23,717 research outputs found
A search for magnetic fields on central stars in planetary nebulae
One of the possible mechanisms responsible for the panoply of shapes in
planetary nebulae is the presence of magnetic fields that drive the ejection of
ionized material during the proto-planetary nebula phase. Therefore, detecting
magnetic fields in such objects is of key importance for understanding their
dynamics. Still, magnetic fields have not been detected using polarimetry in
the central stars of planetary nebulae. Circularly polarized light spectra have
been obtained with the Focal Reducer and Low Dispersion Spectrograph at the
Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory and the Intermediate
dispersion Spectrograph and Imaging System at the William Herschel Telescope.
Nineteen planetary nebulae spanning very different morphology and evolutionary
stages have been selected. Most of central stars have been observed at
different rotation phases to point out evidence of magnetic variability. In
this paper, we present the result of two observational campaigns aimed to
detect and measure the magnetic field in the central stars of planetary nebulae
on the basis of low resolution spectropolarimetry. In the limit of the adopted
method, we can state that large scale fields of kG order are not hosted on the
central star of planetary nebulae.Comment: Paper accepted to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics on
20/01/201
Shear-melting of a hexagonal columnar crystal by proliferation of dislocations
A hexagonal columnar crystal undergoes a shear-melting transition above a
critical shear rate or stress. We combine the analysis of the shear-thinning
regime below the melting with that of synchrotron X-ray scattering data under
shear and propose the melting to be due to a proliferation of dislocations,
whose density is determined by both techniques to vary as a power law of the
shear rate with a 2/3 exponent, as expected for a creep model of crystalline
solids. Moreover, our data suggest the existence under shear of a line hexatic
phase, between the columnar crystal and the liquid phase
Modelação e Previsão do fluxo de Turismo em Portugal: Perspetivas para uma gestão estratégica
Purpose: The increase of Tourism in Portugal, as well as the companies related to it, it is necessary to analyze and forecast the flow of tourists so that the management of the business is endowed with a competitive strategy. Given the changes in the 'recent' dynamics of tourism data, this article discusses the contributions and limitations of using classical forecasting methodologies, when applied to this sector, namely to the number of overnight stays in tourist accommodation establishments in Portugal.
Methodology: The study focuses on the modeling and forecasting of time series related to the number of monthly overnight stays, in tourist accommodation establishments in Portugal, between January 2002 and March 2022. As a result of some suggestions contained in the scientific literature, it was resorted the Exponential Smoothing (ETS) methodologies. In computational terms, we used the Jupyter computational environment, with the Python programming language (version 3.7.3).
Findings: The results were presented and discussed through the analysis of two time series: (1) Total number of overnight stays in tourist accommodation establishments in Portugal – Total series; (2) Number of overnight stays spent by residents in Portugal in tourist accommodation establishments in Portugal – Residents series. Overall, from the analysis of the time series, there was a growth of Tourism in Portugal since 2002, with a visible drop in 2020, due to the pandemic situation. Regarding the ETS methodologies used in the modeling and forecasting, although they corresponded positively in the forecast of the Total series (with some error), the same did not happen in the Residents series. In this series, due to the recent dynamics that are completely atypical, it appears that the ETS methodologies, potentially more adequate, do not converge, in general. However, it is important to mention that it was the overnight stays of residents that, in the pandemic period, dictated the dynamics present in the Total series.
Research limitations: The literature points to a good performance of ETS methodologies in time series with characteristics present in the series under study (with the presence of a trend cycle and clear seasonality), a fact that motivated its choice. However, the difficulty of these methodologies in dealing with abrupt breaks in the data history was evident in this study. Despite how adjusted the forecasts are, the highlight is the non-convergence of some models that could be better adjusted to the historical data. In this sense, it is necessary to search for alternative forecasting methodologies, where Machine Learning methodologies, namely Deep Learning (Deep Neural Networks) have been pointed out in the scientific literature as quite promising. This will be the next step of the investigation.
Originality: Given the importance that Tourism has both in the economic and social dimension of Portugal, and being a very volatile and constantly changing sector, it is imperative to define a strategy for future action to understand how, internally, the sector can define policies to avoid situations of external dependence. In addition to a current analysis of the data history, resulting from an atypical period of pandemic, we need to critically evaluate the predictive capacity of (classical) econometric models, which can be used by the industry related to tourism. This not only contributes to a better understanding of the phenomenon under study, but also constitutes a tool to support decision-making.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Collective excitation of a Bose-Einstein condensate by modulation of the atomic scattering length
We excite the lowest-lying quadrupole mode of a Bose-Einstein condensate by
modulating the atomic scattering length via a Feshbach resonance. Excitation
occurs at various modulation frequencies, and resonances located at the natural
quadrupole frequency of the condensate and at the first harmonic are observed.
We also investigate the amplitude of the excited mode as a function of
modulation depth. Numerical simulations based on a variational calculation
agree with our experimental results and provide insight into the observed
behavior.Comment: Submitted to PR
Acute Myocardial Infarction Associated with Anomalous Origin of Coronary Arteries (a Rare Case of Origin of the Left Coronary Artery From the Ostium of the Right Coronary Artery)
A origem da artéria coronária esquerda a
partir do ostio ou do segmento proximal da
artéria coronária direita é uma anomalia
congénita rara (0,03 a 0,4%), e um achado
angiográfico pouco comum (0,6 a 1,3%)
(artéria coronária única).
A anomalia congénita coronária mais
frequente é a origem separada da artéria
descendente anterior e da artéria circunflexa
no seio coronário esquerdo.
A segunda anomalia mais comum é a origem
da artéria circunflexa no seio coronário direito.
Descrevemos um caso de enfarte agudo do
miocárdio com localização infero lateral, que
evoluiu com choque cardiogénico e disfunção
ventricular esquerda graves, após angioplastia primária de oclusão proximal da artéria coronária direita, e em que não foi possÃvel cateterizar a artéria coronária esquerda por inexistência de ostio no seio coronário esquerdo.
Destaca-se o papel importante das novas
técnicas de imagem, nomeadamente da
angio-TC das coronárias, na identificação das
anomalias congénitas das artérias coronárias
Air quality in the North of Portugal.
Air pollution in urban areas is a major topic of concern in many large cities. In Portugal, a monitoring
network measures relevant pollutants for zones and agglomerations. The measurements of two zones and four
agglomerations located in the North of Portugal were used to diagnose the pollution level and the relative air
quality. It was found that, despite the need for densification of the network of monitoring stations, ozone (O3)
and particulate matter (PM10) reach significant levels in a number of days during the year. Some
recommendations are made regarding the inclusion of planning and mitigation actions in the Regional and
Municipal Master Plan
The platinum nuclei: concealed configuration mixing and shape coexistence
The role of configuration mixing in the Pt region is investigated. For this
chain of isotopes, the nature of the ground state changes smoothly, being
spherical around mass and and deformed around the
mid-shell N=104 region. This has a dramatic effect on the systematics of the
energy spectra as compared to the systematics in the Pb and Hg nuclei.
Interacting Boson Model with configuration mixing calculations are presented
for gyromagnetic factors, -decay hindrance factors, and isotope shifts.
The necessity of incorporating intruder configurations to obtain an accurate
description of the latter properties becomes evident.Comment: Accepted in Physical Review
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