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Cultivating Agricultural Literacy: A Qualitative Exploration of Instructional Practices and Teacher Perspectives in Agricultural Education
Full text linkAuburn University researchers explored how agricultural education teachers in Alabama equip students with the knowledge and vocabulary needed to navigate the world of agriculture. Researchers investigated teachers' instructional methods and how they assess student learning and connect literacy skills to overall understanding. The study found that agricultural education teachers leverage instructional techniques (Lindner et al., 2020; McKibben et al., 2022), including clear explanations, group work, and real-world projects, to introduce students to new agricultural concepts and terminology. While teachers expressed satisfaction with students' developing agricultural knowledge, a key component of agricultural literacy, they voiced frustration with a lack of emphasis on writing skills (Clemons et al., 2018). Researchers recommend incorporating more writing exercises to solidify student learning and encourage collaboration between teachers and administrators to develop best practices for fostering agricultural literacy. This study highlights the importance of effective learning strategies for future generations with the tools they need to understand and engage with the agricultural sector.
Clemons, C. A., Lindner, J. R., Murray, B., Cook, M. P., Sams, B., & Williams, G. (2018). Spanning the gap: The confluence of agricultural literacy and being agriculturally literate. Journal of Agricultural Education, 59(4), 238–252. doi: https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2018.04238
Lindner, J., Clemons, C., Thoron , A., & Lindner, N. (2020). Remote instruction and distance education: A response to COVID-19. Advancements in Agricultural Development, 1(2), 53–64. https://doi.org/10.37433/aad.v1i2.39
McKibben, J. D., Giliberti, M., Clemons, C. A., Holler, K., & Linder, J. R. (2022). My ag teacher never made me go to the shop! Pre-service teachers’ perceived self-efficacy in mechanics skills change through experience. Journal of Agricultural Education, 63(3), 283–296. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2022.0328
Data for: Multi-delay coherence imaging spectroscopy optimized for ion temperature measurements in the divertor plasma of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator
No full textA new coherence imaging spectroscopy (CIS) diagnostic optimized to measure the C2+ impurity ion temperature Ti spatial distribution in the divertor plasma of the W7-X stellarator is designed, tested, and validated. Using CIS to obtain Ti in the edge of magnetically confined plasmas has historically been challenging because Doppler broadening and Zeeman splitting have comparable effects on the shape of spectral emission lines. To distinguish between these two mechanisms, a novel approach to birefringent crystal design is employed to minimize the diagnostic’s sensitivity to Zeeman splitting. The recently developed pixelated multi-delay CIS approach is also used to obtain four times as much spectral information as traditional CIS approaches. The Ti-optimized CIS diagnostic is validated in a long-pulse W7-X plasma by comparison with a high-resolution spectrometer whose sightlines overlap with the CIS field of view. The CIS and spectrometer Ti profiles have the same shape and agree to within 10% on average and 25% in the worst case. Images of the Ti distribution near the divertor show toroidally elongated bands aligned with the magnetic field, with Ti ranging between 10 and 40 eV.
This public data set contains openly documented, machine-readable digital research data corresponding to the figures in the associated article at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0208586. The data for each figure is stored as a netCDF file. These netCDF files were created using the python package xarray version 2023.12.0. They can be easily read in python using the xarray "open_dataset" function, but are also readable with any software that supports netCDF4
Development of Realism in Middlemarch: Reinterpreting Rosamond
No full textArticle from the George Eliot Review. Digitized and hosted by the George Eliot Review Online, editor Beverley Park Rilett.Publishe
Inter-evaluator bias and applicability of feline body condition score from visual assessment
No full textBackground: Body Condition Score (BCS) is an effective tool for assessing body weight and overall body composition.
Objectives: To determine whether BCS can be accurately assessed solely from photographs of cats, and to evaluate inter-evaluator bias in visually assessed BCS.
Animals: Thirty-eight client-owned cats enrolled during routine wellness checks.
Methods: A set of cat images collected from online sources was administered as a quiz to nine evaluators. To validate the results, BCS was clinically assessed for 38 enrolled cats through palpation by one evaluator, and also visually assessed by all nine evaluators using only cat photographs.
Results: Inter-evaluator bias was found to be relatively low in BCS assessment based on animal images (mean±SE=0.35±0.03). In the validation set of 38 client-owned cats, the visual assessment of BCS deviated from the clinically assessed BCS by 0.61±0.04, which was slightly higher than the deviation observed in the mock image set. In both scenarios, majority voting among nine evaluators achieved the highest accuracy, demonstrating its effectiveness in reducing evaluator bias. Inter-evaluator bias caused a 14% misclassification between ideal and overweight BCS, but only 1% between ideal and obese, indicating minimal bias in diagnosing feline obesity.
