802 research outputs found
What Can Faculty Members and Programs Do to Improve Students' Learning?
Purpose. To understand what faculty members can do to improve students' learning, we explored (1) program and course characteristics important to students, (2) choices within courses students feel are important, and (3) students' perceptions of learning online. Background. Web delivery alters interactions among students and faculty, thereby changing the learning environment. Methods. Master of Nursing students currently enrolled in one graduate program were invited to participate in a web-based survey. Findings. The students valued (1) frequent feedback and interaction with the instructor, (2) organized, structured, and current content, (3) flexibility in deadlines and participation, (4) seamless navigation and technical support, and (5) choices in assignments. Students perceived their learning in online courses as less than if they had taken the course on campus. Conclusions. Professors can address some of the items identified by students as important, such as being flexible with due dates and expectations for participation in online discussion
MARS, the MAGIC Analysis and Reconstruction Software
With the commissioning of the second MAGIC gamma-ray Cherenkov telescope
situated close to MAGIC-I, the standard analysis package of the MAGIC
collaboration, MARS, has been upgraded in order to perform the stereoscopic
reconstruction of the detected atmospheric showers. MARS is a ROOT-based code
written in C++, which includes all the necessary algorithms to transform the
raw data recorded by the telescopes into information about the physics
parameters of the observed targets. An overview of the methods for extracting
the basic shower parameters is presented, together with a description of the
tools used in the background discrimination and in the estimation of the
gamma-ray source spectra.Comment: 4 pages, 0 figures, submitted to the 31st International Cosmic Ray
Conference, {\L}odz 200
The MAGIC Experiment and Its First Results
With its diameter of 17m, the MAGIC telescope is the largest Cherenkov
detector for gamma ray astrophysics. It is sensitive to photons above an energy
of 30 GeV. MAGIC started operations in October 2003 and is currently taking
data. This report summarizes its main characteristics, its rst results and its
potential for physics.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the 6th
International Symposium ''Frontiers of Fundamental and Computational
Physics'' (FFP6), Udine (Italy), Sep. 26-29, 200
Monte Carlo Performance Studies for the Site Selection of the Cherenkov Telescope Array
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) represents the next generation of
ground-based instruments for very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy, aimed
at improving on the sensitivity of current-generation experiments by an order
of magnitude and providing coverage over four decades of energy. The current
CTA design consists of two arrays of tens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov
telescopes, comprising Small, Medium and Large-Sized Telescopes, with one array
located in each of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. To study the effect
of the site choice on the overall \gls{cta} performance and support the site
evaluation process, detailed Monte Carlo simulations have been performed. These
results show the impact of different site-related attributes such as altitude,
night-sky background and local geomagnetic field on CTA performance for the
observation of VHE gamma rays.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures, Accepted for publication in AP
Barley ÎČ-glucan accelerates wound healing by favoring migration versus proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts
ÎČ-Glucans are considered candidates for the medication in different human pathologies. In this work, we have purified ÎČ-glucan from a selected barley line and tested their effects in primary human dermal fibroblasts. Unexpectedly, we have observed that this compound promoted a short-transitory proliferation arrest at 24 h after its addition on the medium. We have determined that this transitory arrest was dependent on the cell-cycle regulator protein Retinoblastoma. Moreover, dermal fibroblasts increase their migration capacities at 24 h after barley ÎČ-glucan addition. Also, we have described that barley ÎČ-glucan strongly reduced the ability of fibroblasts to attach and to spread on cell plates. Our data indicates that barley ÎČ-glucan signal induces an early response in HDF cells favoring migration versus proliferation. This feature is consistent with our observation that the topical addition of our barley ÎČ-glucan in vivo accelerates the wound closure in mouse skin
Observations of the BL Lac Object 3C 66A with STACEE
We present the analysis and results of recent high-energy gamma-ray
observations of the BL Lac object 3C 66A conducted with the Solar Tower
Atmospheric Cherenkov Effect Experiment (STACEE). During the 2003-2004
observing season, STACEE extensively observed 3C 66A as part of a
multiwavelength campaign on the source. A total of 33.7 hours of data was taken
on the source, plus an equivalent-duration background observation. After
cleaning the data set a total of 16.3 hours of live time remained, and a net
on-source excess of 1134 events was seen against a background of 231742 events.
At a significance of 2.2 standard deviations this excess is insufficient to
claim a detection of 3C 66A, but is used to establish flux upper limits for the
source.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Resequencing the Vrs1 gene in Spanish barley landraces revealed reversion of six-rowed to two-rowed spike
Six-rowed spike 1 (Vrs1) is a gene of major importance for barley breeding and germplasm management as it is the main gene determining spike row-type (2-rowed vs. 6-rowed). This is a widely used DUS trait, and has been often associated to phenotypic traits beyond spike type. Comprehensive re-sequencing Vrs1 revealed three two-rowed alleles (Vrs1.b2; Vrs1.b3; Vrs1.t1) and four six-rowed (vrs1.a1; vrs1.a2; vrs1.a3; vrs1.a4) in the natural population. However, the current knowledge about Vrs1 alleles and its distribution among Spanish barley subpopulations is still underexploited. We analyzed the gene in a panel of 215 genotypes, made of Spanish landraces and European cultivars. Among 143 six-rowed accessions, 57 had the vrs1.a1 allele, 83 were vrs1.a2, and three showed the vrs1.a3 allele. Vrs1.b3 was found in most two-rowed accessions, and a new allele was observed in 7 out of 50 two-rowed Spanish landraces. This allele, named Vrs1.b5, contains a âTâ insertion in exon 2, originally proposed as the causal mutation giving rise to the six-row vrs1.a2 allele, but has an additional upstream deletion that results in the change of 15 amino acids and a potentially functional protein. We conclude that eight Vrs1 alleles (Vrs1.b2, Vrs1.b3, Vrs1.b5, Vrs1.t1, vrs1.a1, vrs1.a2, vrs1.a3, vrs1.a4) discriminate two and six-rowed barleys. The markers described will be useful for DUS identification, plant breeders, and other crop scientists.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness grants AGL2010-21929, AGL2013-48756-R, RFP2012-00015-00-00, RTA2012-00033-C03-02, and EUI2009-04075 (national code for Plant-KBBE project ExpResBar). CPC was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness grant no. BES-2011-045905 (linked to project AGL2010-21929). TK and SS were supported by a research fund by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan (Genomics for Agricultural Innovation grants no. TRS1002). SS was supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellow for Research Abroad and a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (no. 16 K18635)
Progress in Monte Carlo design and optimization of the Cherenkov Telescope Array
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be an instrument covering a wide
energy range in very-high-energy (VHE) gamma rays. CTA will include several
types of telescopes, in order to optimize the performance over the whole energy
range. Both large-scale Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of CTA super-sets
(including many different possible CTA layouts as sub-sets) and smaller-scale
simulations dedicated to individual aspects were carried out and are on-going.
We summarize results of the prior round of large-scale simulations, show where
the design has now evolved beyond the conservative assumptions of the prior
round and present first results from the on-going new round of MC simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. In Proceedings of the 33rd International Cosmic
Ray Conference (ICRC2013), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). All CTA contributions at
arXiv:1307.223
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