3,779 research outputs found
HoneybeeZZZ [1st grade]
First grade students will engage in a research unit about honey bees, learning about colony demographics, habitats, pollination patterns and preferences, and their importance within the agriculture world. The goal is for students to understand the importance of honeybees and their impact on our global and local ecological systems
Understanding U.S. Coins to Spend and Save (1st grade)
This unit was designed for first grade to teach the value and relationships of U.S. coins. Students will be using their knowledge about coins to count money and make decisions about spending and saving
A new reference genome assembly for the microcrustacean Daphnia pulex
Comparing genomes of closely related genotypes from populations with distinct demographic histories can help reveal the impact of effective population size on genome evolution. For this purpose, we present a high quality genome assembly of Daphnia pulex (PA42), and compare this with the first sequenced genome of this species (TCO), which was derived from an isolate from a population with >90% reduction in nucleotide diversity. PA42 has numerous similarities to TCO at the gene level, with an average amino acid sequence identity of 98.8 and >60% of orthologous proteins identical. Nonetheless, there is a highly elevated number of genes in the TCO genome annotation, with similar to 7000 excess genes appearing to be false positives. This view is supported by the high GC content, lack of introns, and short length of these suspicious gene annotations. Consistent with the view that reduced effective population size can facilitate the accumulation of slightly deleterious genomic features, we observe more proliferation of transposable elements (TEs) and a higher frequency of gained introns in the TCO genome
The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. IX. Estimating the Efficiency of Galaxy Formation on the Lowest-Mass Scales
The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey has recently determined the
luminosity function of galaxies in the core of the Virgo cluster down to
unprecedented magnitude and surface brightness limits. Comparing simulations of
cluster formation to the derived central stellar mass function, we attempt to
estimate the stellar-to-halo-mass ratio (SHMR) for dwarf galaxies, as it would
have been before they fell into the cluster. This approach ignores several
details and complications, e.g., the contribution of ongoing star formation to
the present-day stellar mass of cluster members, and the effects of adiabatic
contraction and/or violent feedback on the subhalo and cluster potentials. The
final results are startlingly simple, however; we find that the trends in the
SHMR determined previously for bright galaxies appear to extend down in a
scale-invariant way to the faintest objects detected in the survey. These
results extend measurements of the formation efficiency of field galaxies by
two decades in halo mass, or five decades in stellar mass, down to some of the
least massive dwarf galaxies known, with stellar masses of .Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures; published in ApJ July 1st 201
The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. VIII. The Spatial Distribution of Globular Clusters in the Virgo Cluster
We report on a large-scale study of the distribution of globular clusters
(GCs) throughout the Virgo cluster, based on photometry from the Next
Generation Virgo Cluster Survey, a large imaging survey covering Virgo's
primary subclusters to their virial radii. Using the g', (g'-i')
color-magnitude diagram of unresolved and marginally-resolved sources, we
constructed 2-D maps of the GC distribution. We present the clearest evidence
to date showing the difference in concentration between red and blue GCs over
the extent of the cluster, where the red (metal-rich) GCs are largely located
around the massive early-type galaxies, whilst the blue (metal-poor) GCs have a
more extended spatial distribution, with significant populations present beyond
83' (215 kpc) along the major axes of M49 and M87. The GC distribution around
M87 and M49 shows remarkable agreement with the shape, ellipticity and boxiness
of the diffuse light surrounding both galaxies. We find evidence for spatial
enhancements of GCs surrounding M87 that may be indicative of recent
interactions or an ongoing merger history. We compare the GC map to the
locations of Virgo galaxies and the intracluster X-ray gas, and find good
agreement between these baryonic structures. The Virgo cluster contains a total
population of 6730014400 GCs, of which 35% are located in M87 and M49
alone. We compute a cluster-wide specific frequency S_N,CL=,
including Virgo's diffuse light. The GC-to-baryonic mass fraction is
e_b=and the GC-to-total cluster mass formation
efficiency is e_t=, values slightly lower than, but
consistent with, those derived for individual galactic halos. Our results show
that the production of the complex structures in the unrelaxed Virgo cluster
core (including the diffuse intracluster light) is an ongoing
process.(abridged)Comment: 23 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal. Figure 1 has reduced resolution. Revised version with updated
references, corrected typos -- no changes to result
Gravitational-wave versus binary-pulsar tests of strong-field gravity
Binary systems comprising at least one neutron star contain strong
gravitational field regions and thereby provide a testing ground for
strong-field gravity. Two types of data can be used to test the law of gravity
in compact binaries: binary pulsar observations, or forthcoming
gravitational-wave observations of inspiralling binaries. We compare the
probing power of these two types of observations within a generic two-parameter
family of tensor-scalar gravitational theories. Our analysis generalizes
previous work (by us) on binary-pulsar tests by using a sample of realistic
equations of state for nuclear matter (instead of a polytrope), and goes beyond
a previous study (by C.M. Will) of gravitational-wave tests by considering more
general tensor-scalar theories than the one-parameter Jordan-Fierz-Brans-Dicke
one. Finite-size effects in tensor-scalar gravity are also discussed.Comment: 23 pages, REVTeX 3.0, uses epsf.tex to include 5 postscript figures
(2 paragraphs and a 5th figure added at the end of section IV + minor
changes
First-principles Calculation of the Formation Energy in MgO-CaO Solid Solutions
The electronic structure and total energy were calculated for ordered and
disordered MgO-CaO solid solutions within the multiple scattering theory in
real space and the local density approximation. Based on the dependence of the
total energy on the unit cell volume the equilibrium lattice parameter and
formation energy were determined for different solution compositions. The
formation energy of the solid solutions is found to be positive that is in
agreement with the experimental phase diagram, which shows a miscibility gap.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Contemporary medical television and crisis in the NHS
This article maps the terrain of contemporary UK medical television, paying particular attention to Call the Midwife as its centrepiece, and situating it in contextual relation to the current crisis in the NHS. It provides a historical overview of UK and US medical television, illustrating how medical television today has been shaped by noteworthy antecedents. It argues that crisis rhetoric surrounding healthcare leading up to the passing of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 has been accompanied by a renaissance in medical television. And that issues, strands and clusters have emerged in forms, registers and modes with noticeable regularity, especially around the value of affective labour, the cultural politics of nostalgia and the neoliberalisation of healthcare
Threshold Concepts as Focal Points for Supporting Student Learning
The Plant Sciences Pedagogy Project conducted research into undergraduate teaching and learning in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge and has translated the research findings into interventions to improve support for student learning. A key research objective for the project was to investigate how teachers within the Department support student learning in small group tutorials. This was undertaken using questionnaires, focus groups and interviews. During focus groups students reported that they valued tutors who were able to anticipate topics that they found difficult to master. The threshold concepts framework provided a medium for discussion about these troublesome areas in this discipline area and a number of threshold concepts were identified by interviewing teaching staff. The topics that emerged from this were used as focal points for development of new online resources for students. As threshold concepts are typically difficult to teach, they are challenging to one’s own practice as a teacher. Threshold concepts may provide a good focus for continuing professional development of teaching staff
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