The Practices of Play and Informal Learning in the miniGEMS STEAM Camp

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) play an important role in the educational reform and global economy. However, STEM education lacks the hands-on laboratory in the formal middle school and high school curricula. The widespread gender gap in multiple STEM disciplines causes middle-school aged girls have lower positive attitudes and interests towards STEM fields than male students. In recent years, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education has been viewed as other approaches to increase students’ interests and improve study accesses to STEM fields in the United States. The addition of the arts in STAEM education provides more learning opportunities and real-world contexts which meet more students’ interests. miniGEMS 2017 was a free two-week summer STEAM and programming camp for middle school girls in grades six to eight hosted by the Autonomous Vehicle Systems (AVS) Research and Education Laboratory at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW). miniGEMS was the first free camp with a special focus on engineering and programming in San Antonio. The camp utilized project-based learning curriculum and provided multiple hands-on experiments, field trips, and significant interactions with guest speakers, all of which were designed to increase the middle school girls’ interests in STEM-related fields. This paper provides an overview of miniGEMS STEAM camp, motivation for miniGEMS camp, and details on practicing project-based play activities in an informal learning environment.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Through the Lens of Latinas: The Influences of an Out-of-School Time STEM Program

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have been the foundation for discovery and technological innovation in the United States. The United States considers STEM education as a national priority to compete in the global economy and protect the nation’s innovation ecosystem. The high demand for careers in STEM fields promotes the importance of STEM education. However, Latinos, as the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, face many challenges in STEM education relating to a lack of progress, degree attainment, and participation in STEM professions. This research aimed to explore the learning experience in an out-of-school (OST) STEM program, called “Girls in STEM”, and how it influenced Latinas’ self-efficacy, interest, and career development. The research focused on a single-case study of a STEM OST program in South Texas and utilized eight embedded cases to explore three research questions. The sample for this study consisted of 41 middle school and high school girls (grades 7 to 12) who had long-term participation experiences in the STEM program. The data for this qualitative study consisted of in-depth interviews, presentations from art-based activities, and visual arts. Followed by the case study design, the researcher purposefully sought in-depth information from embedded “unit of analysis,” which represented eight participants in the study (Yin, 2013, p. 23). Each case presented different aspects to answer research questions. The researcher analyzed interviews and art-based activities from participants through the lens of social cognitive theory and social cognitive career theory (Bandura, 2001; Lent et al., 1994). The findings explored Latinas’ learning experiences in an OST STEM program. Participants expressed the program created a beneficial learning environment for them, where they engaged in various activities and interacted with adults in the program. The learning experience, as the starting point of SCCT model, had influences on the development of self-efficacy and the formation of interests. In this study, the integration of different subjects, opportunities for collaborative work and conversational interactions with professionals, are three characteristics of cultivating Latinas’ interest in STEM. Additionally, many girls in this study noticed the stereotypes of women in STEM, and gender bias exists in many STEM fields. Socioeconomic status may limit Latina’s options and affected their career development

A Review of the Research on Transnational Environmental Tort Law

The accelerated pace of globalization has brought about rapid economic development, while the number of transnational environmental pollution problems is also increasing. On the one hand, the imbalance of the global economy has intensified, and transnational corporations have taken advantage of the low cost and low standards of environmental protection in developing countries to transfer polluting industries; On the other hand, with the awakening of citizen’s environmental awareness in developing countries, more and more people realize that their own legal provisions are not enough to compensate for their losses, so they choose to go overseas to appeal to the home country courts. Based on the review of relevant literature in China and foreign theoretical circles in recent years, this paper summarizes it from three aspects: jurisdiction, application of law and transnational corporations, with a view to promoting the improvement of China’s transnational environmental tort law

Cyclic Permeability Evolution during Repose then Reactivation of Fractures and Faults

Cyclic growth and decay of permeability in fractures is explored during repeated reactivation and repose of saw‐cut fractures of Green River shale. These slide‐hold‐slide experiments are supported by measurements of fracture normal deformation and optical surface profilometry. Overall, we observe continuous permeability decay during repose (holds) and significant permeability enhancement during slow reactivation (slide). The permeability decay is accompanied by fault compaction. Both hydraulic aperture change (Δb_h) and measured compaction (Δb_s) are consistent with time‐dependent power law closure with a power exponent of ~0.2–0.4. These dual compaction magnitudes are positively correlated but Δb_h > Δb_s in late stage holds. Permeability enhancement during reactivation is typically also accompanied by fault dilation. However, we also observe some cases where hydraulic aperture change decouples from the measured deformation, conceivably driven by mobilization of wear products and influenced by the development of flow bottlenecks. Pretest and posttest surface profiles show that the surface topography of the fractures is planed down by shear removal. The shear removal is significant with initial laboratory prepared surface (~10 μm of aperture height) but less significant following consecutive reactivations (~2 μm). The flattened surfaces retain small‐scale, ~10–20 μm wavelength, roughness. Flow simulations, constrained by the surface topography and measured deformation, indicate that small‐scale roughness may control permeability at flow bottlenecks within a dominant flow channel. These results suggest cycles of permeability creation and destruction are an intrinsic component of the natural hydraulic system present in faults and fractures and provide an improved mechanistic understanding of the evolution of permeability during fault repose and reactivation

Do Accuracy Requirements Change Bimanual and Unimanual Control Strategies?

