30,522 research outputs found
The Photometry of Undersampled Point Spread Functions
An undersampled point spread function may interact with the microstructure of
a solid-state detector such that the total flux detected can depend sensitively
on where the PSF center falls within a pixel. Such intra-pixel sensitivity
variations will not be corrected by flat field calibration and may limit the
accuracy of stellar photometry conducted with undersampled images, as are
typical for Hubble Space Telescope observations. The total flux in a stellar
image can vary by up to 0.03 mag in F555W WFC images depending on how it is
sampled, for example. For NIC3, these variations are especially strong, up to
0.39 mag, strongly limiting its use for stellar photometry. Intra-pixel
sensitivity variations can be corrected for, however, by constructing a
well-sampled PSF from a dithered data set. The reconstructed PSF is the
convolution of the optical PSF with the pixel response. It can be evaluated at
any desired fractional pixel location to generate a table of photometric
corrections as a function of relative PSF centroid. A caveat is that the
centroid of an undersampled PSF can also be affected by the pixel response
function, thus sophisticated centroiding methods, such as cross-correlating the
observed PSF with its fully-sampled counterpart, are required to derive the
proper photometric correction.Comment: 20 pages, 14 postscript figures, submitted to the PAS
Fetal heterotaxy with tricuspid atresia, pulmonary atresia, and isomerism of the right atrial appendages at 22 weeks.
We report the accurate prenatal diagnosis at 22 weeks gestation of right atrial isomerism in association with tricuspid atresia. Several distinctive sonographic features of isomerism of the right atrial appendages were present in this fetus: complex cardiac abnormality, ventriculoarterial discordance, juxtaposition of the aorta and the inferior vena cava to the right side, pulmonary atresia, and anomalous pulmonary venous return to the morphological right atrium. Tricuspid atresia, which is an extremely rare lesion within heterotaxy spectrum disorders, was present. Postnatal investigations confirmed all prenatally diagnosed abnormalities, with additional findings of pulmonary atresia with discontinuous pulmonary arteries and bilateral arterial ducts, asplenia, and bilateral eparterial bronchi. To our knowledge, tricuspid atresia in the setting of isomerism of the right atrial appendages has not previously been diagnosed or reported prenatally. Because of the complexity of cardiac lesions that may be present in cases of atrial isomerism, these disorders should be considered even if sonographic findings are uncommon or atypical
Optical parameters of leaves of seven weed species
The absorption coefficient (k), infinite reflectance (R), and scattering coefficient (s) were tabulated for five wavelengths and analyzed for statistical differences for seven weed species. The wavelengths were: 0.55-micrometer, 0.65-micrometers, 0.85-micrometer, 1.65-micrometers, and 2.20-micrometer. The R of common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album L.), Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.), and annual sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus L.) leaves at the 0.85-micrometer wavelength were significantly (p=0.05) higher than for sunflower (Heliantus annus L.), ragweed parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.), or London rocket (Sisymbrium irio L.). Annual sowthistle had the largest k value, and Plamer amaranth (Amaranthus palmer S. Wats.) had the smallest k value at the 0.65 approximately chlorophyll absorption wavelength. In general, john-songress, ragweed parthenium, or London rocket had the largest s values among the five wavelengths, wereas annual sowthistle and plamar amaranth were usually lowest
Dispersion of tracer particles in a compressible flow
The turbulent diffusion of Lagrangian tracer particles has been studied in a
flow on the surface of a large tank of water and in computer simulations. The
effect of flow compressibility is captured in images of particle fields. The
velocity field of floating particles has a divergence, whose probability
density function shows exponential tails. Also studied is the motion of pairs
and triplets of particles. The mean square separation is fitted to
the scaling form ~ t^alpha, and in contrast with the
Richardson-Kolmogorov prediction, an extended range with a reduced scaling
exponent of alpha=1.65 pm 0.1 is found. Clustering is also manifest in strongly
deformed triangles spanned within triplets of tracers.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
A Side of Mercury Not Seen By Mariner 10
More than 60,000 images of Mercury were taken at ~29 deg elevation during two
sunrises, at 820 nm, and through a 1.35 m diameter off-axis aperture on the
SOAR telescope. The sharpest resolve 0.2" (140 km) and cover 190-300 deg
longitude -- a swath unseen by the Mariner 10 spacecraft -- at complementary
phase angles to previous ground-based optical imagery. Our view is comparable
to that of the Moon through weak binoculars. Evident are the large crater
Mozart shadowed on the terminator, fresh rayed craters, and other albedo
features keyed to topography and radar reflectivity, including the putative
huge ``Basin S'' on the limb. Classical bright feature Liguria resolves across
the northwest boundary of the Caloris basin into a bright splotch centered on a
sharp, 20 km diameter radar crater, and is the brightest feature within a
prominent darker ``cap'' (Hermean feature Solitudo Phoenicis) that covers the
northern hemisphere between longitudes 140-250 deg. The cap may result from
space weathering that darkens via a magnetically enhanced flux of the solar
wind, or that reddens low latitudes via high solar insolation.Comment: 7 pages, 4 PDF figures, pdfLaTeX, typos corrected, Fig. 2 modified
slightly to add crater diameters not given in published versio
Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Jets due to Weibel Instability
Shock acceleration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas.
Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., the Buneman instability,
two-streaming instability, and the Weibel instability) created in the shocks
are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration. Using
a 3-D relativistic electromagnetic particle (REMP) code, we have investigated
particle acceleration associated with a relativistic jet front propagating
through an ambient plasma with and without initial magnetic fields. We find
only small differences in the results between no ambient and weak ambient
magnetic fields. Simulations show that the Weibel instability created in the
collisionless shock front accelerates particles perpendicular and parallel to
the jet propagation direction. While some Fermi acceleration may occur at the
jet front, the majority of electron acceleration takes place behind the jet
front and cannot be characterized as Fermi acceleration. The simulation results
show that this instability is responsible for generating and amplifying highly
nonuniform, small-scale magnetic fields, which contribute to the electron's
transverse deflection behind the jet head. The ``jitter'' radiation (Medvedev
2000) from deflected electrons has different properties than synchrotron
radiation which is calculated in a uniform magnetic field. This jitter
radiation may be important to understanding the complex time evolution and/or
spectral structure in gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jets, and supernova
remnants.Comment: ApJ, in press, Sept. 20, 2003 (figures with better resolution:
http://gammaray.nsstc.nasa.gov/~nishikawa/apjweib.pdf
Particle Acceleration and Magnetic Field Generation in Electron-Positron Relativistic Shocks
Shock acceleration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas.
Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., Buneman, Weibel and
other two-stream instabilities) created in collisionless shocks are responsible
for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration. Using a 3-D
relativistic electromagnetic particle (REMP) code, we have investigated
particle acceleration associated with a relativistic electron-positron jet
front propagating into an ambient electron-positron plasma with and without
initial magnetic fields. We find small differences in the results for no
ambient and modest ambient magnetic fields. New simulations show that the
Weibel instability created in the collisionless shock front accelerates jet and
ambient particles both perpendicular and parallel to the jet propagation
direction. Furthermore, the non-linear fluctuation amplitudes of densities,
currents, electric, and magnetic fields in the electron-positron shock are
larger than those found in the electron-ion shock studied in a previous paper
at the comparable simulation time. This comes from the fact that both electrons
and positrons contribute to generation of the Weibel instability. Additionally,
we have performed simulations with different electron skin depths. We find that
growth times scale inversely with the plasma frequency, and the sizes of
structures created by the Weibel instability scale proportional to the electron
skin depth. This is the expected result and indicates that the simulations have
sufficient grid resolution. The simulation results show that the Weibel
instability is responsible for generating and amplifying nonuniform,
small-scale magnetic fields which contribute to the electron's (positron's)
transverse deflection behind the jet head.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, revised and accepted for ApJ, A full resolution
of the paper can be found at
http://gammaray.nsstc.nasa.gov/~nishikawa/apjep1.pd
Particle Acceleration and Radiation associated with Magnetic Field Generation from Relativistic Collisionless Shocks
Shock acceleration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas.
Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., the Buneman instability,
two-streaming instability, and the Weibel instability) created in the shocks
are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration. Using
a 3-D relativistic electromagnetic particle (REMP) code, we have investigated
particle acceleration associated with a relativistic jet front propagating
through an ambient plasma with and without initial magnetic fields. We find
only small differences in the results between no ambient and weak ambient
magnetic fields. Simulations show that the Weibel instability created in the
collisionless shock front accelerates particles perpendicular and parallel to
the jet propagation direction. The simulation results show that this
instability is responsible for generating and amplifying highly nonuniform,
small-scale magnetic fields, which contribute to the electron's transverse
deflection behind the jet head. The ``jitter'' radiation from deflected
electrons has different properties than synchrotron radiation which is
calculated in a uniform magnetic field. This jitter radiation may be important
to understanding the complex time evolution and/or spectral structure in
gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jets, and supernova remnants.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Proceedings of 2003 Gamma Ray Burst
Conferenc
Green cities and health: a question of scale?
<p><b>Background:</b> Cities are expanding and accommodating an increasing proportion of the world's population. It is important to identify features of urban form that promote the health of city dwellers. Access to green space has been associated with health benefits at both individual and neighbourhood level. We investigated whether a relationship between green space coverage and selected mortality rates exists at the city level in the USA.</p>
<p><b>Methods:</b> An ecological cross-sectional study. A detailed land use data set was used to quantify green space for the largest US cities (n=49, combined population of 43 million). Linear regression models were used to examine the association between city-level ‘greenness’ and city-level standardised rates of mortality from heart disease, diabetes, lung cancer, motor vehicle fatalities and all causes, after adjustment for confounders.</p>
<p><b>Results:</b> There was no association between greenness and mortality from heart disease, diabetes, lung cancer or automobile accidents. Mortality from all causes was significantly higher in greener cities.</p>
<p><b>Conclusions:</b> While considerable evidence suggests that access to green space yields health benefits, we found no such evidence at the scale of the American city. In the USA, greener cities tend also to be more sprawling and have higher levels of car dependency. Any benefits that the green space might offer seem easily eclipsed by these other conditions and the lifestyles that accompany them. The result merits further investigation as it has important implications for how we increase green space access in our cities.</p>
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