Mass fluxes for hot stars

In an attempt to understand the extraordinarily small mass-loss rates of late-type O dwarfs, mass fluxes in the relevant part of (T_{eff}, g)-space are derived from first principles using a previously-described code for constructing moving reversing layers. From these mass fluxes, a weak-wind domain is identified within which a star's rate of mass loss by a radiatively-driven wind is less than that due to nuclear burning. The five weak-wind stars recently analysed by Marcolino et al. (2009) fall within or at the edge of this domain. But although the theoretical mass fluxes for these stars are ~ 1.4 dex lower than those derived with the formula of Vink et al. (2000), the observed rates are still not matched, a failure that may reflect our poor understanding of low-density supersonic outflows. Mass fluxes are also computed for two strong-wind O4 stars analysed by Bouret et al. (2005). The predictions agree with the sharply reduced mass loss rates found when Bouret et al. take wind clumping into account.Comment: Accepted by A&A; 6 pages, 5 figures; minor changes from v

Disk winds of B[e] supergiants

The class of B[e] supergiants is characterized by a two-component stellar wind consisting of a normal hot star wind in the polar zone and a slow and dense disk-like wind in the equatorial region. The properties of the disk wind are discussed using satellite UV spectra of stars seen edge-on, i.e. through the equatorial disk. These observations show that the disk winds are extremely slow, 50-90 km/s, i.e. a factor of about 10 slower than expected from the spectral types. Optical emission lines provide a further means to study the disk wind. This is discussed for line profiles of forbidden lines formed in the disk.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX, 3 ps figures, uses lamuphys.sty from Springer-Verlag, to be published in the proceedings of IAU Coll. 169 "Variable and Non-spherical Stellar Winds in Luminous Hot Stars" held in Heidelberg 199

Carbon dioxide emissions of Antarctic tourism

The increase of tourism to the Antarctic continent may entail not only local but also global environmental impacts. These latter impacts, which are mainly caused by transport, have been generally ignored. As a result, there is a lack of data on the global impacts of Antarctic tourism in terms of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. This paper presents and applies a methodology for quantifying CO2 emissions, both for the Antarctic vessel fleet as a whole and per passenger (both per trip and per day). The results indicate that the average tourist trip to Antarctica results in 5.44 t of CO2 emissions per passenger, or 0.49 t per passenger and day. Approximately 70% of these emissions are attributable to cruising and 30% to flying, which highlights the global environmental relevance of local transport for this type of touris

HIV-1 Evolutionary Patterns Associated with Metastatic Kaposi's Sarcoma during AIDS.

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in HIV-infected individuals can have a wide range of clinical outcomes, from indolent skin tumors to a life-threatening visceral cancer. KS tumors contain endothelial-related cells and inflammatory cells that may be HIV-infected. In this study we tested if HIV evolutionary patterns distinguish KS tumor relatedness and progression. Multisite autopsies from participants who died from HIV-AIDS with KS prior to the availability of antiretroviral therapy were identified at the AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR). Two patients (KS1 and KS2) died predominantly from non-KS-associated disease and KS3 died due to aggressive and metastatic KS within one month of diagnosis. Skin and visceral tumor and nontumor autopsy tissues were obtained (n = 12). Single genome sequencing was used to amplify HIV RNA and DNA, which was present in all tumors. Independent HIV tumor clades in phylogenies differentiated KS1 and KS2 from KS3, whose sequences were interrelated by both phylogeny and selection. HIV compartmentalization was confirmed in KS1 and KS2 tumors; however, in KS3, no compartmentalization was observed among sampled tissues. While the sample size is small, the HIV evolutionary patterns observed in all patients suggest an interplay between tumor cells and HIV-infected cells which provides a selective advantage and could promote KS progression

Resolving the dusty circumstellar environment of the A[e] supergiant HD 62623 with the VLTI/MIDI

B[e] stars are hot stars surrounded by circumstellar gas and dust responsible for the presence of emission lines and IR-excess in their spectra. How dust can be formed in this highly illuminated and diluted environment remains an open issue. HD 62623 is one of the very few A-type supergiants showing the B[e] phenomenon. We obtained nine calibrated visibility measurements using the VLTI/MIDI instrument in SCI-PHOT mode and PRISM spectral dispersion mode with projected baselines ranging from 13 to 71 m and with various position angles. We used geometrical models and physical modeling with a radiative transfer code to analyze these data. The dusty circumstellar environment of HD 62623 is partially resolved by the VLTI/MIDI even with the shortest baselines. The environment is flattened and can be separated into two components: a compact one whose extension grows from 17 mas at 8 microns to 30 mas at 9.6 microns and stays almost constant up to 13 microns, and a more extended one that is over-resolved even with the shortest baselines. Using the radiative transfer code MC3D, we managed to model HD 62623's circumstellar environment as a dusty disk with an inner radius of 3.85+-0.6 AU, an inclination angle of 60+-10 deg, and a mass of 2x10^-7Mo. It is the first time that the dusty disk inner rim of a supergiant star exhibiting the B[e] phenomenon is significantly constrained. The inner gaseous envelope likely contributes up to 20% to the total N band flux and acts like a reprocessing disk. Finally, the hypothesis of a stellar wind deceleration by the companion's gravitational effects remains the most probable case since the bi-stability mechanism does not seem to be efficient for this star.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures. A&A accepted pape

