15K students explore time and space

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By Chastity Laskey | Published 8 hours ago

Around 15,000 students from more than 170 different countries enrolled in Astronomy: Exploring Time and Space, a new online course taught by UA professor Chris Impey that launched Sunday.

The course is offered in a partnership with UA and Coursera, a for-profit online education company that began negotiations with the UA in 2013. Impey teaches a similar but less rigorous online astronomy course through Udemy, another online learning platform that has about 23,000 students enrolled.

"Its neat that we now have a university partnership with Coursera and are able to do this as an official outreach from the UA," said Matthew Wenger, an educational technologist in astronomy who has worked closely with Impey. I think [it] is really exciting, and to try this new, learning platform is going to be a really nice opportunity to test out some of our course curriculum ideas.

Impey said he is looking forward to engaging with Courseras demographic.

The average age is around 30, and 50-60 percent already have a degree, he said. This isnt a typical demographic of a class I might teach here. I am looking forward to a high level of exchange.

Students can take the class for free or buy a verified completion certificate for $49. Impey said the revenue raised from the class will be split evenly between Coursera and the university.

Impey also currently teaches the Udemy course.

I just want to keep learning how to teach online better, Impey said. The data from astronomy comes from space and telescopes, so working on the Internet is pretty reasonable. Most of what we do face-to-face can be done in some version online.

Impey said he will continue the course on Udemy, because it continues to gain about 1,000 new students a month and is fairly low maintenance.

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15K students explore time and space

Why do starburst galaxies 'burst'?

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February 16, 2015

What is the recipe for starburst? Astronomers studied NGC 253 with ALMA to find out. These new ALMA data reveal a diffuse envelope of carbon monoxide gas (shown in red), which surrounds stellar nurseries -- regions of active star formation (in yellow). By dissecting these regions with ALMA, astronomers are uncovering clues to the processes and conditions that drive furious star formation. The ALMA data are superimposed on a Hubble image that covers part of the same region. (Credit: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)/ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ)/A. Leroy; STScI/NASA, ST-ECF/ESA, CADC/NRC/CSA)

Provided by Charles Blue, National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Starburst galaxies transmute gas into new stars at a dizzying pace up to 1,000 times faster than typical spiral galaxies like the Milky Way. To help understand why some galaxies burst while others do not, an international team of astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to dissect a cluster of star-forming clouds at the heart of NGC 253, one of the nearest starburst galaxies to the Milky Way.

All stars form in dense clouds of dust and gas, said Adam Leroy, an astronomer formerly with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Charlottesville, Virginia, and now with The Ohio State University in Columbus. Until now, however, scientists struggled to see exactly what was going on inside starburst galaxies that distinguished them from other star-forming regions.

ALMA changes that by offering the power to resolve individual star-forming structures, even in distant systems. As an early demonstration of this capability, Leroy and his colleagues mapped the distributions and motions of multiple molecules in clouds at the core of NGC 253, also known as the Sculptor Galaxy.

Sculptor, a disk-shape galaxy currently undergoing intense starburst, is located approximately 11.5 million light-years from Earth, which is remarkably nearby for such an energetic star factory. This proximity makes Sculptor an excellent target for detailed study.

There is a class of galaxies and parts of galaxies, we call them starbursts, where we know that gas is just plain better at forming stars, noted Leroy. To understand why, we took one of the nearest such regions and pulled it apart layer by layer to see what makes the gas in these places so much more efficient at star formation.

ALMAs exceptional resolution and sensitivity allowed the researchers to first identify ten distinct stellar nurseries inside the heart of Sculptor, something that was remarkably hard to accomplish with earlier telescopes, which blurred the different regions together.

The team then mapped the distribution of about 40 millimeter-wavelength signatures from different molecules inside the center of the galaxy. This was critically important since different molecules correspond to different conditions in and around star-forming clouds. For example, carbon monoxide (CO) corresponds to massive envelopes of less dense gas that surround stellar nurseries. Other molecules, like hydrogen cyanide (HCN), reveal dense areas of active star formation. Still rarer molecules, like H13CN and H13CO+, indicate even denser regions.

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Why do starburst galaxies 'burst'?

