54 research outputs found
The detached dust shells around the carbon AGB stars R Scl and V644 Sco
Detached shells are believed to be created during a thermal pulse, and
constrain the time scales and physical properties of one of the main drivers of
late stellar evolution. We aim at determining the morphology of the detached
dust shells around the carbon AGB stars R Scl and V644 Sco, and compare this to
observations of the detached gas shells. We observe the polarised,
dust-scattered stellar light around these stars using the PolCor instrument
mounted on the ESO 3.6m telescope. Observations were done with a coronographic
mask to block out the direct stellar light. The polarised images clearly show
the detached shells. Using a dust radiative transfer code to model the
dust-scattered polarised light, we constrain the radii and widths of the shells
to 19.5 arcsec and 9.4 arcsec for the detached dust shells around R Scl and
V644 Sco, respectively. Both shells have an overall spherical symmetry and
widths of approx. 2 arcsec. For R Scl we can compare the observed dust emission
directly with high spatial-resolution maps of CO(3-2) emission from the shell
observed with ALMA. We find that the dust and gas coincide almost exactly,
indicating a common evolution. The data presented here for R Scl are the most
detailed observations of the entire dusty detached shell to date. For V644 Sco
these are the first direct measurements of the detached shell. Also here we
find that the dust most likely coincides with the gas shell. The observations
are consistent with a scenario where the detached shells are created during a
thermal pulse. The determined radii and widths will constrain hydrodynamical
models describing the pre-pulse mass loss, the thermal pulse, and post-pulse
evolution of the star
The Herschel Planetary Nebula Survey (HerPlaNS) - a comprehensive dusty photoionization model of NGC6781
We perform a comprehensive analysis of the planetary nebula (PN) NGC6781 to
investigate the physical conditions of each of its ionized, atomic, and
molecular gas and dust components and the object's evolution, based on
panchromatic observational data ranging from UV to radio. Empirical nebular
elemental abundances, compared with theoretical predictions via nucleosynthesis
models of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, indicate that the progenitor is
a solar-metallicity, 2.25-3.0 Msun initial-mass star. We derive the best-fit
distance of 0.46 kpc by fitting the stellar luminosity (as a function of the
distance and effective temperature of the central star) with the adopted
post-AGB evolutionary tracks. Our excitation energy diagram analysis indicate
high excitation temperatures in the photodissociation region (PDR) beyond the
ionized part of the nebula, suggesting extra heating by shock interactions
between the slow AGB wind and the fast PN wind. Through iterative fitting using
the Cloudy code with empirically-derived constraints, we find the best-fit
dusty photoionization model of the object that would inclusively reproduce all
of the adopted panchromatic observational data. The estimated total gas mass
(0.41 Msun) corresponds to the mass ejected during the last AGB thermal pulse
event predicted for a 2.5 Msun initial-mass star. A significant fraction of the
total mass (about 70 percent) is found to exist in the PDR, demonstrating the
critical importance of the PDR in PNe that are generally recognized as the
hallmark of ionized/H+ regions.Comment: 34 pages, 13 Figures and 16 Tables, accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie
Characterisation of the Planetary Nebula Tc 1 Based on VLT X-Shooter Observations
We present a detailed analysis of deep VLT/X-Shooter observations of the
planetary nebula Tc 1. We calculate gas temperature, density, extinction, and
abundances for several species from the empirical analysis of the total line
fluxes. In addition, a spatially resolved analysis of the most intense lines
provides the distribution of such quantities across the nebula. The new data
reveal that several lines exhibit a double peak spectral profile consistent
with the blue- and red-shifted components of an expanding spherical shell. The
study of such components allowed us to construct for the first time a
three-dimensional morphological model, which reveals that Tc 1 is a slightly
elongated spheroid with an equatorial density enhancement seen almost pole on.
A few bright lines present extended wings (with velocities up to a few hundred
km/s), but the mechanism producing them is not clear. We constructed
photoionization models for the main shell of Tc 1. The models predict the
central star temperature and luminosity, as well as the nebular density and
abundances similar to previous studies. Our models indicate that Tc 1 is
located at a distance of approximately 2 kpc. We report the first detection of
the [Kr III] 6825 A emission line, from which we determine the Krypton
abundance. Our model indicates that the main shell of Tc 1 is matter bounded;
leaking H ionizing photons may explain the ionization of its faint AGB-remnant
halo.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 27 pages, 20 figure
Evaluating HBsAg rapid test performance for different biological samples from low and high infection rate settings & populations
Laparoscopy in management of appendicitis in high-, middle-, and low-income countries: a multicenter, prospective, cohort study.
BACKGROUND: Appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency worldwide. Differences between high- and low-income settings in the availability of laparoscopic appendectomy, alternative management choices, and outcomes are poorly described. The aim was to identify variation in surgical management and outcomes of appendicitis within low-, middle-, and high-Human Development Index (HDI) countries worldwide. METHODS: This is a multicenter, international prospective cohort study. Consecutive sampling of patients undergoing emergency appendectomy over 6 months was conducted. Follow-up lasted 30 days. RESULTS: 4546 patients from 52 countries underwent appendectomy (2499 high-, 1540 middle-, and 507 low-HDI groups). Surgical site infection (SSI) rates were higher in low-HDI (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.33-4.99, p = 0.005) but not middle-HDI countries (OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.76-2.52, p = 0.291), compared with high-HDI countries after adjustment. A laparoscopic approach was common in high-HDI countries (1693/2499, 67.7%), but infrequent in low-HDI (41/507, 8.1%) and middle-HDI (132/1540, 8.6%) groups. After accounting for case-mix, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.42-0.71, p < 0.001) and SSIs (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.33, p < 0.001). In propensity-score matched groups within low-/middle-HDI countries, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.23 95% CI 0.11-0.44) and SSI (OR 0.21 95% CI 0.09-0.45). CONCLUSION: A laparoscopic approach is associated with better outcomes and availability appears to differ by country HDI. Despite the profound clinical, operational, and financial barriers to its widespread introduction, laparoscopy could significantly improve outcomes for patients in low-resource environments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02179112
Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research
Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4
While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge
of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In
the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of
Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus
crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced
environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian
Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by
2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status,
much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
An estimate of the number of tropical tree species
The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher’s alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼40,000 and ∼53,000, i.e. at the high end of previous estimates. Contrary to common assumption, the Indo-Pacific region was found to be as species-rich as the Neotropics, with both regions having a minimum of ∼19,000–25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼4,500–6,000 tree species. Very few species are shared among the African, American, and the Indo-Pacific regions. We provide a methodological framework for estimating species richness in trees that may help refine species richness estimates of tree-dependent taxa
Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities
Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1,2,3,4,5,6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
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