Does Using a Tablet for Assessments Improve Students’ Assessment Scores?

After being given an iPad to use in my classroom, students quickly began to demonstrate growth behaviorally. Students were allowed access to the iPad after completing an activity or earning all of their reinforcer/tokens. Being that the students were doing so well with using the iPad as a reinforcer, I began to wander the impact using the iPad would have on students’ assessment scores. Therefore, I posed the question as to whether or not the iPad/tablet would increase students’ assessment scores. This paper discusses teacher perspectives of using the iPad as well as the data collected and analyzed to determine if, in fact, the iPad/tablet does increase students’ scores when being used as an assessment tool. Since there was such a great improvement with students’ behaviors, I would hypothesize that the iPad/tablet would also improve students’ assessment scores

Balancing Dual Roles: Doctoral Students Who Are Full-time Teachers

Doctoral students face numerous barriers in the pursuit of their degree (Bieber & Worley, 2006; Cao, 2001). We wanted to discover challenges doctoral students who were full-time teachers faced and how they handled these stressors. We will share our findings through a dramatic enactment, each taking a role (full-time teacher; doctoral student). Through the tapestry of participants’ voices, we wrote a script to embody salient themes. We will share pitfalls and successes related to the study

Snapshot: Trial Types in Precision Medicine.

Integrating precision diagnostics into personalized treatments requires understanding how biomarkers relate to clinical outcomes. Various clinical data collection methods exist, each with strengths and weaknesses. Interventional data are high quality but narrowly focused. Real-world data (RWD) provide broader information but with variable quality. Master protocols allow better efficiency in data collection. The master observational trial bridges the gap between interventional and retrospective RWD collection methods. To view this SnapShot, open or download the PDF

Oversight of Petroleum Systems Integrity in Alaska

PresentationFollowing pipeline leaks on the Alaskan North Slope in 2006, the state of Alaska, by executive order of the governor, responded by establishing the Petroleum Systems Integrity Office (PSIO) as the lead state agency responsible for oversight of the maintenance of facilities, equipment, and infrastructure for oil and natural gas resources in Alaska. The executive order identified three major activities for PSIO: • An assessment of Alaska’s oil and gas infrastructure integrity; • An assessment of current regulatory oversight in Alaska; and • A review of industry oversight efforts. PSIO efforts identified infrastructure components with indeterminate regulatory oversight. In addition, PSIO recommended improvements in state oversight, including establishment of minimum requirements for operators’ integrity management systems and the ability to collect sufficient information to develop leading performance indicators. PSIO was consolidated into another state agency in 2014 and its mission was suspended in 2015. Future efforts to improve policies, systems, and methods of oversight will depend on executive direction, legislative support, and emphasis within state agencies

Cherax quadricarinatus Resistant to Chequa iflavirus: A Pilot Study

High mortalities of redclaw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) were reported from northern Queensland farms, mainly attributed to two viruses, Chequa iflavirus and Athtab bunyavirus. From a research population of redclaw crayfish with these pre-existing viral infections, five individuals were found uninfected by Chequa iflavirus but infected with Athtab bunyavirus. A pilot study was designed to examine if progeny crayfish from this cohort were resistant to infections by Chequa iflavirus. Two experiments measured changes in viral load with RT-qPCR. Seven donors, four negative controls and six crayfish injected with a purified virus or saline were used. In Experiment 1, the purified viral inoculum was injected into the crayfish, and they were bled 14 days post-injection (dpi). In Experiment 2, haemolymph containing the viruses was injected into the same crayfish and they were bled at 24 hpi, 48 hpi, 7 dpi and 14 dpi. In Exp. 1, the crayfish cleared Chequa iflavirus infections within 14 dpi, while in Exp. 2, it was within 24 hpi. One mortality was observed, but that crayfish had cleared the virus before dying. The number of copies of Athtab bunyavirus and the weights of the crayfish did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) between the control and injected crayfish. Histology of crayfish all showed that the haemolymph vessels were clear of granulomas, suggesting no bacterial involvement. There was no melanisation in the gill tissue of control crayfish, but it was prominent in virus-injected crayfish. Neither group had haemocytic infiltration of the muscle fibres. Anti-viral immune mechanisms of RNA interference and Cherax quadricarinatus Down Syndrome Cell Adhesion Molecule (DSCAM) are hypothesised to be involved in viral clearance. We conclude that these crayfish were resistant to Chequa iflavirus infections and could be commercially exploited by aquaculturists as a nuclear breeding stock if numbers are increased over time

The Differing Influences of Soil Moisture and Antecedent Soil Moisture on the Timing and Magnitude of N2O Production

Riparian soils are thought to be potential hotspots for nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes from incomplete denitrification, with soil moisture cited as a primary controller, however, because there are multiple potential pathways for N2O production in soils, each with their own environmental regulators, the timing and magnitude of N2O fluxes in difficult to predict. Often empirical observations have failed to yield consistent relationships between environmental factors in lab and field scenarios. This thesis characterizes the hydrological controls (soil moisture, water table depth, and precipitation) on N2O fluxes from different positions on the riparian landscape (dry, loamy upland, and wet, organic lowland) in the field during the growing season. Nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in the field, as well as environmental and climatic variables, were measured in the field. Over the three year study period N2O fluxes were consistently correlated with soil temperature during the growing season, but not with any hydrological factors. However, direct relationship between soil hydrology and N2O fluxes was more evident on an “episodic” time scales. Lab experiments were used to assess the influence of AHC on N2O production under controlled conditions. Experiment 1 employed intact soil cores collected from the upland and lowland positions of the riparian landscape and the cores were subjected to one of two contrasting moisture regimes (wet-dry-wet or dry-wet-dry). Experiment 2 used homogenized soils from the upland and lowland positions on the landscape to create a multi-factorial experiment that simultaneously altered soil moisture and soil substrate concentrations (nitrate, ammonium, organic carbon). The lab results showed that different AHC resulted in differences to the timing and magnitude of N2O fluxes, and that these patterns differed with soil type. Nitrous oxide production was often correlated with soil moisture in the lowland soils regardless of AHC. The results from Experiment 2 suggested that the upland soils were C limited, which resulted in an unpredictable relationship between soil moisture and N2O production during different AHC. The lowland soils were less affected by AHC as they were not N or C limited like the upland soils. It can be concluded from this research that the relationship between soil moisture and N2O fluxes is influenced by AHC through the influence of AHC on soil N and C dynamics. Given the differences in C and N dynamics between soils types, and the influence of AHC on soil C and N, it can be concluded that a derived relationship between soil moisture and N2O fluxes may not be directly transferable between soil types unless C and N are considered