10,307 research outputs found
It\u27s Fun, But Is It Science? Goals and Strategies in a Problem-Based Learning Course
All students at Hampshire College must complete a science requirement in which they demonstrate their understanding of how science is done, examine the work of science in larger contexts, and communicate their ideas effectively. Human Biology: Selected Topics in Medicine is one of 18-20 freshman seminars designed to move students toward completing this requirement. Students work in cooperative groups of 4-6 people to solve actual medical cases about which they receive information progressively. Students assign themselves homework tasks to bring information back for group deliberation. The goal is for case teams to work cooperatively to develop a differential diagnosis and recommend treatment. Students write detailed individual final case reports. Changes observed in student work over six years of developing this course include: increased motivation to pursue work in depth, more effective participation on case teams, increase in critical examination of evidence, and more fully developed arguments in final written reports. As part of a larger study of eighteen introductory science courses in two institutions, several types of pre- and post-course assessments were used to evaluate how teaching approaches might have influenced studentsâ attitudes about science, their ability to learn science, and their understanding of how scientific knowledge is developed [1]. Preliminary results from interviews and Likert-scale measures suggest improvements in the development of some studentsâ views of epistemology and in the importance of cooperative group work in facilitating that development
Possible High-Redshift, Low-Luminosity AGN Activity in the Hubble Deep Field
In the Hubble Deep Field (HDF), twelve candidate sources of high-redshift (z
> 3.5) AGN activity have been identified. The color selection criteria were
established by passing spectra of selected quasars and Seyfert galaxies
(appropriately redshifted and modified for "Lyman forest" absorption), as well
as stars, observed normal and starburst galaxies, and galaxy models for various
redshifts through the filters used for the HDF observations. The actual
identification of AGN candidates also involved convolving a
Laplacian-of-Gaussian filter with the HDF images, thereby removing relatively
flat galactic backgrounds and leaving only the point-like components in the
centers. Along with positions and colors, estimated redshifts and absolute
magnitudes are reported, with the candidates falling toward the faint end of
the AGN luminosity function. One candidate has been previously observed
spectroscopically, with a measured redshift of 4.02. The number of sources
reported here is consistent with a simple extrapolation of the observed quasar
luminosity function to magnitude 30 in B_Johnson. Implications for ionization
of the intergalactic medium and for gravitational lensing are discussed.Comment: 10 pages LaTex plus 2 separate files (Table 1 which is a two-page
landscape LaTex file; and Figure 6 which is a large (0.7 MB) non-encapsulated
postscript file). Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa
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Effective engagement of conservation scientists with decision-makers
This chapter offers advice on how the conservation science community can effectively engage with decision-makers. The rationales for why we, as scientists, need to do this have been widely discussed in the literature. Often, the reasons offered are normative, pragmatic, or instrumental (de Vente, 2016); in other words, there is a belief that engaging with decision-makers leads to better informed, more acceptable decisions. Indeed, better engagement may lead to the greater uptake of evidence for conservation decisions, something which some scholars argue is a priority for effective management (e.g. Gardner et al., 2018; Sutherland and Wordley, 2017)
A complete distribution of redshifts for sub-millimetre galaxies in the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey UDS field
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. Available online at https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx1689. © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Sub-milllimetre galaxies (SMGs) are some of the most luminous star-forming galaxies in the Universe, however their properties remain hard to determine due to the difficulty of identifying their optical\slash near-infrared counterparts. One of the key steps to determining the nature of SMGs is measuring a redshift distribution representative of the whole population. We do this by applying statistical techniques to a sample of 761 850m sources from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey observations of the UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey (UDS) Field. We detect excess galaxies around per cent of the 850m positions in the deep UDS catalogue, giving us the first 850m selected sample to have virtually complete optical\slash near-infrared redshift information. Under the reasonable assumption that the redshifts of the excess galaxies are representative of the SMGs themselves, we derive a median SMG redshift of , with 68 per cent of SMGs residing between $1.07Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
The environment and host haloes of the brightest z~6 Lyman-break galaxies
By studying the large-scale structure of the bright high-redshift Lyman-break
galaxy (LBG) population it is possible to gain an insight into the role of
environment in galaxy formation physics in the early Universe. We measure the
clustering of a sample of bright (-22.7<M_UV<-21.125) LBGs at z~6 and use a
halo occupation distribution (HOD) model to measure their typical halo masses.
