Talking about writing – designing and establishing writing feedback and tutorials to promote student engagement and learning

This article describes different feedback designs that have been developed at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. These feedback activities are part of courses and programmes that faculty at the Department of Communication and Learning in Science, Division for Language and Communication, are involved in. The feedback setup has evolved from many years of designing and delivering writing instruction within STEM education, grounded in the challenge to make feedback a meaningful learning experience for all students and improve students’ understanding of disciplinary academic writing. The feedback designs described are based on dialogue to provide feedback and as a means for students to verbalize their own understanding of text, textual features and how discipline specific content is communicated. Examples of setups are large class active feedback lectures, scaffolded peer response sessions, and guided feedback workshops. These feedback activities are explored, and we argue for how they, potentially, result in more (useful) feedback and feedforward compared to traditional written teacher-student feedback.

Visualization and Analysis of Data from Small-Body Missions with NASA’s Solar System Treks Portals

<p>This presentation provides an overview of portals within NASA’s Solar System Treks Project (SSTP) that specifically target small bodies within our Solar System. These, and all of the portals in the suite of Solar System Trek portals, are available at https://trek.nasa.gov.</p> <p>These portals each allow for visualization of different data products in 2D maps with various projections. They also allow users to conduct interactive 3D flyovers. The VR tool allows users to generate their own virtual reality flyovers for any user-defined paths along the bodies’ surfaces. Other tools let users measure distances, generate elevation plots, and create 3D print files for user-defined regions or the entire body.</p> <p>JAXA’s Hayabusa 2 mission recently completed a campaign of reconnaissance, sample collection, and rover deployment at the near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu. JAXA is providing mission data to SSTP, which is incorporating it into the new Ryugu Trek portal (https://trek.nasa.gov/ryugu). The internationalized user interface features controls in both English and Japanese. The portal’s bookmarks feature takes users to particular areas of interest for more detailed looks at specific landforms and sites. On Ryugu, we focus on the surface sample site, impactor and sub-surface sample site, as well as landing sites and traverse paths for the HIBOU, OWL, and MASCOT rovers. We also highlight the first landforms on Ryugu to have been given official IAU names.</p> <p>While Hayabusa2 was exploring Ryugu, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission began conducting a detailed examination of the asteroid (101955) Bennu, another near-Earth object. At the request of NASA’s Planetary Science Division and the OSIRIS-REx mission, SSTP began implementation a new portal for the asteroid Bennu, featuring data that is being returned from OSIRIS-REx. The Bennu Trek portal (https://trek.nasa.gov/bennu) reveals Bennu’s top-like shape, a fascinating commonality with Ryugu. It also reveals details of Bennu’s intensely boulder covered terrain. Bookmarked features include Nightingale, Sandpiper, Osprey, and Kingfisher, the top four candidates for sample collection. We also highlight the first landforms on Bennu to have been given official IAU names. Each of these features were singled out as landmarks for OSIRIS-REx’s Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) navigation method that will be used to guide the spacecraft down to its surface sample collection site.</p> <p>In its investigations of Vesta and Ceres, NASA’s Dawn mission has returned spectacular data of the surfaces of these two prominent small bodies within the asteroid belt. This presentation will showcase the use of the Ceres Trek (https://trek.nasa.gov/ceres) and Vesta Trek (https://trek.nasa.gov/vesta) portals and demonstrate how they can be used to visualize and analyze particularly interesting landforms such as the pitted terrain on Vesta and relic cryovolcanoes on Ceres.</p> <p>Under development at this time is a new portal for Mars’ larger Moon, Phobos. This portal will make extensive use of data from ESA’s Mars Express. It is being designed in collaboration with JAXA to support Japan’s upcoming Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. This presentation will provide a preview of a prototype for Phobos Trek.</p> <p>Other Near-Earth asteroids being considered as candidates for future portals include (433) Eros utilizing data gathered by the NEAR Shoemaker mission, and (25143) Itokawa using data from JAXA’s Hayabusa mission. Together, a growing collection of small body Trek portals would enhance capabilities for comparative planetology among this fascinating class of objects. </p> <p>All of these products are efforts in the NASA Solar System Treks Project, available at https://trek.nasa.gov. NASA's Solar System Trek online portals provide web-based suites of interactive data visualization and analysis tools to enable mission planners, planetary scientists, students, and the general public to access mapped data products from past and current missions for a growing number of planetary bodies. These portals are being used for site selection and analysis by NASA and its international partners, supporting upcoming missions. In addition to demonstrating the capabilities of selected portals in this presentation, we will solicit input from the community for ideas for future enhancements.</p> <p>The authors would like to thank the Planetary Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, NASA’s SMD Science Engagement and Partnerships, the Advanced Explorations Systems Program of NASA’s Human Exploration Operations Directorate, and the Moon to Mars Directorate for their support and guidance in the development of the Solar System Treks.</p>

