X-ray Signatures of Circumnuclear Gas in AGN

X-ray spectra of AGN are complex. X-ray absorption and emission features trace gas covering a wide range of column densities and ionization states. High resolution spectra show the absorbing gas to be outflowing, perhaps in the form of an accretion disk wind. The absorbing complex shapes the form of the X-ray spectrum while X-ray reverberation and absorption changes explain the spectral and timing behaviour of AGN. We discuss recent progress, highlighting some new results and reviewing the implications that can be drawn from the data.Comment: Proceedings of the conference "Suzaku 2011, Exploring the X-ray Universe: Suzaku and Beyond

Student Evaluations of Instructor Email Response Speed as Chronemic Expectancy Violations

Instructional communication researchers have begun exploring the effects of instructor email response speed on student evaluations of their instructor. To date, researchers have concluded that faster response times result in more favorable evaluations. To extend this line of research, this experiment explores student evaluations of instructor response speed through the lens of expectancy violations theory, arguing that eliciting positive evaluations is not just about responding quickly, but rather, responding more quickly than students expect. Results indicated that positive violations of instructor email response speed are evaluated more favorably than negative chronemic violations in terms of instructor credibility and relational closeness. These findings contribute practical implications for instructors inundated with email exchanges with students and offer theoretical nuance to the study of chronemics in instructor-student email communication

INSTRUCTOR-STUDENT RAPPORT AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED FOR STUDENTS

There is a need to explore ways to better motivate students in instruction, as student motivation is an issue confronting teachers at all levels of education. Instructor-student rapport (ISR), a multidimensional concept comprised of students’ enjoyable interaction and personal connection with instructors, has potential to offer educators a tool for increasing these important student outcomes. Further, self-determination theory (SDT) may have utility for illustrating the psychological mechanisms through which instructors influence students by building rapport. First, this study explored what behaviors instructors should employ to build ISR with students. Specifically, prosocial humor (related and unrelated) and confirmation (responding to questions, demonstrating interest, ad teaching style) were investigated as instructor rapport-building behaviors. Results showed that instructors’ use of related humor, demonstration of interest, and teaching style were significant predictors of both dimensions of ISR; mixed results were found for both responding to questions and unrelated humor. Second, this study considered whether ISR was a significant predictor of student outcomes: intrinsic motivation, perceived cognitive learning, and academic performance. While enjoyable interaction was a significant, positive predictor of all three outcomes, personal connection was not a significant, positive predictor of any student outcomes. In fact, personal connection was a significant, negative predictor of perceived cognitive learning. Third, this study explored whether ISR served as a mediator between these rapport-building behaviors and student outcomes as posited by SDT. Enjoyable interaction was a significant mediator in a majority of the models. However, personal connection was not a positive mediator in any models and served as a negative mediator when predicting perceived cognitive learning. Theoretical implications for this study’s findings, along with practical tips for instructors hoping to build ISR with students, are forwarded. In addition, future directions and limitations are discussed

Letter from T. E. Tatum to T. B. Larimore

Letter from T. E. Tatum to T. B. Larimore. The one-page handwritten document is dated 13 November 1912. A transcript of the correspondence is included in the item PDF

The Global Implications of the Hard X-ray Excess in Type 1 AGN

Recent evidence for a strong 'hard excess' of flux at energies > 20 keV in some Suzaku observations of type 1 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) has motivated an exploratory study of the phenomenon in the local type 1 AGN population. We have selected all type 1 AGN in the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) 58-month catalog and cross-correlated them with the holdings of the Suzaku public archive. We find the hard excess phenomenon to be a ubiquitous property of type 1 AGN. Taken together, the spectral hardness and equivalent width of Fe K alpha emission are consistent with reprocessing by an ensemble of Compton-thick clouds that partially cover the continuum source. In the context of such a model, ~ 80 % of the sample has a hardness ratio consistent with > 50% covering of the continuum by low-ionization, Compton-thick gas. More detailed study of the three hardest X-ray spectra in our sample reveal a sharp Fe K absorption edge at ~ 7 keV in each of them, indicating that blurred reflection is not responsible for the very hard spectral forms. Simple considerations place the distribution of Compton-thick clouds at or within the optical broad line region.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Best Practices for Recruiting Students from the Basic Course

This essay responds to the Basic Course Forum question about best practices for recruiting to and/or from the basic course

Applying the Instructional Beliefs Model to Training and Development Research and Practice

In 2011, Weber, Martin, and Myers introduced an innovative instructional model to more fully understand student outcomes within the classroom: the Instructional Beliefs Model (IBM). Results from this seminal article provided support to suggest that the IBM was a better predictor of student outcomes than previous models. Since its inception, this model has guided and informed subsequent instructional research (e.g., Goodboy & Frisby, 2014; Johnson & LaBelle, 2015; LaBelle, Martin, & Weber, 2013). While clearly applicable in the university classroom, the theoretical relationships outlined by the IBM offer transferability to additional instructional contexts: namely, training and development. Notably, there is limited visibility of empirical training and development research in communication scholarship (e.g., Stephens & Mottet, 2009), and a majority of investigations rely on case studies or needs assessment (e.g., Lucier, 2008) to forward knowledge claims. However, if the discipline is truly committed to expanding knowledge of communication within training, applicable in both academic and organizational contexts, scholars should pursue more theoretically and empirically driven research. As such, the IBM has potential to serve as an instrumental resource in forwarding more generalizable findings in training communication research. Thus, the purpose of the present explication and extension of this model is to highlight the shortcomings and strengths of applying the IBM to training and development. First, several major preceding instructional models are outlined. Second, the assumptions and tenets of the IBM are discussed at length. Throughout this overview, the theoretical underpinnings of the relationships outlined in the model, along with conceptual and operational implications for applying the IBM to a training context, are explored

Prepared to Pivot: Creating a Resilient Basic Course Program

The rapid transition to emergency remote teaching due to COVID-19 provides many lessons for how BCDs can design resilient basic course programs that will be prepared to adapt in any number of potential future emergencies. BCDs can design resilient courses by pre-planning how courses will maintain instructional continuity, pre-loading pivoting options into learning management systems, and adopting online texts that are accessible anywhere. BCDs can also build instructor resilience by providing high-quality training and providing continued support for instructor well-being

Using the Basic Course to Prepare Digital Natives for New Role as Reverse Mentors

When Millennials began to enter the workforce in the mid-2000s, employers struggled to engage this indecisive group (i.e., job-hoppers). At the same time, they also battled the threat of a labor shortage due to the impending retirement of an aging baby-boomer workforce (Chaudhuri & Ghosh, 2012). Organizations began to combat both issues by embracing intergenerational learning programs focused on the strengths of each group (Gerpott et al., 2017; Greengard, 2002). One strategy that has proved valuable in popular press and among companies, although fairly absent from academic literature (Kaše et al., 2019; McCann, 2017), is reverse mentoring