3,451 research outputs found
The responsibilisation of teachers: a neoliberal solution to the problem of inclusion
This paper critically examines competing demands placed on teachers, with reference to recent inclusion policy in England and Australia. The authors draw on Michael Foucault’s analysis of power, neoliberalism(s) and biopolitics to explore the ways in which teachers are ‘responsibilised’ into negotiating and fulfilling demands related to both state-imposed accountability practices and social justice agendas. The economic context and associated ‘politics of austerity’ are taken into account in a critical exploration of how the (biopolitical) management of inclusion in the neoliberal present coincides with diminishing funding for social and educational expertise, with ever-increasing responsibilities being placed on teachers to fill this void. The responsibilisation of teachers in recent legislation and statutory guidance discursively constructs the teacher as a professional who takes responsibility for student and school performance, pastoral care, inclusion and social change. Responsibilisation relies on ‘dividing practices’, obliging some teachers to assess the conformity of colleagues to inclusion policy
A Synergistic Approach for Evaluating Climate Model Output for Ecological Applications
Increasing concern about the impacts of climate change on ecosystems is prompting ecologists and ecosystem managers to seek reliable projections of physical drivers of change. The use of global climate models in ecology is growing, although drawing ecologically meaningful conclusions can be problematic. The expertise required to access and interpret output from climate and earth system models is hampering progress in utilizing them most effectively to determine the wider implications of climate change. To address this issue, we present a joint approach between climate scientists and ecologists that explores key challenges and opportunities for progress. As an exemplar, our focus is the Southern Ocean, notable for significant change with global implications, and on sea ice, given its crucial role in this dynamic ecosystem. We combined perspectives to evaluate the representation of sea ice in global climate models. With an emphasis on ecologically-relevant criteria (sea ice extent and seasonality) we selected a subset of eight models that reliably reproduce extant sea ice distributions. While the model subset shows a similar mean change to the full ensemble in sea ice extent (approximately 50% decline in winter and 30% decline in summer), there is a marked reduction in the range. This improved the precision of projected future sea ice distributions by approximately one third, and means they are more amenable to ecological interpretation. We conclude that careful multidisciplinary evaluation of climate models, in conjunction with ongoing modeling advances, should form an integral part of utilizing model output
Limits on a gravitational field dependence of the proton-electron mass ratio from H2 in white dwarf stars.
Spectra of molecular hydrogen (H2) are employed to search for a possible proton-to-electron mass ratio (μ) dependence on gravity. The Lyman transitions of H2, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope towards white dwarf stars that underwent a gravitational collapse, are compared to accurate laboratory spectra taking into account the high temperature conditions (T∼13 000  K) of their photospheres. We derive sensitivity coefficients Ki which define how the individual H2 transitions shift due to μ dependence. The spectrum of white dwarf star GD133 yields a Δμ/μ constraint of (-2.7±4.7stat±0.2syst)×10(-5) for a local environment of a gravitational potential ϕ∼10(4) ϕEarth, while that of G29-38 yields Δμ/μ=(-5.8±3.8stat±0.3syst)×10(-5) for a potential of 2×10(4) ϕEarth.This work was supported by the FOM-Program \Bro-
ken Mirrors & Drifting Constant", Science and Technol-
ogy Facilities Council, Templeton Foundation and Aus-
tralian Research Council (DP110100866).This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from APS at http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.123002
Atomic transition frequencies, isotope shifts, and sensitivity to variation of the fine structure constant for studies of quasar absorption spectra
Theories unifying gravity with other interactions suggest spatial and
temporal variation of fundamental "constants" in the Universe. A change in the
fine structure constant, alpha, could be detected via shifts in the frequencies
of atomic transitions in quasar absorption systems. Recent studies using 140
absorption systems from the Keck telescope and 153 from the Very Large
Telescope, suggest that alpha varies spatially. That is, in one direction on
the sky alpha seems to have been smaller at the time of absorption, while in
the opposite direction it seems to have been larger.
