Multidimensional Thinking in a Community of Inquiry vs Critical Thinking

John Dewey’s most basic assumption was that learning improves to the degree that it arises out of the process of reflection. Dewey initially used the terms ‘critical thinking’ and ‘reflective thinking’ interchangeably by putting critical thinking as the main part of reflection. As time went on, terminologies concerning reflection proliferated, spawning a host of synonyms such as “Critical Thinking,” (CT) “Problem Solving,” “Inquiry” and “Higher Order Thinking” (HOT). Reflective thinking now refers to the whole process of thinking, while critical thinking is simply a type of thinking accompanied by creative thinking. The “Community of Inquiry” (COI) however, is both cognitive and affective. It includes empathy and insights that make students more competent in making good judgments. The Philosophy for Children (P4C) movement adopted the COI methodology to enhance the dialogical and multi-dimensional thinking skills to help students do philosophy instead of merely learning about Philosophy

Effects of Silicon and Nitrogen Fertilization on Growth, Yield, and Leaf Rust Disease Development in Wheat

There are so many people who have helped me throughout my graduate studies and for whom I am grateful. I would like to take this opportunity to first and foremost thank God for his always guidance throughout my life and giving me the wisdom and the patience I needed to finish my thesis. I would like to thank Dr. Brenda Tubana for taking me in and providing me with guidance and knowledge. I also would like to thank my committee members, Prof. Brian D. LeBlanc who guided me, encouraged me and provided me with knowledge about sustainable agriculture and Dr. Paul Price for his encouraging words and kind assistance in this project. I would like to thank Prof. David Blouin for providing me with assistance and knowledge in designing the statistical model and conducting statistical analyses. I thank Ms. Emily Frank for her kind assistance in Middleton library. I would like to thank soil fertility group for all the times they have helped me in completing this project. Thank you Prof. Lawrence Datnoff for all of yours words of encouragement. I thank Prof. Maud Walsh for her kind guidance. I thank STPAL laboratory for their always assistance in running our experiment. My acknowledgement would be incomplete without thanking the biggest sources of my strength, my father, my mother, and my brothers who always inspires me by their fervent support, kindness, prayers and blessings. I would finally like to thank all of my friends who, I feel fortunate to write, are too numerous to name. You gave me the will to go on, and you made me motivated when I needed to

Microbial ecology of the invasive plant Kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata) in the Southeast United States: Toward a framework of integrative weed management

One unrealized aspect of invasive plant management is the incorporation of plant-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions, including utilization of microorganisms as biocontrol agents. While the development of such an ecological approach is in its infancy, I argue that incorporation of microbes into management plans should be a priority for the development of more sustainable tools for invasive plant control and incorporation into integrative pest management programs. Fungal endophytes, fungal species that live within a plant but do not negatively impact plant fitness or functions, are a major component of the plant microbiome. Kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata) is a dominant, abundant, and highly aggressive invasive plant in the Southeast United States, and it serves as a pathogen reservoir that impacts economically important leguminous crops. To better understand the tripartite interactions between kudzu, endophytes, and the environment toward the development of alternative control strategies, I investigated 1) the environmental drivers controlling kudzu fungal endophyte communities, which included the very first investigation into the kudzu microbiome, 2) the impacts of different established kudzu control options on soil physicochemical and biological properties, and 3) the endophyte-endophyte interactions in vitro of kudzu derived fungal endophytes and pathogens to elucidate potential antagonistic and/or facilitation dynamics. This work advances our understanding of the potential use of fungal endophytes as an effective ecologically based approach to manage invasive plants yet reflects a strong need for additional research into the impacts of endophytes on plant performance and fitness. This project provides needed background knowledge toward the development additional invasive control strategies

Sustainable Development, Electricity Generation and Renewable Energy substitution in Middle East Countries and Cooperation of Iran

The energy category over the world has been considered as Coal, Natural Gas, Hydro, Nuclear, Wind, Oil and Solar PV by means of 38%; 29%, 16%; 10%and %5 respectively. Where the main reserve holders of Russia, Iran, Qatar, U.S.A. and Saudi Arabia r, have regarded natural gas as an alternative of energy. In which Iran is in the second position after Russia. Where the electricity generation has been considered by China, U.S.A, India, Russia, Japan and Canada respectively and Iran is in the 14th place. Besides renewable energy, capacity installed over the world is in terms of GW-2019 has been defined by China, U.S.A, and Brazil, India, and Germany respectively. However, solar power installed in Middle East Countries and Africa (MENA) is in terms of Terra watt-hour per year by Algeria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Whereas solar power markets has been classified by China, India, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Turkey and Netherland in GW-2018 respectively Iran has been considered for the energy resource of Oil as 25%, Natural Gas as 69%, and Hydroelectricity as 6% in 2018 as the main respectively. China, U.S.A., India, Japan and Australia have respected the solar power market consideration in GW-2018 as the most important countries. Other considerations for CO2 emission over the globe has been made by China (27.2%), U.S.A (14.58%), India (6.82%), Russia (4.68%), Japan (3.33%) and, Germany (2.21%) as the most important ones

