Biogeochemical Cycling of Selenium in the Arctic Ocean

Changes in the global climate may have a pronounced effect on the biogeochemical cycling of trace elements like selenium (Se) in the Arctic Ocean. This study described the first quantitative examination of the biogeochemical cycle of selenium in the Amerasian Basin, providing the baseline from which future changes can be identified. Aerosol, dissolved and particulate water samples were collected for Se determinations during the U.S. GEOTRACES GN01 Arctic expedition that sampled the two parts of the Amerasian Basin in 2015: The Makarov Basin on the way to the North Pole and the Canada Basin on the return trip to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Particulate Se concentrations were low throughout the cruise with the highest concentrations occurring at the bottom depths of the shallow shelf stations (0.06 nM). Particulate Se to particulate organic carbon atomic ratios were around phytoplankton ratios (~10-6) on the shelf, but were elevated (10-5) in the basin. Aerosol Se concentrations were low (0.01 – 0.11 nmol m-3, n=13), but enrichment factors were elevated and ranged from 1540 to 66698, suggesting distant fossil fuel combustion or local gaseous sources such as marine biogenic release of dimethyl selenide as a dominant source of aerosol Se. Generally, the depth profiles of the dissolved Se species did not resemble those of nutrient-like profiles seen in other ocean basins. Prediction of selenite and selenate concentrations using silicate and phosphate concentrations, shown to be accurate in other oceans, tended to overestimate selenate and underestimate selenite concentration throughout the Amerasian Basin. This lack of agreement suggests a slower than normal oxidation rate from selenite to selenate. Estimated fluxes of total dissolved Se indicate that 1.0 ± 0.5 x 108 mol Se enter and 1.0 ± 0.1 x 108 mol Se leave the Amerasian Basin each year. The Atlantic Ocean is the dominant factor in both input and removal of water to and from the Arctic. Therefore, it likely plays a major role in the Se budget of the Arctic and future efforts should be made to directly measure the input and removal of Se via the Atlantic Ocean. The overlap in total input and removal fluxes suggest that the Se cycling in the Amerasian Basin is at steady state. Due to the cycle being in steady state, residence times of Se were calculated throughout the basin. Selenium was calculated to have a total Amerasian Basin residence time of 149 ± 112 years and 151 ± 27 years by dividing the Se inventory by the total input rate and total removal rate respectively. Se in the intermediate basin layer, the basin water above the Lomonosov Ridge sill depth, had a residence time of 71 ± 22 years. These residence times are roughly 5 and 2 times longer than the residence time of the water highlighting the high rate of dissolved Se regeneration. The Arctic Ocean will continue to change in response to a warming climate. Increased river discharge, smaller ice extent, and ice-free summers are likely to modify the biogeochemical behavior of trace elements in the Arctic and this study provides information on how the Se cycle might be affected

The Transformational Impact of Learning to Teach Online

An action research study is being proposed in which professional development for faculty to prepare to teach online will be intentionally designed to promote transformational learning and inform classroom teaching practices by critically reflecting on and discussing their assumptions and beliefs about teaching

Teaching with New Eyes: Transformative Faculty Professional Development for Online Teaching

This qualitative action research study explored the changes in teaching assumptions and beliefs and face-to-face teaching practices fostered by transformative learning among higher education faculty as a result of participating in a blended professional development program to prepare them to teach online. Keywords: transformative learning, faculty development, action researc

Eye Movement Monitoring Reveals Differential Influences of Emotion on Memory

Research shows that memory for emotional aspects of an event may be enhanced at the cost of impaired memory for surrounding peripheral details. However, this has only been assessed directly via verbal reports which reveal the outcome of a long stream of processing but cannot shed light on how/when emotion may affect the retrieval process. In the present experiment, eye movement monitoring (EMM) was used as an indirect measure of memory as it can reveal aspects of online memory processing. For example, do emotions modulate the nature of memory representations or the speed with which such memories can be accessed? Participants viewed central negative and neutral scenes surrounded by three neutral objects and after a brief delay, memory was assessed indirectly via EMM and then directly via verbal reports. Consistent with the previous literature, emotion enhanced central and impaired peripheral memory as indexed by eye movement scanning and verbal reports. This suggests that eye movement scanning may contribute and/or is related to conscious access of memory. However, the central/peripheral tradeoff effect was not observed in an early measure of eye movement behavior, i.e., participants were faster to orient to a critical region of change in the periphery irrespective of whether it was previously studied in a negative or neutral context. These findings demonstrate emotion's differential influences on different aspects of retrieval. In particular, emotion appears to affect the detail within, and/or the evaluation of, stored memory representations, but it may not affect the initial access to those representations

