Pinwheel

Once the movement portion of our project was determined, our team moved to the design development stage where we began to research and sketch out our ideas on paper until we came up with our final design. We decided to create a piece of work that would contain a considerable amount of different colored pinwheels made of construction paper that would attach to fishing wire hanging from a hula-hoop. Since the piece itself would take up a decent amount of space, we knew that we needed to have it in a space where there would be room to walk around it and still view it from all sides, including underneath and potentially from the inside. This meant we would need to attach it in an open area from a significant height. We had already established that the pinwheels would spin on their own without any extra air flow, but we preferred that the structure still be located near another source of wind (i.e. an air vent).https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/theoryinaction_projects2020/1005/thumbnail.jp

The Preservice Teacher Self-Efficacy for Writing Inventory (PTSWI): A Tool for Measuring Beliefs About Writing

Teachers are often underprepared to teach writing, which can negatively impact the performance and attitudes of their students. In teacher preparation programs, one goal should be to specifically develop future teachers of writing. Focusing on self-efficacy beliefs, increasing preservice teachers’ confidence and preparedness for teaching writing could yield positive impacts on classroom writing instructional practices. Currently, tools to quantitatively measure self-efficacy for writing and writing instruction in preservice teachers are sparse, thus limiting teacher educators’ ability to understand the efficacy of writing instruction. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to gather evidence of score validity and reliability of a newly developed, theoretically-grounded survey for measuring preservice teacher self-efficacy for writing and writing instruction. The Preservice Teacher Self-Efficacy for Writing Inventory (PTSWI) provides a pragmatic tool designed for use by teacher educators. Results indicate that the PTSWI produces valid and reliable scores that are aligned with current theories from writing research and psychology

Writing-to-Learn in Secondary Science Classes: For Whom is It Effective?

Although many agree that writing can make a unique contribution to learning, harnessing that contribution is difficult, particularly in the middle grades. The purpose of this study was to measure the efficacy of a feasible writing-to-learn intervention in Grade 6–11 science classes. We focused on middle school students because this group has been least responsive to writing interventions in previous research. We conducted an 8-week intervention in which students completed short metacognitive and longer argumentative writing tasks. Our results indicated that overall students’ ability to engage in scientific rhetoric improved, and we identified minimal difference in the growth of middle and high school students. We therefore conducted a cluster analysis to examine how learner-level variables impacted the effectiveness of the intervention. Most notable was that students with low writing motivation and science knowledge showed the largest response to the intervention. These findings suggest that writing-to-learn can be implemented in secondary science to support scientific literacy development

Developing and Examining Validity Evidence for the Writing Rubric to Inform Teacher Educators (WRITE)

Assessment is an under-researched challenge of writing development, instruction, and teacher preparation. One reason for the lack of research on writing assessment in teacher preparation is that writing achievement is multi-faceted and difficult to measure consistently. Additionally, research has reported that teacher educators and preservice teaches may have limited assessment literacy knowledge. In previous studies, researchers have struggled to provide strong evidence of validity, reliability, and fairness across raters, writing samples, and rubric items. In the present study, we fill several gaps in the research literature by developing a rubric, the Writing Rubric to Inform Teacher Educators (WRITE), which utilizes a structure that promotes assessment literacy while raters score samples. Furthermore, using modern measurement theory, we strengthen the field’s understanding of writing assessment by providing evidence of validity, reliability, and fairness of scores to support the interpretation and use of the WRITE

Mammalian Pathogenesis and Transmission of Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Viruses, Tennessee, USA, 2017

Infections with low pathogenicity and highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H7N9) viruses affected poultry in 4 states in the southeastern United States in 2017. We evaluated pathogenicity and transmission of representative viruses in mouse and ferret models and examined replication kinetics in human respiratory tract cells. These viruses can cause respiratory infections in mammalian models

Subpromille Measurements and Calculations of CO (3–0) Overtone Line Intensities

Intensities of lines in the near-infrared second overtone band (3–0) of {12}^C{16}^O are measured and calculated to an unprecedented degree of precision and accuracy. Agreement between theory and experiment to better than 1‰ is demonstrated by results from two laboratories involving two independent absorption- and dispersion-based cavity-enhanced techniques. Similarly, independent Fourier transform spectroscopy measurements of stronger lines in this band yield mutual agreement and consistency with theory at the 1‰ level. This set of highly accurate intensities can provide an intrinsic reference for reducing biases in future measurements of spectroscopic peak areas

Voting Systems and Election Reform: What Do Election Officials Think?

In the aftermath of voting problems in the 2000 presidential election, Congress passed legislation seeking to reform how elections were run and what voting technologies were used. Some of the new voting systems selected, particularly electronic voting systems, drew criticism for perceived security and transparency problems. Absent from this debate was any systematic representation of the views of the administrators who actually run these elections. This report presented the results of a survey of over 1400 local election officials from across the country. The survey solicited views on specific election systems and technologies; the factors local election officials consider in determining the appropriate election systems for their specific jurisdictions; the influence of vendors and federal, state, and local officials on the decision making process; the impact of federal reform on state and local jurisdictions; and other topics

What Ukraine Taught NATO about Hybrid Warfare

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 forced the United States and its NATO partners to be confronted with the impact of hybrid warfare far beyond the battlefield. Targeting Europe’s energy security, Russia’s malign influence campaigns and malicious cyber intrusions are affecting global gas prices, driving up food costs, disrupting supply chains and grids, and testing US and Allied military mobility. This study examines how hybrid warfare is being used by NATO’s adversaries, what vulnerabilities in energy security exist across the Alliance, and what mitigation strategies are available to the member states. Cyberattacks targeting the renewable energy landscape during Europe’s green transition are increasing, making it urgent that new tools are developed to protect these emerging technologies. No less significant are the cyber and information operations targeting energy security in Eastern Europe as it seeks to become independent from Russia. Economic coercion is being used against Western and Central Europe to stop gas from flowing. China’s malign investments in Southern and Mediterranean Europe are enabling Beijing to control several NATO member states’ critical energy infrastructure at a critical moment in the global balance of power. What Ukraine Taught NATO about Hybrid Warfare will be an important reference for NATO officials and US installations operating in the European theater.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1952/thumbnail.jp

Absorption Coefficient (ABSCO) Tables for the Orbiting Carbon Observatories: Version 5.1

The accuracy of atmospheric trace gas retrievals depends directly on the accuracy of the molecular absorption model used within the retrieval algorithm. For remote sensing of well-mixed gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), where the atmospheric variability is small compared to the background, the quality of the molecular absorption model is key. Recent updates to oxygen (O₂) absorption coefficients (ABSCO) for the 0.76 μm A-band and the water vapor (H₂O) continuum model within the 1.6 μm and 2.06 μm CO₂ bands used within the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2 and OCO-3) algorithm are described here. Updates in the O₂ A-band involve the inclusion of new laboratory measurements within multispectrum fits to improve relative consistency between O₂ line shapes and collision-induced absorption (CIA). The H₂O continuum model has been updated to MTCKD v3.2, which has benefited from information from a range of laboratory studies relative to the model utilized in the previous ABSCO version. Impacts of these spectroscopy updates have been evaluated against ground-based atmospheric spectra from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) and within the framework of the OCO-2 algorithm, using OCO-2 soundings covering a range of atmospheric and surface conditions. The updated absorption coefficients (ABSCO version 5.1) are found to offer improved fitting residuals and reduced biases in retrieved surface pressure relative to the previous version (ABSCO v5.0) used within B8 and B9 of the OCO-2 retrieval algorithm and have been adopted for the OCO B10 Level 2 algorithm