354 research outputs found
Consumer protection in Turkey: law, informality and the role of the media. Monash University, Workplace and Corporate Law Research Group, Working Paper No. 21
This report is part of a University of Oxford John Fell funded collaborative project: Informality and the Media in Consumer Protection in Emerging Economies. This pilot project seeks to shed light upon consumer complaint behaviour through social media in emerging economies
The mass of the very massive binary WR21a
We present multi-epoch spectroscopic observations of the massive binary
system WR21a, which include the January 2011 periastron passage. Our spectra
reveal multiple SB2 lines and facilitate an accurate determination of the orbit
and the spectral types of the components. We obtain minimum masses of
and for the two components of
WR21a. Using disentangled spectra of the individual components, we derive
spectral types of O3/WN5ha and O3Vz~((f*)) for the primary and secondary,
respectively. Using the spectral type of the secondary as an indication for its
mass, we estimate an orbital inclination of and
absolute masses of and , in
agreement with the luminosity of the system. The spectral types of the WR21a
components indicate that the stars are very young (12 Myr), similar to the
age of the nearby Westerlund 2 cluster. We use evolutionary tracks to determine
the mass-luminosity relation for the total system mass. We find that for a
distance of 8 kpc and an age of 1.5 Myr, the derived absolute masses are in
good agreement with those from evolutionary predictions.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in MNRA
Differential effects of polyphenols on proliferation and apoptosis in human myeloid and lymphoid leukemia cell lines.
Background: Mortality rates for leukemia are high despite considerable improvements in treatment. Since polyphenols exert pro-apoptotic effects in solid tumors, our study investigated the effects of polyphenols in haematological malignancies. The effect of eight polyphenols (quercetin, chrysin, apigenin, emodin, aloe-emodin, rhein, cis-stilbene and trans-stilbene) were studied on cell proliferation, cell cycle and apoptosis in four lymphoid and four myeloid leukemic cells lines, together with normal haematopoietic control cells. Methods: Cellular proliferation was measured by CellTiter-Glo® luminescent assay; and cell cycle arrest was assessed using flow cytometry of propidium iodide stained cells. Apoptosis was investigated by caspase-3 activity assay using flow cytometry and apoptotic morphology was confirmed by Hoescht 33342 staining. Results: Emodin, quercetin, and cis-stilbene were the most effective polyphenols at decreasing cell viability (IC50 values of 5-22 µM, 8-33 µM, and 25-85 µM respectively) and inducing apoptosis (AP50 values (the concentration which 50% of cells undergo apoptosis) of 2-27 µM, 19-50 µM, and 8-50 µM respectively). Generally, lymphoid cell lines were more sensitive to polyphenol treatment compared to myeloid cell lines, however the most resistant myeloid (KG-1a and K562) cell lines were still found to respond to emodin and quercetin treatment at low micromolar levels. Non-tumor cells were less sensitive to all polyphenols compared to the leukemia cells. Conclusions: These findings suggest that polyphenols have anti-tumor activity against leukemia cells with differential effects. Importantly, the differential sensitivity of emodin, quercetin, and cis-stilbene between leukemia and normal cells suggests that polyphenols are potential therapeutic agents for leukemia
Massive open star clusters using the VVV survey II. Discovery of six clusters with Wolf-Rayet stars
Context: The ESO Public Survey "VISTA Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea" (VVV)
provides deep multi-epoch infrared observations for an unprecedented 562 sq.
degrees of the Galactic bulge, and adjacent regions of the disk. In this survey
nearly 150 new open clusters and cluster candidates have been discovered. Aims:
This is the second in a series of papers about young, massive open clusters
observed using the VVV survey. We present the first study of six recently
discovered clusters. These clusters contain at least one newly discovered
Wolf-Rayet (WR) star. Methods: Following the methodology presented in the first
paper of the series, wide-field, deep JHKs VVV observations, combined with new
infrared spectroscopy, are employed to constrain fundamental parameters for a
subset of clusters. Results: We affirm that the six studied stellar groups are
real young (2-7 Myr) and massive (between 0.8 and 2.2 10^3 Msol) clusters. They
are highly obscured (Av ~ 5-24 mag) and compact (1-2 pc). In addition to WR
stars, two of the six clusters also contain at least one red supergiant star.
We claim the discovery of 8 new WR stars, and 3 stars showing WR-like emission
lines which could be classified WR or OIf. Preliminary analysis provides
initial masses of ~30-50 Msol for the WR stars. Finally,we discuss the spiral
structure of the Galaxy using as tracers the six new clusters together with the
previously studied VVV clusters.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figurs, accepted in A&
Dynamically inflated wind models of classical Wolf-Rayet stars
Vigorous mass loss in the classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) phase is important for
the late evolution and final fate of massive stars. We develop spherically
symmetric time-dependent and steady-state hydrodynamical models of the
radiation-driven wind outflows and associated mass loss from classical WR
stars. The simulations are based on combining the opacities typically used in
static stellar structure and evolution models with a simple parametrised form
for the enhanced line-opacity expected within a supersonic outflow. Our
simulations reveal high mass-loss rates initiated in deep and hot optically
thick layers around T\approx 200kK. The resulting velocity structure is
non-monotonic and can be separated into three phases: i) an initial
acceleration to supersonic speeds ii) stagnation and even deceleration, and
iii) an outer region of rapid re-acceleration. The characteristic structures
seen in converged steady-state simulations agree well with the outflow
properties of our time-dependent models. By directly comparing our dynamic
simulations to corresponding hydrostatic models, we demonstrate explicitly that
the need to invoke extra energy transport in convectively inefficient regions
of stellar structure and evolution models is merely an artefact of enforcing a
hydrostatic outer boundary. Moreover, the "dynamically inflated" inner regions
of our simulations provide a natural explanation for the often-found mismatch
between predicted hydrostatic WR radii and those inferred from spectroscopy.
Finally, we contrast our simulations with alternative recent WR wind models
based on co-moving frame radiative transfer for computing the radiation force.
Since CMF transfer currently cannot handle non-monotonic velocity fields, the
characteristic deceleration regions found here are avoided in such simulations
by invoking an ad-hoc very high degree of clumping.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure
Characterisation of the CNS expression and function of Notum, a negative regulator of Wnt signalling pathway
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