570 research outputs found
University students and faculty have positive perceptions of open/alternative resources and their utilization in a textbook replacement initiative
This is contribution no. 16-114-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
The Kansas State University Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative provides grants to faculty members to replace textbooks with open/alternative educational resources (OAERs) that are available at no cost to students. Open educational resources are available for anyone to access, while alternative educational resources are not open. The objective of this study was to determine the perceptions towards OAERs and the initiative, of students enrolled in, and faculty members teaching, courses using OAERs. A survey was sent out to 2,074 students in 13 courses using the OAERs. A total of 524 (25.3%) students completed the survey and a faculty member from each of the 13 courses using OAERs was interviewed. Students rated the OAERs as good quality, preferred using them instead of buying textbooks for their courses, and agreed that they would like OAERs used in other courses. Faculty felt that student learning was somewhat better and it was somewhat easier to teach using OAERs than when they used the traditional textbooks. Nearly all faculty members preferred teaching with OAERs and planned to continue to do so after the funding period. These results, combined with the tremendous savings to students, support the continued funding of the initiative and similar approaches at other institutions
Miscibility Phase Behavior of GUV Membranes Containing Charge: Ternary Mixtures of Cholesterol, PC-Lipids, and PG-Lipids
TRIS III: the diffuse galactic radio emission at
We present values of temperature and spectral index of the galactic diffuse
radiation measured at 600 and 820 MHz along a 24 hours right ascension circle
at declination . They have been obtained from a subset of
absolute measurements of the sky temperature made with TRIS, an experiment
devoted to the measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background temperature at
decimetric-wavelengths with an angular resolution of about .
Our analysis confirms the preexisting picture of the galactic diffuse
emission at decimetric wavelength and improves the accuracy of the measurable
quantities. In particular, the signal coming from the halo has a spectral index
in the range above 600 MHz, depending on the sky position. In the
disk, at TRIS angular resolution, the free-free emission accounts for the 11%
of the overall signal at 600 MHz and 21% at 1420 MHz. The polarized component
of the galactic emission, evaluated from the survey by Brouw and Spoelstra,
affects the observations at TRIS angular resolution by less than 3% at 820 MHz
and less than 2% at 600 MHz. Within the uncertainties, our determination of the
galactic spectral index is practically unaffected by the correction for
polarization.
Since the overall error budget of the sky temperatures measured by TRIS at
600 MHz, that is 66 mK(systematic)18 mK (statistical), is definitely smaller
than those reported in previous measurements at the same frequency, our data
have been used to discuss the zero levels of the sky maps at 150, 408, 820 and
1420 MHz in literature. Concerning the 408 MHz survey, limiting our attention
to the patch of sky corresponding to the region observed by TRIS, we suggest a
correction of the base-level of K.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Fourier Modeling of the Radio Torus Surrounding Supernova 1987A
We present detailed Fourier modeling of the radio remnant of Supernova 1987A,
using high-resolution 9 GHz and 18 GHz data taken with the Australia Telescope
Compact Array over the period 1992 to 2008. We develop a parameterized
three-dimensional torus model for the expanding radio shell, in which the
emission is confined to an inclined equatorial belt; our model also
incorporates both a correction for light travel-time effects and an overall
east-west gradient in the radio emissivity. By deriving an analytic expression
for the two-dimensional Fourier transform of the projected three-dimensional
brightness distribution, we can fit our spatial model directly to the
interferometric visibility data. This provides robust estimates to the radio
morphology at each epoch. The best-fit results suggest a constant remnant
expansion at 4000 +/- 400 km/s over the 16-year period covered by the
observations. The model fits also indicate substantial mid-latitude emission,
extending to 40 degree on either side of the equatorial plane. This likely
corresponds to the extra-planar structure seen in H and Ly
emission from the supernova reverse shock, and broadly supports hydrodynamic
models in which the complex circumstellar environment was produced by a
progression of interacting winds from the progenitor. Our model quantifies the
clear asymmetry seen in the radio images: we find that the eastern half of the
radio remnant is consistently ~40 brighter than the western half at all epochs,
which may result from an asymmetry in the ejecta distribution between these two
hemispheres.Comment: accepted by ApJ, 11 figures, some have been scaled down in resolutio
New 6cm and 11cm observations of the supernova remnant CTA 1
(Abridged) We conducted new 6cm and 11cm observations of CTA 1 using the
Urumqi 25-m and Effelsberg 100-m telescopes. Data at other wavelengths were
included to investigate the spectrum and polarisation properties. We obtained
new total intensity and polarisation maps at 6cm and 11cm with angular
resolutions of 9.5 arcmin and 4.4 arcmin, respectively. We derived a spectral
index of alpha=-0.63+/-0.05 based on the integrated flux densities at 408 MHz,
1420 MHz, 2639 MHz, and 4800 MHz. The spectral index map calculated from data
at the four frequencies shows a clear steepening of the spectrum from the
strong shell emission towards the north-western breakout region with weak
diffuse emission. The decrease of the spectral index is up to about 0.3. The RM
map derived from polarisation data at 6cm and 11cm shows a sharp transition
between positive RMs in the north-eastern and negative RMs in the south-western
part of the SNR. We note a corresponding RM pattern of extragalactic sources
and propose the existence of a large-diameter Faraday screen in front of CTA 1,
which covers the north-eastern part of the SNR. The RM of the Faraday screen is
estimated to be about +45 rad/m2. A RM structure function of CTA 1 indicates a
very regular magnetic field within the Faraday screen, which is larger than
about 2.7 microG in case of 500 pc distance.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, minor changes, accepted for publication in A&