Discovery of New, Dust-Poor B[e] Supergiants in the Small Magellanic Cloud

We present the discovery of three new B[e] supergiants (sgB[e] stars) in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). All three stars (R15, R38, and R48) were identified in the course of our Runaways and Isolated O Type Star Spectroscopic Survey of the SMC (RIOTS4). The stars show optical spectra that closely resemble those of previously known B[e] stars, presenting numerous low-ionization forbidden and permitted emission lines such as [Fe II] and Fe II. Furthermore, our stars have luminosities of log(L/L_sun) > 4, demonstrating that they are supergiants. However, we find lower infrared excesses and weaker forbidden emission lines than for previously identified B[e] supergiants. Thus our stars appear to either have less material in their circumstellar disks than other sgB[e] stars, or the circumstellar material has lower dust content. We suggest that these may constitute a new subclass of dust-poor sgB[e] stars.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted to Ap

Properties and applications of precision oligomer materials; where organic and polymer chemistry join forces

Abstract Precise oligomeric materials constitute a growing area of research with implications for various applications as well as fundamental studies. Notably, this field of science which can be termed macro-organic chemistry, draws inspiration from both traditional polymer chemistry and organic synthesis, combining the molecular precision of organic chemistry with the materials properties of macromolecules. Discrete oligomers enable access to unprecedented materials properties, for example, in self-assembled structures, crystallization, or optical properties. The degree of control over oligomer structures resembles many biological systems and enables the design of materials with tailored properties and the development of fundamental structure–property relationships. This Review highlights recent developments in macro-organic chemistry from synthetic concepts to materials properties, with a focus on self-assembly and molecular recognition. Finally, an outlook for future research directions is provided

Applying prosodic speech features in mental health care: An exploratory study in a life-review intervention for depression

The present study aims to investigate the application of prosodic speech features in a psychological intervention based on lifereview. Several studies have shown that speech features can be used as indicators of depression severity, but these studies are mainly based on controlled speech recording tasks instead of natural conversations. The present exploratory study investigated speech features as indicators of depression in conversations of a therapeutic intervention. The changes in the prosodic speech features pitch, duration of pauses, and total duration of the participant's speaking time were studied over four sessions of a life-review intervention for three older participants. The ecological validity of the dynamics observed for prosodic speech features could not be established in the present study. The changes in speech features differed from what can be expected in an intervention that is effective in decreasing depression and were inconsistent with each other for each of the participants. We suggest future research to investigate changes within the intervention sessions, to relate the changes in feature values to the topical content of the speech, and to relate the speech features directly to depression scores

The Missing Luminous Blue Variables and the Bistability Jump

We discuss an interesting feature of the distribution of luminous blue variables on the H-R diagram, and we propose a connection with the bistability jump in the winds of early-type supergiants. There appears to be a deficiency of quiescent LBVs on the S Dor instability strip at luminosities between log L/Lsun = 5.6 and 5.8. The upper boundary, is also where the temperature-dependent S Dor instability strip intersects the bistability jump at about 21,000 K. Due to increased opacity, winds of early-type supergiants are slower and denser on the cool side of the bistability jump, and we postulate that this may trigger optically-thick winds that inhibit quiescent LBVs from residing there. We conduct numerical simulations of radiation-driven winds for a range of temperatures, masses, and velocity laws at log L/Lsun=5.7 to see what effect the bistability jump should have. We find that for relatively low stellar masses the increase in wind density at the bistability jump leads to the formation of a modest to strong pseudo photosphere -- enough to make an early B-type star appear as a yellow hypergiant. Thus, the proposed mechanism will be most relevant for LBVs that are post-red supergiants. Yellow hypergiants like IRC+10420 and rho Cas occupy the same luminosity range as the ``missing'' LBVs, and show apparent temperature variations at constant luminosity. If these yellow hypergiants do eventually become Wolf-Rayet stars, we speculate that they may skip the normal LBV phase, at least as far as their apparent positions on the HR diagram are concerned.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figs, accepted by Ap