\u3ci\u3eYou Are an Explorer\u3c/i\u3e (2020) by Shahrzad Shahrjerdi

This beautifully illustrated book, with exaggerated pictures of two unprotected children, deals with the issue of post-war displacement of children and their families. While the parents of these two explorers are absent for an unknown reason, the older brother is taking care of the younger sister by his creative thinking. He is trying to use the power of his imagination based on care, as a technique to face seemingly unendurable and oppressive situations. The children who discuss You Are an Explorer may not have experienced a real war, may not have been in any post-war situations, and may not have experienced displacement. Perhaps they haven’t even been in contact with those who have been through any of these circumstances, but they can still explore some relevant concepts in this book, opening dialogue with their peers.https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/iapc_thinkingstories_picturebooks/1041/thumbnail.jp

Plant glutathione S-transferase classification, structure and evolution

Glutathione S-transferases are multifunctional proteins involved in diverse intracellular events such as primary and secondary metabolisms, stress metabolism, herbicide detoxification and plant protection against ozone damages, heavy metals and xenobiotics. The plant glutathione S-transferase superfamily have been subdivided into eight classes. Phi, tau, zeta, theta, lambda, dehydroascorbate reductase and tetrachlorohydroquinone dehalogenase classes are soluble and one class is microsomal. Glutathione S-transferases are mostly soluble cytoplasmic enzymes. To date, the crystal structures of over 200 soluble glutathione S-transferases, present in plants, animals and bacteria have been resolved. The structures of glutathione S-transferase influence its function. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that all soluble glutathione S-transferases have arisen from an ancient progenitor gene, through both convergent and divergent pathways.Key words: Glutathione S-transferases (GST), classification, structure, evolution, phylogenetic analysis, xenobiotics

Systematic Topological Assessment of Power System for Restoration Process Based on the Fractal Dimension

Despite the extensive studies that have been done regarding the restoration problems and issues of power systems, the impact of the topological extent of the power grid structure on power system restoration has not been analyzed or assessed. This objective, which is neglected in the process of planning and development of transmission systems, could make operators encounter more challenges during the restoration process and prolongation of the restoration procedures. In this study, an attempt is made to evaluate the desirability of a power system network structure according to the main requirement of the restoration process, i.e. restoration time. To address this concern, a systematic approach on the basis of a fractal-based quantitative index is introduced to measure the topological extent of a power system network as a representative of restoration time. The proposed approach combines the feeding point condition, topological extent, and support routes to deliver an index associated with the time and success probability of the power system restoration process

Humanity's Last Exam

Benchmarks are important tools for tracking the rapid advancements in large language model (LLM) capabilities. However, benchmarks are not keeping pace in difficulty: LLMs now achieve over 90\% accuracy on popular benchmarks like MMLU, limiting informed measurement of state-of-the-art LLM capabilities. In response, we introduce Humanity's Last Exam (HLE), a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, designed to be the final closed-ended academic benchmark of its kind with broad subject coverage. HLE consists of 3,000 questions across dozens of subjects, including mathematics, humanities, and the natural sciences. HLE is developed globally by subject-matter experts and consists of multiple-choice and short-answer questions suitable for automated grading. Each question has a known solution that is unambiguous and easily verifiable, but cannot be quickly answered via internet retrieval. State-of-the-art LLMs demonstrate low accuracy and calibration on HLE, highlighting a significant gap between current LLM capabilities and the expert human frontier on closed-ended academic questions. To inform research and policymaking upon a clear understanding of model capabilities, we publicly release HLE at https://lastexam.ai

Humanity's Last Exam

Benchmarks are important tools for tracking the rapid advancements in large language model (LLM) capabilities. However, benchmarks are not keeping pace in difficulty: LLMs now achieve over 90\% accuracy on popular benchmarks like MMLU, limiting informed measurement of state-of-the-art LLM capabilities. In response, we introduce Humanity's Last Exam (HLE), a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, designed to be the final closed-ended academic benchmark of its kind with broad subject coverage. HLE consists of 3,000 questions across dozens of subjects, including mathematics, humanities, and the natural sciences. HLE is developed globally by subject-matter experts and consists of multiple-choice and short-answer questions suitable for automated grading. Each question has a known solution that is unambiguous and easily verifiable, but cannot be quickly answered via internet retrieval. State-of-the-art LLMs demonstrate low accuracy and calibration on HLE, highlighting a significant gap between current LLM capabilities and the expert human frontier on closed-ended academic questions. To inform research and policymaking upon a clear understanding of model capabilities, we publicly release HLE at https://lastexam.ai

Silicon fertilization as a sustainable approach to disease management of agricultural crops

Silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element present in the lithosphere, and it constitutes one of the major inorganic nutrient elements of many plants. Although Si is a nonessential nutrient element, its beneficial role in stimulating the growth and development of many plant species has been generally recognized. Silicon is known to effectively reduce disease severity in many plant pathosystems. The key mechanisms of Si-mediated increased plant disease resistance involve improving mechanical properties of cell walls, activating multiple signaling pathways leading to the expression of defense responsive genes and producing antimicrobial compounds. This article highlights the importance and applicability of Si fertilizers in integrated disease management for crops