1,248 research outputs found
Innovation in Engineering, Technology and Education for Competitiveness and Prosperity
Abstract The main purpose of this research project was to assess the impact of the Cambio Magistral initiative (CMI) on student engagement in the STEM courses involved. CMI is an institutional program aimed at supporting professors in the implementation of changes in their large lecture courses with the following goals: increasing student participation and engagement, fostering formative assessment practices, and incorporation of technology in support of pedagogical practice. The study responds to the following research questions: How do students perceive their learning experience in Cambio Magistral courses? How do students evaluate their commitment to their learning in Cambio Magistral courses? What kinds of engagement do student demonstrate during the Cambio Magistral classes? The study followed a quantitative research design, descriptive in nature, using class observations protocols and survey as the main data collection techniques. The students in the STEM courses involved were observed and surveyed during two semesters. Results both in terms of class observations and self-reported student data show a high level of student engagement with course content and increased frequency of higher-level cognitive activities in response to the pedagogical strategies enacted by professors
Cold gas accretion in galaxies
Evidence for the accretion of cold gas in galaxies has been rapidly
accumulating in the past years. HI observations of galaxies and their
environment have brought to light new facts and phenomena which are evidence of
ongoing or recent accretion:
1) A large number of galaxies are accompanied by gas-rich dwarfs or are
surrounded by HI cloud complexes, tails and filaments. It may be regarded as
direct evidence of cold gas accretion in the local universe. It is probably the
same kind of phenomenon of material infall as the stellar streams observed in
the halos of our galaxy and M31. 2) Considerable amounts of extra-planar HI
have been found in nearby spiral galaxies. While a large fraction of this gas
is produced by galactic fountains, it is likely that a part of it is of
extragalactic origin. 3) Spirals are known to have extended and warped outer
layers of HI. It is not clear how these have formed, and how and for how long
the warps can be sustained. Gas infall has been proposed as the origin. 4) The
majority of galactic disks are lopsided in their morphology as well as in their
kinematics. Also here recent accretion has been advocated as a possible cause.
In our view, accretion takes place both through the arrival and merging of
gas-rich satellites and through gas infall from the intergalactic medium (IGM).
The infall may have observable effects on the disk such as bursts of star
formation and lopsidedness. We infer a mean ``visible'' accretion rate of cold
gas in galaxies of at least 0.2 Msol/yr. In order to reach the accretion rates
needed to sustain the observed star formation (~1 Msol/yr), additional infall
of large amounts of gas from the IGM seems to be required.Comment: To appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics Reviews. 34 pages.
Full-resolution version available at
http://www.astron.nl/~oosterlo/accretionRevie
Turbulence and galactic structure
Interstellar turbulence is driven over a wide range of scales by processes
including spiral arm instabilities and supernovae, and it affects the rate and
morphology of star formation, energy dissipation, and angular momentum transfer
in galaxy disks. Star formation is initiated on large scales by gravitational
instabilities which control the overall rate through the long dynamical time
corresponding to the average ISM density. Stars form at much higher densities
than average, however, and at much faster rates locally, so the slow average
rate arises because the fraction of the gas mass that forms stars at any one
time is low, ~10^{-4}. This low fraction is determined by turbulence
compression, and is apparently independent of specific cloud formation
processes which all operate at lower densities. Turbulence compression also
accounts for the formation of most stars in clusters, along with the cluster
mass spectrum, and it gives a hierarchical distribution to the positions of
these clusters and to star-forming regions in general. Turbulent motions appear
to be very fast in irregular galaxies at high redshift, possibly having speeds
equal to several tenths of the rotation speed in view of the morphology of
chain galaxies and their face-on counterparts. The origin of this turbulence is
not evident, but some of it could come from accretion onto the disk. Such high
turbulence could help drive an early epoch of gas inflow through viscous
torques in galaxies where spiral arms and bars are weak. Such evolution may
lead to bulge or bar formation, or to bar re-formation if a previous bar
dissolved. We show evidence that the bar fraction is about constant with
redshift out to z~1, and model the formation and destruction rates of bars
required to achieve this constancy.Comment: in: Penetrating Bars through Masks of Cosmic Dust: The Hubble Tuning
Fork strikes a New Note, Eds., K. Freeman, D. Block, I. Puerari, R. Groess,
Dordrecht: Kluwer, in press (presented at a conference in South Africa, June
7-12, 2004). 19 pgs, 5 figure
Measurement of Exclusive B Decays to Final States Containing a Charmed Baryon
Using data collected by the CLEO detector in the Upsilon(4S) region, we
report new measurements of the exclusive decays of B mesons into final states
of the type Lambda_c^+ p-bar n(pi), where n=0,1,2,3. We find signals in modes
with one, two and three pions and an upper limit for the two body decay
Lambda_c^+ pbar. We also make the first measurements of exclusive decays of B
mesons to Sigma_c p-bar n(pi), where n=0,1,2. We find signals in modes with one
and two pions and an upper limit for the two body decay Sigma_c p-bar.
