Short Excursion Research Articles

Thermal analysis: basics, applications, and benefit

The fundamentals of the widest-spread methods of thermal analysis including a short excursion into differential scanning calorimetry are presented. Five practical examples illustrate the experimental approach for the measurement design and explain their chemical interpretation.

Koncepční rozvoj AČR - přístupy a strategická východiska

This paper aims to enrich professional discussion on future shape of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic (AFCR) and is linked to the preceding research and publishing activities of members of the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies (CBVSS) at the University of Defence. In its first part, it performs a historical tour to the year 2012 and highlights the reasons that the former leadership of the ACR led to the start of construction work on the concept of AFCR (KVAČR). Briefly describes the interconnection and the hierarchy of individual conceptual and strategic documents, the procedure works on them and summarizes the arguments supporting the need of KVAČR as such. The next section brings potential methodological approaches to the preparation of this document, using the method of the "9S", including practical examples, it renumbers basic strategic assumptions and priorities in various stages, bordered by years 2020 and 2025 as a prerequisite for formulating strategies for achieving this specific goal. Within the document, there is a short excursion into the field of long-term planning for major areas of skills, using their description of DOTMLPFI functional areas, including an example of using this methodology in project preparation of program funding. The recommendations formulated in the article are based on the authors' best experiences with the preparation of documents of a similar type in the years 2003-2013, the recommendations of experts from the broader security community of the Czech Republic, and recommendations of the Alliance. As such, it has been passed to the KVAČR processors at level of the General Staff of AFCR over the years 2013-2014.

A complete skull of Crocuta crocuta ultima indicates a late Middle Pleistocene age for the Khok Sung (northeastern Thailand) vertebrate fauna

The locality of Khok Sung, Nakhon Ratchasima province, which corresponds to an ancient river terrace, has yielded the richest Pleistocene fauna of Thailand with a thousand of fossil vertebrate remains. This fauna has been previously dated between the Early Pleistocene and the Middle Pleistocene. We describe here a nearly complete hyaenid skull and associated mandible identified as belonging to spotted hyaena Crocuta crocuta ultima. The spotted hyaena C. c. ultima, which extended its maximum latitudinal distribution from northern China to Peninsular Thailand, is a characteristic component of Southeast Asian Middle Pleistocene faunas. These new biochronological data, coupled with a magnetostratigraphic study of the lithological section, provide a powerful multiproxy approach for the dating of Khok Sung fauna, pinpointing rather a late Middle Pleistocene age than the Early Pleistocene. In addition, the occurrence in the Khok Sung section of a short reverse excursion of the magnetic field within the Brunhes normal Chron can be tentatively identified as corresponding either to the “Iceland Basin” (188 ka) or to the “Pringle Falls” (213 ka) excursion, suggesting an even more precise dating of the locality. According to the presence of a spotted hyaena, the Khok Sung fauna may illustrate an open canopy habitat in a floodplain with abundant and diversified herbivores, close to the main river channel. This interpretation contrasts with the paleobotanical data which indicate wet and dry tropical forests and may instead describe the surrounding upland vegetation.

Heat transfer in fish: are short excursions between habitats a thermoregulatory behaviour to exploit resources in an unfavourable thermal environment?

Temperature is the primary environmental factor affecting physiological processes in ectotherms. Heat-transfer models describe how the fish's internal temperature responds to a fluctuating thermal environment. Specifically, the rate coefficient (k), defined as the instantaneous rate of change in body temperature in relation to the difference between ambient and body temperature, summarizes the combined effects of direct thermal conduction through body mass, passive convection (intracellular and intercellular fluids) and forced convective heat transfer (cardiovascular system). The k-coefficient is widely used in fish ecology to understand how body temperature responds to changes in water temperature. The main objective of this study was to estimate the k-coefficient of brook charr equipped with internal temperature-sensitive transmitters in controlled laboratory experiments. Fish were first transferred from acclimation tanks (10°C) to tanks at 14, 19 or 23°C (warming experiments) and were then returned to the acclimation tanks (10°C; cooling experiments), thus producing six step changes in ambient temperature. We used non-linear mixed models to estimate the k-coefficient. Model comparisons indicated that the model incorporating the k-coefficient as a function of absolute temperature difference (dT: 4, 9 and 13°C) best described body temperature change. By simulating body temperature in a heterogeneous thermal environment, we provide theoretical predictions of maximum excursion duration between feeding and resting areas. Our simulations suggest that short (i.e. <60 min) excursions could be a common thermoregulatory behaviour adopted by cold freshwater fish species to sustain body temperature below a critical temperature threshold, enabling them to exploit resources in an unfavourable thermal environment.

