A pressing issue for educators is the difficulty in fostering engagement and vesting students in courses. A new pedagogical model labeled Collaborative Course Development (CCD) has evolved as a ...viable solution. CCD not only allows students to be actively involved in initial course design but also empowers them to make decisions about class structure throughout the term. The purpose of this work is to explain the theoretical background of CCD, outline its effective use, and detail six specific practices for implementation. The article concludes with research-worthy propositions as well as preliminary findings and a brief discussion of potential challenges.
The natural environment is a central issue in both academic and wider societal discourse. The global sport industry is not immune from this discussion and has to confront its responsibility to reduce ...its impact on the natural environment. This book goes further than any other in surveying both the challenges and the opportunities presented to the sports industry as it engages with the sustainability agenda, exploring the various ways in which sport scholars can integrate sustainability into their research. With a multidisciplinary sweep, including management, sociology, law, events, and ethics, this is a ground-breaking book in the study of sport. Drawing on cutting-edge research, it includes over thirty chapters covering all the most important themes in contemporary sport studies such as: climate change, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility ethics, governance, and the law event management, tourism, and pollution marketing, branding, and consumer behavior the Olympics, urban development, and mega-event legacies. With contributions from world-leading researchers and practitioners from around the globe, this is the most comprehensive book ever published on sport and the environment.
ABSTRACT
Aim: Vascular calcification is prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease. Abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) can be detected by X‐ray, although AAC is less well documented in ...anatomical distribution and severity compared with coronary calcification. Using simple radiological imaging we aimed to assess AAC and determine associations in prevalent Australian haemodialysis (HD) patients.
Methods: Lateral lumbar X‐ray of the abdominal aorta was used to determine AAC, which is related to the severity of calcific deposits at lumbar vertebral segments L1 to L4. Two radiologists determined AAC scores, by semi‐quantitative measurement using a validated 24‐point scale, on HD patients from seven satellite dialysis centres. Regression analysis was used to determine associations between AAC and patient characteristics.
Results: Lateral lumbar X‐ray was obtained in 132 patients. Median age of patients was 69 years (range 29–90), 60% were male, 36% diabetic, median duration of HD 38 months (range 6–230). Calcification (AAC score ≥ 1) was present in 94.4% with mean AAC score 11.0 ± 6.4 (median 12). Independent predictors for the presence and severity of calcification were age (P = 0.03), duration of dialysis (P = 0.04) and a history of cardiovascular disease (P = 0.009). There was no significant association between AAC and the presence of diabetes or time‐averaged serum markers of mineral metabolism, lipid status and C‐reactive protein.
Conclusions: AAC detected by lateral lumbar X‐ray is highly prevalent in our cohort of Australian HD patients and is associated with cardiovascular disease, increasing age and duration of HD. This semi‐quantitative method of determining vascular calcification is widely available and inexpensive and may assist cardiovascular risk stratification.
The main finding of this study is that abdominal aortic calcification detected by lateral lumbar X‐ray is highly prevalent in Australian HD patients and is associated with CV disease, increasing age and duration of HD. This semi‐quantitative inexpensive method is useful in detecting vascular calcification and may assist cardiovascular risk stratification in Australian HD patients.
We have obtained deep adaptive optics (AO) images of Vega and e Eri to search for planetary mass companions. We observed at the MMT in the L' (3.8 mum) and M (4.8 mum) bands using Clio, a recently ...commissioned imager optimized for these wavelengths. Observing at these long wavelengths represents a departure from the H band (1.65 mum) more commonly used for AO imaging searches for extrasolar planets. The long wavelengths offer better predicted planet/star flux ratios and cleaner (higher Strehl) AO images at the cost of lower diffraction-limited resolution and higher sky background. We have not detected any planets or planet candidates around Vega or e Eri. We report the sensitivities obtained around both stars, which correspond to upper limits on any planetary companions which may exist. The sensitivities of our L'- and M-band observations are comparable to those of the best H-regime observations of these stars. For e Eri, our M-band observations deliver considerably better sensitivity to close-in planets than any previously published results, and we show that the M band is by far the best wavelength choice for attempts at ground-based AO imaging of the known planet e Eri b. The Clio camera itself, with MMTAO, may be capable of detecting e Eri b at its 2010 apastron, given a multinight observing campaign. Clio appears to be the only currently existing AO imager that has a realistic possibility of detecting e Eri b.
