4,435 research outputs found
Adolescent Attitudes Towards and Engagement in At-Risk Behaviour in Two Christian High Schools
Adolescence is a time of great physical and psychological change. During this phase of life individuals are particularly susceptible to pressures to take risks and experiment. However, many adolescents who experiment with certain chemical substances can become habitual users, leading to serious health problems later in life. Adolescents are also under pressure to conform to society\u27s ideals in terms of appearance, and some try to achieve these ideals by developing disordered eating habits. This study investigates adolescent engagement in alcohol use, cigarette smoking, steroid use, and patterns of diet among students in two Christian high schools.
A questionnaire was constructed and handed out to students from the two Christian schools. The data were then collected and analysed. It was found that the number of students who had experimented with alcohol at schools from the denomination under study had increased dramatically in the past ten years. It was also found that the incidence of experimentation with smoking was almost as high as for the general population of adolescents. Steroid use was lower than for American counterparts, and the incidence of diet was lower than was to be expected from the literature.
However, it can be seen that adolescents attending Christian schools are not immune from the pressures adolescents face to engage in risk behaviour, and that although students attending these schools seem more resilient to the pressures, they are still at levels high enough for concern and future research needs to be conducted to more fully investigate the problem
Observations of the X-ray Nova GRO~J0422+32: II: Optical Spectra Approaching Quiescence
We present results obtained from a series of 5~\AA\ resolution spectra of the
X-ray Nova GRO~J0422+32 obtained in 1993~October, when the system was
approximately 2 magnitudes above quiescence, with . The data
were obtained in an effort to measure the orbital radial velocity curve of the
secondary, but detection of the narrow photospheric absorption lines needed to
do this proved elusive. Instead we found wide absorption bands reminiscent of
M~star photospheric features. The parameters determined by fitting accretion
disk line profiles (Smak profiles) to the H line are similar to those
found in several strong black-hole candidates. Measurements of the velocity of
the H line are consistent with an orbital period of 5.1~hours and a
velocity semi-amplitude of the primary of ~\kms. These measurements,
when combined with measurements of the velocity semi-amplitude of the secondary
made by others, indicate that the mass ratio . If the secondary
follows the empirical mass-radius relation found for CVs, the low implies a
primary mass of \mo, and a rather low (face-on) inclination. The
H EW is found to be modulated on the orbital period with a phasing that
implies a partial eclipse of the disk by the secondary, but simultaneous R~band
photometry shows no evidence for such an eclipse.Comment: Accepted for ApJ, plain latex, 5 figures available as self-extracting
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The not-so-massive black hole in the microquasar GRS1915+105
We present a new dynamical study of the black hole X-ray transient GRS1915+105 making use of near-infrared spectroscopy obtained with X-shooter at the VLT. We detect a large number of donor star absorption features across a wide range of wavelengths spanning the H and K bands. Our 24 epochs covering a baseline of over 1 year permit us to determine a new binary ephemeris including a refined orbital period of P=33.85 +/- 0.16 d. The donor star radial velocity curves deliver a significantly improved determination of the donor semi-amplitude which is both accurate (K_2=126 +/- 1 km/s) and robust against choice of donor star template and spectral features used. We furthermore constrain the donor star's rotational broadening to vsini=21 +/-4 km/s, delivering a binary mass ratio of q=0.042 +/- 0.024. If we combine these new constraints with distance and inclination estimates derived from modelling the radio emission, a black hole mass of M_BH=10.1 +/- 0.6 M_sun is inferred, paired with an evolved mass donor of M_2=0.47 +/- 0.27 M_sun. Our analysis suggests a more typical black hole mass for GRS1915+105 rather than the unusually high values derived in the pioneering dynamical study by Greiner et al. (2001). Our data demonstrate that high-resolution infrared spectroscopy of obscured accreting binaries can deliver dynamical mass determinations with a precision on par with optical studies
X-ray reflected spectra from accretion disk models. III. A complete grid of ionized reflection calculations
We present a new and complete library of synthetic spectra for modeling the
component of emission that is reflected from an illuminated accretion disk. The
spectra were computed using an updated version of our code XILLVER that
incorporates new routines and a richer atomic data base. We offer in the form
of a table model an extensive grid of reflection models that cover a wide range
of parameters. Each individual model is characterized by the photon index
\Gamma of the illuminating radiation, the ionization parameter \xi at the
surface of the disk (i.e., the ratio of the X-ray flux to the gas density), and
the iron abundance A_{Fe} relative to the solar value. The ranges of the
parameters covered are: 1.2 \leq \Gamma \leq 3.4, 1 \leq \xi \leq 10^4, and 0.5
\leq A_{Fe} \leq 10. These ranges capture the physical conditions typically
inferred from observations of active galactic nuclei, and also stellar-mass
black holes in the hard state. This library is intended for use when the
thermal disk flux is faint compared to the incident power-law flux. The models
are expected to provide an accurate description of the Fe K emission line,
which is the crucial spectral feature used to measure black hole spin. A total
of 720 reflection spectra are provided in a single FITS
file{\url{http://hea-www.cfa.harvard.edu/~javier/xillver/}} suitable for the
analysis of X-ray observations via the atable model in XSPEC. Detailed
comparisons with previous reflection models illustrate the improvements
incorporated in this version of XILLVER.Comment: 70 pages, 21 figures, submitted to Ap
A Parallax Distance to the Microquasar GRS 1915+105 and a Revised Estimate of its Black Hole Mass
Using the Very Long Baseline Array, we have measured a trigonometric parallax
for the micro quasar GRS 1915+105, which contains a black hole and a K-giant
companion. This yields a direct distance estimate of 8.6 (+2.0,-1.6) kpc and a
revised estimate for the mass of the black hole of 12.4 (+2.0,-1.8) Msun. GRS
1915+105 is at about the same distance as some HII regions and water masers
associated with high-mass star formation in the Sagittarius spiral arm of the
Galaxy. The absolute proper motion of GRS 1915+105 is -3.19 +/- 0.03 mas/y and
-6.24 +/- 0.05 mas/y toward the east and north, respectively, which corresponds
to a modest peculiar speed of 22 +/-24 km/s at the parallax distance,
suggesting that the binary did not receive a large velocity kick when the black
hole formed. On one observational epoch, GRS 1915+105 displayed superluminal
motion along the direction of its approaching jet. Considering previous
observations of jet motions, the jet in GRS 1915+105 can be modeled with a jet
inclination to the line of sight of 60 +/- 5 deg and a variable flow speed
between 0.65c and 0.81c, which possibly indicates deceleration of the jet at
distances from the black hole >2000 AU. Finally, using our measurements of
distance and estimates of black hole mass and inclination, we provisionally
confirm our earlier result that the black hole is spinning very rapidly.Comment: 20 pages; 2 tables; 6 figure
Hawking-like emission in kink-soliton escape from a potential well.
The escape of solitons over a potential barrier is analysed within the framework of a nonlinear Klein–Gordon equation. It is shown that the creation of a kink–antikink pair near the barrier through an internal mode instability can be followed by escape of the kink in a process analogous to Hawking radiation. These results have important implications in a wider context, including stochastic resonance and ratchet systems, which are also discussed
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