The American Brodsky: A Research Overview

Abstract A Russian-American poet and essayist, a Nobel laureate, Joseph Brodsky is hardly present on the map of American studies. The following overview attempts to provide materials for remedying this oversight. After all, though the overwhelming majority of Brodsky scholars are Slavists, valuable work on Brodsky in an American context has been done, and a substantial part of it has been published in English. After a short biographical excursion, the materials are assembled according to the following categories: “Brodsky in America,” “Brodsky and American Literature,” “Brodsky as an American Poet,” and “Brodsky's Self-Translations into English.” In 2016, twenty years after his death in New York, the time seems ripe for a reconsideration.

The American Brodsky: A Research Overview

AbstractA Russian-American poet and essayist, a Nobel laureate, Joseph Brodsky is hardly present on the map of American studies. The following overview attempts to provide materials for remedying this oversight. After all, though the overwhelming majority of Brodsky scholars are Slavists, valuable work on Brodsky in an American context has been done, and a substantial part of it has been published in English. After a short biographical excursion, the materials are assembled according to the following categories: “Brodsky in America,” “Brodsky and American Literature,” “Brodsky as an American Poet,” and “Brodsky's Self-Translations into English.” In 2016, twenty years after his death in New York, the time seems ripe for a reconsideration.

Single-Molecule FRET for Dynamic Structural Biology: DNA Polymerase i Structure and Mechanism with Angstrom Precision

A key question in the function of DNA-processing enzymes is their mechanism for rapid location and binding of target sites in DNA. DNA polymerase I (Pol) is involved in high-fidelity DNA replication and repair, and must recognize gapped and flapped DNA substrates. Due to their transient and dynamic nature, the structures of these complexes and the recognition mechanism by which they are formed are largely unknown.Combining single-molecule Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (smFRET) with dye-position modelling, we can obtain absolute distance measurements with angstrom precision. We have used 120 such distances in a rigid-body docking approach to determine the structure of the single-nucleotide-gapped DNA-Pol binary complex, and that of the gapped-DNA substrate alone.In the complex structure, the DNA substrate exhibits a 120-degree bend. The upstream DNA is channeled into the Pol active site, and its position is in excellent agreement (RMSD < 3 A) with the position of short DNA fragments seen in crystal structures of Pol. The downstream DNA is partially melted and held in close proximity to F771, a residue important for strand displacement.The structure of the gapped-DNA substrate alone adopts a 20-degree bend and a twist. Our coarse-grained simulations show short excursions of the substrate to partially kinked conformations not accessible to duplex DNA. Together, these data are consistent with a two-step model whereby Pol recognizes and binds a partially kinked conformation of gapped DNA, which then further rearranges to the fully bent state seen in the complex structure.Finally, using our method of internalization by electroporation, we have observed single-molecule FRET signals corresponding to unbound and Pol-bound gapped DNA in live bacteria, confirming the physiological relevance of the proposed substrate and complex structures and the recognition mechanism.

Microstructure Characterization for P92 Steels Subjected to Short Term Overheating above Critical Transformation Temperatures

Advanced ferritic steels containing 9 wt% Cr are widely used for nuclear and fossil energy applications, especially in the construction of supercritical and ultra supercritical boiler components. The microstructure of the as supplied 92 materials consists of a tempered martensite matrix, a fine dispersion of intergranular chromium rich M23C6 precipitates and intragranular carbonitrides MX particles rich in V and Nb. This steel requires post weld heat treatment (PWHT) to produce a tempered microstructure after welding to develop excellent creep strength for high temperature service. The short excursion to high temperature beyond Ac1 and Ac3 would have resulted in the formation of deleterious phases, for example, soft α-ferrite which has a poor creep strength and hard martensite which has a low toughness. In this study, the microstructure evolution as a result of short exposure to various peak temperatures above Ac1 and Ac3 is analyzed. Creep rupture database for overheated condition will be established after the completion of uninterrupted creep testing.

