Letting it all spill out: the benefits of venting for creative writing teachers and students

The need to provide solutions to pandemic deterritorialized teaching took effect almost overnight in early spring 2020. There was an immediate amplification of digital literacy requirements. The need for multi-modal fluency and connectivity intensified throughout the pandemic and its effects were felt nowhere near as profoundly as in education. Overnight new learning systems had to be designed and implemented. New technology needed to rapidly be acquired and shared. Teachers had to redesign teaching curricula so that content would be fit for the new modes of delivery that was emerging. Students and teachers were inundated with ‘new’ as innovation became a key force underpinning the production and consumption of pedagogy. The challenges were many, and how we approached the challenges became vital to our survival and success within a period of monumental distress. This research looks at three models that were used to assist teachers in managing expectations during the pandemic

Quality measurements of an UWB reduced-size CPW-fed aperture antenna

The paper presents a characterization of a compact co-planar waveguide (CPW)-fed slot loaded low return loss planar printed antenna designed for wireless communication and ultra-wideband (UWB) applications. Following a review of the antenna design, which was implemented and simulated using Agilent's Advanced Design System (ADS), the paper presents laboratory measurements of relative gain and impulse response transformed from the frequency domain. An antenna quality metric based on time-domain S21 is discussed and related to antenna quality metrics such as the System Fidelity Factor (SFF)

Continuity equation and local gauge invariance for the N3LO nuclear Energy Density Functionals

Background: The next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N3LO) nuclear energy density functional extends the standard Skyrme functional with new terms depending on higher-order derivatives of densities, introduced to gain better precision in the nuclear many-body calculations. A thorough study of the transformation properties of the functional with respect to different symmetries is required, as a step preliminary to the adjustment of the coupling constants. Purpose: Determine to which extent the presence of higher-order derivatives in the functional can be compatible with the continuity equation. In particular, to study the relations between the validity of the continuity equation and invariance of the functional under gauge transformations. Methods: Derive conditions for the validity of the continuity equation in the framework of time-dependent density functional theory. The conditions apply separately to the four spin-isospin channels of the one-body density matrix. Results: We obtained four sets of constraints on the coupling constants of the N3LO energy density functional that guarantee the validity of the continuity equation in all spin-isospin channels. In particular, for the scalar-isoscalar channel, the constraints are the same as those resulting from imposing the standard U(1) local-gauge-invariance conditions. Conclusions: Validity of the continuity equation in the four spin-isospin channels is equivalent to the local-gauge invariance of the energy density functional. For vector and isovector channels, such validity requires the invariance of the functional under local rotations in the spin and isospin spaces.Comment: 12 Latex pages, submitted to Physical Review

The water problem in Iowa

Water deficiencies throughout Iowa and other Midwest states the past 3 years have re-emphasized the importance of water to our farms and cities. Cities have had to resort to more costly means of procuring adequate water for their citizens. Farmers have been digging deeper wells, constructing ponds and hauling water to meet their domestic and livestock needs. Many farmers have started to use or have contemplated using water from streams and wells to irrigate their crops. Industries are becoming increasingly concerned with the availability of water as a major factor in locating and expanding plants. Experience during the last 3 years has demonstrated that water problems are aggravated periodically by rainfall deficiencies. However, these periodic aggravations emphasize but do not explain the basic water problem before us. In the main our water problems result from greatly increased demands upon available water supplies. These increasing demands stem from two factors: (1) a growing population and (2) an increasing per capita consumption. These two elements of the increasing demand for water show no indication of relaxing their rates of increase

Experiment K-6-09. Morphological and biochemical investigation of microgravity-induced nerve and muscle breakdown. Part 1: Investigation of nerve and muscle breakdown during spaceflight; Part 2: Biochemical analysis of EDL and PLT muscles

The present findings on rat hindlimb muscles suggest that skeletal muscle weakness induced by prolonged spaceflight can result from a combination of muscle fiber atrophy, muscle fiber segmental necrosis, degeneration of motor nerve terminals and destruction of microcirculatory vessels. Damage was confined to the red adductor longus (AL) and soleus muscles. The midbelly region of the AL muscle had more segmental necrosis and edema than the ends. Macrophages and neutrophils were the major mononucleated cells infiltrating and phagocytosing the cellular debris. Toluidine blue-positive mast cells were significantly decreased in Flight AL muscles compared to controls; this indicated that degranulation of mast cells contributed to tissue edema. Increased ubiquitination of disrupted myofibrils may have promoted myofilament degradation. Overall, mitochondria content and SDH activity were normal, except for a decrease in the subsarcolemmal region. The myofibrillar ATPase activity shifted toward the fast type in the Flight AL muscles. Some of the pathological changes may have occurred or been exacerbated during the 2 day postflight period of readaptation to terrestrial gravity. While simple atrophy should be reversible by exercise, restoration of pathological changes depends upon complex processes of regeneration by stem cells. Initial signs of muscle and nerve fiber regeneration were detected. Even though regeneration proceeds on Earth, the space environment may inhibit repair and cause progressive irreversible deterioration during long term missions. Muscles obtained from Flight rats sacrificed immediately (within a few hours) after landing are needed to distinguish inflight changes from postflight readaptation