Conclusions and clinical importance: The ability to accurately assess BCS through photographic evaluation will enhance remote consultations in telemedicine and support large-scale epidemiological studies on feline obesity. This study has developed a tool for evaluating and minimizing inter-evaluator bias in BCS assessments across diverse practitioners and settings, thereby improving the consistency and comparability of large feline obesity research
Dance, Desire, and Transgression in Adam Bede
No full textArticle from the George Eliot Review. Digitized and hosted by the George Eliot Review Online, editor Beverley Park Rilett.Publishe
Host shifting and novel genome features of the microbial pathogen Nosema
No full textNosema is a diverse fungal genus of unicellular, obligate symbionts of insects and other arthropods. We conducted a comparative genomic analysis of N. muscidifuracis, a Nosema species infecting parasitoid wasp genus Muscidifurax, along with six other genome-sequenced species found in bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, and amphipods. Phylogenomic analyses revealed incongruency in the Nosema and host species trees, suggesting a host switch event between wasps and bees. In contrast to an outgroup species Encephalitozoon cuniculi (GC-content 47.5%), Nosema genomes are much lower in GC-content (24.8%~34.8%), indicating an evolutionary tendency toward highly AT-rich genomes. A sequence motif containing at least three consecutive Cs was significantly enriched immediately upstream of start codons in all seven Nosema genomes. Interestingly, this motif is present in ~90% of highly expressed genes, compared to ~20% in lowly expressed genes N. muscidifuracis, which may function as a cis-regulatory element for controlling and regulating gene expression. Telomeric prediction identified TTAGG as the telomeric repeat unit in Encephalitozoon and N. ceranae, which is the ancestral form. In N. muscidifuracis, novel composite telomere repeats were discovered, suggesting diverse telomeric motifs in Nosema. As an intracellular parasite, there is significant reduction of the N. muscidifuracis genome, with ~47% of genes compared to the free-living yeast genome. Not all pathways are equally affected: genes related to oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial function are entirely absent, and the genes associated with endocytosis are significantly diminished compared to other pathways. Our study significantly advanced the understanding of the genetic architecture, gene regulation, and evolution of Nosema
Impact of natural and artificial light treatments on fear response and welfare parameters in commercial broilers
No full textIn recent years, there has been a movement driven by consumer demands towards adding windows in broilers house to allow for natural light (NL) during rearing; however, little is currently known about the effects of NL on bird behavior and welfare. The objective of this study was to compare the impact of raising broilers under NL or artificial light (AL) on fear response and welfare parameters. Mixed-sex Ross 708 chicks (N=720) were housed in 16 rooms (44 birds/room), with 8 rooms per light treatment and raised until 55 days of age. Chicks were randomly assigned to one of two light treatments: artificial light provided via a 5000K LED or natural light provided via 1 ft2 window and 5000k LED. Fear response was measured on days 14 and 35, by the novel object (NO) and response to observer tests. In the NO test, the latency to first interaction with NO, latency to approach NO, and the number of birds approaching the NO within a 1-meter radius was recorded at 30-second intervals for a duration of 5 minutes. In the response to observer test, the number of birds that moved away in response to the pen door opening was measured. On day 55, welfare parameters such as hock burn, foot pad dermatitis, gait score and latency to lie were assessed. Data were log transformed for normality. The effect of light treatment was analyzed using a paired t-test in R (version 4.0.2). A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant, and a p-value of ≤ 0.1 indicated a tendency toward significance. No difference was found between treatments for hock burn, gait score, latency to first interaction with NO, latency to lie, and the response to the observer test on day 14. In fear response assessments at 35 days, the number of AL birds (M=0.46) that approached the NO was significantly lower than that of birds raised in NL (M=1.74; p<0.001; t=6.78). At 35 days of age, chickens raised with NL had a shorter latency to approach NO (3.92s) than those raised with AL (5.40s; t=-3.21; p<0.01). On the 35 day, there was a tendency towards significance for birds raised with NL to move away from the observer more frequently compared to those raised with AL. Furthermore, another tendency was observed where NL chickens showed a higher interest to explore NO compared to AL chickens on the 14 day of age. Moreover, birds raised with NL (M=0.2) showed significantly lower foot pad dermatitis scores when compared with the birds raised with AL (M=0.6; p=0.01; t=-2.85). Overall, this study shows that the provision of NL could improve foot health and reduce fearfulness in broilers.Ye
Coming to Conclusions in Middlemarch
No full textArticle from the George Eliot Review. Digitized and hosted by the George Eliot Review Online, editor Beverley Park Rilett.Publishe
The art of environmental personhood and the possibility of environmental statehood
Full text linkThis paper examines the impact that the concept of environmental personhood has had on art and culture, and suggests that projects such as The Embassy of the North Sea hint at the possibility of environmental statehood. First, it reviews how the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017 – which granted juridical personhood to the Whanganui River in New Zealand – inspired the creation of new works such as Weathering, Embedding: Ochopee Trail, terra0, A Voice for the Eel, and F/EEL. Next, a heuristic model called the agency-personhood continuum (APC) is used to identify the aesthetic tropes of environmental personhood. Analysis indicates that artworks that represent environmental personhood often utilize strategies of amplification, translation, performance, time compression, and metonymy. Finally, this paper seeks to encourage new discussions by suggesting that The Embassy of the North Sea and “Theatre of Negotiations” anticipate the concept of environmental statehood, which has the potential to provide greater protections for natural entities that span multiple countries – such as the Amazon River, the Andes, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. Theoretically, environmental statehood could also provide greater representation in supra-governmental assemblies such as the UN General Assembly. Ultimately, this article suggests that the culture-law feedback loop for environmental personhood presents a new ontological paradigm that provides greater recognition of the agency, identity, and sovereignty of natural entities.PublishedYe
We Are All Data Now
Full text linkAn abiding concern for the responsible use of data is nothing new for those of us among the ranks of data professionals. Whether from the perspective of research, education, commerce, or policy, careful consideration of data ethics is an important aspect of our work. The recent increase in the accessibility and prevalence of “generative AI” technology adds a new dimension to the digital landscape and a new level of difficulty for would-be facilitators of information literacy. Briefly, generative AI uses complex, impenetrable statistical models to produce novel combinations of text or images in response to user prompts. The best-known example may be ChatGPT, which can in mere seconds write a poem in the style of Edgar Allen Poe, a tailored marketing pitch, or a research paper that may or may not be accurate. What does this mean for us?N