1,269 research outputs found
Shedding light on a living lab: the CLEF NEWSREEL open recommendation platform
In the CLEF NEWSREEL lab, participants are invited to evaluate news recommendation techniques in real-time by providing news recommendations to actual users that visit commercial news portals to satisfy their information needs. A central role within this lab is the communication between participants and the users. This is enabled by The Open Recommendation Platform (ORP), a web-based platform which distributes users' impressions of news articles to the participants and returns their recommendations to the readers. In this demo, we illustrate the platform and show how requests are handled to provide relevant news articles in real-time
A Search for Wolf-Rayet Stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud
We conducted an extensive search for Wolf-Rayet stars (W-Rs) in the SMC,
using the same interference filter imaging techniques that have proved
successful in finding W-Rs in more distant members of the Local Group.
Photometry of some 1.6 million stellar images resulted in some 20 good
candidates, which we then examined spectroscopically. Two of these indeed
proved to be newly found W-Rs, bringing the total known in the SMC from 9 to
11. Other finds included previously unknown Of-type stars (one as early as
O5f?p)),the recovery of the Luminous Blue Variable S18, and the discovery of a
previously unknown SMC symbiotic star. More important, however, is the fact
that there does not exist a significant number of W-Rs waiting to be discovered
in the SMC. The number of W-Rs in the SMC is a factor of 3 lower than in the
LMC (per unit luminosity), and we argue this is the result of the SMC's low
metallicity on the evolution of the most massive stars.Comment: Accepted by Astrophysical Journal. Postscript version available via
ftp.lowell.edu/pub/massey/smcwr.ps.gz Revised version contains slightly
revised spectral types for the Of stars but is otherwise unchange
VLT spectroscopy of blue supergiants in IC 1613
We present multi-object spectroscopy of young, massive stars in the Local
Group galaxy IC 1613. We provide the spectral classification and a detailed
spectral catalog for 54 OBA stars in this galaxy. The majority of the
photometrically selected sample is composed of B- and A-type supergiants. The
remaining stars include early O-type dwarfs and the only Wolf-Rayet star known
in this galaxy. Among the early B stars we have serendipitously uncovered 6 Be
stars, the largest spectroscopically confirmed sample of this class of objects
beyond the Magellanic Clouds. We measure chemical abundances for 9 early-B
supergiants, and find a mean oxygen abundance of 12+log(O/H)=7.90 +/- 0.08.
This value is consistent with the result we obtain for two HII regions in which
we detect the temperature-sensitive [OIII]4363 auroral line.Comment: 17 pages, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
The influence of massive stars in the interstellar medium of IC 1613: the supernova remnant S8 and the nebula S3 associated with a WO star
We present a detailed kinematical analysis of two selected nebulae in the
Local Group irregular galaxy IC 1613. The nebulae are: S8, the only known
supernova remnant in this galaxy, and S3, a Wolf-Rayet nebula associated with
the only WO star in this galaxy. For S8, we have obtained and analyzed its
radial velocity field, where we found complex profiles which can be fitted by
several velocity components. These profiles also show the presence of high
velocity, low density gas. From this, we have obtained the expansion velocity,
estimated the preshock density and calculated the basic kinematical parameters
of this SNR. We suggest that in S8 we are seing a SNR partially hidden by dust.
This suggestion comes from the fact that the SNR is located between two
superbubbles where a ridge of obscured material unveils the existence of dust.
Moreover, we show that this hypothesis prevails when energetic arguments are
taken into account. In the case of S3, this nebula shows bipolar structure. By
means of its kinematics, we have analyzed its two lobes, the ``waist'', as well
as its relation with the nearest superbubbles. For the first time we are able
to see closed the NW lobe, showing a clover leaf shape. This fact allows a
better quantitative knowledge of the nebula as a whole. Furthermore, we found
evidence of an expansion motion in the NW lobe. In the light of our results, we
can express that these nebulae are the product of very massive stellar
evolution. It is surprising the influence these stars still have in shaping
their surrounding gas, and on the energy liberation towards the interstellar
medium of this galaxy.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal, July issue. 11
pages, 12 figures. High resolution figures can be found at
http://www.inaoep.mx/~mago/PAPERS/AJ
Terminal velocities of luminous, early-type SMC stars
Ultraviolet spectra from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) are
used to determine terminal velocities for 11 O and B-type giants and
supergiants in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) from the Si IV and C IV
resonance lines. Using archival data from observations with the Goddard
High-Resolution Spectrograph and the International Ultraviolet Explorer
telescope, terminal velocities are obtained for a further five B-type
supergiants. We discuss the metallicity dependence of stellar terminal
velocities, finding no evidence for a significant scaling between Galactic and
SMC metallicities for Teff < 30,000 K, consistent with the predictions of
radiation driven wind theory for supergiant stars. A comparison of the
ratio between the SMC and Galactic samples, while
consistent with the above statement, emphasizes that the uncertainties in the
distances to galactic O-stars are a serious obstacle to a detailed comparison
with theory. For the SMC sample there is considerable scatter in this ratio at
