685 research outputs found
Catholic Education as a Societal Institution
This paper conceptualizes Catholic education as a societal institution interdependent with other major social institutions in the country. A brief history of the American Catholic system demonstrates how its origin and growth were influenced by and affected the cultural, political, religious, and economic milieu in which it was embedded. In particular, the development of Catholic education interacted with the growth of the public schools system. Comparisons of contemporary Catholic and public schools illustrate this interdependency while underscoring the uniqueness and contributions of Catholic education. A sociological understanding of Catholic education as a societal entity should inform decisions about the future of Catholic education and suggest ways that the institutional interdependence of Catholic and public schools can benefit both systems
Optical observations of the AMPTE artificial comet and magnetotail barium releases
The first AMPTE artificial comet was observed with a low light level television camera operated aboard the NASA CV990 flying out of Moffett Field, California. The comet head, neutral cloud, and comet tail were all observed for four minutes with an unifiltered camera. Brief observations at T + 4 minutes through a 4554A Ba(+) filter confirmed the identification of the structures. The ion cloud expanded along with the neutral cloud at a rate of 2.3 km/sec (diameter) until it reached a final diameter of approx. 170 km at approx. T + 90 s. It also drifted with the neutral cloud until approx. 165 s. By T + 190 s it had reached a steady state velocity of 5.4 km/sec southward. A barium release in the magnetotail was observed from the CV990 in California, Eagle, Alaska, and Fairbanks, Alaska. Over a twenty-five minute period, the center of the barium streak drifted southward (approx. 500 m/sec), upward (24 km/sec) and eastward (approx 1 km/sec) in a nonrotating reference frame. An all-sky TV at Eagle showed a single auroral arc in the far North during this period
AMPS definition study on Optical Band Imager and Photometer System (OBIPS)
A study was conducted to define the characteristics of a modular optical diagnostic system (OBIPS) for AMPS, to provide input to Phase B studies, and to give information useful for experiment planning and design of other instrumentation. The system described consists of visual and UV-band imagers and visual and UV-band photometers; of these the imagers are most important because of their ability to measure intensity as a function of two spatial dimensions and time with high resolution. The various subsystems of OBIPS are in themselves modular with modules having a high degree of interchangeability for versatility, economy, and redundancy
325 MHz VLA Observations of Ultracool Dwarfs TVLM 513-46546 and 2MASS J0036+1821104
We present 325 MHz (90 cm wavelength) radio observations of ultracool dwarfs
TVLM 513-46546 and 2MASS J0036+1821104 using the Very Large Array (VLA) in June
2007. Ultracool dwarfs are expected to be undetectable at radio frequencies,
yet observations at 8.5 GHz (3.5 cm) and 4.9 GHz (6 cm) of have revealed
sources with > 100 {\mu}Jy quiescent radio flux and > 1 mJy pulses coincident
with stellar rotation. The anomalous emission is likely a combination of
gyrosynchrotron and cyclotron maser processes in a long-duration, large-scale
magnetic field. Since the characteristic frequency for each process scales
directly with the magnetic field magnitude, emission at lower frequencies may
be detectable from regions with weaker field strength. We detect no significant
radio emission at 325 MHz from TVLM 513-46546 or 2MASS J0036+1821104 over
multiple stellar rotations, establishing 2.5{\sigma} total flux limits of 795
{\mu}Jy and 942 {\mu}Jy respectively. Analysis of an archival VLA 1.4 GHz
observation of 2MASS J0036+1821104 from January 2005 also yields a
non-detection at the level of < 130 {\mu}Jy . The combined radio observation
history (0.3 GHz to 8.5 GHz) for these sources suggests a continuum emission
spectrum for ultracool dwarfs which is either flat or inverted below 2-3 GHz.
Further, if the cyclotron maser instability is responsible for the pulsed radio
emission observed on some ultracool dwarfs, our low-frequency non-detections
suggest that the active region responsible for the high-frequency bursts is
confined within 2 stellar radii and driven by electron beams with energies less
than 5 keV.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, submitted to A
Radio Counterparts of Compact Binary Mergers detectable in Gravitational Waves: A Simulation for an Optimized Survey
Mergers of binary neutron stars and black hole-neutron star binaries produce
gravitational-wave (GW) emission and outflows with significant kinetic
energies. These outflows result in radio emissions through synchrotron
radiation. We explore the detectability of these synchrotron generated radio
signals by follow-up observations of GW merger events lacking a detection of
electromagnetic counterparts in other wavelengths. We model radio light curves
arising from (i) sub-relativistic merger ejecta and (ii) ultra-relativistic
jets. The former produces radio remnants on timescales of a few years and the
latter produces -ray bursts in the direction of the jet and
orphan-radio afterglows extending over wider angles on timescales of weeks.
Based on the derived light curves, we suggest an optimized survey at GHz
with five epochs separated by a logarithmic time interval. We estimate the
detectability of the radio counterparts of simulated GW-merger events to be
detected by advanced LIGO and Virgo by current and future radio facilities. The
detectable distances for these GW merger events could be as high as 1 Gpc.