William Herschel and God

Herschel and the Established ChurchesThe astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822) was educated in the Garrison School in Hanover where the boys were taught religious studies in the Protestant tradition, along with reading, writing and arithmetic. Around the age of 14 he would have been confirmed and taken Holy Communion for the first time, the normal Easter rite of passage a child left school and went out into the world.In adult life, a musician living in England, he took the Sacrament' on 7 September 1766 when entering on his post organist to the (Anglican) parish church of Halifax in Yorkshire; and in Bath from 1766 to 1782 he was organist to two private chapels, the Octagon and then Margaret's, and was responsible for the religious music performed there.2After he left Bath in 1782 in the wake of his discovery of Uranus, to take up his post astronomer to the Court at Windsor Castle, evidence that he ever attended church is hard to find. But Herschel's attitude to the Church of England and conventional Christianity is revealed by his response in November 1813 to a request from his son John for guidance in choosing the career to follow after he had graduated from Cambridge. John was attracted to law; what did his father think?If John had seriously felt in need of advice from his father he would surely have made the journey from Cambridge to Slough; but instead, he wrote. His father had made it a matter of principle not to attempt to influence his son in matters of religion,3 and John had grown up to become a firm believer in religion established by nature but a sceptic in the Anglican religion as by law4 - a view probably not very different from that of his father. Too many divines of John's acquaintance treated Holy Orders not the opportunity to spread the Christian Gospel, but the passport to a life of comfort and even luxury, and John despised them for it.Unfortunately this was just what Herschel recommended to his son. A shocked John replied all too frankly (in terms he instantly regretted5): I cannot help regarding the source of church emolument with an evil eye.6It was now the turn of his father to be shocked:You say the church requires the necessity of keeping up a perpetual system of self deception, or something worse for the purpose of supporting the theological tenets of any particular set of men. The most conscientious clergyman may preach a sermon full of sound morality, and no one will require him to enter into theological subtilties.... Now cast a look upon the Law and Lawyers. Is it not evident that at least one half of them do act against their better knowledge and conscience?... On the other hand a Clergyman may get his bread, and always act conscientiously, and do good to every person with whom he has any connection.... Without the least derangement of his ostensible means of a livelihood [he] has time for the attainment of the more elegant branches of literature, for poetry, for music, for drawing, for natural history, for short pleasant excursions of travelling, for being acquainted with the spirit of the laws of his country, for history, for political economy, for mathematics, for astronomy, for metaphysics, and for being an author upon any one subject in which his most advantageous and respectable situation has qualified him to excel. He may also be a happy family man, a husband, a father, and with a paternal fortune added to his other means he will have all the real enjoyments of life within his reach.7Herschel's complete unconcern to whether his son actually was Christian no doubt reflects his own attitude to the Church.Herschel and the Creator of the UniverseThere is however a curious dedication to the Creator of the universe - in whom Herschel most certainly believed - at the foot of the final page of a folio volume dating from 1782/83 in which Caroline Herschel had written out the stars of the constellations in Flamsteed's catalogue. …

Changes in C3 and C4 plant abundances reflect climate changes from 41,000 to 10,000 yr ago in northern Leizhou Peninsula, South China

Organic carbon stable isotopes (δ13Corg) have been widely used to estimate past C3 and C4 vegetation changes. As the relative abundance of C3 and C4 plants can normally be affected by multiple factors including atmospheric CO2 concentrations (ACC) and climatic conditions (e.g., temperature, aridity), the relative importance of these factors is still debated and may differ greatly in different regions. By using the δ13Corg records from a peat sequence in the tropical Leizhou Peninsula, South China, we estimate the past C3 and C4 plant abundances (CCPA) from 41,000cal BP to 10,000cal BP. The results indicate that lower δ13Corg values and thus more C3 plants generally occurred during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS-3), whereas higher δ13Corg values and thus more C4 plants generally occurred during MIS-2. Moreover, several short positive excursions of δ13Corg records, indicating expansions of C4 plants also occurred, corresponding with the known YD and H1–H4 events in high latitudes. We conclude that the CCPA in northern Leizhou Peninsula is mainly controlled by precipitation, which in turn is associated with the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) intensity, both on orbital time scales and suborbital time scales. The ACC may have slightly affected the long-term variation trend of CCPA on orbital time scales. It is likely that the temperature threshold, which is normally an important factor in high latitudes, may have less important influence on the CCPA in tropical south China. Our results provide the quantitative estimations of CCPA from the tropical Leizhou Peninsula, and more studies are necessary in low latitudes to examine possible connections between past vegetation changes and potential controlling factors on shorter timescales.

