A model summer program for handicapped college students

During the summer of 1988, the Goddard Space Flight Center was the site of a new NASA project called A Model Summer Program for Handicapped College Students that was directed by Gallaudet University. The project's aim was to identify eight severely physically disabled college students (four from Gallaudet University and four from local historically black colleges and universities (HBCU's)) majoring in technical fields and to assign them technical projects related to aerospace which they would complete under the guidance of mentors who were full time employees of Goddard. A description of the program is presented

Curriculum and the Life Erratic: The Geographic Cure

This dissertation examines a subset of Children of Alcoholics, whom I call Geographic Cure Children, who cope with both fermented parenting (as I have termed it) AND transient schooling. Viewed by schools and school systems simply as “highly mobile” students, their frequent school changes tell only part of the story. Geographic Cure Children arrive at their newest classrooms bearing the heavy burdens of emotional trauma and dark secrets about the Life Erratic. However, due to frequent mobility, their access to help or support is sketchy at best. Through currere, I employ autobiographical and psychoanalytic lenses to explore the intersection of curriculum theory and the Geographic Cure. I first discuss the effects of parental alcoholism, then examine the impact of frequent family moves upon school-aged children in general. What follows is my assertion that the chaotic melding of those two conditions – fermented parenting and high mobility – results in the singular experience of the Geographic Cure Child. I then describe my own (cancer-fueled) cure-seeking journey. Lastly, I examine the Geographic Cure writ large, where I contend that the incessant quest for a “cure” monopolizes education. I compare policy-makers in education to cure-seekers who chronically chase after the Next Better Plan

Cosmological Cosmic Rays and the observed Li6 plateau in metal poor halo stars

Very recent observations of the Li6 isotope in halo stars reveal a Li6 plateau about 1000 times above the predicted BBN abundance. We calculate the evolution of Li6 versus redshift generated from an initial burst of cosmological cosmic rays (CCRs) up to the formation of the Galaxy. We show that the pregalactic production of the Li6 isotope can account for the Li6 plateau observed in metal poor halo stars without additional over-production of Li7. The derived relation between the amplitude of the CCR energy spectra and the redshift of the initial CCR production puts constraints on the physics and history of the objects, such as pop III stars, responsible for these early cosmic rays. Consequently, we consider the evolution of Li6 in the Galaxy. Since Li6 is also produced in Galactic cosmic ray nucleosynthesis, we argue that halo stars with metallicities between [Fe/H] = -2 and -1, must be somewhat depleted in Li6.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, version accepted for publication in Ap

The First Galaxies: Clues from Element Abundances

It has recently become possible to measure directly the abundances of several chemical elements in a variety of environments at redshifts up to z = 5. In this review I summarise the latest observations of Lyman break galaxies, damped Lyman alpha systems and the Lyman alpha forest with a view to uncovering any clues which these data may offer to the first episodes of star formation. The picture which is emerging is one where the universe at z = 3 already included many of the components of today's galaxies--even at these early times we see evidence for Populations I and II stars, while the `smoking gun' for Population III objects may be hidden in the chemical composition of the lowest density regions of the IGM, yet to be deciphered.Comment: 15 pages, LaTex, 8 Postscript Figures. To appear in the Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, Series

Performing research: four contributions to HCI

This paper identifies a body of HCI research wherein the researchers take part in digitally mediated creative experiences alongside participants. We present our definition and rationale for "self-situated performance research" based on theories in both the HCI and performance literatures. We then analyse four case studies of this type of work, ranging from overtly "performative" staged events to locative audio and public making. We argue that by interrogating experience from within the context of self-situated performance, the 'performer/researcher' extends traditional practices in HCI in the following four ways: developing an intimate relationship between researchers and participants, providing new means of making sense of interactions, shaping participants' relationship to the research, and enabling researchers to refine their work as it is being conducted

Max Jury

From local gigs to Lana Del Ray, the Des Moines native sits down with Revival

Chemical Evolution of the Galactic Bulge as Derived from High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy of K and M Red Giants

We present chemical abundances in K and M red-giant members of the Galactic bulge derived from high-resolution infrared spectra obtained with the Phoenix spectrograph on Gemini-South. The elements studied are carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sodium, titanium, and iron. The evolution of C and N abundances in the studied red-giants show that their oxygen abundances represent the original values with which the stars were born. Oxygen is a superior element for probing the timescale of bulge chemical enrichment via [O/Fe] versus [Fe/H]. The [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] relation in the bulge does not follow the disk relation, with [O/Fe] values falling above those of the disk. Titanium also behaves similarly to oxygen with respect to iron. Based on these elevated values of [O/Fe] and [Ti/Fe] extending to large Fe abundances, it is suggested that the bulge underwent a more rapid chemical enrichment than the halo. In addition, there are declines in both [O/Fe] and [Ti/Fe] in those bulge targets with the largest Fe abundances, signifying another source affecting chemical evolution: perhaps Supernovae of Type Ia. Sodium abundances increase dramatically in the bulge with increasing metallicity, possibly reflecting the metallicity dependant yields from supernovae of Type II, although Na contamination from H-burning in intermediate mass stars cannot be ruled out.Comment: ApJ in pres

