380 research outputs found
Sloan Letter Visual Acuity Charts and computer monitor pixilation
Purpose This research investigates how pixilation of computer monitors affects visual acuity measurement. Methods Stimuli were presented on a computer monitor as 8 lines of 5 Sloan letter optotypes in standard logarithmic progression format, ranging in size from -0.4 to 0.3 logMAR. Test distance was varied so that pixels on the monitor subtended different angles: 0.125, 0.200, 0.315, 0.50, 0.79, 1.25, 1.97 minutes of arc. Two pixel-sampling strategies were used: unfiltered sampling in which each pixel was rendered either black or white; or filtered sampling, in which pixel brightness was taken as the average letter brightness integrated across a pixel-sized aperture (i.e. grey-scale smoothing of letter edges). Binocular acuity was measured at each distance on 10 participants aged 19 to 38 years (mean 27.9 ± 7.0) using their best spectacle correction. Results Each observerâs logMAR acuity v log pixel size data was fitted with a broken line function, in which LogMAR acuity was described by a horizontal straight line below a critical pixel size (Pcrit) and by a linear relationship between acuity and pixel size above Pcrit. For small pixels sizes (below Pcrit), average asymptotic thresholds were a mean of -0.209 logMAR (SD 0.06) for the filtered letters, just slightly but significantly better than for the unfiltered letters with a mean -0.184 logMAR (SD 0.06) (t9 = 2.26, p = 0.050). Average Pcrit was significantly (p Conclusion For the purposes of visual acuity measurement, Sloan letters can be well rendered by relatively coarse sampling. Filtered letters (i.e. with grey-scale smoothed edges) can be rendered with much coarser (apparently sub-Nyquist) pixel sampling than unfiltered letters
Preschool and School Meal Policies: An Overview of What We Know about Regulation, Implementation, and Impact on Diet in the UK, Sweden, and Australia
School meals make significant contributions to healthy dietary behaviour, at a time when eating habits and food preferences are being formed. We provide an overview of the approaches to the provision, regulation, and improvement of preschool and primary school meals in the UK, Sweden, and Australia, three countries which vary in their degree of centralisation and regulation of school meals. Sweden has a centralised approach; all children receive free meals, and a pedagogical approach to meals is encouraged. Legislation demands that meals are nutritious. The UK system is varied and decentralised. Meals in most primary schools are regulated by food-based standards, but preschool-specific meal standards only exist in Scotland. The UK uses food groups (starchy foods, fruit and vegetables, proteins and dairy) in a healthy plate approach. Australian States and Territories all employ guidelines for school canteen food, predominantly using a âtraffic lightâ approach outlining recommended and discouraged foods; however, most children bring food from home and are not covered by this guidance. The preschool standards state that food provided should be nutritious. We find that action is often lacking in the preschool years, and suggest that consistent policies, strong incentives for compliance, systematic monitoring, and an acknowledgement of the broader school eating environment (including home provided food) would be beneficial
2MTF VI. Measuring the velocity power spectrum
We present measurements of the velocity power spectrum and constraints on the
growth rate of structure , at redshift zero, using the peculiar
motions of 2,062 galaxies in the completed 2MASS Tully-Fisher survey (2MTF). To
accomplish this we introduce a model for fitting the velocity power spectrum
including the effects of non-linear Redshift Space Distortions (RSD), allowing
us to recover unbiased fits down to scales without
the need to smooth or grid the data. Our fitting methods are validated using a
set of simulated 2MTF surveys. Using these simulations we also identify that
the Gaussian distributed estimator for peculiar velocities of
\cite{Watkins2015} is suitable for measuring the velocity power spectrum, but
sub-optimal for the 2MTF data compared to using magnitude fluctuations , and that, whilst our fits are robust to a change in fiducial cosmology,
future peculiar velocity surveys with more constraining power may have to
marginalise over this. We obtain \textit{scale-dependent} constraints on the
growth rate of structure in two bins, finding in the ranges . We also find consistent results using four
bins. Assuming scale-\textit{independence} we find a value , a measurement of the growth rate. Performing
a consistency check of General Relativity (GR) and combining our results with
CMB data only we find , a remarkable constraint
considering the small number of galaxies. All of our results are completely
independent of the effects of galaxy bias, and fully consistent with the
predictions of GR (scale-independent and ).Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
The Rate and Molecular Spectrum of Spontaneous Mutations in Arabidopsis thaliana
To take complete advantage of information on within-species polymorphism and divergence from close relatives, one needs to know the rate and the molecular spectrum of spontaneous mutations. To this end, we have searched for de novo spontaneous mutations in the complete nuclear genomes of five Arabidopsis thaliana mutation accumulation lines that had been maintained by single-seed descent for 30 generations. We identified and validated 99 base substitutions and 17 small and large insertions and deletions. Our results imply a spontaneous mutation rate of 7 Ă 10â9 base substitutions per site per generation, the majority of which are G:CâA:T transitions. We explain this very biased spectrum of base substitution mutations as a result of two main processes: deamination of methylated cytosines and ultraviolet lightâinduced mutagenesis
2MTF III. H i 21 cm observations of 1194 spiral galaxies with the Green Bank Telescope
We present HI 21cm observations of 1194 galaxies out to a redshift of 10,000
km/s selected as inclined spirals (i>60deg) from the 2MASS Redshift Survey.
