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Learning Outdoors: A Pilot Program for Early Childhood Educator Professional Development
Get PDFResearch supports the use of outdoor spaces as a learning environment for child development; however, some early childhood educators may struggle to support learning when outdoors with young children. Reframing teacher mindset towards outdoor environments, gaining a knowledge of child development, and understanding how it applies within the context of naturalist studies have been identified as three key areas supportive for early childhood educators as they work outdoors with young children. Additionally, designing professional development sessions with targeted material, opportunities for observations, and providing time with a coach for support may further support learning and implementation of targeted material.
This exploratory study examines the influence of intentionally designed professional development on teachers’ perception of their role while outdoors with young children, knowledge base concerning key elements effective for teaching young children outdoors, and teacher application of key elements while outdoors with young children. Findings showed a change in teacher perception of role, an increase of knowledge base, and an increase in key elements: observation, varied modalities of learning, and extension of indoor classroom learning. Furthermore, this study highlights the potential of incorporating intentionally designed professional development for early childhood educators, particularly for outdoor learning environments
Evaluating a Proprietary Tannin-Blend Product as an Alternative to Monensin and Tylosin Phosphate in Feedlot Cattle Diets
Get PDFThis study evaluates the effects of a proprietary tannin blend (BX), supplemented with or without sodium monensin (MON), on beef cattle performance, carcass traits, and health. Steers (n = 2986; initial shrunk body weight (SBW) 254 ± 9.2 kg) were allocated into 48 pens (61–62 steers/pen; 12 pens/treatment) fed for 230 d. Treatments included (1) no feed additives (CTL); (2) BX (7.95 g/animal daily); (3) MON + Tylosin phosphate (TYL; 437.52 mg MON/animal daily + 80 mg TYL/animal daily); or (4) MON+BX (437.52 mg MON/animal daily + 7.95 g BX/animal daily). Data were analyzed in R 4.2.1 using a randomized block design with pen as the experimental unit. Dry matter intake was lower (p \u3c 0.001) in MON + TYL and MON + BX than in CTL. Steers fed MON + BX had greater carcass-adjusted final SBW (p = 0.002), average daily gain (p = 0.002), fat thickness (p = 0.035), and marbling score (p = 0.046) than BX. Feed conversion improved in MON + TYL and MON + BX (p \u3c 0.001). CLT and BX had higher (p \u3c 0.001) liver abscess prevalence compared to MON + BX and MON + TYL. The addition of BX did not improve the parameters measured. Steers fed MON + BX showed reduced liver abscesses and similar feed efficiency compared to MON + TYL
Learning Intentions, Success Criteria, and Metacognition: The Influence of a Professional Development for Grades Three to Five Teachers
Get PDFFormative assessment is a strategy that teachers use to improve student learning. This study explored how professional development focused on assessment for learning practices (AFL), with the main emphasis on learning intentions and success criteria, influences teacher use of those strategies and changes in teacher and student metacognition. The overarching research question was: How does professional development on AFL practices influence teachers\u27 reported use of AFL practices and teacher and student metacognition? This study utilized a mixes-methods research design and provided professional development on AFL practices to 16 in-service elementary mathematics teachers and measured changes to their AFL practices and metacognition using two surveys: the AfLMi for AFL and the MAIT for metacognition. Five teachers were selected to participate in a case study to explore how they understood their professional development on AFL strategies using semi-structured interviews. Ten students were interviewed to triangulate the findings. The results found that the teacher\u27s AfLMi scores showed a statistically significant decrease, and the MAIT scores saw a non-statistically significant increase. The teacher and student interviews indicated that the teachers did not reduce their use of formative assessment practices but did change their perspective of why they used them. Teachers and students identified multiple effective practices with formative assessment and noted novel approaches in regard to formative assessment practices. Teacher interviews demonstrated teachers showing a change in what they were metacognitive about. Students also showed some increase in their metacognition, becoming more aware of their teacher\u27s formative assessment practices
The Effect of Dietary Protein Source on Gut Health
Get PDFWe investigated the impact of protein source in a western-style diet on colon cancer, colitis, and the gut microbiome. The Western dietary pattern is energy-dense, low in fiber, and has a sub-optimal micronutrient profile. Our group has formulated the Total Western Diet (TWD) that emulates the Western dietary pattern using survey data (NHANES), and we have demonstrated that this diet increases gut inflammation and colorectal cancer relative to a healthy control diet (AIN-93G), which is optimized for mouse health. However, the effect of protein source in the TWD and its effects on gut health have yet to be investigated.
