788 research outputs found
Distance Students as Virtual Migrants: A Case Study from Atlantic Canada
Distance learners are typically excluded from discussions of student mobility. This paper explores distance student choices and experiences, drawing on a study that included students who enrolled in distance education courses at a university outside of their home province. Findings from this study suggest that program and course considerations such as quality, accessibility, and reputation were of primary importance to distance learners. Program cost was also found to be influential in students’ decision-making. Overall, this study adds to the current literature on distance student enrolment choices, experiences, and expectations. It makes a significant contribution in identifying factors that may result in students’ enrolment in distance education outside of their home region, and that should be considered in university recruitment initiatives.Typiquement, les apprenants à distance sont exclus des discussions sur la mobilité des étudiants. Cet article explore les choix et les expériences des étudiants à distance en puisant dans une étude qui a inclus des étudiants inscrits à des cours à distance offerts par une université située dans une province autre que la leur. Les résultats portent à croire que, par rapport aux programmes et aux cours, les apprenants à distance tiennent surtout compte de la qualité, l’accessibilité et la réputation. Le cout des programmes entre également en ligne de compte dans le choix de cours par les apprenants. Globalement, cette étude ajoute à la documentation existante sur les choix de cours, les expériences et les attentes des étudiants à distance. Elle contribue de manière importante à l’identification des facteurs qui pourraient entrainer l’inscription par des étudiants à des cours ailleurs que dans leur région de résidence et dont devraient tenir compte les initiatives de recrutement à l’université
The MASSIVE Survey - VIII. Stellar Velocity Dispersion Profiles and Environmental Dependence of Early-Type Galaxies
We measure the radial profiles of the stellar velocity dispersions,
, for 90 early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the MASSIVE survey, a
volume-limited integral-field spectroscopic (IFS) galaxy survey targeting all
northern-sky ETGs with absolute -band magnitude mag, or
stellar mass , within 108 Mpc. Our wide-field
107" 107" IFS data cover radii as large as 40 kpc, for which we
quantify separately the inner (2 kpc) and outer (20 kpc) logarithmic slopes
and of . While
is mostly negative, of the 56 galaxies with sufficient
radial coverage to determine we find 36% to have rising
outer dispersion profiles, 30% to be flat within the uncertainties, and 34% to
be falling. The fraction of galaxies with rising outer profiles increases with
and in denser galaxy environment, with 10 of the 11 most massive galaxies
in our sample having flat or rising dispersion profiles. The strongest
environmental correlations are with local density and halo mass, but a weaker
correlation with large-scale density also exists. The average is similar for brightest group galaxies, satellites, and isolated
galaxies in our sample. We find a clear positive correlation between the
gradients of the outer dispersion profile and the gradients of the velocity
kurtosis . Altogether, our kinematic results suggest that the increasing
fraction of rising dispersion profiles in the most massive ETGs are caused (at
least in part) by variations in the total mass profiles rather than in the
velocity anisotropy alone.Comment: Accepted/in press, MNRA
The MASSIVE Survey - VII. The Relationship of Angular Momentum, Stellar Mass and Environment of Early-Type Galaxies
We analyse the environmental properties of 370 local early-type galaxies
(ETGs) in the MASSIVE and ATLAS3D surveys, two complementary volume-limited
integral-field spectroscopic (IFS) galaxy surveys spanning absolute -band
magnitude , or stellar mass . We find these galaxies to reside in a diverse range of
environments measured by four methods: group membership (whether a galaxy is a
brightest group/cluster galaxy, satellite, or isolated), halo mass, large-scale
mass density (measured over a few Mpc), and local mass density (measured within
the th neighbour). The spatially resolved IFS stellar kinematics provide
robust measurements of the spin parameter and enable us to examine
the relationship among , , and galaxy environment. We find a
strong correlation between and , where the average
decreases from to below 0.1 with increasing mass, and the fraction
of slow rotators increases from % to 90%. We show for
the first time that at fixed , there are almost no trends between galaxy
spin and environment; the apparent kinematic morphology-density relation for
ETGs is therefore primarily driven by and is accounted for by the joint
correlations between and spin, and between and environment. A
possible exception is that the increased at high local density
is slightly more than expected based only on these joint correlations. Our
results suggest that the physical processes responsible for building up the
