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The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted assessment of student learning. A shift from in-person to a fully online and remote instruction format occurred at many institutions of higher education soon after the World Health Organization announced the pandemic status in mid-March of 2020 (WHO 2021). Even after the 2019-2020 academic year, many college courses continued to be taught in a fully remote and online mode as the pandemic persisted. In this study, the researchers wanted to understand the factors that instructors considered when assessing student learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first aim was to understand instructors' responses to the pandemic circumstances in terms of assessment practices. They gathered information on relative changes (before vs. during the pandemic) in the format and administration of assessments. The second aim was to better understand the challenges and methods of adaptation in various aspects of assessment, including the instructors' decisions concerning the prioritization of content covered, adjustment to the course grading scheme/policy, preparation for exams, difficulties administering assessments online, and the handling of academic integrity concerns. Aligning with the terminology used by Ober and Cheng (2022) in the context of this investigation, terms such as "tests" or "exams" are distinguished from the broader category of "assessments." While "test" or "exam" refers to more conventionally structured assessment formats, "assessment" is a more encompassing term which includes these in addition to essays or capstone projects, for example. To achieve these aims, an online survey was administered to a sample of college instructors teaching across a variety of disciplines at higher education institutions throughout the United States.

The retreat and acceleration of Greenland glaciers since the mid-1990s have been attributed to the enhanced intrusion of warm Atlantic Waters (AW) into fjords, but this assertion has not been quantitatively tested on a Greenland-wide basis or included in models. Here, we investigate how AW influenced retreat at 226 marine-terminating glaciers using ocean modeling, remote sensing, and in situ observations. We identify 74 glaciers in deep fjords with AW controlling 49% of the mass loss that retreated when warming increased undercutting by 48%. Conversely, 27 glaciers calving on shallow ridges and 24 in cold, shallow waters retreated little, contributing 15% of the loss, while 10 glaciers retreated substantially following the collapse of several ice shelves. The retreat mechanisms remain undiagnosed at 87 glaciers without ocean and bathymetry data, which controlled 19% of the loss. Ice sheet projections that exclude ocean-induced undercutting may underestimate mass loss by at least a factor of 2.

Bathymetry (seafloor depth), is a critical parameter providing the geospatial context for a multitude of marine scientific studies. Since 1997, the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) has been the authoritative source of bathymetry for the Arctic Ocean. IBCAO has merged its efforts with the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO-Seabed 2030 Project, with the goal of mapping all of the oceans by 2030. Here we present the latest version (IBCAO Ver. 4.0), with more than twice the resolution (200 × 200 m versus 500 × 500 m) and with individual depth soundings constraining three times more area of the Arctic Ocean (∼19.8% versus 6.7%), than the previous IBCAO Ver. 3.0 released in 2012. Modern multibeam bathymetry comprises ∼14.3% in Ver. 4.0 compared to ∼5.4% in Ver. 3.0. Thus, the new IBCAO Ver. 4.0 has substantially more seafloor morphological information that offers new insights into a range of submarine features and processes; for example, the improved portrayal of Greenland fjords better serves predictive modelling of the fate of the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Current advances in technologies and treatments provide pet owners and veterinarians with more options for prolonging the life of beloved pets, but can simultaneously lead to ethical dilemmas relating to what is best for both animal and owner. Key tools for improving end-of-life outcomes include (1) sufficient training to understand the valid ethical approaches to determining when euthanasia is appropriate, (2) regular training in client communication skills, and (3) a standard end-of-life protocol that includes the use of quality of life assessment tools, euthanasia consent forms, and pet owner resources for coping with the loss of a pet. Using these tools will improve outcomes for animals and their owners and reduce the heavy burden of stress and burnout currently being experienced by the veterinary profession.