190 research outputs found
Improving teaching and learning through shared governance: Creating a culture of inquiry, collaboration, and collegiality
This roundtable discussion will engage participants in a case study analysis of two liberal arts institutions where the faculty governance committee responsibly for student outcomes assessment and disciplinary program review has effectively worked with the Provost and the Director of Academic Assessment to dramatically improve the policies, procedures, and practices of continuously improving pedagogy and curricula. Participants will be guided through discussions and exercises to consider how they can bring lessons learned back to their respective campuses to improve shared governance and, consequently, their teaching and learning process
Strengthening the Culture of Assessment through Faculty Development and Shared Governance
This 75-minute interactive workshop engages participants in a case study of two colleges and their efforts to expand and strengthen faculty assessment activities. A grant from the Teagle Foundation and on-campus conversations between faculty members and the administration have lead to dramatic improvements in the policies, procedures, and practices of assessment
High-speed analysis of nuclear emulsion films with the use of dry objective lenses
The extensive use of nuclear emulsions as precise tracking detectors in experimental physics has been made possible due to recent advances in the production of novel emulsion films and to the development of automatic scanning devices. The scanning speed of such systems has exceeded the level of 20 cm2 of emulsion surface per hour. High-speed automatic scanning systems, such as those developed by the OPERA Collaboration, are able to reconstruct particle tracks in nuclear emulsions with excellent accuracy. However, the high-magnification oil immersion objectives used in these systems assume deposition and removal of oil onto and from the emulsion films. This is a major technological obstacle in the automatization of the emulsion feeding to the microscope, as required for large scale use as in the case of the OPERA neutrino oscillation experiment. In order to overcome this problem, an innovative technique of nuclear emulsion films scanning with the use of dry objective lenses has been developed and successfully applied to the experiment
Identification and functional characterisation of CRK12:CYC9, a novel cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)-cyclin complex in Trypanosoma brucei
The protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, is spread by the tsetse fly and causes trypanosomiasis in humans and animals. Both the life cycle and cell cycle of the parasite are complex. Trypanosomes have eleven cdc2-related kinases (CRKs) and ten cyclins, an unusually large number for a single celled organism. To date, relatively little is known about the function of many of the CRKs and cyclins, and only CRK3 has previously been shown to be cyclin-dependent in vivo. Here we report the identification of a previously uncharacterised CRK:cyclin complex between CRK12 and the putative transcriptional cyclin, CYC9. CRK12:CYC9 interact to form an active protein kinase complex in procyclic and bloodstream T. brucei. Both CRK12 and CYC9 are essential for the proliferation of bloodstream trypanosomes in vitro, and we show that CRK12 is also essential for survival of T. brucei in a mouse model, providing genetic validation of CRK12:CYC9 as a novel drug target for trypanosomiasis. Further, functional characterisation of CRK12 and CYC9 using RNA interference reveals roles for these proteins in endocytosis and cytokinesis, respectively
Emulsion sheet doublets as interface trackers for the OPERA experiment
New methods for efficient and unambiguous interconnection between electronic
counters and target units based on nuclear photographic emulsion films have
been developed. The application to the OPERA experiment, that aims at detecting
oscillations between mu neutrino and tau neutrino in the CNGS neutrino beam, is
reported in this paper. In order to reduce background due to latent tracks
collected before installation in the detector, on-site large-scale treatments
of the emulsions ("refreshing") have been applied. Changeable Sheet (CSd)
packages, each made of a doublet of emulsion films, have been designed,
assembled and coupled to the OPERA target units ("ECC bricks"). A device has
been built to print X-ray spots for accurate interconnection both within the
CSd and between the CSd and the related ECC brick. Sample emulsion films have
been extensively scanned with state-of-the-art automated optical microscopes.
Efficient track-matching and powerful background rejection have been achieved
in tests with electronically tagged penetrating muons. Further improvement of
in-doublet film alignment was obtained by matching the pattern of low-energy
electron tracks. The commissioning of the overall OPERA alignment procedure is
in progress.Comment: 19 pages, 19 figure
The detection of neutrino interactions in the emulsion/lead target of the OPERA experiment
The OPERA neutrino detector in the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS)
was designed to perform the first detection of neutrino oscillations in
appearance mode through the study of oscillations. The
apparatus consists of an emulsion/lead target complemented by electronic
detectors and it is placed in the high energy long-baseline CERN to LNGS beam
(CNGS) 730 km away from the neutrino source. Runs with CNGS neutrinos were
successfully carried out in 2007 and 2008 with the detector fully operational
with its related facilities for the emulsion handling and analysis. After a
brief description of the beam and of the experimental setup we report on the
collection, reconstruction and analysis procedures of first samples of neutrino
interaction events
First events from the CNGS neutrino beam detected in the OPERA experiment
The OPERA neutrino detector at the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS)
was designed to perform the first detection of neutrino oscillations in
appearance mode, through the study of nu_mu to nu_tau oscillations. The
apparatus consists of a lead/emulsion-film target complemented by electronic
detectors. It is placed in the high-energy, long-baseline CERN to LNGS beam
(CNGS) 730 km away from the neutrino source. In August 2006 a first run with
CNGS neutrinos was successfully conducted. A first sample of neutrino events
was collected, statistically consistent with the integrated beam intensity.
After a brief description of the beam and of the various sub-detectors, we
report on the achievement of this milestone, presenting the first data and some
analysis results.Comment: Submitted to the New Journal of Physic
Measurement of the atmospheric muon charge ratio with the OPERA detector
The OPERA detector at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) was used
to measure the atmospheric muon charge ratio in the TeV energy region. We
analyzed 403069 atmospheric muons corresponding to 113.4 days of livetime
during the 2008 CNGS run. We computed separately the muon charge ratio for
single and for multiple muon events in order to select different energy regions
of the primary cosmic ray spectrum and to test the charge ratio dependence on
the primary composition. The measured charge ratio values were corrected taking
into account the charge-misidentification errors. Data have also been grouped
in five bins of the "vertical surface energy". A fit to a simplified model of
muon production in the atmosphere allowed the determination of the pion and
kaon charge ratios weighted by the cosmic ray energy spectrum.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
Quantitative Organization of GABAergic Synapses in the Molecular Layer of the Mouse Cerebellar Cortex
In the cerebellar cortex, interneurons of the molecular layer (stellate and basket cells) provide GABAergic input to Purkinje cells, as well as to each other and possibly to other interneurons. GABAergic inhibition in the molecular layer has mainly been investigated at the interneuron to Purkinje cell synapse. In this study, we used complementary subtractive strategies to quantitatively assess the ratio of GABAergic synapses on Purkinje cell dendrites versus those on interneurons. We generated a mouse model in which the GABAA receptor α1 subunit (GABAARα1) was selectively removed from Purkinje cells using the Cre/loxP system. Deletion of the α1 subunit resulted in a complete loss of GABAAR aggregates from Purkinje cells, allowing us to determine the density of GABAAR clusters in interneurons. In a complementary approach, we determined the density of GABA synapses impinging on Purkinje cells using α-dystroglycan as a specific marker of inhibitory postsynaptic sites. Combining these inverse approaches, we found that synapses received by interneurons represent approximately 40% of all GABAergic synapses in the molecular layer. Notably, this proportion was stable during postnatal development, indicating synchronized synaptogenesis. Based on the pure quantity of GABAergic synapses onto interneurons, we propose that mutual inhibition must play an important, yet largely neglected, computational role in the cerebellar cortex
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