AIM/GLOBE partnership: providing remote sensing opportunities for students and teachers to study Noctilucent Clouds
“Aeronomy of Ice In the Mesosphere” (AIM), is a NASA satellite-based research mission scheduled to launch in September 2006. AIM is dedicated to providing a scientific basis for understanding why Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs) form and vary. PMCs are sometimes known as Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs) or “night shinning” clouds because of their visibility during or just before and after twilight. NLCs may well be the only truly visible atmospheric phenomenon associated with global atmospheric change. These clouds that form ~ 50km above the earth, surface usually poleward of 50 latitude, have been increasing with time, becoming brighter and moving toward the equator.
Translating the mission: when the ground-truthers meet the instrument-makers-how students at all points in the "Pipeline" learn about remote sensing
In 1997 the Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) worked with Old Dominion University, Hampton University, Tidewater Community College and the College of William and Mary to develop a student team to manage the design, fabrication, and launch process for a scientific balloon payload. The expertise available to the VSGC suggested that an environmentally focused payload should address the instrumentation for gathering remotely sensed images and ground-truthing data. The payload was successfully launched on August 25, 1998. Throughout the project all team members worked with precollege students. Questions about the project were responded to through the "Ask A Scientist" page of the web site (http://ixeab2.larc.nasa.gov//sup -/killough/vsgc). The "Lessons Learned" included: 1) Student accountability for accuracy, safety, and project costs is critical, 2) Internet research projects require a high degree of organization, software compatibility, and self-efficacy: judgement that the student himself feels capable of participating in an on-line research project, and 3) The moment of "Aha!" is the primary motivator.
POLICE, MINORITIES, AND THE FRENCH REPUBLICAN IDEAL*
This paper examines the strained relationship between French police agencies and ethnic minorities and discusses evidence of ethnic discrimination by the police and the criminal justice system. Until recently, the idea that ethnic composition of a police force ought to reflect, to some degree, the community it polices, seemed odd in France. We argue that there are two main reasons for this viewpoint: first, a conception of the role of the police in the State as accountable to the government rather than to the citizens; secondly, a conception of Republic and citizenship denying any political significance to the personal identities of citizens. We conclude that ethnic diversification of police forces is but one aspect of a more encompassing struggle against discrimination that requires a degree of accommodation with the present legal and statistical invisibility of racial/ethnic groups.