Novae as distance indicators

Nova shells are characteristically prolate with equatorial bands and polar caps. Failure to account for the geometry can lead to large errors in expansion parallaxes for individual novae. When simple prescriptions are used for deriving expansion parallaxes from an ensemble of randomly oriented prolate spheroids, the average distance will be too small by factors of 10 to 15 percent. The absolute magnitudes of the novae will be underestimated and the resulting distance scale will be too small by the same factors. If observations of partially resolved nova shells select for large inclinations, the systematic error in the resulting distance scale could easily be 20 to 30 percent. Extinction by dust in the bulge of M31 may broaden and shift the intrinsic distribution of maximum nova magnitudes versus decay rates. We investigated this possibility by projecting Arp's and Rosino's novae onto a composite B - 6200A color map of M31's bulge. Thirty two of the 86 novae projected onto a smooth background with no underlying structure due to the presence of a dust cloud along the line of sight. The distribution of maximum magnitudes versus fade rates for these unreddened novae is indistinguishable from the distribution for the entire set of novae. It is concluded that novae suffer very little extinction from the filamentary and patchy distribution of dust seen in the bulge of M31. Time average B and H alpha nova luminosity functions are potentially powerful new ways to use novae as standard candles. Modern CCD observations and the photographic light curves of M31 novae found during the last 60 years were analyzed to show that these functions are power laws. Consequently, unless the eruption times for novae are known, the data cannot be used to obtain distances

Healthcare Executive Leadership Development and Succession Planning

Business leaders face leadership crises as executives from the baby boomer generation retire, creating a shortage of experienced and knowledgeable leaders. Some business leaders are unprepared for the replacement of retiring senior-level executives and lack strategies for succession planning. The findings of this study indicate succession planning and leadership development play a significant role in preparing future healthcare leaders in their ability to improve the quality of patient care and improve the strategic and financial health of the organization. Guided by the human capital theory the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies used by healthcare leaders for succession planning. The study consisted of interviewing the chief executive officers of 3 separate hospitals operating under a multihospital system located in south-central Texas. The data collection process included semistructured interviews and review of relevant organizational documents related to leadership development. Through methodological triangulation and employing Yin\u27s 5-step data analysis technique of design, prepare, collect, analyze and share, several themes emerged as strategies for succession planning. The themes of executive coaching, leadership dyads, and leadership pipelines, ensure a new generation of emerging leaders have access to experienced leaders through coaching opportunities and allow physicians to co-lead a hospital and maintain a meaningful presence in patient care. Social implications of the study include prepared leaders to implement the ongoing healthcare reform in the United States, trained to improve the quality of care provided to patients

Integrating Just-Right Books into the Science Curriculum

In many classrooms, it is becoming more common for teachers to supplement their students’ textbooks with commercial trade books. While student teaching in a fourth grade classroom, I noticed that the majority of my students had difficulty comprehending and staying engaged in their science textbook. I decided to find a wide range of books that contained science material from a specific unit and encouraged the students to self-select “just-right” books from the collection. Through data analysis of field notes and student reflections, I learned what I should take into account when choosing trade books to supplement the science curriculum, including the importance of content accuracy. I also examined my students’ interactions with the trade books. I found that they generally had a positive response when granted access to a selection of books for their independent reading and used them to demonstrate their resourcefulness

Making something out of nothing: breaching everyday life by standing still in a public place

Public displays of stillness and silence are increasingly found in contemporary life, yet have seldom been examined as social phenomena in their own right. We analyse people’s accomplishment, treatment and negotiation of an encounter with people ‘doing nothing’ – a breaching experiment comprising a group of students standing still in a city centre – and provide a granular description of the bodily practices whereby passers-by make ‘something’ out of ‘nothing’. Our ethnomethodological analysis of video recordings of the event demonstrates three practices for doing embodied noticing - looking back; slowing and pausing; stopping still - and illustrates how passers-by engage in ‘audiencing’ and ‘performing’. We propose breaching experiments as creative research and teaching interventions and discuss the socio-cultural, pedagogic and political implications of our analysis for studies of participation in public settings, especially where stillness, silence and ‘nothing’ feature

The effects of perceived stigma and psychological over-control on the behavioural problems of children with epilepsy

This pilot study finds that parents who think that their child will be stigmatized and who perceive that epilepsy limits their child, report higher levels of four child behavioural problems than reported by other parents of children with epilepsy. Those children with epilepsy who report that their parents use an over-controlling psychological approach to parenting report higher levels of four behavioural problems than those children with epilepsy who do not report over-controlling behaviour from their parents.The effects of simple partial seizures and of seizure severity on children's behavioural problems are completely mediated by perceived stigma, perceived limitations, and perceived parenting. Seizure frequency, absence seizures, and treatment with ethosuximide have direct effects on three children's behavioural problems; the effects of these medical variables are generally unaffected by control for parent's and children's perceptions

Does Mycobacterium tuberculosis var. bovis survival in the environment confound bovine tuberculosis control and eradication? A literature review