Recent plant-based meat alternatives (PBM) have become increasingly popular in the market. These alternatives are created largely from soybeans, vegetable and coconut oils, colorants, and in some products, heme-iron to help mimic the nutrient profile and appearance of ground beef. Epidemiologic studies have suggested that heme-containing meats are a risk factor for colon cancer. Therefore, we designed the experiment to compare a popular heme-containing PBM to traditional dietary protein sources including red meat, dairy, and soy on gut health. Diets with differing protein sources were devised using the TWD formulation that emulates the nutrient content of a typical American diet to answer the question: For a typical American, does substituting traditional protein sources with PBM confer gut and metabolic health benefits?
To incorporate into mouse diets, we prepared ground beef and PBM by baking, freeze drying, and homogenization. We then determined the total fat content, fatty acid profile, fiber (for PBM), and the mineral content of ground beef and PBM. Experimental mouse diets were then formulated by a commercial vendor to have the same number of calories, macro and micronutrient content, and fiber. Diets only differed in protein source (beef, PBM, dairy, and soy protein). We also included a healthy control dietary treatment to compare results to our previous studies.
After two weeks on experimental diets, mice were administered a gut inflammatory agent and a carcinogen to promote colitis and carcinogenesis. Colitis severity, tumor incidence and burden, and gut inflammation were measured to determine the effect of experimental diets on gut health. Food intake and mouse body weight were measured weekly, body composition was analyzed at week 13.
Additionally, fecal samples were collected throughout the study for gut microbiome analyses. The gut microbiome is made up of trillions of non-eukaryotes that colonize primarily in the colon. These microorganisms can convey benefits or detriments to the host. Diet greatly impacts the microbiome and the microbiome in turn is involved in the etiology of several chronic diseases including colorectal cancer.
We hypothesized that dietary protein source will not affect colitis or carcinogenesis. However, we are confident the gut microbiome composition will be significantly different between mice fed different protein sources. Essentially, this research will compare the effects of ground beef, PBM, soy protein, and dairy protein on gut health and the gut microbiome
Enhancing Digital Accessibility for Deaf or Hard of Hearing Learners- Innovative Strategies for Inclusive Education
Get PDFThis research-to-practice brief explores innovative strategies to enhance digital accessibility for Deaf or Hard of Hearing (D/HH) learners, focusing on practical applications for inclusive K-12 education. Despite advances in digital learning, D/HH learners face unique barriers due to auditory-centered designs. Accessibility legislation such as the ADA, Section 504, and IDEA mandate educational inclusion for these learners. Key strategies include the integration of assistive technologies (e.g., captioning, ASL video interpretation), the application of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) 3.0 guidelines, and adherence to WCAG 2.1 principles for accessible content design. The research-to-practice brief provides actionable insights for educators, administrators, and policymakers to support equitable access and optimize academic outcomes for D/HH learners
A Numerical Investigation of the Performance of Damaged Concrete Barriers Under Sequential Vehicular Impacts
Get PDFConcrete median barriers are prone to damage from low-velocity impacts. However, there is a limited understanding of how damage from initial impacts affects barriers’ long-term performance and whether they maintain safe continued service or must be replaced. Therefore, this paper evaluates the performance of the concrete barriers under sequential low-velocity impact using finite-element analysis. Crash test simulations were performed by impacting the concrete barrier twice with an 80,000 lb (36-ton) tractor-trailer at a target impact velocity and angle. The first impact’s velocities varied between 30 mph (48 kmph) and 54 mph (87 kmph) at 10◦ , 15◦ , and 20◦ crash angles, and the damaged barrier was subsequently subjected to the second impact conforming to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO) Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) for Test Level 5 criteria (i.e., representative velocity of 52.7 mph (85 kmph) at 15◦ ). Therefore, a total of 78 impact simulations were conducted, and statistical analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between the peak impact forces of the first and second impacts and the crash angle and velocity across distinct phases of the crash simulation and over the entire crash history. The results show that while the peak impact force of the first impact