NASA Planetary Science and European Partnerships and Participations

<p>NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) and space agencies around the world are collaborating on an extensive array of missions exploring our Solar System. Planetary science missions are conducted by some of the most sophisticated robots ever built and international collaboration is an essential part of what we do. NASA has always encouraged international participation on our missions both strategic (i.e., Mars 2020) and competitive (i.e., Discovery and New Frontiers) and other Space Agencies have reciprocated and invited us to participate in their missions.</p><p>More specifically, NASA has had a long and fruitful collaboration with ESA on their planetary missions. Currently, NASA is involved in the BepiColombo mission (1 instrument in the Italian Space Agency’s instrument suite), and the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer mission (one instrument and parts of two others). In concert with ESA’s Mars missions we have an instrument on the Mars Express mission, the orbit-ground communications package on the Trace Gas Orbiter (launched in 2016) and part of the DLR/Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer instruments going onboard the ExoMars Rover. Likewise, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover includes several international payload elements: Spain’s Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA); Norway’s Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX); and the US SuperCam has a significant contribution from France.</p><p>In 2016, ESA released a call for proposals in their 5<sup>th</sup> Medium-sized mission class (referred to as M5) as part of their Cosmic Vision program. ESA once again has been tremendous in welcoming possible cooperative proposals with NASA as in the EnVision orbital mission to Venus. EnVision would perform high-resolution radar mapping and atmospheric studies of Venus.</p><p>International partnerships are an excellent, proven way of amplifying the scope and sharing the science results of a mission otherwise implemented by an individual space agency. Looking forward, NASA’s Planetary Science Division is initiating the next Decadal Survey, led by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Mathematics, that will identify priorities for strategic missions in the decade 2023-3032.  There are many exciting destinations within the solar system and these missions will provide new opportunities for international partnership.</p><p>The exploration of the Solar System is uniquely poised to bring planetary scientists, worldwide, together under the common theme of understanding the origin, evolution, and bodies of our solar neighborhood. NASA’s Planetary Science Division provides the planetary science community with opportunities to include international participation on NASA missions. NASA's Discovery and New Frontiers Programs provide U.S. scientists the opportunity to assemble international teams and design exciting, focused planetary science investigations that would deepen the knowledge of our Solar System. The most recent call for Discovery ideas will soon announce selections as part of Step 1 of the competitive process.  NASA continues to encourage the international science community to take full advantage of the many opportunities provided.</p>

Effects of boron application on new wheat varieties in Bangladesh

A pot experiment was conducted in the Net house of Soil Science Division of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Joydebpur, Gazipur during rabi season, 2017-2018 in Tista Meander Floodplain Soils (AEZ-3). The objectives were to evaluate the effect of boron on the yield of wheat, estimate boron use efficiency and to find out suitable variety for maximizing the yield. The experiment was designed in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. Three varieties of wheat (BARI Gom-28, BARI Gom-29 and BARI Gom-30) with 5 levels of boron (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2 kg ha-1) along with a blanket dose N120P30K90S15Zn3Mg6 kg ha-1 were used in the study. All the three varieties performed well with application of 1.5 kg B ha-1 as compared to the other B treatments. However, the highest yield (39.2 g pot-1) was obtained with BARI Gom-30 variety receiving B at 1.5 kg ha-1. Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 44(2): 303-310, June 2019

A Student Led Investigation of the Landscape Dynamics of Campus Recycling

Two senior undergraduate students within the environmental science division at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) quantitatively diagnosed the environmental, ecological, and socioeconomic dynamics involved in plastic recycling. This study incorporated actively collecting recycled plastic bottles on campus to produce an enumerated analysis of recycling on campus; and to gain an understanding of the socioeconomics of recycling via an anonymous survey used to determine the recycling knowledgebase of natural resource students at SFASU. Undergraduate students, via their incorporation into a campus wide environmental site assessment of recycling plastic bottles, were able to apply their classroom knowledge to a real-world environmental concern thus making them more well-rounded and society-ready environmental scientists.

IQOSTM vs. e-Cigarette vs. Tobacco Cigarette: A Direct Comparison of Short-Term Effects after Overnight-Abstinence

Introduction: Research from Philip Morris International’s science division on its Heat-not-Burn product IQOSTM focused on its chemical, toxicological, clinical, and behavioral aspects. Independent research on the experiences and behavioral aspects of using IQOSTM, and how it compares to e-cigarettes, is largely lacking. The current randomized, cross-over behavioral trial tried to bridge the latter gaps. Methods: Participants (n = 30) came to the lab on three consecutive days after being overnight smoking abstinent. During each session, participants used one of three products (cigarette, e-cigarette, or IQOSTM) for five minutes. Exhaled CO (eCO) measurements and questionnaires were repeatedly administered throughout the session. Results: Smoking a cigarette for five minutes resulted in a significant increase of eCO, whereas using an IQOSTM resulted in a small but reliable increase (0.3 ppm). Vaping did not affect eCO. Cigarette craving reduced significantly after product use, with the decline being stronger for smoking than for e-cigarettes or IQOSTM. Withdrawal symptoms declined immediately after smoking or using IQOSTM, and with some delay after vaping. IQOSTM scored higher in terms of subjective reward/satisfaction and was slightly preferred to the e-cigarette. Discussion: Short-term use of IQOSTM has a minimal impact on eCO, is equally effective in reducing cigarette craving and withdrawal symptoms as an e-cigarette, and is slightly preferred.