These observations were carried out at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). This observing program is part of
the 2MASS Tully-Fisher (2MTF) survey. This project will combine HI widths from
these GBT observations with those from further dedicated observing at the
Parkes Telescope, from the ALFALFA survey at Arecibo, and S/N>10 and spectral
resolution, v_res < 10km/s published widths from a variety of telescopes. We
will use these HI widths along with 2MASS photometry to estimate Tully-Fisher
distances to nearby spirals and investigate the peculiar velocity field of the
local Universe. In this paper we report on detections of neutral hydrogen in
emission in 727 galaxies, and measure good signal-to-noise and symmetric HI
global profiles suitable for use in the Tully-Fisher relation in 484.Comment: 13 pages. MNRAS in press. Supplementary files containing full
multipage versions of figures in Appendix A, the tables in Appendix B and
other data can be found at http://icg.port.ac.uk/~mastersk/2MTF
WEBT multiwavelength monitoring and XMM-Newton observations of BL Lacertae in 2007-2008. Unveiling different emission components
In 2007-2008 we carried out a new multiwavelength campaign of the Whole Earth
Blazar Telescope (WEBT) on BL Lacertae, involving three pointings by the
XMM-Newton satellite, to study its emission properties. The source was
monitored in the optical-to-radio bands by 37 telescopes. The brightness level
was relatively low. Some episodes of very fast variability were detected in the
optical bands. The X-ray spectra are well fitted by a power law with photon
index of about 2 and photoelectric absorption exceeding the Galactic value.
However, when taking into account the presence of a molecular cloud on the line
of sight, the data are best fitted by a double power law, implying a concave
X-ray spectrum. The spectral energy distributions (SEDs) built with
simultaneous radio-to-X-ray data at the epochs of the XMM-Newton observations
suggest that the peak of the synchrotron emission lies in the near-IR band, and
show a prominent UV excess, besides a slight soft-X-ray excess. A comparison
with the SEDs corresponding to previous observations with X-ray satellites
shows that the X-ray spectrum is extremely variable. We ascribe the UV excess
to thermal emission from the accretion disc, and the other broad-band spectral
features to the presence of two synchrotron components, with their related SSC
emission. We fit the thermal emission with a black body law and the non-thermal
components by means of a helical jet model. The fit indicates a disc
temperature greater than 20000 K and a luminosity greater than 6 x 10^44 erg/s.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&
2MTF â II. New Parkes 21-cm observations of 303 southern galaxies
We present new 21-cm neutral hydrogen (HI) observations of spiral galaxies
for the 2MASS Tully Fisher (2MTF) survey. Using the 64-m Parkes radio telescope
multibeam system we obtain 152 high signal-to-noise HI spectra from which we
extract 148 high-accuracy (< 5% error) velocity widths and derive reliable
rotation velocities. The observed sample consists of 303 southern (\delta <
-40\deg) galaxies selected from the MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) with K_s <11.25
mag, cz < 10,000 km/s and axis ratio b/a < 0.5. The HI observations reported in
this paper will be combined with new HI spectra from the Green Bank and Arecibo
telescopes, together producing the most uniform Tully-Fisher survey ever
constructed (in terms of sky coverage). In particular, due to its near infrared
selection, 2MTF will be significantly more complete at low Galactic latitude
(|b|<15\deg) and will provide a more reliable map of peculiar velocities in the
local universe.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA
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