Ihor S. Diakunchak

Siemens Westinghouse Advanced Turbine Systems Program Final Summar

A review of Websites and Mobile Applications for People with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Towards Shared Guidelines

Many studies show the effective positive impact of using computer technologies to support the lives of users with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), for simplifying interaction with other people, for organising daily activities, for improving relation with family and friends. Despite that, only a restricted part of the current websites is accessible for people with ASD. In this paper, we discuss a set of guidelines that should be followed by designers while developing websites or mobile applications for users with ASD. We review many of the existing websites and applications in order to check which comply with all, or parts of these guidelines. We finally highlight current common limitations and address new challenging research directions. \ua9 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2017

Tough Cookies: Hands On Nutrition at Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center

Background: Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center provides a safe and secure environment to teenagers who have been remanded here by the court system for either short or long term care. We focused on nutrition at the center, particularly the evening snacks provided. The foods teens choose to eat are extremely important as total nutrient needs are higher in adolescence than during any other time in the life cycle. Little prior research on the nutritional beliefs or habits of institutionalized youth has been done. Our goal was to improve the provided snacks, as some staff members were concerned that these were not healthy. Nutritional value of food is not a priority for many teens, despite the fact that they are usually well informed about good nutrition. Rather than simply dictate a menu change, we also attempted to assess and possibly modify esident attitudes regarding healthy food. We hoped to both provide a more nutritionally healthy environment and to each knowledge and skills that would lead to long-term physical and emotional benefits in an at-risk population.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1045/thumbnail.jp

Internalising symptoms and working memory as predictors of mathematical attainment trajectories across the primary-secondary education transition

The transition from primary to secondary education is a critical period in early adolescence which is related to increased anxiety and stress, increased prevalence of mental health issues, and decreased maths performance, suggesting it is an important period to investigate maths attainment. Previous research has focused on anxiety and working memory as predictors of maths, without investigating any long-term effects around the education transition. This study examined working memory and internalizing symptoms as predictors of children's maths attainment trajectories (age 7–16) across the transition to secondary education using secondary longitudinal analysis of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). This study found statistically significant, but very weak evidence for the effect of internalizing symptoms and working memory on maths attainment. Greater parental education was the strongest predictor, suggesting that children of parents with a degree (compared with those with a CSE) gain the equivalent of almost a year's schooling in maths. However, due to methodological limitations, the effects of working memory and internalizing symptoms on attainment cannot be fully understood with the current study. Additional research is needed to further uncover this relationship, using more time-appropriate measures

I feel you: the design and evaluation of a domotic affect-sensitive spoken conversational agent

We describe the work on infusion of emotion into a limited-task autonomous spoken conversational agent situated in the domestic environment, using a need-inspired task-independent emotion model (NEMO). In order to demonstrate the generation of affect through the use of the model, we describe the work of integrating it with a natural-language mixed-initiative HiFi-control spoken conversational agent (SCA). NEMO and the host system communicate externally, removing the need for the Dialog Manager to be modified, as is done in most existing dialog systems, in order to be adaptive. The first part of the paper concerns the integration between NEMO and the host agent. The second part summarizes the work on automatic affect prediction, namely, frustration and contentment, from dialog features, a non-conventional source, in the attempt of moving towards a more user-centric approach. The final part reports the evaluation results obtained from a user study, in which both versions of the agent (non-adaptive and emotionally-adaptive) were compared. The results provide substantial evidences with respect to the benefits of adding emotion in a spoken conversational agent, especially in mitigating users' frustrations and, ultimately, improving their satisfaction