1,278 research outputs found
Inorganic chemical oxygen demand of re-suspended sediments in a bar-built lagoon
Rapid dissolved oxygen (DO) depletion, caused by inorganic chemical oxygen demand (COD) of re-suspended sediment compounds, has been documented in few studies, yet fish kills occur often from the process. Pescadero Lagoon, California, USA, a bar-built lagoon that suffers annual fish kills caused by rapid mixing-induced hypoxia upon sandbar breach, was studied to investigate the potential for COD of re-suspended sediment to deplete oxygen. In-situ chamber mixing trials demonstrated that re-suspended sediment can exert powerful oxygen demand on receiving waters. Surface DO depletion upon bar breach was too severe to be explained solely by mixing of the anoxic hypolimnion into the water column, and the depletion was too rapid to be attributed to biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), making COD of re-suspended sediment the likely direct cause. Sedimentous iron and sulfur compounds that exert COD are reduced under anoxic conditions created by water column stratification and BOD of heterotrophic bacteria
Three-Omega Thermal-Conductivity Measurements with Curved Heater Geometries
The three-omega method, a powerful technique to measure the thermal
conductivity of nanometer-thick films and the interfaces between them, has
historically employed straight conductive wires to act as both heaters and
thermometers. When investigating stochastically prepared samples such as
two-dimensional materials and nanomembranes, residue and excess material can
make it difficult to fit the required millimeter-long straight wire on the
sample surface. There are currently no available criteria for how diverting
three-omega heater wires around obstacles affects the validity of the thermal
measurement. In this Letter, we quantify the effect of wire curvature by
performing three-omega experiments with a wide range of frequencies using both
curved and straight heater geometries on SiO/Si samples. When the heating
wire is curved, we find that the measured Si substrate thermal conductivity
changes by only 0.2%. Similarly, we find that wire curvature has no significant
effect on the determination of the thermal resistance of a 65 nm SiO
layer, even for the sharpest corners considered here, for which the largest
measured ratio of the thermal penetration depth of the applied thermal wave to
radius of curvature of the heating wire is 4.3. This result provides useful
design criteria for three-omega experiments by setting a lower bound for the
maximum ratio of thermal penetration depth to wire radius of curvature.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Long Phonon Mean Free Paths Observed in Cross-plane Thermal-Conductivity Measurements of Exfoliated Hexagonal Boron Nitride
Sub-micron-thick layers of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) exhibit high
in-plane thermal conductivity, useful optical properties, and serve as
dielectric encapsulation layers with low electrostatic inhomogeneity for
graphene devices. Despite the promising applications of hBN as a heat spreader,
the thickness dependence of the cross-plane thermal conductivity is not known,
and the cross-plane phonon mean free paths in hBN have not been measured. We
measure the cross-plane thermal conductivity of hBN flakes exfoliated from bulk
crystals. We find that the thermal conductivity is extremely sensitive to film
thickness. We measure a forty-fold increase in the cross-plane thermal
conductivity between 7 nm and 585 nm flakes at 295 K. We attribute the large
increase in thermal conductivity with increasing thickness to contributions
from phonons with long mean free paths (MFPs), spanning many hundreds of
nanometers in the thickest flakes. When planar twist interfaces are introduced
into the crystal by mechanically stacking multiple thin flakes, the cross-plane
thermal conductivity of the stack is found to be a factor of seven below that
of individual flakes with similar total thickness, thus providing strong
evidence that phonon scattering at twist boundaries limits the maximum phonon
MFPs. These results have important implications for hBN integration in
nanoelectronics and improve our understanding of thermal transport in
two-dimensional materials.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Optimization of double pulse pumping for Ni-like Sm x-ray lasers
We report a systematic study of double pulse pumping of the Ni-like Sm x-ray laser at 73 Angstrom, currently the shortest wavelength saturated x-ray laser. It is found that the Sm x-ray laser output can change by orders of magnitude when the intensity ratio of the pumping pulses and their relative delay are varied. Optimum pumping conditions are found and interpreted in terms of a simple model. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)07102-9]
Rotational velocities of the giants in symbiotic stars: III. Evidence of fast rotation in S-type symbiotics
We have measured the projected rotational velocities (vsini) in a number of
symbiotic stars and M giants using high resolution spectroscopic observations.