A high-resolution radio survey of the Vela supernova remnant
This paper presents a high-resolution radio continuum (843 MHz) survey of the
Vela supernova remnant. The contrast between the structures in the central
pulsar-powered nebula of the remnant and the synchrotron radiation shell allows
the remnant to be identified morphologically as a member of the composite
class. The data are the first of a composite remnant at spatial scales
comparable with those available for the Cygnus Loop and the Crab Nebula, and
make possible a comparison of radio, optical and soft X-ray emission from the
resolved shell filaments. The survey, made with the Molonglo Observatory
Synthesis Telescope, covers an area of 50 square degrees at a resolution of
43'' x 60'', while imaging structures on scales up to 30'.Comment: 18 pages, 7 jpg figures (version with ps figures at
http://astro.berkeley.edu/~dbock/papers/); AJ, in pres
Tidal Heating: Lessons from Io and the Jovian System (Report from the KISS Workshop)
Summary of the Keck Institute for Space Studies workshop entitled "Tidal Heating: Lessons from Io and the Jovian System," held on October 15-19, 2018
XMMU J0541.8-6659, a new supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud
The high sensitivity of the XMM-Newton instrumentation offers the opportunity
to study faint and extended sources in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies such
as the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in detail. The ROSAT PSPC survey of the LMC
has revealed more than 700 X-ray sources, among which there are 46 supernova
remnants (SNRs) and candidates. We have observed the field around one of the
most promising SNR candidates in the ROSAT PSPC catalogue, labelled [HP99] 456
with XMM-Newton, to determine its nature. We investigated the XMM-Newton data
along with new radio-continuum, near infrared and optical data. In particular,
spectral and morphological studies of the X-ray and radio data were performed.
The X-ray images obtained in different energy bands reveal two different
structures. Below 1.0 keV the X-ray emission shows the shell-like morphology of
an SNR with a diameter of ~73 pc, one of the largest known in the LMC. For its
thermal spectrum we estimate an electron temperature of (0.49 +/- 0.12)keV
assuming non-equilibrium ionisation. The X-ray images above 1.0 keV reveal a
less extended source within the SNR emission, located ~1' west of the centre of
the SNR and coincident with bright point sources detected in radio-continuum.
This hard component has an extent of 0.9' (i.e. ~13 pc at a distance of ~50
kpc) and a non-thermal spectrum. The hard source coincides in position with the
ROSAT source [HP99] 456 and shows an indication for substructure. We firmly
identify a new SNR in the LMC with a shell-like morphology and a thermal
spectrum. Assuming the SNR to be in the Sedov phase yields an age of ~23 kyr.
We explore possible associations of the hard non-thermal emitting component
with a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) or background active galactic nuclei (AGN).Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Co-infections, secondary infections, and antimicrobial use in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 during the first pandemic wave from the ISARIC WHO CCP-UK study: a multicentre, prospective cohort study
BACKGROUND: Microbiological characterisation of co-infections and secondary infections in patients with COVID-19 is lacking, and antimicrobial use is high. We aimed to describe microbiologically confirmed co-infections and secondary infections, and antimicrobial use, in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. METHODS: The International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC) WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol UK (CCP-UK) study is an ongoing, prospective cohort study recruiting inpatients from 260 hospitals in England, Scotland, and Wales, conducted by the ISARIC Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium. Patients with a confirmed or clinician-defined high likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 infection were eligible for inclusion in the ISARIC WHO CCP-UK study. For this specific study, we excluded patients with a recorded negative SARS-CoV-2 test result and those without a recorded outcome at 28 days after admission. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, therapeutic, and outcome data were collected using a prespecified case report form. Organisms considered clinically insignificant were excluded. FINDINGS: We analysed data from 48 902 patients admitted to hospital between Feb 6 and June 8, 2020. The median patient age was 74 years (IQR 59–84) and 20 786 (42·6%) of 48 765 patients were female. Microbiological investigations were recorded for 8649 (17·7%) of 48 902 patients, with clinically significant COVID-19-related respiratory or bloodstream culture results recorded for 1107 patients. 762 (70·6%) of 1080 infections were secondary, occurring more than 2 days after hospital admission. Staphylococcus aureus and Haemophilus influenzae were the most common pathogens causing respiratory co-infections (diagnosed ≤2 days after admission), with Enterobacteriaceae and S aureus most common in secondary respiratory infections. Bloodstream infections were most frequently caused by Escherichia coli and S aureus. Among patients with available data, 13 390 (37·0%) of 36 145 had received antimicrobials in the community for this illness episode before hospital admission and 39 258 (85·2%) of 46 061 patients with inpatient antimicrobial data received one or more antimicrobials at some point during their admission (highest for patients in critical care). We identified frequent use of broad-spectrum agents and use of carbapenems rather than carbapenem-sparing alternatives. INTERPRETATION: In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, microbiologically confirmed bacterial infections are rare, and more likely to be secondary infections. Gram-negative organisms and S aureus are the predominant pathogens. The frequency and nature of antimicrobial use are concerning, but tractable targets for stewardship interventions exist. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), UK Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, UK Department for International Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, EU Platform for European Preparedness Against (Re-)emerging Epidemics, NIHR Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections at University of Liverpool, and NIHR HPRU in Respiratory Infections at Imperial College London
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