Evidence for dark matter in the inner Milky Way

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Fabio Iocco, Miguel Pato, Gianfranco Bertone

(Submitted on 12 Feb 2015)

The ubiquitous presence of dark matter in the universe is today a central tenet in modern cosmology and astrophysics. Ranging from the smallest galaxies to the observable universe, the evidence for dark matter is compelling in dwarfs, spiral galaxies, galaxy clusters as well as at cosmological scales. However, it has been historically difficult to pin down the dark matter contribution to the total mass density in the Milky Way, particularly in the innermost regions of the Galaxy and in the solar neighbourhood. Here we present an up-to-date compilation of Milky Way rotation curve measurements, and compare it with state-of-the-art baryonic mass distribution models.

We show that current data strongly disfavour baryons as the sole contribution to the galactic mass budget, even inside the solar circle. Our findings demonstrate the existence of dark matter in the inner Galaxy while making no assumptions on its distribution. We anticipate that this result will compel new model-independent constraints on the dark matter local density and profile, thus reducing uncertainties on direct and indirect dark matter searches, and will shed new light on the structure and evolution of the Galaxy.

Comments: First submitted version of letter published in Nature Physics on Febuary 9, 2015: this http URL

Subjects: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA); High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex); High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)

Journal reference: Nature Physics 3237 (2015)

DOI: 10.1038/nphys3237

Cite as: arXiv:1502.03821 [astro-ph.GA] (or arXiv:1502.03821v1 [astro-ph.GA] for this version)

Submission history

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Evidence for dark matter in the inner Milky Way

Aerospace Adhesives & Sealants Market Worth $2,189.80 Million by 2019

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DALLAS, February 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

The report "Aerospace Adhesives & Sealants Marketby Resin Type (Epoxy & Others), by End-user Industry (Commercial, Military & General Aviation), by User Type (Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) & Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO)) - Global Forecast to 2019", The global Aerospace Adhesives Market 2014-2019 is estimated to reach $2,189.80 Million by 2019.

Browse 126 market data tables and 78 figures spread through 209 pages and in-depth TOC on"Aerospace Adhesives & Sealants Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/aerospace-adhesive-sealant-market-218715849.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The global Aerospace Adhesives Market is significantly penetrating in the aerospace industry. The characteristics of the end products differ as per the requirement of end-user industries and for different user types. The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing segment of the global aerospace adhesive market and is mainly attributed to high economic growth rate followed by increasing demand for commercial aircrafts which is eventually driving the aerospace industry. The Asia-Pacific and RoW markets are estimated to show a rising growth in the next five years with the allied industries expected to stabilize the overall business need in the respective regions.

Inquiry of this report @http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=218715849

R&D is a key part of this market. The manufacturing companies, associations, and end-product manufacturers infuse high investments for future advancements and technology modifications of aerospace adhesives and match the consumer demands coming from various types of end-user industries. Global companies are continuously investing in R&D to create unique aerospace adhesives that can be used in the aerospace industry.

Asia-Pacific is the largest market, both in terms of volume and value, followed by Western Europe. China, U.S., Japan, India, and Germany are expected to persist as successful aerospace adhesive markets. The key players in the Aerospace Adhesives Market are 3M (U.S.), Beacon Adhesives Inc. (U.S.), Cytec Industries Inc. (U.S.), Henkel AG & Company (Germany), Hexcel Corporation (U.S.), Huntsman Corporation (U.S.), Master Bond (U.S.), PPG Industries Inc. (U.S.), Royal Adhesives & Sealants (U.S.), and United Resin Corporation (U.S.)., and others.

The Eastern and Central European nations, emerging South-East Asian, and Latin American nations that will host the future global events would supplement the growth of aerospace industry, followed by enhanced travelling activities which will indirectly boost the demand for the aerospace adhesives.

The aerospace adhesives demand, in terms of value and volume, depicts the current and future projections according to the parallel economic and industrial outlook. This analysis covers important developments, new product launches, investments & expansions, partnerships, agreements, joint ventures and collaborations, and mergers & acquisitions of the leading global companies.

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Aerospace Adhesives & Sealants Market Worth $2,189.80 Million by 2019

NASA To Modernize Propeller Systems On P-3 Aircraft

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Mon, Feb 16, 2015

NASA has selected UTC Aerospace Systems for the world's first NP2000 propeller modernization of a P-3 aircraft. The agreement provides for procurement and installation of NP2000 propellers with electronic propeller control systems and will include engineering, technical and logistics services within the next two years.

