The Show Must Go On: Challenges, Questions, and Pedagogical Pivots in Response to COVID-19

On March 18, 2020, many universities and university systems had or were in their initial stages of transitioning to virtual teaching as a result of COVID-19. This transition had varied effects on all aspects of the university community. This paper explores this transition through the teaching experiences of a tenure-track professor during the pandemic. The examination of six sections of a capstone undergraduate course over the course of three semesters was conducted. Through self-reflection, many of the challenges faced shifting from face-to-face to a virtual environment were discussed. Among some of the challenges and limitations experienced when teaching nontraditional and/or first-generation students included learner anxiety, technological barriers, and additional student needs. Lastly, recommendations for teacher educators were presented

Bipolar Nation; In Hopes Of Tomorrow; Paradoxical Legacies

A collection of three poems that draw from current and historical events. The poems are grouped together into one submission. Each title is listed within the Article Title section

Schooling in Rural East Texas: Contextualizing and Responding to the Needs of African American Students

This critical analysis contextualizes and responds to the current state of education for persons of African descent in rural East Texas, specifically Region VII. The researchers analyzed assessment data, attendance data, demographic data, and discipline data from the Texas Education Agency. Selected data provided a pathway to explore variables that directly impact students’ academic performance and identities. Findings from this study highlight concerns that range from discrepancies in out-of-school suspensions, disproportionate representation of faculty with the student populations, and challenges faced by East Texas schools and school districts to meet state and federal policies and accountability standards. The authors recommend that students, families, teachers, administrators within these communities must work together to create an environment that all parties are valued

First direct observation of a nearly ideal graphene band structure

Angle-resolved photoemission and X-ray diffraction experiments show that multilayer epitaxial graphene grown on the SiC(000-1) surface is a new form of carbon that is composed of effectively isolated graphene sheets. The unique rotational stacking of these films cause adjacent graphene layers to electronically decouple leading to a set of nearly independent linearly dispersing bands (Dirac cones) at the graphene K-point. Each cone corresponds to an individual macro-scale graphene sheet in a multilayer stack where AB-stacked sheets can be considered as low density faults.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess.Comment: Major update of previous version. This is the reference document for LBNE science program and current status. Chapters 1, 3, and 9 provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess. 288 pages, 116 figure

Improving virtual screening of G protein-coupled receptors via ligand-directed modeling

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) play crucial roles in cell physiology and pathophysiology. There is increasing interest in using structural information for virtual screening (VS) of libraries and for structure-based drug design to identify novel agonist or antagonist leads. However, the sparse availability of experimentally determined GPCR/ligand complex structures with diverse ligands impedes the application of structure-based drug design (SBDD) programs directed to identifying new molecules with a select pharmacology. In this study, we apply ligand-directed modeling (LDM) to available GPCR X-ray structures to improve VS performance and selectivity towards molecules of specific pharmacological profile. The described method refines a GPCR binding pocket conformation using a single known ligand for that GPCR. The LDM method is a computationally efficient, iterative workflow consisting of protein sampling and ligand docking. We developed an extensive benchmark comparing LDM-refined binding pockets to GPCR X-ray crystal structures across seven different GPCRs bound to a range of ligands of different chemotypes and pharmacological profiles. LDM-refined models showed improvement in VS performance over origin X-ray crystal structures in 21 out of 24 cases. In all cases, the LDM-refined models had superior performance in enriching for the chemotype of the refinement ligand. This likely contributes to the LDM success in all cases of inhibitor-bound to agonist-bound binding pocket refinement, a key task for GPCR SBDD programs. Indeed, agonist ligands are required for a plethora of GPCRs for therapeutic intervention, however GPCR X-ray structures are mostly restricted to their inactive inhibitor-bound state

Broadband Multi-wavelength Properties of M87 during the 2017 Event Horizon Telescope Campaign

Abstract: In 2017, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration succeeded in capturing the first direct image of the center of the M87 galaxy. The asymmetric ring morphology and size are consistent with theoretical expectations for a weakly accreting supermassive black hole of mass ∼6.5 × 109 M ⊙. The EHTC also partnered with several international facilities in space and on the ground, to arrange an extensive, quasi-simultaneous multi-wavelength campaign. This Letter presents the results and analysis of this campaign, as well as the multi-wavelength data as a legacy data repository. We captured M87 in a historically low state, and the core flux dominates over HST-1 at high energies, making it possible to combine core flux constraints with the more spatially precise very long baseline interferometry data. We present the most complete simultaneous multi-wavelength spectrum of the active nucleus to date, and discuss the complexity and caveats of combining data from different spatial scales into one broadband spectrum. We apply two heuristic, isotropic leptonic single-zone models to provide insight into the basic source properties, but conclude that a structured jet is necessary to explain M87’s spectrum. We can exclude that the simultaneous γ-ray emission is produced via inverse Compton emission in the same region producing the EHT mm-band emission, and further conclude that the γ-rays can only be produced in the inner jets (inward of HST-1) if there are strongly particle-dominated regions. Direct synchrotron emission from accelerated protons and secondaries cannot yet be excluded

Multidisciplinary Graduate Student Alliance (MGSA): Crafting a diverse peer mentoring network within and beyond a Predominantly White Institution (PWI)

This chapter engages the formation of an interdisciplinary peer-mentoring group that empowered graduate students of color to navigate varied and complex challenges within a predominantly white institution (PWI) in the Rocky Mountain Region. In doing this work, both intended and unintended barriers were exposed and navigated. The chapter describes the journeys of three students and their advisor, who are from diverse backgrounds. Their journeys are followed from the formation of the group through their matriculation and subsequent steps in their respective professional careers. The auto-ethnographic techniques, derived from self-study, involved an application of those utilized by CURVE-Y-FRiENDs (C-Y-F) global network. The challenges identified based on C-Y-F were: (1) intellectual identities, (2) cultural/racial/ethnic/linguistic identities, (3) pursuit of professional careers, and (4) personal/professional relationships. In our work, we identify our journeys’ salient outcomes and provide practical recommendations for various university stakeholders