The Principal Axis of the Virgo Cluster

Using accurate distances to individual Virgo cluster galaxies obtained by the method of Surface Brightness Fluctuations, we show that Virgo's brightest ellipticals have a remarkably collinear arrangement in three dimensions. This axis, which is inclined by 10 to 15 degrees from the line of sight, can be traced to even larger scales where it appears to join a filamentary bridge of galaxies connecting Virgo to the rich cluster Abell 1367. The orientations of individual Virgo ellipticals also show some tendency to be aligned with the cluster axis, as does the jet of the supergiant elliptical M87. These results suggest that the formation of the Virgo cluster, and its brightest member galaxies, have been driven by infall of material along the Virgo-A1367 filament.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

COSMOS 2044: Lung morphology study, experiment K-7-28

Researchers examined the effect of microgravity during spaceflight on lung tissue. The ultrastructure of the left lungs of 5 Czechoslovakian Wister rats flown on the 13 day, 19+ hour Cosmos 2044 mission was examined and compared to 5 vivarium and 5 synchronous controls at 1-g conditions, and 5 rats exposed to 14 days of tail suspension. Pulmonary hemorrage and alveolar adema of unknown origin occurred to a greater extent in the flight, tail-suspended, and synchronous control animals, and in the dorsal regions of the lung when compared with the vivarium controls. The cause of these changes, which are possibly due to an increase in pulmonary vascular pressure, requires further investigation

Significance of Brooding to the Energy Demands of Alaskan Rock Ptarmigan Chicks

Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) chicks are brooded periodically during the first few days of life; longer in cold and rainy weather. Computed minimum foraging time in adverse weather conditions is 96 minutes/24 hours. Crop analysis and calorimetry of the 6 major food items show that a full crop may contain up to 0.47 kcals. Energy requirements were calculated for both an 18-gram chick and a 30-gram chick. The 18-gram chick required between 34 and 50 crop loads per 24 hours. With 96 minutes foraging time, and the observed pecking rates, this was considered possible. The 30-gram chick required twice as much foraging time but since it was approaching homeothermy, it was tentatively concluded that neither was that chick being handicapped by brooding. Vagaries in early survival of rock ptarmigan chicks, therefore, are not due to differences in post-hatch weather

Does Practice-Based Teacher Preparation Increase Student Achievement? Early Evidence from the Boston Teacher Residency

The Boston Teacher Residency is an innovative practice-based preparation program in which candidates work alongside a mentor teacher for a year before becoming a teacher of record in Boston Public Schools. We find that BTR graduates are more racially diverse than other BPS novices, more likely to teach math and science, and more likely to remain teaching in the district through year five. Initially, BTR graduates for whom value-added performance data are available are no more effective at raising student test scores than other novice teachers in English language arts and less effective in math. The effectiveness of BTR graduates in math improves rapidly over time, however, such that by their fourth and fifth years they out-perform veteran teachers. Simulations of the program’s overall impact through retention and effectiveness suggest that it is likely to improve student achievement in the district only modestly over the long run.

A strategy for determining arterial blood gases on the summit of Mt. Everest

BACKGROUND: Climbers on the summit of Mt. Everest are exposed to extreme hypoxia, and the physiological implications are of great interest. Inferences have been made from alveolar gas samples collected on the summit, but arterial blood samples would give critical information. We propose a plan to insert an arterial catheter at an altitude of 8000 m, take blood samples above this using an automatic sampler, store the samples in glass syringes in an ice-water slurry, and analyze them lower on the mountain 4 to 6 hours later. RESULTS: A preliminary design of the automatic sampler was successfully tested at the White Mountain Research Station (altitude 3800 m – 4300 m). To determine how much the blood gases changed over a long period, rabbit blood was tonometered to give a gas composition close to that expected on the summit (PO(2 )4.0 kPa (30 mmHg), PCO(2 )1.3 kPa (10 mmHg), pH 7.7) and the blood gases were measured every 2 hours for 8 hours both at sea level and 3800 m. The mean changes were PO(2 )+0.3 to +0.4 kPa (+2 to +3 mmHg), PCO(2 )0 to +0.13 kPa (+1 mmHg), pH -0.02 to -0.04, base excess -0.7 to -1.2 mM. In practice the delay before analysis should not exceed 4 to 6 hours. The small paradoxical rise in PO(2 )is presumably caused mainly by contamination of the blood with air. CONCLUSION: We conclude that automatic arterial blood sampling at high altitude is technically feasible and that the changes in the blood gases over a period of several hours are acceptably small

FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL POLICY AND FAR EAST FARM MARKETS

Agricultural and Food Policy,

A backward glance of who and what marketing scholars have been researching 1977-2002

Despite the diversity of all those involved within the marketing discipline, all have a stake in maximizing the advancement of marketing knowledge. Without a specific analysis it is difficult to reflect on where a field has been or where it might be heading. The purpose of this chapter is to examine who and what marketing scholars have been researching over the period 1977&ndash;2002 using content analysis. This chapter provides longitudinal benchmarking of the &lsquo;&lsquo;inputs&rsquo;&rsquo; (authors and institutions) and &lsquo;&lsquo;outputs&rsquo;&rsquo; (articles) examining the marketing literature in the four major marketing journals: the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Consumer Research, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.<br /

Determination of Galaxy Spin Vectors in the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster with the Arecibo Telescope

We use HI observations made with the upgraded Arecibo 305M Telescope in August 1998 to obtain accurate spin vector determinations for 54 nearly edge-on galaxies in the Minnesota Automated Plate Scanner Pisces-Perseus Survey (MAPS-PP). We introduce a simple observational technique of determining the sense of rotation for galaxies, even when their HI disks are not fully resolved. We examined the spin vector distribution of these 54 galaxies for evidence of preferential galaxy alignments. We use the Kuiper statistic, a variant of the Kolmogorov--Smirnov statistic, to determine the significance of any anisotropies in the distribution of galaxy spin vectors. The possibility of ``spin vector domains'' is also investigated. We find no significant evidence of preferential galaxy alignments in this sample. However, we show tha t the small sample size places weak limits on the level of galaxy alignments.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for Publication in Astronomical Journa

The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey III. Chandra and HST Observations of Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries and Globular Clusters in M87

The ACIS instrument on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory has been used to carry out the first systematic study of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) in M87. We identify 174 X-ray point-sources, of which ~150 are likely LMXBs. This LMXB catalog is combined with deep F475W and F850LP images taken with ACS on HST to examine the connection between LMXBs and globular clusters in M87. Of the 1688 globular clusters in our catalog, f_X = 3.6 +- 0.5% contain a LMXB and we find that the metal-rich clusters are 3 +- 1 times more likely to harbor a LMXB than their metal-poor counterparts. In agreement with previous findings for other galaxies, we find that brighter, more metal-rich clusters are more likely to contain a LMXB. For the first time, however, we are able to demonstrate that the probability, p_X, that a given cluster will contain a LMXB depends sensitively on the dynamical properties of the host cluster. Specifically, we use the HST images to measure the half-light radius, concentration index and central density, \rho_0, for each globular, and define a parameter, \Gamma, which is related to the tidal capture and binary-neutron star exchange rate. Our preferred form for p_X is then p_X \propto \Gamma \rho_0^{-0.42\pm0.11} (Z/Z_{\odot})^{0.33\pm0.1}. We argue that if the form of p_X is determined by dynamical processes, then the observed metallicity dependence is a consequence of an increased number of neutron stars per unit mass in metal-rich globular clusters. Finally, we find no compelling evidence for a break in the luminosity distribution of resolved X-ray point sources. Instead, the LMXB luminosity function is well described by a power law with an upper cutoff at L_X ~ 10^39 erg/s. (abridged)Comment: 23 pages, 21 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Also available at http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~pcote/acs/publications.htm