The K Band Luminosity Functions of Galaxies in High Redshift Clusters

K band luminosity functions (LFs) of three, massive, high redshift clusters of galaxies are presented. The evolution of K*, the characteristic magnitude of the LF, is consistent with purely passive evolution, and a redshift of forma tion z = 1.5-2.Comment: 3 pages, to appear in Proceedings of IAU Colloquium 195 - Outskirts of Galaxy Clusters: intense life in the suburb

The colour-magnitude relations of ClJ1226.9+3332, a massive cluster of galaxies at z=0.89

(Abridged) The colour-magnitude relations of one of the most massive, high redshift clusters of galaxies known have been studied. Photometry has been measured in the V, R, I, z, F606W, F814W, J and K bands to a depth of K*+2.5 and spectroscopy confirms 27 K band selected cluster members. The V-K colours are equivalent to a rest-frame colour of ~2700A-J, and provide a very sensitive measure of star-formation activity. HST ACS imaging has been used to morphologically classify the galaxies. The cluster has a low early-type fraction compared to nearby clusters, with only 33% of the cluster members having types E or S0. The early-type member galaxies form a clear red-sequence in all colours. The scatter and slope of the relations show no evolution compared to the equivalent Coma cluster relations, suggesting the stellar populations are already very old. The normalisation of the relations has been compared to models based on synthetic stellar populations, and are most consistent with stellar populations forming at z>3. Some late-type galaxies were found to lie on the red-sequence, suggesting that they have very similar stellar populations to the early-types. These results present a picture of a cluster in which the early-type galaxies are all old, but in which there must be future morphological transformation of galaxies to match the early-type fraction of nearby clusters. In order to preserve the tight colour-magnitude relation of early-types seen in nearby clusters, the late-type galaxies must transform their colours, through the cessation of star-formation, before the morphological transformation occurs. Such evolution is observed in the late-types lying on the colour-magnitude relation.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 14 pages, 5 figure

Investigating the information-seeking behaviour of academic lawyers: From Ellis's model to design.

Information-seeking is important for lawyers, who have access to many dedicated electronic resources.However there is considerable scope for improving the design of these resources to better support information-seeking. One way of informing design is to use information-seeking models as theoretical lenses to analyse users’ behaviour with existing systems. However many models, including those informed by studying lawyers, analyse information-seeking at a high level of abstraction and are only likely to lead to broad-scoped design insights. We illustrate that one potentially useful (and lowerlevel) model is Ellis’s - by using it as a lens to analyse and make design suggestions based on the information-seeking behaviour of twenty-seven academic lawyers, who were asked to think aloud whilst using electronic legal resources to find information for their work. We identify similar information-seeking behaviours to those originally found by Ellis and his colleagues in scientific domains, along with several that were not identified in previous studies such as ‘updating’ (which we believe is particularly pertinent to legal information-seeking). We also present a refinement of Ellis’s model based on the identification of several levels that the behaviours were found to operate at and the identification of sets of mutually exclusive subtypes of behaviours

Severe New Limits on the Host Galaxies of Gamma Ray Bursts

The nature of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) remains a complete mystery, despite the recent breakthrough discovery of low energy counterparts, although it is now generally believed that at least most GRBs are at cosmological distances. Virtually all proposed cosmological models require bursters to reside in ordinary galaxies. This can be tested by looking inside the smallest GRB error boxes to see if ordinary galaxies appear at the expected brightness levels. This letter reports on an analysis of the contents of 26 of the smallest regions, many from the brightest bursts. These events will have $z < 0.4$ and small uncertainties about luminosity functions, K corrections and galaxy evolutions; whereas the recent events with optical transients are much fainter and hence have high redshifts and grave difficulties in interpretation. This analysis strongly rejects the many models with peak luminosities of $10^{57} photons \cdot s^{-1}$ as deduced from the $LogN-LogP$ curve with no evolution. Indeed, the lower limit on acceptable luminosities is $6 \times 10^{58} photons \cdot s^{-1}$. The only possible solution is to either place GRBs at unexpectedly large distances (with $z > 5.9$ for the faint BATSE bursts) or to require bursters to be far outside any normal host galaxy.Comment: 17 pages, to be published by ApJ

Who the hell was that? Stories, bodies and actions in the world

This article explores a two-way relationship between stories and the experiential actions of bodies in the world. Through an autoethnographic approach, the article presents a series of interlinked story fragments in an effort to show and evoke a feel for the ways in which stories, bodies, and actions influence and shape each other over time. It offers some reflections on the experiences the stories portray from the perspective of a social constructionist conception of narrative theory and suggest that while stories exert a powerful influence on the actions of our bodies, our bodies intrude on or ‘talk back’ to this process because bodies have an existence beyond stories