Childbirth in aristocratic households of Heian Japan

This paper focuses on childbirth in Japan's aristocratic households during the Heian period (794-1185). Drawing on various sources, including court diaries, visual sources, literary records, and Japan's first medical collection, with its assortment of gynaecological and obstetric prescriptions, as well as Buddhist and other ritual texts, this short excursion into the cultural history of childbirth offers an insight into how childbirth was experienced and managed in Heian Japan. In particular, it addresses the variety of ideas, knowledge systems and professionals involved in framing and supporting the process of childbirth in elite households. In so doing, it casts light on the complex background of early Japanese medicine and healthcare for women.

Redox variations and bioproductivity in the Ediacaran: Evidence from inorganic and organic geochemistry of the Corumbá Group, Brazil

Stable isotope ratios combined with elemental compositions and molecular biomass data provide a powerful tool in Neoproterozoic palaeoenvironmental interpretations. Here, we report the results of an extensive organic and inorganic geochemical study performed in the Ediacaran sedimentary succession of the Corumbá Group (CG) from SW-Brazil, deposited in a shallow marine basin in southwestern Gondwana. This sedimentary succession and in particular the Tamengo Formation, a unit bearing metazoan fossils, has been investigated by means of stable isotopes from carbonates (δ13Ccar and δ18O) and associated organic matter (δ13Cker and δ15Nker) together with hydrocarbon distribution and concentrations of major, trace and rare earth elements (REE). A short post-glacial δ13Ccar negative excursion, interpreted as a period of water mixing, is recorded in the cap carbonates overlying diamictites of the Puga Formation, related to Gaskiers or end-Cryogenian glaciation. The overlying Tamengo Formation by contrast, represents a return to redox-stratified conditions in the basin before the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary. Two distinct biogeochemical modes alternate during deposition of Tamengo sediments: 1) an eutrophic, redox-stratified basin well defined by carbonaceous marls from the middle part of the unit but also recorded upwards, at the transition between bioclastic limestones and calcisiltites. 2) An anoxic basin well characterized in the shallow facies, particularly by bioclastic limestones of the upper Tamengo Formation. A positive Δ13Ccar–ker (Δ13Ccar–ker=δ13Ccar−δ13Cker) excursion of ~5‰ in the carbonaceous marls is explained by enhanced primary productivity in surface waters probably related to an increase of pCO2, nutrient supply and possibly also changes of the primary producer communities. Abundant pyrite, a biomarker distribution characterized by the occurrence of gammacerane and a low Pr/Ph ratio (~0.7) are also remarkable signatures of these facies, most probably associated with a sulfate-reducing microbial consortium in an anoxic and sulfidic (euxinic) environment. However, low concentrations in redox-sensitive trace elements in these facies suggest a largely oxygenated water column, thus constraining the euxinic setting to the sediments and/or bottom waters. The shallow-water bioclastic limestones record higher concentrations of redox-sensitive elements and ΣREE as well as a positive Ce anomaly supporting reducing conditions. Oxygenated conditions and dominance of eukaryotic algae characterize the overlying Guaicurus Formation. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to assess the major geochemical associations. The most significant component combines parameters involved in primary production, such as P concentrations and δ13Cker values. The bio-chemostratigraphic variations in this part of SW-Gondwana point to a stratified ocean with oxic surface waters, alternating periods of high and low bioproductivity and anaerobic conditions at the bottom waters, in the aftermath of younger Neoproterozoic glaciations and close to the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary.

