Spectroscopy and Time Variability of Absorption Lines in the Direction of the Vela Supernova Remnant

We present high resolution (R~75,000), high signal-to-noise (S/N~100) Ca II $\lambda$3933.663 and Na I $\lambda\lambda$5889.951, 5895.924 spectra of 68 stars in the direction of the Vela supernova remnant. The spectra comprise the most complete high resolution, high S/N, optical survey of early type stars in this region of the sky. A subset of the sight lines has been observed at multiple epochs, 1993/1994 and 1996. Of the thirteen stars observed twice, seven have spectra revealing changes in the equivalent width and/or velocity structure of lines, most of which arise from remnant gas. Such time variability has been reported previously for the sight lines towards HD 72089 and HD 72997 by Danks & Sembach (1995) and for HD 72127 by Hobbs et al. (1991). We have confirmed the ongoing time variability of these spectra and present new evidence of variability in the spectra of HD 73658, HD 74455, HD 75309 and HD 75821. We have tabulated Na I and Ca II absorption line information for the sight lines in our sample to serve as a benchmark for further investigations of the dynamics and evolution of the Vela SNR.Comment: 8 pages of text, 4 tables, 16 pages of figures Accepted and to be published in ApJ

Nautilus, Inc.: Dealing With a Lone Wolf in the Sales Team

Headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, Nautilus Inc. is a global fitness products company providing innovative, quality solutions to help people achieve a healthy lifestyle. With a brand portfolio including Nautilus®, Bowflex®, Schwinn®, and Universal®, Nautilus markets innovative fitness products through direct and retail channels (Bean 2013).” Nautilus, Inc. has a strong sales organization with remarkably low turnover of salespeople. They take a consultative approach to sales. Among the group, however, is a “lone wolf” who generally makes transactional sales rather than being consultative and focuses on her individual results rather than the objectives of the company. At the same time, she has the top sales results of the group. She also has an outstanding work ethic and works very hard. She is good at multi-tasking and never takes breaks between calls to rest or socialize with co-workers. There are several potential issues in this case. The objective is to determine how to optimize the effectiveness of the sales organization. Part of that is determining how to deal with the lone wolf. How do her methods and results affect the rest of the sales team? Do her results justify her methods, or is it more important to have everyone following the company direction of consultative selling

Kinetic Study of the Chelate Ligand Unwrapping Reactions of Sterically Hindered Gold (III) Complexes

The complexes [Au(Et2dien_H)Br]PF6, [AU(Me4dien_H)Br]Pf6, and [Au(Et3dien_H)Br]PF6 have been sunthesized and a kinetic study of their conjugate acids performed. This paper centers on the direct replacement of the tridentate ligang on the complex by bromide ion

Psalm Lxxvi and Othlr Psalms for the Feast of Tabernacles

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The Structure of the Homunculus: I. Shape and Latitude Dependence from H2 and [Fe II] Velocity Maps of Eta Carinae

High resolution long-slit spectra obtained with the Phoenix spectrograph on Gemini South provide our most accurate probe of the three dimensional structure of the Homunculus around eta Car. The new near-infrared spectra dramatically confirm the double-shell structure inferred previously from thermal dust emission, resolving the nebula into a very thin outer shell seen in H2 21218, and a warmer, thicker inner layer seen in [Fe II] 16435. The thin H2 skin hints that the most important mass loss during the 19th century eruption had a very short duration of less than 5 yr. H2 emission traces the majority of the mass in the nebula, and has an average density of order 10^6.5 cm-3. This emission, in turn, yields our first definitive picture of the exact shape of the nebula, plus a distance of 2350pm50 pc and an inclination angle of 41deg (the polar axis is tilted 49deg from the plane of the sky). The distribution of the H2 emission provides the first measure of the latitude dependence of the speed, mass loss, and kinetic energy associated with eta Car's 19th century explosion. Almost 75 percent of the total mass and more than 90 percent of the kinetic energy in the ejecta were released at high latitudes. This rules out a model for the bipolar shape wherein an otherwise spherical explosion was pinched at the waist by a circumstellar torus. Also, the ejecta could not have been deflected toward polar trajectories by a companion star, since the kinetic energy of the polar ejecta is greater than the binding energy of the putative binary system. Instead, most of the mass appears to have been directed poleward by the explosion itself. [abridged]Comment: 25 pages, figs 2 and 3 in color. Accepted by Ap

