Assessments as Teaching and Research Tools in an Environmental Problem-Solving Program for In-Service Teachers

This article discusses the use of a scenario-based assessment tool in two environmental geoscience in-service programs for middle school and high school teachers. This tool served both to guide instructional techniques and as a method to evaluate the success of the instructional approach. In each case, participants were assessed before the workshops to reveal misconceptions that could be addressed in program activities and afterwards to reveal shifts in their understanding of concepts and approaches. The researchers noted that this scenario-based assessment was effective in providing guidance in refining instructional techniques and as a method to evaluate the effectiveness of an instructional program. In addition, participating teachers reported significant changes in their teaching as a result of the program. Educational levels: Graduate or professional, Graduate or professional

Water Towers, Pump Houses, and Mountain Streams: Students' Ideas about Watersheds

This study investigates students' ideas about watersheds and how these ideas change across grade level. A group of 95 students were each asked to draw a picture of a watershed and explain their drawings. The results revealed that, in general, students understand the concept of watersheds from a very limited scientific perspective. Sixth and some seventh grade students envisioned watersheds as a water storage facility or a facility that supplies water. Eighth and ninth grade students' ideas about a watershed focused on a mountainous stream. Older students also incorporated the hydrologic cycle, but rarely represented linkages between land and watercourses. For all students, humans do not appear to be a part of a watershed, but separate from it. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Compartment-Specific and Sequential Role of MyD88 and CARD9 in Chemokine Induction and Innate Defense during Respiratory Fungal Infection

Aspergillus fumigatus forms ubiquitous airborne conidia that humans inhale on a daily basis. Although respiratory fungal infection activates the adaptor proteins CARD9 and MyD88 via C-type lectin, Toll-like, and interleukin-1 family receptor signals, defining the temporal and spatial pattern of MyD88- and CARD9-coupled signals in immune activation and fungal clearance has been difficult to achieve. Herein, we demonstrate that MyD88 and CARD9 act in two discrete phases and in two cellular compartments to direct chemokine- and neutrophil-dependent host defense. The first phase depends on MyD88 signaling because genetic deletion of MyD88 leads to delayed induction of the neutrophil chemokines CXCL1 and CXCL5, delayed neutrophil lung trafficking, and fatal pulmonary damage at the onset of respiratory fungal infection. MyD88 expression in lung epithelial cells restores rapid chemokine induction and neutrophil recruitment via interleukin-1 receptor signaling. Exogenous CXCL1 administration reverses murine mortality in MyD88-deficient mice. The second phase depends predominately on CARD9 signaling because genetic deletion of CARD9 in radiosensitive hematopoietic cells interrupts CXCL1 and CXCL2 production and lung neutrophil recruitment beyond the initial MyD88-dependent phase. Using a CXCL2 reporter mouse, we show that lung-infiltrating neutrophils represent the major cellular source of CXCL2 during CARD9-dependent recruitment. Although neutrophil-intrinsic MyD88 and CARD9 function are dispensable for neutrophil conidial uptake and killing in the lung, global deletion of both adaptor proteins triggers rapidly progressive invasive disease when mice are challenged with an inoculum that is sub-lethal for single adapter protein knockout mice. Our findings demonstrate that distinct signal transduction pathways in the respiratory epithelium and hematopoietic compartment partially overlap to ensure optimal chemokine induction, neutrophil recruitment, and fungal clearance within the respiratory tract

Letter from Everett Shepardson to John Muir, 1913 Oct 20.

[letterhead]Oct. 20, 1913.Dr. Jno. Muir,Martinez, Cal.My dear Dr. Muir,How generously you have responded to my request for your autograph! There is so much that is human in your Stickeen that it makes the receipt of your autograph copy all the more appreciated. When my daughter Kathryn shall have read it, you will doubtless receive a letter from a 10 1/2 yr. old admirer.We shall indeed look forward with pleasure to the time when you can be with us at Muir Lodge. We are certain that you will be charmed with the Lodge itself and its setting. Of course we may not have the high altitude with its accompaniments, but it is a delight to us and we hope that many friends will enjoy it with us.Again thanking you for your generousity,I am sincerely yours,Everett Shepardson.0558

Letter from Everett Shepardson to John Muir, 1913 Oct 8.

[letterhead]Oct. 8, 1913.Dr. John Muir,Pres. Sierra Club.My dear Dr. Muir,-At the dedication of Muir Lodge the Sierra Club Lodge in Santa Anita Canon [diacritic] last Saturday and Sunday, you were very much missed, indeed.Enclosed you will find some pictures which were taken by my kodak which I trust you will enjoy. I send them with my compliments.Enclosed is also a copy of Bailey Millard\u27s poem which I was privileged to read as a conclusion to the Dedication Exercises on Saturday night. I am enclosing it with the request that you will place thereon your autograph that I may have the same to give to my ten-year old daughter Kathryn who was present at the exercise and who has learned to enjoy and participate in the work and play of the Sierra Club to the extent of her youthful ability. I enclose a stamped and addressed envelope for the re-enclosure.We all are hoping that in the not far distant future you may be with us at Muir Lodge and thus re-dedicate it.Most respectfully yours,Everett Shepardson1147 Santee St.Los Angeles, Cal.Muir Lodge0557

The United States and its Coercive Democratization Attempts in Japan and Iraq

The United States engaged in coercive democratization (bringing democracy to a country via coercive measures such as occupation) endeavors in both Japan and Iraq, achieving drastically different results. The democratization of Japan is typically regarded as the gold standard of coercive democratization due to Japan’s rapid social and economic development following the United States’ occupation of the country in the years after World War II. The United States’ democratization effort in Iraq, on the other hand, has failed to create such prosperous conditions and has arguably made Iraq more unstable. This thesis seeks to identify why coercive democratization worked in Japan yet failed in Iraq by analyzing a myriad of factors that potentially influenced the outcome of the United States’ democratization efforts in both countries, including factors such as each nation’s history of colonialism, its level of ethnic and religious homo or heterogeneity, historical internal stability/instability, as well as the dedication of resources by the United States to each democratization effort. Ultimately, this thesis aims to contribute an answer to the broader question of whether or not coercive democratization is a worthwhile endeavor for the United States to pursue in the future by attempting to unearth parameters that influence the success or failure of coercive democratization attempts

Photographing Turkey Run: A Guide to Nature Photography

Photographing Turkey Run: A Guide to Nature Photography was written to be used in conjunction with Daniel P. Shepardson’s A Place Called Turkey Run: A Celebration of Indiana’s Second State Park in Photographs and Words. This guide contains tips and techniques designed to provide a basic understanding of how to photograph nature and improve one’s photography skills