Given the lack of data that relates consumer acceptance of lamb colour to instrument measures a study was undertaken to establish the acceptability thresholds for fresh and displayed meat. Consumers ...(
n
=
541) were asked to score 20 samples of lamb loin (
m.
longissimus thoracis et lumborum; LL) on an ordinal scale of 1 (very acceptable) to 5 (very unacceptable). A sample was considered acceptable by a consumer if it scored three or less. Ten samples were used for testing consumer response to fresh colour and 10 to test consumer response to colour during display of up to 4
days. The colour of fresh meat was measured using a Minolta chromameter with a closed cone and a Hunter Lab Miniscan was used for measuring meat on display. For fresh meat when the
a
∗ (redness) and
L
∗ (lightness) values are equal to or exceed 9.5 and 34, respectively, on average consumers will consider the meat colour acceptable. However
a
∗ and
L
∗ values must be much higher (14.5 and 44, respectively) to have 95% confidence that a randomly selected consumer will consider a sample acceptable. For aged meat, when the wavelength ratio (630/580
nm) and the
a
∗ values are equal to or greater than 3.3 and 14.8, respectively, on average consumers will consider the meat acceptable. These thresholds need to be increased to 6.8 for ratio (630/580
nm) and 21.7 for
a
∗ to be 95% confident that a randomly selected consumer will consider a sample acceptable.
Solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and indeed phenomena on all scales observed on the Sun, are inextricably linked with the Sun's magnetic field. The solar surface is covered with magnetic ...features observed on many spatial scales, which evolve on differing timescales: the largest features, sunspots, follow an 11-year cycle; the smallest seem to follow no cycle. Here, we analyze magnetograms from Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)/Michelson Doppler Imager (full disk and high resolution) and Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope to determine the fluxes of all currently observable surface magnetic features. We show that by using a 'clumping' algorithm, which counts a single 'flux massif' as one feature, all feature fluxes, regardless of flux strength, follow the same distribution-a power law with slope -1.85 - 0.14-between 2 X 1017 and 1023 Mx. A power law suggests that the mechanisms creating surface magnetic features are scale-free. This implies that either all surface magnetic features are generated by the same mechanism, or that they are dominated by surface processes (such as fragmentation, coalescence, and cancellation) in a way which leads to a scale-free distribution.
Treating messenger RNA transcript abundances as quantitative traits and mapping gene expression quantitative trait loci for these traits has been pursued in gene-specific ways. Transcript abundances ...often serve as a surrogate for classical quantitative traits in that the levels of expression are significantly correlated with the classical traits across members of a segregating population. The correlation structure between transcript abundances and classical traits has been used to identify susceptibility loci for complex diseases such as diabetes and allergic asthma. One study recently completed the first comprehensive dissection of transcriptional regulation in budding yeast, giving a detailed glimpse of a genome-wide survey of the genetics of gene expression. Unlike classical quantitative traits, which often represent gross clinical measurements that may be far removed from the biological processes giving rise to them, the genetic linkages associated with transcript abundance affords a closer look at cellular biochemical processes. Here we describe comprehensive genetic screens of mouse, plant and human transcriptomes by considering gene expression values as quantitative traits. We identify a gene expression pattern strongly associated with obesity in a murine cross, and observe two distinct obesity subtypes. Furthermore, we find that these obesity subtypes are under the control of different loci.
We present the final results from a high sampling rate, multi-month, spectrophotometric reverberation mapping campaign undertaken to obtain either new or improved H{beta} reverberation lag ...measurements for several relatively low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We have reliably measured the time delay between variations in the continuum and H{beta} emission line in six local Seyfert 1 galaxies. These measurements are used to calculate the mass of the supermassive black hole at the center of each of these AGNs. We place our results in context to the most current calibration of the broad-line region (BLR) R{sub BLR}-L relationship, where our results remove outliers and reduce the scatter at the low-luminosity end of this relationship. We also present velocity-resolved H{beta} time-delay measurements for our complete sample, though the clearest velocity-resolved kinematic signatures have already been published.