present-day stellar masses of massive galaxies are also very efficient at
reducing their spin, in any environment.Comment: Accepted to MNRA
The MASSIVE Survey - X. Misalignment between Kinematic and Photometric Axes and Intrinsic Shapes of Massive Early-Type Galaxies
We use spatially resolved two-dimensional stellar velocity maps over a
field of view to investigate the kinematic features of 90
early-type galaxies above stellar mass in the MASSIVE
survey. We measure the misalignment angle between the kinematic and
photometric axes and identify local features such as velocity twists and
kinematically distinct components. We find 46% of the sample to be well aligned
(), 33% misaligned, and 21% without detectable rotation
(non-rotators). Only 24% of the sample are fast rotators, the majority of which
(91%) are aligned, whereas 57% of the slow rotators are misaligned with a
nearly flat distribution of from to . 11
galaxies have and thus exhibit minor-axis ("prolate")
rotation in which the rotation is preferentially around the photometric major
axis. Kinematic misalignments occur more frequently for lower galaxy spin or
denser galaxy environments. Using the observed misalignment and ellipticity
distributions, we infer the intrinsic shape distribution of our sample and find
that MASSIVE slow rotators are consistent with being mildly triaxial, with mean
axis ratios of and . In terms of local kinematic features,
51% of the sample exhibit kinematic twists of larger than , and 2
galaxies have kinematically distinct components. The frequency of misalignment
and the broad distribution of reported here suggest that the most
massive early-type galaxies are mildly triaxial, and that formation processes
resulting in kinematically misaligned slow rotators such as gas-poor mergers
occur frequently in this mass range.Comment: Accepted to MNRA
A Survey Study of Resuscitation Skills Retention Amongst Health Providers in Newfoundland and Labrador: Final Report of Study Findings
The purpose of this report is to summarize the findings of a research study conducted between
July 2010 and June 2011. The objectives of this study were threefold:
1. To examine the perceptions and attitudes of certified resuscitation providers towards the retention of resuscitation skills and regular skills updating.
2. To examine resuscitation providers’ self-efficacy beliefs towards resuscitation skills.
3. To explore resuscitation provider’s perceptions of methods and modalities for enhancing resuscitation skills retention
The MASSIVE Survey - V. Spatially-Resolved Stellar Angular Momentum, Velocity Dispersion, and Higher Moments of the 41 Most Massive Local Early-Type Galaxies
We present spatially-resolved two-dimensional stellar kinematics for the 41
most massive early-type galaxies (MK ~ 10^11.8
Msun) of the volume-limited (D < 108 Mpc) MASSIVE survey. For each galaxy, we
obtain high-quality spectra in the wavelength range of 3650 to 5850 A from the
246-fiber Mitchell integral-field spectrograph (IFS) at McDonald Observatory,
covering a 107" x 107" field of view (often reaching 2 to 3 effective radii).
We measure the 2-D spatial distribution of each galaxy's angular momentum
(lambda and fast or slow rotator status), velocity dispersion (sigma), and
higher-order non-Gaussian velocity features (Gauss-Hermite moments h3 to h6).
Our sample contains a high fraction (~80% ) of slow and non-rotators with
lambda <~ 0.2. When combined with the lower-mass ETGs in the ATLAS3D survey, we
find the fraction of slow-rotators to increase dramatically with galaxy mass,
reaching ~50% at MK ~ -25.5 mag and ~90% at MK <~ -26 mag. All of our fast
rotators show a clear anti-correlation between h3 and V/sigma, and the slope of
the anti-correlation is steeper in more round galaxies. The radial profiles of
sigma show a clear luminosity and environmental dependence: the 12 most
luminous galaxies in our sample (MK <~ -26 mag) are all brightest cluster/group
galaxies (except NGC 4874) and all have rising or nearly flat sigma profiles,
whereas five of the seven "isolated" galaxies are all fainter than MK = -25.8
mag and have falling sigma. All of our galaxies have positive average h4; the
most luminous galaxies have average h4 ~ 0.05 while less luminous galaxies have
a range of values between 0 and 0.05. Most of our galaxies show positive radial
gradients in h4, and those galaxies also tend to have rising sigma profiles. We
discuss the implications for the relationship among dynamical mass, sigma, h4,
and velocity anisotropy for these massive galaxies.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, 16 appendix figures. Accepted to MNRA
The MASSIVE Survey - XII Connecting Stellar Populations of Early-Type Galaxies to Kinematics and Environment
We measure the stellar populations as a function of radius for 90 early-type
galaxies (ETGs) in the MASSIVE survey, a volume-limited integral-field
spectroscopic (IFS) galaxy survey targeting all northern-sky ETGs with absolute
K-band magnitude M_K < -25.3 mag, or stellar mass M* 4x10^11 M_sun, within 108
Mpc. We are able to measure reliable stellar population parameters for
individual galaxies out to 10-20 kpc (1-3 R_e) depending on the galaxy.
