35 research outputs found
'Itâd be useful, but I wouldnât use it':barriers to university studentsâ feedback seeking and recipience
For feedback to be effective, it must be used by the receiver. Prior research has outlined numerous reasons why studentsâ use of feedback is sometimes limited, but there has been little systematic exploration of these barriers. In 11 activity-oriented focus groups, 31 undergraduate Psychology students discussed how they use assessment feedback. The data revealed many barriers that inhibit use of feedback, ranging from studentsâ difficulties with decoding terminology, to their unwillingness to expend effort. Thematic analysis identified four underlying psychological processes: awareness, cognisance, agency, and volition. We argue that these processes should be considered when designing interventions to encourage studentsâ engagement with feedback. Whereas the barriers identified could all in principle be removed, we propose that doing so would typically require â or would at least benefit from â a sharing of responsibility between teacher and student. The data highlight the importance of training students to be proactive receivers of feedback
Three Saturn-mass planets transiting F-type stars revealed with TESS and HARPS
While the sample of confirmed exoplanets continues to increase, the
population of transiting exoplanets around early-type stars is still limited.
These planets allow us to investigate the planet properties and formation
pathways over a wide range of stellar masses and study the impact of high
irradiation on hot Jupiters orbiting such stars. We report the discovery of
TOI-615b, TOI-622b, and TOI-2641b, three Saturn-mass planets transiting main
sequence, F-type stars. The planets were identified by the Transiting Exoplanet
Survey Satellite (TESS) and confirmed with complementary ground-based and
radial velocity observations. TOI-615b is a highly irradiated (1277
) and bloated Saturn-mass planet (1.69
and 0.43) in a 4.66 day orbit transiting a 6850 K
star. TOI-622b has a radius of 0.82 and a mass of
0.30~ in a 6.40 day orbit. Despite its high
insolation flux (600 ), TOI-622b does not show any evidence
of radius inflation. TOI-2641b is a 0.37 planet in a
4.88 day orbit with a grazing transit (b = 1.04) that
results in a poorly constrained radius of 1.61.
Additionally, TOI-615b is considered attractive for atmospheric studies via
transmission spectroscopy with ground-based spectrographs and .
Future atmospheric and spin-orbit alignment observations are essential since
they can provide information on the atmospheric composition, formation and
migration of exoplanets across various stellar types.Comment: 16 pages, 17 figures, submitted to A&
Binary systems and their nuclear explosions
Peer ReviewedPreprin
CELL-SPECIFIC RADIOSENSITIZATION BY GOLD NANOPARTICLES AT MEGAVOLTAGE RADIATION ENERGIES
PURPOSE: Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have been shown to cause sensitization with kilovoltage (kV) radiation. Differences in the absorption coefficient between gold and soft tissue, as a function of photon energy, predict that maximum enhancement should occur in the kilovoltage (kV) range, with almost no enhancement at megavoltage (MV) energies. Recent studies have shown that GNPs are not biologically inert, causing oxidative stress and even cell death, suggesting a possible biological mechanism for sensitization. The purpose of this study was to assess GNP radiosensitization at clinically relevant MV X-ray energies. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Cellular uptake, intracellular localization, and cytotoxicity of GNPs were assessed in normal L132, prostate cancer DU145, and breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. Radiosensitization was measured by clonogenic survival at kV and MV photon energies and MVelectron energies. Intracellular DNA double-strand break (DSB) induction and DNA repair were determined and GNP chemosensitization was assessed using the radiomimetic agent bleomycin. RESULTS: GNP uptake occurred in all cell lines and was greatest in MDA-MB-231 cells with nanoparticles accumulating in cytoplasmic lysosomes. In MDA-MB-231 cells, radiation sensitizer enhancement ratios (SERs) of 1.41, 1.29, and 1.16 were achieved using 160 kVp, 6 MV, and 15 MV X-ray energies, respectively. No significant effect was observed in L132 or DU145 cells at kV or MV energies (SER 0.97-1.08). GNP exposure did not increase radiation-induced DSB formation or inhibit DNA repair; however, GNP chemosensitization was observed in MDA-MB-231 cells treated with bleomycin (SER 1.38). CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated radiosensitization in MDA-MB-231 cells at MV X-ray energies. The sensitization was cell-specific with comparable effects at kV and MV energies, no increase in DSB formation, and GNP chemopotentiation with bleomycin, suggesting a possible biological mechanism of radiosensitization