Stellar Wind Accretion in GX301-2: Evidence for a High-density Stream

The X-ray binary system GX301-2 consists of a neutron star in an eccentric orbit accreting from the massive early-type star WRAY 977. It has previously been shown that the X-ray orbital light curve is consistent with existence of a gas stream flowing out from Wray 977 in addition to its strong stellar wind. Here, X-ray monitoring observations by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE)/ All-Sky-Monitor (ASM) and pointed observations by the RXTE/ Proportional Counter Array (PCA) over the past decade are analyzed. We analyze both the flux and column density dependence on orbital phase. The wind and stream dynamics are calculated for various system inclinations, companion rotation rates and wind velocities, as well as parametrized by the stream width and density. These calculations are used as inputs to determine both the expected accretion luminosity and the column density along the line-of-sight to the neutron star. The model luminosity and column density are compared to observed flux and column density vs. orbital phase, to constrain the properties of the stellar wind and the gas stream. We find that the change between bright and medium intensity levels is primarily due to decreased mass loss in the stellar wind, but the change between medium and dim intensity levels is primarily due to decreased stream density. The mass-loss rate in the stream exceeds that in the stellar wind by a factor of 2.5. The quality of the model fits is significantly better for lower inclinations, favoring a mass for WRAY 977 of 53 to 62 Msun.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

Radio Spectrum and Distance of the SNR HB9

New images are presented of the supernova remnant (SNR) HB9 based on 408 MHz and 1420 MHz continuum emission and HI-line emission data of the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey (CGPS) by the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO). Two methods of spectral index analysis for HB9 are presented and compared: one removes compact sources at both frequencies but is limited to the resolution of the 408 MHz image; the other removes compact sources only in the 1420 MHz image so is effective at higher spatial resolution. The second allows more detailed spectral index variation studies than the first. The two T-T plot methods and new integrated flux densities give spectral index (S_{\nu}\propto\nu^{-alpha}) for the whole of HB9 of 0.48+-0.03; and 0.47+-0.06, respectively. These are lower than previous spectral index for HB9 (alpha=0.61). Spatial variations of spectral index are derived using the second method and yield a steeper spectral index for interior regions than for the rim. This can be explained by a standard curved interstellar electron energy spectrum combined with lower interior magnetic field compared to that near the outer shock, which results in a larger proportion of steep spectrum emission for lines-of-sight through the central body of the SNR. HI observations show structures probably associated with the SNR in the radial velocity range -3 to -9 km/s and suggest a distance of 0.8+-0.4 kpc for the SNR. This is consistent with the distance to the radio pulsar 0458+46, offset from the center of HB9 by 23'. However the pulsar spindown and kinematic ages are significantly greater than estimates of the SNR age: the Sedov age for HB9 is 6600 yr and the evaporative cloud model yields ages of 4000-7,000 yr.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, accepted by A&

Motivational factors and student attitudes in language specific classes with advanced learners of German

This article reports on questionnaire results related to motivational factors and student attitudes towards an international bilingual email project between law and business students in England and Germany. Both groups discussed subject-specific content. At the beginning and the end of the project, students filled in a questionnaire answering questions which were designed to elicit information about their motivation for studying a language in conjunction with their main degree courses in business and law. The term motivation and its use in recent publications is examined and particular emphasis is placed on motivational factors which might be connected to the use of information technology. The study focuses on the results gained from the English groups

‘You cannot show me’: Two Tudor Coronation Processions, Shakespeare’s King Henry VIII and the Staging of Anne Boleyn

In this paper, Leahy argues that Shakespeare’s portrayal of Anne Boleyn in King Henry VIII has traditionally been regarded as one that does not take account of her ambiguous historical position, and he goes on to examine this portrayal in the light of her own coronation procession, as well as her representation in the coronation procession of her daughter, Elizabeth. These representations of Boleyn are then set against the famous letter written by Sir Henry Wotton to describe the burning down of the Globe Theatre during a production of King Henry VIII in 1613. Set within such a context, Leahy argues that the representation of Anne in the play is not what it has traditionally been made out to be, but demonstrates the difficulties inherent in staging such a problematic figure

Bilingual negotiation via e-mail: an international project

This article examines selective results of an international e-mail project between 24 students studying law with German (in England) and English (in Germany).1 It refers to outcomes as manifested in the students' written reports and oral assessments, but concentrates on samples of bilingual negotiation between partners as expressed in their e-mails. The article focuses on the design of the project and the socio-cultural environment in which it is situated. Taking into account the relevant research in computer-mediated communication, the design of the project follows two primary objectives: the acquisition of (1) language and (2) content as part of a task-based e-mail exchange

‘Thy Hunger-Starved Men’: Shakespeare’s Henry plays and the contemporary lot of the common soldier

Between 1589 and 1599 Shakespeare wrote six Henry plays, two on the reign of Henry IV, one on that of Henry V and three covering that of Henry VI. An important preoccupation, which runs through all of these plays, is the conditions in which common soldiers lived. The years leading up to the appearance of the first of the plays, 1 Henry VI, saw many outbreaks of discontentment on the part of the soldiers in Elizabeth I’s army. The mass recruitment of troops for Ireland in the 1590s increased such discontentment. This paper examines the contemporary lot of the common soldiers, and shows that Shakespeare’s interest in their situation was one that articulated pervasive, early modern anxieties

“All would be royal”: The effacement of disunity in Shakespeare’s Henry V

This paper seizes on the unresolved moment of conflict between Henry and the common soldier Williams in Shakespeare's Henry V to demonstrate the ways in which traditional criticism has occluded dissent and co-opted the common soldier on behalf of a perceived empathy towards the king on the part of the author. A look at documented evidence shows that Shakespeare was articulating a common reality in this unresolved moment, one which dsiplays rather than effaces contemporary discontent with the lot of the ordinary soldier

Propaganda or a record of events? Richard Mulcaster’s the passage of our most Drad Soveraigne Lady Quene Elyzabeth through the Citie of London Westminster the daye before her coronacion

The pamphlet written by Richard Mulcaster to commemorate the accession of Queen Elizabeth I to the throne, The Passage Of Our Most Drad Soveraigne Lady Quene Elyzabeth Through The Citie Of London To Westminster The Daye Before Her Coronacion, is central to our contemporary understanding of representations of the Queen and of this kind of early modern spectacle. This is demonstrated by the fact that it is a text that is, and has been, constantly used in studies of Elizabeth’s reign, her personality and the nature of spectacle itself. This use began with its appearance in Holinshed’s Chronicle, and the pamphlet continues to be referred to in most contemporary critical and historical studies. This paper questions whether, given its widespread use as both a historical and critical document, it is, in fact, reliable. The research presented here shows that it was something else entirely, and should be treated as such. In this sense, this document is seen to participate in what Walter Benjamin has described as a “triumphal procession”, whereby it has been transmitted throughout history in a normative fashion, being endlessly reproduced in a manner characterised by focusing upon the dominant figure of Elizabeth, occluding its status as a propagandist text

"For pure need": Violence, terror and the common people in Henry VI, part 2

This paper looks at representations of the common people in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2 and shows how they were subject to the continual threat of violence and terror in Elziabethan society