The NP2000 is being offered to replace the HS 54H60 propeller system for the P-3. It is designed to provide higher reliability, reduced vibration and noise to the aircraft, and reduce support costs. The U.S. Navy has already deployed the NP2000 on the E-2C Hawkeye and C-2A Greyhound, and it is currently flying on C-130 aircraft with the Air National Guard.

This milestone in the NP2000 modernization program is a critical step to gain airworthiness approval on a P-3, and supports UTC Aerospace Systems' efforts to market the NP2000 for 54H60 propeller replacements.

The P-3 is considered a core platform for the NASA Airborne Science Program. The aircraft supports scientific investigations by NASA and visiting scientists from universities, other agencies and organizations worldwide. The P-3 is also used as a technology test bed for new airborne and satellite instrumentation.

"This propeller system is ideally suited for the modernization of all P-3 aircraft which currently use the 54H60 propeller," said Michel Ferey, Propeller Systems president and general manager for UTC Aerospace Systems.

Ferey added, "This modernization is a 50 year jump in technology with benefits that include performance enhancements, quieter operations and lower operating costs."

(Image from file)

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NASA To Modernize Propeller Systems On P-3 Aircraft

Love all kinds of love: Paint the science back

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For the sake of gay people, let's all put an end to this nonsense about their abnormality

Sometimes, public health education becomes wearisome for the health professional. Because, as any person working on behavioral and attitude change will tell you, the information has to be repeated in novel ways until it becomes common knowledge.

As a mental health professional, I'd always thought that information that has been in the scientific mainstream for 40 years and relates to something as common as homosexuality would be common sense by now.

I refer of course to the scientific consensus that being lesbian or gay or bisexual is a normal human variation. For the sake of completion, I shall say that there is an emerging consensus that being transgender is also a normal human variation. But I will not discuss issues of transgender people here, having written on this already. Instead, I shall focus on lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

So this is the mental health information that people really need to understand: being gay is normal.

Some people are heterosexual and some are gay or lesbian or bisexual. Some people are short and some are tall. Some people are plump and some thin. In other words human beings vary in many ways both physically and psychologically. One of the ways they vary is to whom they are sexually attracted.

Therefore there is no such thing as "too gay."

Paint their hands back

I refer, of course, to the billboards of a local fashion company which show different loving duos: a grandmother and her grandson, a heterosexual couple, a lesbian couple and a gay couple. It seems someone (initially announced as members of the Ads Standards Council but later denied by them) thought that a billboard of two men, fully clothed and very subtly holding hands, was "too gay." The billboards had to be revised, defaced actually, because the hands were very badly painted over in black.

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Love all kinds of love: Paint the science back

Volvo Scholarship for Research on Why We Travel the Way We Do

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GTEBORG, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--What are the factors that influence us in choosing the mode of transport to take in our everyday lives? The Hkan Frisinger Foundation for Transportation Research has awarded its 2014 scholarship to Professor Margareta Friman at Karlstad University. Margareta Friman will receive the scholarship of SEK 250,000 for combining behavioral science with transportation research, and thus has increased understanding of the factors that influence the decisions and choices of transport people make.

Part of the Foundation Boards citation was as follows: Margareta Frimans research, which primarily focuses on consumer and transportation psychology, has generated extensive national and international attention. She has been widely published in scientific journals and is often invited to speak at conferences.

Alongside her high publishing rate, Margareta Friman is engaged as an expert both within and outside academia, and has been highly praised by external evaluators for her work as a director and manager of the Service and Market Oriented Transport Research Group (SAMOT) at Karlstad University.

The scholarship will be awarded by the Hkan Frisinger Foundation at a seminar held on April 1 in the Palmstedt hall of Chalmers University of Technology. Volvo Research & Educational Foundations (VREF), the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers will organize a seminar in connection with the award ceremony.

The seminar will be in Swedish.

Program and Registration on page http://korta.nu/Kd4

For questions, contact Ulf Andersson, ulf.andersson@chalmers.se, phone: +46 (0) 736 545402.

Volvo Research and Educational Foundations: http://www.vref.se/

Picture of Margareta Friman: http://images.volvogroup.com/latelogin.jspx?recordsWithCatalogName=ab+volvo:3604

For more stories from the Volvo Group, please visit http://www.volvogroup.com/globalnews.

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Volvo Scholarship for Research on Why We Travel the Way We Do