SCUBA Observations of NGC 1275

Deep SCUBA observations of NGC 1275 at 450 micron and 850 micron along with the application of deconvolution algorithms have permitted us to separate the strong core emission in this galaxy from the fainter extended emission around it. The core has a steep spectral index and is likely due primarily to the AGN. The faint emission has a positive spectral index and is clearly due to extended dust in a patchy distribution out to a radius of $\sim$ 20 kpc from the nucleus. These observations have now revealed that a large quantity of dust, $\sim$ 6 $\times$ 10$^7$ $M_\odot$, 2 orders of magnitude larger than that inferred from previous optical absorption measurements, exists in this galaxy. We estimate the temperature of this dust to be $\sim$ 20 K (using an emissivity index of $\beta$ = 1.3) and the gas/dust ratio to be 360. These values are typical of spiral galaxies. The dust emission correlates spatially with the hot X-ray emitting gas which may be due to collisional heating of broadly distributed dust by electrons. Since the destruction timescale is short, the dust cannot be replenished by stellar mass loss and must be externally supplied, either via the infalling galaxy or the cooling flow itself.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. Figure 4 is colou

An Old Cluster in NGC 6822

We present spectroscopy of two clusters in the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822. From these we deduce an age for Cluster VII of 11 Gyr and [Fe/H] = -1.95 +/- 0.15 dex. Cluster VII appears to be an analog of the metal-poor galactic globular clusters. Cluster VI is found to be much younger and more metal rich, with an age of approximately 2 Gyr. Its derived metallicity, [Fe/H], of approximately -1.0 dex is comparable to that of the gas seen today in NGC 6822. The existence of a metal-poor old cluster in NGC 6822 rules out models for the chemical evolution of this galaxy with significant prompt initial enhancement. We find that a star formation rate which is constant with time and is within a factor of two of the present star formation rate can reproduce the two points on the age-metallicity relationship for NGC 6822 over the past 10 Gyr defined by these two clusters.Comment: 8 pages; accepted for publication in A

The Kinematics of the Outer Halo of M87

Radial velocities are presented for a new sample of globular clusters in the outer halo of M87 at a distance of 300 to 540 arcsec (24 to 43 kpc) from the center of this galaxy. These are used to augment our previously published data and an analysis of the rotation and velocity dispersion of the M87 globular cluster system is carried out. The rotation is $\sim300$ \kms at R = 32 kpc, at which point the velocity dispersion is also still quite high, $\sim450$ \kms. The high rotation is interesting. The outer halo of M87 is, as was found in our previous kinematic analysis, very massive.Comment: Accepted for publication in the AJ. 13 pages with 3 figure

Identifying Characteristics of Effective Small Group Learning Valued by Medical Students and Facilitators

Background: Small group teaching is an important part of undergraduate medical education, providing the ideal setting for learners to clarify misunderstandings, test hypotheses and evaluate ideas. Many schools undergoing curriculum reform have increased the time students spend in small group learning. However, there is an overall paucity of literature examining case-based small group sessions in medical school. Objective: This study was designed to examine student and facilitator perceptions of effective case-based small group teaching in the pre-clinical years and compare results in order to identify similarities and differences and identify key areas of disconnect so that the small group learning experience can be improved. Methods: An 18-item survey was emailed to all 388 students who had started the second year of medical school at the University of Massachusetts between August 2008 and August 2010 and to 146 of 161 facilitators who had facilitated a case-based small group session during that same time. Chi-square tests of equality of proportions were used to compare the answers of students and small group facilitators. Results: 79 (54%) small group facilitators and 195 (50%) students responded. Student and facilitator responses were similar in the areas regarding goals of small group sessions and responsibilities of the facilitator. Significant difference was noted between cohorts about the most important roles of the facilitator, whether facilitators and/or students should attend training prior to sessions, whether groups should follow a consistent format, how students should be expected to prepare for small groups, how student knowledge and performance should be assessed, and whether the small group leader should be a skilled facilitator or content expert. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that there are areas where perceptions of effectiveness differ between students and facilitators. Identifying these areas presents an opportunity to make small group sessions more effective by allowing for more informed facilitator development and better communication of session expectations to students. The lack of a substantive body of literature on this important trend in medical education, coupled with our findings, suggests that further study is needed to identify characteristics of case-based small group learning that are mutually valued by students and facilitators. This will encourage the development of small group sessions that are deemed effective and maximize learning and teaching time