On the basis of our measurements and data from the literature, we compare the
rotation of mass-donors in symbiotics with vsini of field giants and find that:
(1) the K giants in S-type symbiotics rotate at vsini>4.5 km/s, which is 2-4
times faster than the field K giants;
(2) the M giants in S-type symbiotics rotate on average 1.5 times faster than
the field M giants. Statistical tests show that these differences are highly
significant: p-value < 0.001 in the spectral type bins K2III-K5III,
M0III-M6III, and M2III-M5III;
(3) our new observations of D'-type symbiotics also confirm that they are
fast rotators.
As a result of the rapid rotation, the cool giants in symbiotics should have
3-30 times larger mass loss rates. Our results suggest also that bipolar
ejections in symbiotics seem to happen in objects where the mass donors rotate
faster than the orbital period.
All spectra used in our series of papers can be obtained upon request from
the authors.Comment: MNRAS (accepted), 7 pages, 5 figure
Evidence of Asymmetry in SN 2007rt, a Type IIn Supernova
An optical photometric and spectroscopic analysis of the slowly-evolving Type
IIn SN2007rt is presented, covering a duration of 481 days after discovery. Its
earliest spectrum, taken approximately 100 days after the explosion epoch,
indicates the presence of a dense circumstellar medium, with which the
supernova ejecta is interacting. This is supported by the slowly-evolving light
curve. A notable feature in the spectrum of SN 2007rt is the presence of a
broad He I 5875 line, not usually detected in Type IIn supernovae. This may
imply that the progenitor star has a high He/H ratio, having shed a significant
portion of its hydrogen shell via mass-loss. An intermediate resolution
spectrum reveals a narrow Halpha P-Cygni profile, the absorption component of
which has a width of 128 km/s. This slow velocity suggests that the progenitor
of SN 2007rt recently underwent mass-loss with wind speeds comparable to the
lower limits of those detected in luminous blue variables. Asymmetries in the
line profiles of H and He at early phases bears some resemblance to
double-peaked features observed in a number of Ib/c spectra. These asymmetries
may be indicative of an asymmetric or bipolar outflow or alternatively dust
formation in the fast expanding ejecta. In addition, the late time spectrum, at
over 240 days post-explosion, shows clear evidence for the presence of newly
formed dust.Comment: Submitted to A&A on 4/2/2009. Accepted by A&A on 17/5/2009.15 pages
plus 3 pages of online materia
Services just for men? Insights from a national study of the well men services pilots.
Men continue to have a lower life expectancy in most countries compared to women. Explanations of this gendered health inequality tend to focus on male risk taking, unhealthy lifestyle choices and resistance to seeking help from health services. In the period 2005-2008 the Scottish Government funded a nationwide community health promotion programme aimed at improving men's health, called Well Men Service Pilots (henceforth WMS)
On metal-deficient barium stars and their link with yellow symbiotic stars
This paper addresses the question of why metal-deficient barium stars are not
yellow symbiotic stars (YSyS). Samples of (suspected) metal-deficient barium
(mdBa) stars and YSyS have been collected from the literature, and their
properties reviewed. It appears in particular that the barium nature of the
suspected mdBa stars needs to be ascertained by detailed abundance analyses.
Abundances are therefore derived for two of them, HD 139409 and HD 148897,
which reveal that HD 148897 should not be considered a barium star. HD 139409
is a mild barium star, with overabundances observed only for elements belonging
to the first s-process peak (Y and Zr). The evidence for binarity among mdBa
stars is then reviewed, using three different methods: (i) radial-velocity
variations (from CORAVEL observations), (ii) Hipparcos astrometric data, and
(iii) a method based on the comparison between the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 proper
motions. A first-time orbit is obtained for HIP 55852, whereas evidence for the
(so far unknown) binary nature of HIP 34795, HIP 76605, HIP 97874 and HIP
107478 is presented. Two stars with no evidence for binarity whatsoever (HIP
58596 and BD +3 2688) are candidates low-metallicity thermally-pulsing
asymptotic giant branch stars, as inferred from their large luminosities. The
reason why mdBa stars are not YSyS is suggested to lie in their different
orbital period distributions: mdBa stars have on average longer orbital periods
than YSyS, and hence their companion accretes matter at a lower rate, for a
given mass loss rate of the giant star. The definite validation of this
explanation should nevertheless await the determination of the orbital periods
for the many mdBa stars still lacking periods, in order to make the comparison
more significant.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press; 16 pages, 14 figures; also
available at http://www.astro.ulb.ac.be/Html/ps.html#PR
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