A candidate 3 M Jup extrasolar planet was recently imaged by Kalas et al. using Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys and Keck II at 127 (96 AU) separation from the nearby (d = 7.7 pc) ...young (~200 Myr) A2V star Fomalhaut. Here, we report results from M-band (4.8 mm) imaging of Fomalhaut on 2006 December 5 using the Clio IR imager on the 6.5 m MMT with the adaptive secondary mirror. Our images are sensitive to giant planets at orbital radii comparable to the outer solar system (~10-40 AU). Comparing our 5s M-band photometric limits to theoretical evolutionary tracks for substellar objects, our results rule out the existence of planets with masses > 2 M Jup from ~13 to 40 AU and objects > 13 M Jup from ~8 to 40 AU.
A candidate 3 M Jup extrasolar planet was recently imaged by Kalas et al. using Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys and Keck II at 127 (96 AU) separation from the nearby (d = 7.7 pc) ...young (~200 Myr) A2V star Fomalhaut. Here, we report results from M-band (4.8 is a subset of m) imaging of Fomalhaut on 2006 December 5 using the Clio IR imager on the 6.5 m MMT with the adaptive secondary mirror. Our images are sensitive to giant planets at orbital radii comparable to the outer solar system (~10-40 AU). Comparing our 5 sigma M-band photometric limits to theoretical evolutionary tracks for substellar objects, our results rule out the existence of planets with masses >2 M Jup from ~13 to 40 AU and objects >13 M Jup from ~8 to 40 AU.
We present the operating principle and the first observing run of a novel kind of direct detector for axions and axion-like particles in the galactic halo. Sensitive to the polarisation rotation of ...linearly polarised laser light induced by an axion field, our experiment is the first detector of its kind collecting scientific data. We discuss our current peak sensitivity of \(1.51\times 10^{-10}\) \(\text{GeV}^{-1}\) (95 % confidence level) to the axion-photon coupling strength in the axion mass range of \(1.97\)-\(2.01\) \(\text{neV}\) which is, for instance, motivated by supersymmetric grand-unified theories. We also report on effects that arise in our high-finesse in-vacuum cavity at an unprecedented optical continuous-wave intensity of \(4.7\) \(\text{MW/cm}^2\). Our detector already belongs to the most sensitive direct searches within its measurement band, and our results pave the way towards surpassing the current sensitivity limits in the mass range from \(10^{-8}\) \(\text{eV}\) down to \(10^{-16}\) \(\text{eV}\) via quantum-enhanced laser interferometry.
The Kuiper belt objects, the Centaurs, and the Jupiter-family comets form an evolutionary continuum of small outer Solar System objects, and their study allows us to gain insight into the history and ...evolution of the Solar System. Broadband photometry can be used to measure their phase curves, allowing a first-order probe into the surface properties of these objects, though limited telescope time makes measuring accurate phase curves difficult. We make use of serendipitous broadband photometry from the long-baseline, high-cadence ATLAS survey to measure the phase curves for a sample of 18 Kuiper belt objects, Centaurs, and Jupiter-family comets with unprecedentedly large datasets. We find phase curves with previously reported negative slopes become positive with increased data and are thus due to insufficient sampling of the phase curve profile, and not a real physical effect. We search for correlations between phase curve parameters, finding no strong correlations between any parameter pair, consistent with the findings of previous studies. We search for instances of cometary activity in our sample, finding a previously reported outburst by Echeclus and a new epoch of increased activity by Chiron. Applying the main belt asteroid HG1G2 phase curve model to three Jupiter-family comets in our sample with large phase angle spans, we find their slope parameters imply surfaces more consistent with those of carbonaceous main belt asteroids than silicaceous ones.
Centaurs are small Solar System objects on chaotic orbits in the giant planet region, forming an evolutionary continuum with the Kuiper belt objects and Jupiter-family comets. Some Centaurs are known ...to exhibit cometary activity, though unlike comets this activity tends not to correlate with heliocentric distance and the mechanism behind it is currently poorly understood. We utilize serendipitous observations from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), Dark Energy Survey (DES), and Gaia in addition to targeted follow-up observations from the Las Cumbres Observatory, TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope South (TRAPPIST-South), and Gemini North telescope to analyze an unexpected brightening exhibited by the known active Centaur (2060) Chiron in 2021. This is highly indicative of a cometary outburst. As of 2023 February, Chiron has still not returned to its pre-brightening magnitude. We find Chiron's rotational lightcurve, phase curve effects, and possible high-albedo surface features to be unlikely causes of this observed brightening. We consider the most likely cause to be an epoch of either new or increased cometary activity, though we cannot rule out a possible contribution from Chiron's reported ring system, such as a collision of as-yet unseen satellites shepherding the rings. We find no evidence for coma in our Gemini or TRAPPIST-South observations, though this does not preclude the possibility that Chiron is exhibiting a coma that is too faint for observation or constrained to the immediate vicinity of the nucleus.
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