Si and Mn Abundances in Damped Lya Systems with Low Dust Content

We have measured the abundances of Zn, Si, Mn, Cr, Fe, and Ni in three damped Lyman alpha systems at redshifts z < 1 from high resolution echelle spectra of QSOs recorded with the Keck I telescope. In all three cases the abundances of Cr, Fe, and Ni relative to Zn indicate low levels of dust depletions. We propose that when the proportion of refractory elements locked up in dust grains is less than about 50 percent, it is plausible to assume an approximately uniform level of depletion for all grain constituents and, by applying a small dust correction, recover the intrisic abundances of Si and Mn. We use this approach on a small sample of damped systems for which it is appropriate, with the aim of comparing the metallicity dependence of the ratios [Si/Fe] and [Mn/Fe] with analogous measurements in Milky Way stars. The main conclusion is that the relative abundances of both elements in distant galaxies are broadly in line with expectations based on Galactic data. Si displays a mild enhancement at low metallicities, as expected for an alpha-capture element, but there are also examples of near-solar [Si/Fe] at [Fe/H] < -1. The underabundance of Mn at low metallicities is possibly even more pronounced than that in metal-poor stars, and no absorption system has yet been found where [Mn/Fe] is solar. The heterogeneous chemical properties of damped Lyman alpha systems, evident even from this limited set of measurements, provide further support for the conclusion from imaging studies that a varied population of galaxies gives rise to this class of QSO absorbers.Comment: 29 pages, LaTex, 7 Postscript Figures. Accepted for Publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Globular Cluster Abundances from High-Resolution Integrated Light Spectra, I: 47 Tuc

We describe the detailed chemical abundance analysis of a high-resolution (R~35,000), integrated-light (IL), spectrum of the core of the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tuc, obtained using the du Pont echelle at Las Campanas. We develop an abundance analysis strategy that can be applied to spatial unresolved extra- galactic clusters. We have computed abundances for Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Nd and Eu. For an analysis with the known color-magnitude diagram (cmd) for 47 Tuc we obtain a mean [Fe/H] value of -0.75 +/-0.026+/-0.045 dex (random and systematic error), in good agreement with the mean of 5 recent high resolution abundance studies, at -0.70 dex. Typical random errors on our mean [X/Fe] ratios are 0.07-0.10 dex, similar to studies of individual stars in 47 Tuc, although Na and Al appear enhanced, perhaps due to proton burning in the most luminous cluster stars. Our IL abundance analysis with an unknown cmd employed theoretical Teramo isochrones; however, we apply zero-point abundance corrections to account for the factor of 3 underprediction of stars at the AGB bump luminosity. While line diagnostics alone provide only mild constraints on the cluster age (ruling-out ages younger than ~2 Gyr), when theoretical IL B-V colors are combined with metallicity derived from the Fe I lines, the age is constrained to 10--15 Gyr and we obtain [Fe/H]=-0.70 +/-0.021 +/-0.052 dex. We find that Fe I line diagnostics may also be used to constrain the horizontal branch morphology of an unresolved cluster. Lastly, our spectrum synthesis of 5.4 million TiO lines indicates that the 7300-7600A TiO window should be useful for estimating the effect of M giants on the IL abundances, and important for clusters more metal-rich than 47 Tuc.Comment: 40 pages text & references, 4 tables, 19 figures (72 pages total). Changes include addition of B-V color to help constrain GC age. To appear in Ap

Galactic Cosmic Rays from Superbubbles and the Abundances of Lithium, Beryllium, and Boron

In this article we study the galactic evolution of the LiBeB elements within the framework of a detailed model of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy that includes galactic cosmic ray nucleosynthesis by particles accelerated in superbubbles. The chemical composition of the superbubble consists of varying proportions of ISM and freshly supernova synthesized material. The observational trends of 6 LiBeB evolution are nicely reproduced by models in which GCR come from a mixture of 25% of supernova material with 75% of ISM, except for 6 Li, for which maybe an extra source is required at low metallicities. To account for 7 Li evolution several additional sources have been considered (neutrino-induced nucleosynthesis, nova outbursts, C-stars). The model fulfills the energetic requirements for GCR acceleration.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa