with increased student confidence

Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from conversion of peat swamp forest to oil palm plantation.

Conversion of tropical peat swamp forest to drainage-based agriculture alters greenhouse gas (GHG) production, but the magnitude of these changes remains highly uncertain. Current emissions factors for oil palm grown on drained peat do not account for temporal variation over the plantation cycle and only consider CO2 emissions. Here, we present direct measurements of GHGs emitted during the conversion from peat swamp forest to oil palm plantation, accounting for CH4 and N2O as well as CO2. Our results demonstrate that emissions factors for converted peat swamp forest is in the range 70-117 t CO2 eq ha-1 yr-1 (95% confidence interval, CI), with CO2 and N2O responsible for ca. 60 and ca. 40% of this value, respectively. These GHG emissions suggest that conversion of Southeast Asian peat swamp forest is contributing between 16.6 and 27.9% (95% CI) of combined total national GHG emissions from Malaysia and Indonesia or 0.44 and 0.74% (95% CI) of annual global emissions

Propagation and vertical structure of the tidal flow in Nares Strait

The southward freshwater flux though Nares Strait is an important component of the Arctic's freshwater budget. On short time scales, flow through the strait is dominated by the tides, and tidal dynamics may be important for the magnitude of the freshwater flux over longer periods. Here we build upon our existing knowledge of the tides in the region by exploring their propagation and vertical structure using data from four bottom mounted ADCPs deployed in Nares Strait between 2003 and 2006. We observe that propagating barotropic semi‐diurnal tidal waves interact to create a standing wave pattern, explaining the abnormally large tidal amplitudes that are observed in this region. In the along‐strait direction, semi‐diurnal tidal currents exhibit strong variations with depth. In contrast, the diurnal tides propagate northward through the strait as progressive waves, and the tidal currents are broadly depth invariant. Proximity of Nares Strait to the semi‐diurnal critical latitude, and the topographical restriction imposed by the steep side‐wall of Ellesmere Island are primary drivers behind the observed vertical variability. In the upper part of the water column, baroclinic activity increases the tidal current amplitude by up to 25%. In the across‐strait direction, a two layer structure exists in both the diurnal and semi‐diurnal tidal flow, with an apparent phase lag of approximately a quarter of a tidal cycle across the strait for the semi‐diurnal tide. Our results suggest that strong vertical motion exists against the side‐walls of Nares Strait, as the across‐strait flow interacts with the steeply sloping bathymetry

Variational Exploration Module VEM: A Cloud-Native Optimization and Validation Tool for Geospatial Modeling and AI Workflows

Geospatial observations combined with computational models have become key to understanding the physical systems of our environment and enable the design of best practices to reduce societal harm. Cloud-based deployments help to scale up these modeling and AI workflows. Yet, for practitioners to make robust conclusions, model tuning and testing is crucial, a resource intensive process which involves the variation of model input variables. We have developed the Variational Exploration Module which facilitates the optimization and validation of modeling workflows deployed in the cloud by orchestrating workflow executions and using Bayesian and machine learning-based methods to analyze model behavior. User configurations allow the combination of diverse sampling strategies in multi-agent environments. The flexibility and robustness of the model-agnostic module is demonstrated using real-world applications.Comment: Submitted to IAAI 2024: Deployed Innovative Tools for Enabling AI Application

Legal issues in clouds: towards a risk inventory.

Cloud computing technologies have reached a high level of development, yet a number of obstacles still exist that must be overcome before widespread commercial adoption can become a reality. In a cloud environment, end users requesting services and cloud providers negotiate service-level agreements (SLAs) that provide explicit statements of all expectations and obligations of the participants. If cloud computing is to experience widespread commercial adoption, then incorporating risk assessment techniques is essential during SLA negotiation and service operation. This article focuses on the legal issues surrounding risk assessment in cloud computing. Specifically, it analyses risk regarding data protection and security, and presents the requirements of an inherent risk inventory. The usefulness of such a risk inventory is described in the context of the OPTIMIS project

Ocean circulation and properties in Petermann Fjord, Greenland

The floating ice shelf of Petermann glacier interacts directly with the ocean and is thought to lose at least 80% of its mass through basal melting. Based on three opportunistic ocean surveys in Petermann Fjord we describe the basic oceanography: the circulation at the fjord mouth, the hydrographic structure beneath the ice shelf, the oceanic heat delivered to the under‐ice cavity, and the fate of the resulting melt water. The 1100 m deep fjord is separated from neighboring Hall Basin by a sill between 350 and 450 m deep. Fjord bottom waters are renewed by episodic spillover at the sill of Atlantic water from the Arctic. Glacial melt water appears on the northeast side of the fjord at depths between 200 m and that of the glacier’s grounding line (about 500 m). The fjord circulation is fundamentally three‐dimensional; satellite imagery and geostrophic calculations suggest a cyclonic gyre within the fjord mouth, with outflow on the northeast side. Tidal flows are similar in magnitude to the geostrophic flow. The oceanic heat flux into the fjord appears more than sufficient to account for the observed rate of basal melting. Cold, low‐salinity water originating in the surface layer of Nares Strait in winter intrudes far under the ice. This may limit basal melting to the inland half of the shelf. The melt rate and long‐term stability of Petermann ice shelf may depend on regional sea ice cover and fjord geometry, in addition to the supply of oceanic heat entering the fjord.Keywords: Petermann Fjord\, Greenland, Ocean circulation propertie

High heterotrophic CO2 emissions from a Malaysian oil palm plantations during dry-season

Background Tropical peatlands are currently being rapidly cleared and drained for the establishment of oil palm plantations, which threatens their globally significant carbon sequestration capacity. Large-scale land conversion of tropical peatlands is important in the context of greenhouse gas emission factors and sustainable land management. At present, quantification of carbon dioxide losses from tropical peatlands is limited by our understanding of the relative contribution of heterotrophic and autotrophic respiration to net peat surface CO2 emissions. Methods In this study we separated heterotrophic and autotrophic components of peat CO2 losses from two oil palm plantations (one established in ‘2000’ and the other in 1978, then replanted in ‘2006’) using chamber-based emissions sampling along a transect from the rooting to non-rooting zones on a peatland in Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia over the course of three months (June-August, 2014). Collar CO2 measurements were compared with soil temperature and moisture at site and also accompanied by depth profiles assessing peat C and bulk density. Results The soil respiration decreased exponentially with distance from the palm trunks with the sharpest decline found for the plantation with the younger palms. The mean heterotrophic flux was 1244.7 ± SE 149.2 mg m-2h-1 and 663.8 ± SE 102.2 mg m-2h-1 at the 2000 and 2006 plantations, respectively. Autotrophic emissions adjacent to the palm trunks were 944 ± SE 99.7 mg m-2h-1 and 1962 ± SE 246 mg m-2h-1 at the 2000 and 2006 plantations, respectively. Heterotrophic CO2 flux was positively related to peat soil moisture, but not temperature. Total peat C stocks were 60 kg m-2 (down to 1 m depth) and did not vary among plantations of different ages but SOC concentrations declined significantly with depth at both plantations but the decline was sharper in the second generation 2006 plantation. Conclusions The CO2 flux values reported in this study suggest a potential for very high carbon (C) loss from drained tropical peats during the dry season. This is particularly concerning given that more intense dry periods related to climate change are predicted for SE Asia. Taken together, this study highlights the need for careful management of tropical peatlands, and the vulnerability of their carbon storage capability under conditions of drainage