Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math: From Camps to Careers

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers are among the fastest growing and highest paying, yet women are largely underrepresented in these fields, and many girls lack access to STEM opportunities in school. Oregon State University\u27s Open Campus partners with the American Association of University Women to bring an experiential STEM camp, Tech Trek, to middle school girls in rural Oregon with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of women in STEM. Tech Trek serves as a model for intentionally engaging youths to expand access to career opportunities that can be adapted for other Extension programming

The High-Order-Multiplicity of Unusually Wide M-dwarf Binaries: Eleven New Triple and Quadruple Systems

M-dwarfs in extremely wide binary systems are very rare, and may thus have different formation processes from those found as single stars or close binaries in the field. In this paper we search for close companions to a new sample of 36 extremely wide M-dwarf binaries, covering a spectral type range of M1 to M5 and a separation range of 600 - 6500 AU. We discover 10 new triple systems and one new quadruple system. We carefully account for selection effects including proper motion, magnitude limits, the detection of close binaries in the SDSS, and other sample biases. The bias-corrected total high-order-multiple fraction is 45% (+18%/-16%) and the bias-corrected incidence of quadruple systems is < 5%, both statistically compatible with that found for the more common close M-dwarf multiple systems. Almost all the detected companions have similar masses to their primaries, although two very low mass companions, including a candidate brown dwarf, are found at relatively large separations. We find that the close-binary separation distribution is strongly peaked towards < 30AU separations. There is marginally significant evidence for a change in high-order M-dwarf multiplicity with binding energy and total mass. We also find 2-sigma evidence of an unexpected increased high-order-multiple fraction for the widest targets in our survey, with a high-order-multiple fraction of 21% (+17%/-7%) for systems with separations up to 2000AU, compared to 77% (+9%/-22%) for systems with separations > 4000AU. These results suggest that the very widest M-dwarf binary systems need higher masses to form or to survive.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Brorfelde Schmidt CCD Catalog (BSCC)

The Brorfelde Schmidt CCD Catalog (BSCC) contains about 13.7 million stars, north of +49 deg Declination with precise positions and V, R photometry. The catalog has been constructed from the reductions of 18,667 CCD frames observed with the Brorfelde Schmidt Telescope between 2000 and 2007. The Tycho-2 catalog was used for astrometric and photometric reference stars. Errors of individual positions are about 20 to 200 mas for stars in the R = 10 to 18 mag range. External comparisons with 2MASS and SDSS reveal possible small systematic errors in the BSCC of up to about 30 mas. The catalog is supplemented with J, H, and K_s magnitudes from the 2MASS catalog. The catalog data file (about 550 MB ASCII, compressed) will be made available at the Strasbourg Data Center (CDS).Comment: 16 pages, 22 figures, 2 tables, accepted by A

Hyper-Raman scattering analysis of the vibrations in vitreous boron oxide

Hyper-Raman scattering has been measured on vitreous boron oxide, $v-$B$_2$O$_3$. This spectroscopy, complemented with Raman scattering and infrared absorption, reveals the full set of vibrations that can be observed with light. A mode analysis is performed based on the local D$_{3h}$ symmetry of BO$_3$ triangles and B$_3$O$_3$ boroxol rings. The results show that in $v-$B$_2$O$_3$ the main spectral components can be succesfully assigned using this relatively simple model. In particular, it can be shown that the hyper-Raman boson peak arises from external modes that correspond mainly to librational motions of rigid boroxol rings.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 2 table

P16-52. HIV-activated human plasmacytoid DCs induce Tregs through an indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-dependent mechanism

International audiencen.

Factors associated with midwives\u27 job satisfaction and intention to stay in the profession: An integrative review

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To conduct an integrative review of the factors associated with why midwives stay in midwifery. BACKGROUND: Midwifery retention and attrition are globally acknowledged as an issue. However, little is known as to why midwives stay in midwifery as the focus has previously focussed on why they leave. DESIGN: A structured six-step integrative review approach was used, and this involved the development of a search strategy, study selection and critical appraisal, data abstraction and synthesis, interpretation of findings and recommendations for future practice. METHODS: The review was conducted using the databases MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsychInfo. Included studies were in the English language with an unlimited publication date. RESULTS: Six studies were included in this review: one qualitative, two quantitative and three using mixed methods. Seven themes emerged from synthesisation of the data reported for the six included studies that together help answer the question of why midwives stay in midwifery. CONCLUSION: This integrative review has highlighted some important factors that assist in answering the question why midwives stay in midwifery. However, it has also highlighted the need for quality data that reflects the range of contexts in which midwifery is practised. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: There is an abundance of literature focussing on why midwives leave the profession; however, the gap exists in the reasons why midwives stay. If we can uncover this important detail, then changes within the profession can begin to be implemented, addressing the shortage of midwives issue that has been seen globally for a large number of years

