Exploration of the functional consequences of fixational eye movements in the absence of a fovea.

A recent theory posits that ocular drifts of fixational eye movements serve to reformat the visual input of natural images, so that the power of the input image is equalized across a range of spatial frequencies. This "spectral whitening" effect is postulated to improve the processing of high-spatial-frequency information and requires normal fixational eye movements. Given that people with macular disease exhibit abnormal fixational eye movements, do they also exhibit spectral whitening? To answer this question, we computed the power spectral density of movies of natural images translated in space and time according to the fixational eye movements (thus simulating the retinal input) of a group of observers with long-standing bilateral macular disease. Just as for people with normal vision, the power of the retinal input at low spatial frequencies was lower than that based on the 1/f2 relationship, demonstrating spectral whitening. However, the amount of whitening was much less for observers with macular disease when compared with age-matched controls with normal vision. A mediation analysis showed that the eccentricity of the preferred retinal locus adopted by these observers and the characteristics of ocular drifts are important factors limiting the amount of whitening. Finally, we did not find a normal aging effect on spectral whitening. Although these findings alone cannot form a causal link between macular disease and spectral properties of eye movements, they suggest novel potential means of modifying the characteristics of fixational eye movements, which may in turn improve functional vision for people with macular disease

Hotel or home at the seaside? Challenges and opportunities for family wellbeing

This project explores front line practitioners’ perceptions of challenges and opportunities for housing, social care and wellbeing needs of families living in poor privately rented housing in Margate. Addressing multiple deprivation in the area is complex as new families move into the area seeking low cost housing. Addressing privately rented housing conditions can involve lengthy legal processes. The fluid community presents difficulties in nurturing stability and cohesion with challenges for developing social capital. Findings also demonstrate the enormous commitment to local families and the support offered by a range of statutory and non statutory organisations working together in the area and an ongoing effort to evaluate and improve housing and allied services in seeking to help nurture and develop individual and community wellbeing in a highly complex setting

Suboptimal eye movements for seeing fine details.

Human eyes are never stable, even during attempts of maintaining gaze on a visual target. Considering transient response characteristics of retinal ganglion cells, a certain amount of motion of the eyes is required to efficiently encode information and to prevent neural adaptation. However, excessive motion of the eyes leads to insufficient exposure to the stimuli, which creates blur and reduces visual acuity. Normal miniature eye movements fall in between these extremes, but it is unclear if they are optimally tuned for seeing fine spatial details. We used a state-of-the-art retinal imaging technique with eye tracking to address this question. We sought to determine the optimal gain (stimulus/eye motion ratio) that corresponds to maximum performance in an orientation-discrimination task performed at the fovea. We found that miniature eye movements are tuned but may not be optimal for seeing fine spatial details

Banking Geography and Cross-Fertilization in the Productivity Growth of US Commercial Banks

The US banking industry offers a unique, natural and fertile environment to study geography's effects on banks' behavior and performance. The literature on banks' operating performance, while extensive, says little about the influence of spatial interactions on banks' performance. We compute and examine, using a physical distance-based spatio-temporal empirical model, the state-wide total factor productivity growth (TFPG) indices of US commercial banks for each state for the 1971-1995 period. We observe that the productivity growth of commercial banks in state i depends strongly, positively, and contemporaneously on the productivity growth of commercial banks located in state i's contiguous states. Further, “regulatory space” appears to induce frictions and lessen the documented spatial interactions. These findings support our plea that research on commercial banking sector's behavior need to pay a particular attention to the effects of banking geography.Spatial, Commercial Banks, Total Factor Productivity Growth, Kalman Filter

Distributed Probabilistic Synchronization Algorithms for Communication Networks

In this paper, we present a probabilistic synchronization algorithm whose convergence properties are examined using tools of rowstochastic matrices. The proposed algorithm is particularly well suited for wireless sensor network applications, where connectivity is not guaranteed at all times, and energy efficiency is an important design consideration. The tradeoff between the convergence speed and the energy use is studied

Internal Flow Physics of a Fluidic Oscillator in the Transition Regime

An experimental investigation of the underlying flow physics of a dual jet interaction fluidic oscillator has been conducted in the transition regime for a Reynolds number of 1680. The transition regime is defined as a narrow range of flow rates between two other operating modes of the fluidic oscillator. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used with refractive index matching sodium iodide solution to minimize reflections from the actuator geometry and obtain detailed internal velocity fields. PIV results showed that the inter-action of the two internal jets and the resultant vortices are responsible for the oscillation mechanism in the transition regime. Two side vortices sustain their existence throughout the oscillation period by altering their size, shape and strength, and a dome vortex is created twice each oscillation period (once from each jet). The dome vortex plays a key role in the kinetic energy transfer mechanism inside the oscillator by means of jet bifurcations. The primary oscillation mechanism in the transition regime is that each internal jet’s connection with the exiting jet is cut completely by the dome vortex in every period. This is in contrast to the low flow rate oscillation mechanism in which the oscillations are created by continuous collisions of the jets. Furthermore, the internal jets were observed to energize the side vortex on the opposite side of the chamber – a phenomenon which was not observed in the low flow rate regimeDFG, 200291049, SFB 1029: TurbIn - Signifikante Wirkungsgradsteigerung durch gezielte, interagierende Verbrennungs- und Strömungsinstationaritäten in Gasturbine

Hotel or home at the seaside? Challenges and opportunities for family wellbeing

This project explores front line practitioners’ perceptions of challenges and opportunities for housing, social care and wellbeing needs of families living in poor privately rented housing in Margate. Addressing multiple deprivation in the area is complex as new families move into the area seeking low cost housing. Addressing privately rented housing conditions can involve lengthy legal processes. The fluid community presents difficulties in nurturing stability and cohesion with challenges for developing social capital. Findings also demonstrate the enormous commitment to local families and the support offered by a range of statutory and non statutory organisations working together in the area and an ongoing effort to evaluate and improve housing and allied services in seeking to help nurture and develop individual and community wellbeing in a highly complex setting