2,739 research outputs found
New literacies, new demands and new technologies: the changing literacy practices of Bangladeshi fishing communities
Literacy Practices and Schooling: A Case Study from Mozambique
A novel approach to the assessment of literacy is used to tackle the issue of effectiveness of years of schooling. The dichotomy inherent in the literacy rate is rejected in favor of a " practice-based" approach, which considers literacy as a multifaceted phenomenon as advocated in anthropological and economic research. Primary data collected in the poorest region in Mozambique suggest that years of schooling have a differentiated impact on acquired literacy practices of adults. Results that are robust to different specifications are reported. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd
Deep Imaging of the Double Quasar 0957+561: New Constraints on H_0
We present new results from extremely deep, high-resolution images of the
field around the double quasar QSO 0957+561. A possible gravitational arc
system near the double quasar has recently been reported, which, if real, would
set strong constraints on determinations of the Hubble constant from the time
delay in the double quasar. We find that both the morphology and the colors of
the claimed arc systems suggest that they are chance alignments of three and
two different objects, and not gravitationally lensed arcs. Hence, the
constraints on -determinations from the arcs are not valid. Also, a small
group of galaxies at near the line-of-sight which was required to have
a very large mass in the physically interesting arc models, is most likely
insignificant. From our deep images we are able to use weak lensing of faint
background galaxies in the field to map the gravitational potential in the main
cluster. This sets new constraints on determinations of . We find that the
Hubble constant is constrained to be less than 70km/(s Mpc), if the time delay
between the two images of the QSO is equal to or larger than 1.1 years.Comment: (uuencoded and compressed postscipt including 3 figures); 14 page
The environments of intermediate-redshift QSOs: 0.3 < z < 0.7
An angular correlation of low significance (2 sigma) is observed between 0.3
< z < 0.5 QSOs and V < 23 galaxies. Overall, the cross-correlation function
between 82 intermediate-redshift (0.3 < z < 0.7), X-ray selected QSOs and V <
24 galaxies is investigated, but no signal is detected for the z > 0.5 QSOs.
After converting to an excess of galaxies physically associated with the QSO,
this lack of strong correlation is shown to be consistent with the clustering
of normal galaxies at the same moderate redshifts. Combined with previous
observations, these results imply that the environments of radio-quiet QSOs do
not undergo significant evolution with respect to the galaxy population over a
wide range of redshifts (0 < z < 1.5). This is in marked contrast to the rapid
increase in the richness of the environments associated with radio-loud QSOs
over the same redshift range.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, MNRAS TeX macro, to appear to MNRA
Surface brightness measurements for APM galaxies
This paper considers some simple surface brightness (SB) estimates for
galaxies in the Automated Plate Measuring Machine (APM) catalogue in order to
derive homogeneous SB data for a very large sample of faint galaxies. The
isophotal magnitude and area are used to estimate the central surface
brightness and total magnitude based on the assumption of an exponential SB
profile. The surface brightness measurements are corrected for field effects on
each UK Schmidt plate and the zero-point of each plate is adjusted to give a
uniform sample of SB and total magnitude estimates over the whole survey.
Results are obtained for 2.4 million galaxies with blue photographic magnitudes
brighter than b_J = 20.5 covering 4300 deg^2 in the region of the south
galactic cap. Almost all galaxies in our sample have central surface brightness
in the range 20 to 24 b_J mag per arcsec^2. The SB measurements we obtain are
compared to previous SB measurements and we find an acceptable level of error
of +/- 0.2 b_J mag per arcsec^2. The distribution of SB profiles is considered
for different galaxy morphologies for the bright APM galaxies. We find that
early-type galaxies have more centrally concentrated profiles.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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