Investigations with satellite data temperature retrievals

A method is presented for using satellite measurements to interpolate vertical temperature soundings between radiosonde stations. The method finds a set of coefficients, which when multiplied by corresponding measured radiance quantities, yield zero temperature error at a radiosonde station. This derived set of coefficients is then applied to satellite radiance measurements at places between radiosonde stations. The computations show, for example, that the average absolute error in the layer 1000-800 mbs is only 0.3K when the corresponding 'minimum-information' method error was 2.9K. The method may be most applicable to measurements from geostationary satellites, but should also be applicable to measurements from polar orbiting satellites under certain conditions

A Case Study of Effective Teaching Techniques for Diverse College Populations: Generation Xers and Baby Boomers

The purpose of this study was to identify teaching techniques that could be used in college classrooms for effectively teaching two different age cohorts: Baby Boomers and Generation X students. Baby Boomers are those people born between 1946 and 1964. The subsequent generation, known as Generation X, was born between 1965 and 1981. A multi-case qualitative study was designed to include interviews with faculty, focus groups with students, and classroom observations at three different community colleges in east Tennessee. Thirty-one faculty, ranging in age from 29 to 65, comprised the faculty panel. There were 48 student participants. Half of the 24 female students were Generation Xers. Of 22 male participants, 16 were Generation Xers. Classroom observations of nine different sections were conducted. These observations included traditional lecture classes, lab classes, and a couple of multimedia classrooms. Interviews with the faculty panel revealed almost diametrically opposite classroom behaviors between Baby Boomers and Generation X students. While older students are generally more motivated, focused, and come to class prepared to learn; younger students were reported to exhibit behaviors that are antithetical to these. Some younger students indicated that they preferred to work on teams with older students for these reasons. Additionally, effective teaching techniques for the two age cohorts were also discovered to be different. While both Boomers and Xers preferred real world examples to illustrate classroom theories, what was a relevant example for one generation was not always relevant for the other. Therefore, many instructors need to ascertain what is relevant in the Xers\u27 world as constituted by the media, the Internet, and popular culture. The modern classroom needs a variety of teaching techniques to cater to different types of learners. Perhaps a model whereby older students mentor professional behavior for the younger, and the younger teach older students how to use computer technologies would be a better learning environment. Additionally, a third of the instructors interviewed have found that they need to be entertaining to hold the shorter attention spans of the younger student. Some type of visual component is becoming the norm in most classrooms, but there was not always agreement on which visuals were most effective for the two age groups. Baby Boomers generally preferred the board for transparency viewing or note taking in outline form Conversely, while some young students liked these methods, a greater number preferred watching videos. However, the videos had to be engaging and usually no longer than 20 minutes to be effective. Furthermore, 43% of the younger students value individual attention from their instructors, indicating that it can often make the difference between passing and failing a course. A third of the faculty also noted the younger students\u27 hunger for attention. For instance, the eldest faculty member indicated, “So many Generation Xers are needy in terms of needing lots and lots of attention [because] a lot of my Generation X students are separated from their families.” Whatever the reasons, today\u27s college instructors have a difficult task in assimilating the many learning styles and generational differences of age cohorts present in their classrooms. Not only do they have to stay informed in their academic domains and adapt their courses to multimedia and distance learning technologies, but they have to be entertaining for younger students to make the class interesting

The influence of early questions on learning from text

In this research we explored the use of short-answer questions to improve learning from chapter-like texts (3395 words). Experiment 1 investigated the influence of pre-questions on recall from a text passage when tested a week later; two question sets were counterbalanced within the experimental group. Participants with pre-questions scored higher both overall (d = 3.6, 95%CI [2.4, 4.8]) and on novel questions (d = 2.0 [1.6, 2.4]). In Experiment 2, questions were made available immediately after studying the text either alongside the text, open-book, or closed-book with the opportunity to check answers, or not at all with additional study time. Learning was tested after a week. Although the immediate test scores were substantially higher for open- than closed-book tests, week-delayed performance on the same items was much worse for open-book tests and was moderately improved for closed-book tests. For seen questions, closed-book tests led to better delayed recall than did open-book tests, d = 0.7 [0.02, 1.5]. For novel questions, observed differences were small; ds = .2 [-0.6, 0.9] for both comparisons

Electrochemical intercalation and electrical conductivity of graphite fibers

Lamellar compounds of graphite fibers were prepared by electrochemical intercalation. The dependence of the electrical resistance on the intercalate concentration was determined by a quasi simultaneous method. A factor 30 decrease of the relative fiber resistance was obtained with fluorosulfuric acid

Trust in the US-EU fruit and vegetable chain: Do US exporters understand EU importers?

Research on organizational and inter organizational trust has become an important field in management and marketing literature, as it is perceived as a pivotal aspect of business transactions. However, clarifications are still needed on the issue of whom we trust; is the person whom we are trading with trusted, or the organization, or just the product‐quality? Not only has this question not been answered within this field of research, neither have cultural differences have been described to any great extent. Additionally, if the perceived factors important to establish trusting relationships may or may not be the same on the buyers and the sellers side in international business transaction in food chains. The primary objective of this research study therefore is to identify how well US exporters understand the elements of trust that establish strong relationships with EU importers. The Analytical Hierarchy Process was used to evaluate the importance of different trust elements in interviews conducted with US exporters and EU importers of fruits and vegetables. Results are compared, providing both a picture of the important facets of trust, as well as whether the partners understand the perspectives of the other partner

Working with schools and communities: a postgraduate module where students undertake a mental health or well-being intervention in a school or community setting

The case study reports on a module called 'Working with schools and communities' which forms part of the MSc in Child and Adolescent Mental Health at The University of Northampton. The module involves students designing, planning, delivering and evaluating mental health or well-being interventions in school or community settings. Through detailing the module approach, assessment strategy and applied examples of students' work, we show how the work students do on this module embraces Changemaking, both for them in terms of their own skills and experience, but also for the schools and community settings where they are based