School Facility Design: Are We Asking the Right People?

Realizing the need for changes in the design of new school facilities, architects and educators must reach beyond the norms of past designs. This mixed-methods study was conducted at four recently completed high schools. Questionnaires were utilized in the initial phase of research to identify statistically significant differences between the perceptions of teachers and students regarding the physical design characteristics of their learning environment. Structured interview sessions were then conducted with teachers, principals, and architects, to understand their perceptions regarding the involvement of students in the design and planning process of school facilities, and indicated the importance of providing a clear understanding regarding the need for student involvement in the design and planning efforts of 21st-century school facilities

School Facility Design: Are We Asking the Right People?

Realizing the need for changes in the design of new school facilities, architects and educators must reach beyond the norms of past designs. This mixed-methods study was conducted at four recently completed high schools. Questionnaires were utilized in the initial phase of research to identify statistically significant differences between the perceptions of teachers and students regarding the physical design characteristics of their learning environment. Structured interview sessions were then conducted with teachers, principals, and architects, to understand their perceptions regarding the involvement of students in the design and planning process of school facilities, and indicated the importance of providing a clear understanding regarding the need for student involvement in the design and planning efforts of 21st-century school facilities

A Phase II Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Safety and Efficacy Study of Lenalidomide in Lumbar Radicular Pain with a Long-Term Open-Label Extension Phase.

OBJECTIVE: This phase II study assessed lenalidomide efficacy and safety. DESIGN: Three-phase core study: 14-day prerandomization, 12-week treatment, and 52-week open-label extension. SETTING: Fourteen US centers from July 2005 to July 2007. SUBJECTS: Chronic lumbar radicular pain patients without history of nerve injury or deficit. METHODS: Subjects were randomized (1:1) to double-blind treatment with lenalidomide 10 mg or placebo once daily for 12 weeks, followed by a 52-week open-label extension. A 12-week, single-center, randomized-withdrawal (1:2, lenalidomide:placebo), exploratory study with open-label extension was undertaken in 12 subjects from the core extension who were naïve to neuropathic medications and with at least a two-point decrease from baseline average daily Pain Intensity-Numerical Rating Scale score. RESULTS: Of 180 subjects enrolled, 176 had at least one postbaseline measure; 132 completed the 12-week treatment phase. In the core study, no statistically significant difference in Pain Intensity-Numerical Rating Scale mean change (-0.02, P = 0.958) was observed at week 12 between lenalidomide and placebo; proportions achieving pain reduction at week 12 and other secondary measures were comparable between lenalidomide and placebo. In the exploratory study, week 12 mean changes in Pain Intensity-Numerical Rating Scale scores were -0.05 (lenalidomide: N = 3) and 2.11 (placebo: N = 8). Mean changes in Brief Pain Inventory-short form interference scores were -3.33 and 8.38, respectively; scores at six months were maintained or decreased in 10 of 12 subjects. CONCLUSIONS: While this study does not support lenalidomide use in an unselected lumbar radicular pain population, an immunomodulating agent may relieve pain in select subjects naïve to neuropathic pain medications.ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00120120

Galaxy Zoo: Are Bars Responsible for the Feeding of Active Galactic Nuclei at 0.2 < z < 1.0?

We present a new study investigating whether active galactic nuclei (AGN) beyond the local universe are preferentially fed via large-scale bars. Our investigation combines data from Chandra and Galaxy Zoo: Hubble (GZH) in the AEGIS, COSMOS, and GOODS-S surveys to create samples of face-on, disc galaxies at 0.2 < z < 1.0. We use a novel method to robustly compare a sample of 120 AGN host galaxies, defined to have 10^42 erg/s < L_X < 10^44 erg/s, with inactive control galaxies matched in stellar mass, rest-frame colour, size, Sersic index, and redshift. Using the GZH bar classifications of each sample, we demonstrate that AGN hosts show no statistically significant enhancement in bar fraction or average bar likelihood compared to closely-matched inactive galaxies. In detail, we find that the AGN bar fraction cannot be enhanced above the control bar fraction by more than a factor of two, at 99.7% confidence. We similarly find no significant difference in the AGN fraction among barred and non-barred galaxies. Thus we find no compelling evidence that large-scale bars directly fuel AGN at 0.2<z<1.0. This result, coupled with previous results at z=0, implies that moderate-luminosity AGN have not been preferentially fed by large-scale bars since z=1. Furthermore, given the low bar fractions at z>1, our findings suggest that large-scale bars have likely never directly been a dominant fueling mechanism for supermassive black hole growth.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted by MNRA

Structural and Star-forming Relations since z similar to 3: Connecting Compact Star-forming and Quiescent Galaxies

We study the evolution of the scaling relations that compare the effective density (Sigma(e), r 9.6 -9.3M(circle dot) kpc(-2), allowing the most efficient identification of compact SFGs and quiescent galaxies at every redshift

Deep ugrizY imaging and DEEP2/3 spectroscopy: a photometric redshift testbed for LSST and public release of data from the DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey

We present catalogues of calibrated photometry and spectroscopic redshifts in the Extended Groth Strip, intended for studies of photometric redshifts (photo-z’s). The data includes ugriz photometry from Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) and Y-band photometry from the Subaru Suprime camera, as well as spectroscopic redshifts from the DEEP2, DEEP3, and 3D-HST surveys. These catalogues incorporate corrections to produce effectively matched-aperture photometry across all bands, based upon object size information available in the catalogue and Moffat profile point spread function fits. We test this catalogue with a simple machine learning-based photometric redshift algorithm based upon Random Forest regression, and find that the corrected aperture photometry leads to significant improvement in photo-z accuracy compared to the original SEXTRACTOR catalogues from CFHTLS and Subaru. The deep ugrizY photometry and spectroscopic redshifts are well suited for empirical tests of photometric redshift algorithms for LSST. The resulting catalogues are publicly available at http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/36064/. We include a basic summary of the strategy of the DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey to accompany the recent public release of DEEP3 data

Galaxy Zoo: Are bars responsible for the feeding of active galactic nuclei at 0.2<z<1.0?

We present a new study investigating whether active galactic nuclei (AGN) beyond the local universe are preferentially fed via large-scale bars. Our investigation combines data from Chandra and Galaxy Zoo: Hubble (GZH) in the AEGIS (All-wavelength Extended Groth strip International Survey), COSMOS (Cosmological Evolution Survey), and (Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-South) GOODS-S surveys to create samples of face-on, disc galaxies at 0.21, our findings suggest that large-scale bars have likely never directly been a dominant fuelling mechanism for supermassive black hole growt

Galaxy Zoo: Are Bars Responsible for the Feeding of Active Galactic Nuclei at 0.2 \u3c \u3cem\u3ez\u3c/em\u3e \u3c 1.0?

We present a new study investigating whether active galactic nuclei (AGN) beyond the local universe are preferentially fed via large-scale bars. Our investigation combines data from Chandra and Galaxy Zoo: Hubble (GZH) in the AEGIS (All-wavelength Extended Groth strip International Survey), COSMOS (Cosmological Evolution Survey), and (Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-South) GOODS-S surveys to create samples of face-on, disc galaxies at 0.2 \u3c z \u3c 1.0. We use a novel method to robustly compare a sample of 120 AGN host galaxies, defined to have 1042 erg s−1 \u3c LX \u3c 1044 erg s−1, with inactive control galaxies matched in stellar mass, rest-frame colour, size, Sérsic index, and redshift. Using the GZH bar classifications of each sample, we demonstrate that AGN hosts show no statistically significant enhancement in bar fraction or average bar likelihood compared to closely-matched inactive galaxies. In detail, we find that the AGN bar fraction cannot be enhanced above the control bar fraction by more than a factor of 2, at 99.7 per cent confidence. We similarly find no significant difference in the AGN fraction among barred and non-barred galaxies. Thus we find no compelling evidence that large-scale bars directly fuel AGN at 0.2 \u3c z \u3c 1.0. This result, coupled with previous results at z = 0, implies that moderate-luminosity AGN have not been preferentially fed by large-scale bars since z = 1. Furthermore, given the low bar fractions at z \u3e 1, our findings suggest that large-scale bars have likely never directly been a dominant fuelling mechanism for supermassive black hole growth

CANDELS: The progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies at z~2

We combine high-resolution HST/WFC3 images with multi-wavelength photometry to track the evolution of structure and activity of massive (log(M*) > 10) galaxies at redshifts z = 1.4 - 3 in two fields of the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS). We detect compact, star-forming galaxies (cSFGs) whose number densities, masses, sizes, and star formation rates qualify them as likely progenitors of compact, quiescent, massive galaxies (cQGs) at z = 1.5 - 3. At z > 2 most cSFGs have specific star-formation rates (sSFR = 10^-9 yr^-1) half that of typical, massive SFGs at the same epoch, and host X-ray luminous AGN 30 times (~30%) more frequently. These properties suggest that cSFGs are formed by gas-rich processes (mergers or disk-instabilities) that induce a compact starburst and feed an AGN, which, in turn, quench the star formation on dynamical timescales (few 10^8 yr). The cSFGs are continuously being formed at z = 2 - 3 and fade to cQGs by z = 1.5. After this epoch, cSFGs are rare, thereby truncating the formation of new cQGs. Meanwhile, down to z = 1, existing cQGs continue to enlarge to match local QGs in size, while less-gas-rich mergers and other secular mechanisms shepherd (larger) SFGs as later arrivals to the red sequence. In summary, we propose two evolutionary scenarios of QG formation: an early (z > 2), fast-formation path of rapidly-quenched cSFGs that evolve into cQGs that later enlarge within the quiescent phase, and a slow, late-arrival (z < 2) path for SFGs to form QGs without passing through a compact state.Comment: Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters, 6 pages, 4 figure