Probing the Galactic Potential with Next-Generation Observations of Disk Stars

Near-future surveys promise a dramatic improvement in the number and precision of astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic measurements of stars in the Milky Way's disk. We examine the impact of such surveys on our understanding of the Galaxy by "observing" particle realizations of non-axisymmetric disk distributions orbiting in an axisymmetric halo with appropriate errors and then attempting to recover the underlying potential using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach. We demonstrate that the azimuthally averaged gravitational force field in the Galactic plane--and hence, to a lesser extent, the Galactic mass distribution--can be tightly constrained over a large range of radii using a variety of types of surveys so long as the error distribution of the measurements of the parallax, proper motion and radial velocity are well-understood and the disk is surveyed globally. One advantage of our method is that the target stars can be selected non-randomly in real or apparent-magnitude space to ensure just such a global sample without biasing the results. Assuming we can always measure the line-of-sight velocity of a star with at least 1 km/s precision, we demonstrate that the force field can be determined to better than ~1% for Galactocentric radii in the range R=4-20 kpc We conclude that near-future surveys, like SIM Lite, Gaia, and VERA, will provide the first precise mapping of the gravitational force field in the region of the Galactic disk.Comment: 41 pages and 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Managed moves: schools collaborating for collective gain

Government guidance in the United Kingdom encourages groups of schools to take collective responsibility for supporting and making provision for excluded pupils and those at risk of exclusion. Managed-moves are one way that some schools and authorities are enacting such guidance. This paper presents the results of an evaluation of one such scheme. The scheme, involving seven neighbouring secondary schools, was nearing its first year of completion. The paper draws primarily on interview data with pupils, parents and school staff to describe a number of positive outcomes associated with the scheme and to explore how these were achieved. We found that while some of these could be attributed directly to the managed-move, others arose from the more inclusive ethos and practices of particular schools. The concepts of tailored support, care and commitment emerged as strong themes that underpinned the various practical ways in which some schools in the cluster were able to re-engage 'at-risk' pupils. As managed moves become more widely practiced it will be important to remember that it is how the move proceeds and develops rather than the move itself that will ultimately make the difference for troubled and troublesome pupils

Parallax and Luminosity Measurements of an L Subdwarf

We present the first parallax and luminosity measurements for an L subdwarf, the sdL7 2MASS J05325346+8246465. Observations conducted over three years by the USNO infrared astrometry program yield an astrometric distance of 26.7+/-1.2 pc and a proper motion of 2.6241+/-0.0018"/yr. Combined with broadband spectral and photometric measurements, we determine a luminosity of log(Lbol/Lsun) = -4.24+/-0.06 and Teff = 1730+/-90 K (the latter assuming an age of 5-10 Gyr), comparable to mid-type L field dwarfs. Comparison of the luminosity of 2MASS J05325346+8246465 to theoretical evolutionary models indicates that its mass is just below the sustained hydrogen burning limit, and is therefore a brown dwarf. Its kinematics indicate a ~110 Myr, retrograde Galactic orbit which is both eccentric (3 <~ R <~ 8.5 kpc) and extends well away from the plane (Delta_Z = +/-2 kpc), consistent with membership in the inner halo population. The relatively bright J-band magnitude of 2MASS J05325346+8246465 implies significantly reduced opacity in the 1.2 micron region, consistent with inhibited condensate formation as previously proposed. Its as yet unknown subsolar metallicity remains the primary limitation in constraining its mass; determination of both parameters would provide a powerful test of interior and evolutionary models for low-mass stars and brown dwarfs.Comment: Accepted to ApJ 10 September 2007; 13 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, formatted in emulateapj styl

New UltraCool and Halo White Dwarf Candidates in SDSS Stripe 82

A 2.5 x 100 degree region along the celestial equator (Stripe 82) has been imaged repeatedly from 1998 to 2005 by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. A new catalogue of ~4 million light-motion curves, together with over 200 derived statistical quantities, for objects in Stripe 82 brighter than r~21.5 has been constructed by combining these data by Bramich et al. (2007). This catalogue is at present the deepest catalogue of its kind. Extracting the ~130000 objects with highest signal-to-noise ratio proper motions, we build a reduced proper motion diagram to illustrate the scientific promise of the catalogue. In this diagram disk and halo subdwarfs are well-separated from the cool white dwarf sequence. Our sample of 1049 cool white dwarf candidates includes at least 8 and possibly 21 new ultracool H-rich white dwarfs (T_eff < 4000K) and one new ultracool He-rich white dwarf candidate identified from their SDSS optical and UKIDSS infrared photometry. At least 10 new halo white dwarfs are also identified from their kinematics.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, published in MNRAS, minor text changes, final versio