Publication history: Accepted - 25 January 2021; Published online - 5 February 2021.Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is one of the globe’s most common, multihost zoonoses and results in substantial socioeconomic costs for governments, farming industries, and tax payers. Despite decades of surveillance and research, surprisingly, little is known about the exact mechanisms of transmission. In particular, as a facultative intracellular pathogen, to what extent does survival of the causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis var. bovis (M. bovis), in the environment constitute an epidemiological risk for livestock and wildlife? Due largely to the classical pathology of cattle cases, the received wisdom was that bTB was spread by direct inhalation and exchange of bioaerosols containing droplets laden with bacteria. Other members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) exhibit differing host ranges, an apparent capacity to persist in environmental fomites, and they favour a range of different transmission routes. It is possible, therefore, that infection from environmental sources of M. bovis could be a disease transmission risk. Recent evidence from GPS-collared cattle and badgers in Britain and Ireland suggests that direct transmission by infectious droplets or aerosols may not be the main mechanism for interspecies transmission, raising the possibility of indirect transmission involving a contaminated, shared environment. &e possibility that classical pulmonary TB can be simulated and recapitulated in laboratory animal models by ingestion of contaminated feed is a further intriguing indication of potential environmental risk. Livestock and wildlife are known to shedM. bovis onto pasture, soil, feedstuffs, water, and other fomites; field and laboratory studies have indicated that persistence is possible, but variable, under differing environmental conditions. Given the potential infection risk, it is timely to review the available evidence, experimental approaches, and methodologies that could be deployed to address this potential blind spot and control point. Although we focus on evidence from Western Europe, the concepts are widely applicable to other multihost bTB episystems.This work was commissioned and funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for Northern Ireland (DAERA-NI) under Evidence and Innovation Project 18/03/01

The Ursinus Weekly, February 20, 1961

Campus Chest drive is begun today at noon • Annual Color Day to be on Feb. 23 • Summer job directory now in Placement Office • Mr. J. A. Thomson to address history tea • Mr. Jones to talk on John Donne at Canterbury meeting Feb. 27 • St. Andrew\u27s to select candidate for scholarship • Leeds and Fischer discuss Frost • Women requested to wear hats to church on Sunday • Dr. Miller wins Fulbright award for stay in India • Betty Heale to be on magazine board • Bloodmobile to be at U.C. on Feb. 21 at 12:30 • Habgood is Lorelei king; Announce new Whitians • Dr. Robert Bickle addresses pre-med • Mr. Jordania to play original piano pieces • Spring Festival queen to be elected on Wed. • Editorial: Peace Corps • Implications of the new science • Seven weeks abroad • Chapel commentary • Letter from a French girl • If you ask me • Five Ursinus alumnae place on AA hockey team • Swimming team wins meet with Bryn Mawr • Intramural corner • Thinclads disappointing at Inquirer meets • Bears smash Del., lose to Hopkins • Bears win fifth game with defeat of Garnets • Walt Dryfoos leads MAC league scorers • Greek gleanings • Four U.C. students hear Phila.\u27s mayor Dilworth • Lutheran Club holds pre-Lenten retreat • Newman Club to hold meeting tonight at 6:30 in girls\u27 day study • Letters to the editor • Mr. Bailey to hold trampoline classes • Mumbauer, Clemens to show slides at Spanish Club meetinghttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1333/thumbnail.jp

Management strategies and 5-year outcomes in Polish patients with stable coronary artery disease versus other European countries: data from the CLARIFY registry

Introduction: An international registry of ambulatory patients with stable coronary artery disease (CLARIFY) allows a comparison of management and outcomes in real-life setting. Objectives: We aimed to compare the management strategies and 5-year outcomes in patients from Poland and from other European countries. Patients and methods: Stable coronary artery disease was defined as previous myocardial infarction (MI) or revascularization, coronary stenosis greater than 50%, or documented symptomatic myocardial ischemia. Patients were followed on an annual basis for 5 years. Results: Among the total of 32703 patients, 1000 were enrolled in Poland, and 17326 in other European countries. Polish patients were younger, with a higher proportion of women, smokers, and patients with previous MI, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Patients in both cohorts received adequate medical treatment, with more Polish patients receiving β-blockers. Blood pressure and lipid control to target was similar and remained low in both cohorts. Diabetes control and successful smoking cessation rates were lower in Poland than in other European countries. Polish patients more often underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. All-cause (8.5% vs 7.9%; P = 0.81) and cardiovascular death rates (5.3% vs 4.9%; P = 0.82) did not differ between the groups, but fatal or nonfatal MI occurred more often in the Polish cohort (5% vs 3.1%; P = 0.006). Angina control was better in Poland than in other European countries (Canadian Cardiovascular Society class II-IV, 11.5% vs 15.8% of patients; P <0.001). Conclusions: Risk factor control was insufficient both in patients from Poland and in those from other European countries. The more frequent use of revascularization in Polish patients was not linked to improved outcomes, but, together with more extensive prescription of β-blockers, might have contributed to better angina control