Designing a flexible support system in dialogue with students to meet their needs

A more stringent financial climate, alongside technological and lifestyle changes, have diversified student needs and promoted the use of inclusive learning and support strategies. This paper reports on the development and evaluation of academic skills centres at an English Higher Education Institution and considers ways in which the service is able to benefit users and providers, it goes on to argue that, by fostering a dialogue with students and using a range of delivery models, the provision has been made flexible, diversified and student centred and thereby addresses issues of current significance within the institution and sector more broadly

Trends in the Health of Older Californians: Data From the 2001, 2003 and 2005 California Health Interview Surveys

Analyzes trends in the health status and use of preventive services among Californians age 65 and over by race/ethnicity, insurance type, and region. Reports rises in doctor visits and in cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, and other illnesses

North American Jurassic Apparent Polar Wander: Implications for Plate Motion, Paleogeography, and Cordilleran Tectonics

Eight paleomagnetic poles are considered to be reliable Jurassic reference poles for cratonic North America. These poles form a consistent chronological progression defining two arcuate tracks of apparent polar wander (APW) from Sinemurian through Tithonian time (203-145 Ma). Combined with reliable Triassic and Cretaceous reference poles, the resulting path is well modeled by paleomagnetic Euler pole (PEP) analysis and is significantly different from previous APW compilations. These differences reflect differences in original data sets, modes of analysis, and geologic time scales and translate into substantial and important differences in paleolatitude estimates for cratonic North America. PEP analysis reveals two cusps, or changes in the direction of APW: one in the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic (Jl) and one in the Late Jurassic (J2). The J1 cusp represents the change in North American absolute plate motion associated with rifting of the central Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, while the J2 cusp correlates temporally with the marine magnetic anomaly M21 plate reorganization and to various North American intraplate tectonomagmatic events (e.g., Nevadan Orogeny). Analysis of pole progression along the J1 to J2 and J2 to Cretaceous APW tracks indicates constant angular plate velocity of 0.6°-0.7°/m.y. from 203 to 150 Ma followed by significantly higher velocity from 150 to 130? Ma. Late Triassic-Jurassic reference poles indicate more southerly paleolatitudes for cratonic North America than have previous compilations requiring modification of displacement scenarios for suspect terranes along the western Cordillera

Simulated hurricane-induced changes in light and nutrient regimes change seedling performance in Everglades forest-dominant species

Wind damage from cyclones can devastate the forest canopy, altering environmental conditions in the understory that affect seedling growth and plant community regeneration. To investigate the impact of hurricane-induced increases in light and soil nutrients as a result of canopy defoliation, we conducted a two-way factorial light and nutrient manipulation in a shadehouse experiment. We measured seedling growth of the dominant canopy species in the four Everglades forest communities: pine rocklands (Pinus elliottii var densa), cypress domes (Taxodium distichum), hardwood hammocks, and tree islands (Quercus virginiana and Bursera simaruba). Light levels were full sun and 50% shade, and nutrient levels coupled with an additional set of individuals that were subjected to a treatment mimicking the sudden effects of canopy opening from hurricane-induced defoliation and the corresponding nutrient pulse. Seedlings were measured weekly for height growth and photosynthesis, with seedlings being harvested after 16 weeks for biomass, leaf area, and leaf tissue N and 13C isotope ratio. Growth rates and biomass accumulation responded more to differences in soil nutrients than differences in light availability, with largest individuals being in the high nutrient treatments. For B. simaruba and P. elliottii, the highest photosynthetic rates occurred in the high light, high nutrient treatment, while T. distichum and Q. virginiana photosynthetic rates were highest in low light, high nutrient treatment. Tissue biomass allocation patterns remained similar across treatments, except for Q. virginiana, which altered above- and belowground biomass allocation to increase capture of limiting soil and light resources. In response to the hurricane simulation treatment, height growth increased rapidly for Q. virginiana and B. simaruba, with nonsignificant increases for the other two species. We show here that ultimately, hurricane-adapted, tropical species may be more likely to recolonize the forest canopy following a large-scale hurricane disturbance

Short term changes in moisture content drive strong changes in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and gross primary productivity in four Arctic moss communities

Climate change is currently altering temperature and precipitation totals and timing in Arctic regions. Moss communities constitute much of the understory in Arctic vegetation, and as poikilohydric plants moss are highly sensitive to timing and duration of moisture levels. Here we investigate the role of moisture content on NDVI, red and near-infrared reflectance, and gross primary productivity (GPP) of two sphagnum and two pleurocarpus moss community types during two separate drying experiments. For both experiments, blocks of moss were collected near Imnavait Creek, Alaska, saturated to full water capacity, and then allowed to air dry before being re-saturated. Drying of blocks was conducted in a translucent outdoor tent during the first experiment and under indoor climate-controlled conditions during the second. Community NDVI (experiment 1 and 2), and GPP (experiment 2) were measured at regular intervals during the dry-down and after rewetting. In both experiments, moss NDVI sharply declined between 80% and 70% moisture content for sphagnum moss communities (NDVI change = −0.17 to −0.2), but less so for pleurocarpus moss communities (NDVI change = −0.06 to −0.12). Changes in NDVI were largely the result of increases in reflectance in red wavelengths. Peak GPP for all community types in the second experiment (1.31 to 2.08 μmol m−2 s−1) occurred at 80% moisture content and declined significantly as moisture content decreased. Rates of GPP continued to decline below 80% moisture content until near zero as moss reached a steady weight (air dry) over a period of 84 h, while NDVI values declined slowly between 70% hydration and fully air dry. Re-saturation caused NDVI to increase in both sphagnum (NDVI change = +0.18 to +0.23) and pleurocarpus (NDVI change = +0.10 to +0.17) communities. Only sphagnum communities showed GPP resuming (0.824 μmol m−2 s−1) after 24 h. The strong changes in NDVI and mismatch of moss NDVI values and GPP with moisture content fluctuations indicate that using NDVI as a proxy for productivity in Arctic vegetation communities may be problematic and underscores the need for quantification of moss community coverage, composition, and moisture content

A Benes̆ Based NoC Switching Architecture for Mixed Criticality Embedded Systems

Multi-core, Mixed Criticality Embedded (MCE) real-time systems require high timing precision and predictability to guarantee there will be no interference between tasks. These guarantees are necessary in application areas such as avionics and automotive, where task interference or missed deadlines could be catastrophic, and safety requirements are strict. In modern multi-core systems, the interconnect becomes a potential point of uncertainty, introducing major challenges in proving behaviour is always within specified constraints, limiting the means of growing system performance to add more tasks, or provide more computational resources to existing tasks. We present MCENoC, a Network-on-Chip (NoC) switching architecture that provides innovations to overcome this with predictable, formally verifiable timing behaviour that is consistent across the whole NoC. We show how the fundamental properties of Benes networks benefit MCE applications and meet our architecture requirements. Using SystemVerilog Assertions (SVA), formal properties are defined that aid the refinement of the specification of the design as well as enabling the implementation to be exhaustively formally verified. We demonstrate the performance of the design in terms of size, throughput and predictability, and discuss the application level considerations needed to exploit this architecture

Impacts of Problem-Based Instruction on Students’ Beliefs about Physics and Learning Physics

To help prepare students to address future challenges in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), they need to develop 21st-century skills. These skills are mediated by their beliefs about the nature of scientific knowledge and practices, or epistemological beliefs. One approach shown to support students’ development of these beliefs and skills is problem-based instruction (PBI), which encourages collaborative self-directed learning while working on open-ended problems. We used a mixed-method qualitative approach to examine how implementing PBI in a physics course taught at a Dutch university affected students’ beliefs about physics and learning physics. Analysis of the responses to the course surveys (41–74% response rates) from the first implementation indicated students appreciated opportunities for social interactions with peers and use of scientific equipment with PBI but found difficulties connecting to the Internet given the COVID-19 restrictions. The Colorado Learning Attitudes towards Science Survey (CLASS), a validated survey on epistemological beliefs about physics and learning physics, was completed by a second cohort of students in a subsequent implementation of PBI for the same course; analysis of the students’ pre- and post-responses (28% response rate) showed a slight shift towards more expert-like perspectives despite challenges (e.g., access to lab). Findings from this study may inform teachers with an interest in supporting the development of students’ epistemological beliefs about STEM and the implementation of PBI in undergraduate STEM courses.</p