a given effective temperature, perhaps indicative of uncertainties in stellar
masses.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, accepted by ApJ; minor revisions prior to
acceptanc
The Discovery of a Twelfth Wolf-Rayet Star in the Small Magellanic Cloud
We report the discovery of a relatively faint (V=15.5) early-type WN star in
the SMC. The line strength and width of He II lambda 4686 emission is similar
to that of the other SMC WNs, and the presense of N V lambda 4603,19 emission
(coupled with the lack of N III) suggests this star is of spectral type
WN3-4.5, and thus is similar in type to the other SMC WRs. Also like the other
SMC WN stars, an early-type absorption spectrum is weakly present. The absolute
magnitude is comparable to that of other (single) Galactic early-type WNs. The
star is located in the Hodge 53 OB association, which is also the home of two
other SMC WNs. This star, which we designate SMC-WR12, was actually detected at
a high significance level in an earlier interference-filter survey, but the
wrong star was observed as part of a spectroscopic followup, and this case of
mistaken identity resulted in its Wolf-Rayet nature not being recognized until
now.Comment: Accepted by PASP (November 2003 issue
Characterization Of oil/ gas flow pattern in vertical pipes using electrical capacitance tomography
Electrical Capacitance Tomography provides the opportunity to visualize the contents of a process of many applications such as pipeline and obtain information on the flow configuration. Multiphase flow is an extremely complex field of fluid mechanics; the characteristics of the operations of many equipmentin different areas of industry such as oil and power generation are determined by the nature of flow of two phase or multiphase. In this study, a twin plane Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) electrode was designed, fabricated and used to image and characterize oil/gas flow in 67 mm pipe. The experiments were carried out in inclinable facility in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Nottingham University, UK. Conditions used are gas superficial velocities of 0.05 to 5.52 m/s and liquid superficial velocities of 0 to 0.54 m/s. The cross-section averaged void fraction and its variation in time were measured using electrical capacitance tomography. Also, Probability Density Functions are demonstrated and the structure velocity of flow is presented as well. In this project, Bubbly, slug, and churn flow configurations was observed. In addition, high speed video images of flow were obtained simultaneously and compared with tomographic images of the ECT system
Applications of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method for performance prediction of the effect of a vertical 90° bend on an air-silicone oil flow
Knowledge of how the presence of a bend can change the flow patterns of a gasâliquid mixture is important for the design of multiphase flow systems, particularly to prevent burn-out and erosionâcorrosion. Burn-out and erosionâcorrosion both have serious implications for heat and mass transfer. The objective of this work therefore is to train an artificial neural network (ANN), a powerful interpolation technique, to predict the effect of a vertical 90o bend on an airâsilicone oil mixture over a wide range of flow rates. Experimental data for training, validation, testing and final prediction were obtained using advanced instrumentation, wire mesh sensor (WMS) and high speed camera. The performance of the models were evaluated using the mean square error (MSE), average absolute relative error (MAE), Chi square test (X2) and cross correlation coefficients (R). The performance discriminator X2 for prediction of average void fraction is 2.57e-5 and that for probability density function (PDF) of void fraction MAE is 0.0028 for best performing models. The well trained ANN is then used to predict the effects of the two input parameters individually. The predicted results show that for the before the bend scenario, the most effective input parameter that reflects a change in flow pattern is the gas superficial velocity. On the other hand, the most unfavourable output parameter to measure after the bend is the average void fraction based on the fact that the flow near the bend is a developing one
Experimental study of the hydrodynamic behaviour of slug flow in a vertical riser
This paper presents an investigation of the hydrodynamics of slug flow in a vertical 67 mm internal diameter riser. The slug flow regime was generated using a multiphase airâsilicone oil mixture over a range of gas (0.42<USG<1.35 m/s) and liquid (0.05<USL<0.38 m/s) superficial velocities. Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) was used to determine: the velocities of the Taylor bubbles and liquid slugs, the slug frequencies, the lengths of Taylor bubbles and the liquid slugs, the void fractions within the Taylor bubbles and liquid slugs and the liquid film thicknesses. A differential pressure transducer was used to measure the pressure drops along the length of the riser. It was found that the translational velocity of a Taylor bubble (the structure velocity) was strongly dependent on the mixture superficial velocity. As the gas superficial velocity, was increased, the void fraction and the lengths of the liquid slugs and the Taylor bubbles were observed to increase. The increase in gas superficial velocity causes an increase in the frictional pressure drop within the pipe, whilst the total pressure drop (which is a sum of the hydrostatic and frictional pressure drop) along the length of the riser decreases. In addition, the frequencies of the liquid slugs were observed to increase as the liquid superficial velocity increases, but to be weakly dependant on the gas superficial velocity. The manual counting method for the determination of slug frequency was found to be in good agreement with the power spectral density (PSD) computed method
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