Focusing on ~R_e (~10 kpc), we find significant correlations between the
abundance ratios, sigma, and M* at large radius, but we also find that the
abundance ratios saturate in the highest-mass bin. We see a strong correlation
between the kurtosis of the line of sight velocity distribution (h4) and the
stellar population parameters beyond R_e. Galaxies with higher radial
anisotropy appear to be older, with metal-poorer stars and enhanced [alpha/Fe].
We suggest that the higher radial anisotropy may derive from more accretion of
small satellites. Finally, we see some evidence for correlations between
environmental metrics (measured locally and on >5 Mpc scales) and the stellar
populations, as expected if satellites are quenched earlier in denser
environments.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, Appendix not included here due to size
constraints. Posted after responding to referee's comment
Novel therapies for resistant focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FONT) phase II clinical trial: study design
Abstract Background The lack of adequate randomized clinical trials (RCT) has hindered identification of new therapies that are safe and effective for patients with primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), especially in patients who fail to respond to corticosteroids and immunosuppressive therapies. Recent basic science advances have led to development of alternative treatments that specifically target aberrant pathways of fibrosis which are relevant to disease progression in FSGS. There is a need for a flexible Phase II study design which will test such novel antifibrotic strategies in order to identify agents suitable for phase III testing. Methods/Design The Novel Therapies for Resistant Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FONT) project is a multicenter Phase I/II RCT designed to investigate the potential efficacy of novel therapies for resistant FSGS. Adalimumab and galactose will be evaluated against conservative therapy consisting of the combination of lisinopril, losartan and atorvastatin. The sample size is defined to assure that if one of the treatments has a superior response rate compared to that of the other treatments, it will be selected with high probability for further evaluation. Comparison of primary and secondary endpoints in each study arm will enable a choice to be made of which treatments are worthy of further study in future Phase III RCT. Discussion This report highlights the key features of the FONT II RCT including the two-step outcome analysis that will expedite achievement of the study objectives. The proposed phase II study design will help to identify promising agents for further testing while excluding ineffective agents. This staged approach can help to prevent large expenditures on unworthy therapeutic agents in the management of serious but rare kidney diseases Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT0081425
Function of the anion transporter AtCLC-d in the trans-Golgi network
Anion transporting proteins of the CLC type are involved in anion homeostasis in a variety of organisms. CLCs from Arabidopsis have been shown to participate in nitrate accumulation and storage. In this study, the physiological role of the functional chloride transporter AtCLC-d from Arabidopsis was investigated. AtCLC-d is weakly expressed in various tissues, including the root. When transiently expressed as a GFP fusion in protoplasts, it co-localized with the VHA-a1 subunit of the proton-transporting V-type ATPase in the trans-Golgi network (TGN). Stable expression in plants showed that it co-localized with the endocytic tracer dye FM4-64 in a brefeldin A-sensitive compartment. Immunogold electron microscopy confirmed the localization of AtCLC-d to the TGN. Disruption of the AtCLC-d gene by a T-DNA insertion did not affect the nitrate and chloride contents. The overall morphology of these clcd-1 plants was similar to that of the wild-type, but root growth on synthetic medium was impaired. Moreover, the sensitivity of hypocotyl elongation to treatment with concanamycin A, a blocker of the V-ATPase, was stronger in the clcd-1 mutant. These phenotypes could be complemented by overexpression of AtCLC-d in the mutant background. The results suggest that the luminal pH in the trans-Golgi network is adjusted by AtCLC-d-mediated transport of a counter anion such as Cl− or NO3−
Habits of Mind: Designing Courses for Student Success
Although content knowledge remains at the heart of college teaching and learning, forward-thinking instructors recognize that we must also provide 21st-century college students with transferable skills (sometimes called portable intellectual abilities) to prepare them for their futures (Vazquez, 2020; Ritchhart, 2015; Venezia & Jaeger, 2013; Hazard, 2012). To “grow their capacity as efficacious thinkers to navigate and thrive in the face of unprecedented change” (Costa et al., 2023), students must learn and improve important study skills and academic dispositions throughout their educational careers. If we do not focus on skills-building in college courses, students will not be prepared for the challenges that await them after they leave institutions of higher education. If students are not prepared for these postsecondary education challenges, then it is fair to say that college faculty have failed them
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