was linearly related to both velocity and angle, the maximum impact force at the second impact did not follow the same trend. However, when considering the localized peak forces in each phase of the crash, the peak forces from the later stages of the second impact (i.e., rebound and final interaction phases) were highly correlated with the initial impact’s velocity and angle, substantially reducing the barrier’s capability to resist vehicular impact loads. In particular, for initial velocities above 46 mph (74 kmph) at angles of 15◦ and 20◦ , barriers formed shear cracks traversing across their cross-section, which resulted in excessive fragmentation during the second impact and consequent failure to meet the MASH criteria in terms of structural adequacy
Great Salt Lake Data and Insights Summary: A Synthesized Resource Document for the 2025 General Legislative Session
Get PDFIn 2024, Great Salt Lake continued to rise from the record-low elevation reached in 2022, aided by two years of above-average precipitation and the adaptive management berm. Economic activity, public health, and the lake\u27s ecosystems continue to be adversely impacted by low water levels. This summary synthesizes essential data and insights so decision-makers have the information they need to improve water management, increase water deliveries to the lake, mitigate adverse impacts, and recover the lake to a healthy range
Using NASA AWE Observations to Investigate the Global Distribution of Concentric Gravity Waves
No full textUpward propagating atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) originating from various lower atmosphere sources can transport energy and momentum into the Earth\u27s upper atmosphere. In the ionosphere, GWs produce traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs), generate electric fields, and appear to contribute to the seeding of equatorial plasma bubbles that have detrimental effects on navigation, communication, and surveillance systems. Despite their importance and decades of research there are still many open questions regarding the morphology and dynamics of gravity waves. Of particular interest are concentric gravity waves (CGWs), as they are the direct result of the coupling between lower and upper atmosphere . For this study, we used observations from the recently launched NASA AWE mission that observes GWs near 87 km altitude to study the global distribution of CGWs at this altitude and investigate their temporal/seasonal evolution. From these observations, 115 CGW events were identified over 43 days between November 2023 and January 2024. Through comparisons of our AWE results with those obtained from other satellite missions, we found many similarity between the distribution of CGW events identified at the 87 km AWE-altitude and those found in the stratosphere below and those observed in the O2-band at 95 km above
A Pressure-Based Estimate of Multi-Orifice Synthetic Jet Performance
No full textMultiphase turbulence is a ubiquitous mechanism that drives the motion of fluid and particulate. In order to understand the behavior of this complex mechanism, it is critical to build facilities where driving parameters can be studies. Various flow actuators are used to drive turbulence, but we use synthetic jets for their geometric customizability and wide range operating parameters. Many studies based on synthetic jets focus on characterizing velocity while omitting the connection to turbulence. Additionally, most work in the existing literature is tied to the non-dimensional numbers but can obscure the limitations regarding both size and allowable driving conditions of an actuator. Our work seeks to demonstrate how synthetic jet orifice geometry influences the mass, momentum, and energy fluxes that feed into turbulence. These fluxes that are created by fluid entering and leaving the orifice are driven fundamentally by the pressure differences that occur for a cyclically driven actuator. Pressure that is closely tied to the geometric area is then a great monitor that can couple fluid flow behavior to the source
Investigation of Changes in Emission Lines From Galaxies Through Time
No full textWe investigate the percentage of galaxies with strong emission lines at increasing redshift. From the Sloan Digital Sky Survey we selected 792,392 galaxies at varying redshifts, z. We grouped the total number of galaxies by absolute magnitude, compared them with those that had strong Hα, OIII, and other relevant emission lines, and looked for the trend of shifting emission lines with z. We found a general trend of a drop in the percentage of galaxies with strong emission lines from z = 0.2 to z = 0.5, spanning from about 2.5 Gyr to 5Gyr ago. We are not sure of whether there is a bias of the data set, with how galaxies are selected, how the data was observed, or whether this is a product of a real effect. We are also looking into how many galaxies happen to be AGN to see if this helps explain the trends we see