Study of Creep Strength for P91 Steels after Short Term Overheating above Ac&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; Temperature

Advanced ferritic steels containing 9 wt% Cr are widely used in the construction of supercritical and ultra supercritical boiler components. The microstructure of the as supplied 91 materials consists of a tempered martensite matrix, a fine dispersion of intergranular chromium rich M23C6 precipitates and intragranular carbonitrides MX particles rich in V and Nb. This steel requires post weld heat treatment (PWHT) to produce a tempered microstructure after welding to develop excellent creep strength for high temperature service. Based on past experience, situations may arise whereby the components are subjected to an accidental overshoot in temperature during PWHT. The short excursion to high temperature beyond Ac3 would have resulted in the formation of deleterious phases, for example, soft α-ferrite which has poor creep strength and hard martensite which has a low toughness. In this study, the degraded specimens with soft α ferrite as a result of cooling transformation from 900°C are proven to have a limited creep rupture life where the creep rupture strength dropped remarkably after 1000 hours. As the peak temperature increased to 950°C and 1000°C, hard and brittle martensite was formed on cooling. The creep specimens were found to exhibit better creep strength; most probably the creep behavior was improved by the tempering effect at 600°C during creep tests. Nevertheless, despite the tempering which might have improved the toughness slightly, the high temperature creep rupture stress still had dropped approximately 40%, as compared to the virgin alloys in the range of rupture time from 1,000 hours to 10,000 hours.

High Temperature Wavelength Division Network for Avionic Applications

Growth in demand for bandwidth within avionic systems has renewed interest in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) topologies. Within an Avionics context, systems are specified for operation from -55°C to 125°C. This increased operational temperature range exceeds the capability of commercial off the shelf components. Here, we have investigated the design and operation of a dense WDM network over an extended temperature range. The implementation uses spectrum sliced seed sources in combination with reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) end nodes. We report on the performance of a single polarization ridge waveguide RSOA with an Al containing quaternary active region. Two different designs of RSOA have been evaluated: a standard bulk heterostructure device and the single polarization ridge waveguide device design for high temperature operation. It has been shown that a SS-WDM network can be implemented using the RWG-RSOA and maintain a BER of 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-9</sup> at 75 °C allowing for 6 dB excess loss to account for component and connector aging. This offers an extension of at least 20°C when compared to the standard bulk active RSOA. In addition, a novel passive cooling method, devised to compensate for short term excursions outside the maximum thermal operating envelope, has been investigated. This technique uses a phase change material as a passive, cooling mechanism. The performance of this method is contrasted against a thermoelectric cooler considering the influence of power consumption on fuel requirements for a Boeing 737-800.

THE REALITY: PHILOSOPHICAL AND CINEMATIC CONSTRUCTS

The article is devoted to the analysis of philosophical problem of reality. The author defines reality as everything that existed at one time and still exists now; as an objective world in its being primary to man, and as validity in general and its fragment which is the subject area of corresponding science. The author makes a short excursion into the area of reflection of reality, the peculiarity of which will be the fact covering both rational concepts and visual, cinematic images. The goal of article is to capture the difference between the philosophical understanding of the reality, as the rational understanding of the whole being methodologically organized, on the one hand, and the representation of the problems associated with the reality of the cinematograph, whose images are often fixed by instant "setting", that is by only subject to rational comprehension, on the other hand. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-7-11

Facilitating Leader Tacit Knowledge Acquisition

The aim of the paper is to identify how to support the moulding of tacit knowledge which is necessary for success in a managerial position within a framework for the preparation and development of managers. The paper is based on an analysis of expert publications and the results of a completed project. Research respondents and theorists agree with the necessity for active involvement of trainees. It is also important to develop knowledge within the framework of manager preparation with significant reflection on learning from mistakes. From the methods of tacit knowledge transfer a close collaboration with experienced people, working in teams, training of model situations, goal-directed interviews, coaching, job rotation, short term attachments and excursions seem to be the most beneficial. It is also important to pay attention to the cultivation of organisational culture, especially in the sense of accepting knowledge sharing as the norm.

Hamstring and psoas length of crouch gait in cerebral palsy: a comparison with induced crouch gait in age- and sex-matched controls

BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that hamstring lengths are often not short in patients with cerebral palsy, which raises concerns over the benefits of distal hamstring lengthening in patients with crouch gait. In this study, the authors measured lengths of hamstrings and psoas muscles in normal subjects mimicking crouch gait and compared these with lengths in cerebral palsy patients with crouch gait.MethodsThirty-six patients with cerebral palsy and crouch gait were included in this study, and in addition, 36 age- and sex-matched normal controls were recruited. Hamstring and psoas muscle lengths in patients were evaluated using gait analysis and interactive musculoskeletal modeling software. Muscle lengths were also measured in the normal control group during normal gait and while mimicking crouch gait, and these were compared with those of cerebral palsy patient with crouch gait.ResultsNo significant differences were observed between maximum hamstring (p=0.810) and maximum psoas (p=0.456) lengths of patients and controls mimicking crouch gait. However, patients showed significantly shorter excursions of hamstring (p=0.022) and psoas (p=0.036) muscles than controls, whereas no significant excursion differences were observed between controls during normal gait and mimicking crouch gait.ConclusionsNormal controls mimicking crouch gait and cerebral palsy patients with crouch gait demonstrate similar muscle length patterns. However, mimicked crouch gait did not reproduce the excursion pattern shown by patients with crouch gait, which suggests that reduced hamstring and psoas excursion is an innate characteristic of pathologic crouch gait.

