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Teamwork has been identified as one of the essential professional skills for the 21st century. Business, industries, and corporates require their employees to work in teams on various projects. Therefore, it is crucial to introduce and train undergraduate students on teamwork skills. Working in teams is not easy as one needs to collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds, skillsets, and opinions. The disagreement among the team members may lead to conflict and chaos that jeopardizes the team's harmony. Therefore, just creating teams and assigning a group project is insufficient to help undergraduate students develop teamwork skills. Instructors need to help students become cognizant of their teamwork skills, such as conflict resolution, scrum values, and cultural self-awareness. In this research paper, we intend to understand the perception of students enrolled in a sophomore-level system's course regarding conflict resolution skills, scrum values, and cultural self-awareness. We also want to understand how the perception of these values is related to one another. In the light of this study, we want to answer the following research questions (1) How do students' reported conflict management skills relate to their reported scrum values? (2) How do students' cultural self-awareness relate to their conflict management skills? (3) How do students' cultural self-awareness relate to their reported scrum values? A course on system analysis and design followed a project-based cooperative learning approach. The students were required to work in teams and complete the course deliverables, including the final course project. The team projects followed a scrum approach that helped students identify the project requirements, perform modeling and develop a prototype. Since students worked on scrum- driven projects in a cooperative learning environment, the students were required to participate in a survey study that allowed the instructional team to develop an understanding of the students' perception of conflict management, scrum values, and cultural self-awareness. The responses of the students were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results suggest that students found themselves competent in managing conflict, adhering to scrum values, and demonstrating a high-level cultural self-awareness. 

Teamwork has been identified as one of the essential professional skills for the 21st century. Business, industries, and corporates require their employees to work in teams on various projects. Therefore, it is crucial to introduce and train undergraduate students on teamwork skills. Working in teams is not easy as one needs to collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds, skillsets, and opinions. The disagreement among the team members may lead to conflict and chaos that jeopardizes the team's harmony. Therefore, just creating teams and assigning a group project is insufficient to help undergraduate students develop teamwork skills. Instructors need to help students become cognizant of their teamwork skills, such as conflict resolution, scrum values, and cultural self-awareness. In this research paper, we intend to understand the perception of students enrolled in a sophomore-level system's course regarding conflict resolution skills, scrum values, and cultural self-awareness. We also want to understand how the perception of these values is related to one another. In the light of this study, we want to answer the following research questions (1) How do students' reported conflict management skills relate to their reported scrum values? (2) How do students' cultural self-awareness relate to their conflict management skills? (3) How do students' cultural self-awareness relate to their reported scrum values? A course on system analysis and design followed a project-based cooperative learning approach. The students were required to work in teams and complete the course deliverables, including the final course project. The team projects followed a scrum approach that helped students identify the project requirements, perform modeling and develop a prototype. Since students worked on scrum- driven projects in a cooperative learning environment, the students were required to participate in a survey study that allowed the instructional team to develop an understanding of the students' perception of conflict management, scrum values, and cultural self-awareness. The responses of the students were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results suggest that students found themselves competent in managing conflict, adhering to scrum values, and demonstrating a high-level cultural self-awareness. 

Working in teams has been recognized as an essential 21st-century skill. Introducing teamwork in the undergraduate classroom is crucial as it allows the students to work with individuals with diverse skillsets and learn from one another. It is important to note that just creating a team and allowing the students to work does not foster teamwork skills. Inculcating teamwork skills requires a consciousness on the part of the instructor and the teaching assistants. Pedagogies such as cooperative learning have been recognized as effective in helping students develop teamwork skills. We introduced a joint reflection on action approach to developing teamwork skills among novice students as part of a sophomore-level systems analysis and design course. In this evidence-based practice paper, we report on students’ reflections regarding their perceptions of teamwork. This study approaches the following research questions: What are students' reflections about the role of communication while working in teams in a cooperative project-based learning environment? The guiding pedagogical framework for this course is cooperative learning. The course requires the students to work in teams in a semester-long software development project. To elicit reflection on action about their teamwork experience. Specifically, we exposed students to concrete experiences as part of their teamwork interactions, which became the basis for observations and reflections. For this, the semester-long project was complemented with one reflection-on-action activity. In the activity, students were asked to watch a video of secrets of successful teamwork and were asked to reflect on their perceptions about the role of communication within teams. The students’ reflections on the activity were analyzed using qualitative inductive thematic analysis to understand the students’ perceptions regarding teamwork and communication within teams. 

