244 research outputs found
Evidence for Pre-Existing Dust in the Bright Type IIn SN 2010jl
SN 2010jl was an extremely bright, Type IIn SNe which showed a significant IR
excess no later than 90 days after explosion. We have obtained Spitzer 3.6 and
4.5 \mum and JHK observations of SN 2010jl \sim90 days post explosion. Little
to no reddening in the host galaxy indicated that the circumstellar material
lost from the progenitor must lie in a torus inclined out of the plane of the
sky. The likely cause of the high mid-IR flux is the reprocessing of the
initial flash of the SN by pre-existing circumstellar dust. Using a 3D Monte
Carlo Radiative Transfer code, we have estimated that between 0.03-0.35 Msun of
dust exists in a circumstellar torus around the SN located 6 \times 10 ^17 cm
away from the SN and inclined between 60-80\cdot to the plane of the sky. On
day 90, we are only seeing the illumination of approximately 5% of this torus,
and expect to see an elevated IR flux from this material up until day \sim 450.
It is likely this dust was created in an LBV-like mass loss event of more than
3 Msun, which is large but consistent with other LBV progenitors such as {\eta}
Carinae.Comment: Accepted in A
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Bullying at University: The Social and Legal Contexts of Cyberbullying Among University Students
Students within the university sector are ‘digital natives’. Technology is not ‘new’ or ‘alien’ to them, but rather it is an accepted and normalised part of everyday life (Simmons et al., 2016). With this level of expertise and competence, we could assume that university students are relatively happy with their online relationships. However, in recent years there has been a growing realisation that, for some students at least, the online world is a very dangerous place.The age of the students is of key importance here too, as those in higher and further education are young adults, rather than children in need of parental support. From this perspective, the university as an institution has a duty of care to its students in their learning environment regardless of their age. In this article, we consider the social and cultural contexts which either promote or discourage cyberbullying among university students. Finally, the implications for policies, training and awareness-raising are discussed along with ideas for possible future research in this under researched area
Multihospital Outbreak of Clostridium difficile Infection, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
To determine whether a multihospital Clostridium difficile outbreak was associated with epidemic strains and whether use of particular fluoroquinolones was associated with increased infection rates, we cultured feces from C. difficile–infected patients. Use of fluoroquionolones with enhanced antianaerobic activity was not associated with increased infection rates
Oxygen-rich dust production in IC 10
We report the detection of oxygen-rich circumstellar envelopes in stars of
the nearby (700 kpc) starburst galaxy IC 10. The star formation history and the
chemical environment of this galaxy makes it an ideal target to observe dust
production by high-mass stars in a low-metallicity environment. The goal of
this study is to identify oxygen-rich stars in IC 10 and to constrain their
nature between asymptotic giant branch stars (AGBs), red supergiants (RSGs),
and other infrared bright sources. We examine the mass-loss rate of the stars
and compare to results obtained for the Magellanic Clouds. Our objectives are
to (1) assess whether RSGs can be significant dust producers in IC 10, and (2),
solve the discrepancy between the star formation history of IC 10 and the
relatively low number of RSGs detected in the optical. We search for silicate
dust in emission by using the spectral map observed with the Infrared
Spectrograph on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. The optical (UBVRI) and
infrared (JHK, Spitzer/IRAC and Spitzer/MIPS) photometry is used to assert the
membership of the stars to IC 10 and disentangle between AGBs and RSGs.
Radiative models are used to infer mass-loss rates and stellar luminosities.