We find that the clustering amplitude and corresponding HOD fits suggests that
these sources are highly biased (b~8) objects in the densest regions of the
high-redshift Universe. Coupled with the observed rapid evolution of the number
density of these objects, our results suggest that the shape of high luminosity
end of the luminosity function is related to feedback processes or dust
obscuration in the early Universe - as opposed to a scenario where these
sources are predominantly rare instances of the much more numerous M_UV ~ -19
population of galaxies caught in a particularly vigorous period of star
formation. There is a slight tension between the number densities and
clustering measurements, which we interpret this as a signal that a refinement
of the model halo bias relation at high redshifts or the incorporation of
quasi-linear effects may be needed for future attempts at modelling the
clustering and number counts. Finally, the difference in number density between
the fields (UltraVISTA has a surface density ~1.8 times greater than UDS) is
shown to be consistent with the cosmic variance implied by the clustering
measurements.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, accepted MNRAS 23rd March 201
The clustering and bias of radio-selected AGN and star-forming galaxies in the COSMOS field
Dark matter haloes in which galaxies reside are likely to have a significant
impact on their evolution. We investigate the link between dark matter haloes
and their constituent galaxies by measuring the angular two-point correlation
function of radio sources, using recently released 3 GHz imaging over $\sim 2 \
\mathrm{deg}^2z<1b = 1.5
^{+0.1}_{-0.2}z=0.62b = 2.1\pm 0.2b =
2.9 \pm 0.3b = 1.8^{+0.4}_{-0.5}z \sim 0.7M_{h} \sim 3-4
\times 10^{13}h^{-1}_{\odot}M_{h} \sim 1-2 \times
10^{13}h^{-1}_{\odot}z \ge 1z<1$.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, accepted by MNRA
Editorial: Improving urban regeneration and renewal outcomes by engaging an urban psychology
A crisis in mental health, especially in economically deprived neigh bour hoods, can present a significant barrier to successful urban regeneration projects. It follows that urban regeneration not only has a stake in promoting mental health care generally but, through its place making influence on physical and social structures, has a more direct responsibility to address poor mental health and sustain well-being where it exists. In support of a psychologically informed urban regeneration, this Special Issue sets out the case for a systematised intellectual and practice-based discipline and movement: An urban psychology, with an explicit therapeutic mission. It incorporates 10 articles delivered initially at Europeâs first urban psychology summit â City, Psychology, Place â held at the University of Liverpool in London campus in June 2019. In this editorial introduction, we reflect upon the need for an urban psychology at this historical juncture and offer our views on the work which such a body of practical knowledge might do to improve regeneration and renewal outcomes. We conclude that there can be no enduring economic, social or physical regeneration of distressed, failing or failed communities unless there is first âregeneration in support of life itselfâ (RISLI)
Structure and spacing of cellulose microfibrils in woody cell walls of dicots
The structure of cellulose microfibrils in situ in wood from the dicotyledonous (hardwood) species cherry and birch, and the vascular tissue from sunflower stems, was examined by wide-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (WAXS and WANS) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). Deuteration of accessible cellulose chains followed by WANS showed that these chains were packed at similar spacings to crystalline cellulose, consistent with their inclusion in the microfibril dimensions and with a location at the surface of the microfibrils. Using the Scherrer equation and correcting for considerable lateral disorder, the microfibril dimensions of cherry, birch and sunflower microfibrils perpendicular to the [200] crystal plane were estimated as 3.0, 3.4 and 3.3Â nm respectively. The lateral dimensions in other directions were more difficult to correct for disorder but appeared to be 3Â nm or less. However for cherry and sunflower, the microfibril spacing estimated by SANS was about 4Â nm and was insensitive to the presence of moisture. If the microfibril width was 3Â nm as estimated by WAXS, the SANS spacing suggests that a non-cellulosic polymer segment might in places separate the aggregated cellulose microfibrils
Evidence of a link between the evolution of clusters and their AGN fraction
âThe definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com .' Copyright Blackwell Publishing / Royal Astronomical Society. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14513.xPeer reviewe
Symmetric functions, tableaux decompositions and the Fermion-Boson correspondence
An extended Fermion-Boson correspondence is introduced for skew Schur functions. Certain members of a general class of recently-developed determinantal forms, based on
outer strip decompositions of skew shape tableaux, are described in this context.
Un analogue pour des fonctions de Schur gauche du correspondence Fermion-Boson est
introduit. Ă ce propos, nous decrivons certaines membres d'une nouvelle famille de
determinants produit par des decompositions du tableau
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