Using Stories in Coach Education

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how storied representations of research can be used as an effective pedagogical tool in coach education. During a series of continuing professional development seminars for professional golf coaches, we presented our research in the form of stories and poems which were created in an effort to evoke and communicate the lived experiences of elite professional golfers. Following these presentations, we obtained written responses to the stories from 53 experienced coaches who attended the seminars. Analysis of this data revealed three ways in which coaches responded to the stories: (i) questioning; (ii) summarising; and (iii) incorporating. We conclude that these responses illustrate the potential of storied forms of representation to enhance professional development through stimulating reflective practice and increasing understanding of holistic, person-centred approaches to coaching athletes in high-performance sport

DEVELOPMENT OF RECOMBINANT PROTEIN BASED CHEMICAL CONJUGATE MALARIA VACCINES TARGETING THE PRE-ERYTHROCYTIC STAGE, TRANSMISSION BLOCKING, OR BOTH

The development of a Plasmodium falciparum malaria vaccine is critical for future control and elimination programs. Recombinant protein based chemical conjugate vaccines, covering different parasite stages, are being developed due to complexity of the parasite and sub-optimal immunogenicity of recombinant malaria proteins in humans, respectively. Chemical conjugation of recombinant malaria proteins to carrier proteins improves their immunogenicity in animal studies. A transmission blocking vaccine comprised of the ookinete protein Pfs25 chemically conjugated to Pseudomonas aeruginosa ExoProtein A (EPA) is currently being developed for pilot scale cGMP production. Bulk lots of Pfs25 and EPA have already been produced and released following cGMP. Appropriate analytical assays are being evaluated for both in-process and bulk release of the Pfs25-EPA conjugate vaccine. One critical assay already evaluated for determining the average mass is analytical size exclusion HPLC coupled with multi-angle light scattering. Phase 1 human clinical trials are planned for 2011. Another biological target of interest is the circumsporozoite protein (CSP), the most abundant and immunogenic protein on the surface of the sporozoite. A recombinant nearly full-length CSP has been produced in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris containing a bioengineered free thiol for chemical conjugation to various carrier proteins, including a chemically conjugated form of Pfs25. This recombinant protein based chemical conjugation platform, in combination with better adjuvant selection, will improve the potential for developing an efficacious malaria vaccine

Clinical significance of perioperative Q-wave myocardial infarction: The Emory Angioplasty versus Surgery Trial

AbstractObjective: The primary end point of the Emory Angioplasty versus Surgery Trial was a composite of three events: death, Q-wave infarction, and a new large defect on 3-year postoperative thallium scan. This study examines the clinical significance of Q-wave infarction in the surgical cohort (194 patients) of the Emory trial. Methods: Twenty patients (10.3%) with Q-wave infarctions were identified: 13 patients had inferior Q-wave infarctions and seven patients had anterior, lateral, septal, or posterior Q-wave infarctions (termed anterior Q-wave infarctions). Results: In the inferior Q-wave infarction group, postoperative cardiac catheterization (at 1 year or 3 years) in 11 patients revealed normal ejection fraction (ejection fraction >55%) in 10 (91%), no wall motion abnormalities in 10 (91%), and all grafts patent in 10 (91%). In the anterior Q-wave infarction group, postoperative catheterizatiOn in six patients revealed normal ejection fractions in five (83%), no wall motion abnormalities in three (50%), and all grafts patent in three (50%). Average peak postoperative creatine kinase MB levels were as follows: no Q-wave infarction (n = 174) 37 ± 43 IU/L, inferior Q-wave infarction 40 ± 27 IU/L, and anterior Q-wave infarction 58 ± 38 IU/L. Mortality in the 20 patients with Q-wave infarctions was 5% (1/20) at 3 years; in patients without a Q-wave infarction it was 6.3% (11/174) (p = 0.64). Of 17 patients with a Q-wave infarction who underwent postoperative catheterization, 11 (65%) had a normal ejection fraction, normal wall motion, and all grafts patent with an uneventful 3-year postoperative course. Conclusions: The core laboratory screening of postoperative electrocardiograms, particularly in the case of inferior Q-wave infarctions, appears to identify a number of patients as having a Q-wave infarction with minimal clinical significance. Q-wave infarction identified in the postoperative period seems to be a weak end point with little prognostic significance and therefore not valuable for future randomized trials. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1996;112:1447-54