Oscillatory oblique stagnation-point flow toward a plane wall

Two-dimensional oscillatory oblique stagnation-point flow toward a plane wall is investigated. The problem is a eneralisation of the steady oblique stagnation-point flow examined by previous workers. Far from the wall, the flow is composed of an irrotational orthogonal stagnation-point flow with a time-periodic strength, a simple shear flow of constant vorticity, and a time-periodic uniform stream. An exact solution of the Navier-Stokes equations is sought for which the flow streamfunction depends linearly on the coordinate parallel to the wall. The problem formulation reduces to a coupled pair of partial differential equations in time and one spatial variable. The first equation describes the oscillatory orthogonal stagnation-point flow discussed by previous workers. The second equation, which couples to the first, describes the oblique component of the flow. A description of the flow velocity field, the instantaneous streamlines, and the particle paths is sought through numerical solutions of the governing equations and via asymptotic analysis

Application of multidisciplinary optimization methods to the design of a supersonic transport

An optimization design method is discussed. This method is based on integrating existing disciplinary analysis and sensitivity analysis techniques by means of generalized sensitivity equations. A generic design system implementing this method is described. The system is being used to design the configuration and internal structure of a supersonic transport wing for optimum performance. This problem combines the disciplines of linear aerodynamics, structures, and performance. Initial results which include the disciplines of aerodynamics and structures in a conventional minimum weight design under static aeroelastic constraints are presented

Population Update, Report Number 1

How many persons of the ages 60 and over or 65 and over are living in South Dakota counties? How rapidly is this segment of our population growing? Answers to these questions are essential to planning efforts for the many federal, state, and local programs dealing with the unique needs of the elderly. The U.S. National Clearinghouse on Aging, in conjunction with the Bureau of the Census, has annually estimated the population of those 60 and over (60 +) and 65 and over (65 +) since 1974. In order to provide a better understanding of the Clearinghouse\u27s estimates for South Dakota\u27s counties, and to make this information available to more people, the Rural Sociology Department at South Dakota State University, Brookings, has prepared this Population Update bulletin. The U.S. 1970 Census showed South Dakota had 80,274 people 65 + years of age, which was 12.1 % of the state\u27s population. (Table 1). By 1975, the figure had jumped to 85,400 (12.5%), 5,000 more than in 1970. (See more in text

A documentary analysis of Victorian Government health information assets’ websites to identify availability of documentation for data sharing and reuse in Australia

Background: Health data sharing is important for monitoring diseases, policy and practice, and planning health services. If health data are used for secondary purposes, information needs to be provided to assist in reuse. Objectives: To review government health information asset websites to ascertain the extent of readily available, explanatory documentation for researcher sharing and reuse of these data. Method: Documentary analysis was undertaken on selected Victorian Government health information assets’ websites in Australia. Data were obtained on nine information-categories: data custodian; data context; data dictionary; quality controls; data quality; limitations; access process; privacy/confidentiality/security and research requests/outputs. Information-categories were compared by dataset type (administrative or population-health) and by curating organisation (government or other agency). Descriptive statistics were used. Results: The majority of the 25 websites examined provided information on data custodian (96%) and data context (92%). Two-thirds reported access process (68%) and privacy/confidentiality/security information (64%). Compared with population-health websites, administrative dataset websites were more likely to provide access to a data dictionary (67% vs 50%) and information on quality controls (56% vs 44%), but less likely to provide information on the access process (56% vs 75%) and on research requests/outputs (0% vs 56%, p = 0.024). Compared with government-curated websites, other agency websites were more likely to provide information on research requests/outputs (80% vs 7%, p < 0.001). Conclusion: There is inconsistent explanatory documentation available for researchers for reuse of Victorian Government health datasets. Importantly, there is insufficient information on data quality or dataset limitations. Research-curated dataset websites are significantly more transparent in displaying research requests or outputs