Plate tectonics successfully describes the surface of Earth as a mosaic of moving lithospheric plates. But it is not clear what happens at the base of the plates, the lithosphere-asthenosphere ...boundary (LAB). The LAB has been well imaged with converted teleseismic waves, whose 10-40-kilometre wavelength controls the structural resolution. Here we use explosion-generated seismic waves (of about 0.5-kilometre wavelength) to form a high-resolution image for the base of an oceanic plate that is subducting beneath North Island, New Zealand. Our 80-kilometre-wide image is based on P-wave reflections and shows an approximately 15° dipping, abrupt, seismic wave-speed transition (less than 1 kilometre thick) at a depth of about 100 kilometres. The boundary is parallel to the top of the plate and seismic attributes indicate a P-wave speed decrease of at least 8 ± 3 per cent across it. A parallel reflection event approximately 10 kilometres deeper shows that the decrease in P-wave speed is confined to a channel at the base of the plate, which we interpret as a sheared zone of ponded partial melts or volatiles. This is independent, high-resolution evidence for a low-viscosity channel at the LAB that decouples plates from mantle flow beneath, and allows plate tectonics to work.
Capturing and controlling plasmons at buried interfaces with nanometre and femtosecond resolution has yet to be achieved and is critical for next generation plasmonic devices. Here we use light to ...excite plasmonic interference patterns at a buried metal-dielectric interface in a nanostructured thin film. Plasmons are launched from a photoexcited array of nanocavities and their propagation is followed via photon-induced near-field electron microscopy (PINEM). The resulting movie directly captures the plasmon dynamics, allowing quantification of their group velocity at ∼0.3 times the speed of light, consistent with our theoretical predictions. Furthermore, we show that the light polarization and nanocavity design can be tailored to shape transient plasmonic gratings at the nanoscale. This work, demonstrating dynamical imaging with PINEM, paves the way for the femtosecond and nanometre visualization and control of plasmonic fields in advanced heterostructures based on novel two-dimensional materials such as graphene, MoS
, and ultrathin metal films.
We present the first results from a high sampling rate, multimonth reverberation mapping campaign undertaken primarily at MDM Observatory with supporting observations from telescopes around the ...world. The primary goal of this campaign was to obtain either new or improved H Delta *b reverberation lag measurements for several relatively low luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We feature results for NGC 4051 here because, until now, this object has been a significant outlier from AGN scaling relationships, e.g., it was previously a ~2-3 Delta *s outlier on the relationship between the broad-line region (BLR) radius and the optical continuum luminosity-the R BLR-L relationship. Our new measurements of the lag time between variations in the continuum and H Delta *b emission line made from spectroscopic monitoring of NGC 4051 lead to a measured BLR radius of R BLR = 1.87+0.54 -0.50 light days and black hole mass of M BH = (1.73+0.55 -0.52) X 106 M. This radius is consistent with that expected from the R BLR-L relationship, based on the present luminosity of NGC 4051 and the most current calibration of the relation by Bentz et al.. We also present a preliminary look at velocity-resolved H Delta *b light curves and time delay measurements, although we are unable to reconstruct an unambiguous velocity-resolved reverberation signal.
The current study examined the effect of supplementing lambs with algae. Forty, three month old lambs were allocated to receive a control ration based on oats and lupins (n=20) or the control ration ...with DHA-Gold™ algae (~2% of the ration, n=20). These lambs came from dams previously fed a ration based on either silage (high in omega-3) or oats and cottonseed meal (OCSM: high in omega-6) at joining (dam nutrition, DN). Lamb performance, carcase weight and GR fat content were not affected by treatment diet (control vs algae) or DN (silage vs OSCM). Health claimable omega-3 fatty acids (EPA+DHA) were significantly greater in the LL of lambs fed algae (125±6mg/100g meat) compared to those not fed algae (43±6mg/100g meat) and this effect was mediated by DN. Supplementing with algae high in DHA provides a means of improving an aspect of the health status of lamb meat.
•A DHA rich algae diet had no impact on growth, or carcase fatness of lambs.•DHA in the m. longissimus was significantly increased due to algae feeding.•Feeding DHA rich algae increased lipid oxidation.•Feeding DHA rich algae did not impact on meat colour stability.
Holography relies on the interference between a known reference and a signal of interest to reconstruct both the amplitude and the phase of that signal. With electrons, the extension of holography to ...the ultrafast time domain remains a challenge, although it would yield the highest possible combined spatiotemporal resolution. Here, we show that holograms of local electromagnetic fields can be obtained with combined attosecond/nanometer resolution in an ultrafast transmission electron microscope (UEM). Unlike conventional holography, where signal and reference are spatially separated and then recombined to interfere, our method relies on electromagnetic fields to split an electron wave function in a quantum coherent superposition of different energy states. In the image plane, spatial modulation of the electron energy distribution reflects the phase relation between reference and signal fields. Beyond imaging applications, this approach allows implementing quantum measurements in parallel, providing an efficient and versatile tool for electron quantum optics.
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