-- of the long-lasting radio remnants will be detectable in the case
of the moderate kinetic energy of erg and a circum-merger
density of or larger, while -- of the orphan radio
afterglows with kinetic energy of erg will be detectable. The
detection likelihood increases if one focuses on the well-localizable GW
events. We discuss the background noise due to radio fluxes of host galaxies
and false positives arising from extragalactic radio transients and variable
Active Galactic Nuclei and we show that the quiet radio transient sky is of
great advantage when searching for the radio counterparts.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
School Sector, School Poverty, and the Catholic School Advantage
Equality of educational opportunity is threatened by long-standing gaps in student achievement by race, gender, and student poverty, as well as by school sector and school poverty. The true magnitude of these gaps cannot be understood, however, unless these factors are considered simultaneously. While accounting for the effects of demographic characteristics, this article focuses on the effects of school sector and school poverty on gains in academic achievement. Analyses from a longitudinal study of public and Catholic middle school students in and around the city of Chicago show that neither the public nor Catholic sector has a consistent advantage in increasing student achievement in sixth and eighth grade reading and mathematics. School poverty has a deleterious effect on student achievement, although this effect is considerably mitigated for students in Catholic schools
Ability Grouping in Catholic and Public Schools
Researchers have found that students who attend Catholic high schools tend to outperform public high school students on standardized tests of achievement. Although many aspects of this finding have been examined in subsequent research, little attention has been paid to the issue of how ability grouping affects achievement across school sectors. A nearly universal practice in middle and secondary schools, ability grouping works to channel learning opportunities to students. The authors trace the history of ability grouping and review the findings regarding ability group effects, the assignment process, and mobility across groups in each school sector. Their analyses suggest that the way ability grouping is implemented in Catholic schools contributes to the Catholic school advantage in achievement
Magnetospheric Radio Emissions from Exoplanets with the SKA
Planetary-scale magnetic fields are a window to a planet’s interior and provide shielding of the planet’s atmosphere and surface for life. The Earth, Mercury, Ganymede, and the giant planets of the solar system all contain internal dynamo currents that generate planetary-scale magnetic fields. When coupled to energetic (keV) electrons, such as those produced by solar wind-magnetosphere interaction (compression or magnetic reconnection), magnetosphere-ionosphere or magnetosphere-satellite coupling, the polar regions of a planetary magnetic field are the place of intense, coherent, circularly polarized cyclotron radio emissions. These emissions – that may be as intense as solar ones – are produced by all magnetized planets in the solar system in the MHz range, and up to 40 MHz at Jupiter. Detection of similar emissions from exoplanets will provide constraints on the thermal state, composition, and dynamics of their interior – very difficult to determine by other means – as well as an improved understanding of the planetary dynamo process and of the physics of star-planet plasma interactions.
Detailed knowledge of magnetospheric emissions from solar system planets and the discovery of exoplanets motivated both theoretical and observational work on magnetospheric emissions from exoplanets. Scaling laws and theoretical frameworks were built and extrapolated to obtain order-of-magnitude predictions of frequencies and flux densities of exoplanetary radio emissions. The present stage of the theory suggests that radio detection of exoplanets will develop the new field of comparative exo-magnetospheric physics, but also permit to measure exoplanetary parameters such as rotation or orbit inclination. Observational searches started even before the confirmed discovery of the first exoplanet.
We review the scientific return of the detection of exoplanetary radio emissions, the current status of observational searches, and discuss the future promise in the context of SKA, especially SKA1-LOW. To the extent that Jupiter’s magnetic field is not exceptionally strong, the current lower frequency limit of 50 MHz implies that SKA1-LOW will likely detect Jovian-mass planets. With the currently planned sensitivity of SKA1-LOW, we estimate that a Jupiter-like planet could be detected to about 10 pc. Within this volume there are ∼200 known stars and ∼35 currently known exoplanets, and this number should increase substantially with coming space missions dedicated to transits and powerful ground-based instruments. The accessible volume will be much increased if scaling laws derived in our solar system can be reliably extrapolated to exoplanetary systems, permitting to measure lower mass planets’ dynamos and magnetospheres
Periodic Radio and H-alpha Emission from the L Dwarf Binary 2MASSW J0746425+200032: Exploring the Magnetic Field Topology and Radius of an L Dwarf
[Abridged] We present an 8.5-hour simultaneous radio, X-ray, UV, and optical
observation of the L dwarf binary 2MASSW J0746+20. We detect strong radio
emission, dominated by short-duration periodic pulses at 4.86 GHz with
P=124.32+/-0.11 min. The stability of the pulse profiles and arrival times
demonstrates that they are due to the rotational modulation of a B~1.7 kG
magnetic field. A quiescent non-variable component is also detected, likely due
to emission from a uniform large-scale field. The H-alpha emission exhibits
identical periodicity, but unlike the radio pulses it varies sinusoidally and
is offset by exactly 1/4 of a phase. The sinusoidal variations require
chromospheric emission from a large-scale field structure, with the radio
pulses likely emanating from the magnetic poles. While both light curves can be
explained by a rotating mis-aligned magnetic field, the 1/4 phase lag rules out
a symmetric dipole topology since it would result in a phase lag of 1/2
(poloidal field) or zero (toroidal field). We therefore conclude that either
(i) the field is dominated by a quadrupole configuration, which can naturally
explain the 1/4 phase lag; or (ii) the H-alpha and/or radio emission regions
are not trivially aligned with the field. Regardless of the field topology, we
use the measured period along with the known rotation velocity (vsini=27 km/s),
and the binary orbital inclination (i=142 deg), to derive a radius for the
primary star of 0.078+/-0.010 R_sun. This is the first measurement of the
radius of an L dwarf, and along with a mass of 0.085+/-0.010 M_sun it provides
a constraint on the mass-radius relation below 0.1 M_sun. We find that the
radius is about 30% smaller than expected from theoretical models, even for an
age of a few Gyr.Comment: Submitted to Ap
- …