Water vapor emission from IRC+10216 and other carbon-rich stars: model predictions and prospects for multitransition observations

We have modeled the emission of H2O rotational lines from the extreme C-rich star IRC+10216. Our treatment of the excitation of H2O emissions takes into account the excitation of H2O both through collisions, and through the pumping of the nu2 and nu3 vibrational states by dust emission and subsequent decay to the ground state. Regardless of the spatial distribution of the water molecules, the H2O 1_{10}-1_{01} line at 557 GHz observed by the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) is found to be pumped primarily through the absorption of dust-emitted photons at 6 $\mu$m in the nu2 band. As noted by previous authors, the inclusion of radiative pumping lowers the ortho-H2O abundance required to account for the 557 GHz emission, which is found to be (0.5-1)x10^{-7} if the presence of H2O is a consequence of vaporization of orbiting comets or Fischer-Tropsch catalysis. Predictions for other submillimeter H2O lines that can be observed by the Herschel Space Observatory (HSO) are reported. Multitransition HSO observations promise to reveal the spatial distribution of the circumstellar water vapor, discriminating among the several hypotheses that have been proposed for the origin of the H2O vapor in the envelope of IRC+10216. We also show that, for observations with HSO, the H2O 1_{10}-1_{01} 557 GHz line affords the greatest sensitivity in searching for H2O in other C-rich AGB stars.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures, to be published in The Astrophysical Journa

Do the low molecular weight heparins improve efficacy and safety of the treatment of deep venous thrombosis? A meta-analysis

We compared the efficacy and safety of low molecular weight heparins (LMWH) and unfractionated heparin (UFH) in the treatement of deep venous thrombosis (DVT). A comparison between two daily subcutaneous injections of LMWH against a single injection was also performed. DESIGN AND METHODS: The study was performed by a meta-analysis. Clot improvement in venography, recurrency, total mortality and major hemorrhages were assessed in 4,472 patients with DVT from 21 studies treated with subcutaneous LMWH or UFH. RESULTS: An improvement in clot reduction (odds ratio 0.73, 95% confidence interval 0.59 to 0.90, p = 0.004), a decrease in total mortality (0. 68, 0.50 to 0.91, p = 0.012) and a lower incidence of hemorrhage (0. 65, 0.43 to 0.98, p = 0.047) were observed in LMWH treated patients. There were no differences in recurrences (0.78, 0.59 to 1.04, p = 0. 10). A single dose of LMWH was better than two in reducing major bleeding (c2 = 4.99, p = 0.025); however, the two dose regimen was more effective in clot reduction (c2 = 8.56, p = 0.004). INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: LMWH is superior to UFH in terms of safety and efficacy. A single daily dose of LMWH dose is a suitable therapeutic regimen and could facilitate the outpatient treatment of venous thromboembolism

Resonant Raman scattering off neutral quantum dots

Resonant inelastic (Raman) light scattering off neutral GaAs quantum dots which contain a mean number, N=42, of electron-hole pairs is computed. We find Raman amplitudes corresponding to strongly collective final states (charge-density excitations) of similar magnitude as the amplitudes related to weakly collective or single-particle excitations. As a function of the incident laser frequency or the magnetic field, they are rapidly varying amplitudes. It is argued that strong Raman peaks should come out in the spin-density channels, not related to valence-band mixing effects in the intermediate states.Comment: Accepted in Physical Review

Inducing a topological transition in graphene nanoribbon superlattices by external strain

Armchair graphene nanoribbons, when forming a superlattice, can be classified into different topological phases, with or without edge states. By means of tight-binding and classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we studied the electronic and mechanical properties of some of these superlattices. MD shows that fracture in modulated superlattices is brittle, as for unmodulated ribbons, and occurs at the thinner regions, with staggered superlattices achieving a larger fracture strain than inline superlattices. We found a general mechanism to induce a topological transition with strain, related to the electronic properties of each segment of the superlattice, and by studying the sublattice polarization we were able to characterize the transition and the response of these states to the strain. For the cases studied in detail here, the topological transition occurred at ∼3-5% strain, well below the fracture strain. The topological states of the superlattice - if present - are robust to strain even close to fracture. The topological transition was characterized by means of the sublattice polarization of the states.Fil: Flores Gutierréz, Esteban. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Mella, José D.. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Aparicio, Emiliano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentina. Universidad de Mendoza. Facultad de Ingenieria; ArgentinaFil: Gonzalez, Rafael I.. Universidad Mayor; Chile. Centro para el Desarrollo de la Nanociencia y la Nanotecnología; ChileFil: Parra, C.. Universidad Mayor; ChileFil: Bringa, Eduardo Marcial. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentina. Universidad de Mendoza. Facultad de Ingenieria; Argentina. Universidad Mayor; ChileFil: Munoz, Francisco. Centro para el Desarrollo de la Nanociencia y la Nanotecnología; Chile. Universidad de Chile; Chil

TIME-FREQUENCY ANALYSIS OF TRANSIENT VIBRATIONS TO IMPROVE TURBO- COMPRESSOR START-UP

ABSTRACT Diagnosis of turbo-compressors during start-up is a particularly challenging task. One of the reason is the reduced set of instruments that monitor this procedure. It is cumbersome to adjust lubrication and steam valves while controlling the speed and dynamic stability. In order to get the turbo-compressor out of a high vibration zone, it is important to be able to predict instabilities associated to the start-up process. Thus, it is necessary to have a measurement system with the ability of fault detection, especially at early stages of fault appearance. In this way, the start-up time can be significantly reduced. Although recent developed diagnosis methods use information from different sources and measurements, data structures are not designed to carry predictive information related to the turbo-compressor health. Therefore, it is important to extract early warning signals related to instability conditions. Vibration signals during machine start-up are non-stationary in nature, and conventional techniques, such as Fourier transforms and time series analysis, have difficulties to extract the full features of the vibrations signature. In this paper, the features of start-up vibrations in rotational systems like those found in turbo compressors are investigated by time-frequency analysis, and appropriate analysis of the transient vibration during compressor start-up is presented