617 research outputs found
A study of the neglected Galactic HII region NGC 2579 and its companion ESO 370-9
The Galactic HII region NGC 2579 has stayed undeservedly unexplored due to
identification problems which persisted until recently. Both NGC 2579 and its
companion ESO 370-9 have been misclassified as planetary or reflection nebula,
confused with each other and with other objects. Due to its high surface
brightness, high excitation, angular size of few arcminutes and relatively low
interstellar extinction, NGC 2579 is an ideal object for investigations in the
optical range. Located in the outer Galaxy, NGC 2579 is an excellent object for
studying the Galactic chemical abundance gradients. In this paper we present
the first comprehensive observational study on the nebular and stellar
properties of NGC 2579 and ESO 370-9, including the determination of electron
temperature, density structure, chemical composition, kinematics, distance, and
the identification and spectral classification of the ionizing stars, and
discuss the nature of ESO 370-9. Long slit spectrophotometric data in the
optical range were used to derive the nebular electron temperature, density and
chemical abundances and for the spectral classification of the ionizing star
candidates. Halpha and UBV CCD photometry was carried out to derive stellar
distances from spectroscopic parallax and to measure the ionizing photon flux.Comment: To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysic
An ASCA Study of the W51 Complex
We present the analysis of ASCA archival data from the Galactic source W51.
The ASCA spectra show that the soft (kT<= 2.5 keV) X-rays are of thermal origin
and are compatible with W51C being a single, isothermal (kT~0.3 keV) supernova
remnant at the far-side of the Sagittarius arm. The ASCA images reveal hard
(kT>=2.5 keV) X-ray sources which were not seen in previous X-ray observations.
Some of these sources are coincident with massive star-forming regions and the
spectra are used to derive X-ray parameters. By comparing the X-ray absorbing
column density with atomic hydrogen column density, we infer the location of
star-forming regions relative to molecular clouds. There are unidentified hard
X-ray sources superposed on the supernova remnant and we discuss the
possibility of their association.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, to be published in Astronomical Journa
Association between Resistin Levels and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality: A New Study and a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
CONTEXT: Studies concerning the association between circulating resistin and mortality risk have reported, so far, conflicting results.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between resistin and both all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality risk by 1) analyzing data from the Gargano Heart Study (GHS) prospective design (n=359 patients; 81 and 58 all-cause and CV deaths, respectively); 2) performing meta-analyses of all published studies addressing the above mentioned associations.
DATA SOURCE AND STUDY SELECTION: MEDLINE and Web of Science search of studies reporting hazard ratios (HR) of circulating resistin for all-cause or CV mortality.
DATA EXTRACTION: Performed independently by two investigators, using a standardized data extraction sheet.
DATA SYNTHESIS: In GHS, adjusted HRs per one standard deviation (SD) increment in resistin concentration were 1.28 (95% CI: 1.07-1.54) and 1.32 (95% CI: 1.06-1.64) for all-cause and CV mortality, respectively. The meta-analyses included 7 studies (n=4016; 961 events) for all-cause mortality and 6 studies (n=4,187: 412 events) for CV mortality. Pooled HRs per one SD increment in resistin levels were 1.21 (95% CI: 1.03-1.42, Q-test p for heterogeneity<0.001) and 1.05 (95% CI: 1.01-1.10, Q-test p for heterogeneity=0.199) for all-cause and CV mortality, respectively. At meta-regression analyses, study mean age explained 9.9% of all-cause mortality studies heterogeneity. After adjusting for age, HR for all-cause mortality was 1.24 (95% CI: 1.06-1.45).
CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide evidence for an association between circulating resistin and mortality risk among high-risk patients as are those with diabetes and coronary artery disease
Electron temperature fluctuations in NGC 346
The existence and origin of large spatial temperature fluctuations in HII
regions and planetary nebulae are assumed to explain the differences between
the heavy element abundances inferred from collisionally excited and
recombination lines, although this interpretation remains significantly
controversial. We investigate the spatial variation in electron temperature
inside NGC 346, the brightest HII region in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Long
slit spectrophotometric data of high signal-to-noise were employed to derive
the electron temperature from measurements derived from localized observations
of the [OIII]( ratio in three
directions across the nebula. The electron temperature was estimated in 179
areas of 5 of size distributed along
three different declinations. A largely homogeneous temperature distribution
was found with a mean temperature of 12 269 K and a dispersion of 6.1%. After
correcting for pure measurements errors, a temperature fluctuation on the plane
of the sky of (corresponding to a dispersion of 4.5%)
was obtained, which indicates a 3D temperature fluctuation parameter of . A large scale gradient in temperature of the order of
K arcsec was found. The magnitude of the temperature
fluctuations observed agrees with the large scale variations in temperature
predicted by standard photoionization models, but is too small to explain the
abundance discrepancy problem. However, the possible existence of small spatial
scale temperature variations is not excluded.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 2 table
EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF PRESSURE DROP IN SINGLE AND TWO PHASE IN MINI CHANNELS
Evaporators with mini and micro channels are one of the main focuses in the design and development of equipment applied to compact refrigeration systems. The objective of this work is to investigate pressure drop of natural refrigerant, isobutane (R-600a), in the single-phase flow through two small tubes, with 1.0 mm and 2.6 mm of internal diameter. Also, the pressure drop was analyzed in the boiling flow in a 2.6 mm internal diameter tube. The experimental tests included mass velocities of 188, 240, 280 and 370 kg/(mÂČs), heat fluxes in the range from 0 to 134 kW/mÂČ and boiling flow the saturation temperature of 22 ÂșC and vapor quality up to 0.8. It was possible to observe the significant influence of the diameter and mass velocity on the total pressure drop and the frictional pressure drop, respectively. The experimental frictional pressure drop in flow boiling in 2.6 mm of internal diameter was compared with four different correlations in literature
A Survey of Hydroxyl Toward Supernova Remnants: Evidence for Extended 1720 MHz Maser Emission
We present the results of GBT observations of all four ground-state hydroxyl
(OH) transitions toward 15 supernova remnants (SNRs) which show OH(1720 MHz)
maser emission. This species of maser is well established as an excellent
tracer of an ongoing interaction between the SNR and dense molecular material.
For the majority of these objects we detect significantly higher flux densities
with a single dish than has been reported with interferometric observations. We
infer that spatially extended, low level maser emission is a common phenomenon
that traces the large-scale interaction in maser-emitting SNRs. Additionally we
use a collisional pumping model to fit the physical conditions under which OH
is excited behind the SNR shock front. We find the observed OH gas associated
with the SNR interaction having columns less than approximately 10^17 per
square cm, temperatures of 20 to 125 K, and densities 10^5 per cubic cm.Comment: 24 pages, 23 figures, Accepted to ApJ, March 26, 2008; v2 - added
Figure 6, minor clarifications to text in Sections 3 and
Metallicity determination in gas-rich galaxies with semiempirical methods
A study of the precision of the semiempirical methods used in the
determination of the chemical abundances in gas-rich galaxies is carried out.
In order to do this the oxygen abundances of a total of 438 galaxies were
determined using the electronic temperature, the and the P methods.
The new calibration of the P method gives the smaller dispersion for the low
and high metallicity regions, while the best numbers in the turnaround region
are given by the method. We also found that the dispersion correlates
with the metallicity. Finally, it can be said that all the semiempirical
methods studied here are quite insensitive to metallicity with a value of
dex for more than 50% of the total sample.
\keywords{ISM: abundances; (ISM): H {\sc ii} regions}Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures and 2 tables. To appear at AJ, January 200
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