Refocusing geomorphology: Field work in four acts

Geomorphology grew out of natural history. Natural history is conducted in the field. Accordingly, the early history of geomorphology was dominated by investigations in the field in the attempt to decipher the history of specific landscapes. The constraints of transport and accessibility dictated that field excursions be long and often arduous. These circumstances changed after the mid-twentieth century with the advent of modern transport, the introduction of remote sensing instruments and methods, and the increasing emphasis on mechanistic analysis of generic landscape-forming processes. The latter brought to geomorphology an increasingly reductionist perspective. Field work has become increasingly a matter of relatively short excursions to acquire specific measurements defined by model or theoretical criteria.But geomorphology is a system science, seeking to understand the compounded effects of many interacting processes. These effects include phenomena that emerge from the intersection of simpler physical and biological processes. While simple processes might be isolated and successfully analyzed by reductionist means, it is not clear that we can reverse the process and understand emergent phenomena by conflating our understanding of individual processes. Emergence is better understood initially by direct observation and induction. This was intuitively understood by early field scientists whose long seasons provided ample opportunity to observe such phenomena. Recent technological developments have enhanced our ability to comprehend the landscape system, but the effort will surely require comprehensive field experience if we are to regain the whole landscape view of the early field workers.

1,5-ANHYDROGLUCITOL (1,5-AG) AND ITS USEFULNESS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG) is a major polyol in human serum, structurally similar to D-glucose. The 1,5-AG pool can be determined by the balance between oral intake and urinary excretion. It is derived mainly from dietary sources with a half-life of about 1-2 weeks. 1,5-AG is not metabolized, whereas it is excreted in urine and nearly 99.9% of it is reabsorbed by the kidneys. When serum glucose level exceeds the renal threshold for glucosuria, urinary glucose suppresses tubular reabsorbing of 1,5-AG, leading to a loss of it in the urine and a rapid reduction of this polyol in serum levels. Therefore, the plasma 1,5-AG concentration indirectly reflects episodes of hyperglycaemia. This marker can be measured in serum, EDTA or in plasma using enzymatic assays or chromatography techniques which are also helpful to detect 1,5-AG in urine. In clinical practice, 1,5-AG is a good marker of short-term episodes of hyperglycaemia such as postprandial hyperglycaemia and other short term glycaemia excursions, for example during pregnancy or in pre-conception, before operations and after glycaemia-related therapeutic changes. It has been also reported as a marker of first-ever cardiovascular disease, a clinical test to differentiate subtypes of diabetes and to monitor type 1 diabetes in children. Despite small limitations such as end-stage renal disease or liver cirrhosis, which should be taken into consideration when interpreting levels of 1,5-AG, it seems to be a useful and sensitive marker of acute and postprandial hyperglycaemia episodes in diabetology or cardiodiabetology.

Schoolyard Geology as a Bridge Between Urban Thinkers and the Natural World

ABSTRACTStudents who have a strong urban place-identity may perceive the natural world differently from many geoscience instructors. These urban thinkers have less experience in the natural world and are more comfortable in built environments. They may have subtle differences in cognitive and spatial skill development, interest level in the natural environment, comfort with field experiences, and possible fears of outdoor settings. Curriculum is more effective at reaching urban thinkers when it accounts for these differences. Since urban thinkers are more comfortable in the built environment, short excursions on campus or in the schoolyard can be a bridge between settings familiar to urban thinkers and geologic processes important for the study of geosciences. These mini–field experiences provide opportunities for students to ask questions about the world around them, especially if emphasis is placed on the physical processes that shape the urban landscape. Once students are familiar with the observations and interpretations appropriate for analyzing a familiar urban setting, they will be more receptive to learning about the natural world.