To continue this study we need accurate laboratory measurements of atomic
transition frequencies. The aim of this paper is to provide a compilation of
transitions of importance to the search for alpha variation. They are E1
transitions to the ground state in several different atoms and ions, with
wavelengths ranging from around 900 - 6000 A, and require an accuracy of better
than 10^{-4} A. We discuss isotope shift measurements that are needed in order
to resolve systematic effects in the study. The coefficients of sensitivity to
alpha-variation (q) are also presented.Comment: Includes updated version of the "alpha line" lis
Predicting Fluid Intelligence of Children using T1-weighted MR Images and a StackNet
In this work, we utilize T1-weighted MR images and StackNet to predict fluid
intelligence in adolescents. Our framework includes feature extraction, feature
normalization, feature denoising, feature selection, training a StackNet, and
predicting fluid intelligence. The extracted feature is the distribution of
different brain tissues in different brain parcellation regions. The proposed
StackNet consists of three layers and 11 models. Each layer uses the
predictions from all previous layers including the input layer. The proposed
StackNet is tested on a public benchmark Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development
Neurocognitive Prediction Challenge 2019 and achieves a mean squared error of
82.42 on the combined training and validation set with 10-fold
cross-validation. In addition, the proposed StackNet also achieves a mean
squared error of 94.25 on the testing data. The source code is available on
GitHub.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables, Accepted by MICCAI ABCD-NP Challenge
2019; Added ND
The Star Formation in Radio Survey: Jansky Very Large Array 33 GHz Observations of Nearby Galaxy Nuclei and Extranuclear Star-Forming Regions
We present 33 GHz imaging for 112 pointings towards galaxy nuclei and extranuclear star-forming regions at 2" resolution using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) as part of the Star Formation in Radio Survey. A comparison with 33 GHz Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope single-dish observations indicates that the interferometric VLA observations recover of the total flux density over 25" regions ( kpc-scales) among all fields. On these scales, the emission being resolved out is most likely diffuse non-thermal synchrotron emission. Consequently, on the pc scales sampled by our VLA observations, the bulk of the 33 GHz emission is recovered and primarily powered by free-free emission from discrete HII regions, making it an excellent tracer of massive star formation. Of the 225 discrete regions used for aperture photometry, 162 are extranuclear (i.e., having galactocentric radii pc) and detected at significance at 33 GHz and in H. Assuming a typical 33 GHz thermal fraction of 90 %, the ratio of optically-thin 33 GHz-to-uncorrected H star formation rates indicate a median extinction value on pc scales of mag with an associated median absolute deviation of 0.87 mag. We find that 10 % of these sources are "highly embedded" (i.e., mag), suggesting that on average HII regions remain embedded for Myr. Finally, we find the median 33 GHz continuum-to-H line flux ratio to be statistically larger within pc relative the outer-disk regions by a factor of , while the ratio of 33 GHz-to-24 m flux densities are lower by a factor of , which may suggest increased extinction in the central regions.E.J.M. acknowledges the hospitality of the Aspen Center for Physics, which is supported by National Science Foundation grant No. PHY-1066293. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. This research made use of APLpy, an open-source plotting package for Python hosted at http://aplpy.github.com
Variations in 24-mu m morphologies among galaxies in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey: new insights into the Hubble sequence
To study the distribution of star formation and dust emission within nearby galaxies, we measured five morphological parameters in the 3.6- and 24-μm wavebands for 65 galaxies in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) and eight galaxies that were serendipitously observed by SINGS. The morphological parameters demonstrate strong variations along the Hubble sequence, including statistically significant differences between S0/a-Sab and Sc-Sd galaxies. Early-type galaxies are generally found to be compact, centralized, symmetric sources in the 24-μm band, while late-type galaxies are generally found to be extended, asymmetric sources. These results suggest that the processes that increase the real or apparent sizes of galaxies\u27 bulges also lead to more centralized 24-μm dust emission. Several phenomena, such as strong nuclear star formation, Seyfert activity, or outer ring structures, may cause galaxies to deviate from the general morphological trends observed at 24 μm. We also note that the 24-μm morphologies of Sdm-Im galaxies are quite varied, with some objects appearing very compact and symmetric but others appearing diffuse and asymmetric. These variations reflect the wide variation in star formation in irregular galaxies as observed at other wavelengths. The variations in the 24-μm morphological parameters across the Hubble sequence mirror many of the morphological trends seen in other tracers of the ISM and in stellar emission. However, the 24-μm morphological parameters for the galaxies in this sample do not match the morphological parameters measured in the stellar wavebands. This implies that the distribution of dust emission is related to but not equivalent to the distribution of stellar emission
Experimental modulation of capsule size in Cryptococcus neoformans
Experimental modulation of capsule size is an important technique for the study of the virulence of the encapsulated pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. In this paper, we summarize the techniques available for experimental modulation of capsule size in this yeast and describe improved methods to induce capsule size changes. The response of the yeast to the various stimuli is highly dependent on the cryptococcal strain. A high CO(2) atmosphere and a low iron concentration have been used classically to increase capsule size. Unfortunately, these stimuli are not reliable for inducing capsular enlargement in all strains. Recently we have identified new and simpler conditions for inducing capsule enlargement that consistently elicited this effect. Specifically, we noted that mammalian serum or diluted Sabouraud broth in MOPS buffer pH 7.3 efficiently induced capsule growth. Media that slowed the growth rate of the yeast correlated with an increase in capsule size. Finally, we summarize the most commonly used media that induce capsule growth in C. neoformans
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