Bimanual coordination and unimanual aiming are two of the most studied areas in motor learning and control research. However, these areas of study have been combined in only a few experiments. By manipulating the location and the size of targets in Lissajous displays, we combined bimanual coordination tasks with Fitts’ aiming tasks to form bimanual aiming in three experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 were designed primarily to determine the degree to which the accuracy requirement influences the bimanual control processes when the Index of Difficulty (ID) was systematically increased between trials (Experiment 1) and within trials (Experiment 2) and to determine if the control strategies used to perform bimanual aiming are similar to those used in unimanual aiming. The results indicated that, as ID increased, the end-effectors’ motion gradually switched from cyclical to discrete motion for both unimanual and bimanual aiming tasks. However, the transition in control strategy occurred at a lower ID for the bimanual than the unimanual aiming task. In terms of bimanual coordination, increasing the accuracy requirement/ID reduced relative phase bias between the two limbs, whereas the stability of the coupling remained similar across IDs. Two tasks (A, B) were designed in Experiment 3 to provide performers opportunities to choose between different manual control strategies. Task A was designed so that the participants could complete the task using either unimanual or bimanual control, whereas Task B was designed so that participants could complete the task using simple or less stable bimanual coordination patterns. The purpose was to determine which control strategy the participants would choose to complete the two tasks and determine the degree to which the accuracy requirement influences the control strategy chosen. The results indicated that for both Tasks A and B at the low ID condition (ID = 2) participants preferred to use a 90° bimanual coordination pattern that is continuous, but may be more difficult from the bimanual coordination standpoint. At the high ID condition (ID = 4), the participants consistently chose to switch between more stable unimanual left and right movements in Task A and to perform a discrete 90° bimanual coordination pattern in Task B

Shifting from a thermal-constrained to water-constrained ecosystem over the Tibetan Plateau

IntroductionUnderstanding the seasonality of vegetation growth is important for maintaining sustainable development of grassland livestock systems over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Current knowledge of changes in the seasonality of TP grasslands is restricted to spring and autumn phenology, with little known about the date of peak vegetation growth, the most relevant quantity for grassland productivity.MethodsWe investigate the shifts of the date of peak vegetation growth and its climatic controls for the alpine grasslands over the TP during 2001–2020 using a framework based on the law of minimum, which is based on the assumption that peak vegetation growth would be consistent with the peak timing of the most limiting climatic resource.ResultsThe date of peak vegetation growth over the TP advanced by 0.81 days decade-1 during 2001–2020. This spring-ward shift mainly occurs in the semi-humid eastern TP, where the peak growth date tracks the advancing peak precipitation, and shifted towards the timing of peak temperature. The advancing peak growth over the eastern TP significantly stimulated the ecosystem production by 1.99 gCm-2 year-1 day-1 during 2001–2020, while this positive effect weakened from 3.02 gCm-2 year-1 day-1 during 2000s to 1.25 gCm-2 year-1 day-1 during 2010s.DiscussionOur results highlighted the importance of water availability in vegetation growth over the TP, and indicated that the TP grassland is moving towards a tipping point of transition from thermal-constrained to water-constrained ecosystem under the rapid warming climate

Memory Consolidation in Learning a Bimanual Coordination Skill

The present study was conducted to examine the process of consolidation when learning a difficult bimanual coordination pattern. There are two phenomena associated with the process of consolidation, an enhancement in performance without additional practice and the stabilization observed as resistance to interference from a similar task after acquisition of a novel skill. Both phenomena have been widely examined in sequence skill learning studies. However, few studies have examined the consolidation effect after training of a continuous and rhythmic bimanual coordination pattern. The first goal of this study was to determine if sleep enhances the performance of a minimally trained 1:2 pattern of bimanual coordination in a manner that has been observed with sequencing skills, that is, performance significantly improves after an overnight sleep. A recent study by Buchanan & Wang (in-press) showed that by manipulating the position of a visual-augmented-feedback cursor, either behind or to-the-side of a 1:2 bimanual coordination template, an advantage of the side cursor position was found in the no-feedback retention test after a fifteen-minute break. The second goal was to test whether an overnight sleep may reduce the guidance effect associated with the behind cursor position as reported in Buchanan & Wang (in-press). In the present experiment, the effect of an overnight sleep on learning a 1:2 pattern of bimanual coordination was accessed with six test trials presented immediately (IMM group) or 24 hours (SLEEP group) after 5 minutes of practice. The test trials included three trials with feedback and three trials with feedback removed. For either the IMM or SLEEP group, half of the participants practiced with the behind cursor position and the other half practiced with the side cursor position. The results indicated that the SLEEP group showed an improvement in performance from the acquisition trials to the feedback test trials whereas the IMM group did not. The advantage of the side cursor position at the no-feedback retention test was not evident in the current study. These results are consistent with our two predictions and provide evidence of enhancement in learning a 1:2 pattern bimanual coordination skill

Nano-analysis reveals high fraction of serotonin release during exocytosis from a gut epithelium model cell

Electrochemical methods were used to explore the exocytotic nature of serotonin (5‐HT) release in human carcinoid BON cells, an in vitro human enterochromaffin cell model, to understand the mechanisms operating the release of gut‐derived 5‐HT in the intestinal mucosal epithelium. We show that the fractional vesicular 5‐HT release in BON cells is 80 % compared to previous work in pancreatic beta cells (34 %). The fractional release increased from 80 % in control BON cells to 87 % with 5‐HT preincubation and nearly 100 % with the combination of 5‐HT and the 5‐HT(4) autoreceptor agonist, cisapride. Thus, partial release is the primary mechanism of exocytosis in BON cells, resulting in a variable amount of the vesicular content being released. Factors that control secretion of 5‐HT from enterochromaffin cells or BON cells are important as partial release provides a mechanism for development of effective therapeutic strategies to treat gastrointestinal diseases