Working in teams has been recognized as an essential 21st-century skill. Introducing teamwork in the undergraduate classroom is crucial as it allows the students to work with individuals with diverse skillsets and learn from one another. It is important to note that just creating a team and allowing the students to work does not foster teamwork skills. Inculcating teamwork skills requires a consciousness on the part of the instructor and the teaching assistants. Pedagogies such as cooperative learning have been recognized as effective in helping students develop teamwork skills. We introduced a joint reflection on action approach to developing teamwork skills among novice students as part of a sophomore-level systems analysis and design course. In this evidence-based practice paper, we report on students’ reflections regarding their perceptions of teamwork. This study approaches the following research questions: What are students' reflections about the role of communication while working in teams in a cooperative project-based learning environment? The guiding pedagogical framework for this course is cooperative learning. The course requires the students to work in teams in a semester-long software development project. To elicit reflection on action about their teamwork experience. Specifically, we exposed students to concrete experiences as part of their teamwork interactions, which became the basis for observations and reflections. For this, the semester-long project was complemented with one reflection-on-action activity. In the activity, students were asked to watch a video of secrets of successful teamwork and were asked to reflect on their perceptions about the role of communication within teams. The students’ reflections on the activity were analyzed using qualitative inductive thematic analysis to understand the students’ perceptions regarding teamwork and communication within teams. 

Abstract Rapid and widespread testing of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is essential for an effective public health response aimed at containing and mitigating the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Successful health policy implementation relies on early identification of infected individuals and extensive contact tracing. However, rural communities, where resources for testing are sparse or simply absent, face distinctive challenges to achieving this success. Accordingly, we report the development of an academic, public land grant University laboratory-based detection assay for the identification of SARS-CoV-2 in samples from various clinical specimens that can be readily deployed in areas where access to testing is limited. The test, which is a quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR)-based procedure, was validated on samples provided by the state laboratory and submitted for FDA Emergency Use Authorization. Our test exhibits comparable sensitivity and exceeds specificity and inclusivity values compared to other molecular assays. Additionally, this test can be re-configured to meet supply chain shortages, modified for scale up demands, and is amenable to several clinical specimens. Test development also involved 3D engineering critical supplies and formulating a stable collection media that allowed samples to be transported for hours over a dispersed rural region without the need for a cold-chain. These two elements that were critical when shortages impacted testing and when personnel needed to reach areas that were geographically isolated from the testing center. Overall, using a robust, easy-to-adapt methodology, we show that an academic laboratory can supplement COVID-19 testing needs and help local health departments assess and manage outbreaks. This additional testing capacity is particularly germane for smaller cities and rural regions that would otherwise be unable to meet the testing demand. 

Over the last decade, the vector-apodizing phase plate (vAPP) coronagraph has been developed from concept to on-sky application in many high-contrast imaging systems on 8 m class telescopes. The vAPP is a geometric-phase patterned coronagraph that is inherently broadband, and its manufacturing is enabled only by direct-write technology for liquid-crystal patterns. The vAPP generates two coronagraphic point spread functions (PSFs) that cancel starlight on opposite sides of the PSF and have opposite circular polarization states. The efficiency, that is, the amount of light in these PSFs, depends on the retardance offset from a half-wave of the liquid-crystal retarder. Using different liquid-crystal recipes to tune the retardance, different vAPPs operate with high efficiencies ($><\#comment/>96\mathrm{\%<\#comment/>}$) in the visible and thermal infrared (0.55 µm to 5 µm). Since 2015, seven vAPPs have been installed in a total of six different instruments, including Magellan/MagAO, Magellan/MagAO-X, Subaru/SCExAO, and LBT/LMIRcam. Using two integral field spectrographs installed on the latter two instruments, these vAPPs can provide low-resolution spectra ($\mathrm{R}\sim <\#comment/>30$) between 1 µm and 5 µm. We review the design process, development, commissioning, on-sky performance, and first scientific results of all commissioned vAPPs. We report on the lessons learned and conclude with perspectives for future developments and applications.

 

The next core-collapse supernova in the Milky Way or its satellites will represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to obtain detailed information about the explosion of a star and provide significant scientific insight for a variety of fields because of the extreme conditions found within. Supernovae in our galaxy are not only rare on a human timescale but also happen at unscheduled times, so it is crucial to be ready and use all available instruments to capture all possible information from the event. The first indication of a potential stellar explosion will be the arrival of a bright burst of neutrinos. Its observation by multiple detectors worldwide can provide an early warning for the subsequent electromagnetic fireworks, as well as signal to other detectors with significant backgrounds so they can store their recent data. The supernova early warning system (SNEWS) has been operating as a simple coincidence between neutrino experiments in automated mode since 2005. In the current era of multi-messenger astronomy there are new opportunities for SNEWS to optimize sensitivity to science from the next galactic supernova beyond the simple early alert. This document is the product of a workshop in June 2019 towards design of SNEWS 2.0, an upgraded SNEWS with enhanced capabilities exploiting the unique advantages of prompt neutrino detection to maximize the science gained from such a valuable event.