Modeling RR Tel through the Evolution of the Spectra

We investigate the evolution of RR Tel after the outburst by fitting the emission spectra in two epochs. The first one (1978) is characterized by large fluctuations in the light curve and the second one (1993) by the slow fading trend. In the frame of a colliding wind model two shocks are present: the reverse shock propagates in the direction of the white dwarf and the other one expands towards or beyond the giant. The results of our modeling show that in 1993 the expanding shock has overcome the system and is propagating in the nearby ISM. The large fluctuations observed in the 1978 light curve result from line intensity rather than from continuum variation. These variations are explained by fragmentation of matter at the time of head-on collision of the winds from the two stars. A high velocity (500 km/s) wind component is revealed from the fit of the SED of the continuum in the X-ray range in 1978, but is quite unobservable in the line profiles. The geometrical thickness of the emitting clumps is the critical parameter which can explain the short time scale variabilities of the spectrum and the trend of slow line intensity decrease.Comment: 26 pages, LaTeX (including 5 Tables) + 6 PostScript figures. To appear in "The Astrophysical Journal

High resolution spectroscopy of symbiotic stars. VI. Orbital and stellar parameters for AR Pav

We present new dynamical parameters of the AR Pav binary system. Ourobservations consist of a series of high resolution optical/NIR spectra from which we derive the radial velocity curve of the red giant as well as its rotation velocity. Assuming co-rotation, we determine the stellar radius (130 R_solar) of the red giant. Based on this we derive the red giant's luminosity and mass (2.0 M_solar) as well as the distance of the system (4.9 kpc). The binary mass function finally yields the companion's mass (0.75 M_solar) and the binary separation (1.95 AU). We find that the red giant does not fill its Roche lobe. We review the radial velocity data of Thackeray and Hutchings (1974), and compare it with our red giant's orbit. We find that their RV curves of the blue absorption system and the permitted emission lines are in anti-phase with the red giant, and that the forbidden emission lines are shifted by a quarter of a period. The blue absorptions and the permitted emission lines are associated with the hot companion but not in a straightforward way. The blue absorption system only tracks the hot component's orbital motion whilst it is in front of the red giant, whereas at other phases line blanketing by interbinary material leads to perturbations. We finally present UV light curves based on IUE archive spectra. We clearly detect eclipses in the continuum at all wavelengths. The eclipse light curves are unusual in that they show a slow and gradual decline prior to eclipse which is followed by a sharp increase after eclipse.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Biology and rearing of Ectomyeolis ceratoniae Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) carob moth, a pest of multiple crops in South Africa

Ectomyeolis ceratoniae Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), carob moth, is a pest of several crops in South Africa. A laboratory culture was established from field-collected larvae infesting mummified pecan nuts. Biological parameters of larvae reared on an artificial diet were measured. The insect goes through five larval instars, and the head capsule sizes of the five instars were determined to be 0.15 mm for the five instars, respectively. The insect was reared individually and communally in glass vials, the latter to develop a mass-rearing technique. Developmental time from neonate to pupa was significantly slower when larvae were individually reared (38.18 ±1.2 days) compared to when they were communally reared (24.6 ± 0.65 days). A microsporidian infection (Nosema sp.) was recorded in the culture, causing significantly (fy6 = 14.99, P = 0.0082) higher mortality of communally reared larvae (76.25 % ± 11.87) than individually reared larvae (24.9 % ± 9.6)