NMA CO (J=1-0) Observations of the Halpha/Radio Lobe Galaxy NGC 3079: Gas Dynamics in a Weak Bar Potential and Central Massive Core

within 24 lines with 80 characters) We present ^12CO (1-0) observations in the central 4.5 kpc (1 arcmin) of the Halpha/Radio lobe galaxy NGC 3079 with the Nobeyama Millimeter Array. The molecular gas shows four components: a main disk, spiral arms, a nuclear disk, and a nuclear core. The main disk extends beyond our spatial coverage. The spiral arms are superimposed on the main disk. The nuclear disk with about 600 pc radius has an intense concentration of molecular gas. Its appearance on PV diagrams is indicative of oval motions of the gas, rather than circular. The nuclear core is more compact than our resolution. Though it is unresolved, the nuclear core shows a very high velocity about 200 km/s even at the radius of about 100 pc on the PV diagram. We propose a model that NGC 3079 contains a weak bar. This model explains the observed features: the main disk and spiral arms result from gaseous x1-orbits and associated crowding respectively. The nuclear disk arises from gaseous x2-orbits. From the appearance of the spiral arms on the PV diagram, the pattern speed of the bar is estimated to be 55+-10 km/s/kpc. The high velocity of the nuclear core cannot be explained by our model for a bar. Thus we attribute it to a central massive core with a dynamical mass of 10^9 Msun within the central 100 pc. This mass is three orders of magnitude more massive than that of a central black hole in this galaxy.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figures; ApJ, 573, 105, 200

Wave modelling - the state of the art

This paper is the product of the wave modelling community and it tries to make a picture of the present situation in this branch of science, exploring the previous and the most recent results and looking ahead towards the solution of the problems we presently face. Both theory and applications are considered. The many faces of the subject imply separate discussions. This is reflected into the single sections, seven of them, each dealing with a specific topic, the whole providing a broad and solid overview of the present state of the art. After an introduction framing the problem and the approach we followed, we deal in sequence with the following subjects: (Section) 2, generation by wind; 3, nonlinear interactions in deep water; 4, white-capping dissipation; 5, nonlinear interactions in shallow water; 6, dissipation at the sea bottom; 7, wave propagation; 8, numerics. The two final sections, 9 and 10, summarize the present situation from a general point of view and try to look at the future developments

The Initial Configuration of Young Stellar Clusters: A K-band Number Counts Analysis of the Surface Density of Stars

We present an analysis of K-band stellar distributions for the young stellar clusters GGD 12-15, IRAS 20050+2720, and NGC 7129. We find that the two deeply embedded clusters, GGD 12-15 and IRAS 20050+2720, are not azimuthally symmetric and show a high degree of structure which traces filamentary structure observed in 850 micron emission maps. In contrast, the NGC 7129 cluster is circularly symmetric, less dense, and anti-correlated to 850 micron emission, suggesting recent gas expulsion and dynamical expansion have occured. We estimate stellar volume densities from nearest neighbor distances, and discuss the impact of these densities on the evolution of circumstellar disks and protostellar envelopes in these regions.Comment: 44 pages, 26 figures, Accepted to ApJ. Changes include extinction mapping, Monte Carlo field star modeling, and Nyquist sampled azimuthal stellar distributions. A version with full resolution figures is available at http://astro.pas.rochester.edu/~rguter/preprints/gutermuth_sd.tar.g

Effect of CO2 enrichment on bacterial metabolism in an Arctic fjord

he anthropogenic increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) alters the seawater carbonate chemistry, with a decline of pH and an increase in the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2). Although bacteria play a major role in carbon cycling, little is known about the impact of rising pCO2 on bacterial carbon metabolism, especially for natural bacterial communities. In this study, we investigated the effect of rising pCO2 on bacterial production (BP), bacterial respiration (BR) and bacterial carbon metabolism during a mesocosm experiment performed in Kongsfjorden (Svalbard) in 2010. Nine mesocosms with pCO2 levels ranging from ca. 180 to 1400 μatm were deployed in the fjord and monitored for 30 days. Generally BP gradually decreased in all mesocosms in an initial phase, showed a large (3.6-fold average) but temporary increase on day 10, and increased slightly after inorganic nutrient addition. Over the wide range of pCO2 investigated, the patterns in BP and growth rate of bulk and free-living communities were generally similar over time. However, BP of the bulk community significantly decreased with increasing pCO2 after nutrient addition (day 14). In addition, increasing pCO2 enhanced the leucine to thymidine (Leu : TdR) ratio at the end of experiment, suggesting that pCO2 may alter the growth balance of bacteria. Stepwise multiple regression analysis suggests that multiple factors, including pCO2, explained the changes of BP, growth rate and Leu : TdR ratio at the end of the experiment. In contrast to BP, no clear trend and effect of changes of pCO2 was observed for BR, bacterial carbon demand and bacterial growth efficiency. Overall, the results suggest that changes in pCO2 potentially influence bacterial production, growth rate and growth balance rather than the conversion of dissolved organic matter into CO2

GeneHopper: a web-based search engine to link gene-expression platforms through GenBank accession numbers

Global gene-expression analysis is carried out using different technologies that are either array- or sequence-tag-based. To compare experiments that are performed on these different platforms, array probes and sequence tags need to be linked. An additional challenge is cross-referencing between species, to compare human profiles with those obtained in a mouse model, for example. We have developed the web-based search engine GeneHopper to link different expression resources based on UniGene clusters and HomoloGene orthologs databases of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)