Measurements of these modes shed light on the mechanisms involved in B decays
to baryons.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to PR
Measurement of the Masses and Widths of the Sigma_c^++ and Sigma_c^0 Charmed Baryons
Using data recorded by the CLEO II and CLEO II.V detector configurations at
CESR, we report new measurements of the masses of the Sigma_c^{++} and
Sigma_c^0 charmed baryons, and the first measurements of their intrinsic
widths. We find M(Sigma_c^{++}) - M(Lambda_c^+) = 167.4 +- 0.1 +- 0.2 MeV,
Gamma(Sigma_c^{++}) = 2.3 +- 0.2 +- 0.3 MeV, and M(Sigma_c^0) - M(Lambda_c^+) =
167.2 +- 0.1 +- 0.2 MeV, Gamma(Sigma_c^0) = 2.5 +- 0.2 +- 0.3 MeV, where the
uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: 9 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to PRD, Rapid
Communications. Reference [13] correcte
Observation of Exclusive barB --> D(*) K*- Decays
We report the first observation of the exclusive decays \bar B\to
D^{(*)}K^{*-}, using 9.66 x 10^{6} B\bar{B} pairs collected at the \Upsilon(4S)
with the CLEO detector. We measure the following branching fractions: {\cal
B}(B^- -> D^0 K^{*-})=(6.1 +- 1.6 +-1.7)x10^{-4}, {\cal B}(\bar{B^0} ->
D^+K^{*-})=(3.7 +- 1.5 +- 1.0) x 10^{-4}, {\cal B}(\bar{B^0} ->
D^{*+}K^{*-})=(3.8 +- 1.3 +- 0.8) x 10^{-4} and {\cal B}(B^- --> D^{*0}
K^{*-})=(7.7 +- 2.2 +- 2.6) x 10^{-4}. The \bar B ->D^*K^{*-} branching ratios
are the averages of those corresponding to the 00 and 11 helicity states. The
errors shown are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: 9 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, Published in
Phys.Rev.Lett.88:101803,200
Evidence for the Decay
We present a search for the ``wrong-sign'' decay D0 -> K+ pi- pi+ pi- using 9
fb-1 of e+e- collisions on and just below the Upsilon(4S) resonance. This decay
can occur either through a doubly Cabibbo-suppressed process or through mixing
to a D0bar followed by a Cabibbo-favored process. Our result for the
time-integrated wrong-sign rate relative to the decay D0 -> K- pi+ pi- pi+ is
(0.0041 +0.0012-0.0011(stat.) +-0.0004(syst.))x(1.07 +-0.10)(phase space),
which has a statistical significance of 3.9 standard deviations.Comment: 9 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to PR
Hadronic Mass Moments in Inclusive Semileptonic B Meson Decays
We have measured the first and second moments of the hadronic mass-squared
distribution in B -> X_c l nu, for P(lepton) > 1.5 GeV/c. We find <M_X^2 -
M_D[Bar]^2> = 0.251 +- 0.066 GeV^2, )^2 > = 0.576 +- 0.170
GeV^4, where M_D[Bar] is the spin-averaged D meson mass.
From that first moment and the first moment of the photon energy spectrum in
b -> s gamma, we find the HQET parameter lambda_1 (MS[Bar], to order 1/M^3 and
beta_0 alpha_s^2) to be -0.24 +- 0.11 GeV^2. Using these first moments and the
B semileptonic width, and assuming parton-hadron duality, we obtain |V_cb| =
0.0404 +- 0.0013.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to PR
First Observation of B -> D(*) rho', rho' -> omega pi-
We report on the observation of B-> D(*) pi+ pi- pi- pi^o decays. The
branching ratios for D*+ and D*o are (1.72+/-0.14+/-0.24)% and
(1.80+/-0.24+/-0.27)%, respectively. Each final state has a D* omega pi-
component, with branching ratios (0.29+/-0.03+/-0.04)% and
(0.45+/-0.10+/-0.07)% for the D*+ and D*o modes, respectively. We also observe
B -> D omega pi- decays. The branching ratios for D+ and Do are
(0.28+/-0.05+/-0.04)% and (0.41+/-0.07+/-0.06)%, respectively. A spin parity
analysis of the D omega pi- final state prefers a wide 1^- resonance. A fit to
the omega pi- mass spectrum finds a central mass of (1349+/-25^{+10}_{-5}) MeV
and width of (547+/-86^{+46}_{-45}) MeV. We identify this object as the
rho(1450) or the \rho'.Comment: 42 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, To Appear in PR
Search for the Decay
We report on a search for the radiative decay U(1S) -> gamma + eta' in 61.3
pb^-1 of data taken with the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage
Ring. Three decay chains were investigated, all involving eta' -> pi+ pi- +
eta, followed by eta -> gamma + gamma, eta -> pi0 + pi0 + pi0, or eta -> pi+ +
pi- + pi0. We find no candidate events in any of the three cases and set a
combined upper limit of 1.6 x 10^-5 at 90% C.L., significantly smaller than the
previous limit. We compare our result to other radiative U(1S) decays, to
radiative J/psi decays, and to theoretical predictions.Comment: 9 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to PR
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