The luminosity and colors of at least 9 silicate emission sources are
consistent with stars within IC 10. Furthermore, the photometry of 2 of these
sources is consistent with RSGs. We derive dust mass-loss rates similar to the
values found in the Magellanic Clouds. Accounting for the sample completeness,
RSGs are not important contributors to the dust mass budget in IC 10.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Asymptotic Giant Branch Variables in the Galaxy and the Local Group
AGB variables, particularly the large amplitude Mira type, are a vital step
on the distance scale ladder. They will prove particularly important in the era
of space telescopes and extremely large ground-based telescopes with adaptive
optics, which will be optimized for infrared observing. Our current
understanding of the distances to these stars is reviewed with particular
emphasis on improvements that came from Hipparcos as well as on recent work on
Local Group galaxies. In addition to providing the essential calibration for
extragalactic distances Gaia may also provide unprecedented insight into the
poorly understood mass-loss process itself.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science. From a
presentation at the conference "The Fundamental Cosmic Distance Scale: State
of the Art and Gaia Perspective, Naples May 2011. 8 Pages, 9 Figure
Cold Dust in Three Massive Evolved Stars in the LMC
Massive evolved stars can produce large amounts of dust, and far-infrared
(IR) data are essential for determining the contribution of cold dust to the
total dust mass. Using Herschel, we search for cold dust in three very dusty
massive evolved stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud: R71 is a Luminous Blue
Variable, HD36402 is a Wolf-Rayet triple system, and IRAS05280-6910 is a red
supergiant. We model the spectral energy distributions using radiative transfer
codes and find that these three stars have mass-loss rates up to 10^-3 solar
masses/year, suggesting that high-mass stars are important contributors to the
life-cycle of dust. We found far-IR excesses in two objects, but these excesses
appear to be associated with ISM and star-forming regions. Cold dust (T < 100
K) may thus not be an important contributor to the dust masses of evolved
stars.Comment: accepted to A&A as part of the Herschel first results special issu
The ALMA detection of CO rotational line emission in AGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Context. Low- and intermediate-mass stars lose most of their stellar mass at the end of their lives on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). Determining gas and dust mass-loss rates (MLRs) is important in quantifying the contribution of evolved stars to the enrichment of the interstellar medium.
Aims: This study attempts to spectrally resolve CO thermal line emission in a small sample of AGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
Methods: The Atacama Large Millimeter Array was used to observe two OH/IR stars and four carbon stars in the LMC in the CO J = 2-1 line.
Results: We present the first measurement of expansion velocities in extragalactic carbon stars. All four C stars are detected and wind expansion velocities and stellar velocities are directly measured. Mass-loss rates are derived from modelling the spectral energy distribution and Spitzer/IRS spectrum with the DUSTY code. The derived gas-to-dust ratios allow the predicted velocities to agree with the observed gas-to-dust ratios. The expansion velocities and MLRs are compared to a Galactic sample of well-studied relatively low MLRs stars supplemented with extreme C stars with properties that are more similar to the LMC targets. Gas MLRs derived from a simple formula are significantly smaller than those derived from dust modelling, indicating an order of magnitude underestimate of the estimated CO abundance, time-variable mass loss, or that the CO intensities in LMC stars are lower than predicted by the formula derived for Galactic objects. This could be related to a stronger interstellar radiation field in the LMC.
Conclusions: Although the LMC sample is small and the comparison to Galactic stars is non-trivial because of uncertainties in their distances (hence luminosities), it appears that for C stars the wind expansion velocities in the LMC are lower than in the solar neighbourhood, while the MLRs appear to be similar. This is in agreement with dynamical dust-driven wind models
Long Period Variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud from the EROS-2 survey
Context. The EROS-2 survey has produced a database of millions of time series
from stars monitored for more than six years, allowing to classify some of
their sources into different variable star types. Among these, Long Period
Variables (LPVs), known to follow sequences in the period-luminosity diagram,
include long secondary period variables whose variability origin is still a
matter of debate.
Aims.We use the 856 864 variable stars available from the Large Magellanic
Cloud (LMC) in the EROS-2 database to detect, classify and characterize LPVs.
Methods. Our method to extract LPVs is based on the statistical Abbe test. It
investigates the regularity of the light curve with respect to the survey
duration in order to extract candidates with long-term variability. The period
search is done by Deeming, Lomb-Scargle and generalized Lomb-Scargle methods,
combined with Fourier series fit. Color-magnitude, period-magnitude and
period-amplitude diagrams are used to characterize our candidates.
Results. We present a catalog of 43 551 LPV candidates for the Large
Magellanic Cloud. For each of them, we provide up to five periods, mean
magnitude in EROS-2, 2MASS and Spitzer bands, BE-RE color, RE amplitude and
spectral type.We use infrared data to make the distinction between RGB, O-rich,
C-rich and extreme AGB stars. Properties of our LPV candidates are investigated
by analyzing period-luminosity and period-amplitude diagrams.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Using Management Objectives to Specify Management Information Systems - A Contribution to MIS Success
Data warehouse projects, today, are in an ambivalent situation. On the one hand, data warehouses are critical for a company’s success and various methodological and technological tools are sophisticatedly developed to implement them. On the other hand, a significant amount of data warehouse projects fails due to non-technical reasons such as insufficient management support or in-corporative employees. But management support and user participation can be increased dramatically with specification methods that are understandable to these user groups. This paper aims at overcoming possible non-technical failure reasons by introducing a user-adequate specification approach within the field of management information systems.\u
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