Insiders but Outsiders: The Struggle for the Inclusion of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in South Africa

This article examines the politics of urban refugees in South Africa. It shows that despite South Africa’s adoption of an encompassing rights-regarding legal framework that has the potential to be inclusive towards asylum seekers and refugees in the country and afford them basic human rights and protection, asylum seekers and refugees nonetheless remain “internally excluded,” predominantly as a result of practices adopted by a nationalist Department of Home Affairs to implement refugee legislation and by the UNHCR in its quest to prioritize the safeguarding of the institution of asylum. The article also shows how the adoption of these practices has been facilitated by a construction of asylum seekers and refugees as “bogus” claimants who have no place in post-apartheid South Africa.Cet article examine la politique sur les réfugiés urbains en Afrique du Sud. Il démontre que malgré l'adoption par l'Afrique du Sud d’un cadre juridique englobant le respect des droits, qui a le potentiel d’être inclusif envers les demandeurs d'asile et les réfugiés dans le pays et de leur assurer les droits fondamentaux et la protection, les demandeurs d'asile et les réfugiés restent néanmoins des « exclus internes », principalement en raison des pratiques adoptées dans l’implémentation de la législation concernant les réfugiés par un Département des affaires intérieures nationaliste, et par le HCR, dans sa quête de privilégier la sauvegarde de l'institution du droit d'asile. L'article démontre aussi comment l'adoption de ces pratiques a été facilitée par le fait de dépeindre les demandeurs d'asile et les réfugiés comme de « faux » demandeurs n'ayant pas leurs places dans une Afrique du Sud post apartheid

Genetic and morphological studies of Trichosirocalus species introduced to North America, Australia and New Zealand for the biological control of thistles

Trichosirocalus horridus sensu lato has been used as a biological control agent of several invasive thistles (Carduus spp., Cirsium spp. and Onopordum spp.) since 1974. It has been recognized as a single species until 2002, when it was split into three species based on morphological characters: T. horridus, Trichosirocalus briesei and Trichosirocalus mortadelo, each purported to have different host plants. Because of this taxonomic change, uncertainty exists as to which species were released in various countries; furthermore, there appears to be some exceptions to the purported host plants of some of these species. To resolve these questions, we conducted an integrative taxonomic study of the T. horridus species complex using molecular genetic and morphological analyses of specimens from three continents. Both mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and nuclear elongation factor 1α markers clearly indicate that there are only two distinct species, T. horridus and T. briesei. Molecular evidence, morphological analysis and host plant associations support the synonymy of T. horridus (Panzer, 1801) and T. mortadelo Alonso-Zarazaga & Sánchez-Ruiz, 2002. We determine that T. horridus has been established in Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia and that T. briesei is established in Australia. The former species was collected from Carduus, Cirsium and Onopordum spp. in the field, whereas the latter appears to be specific to Onopordum

Higher-Derivative Two-Dimensional Massive Fermion Theories

We consider the canonical quantization of a generalized two-dimensional massive fermion theory containing higher odd-order derivatives. The requirements of Lorentz invariance, hermiticity of the Hamiltonian and absence of tachyon excitations suffice to fix the mass term, which contains a derivative coupling. We show that the basic quantum excitations of a higher-derivative theory of order 2N+1 consist of a physical usual massive fermion, quantized with positive metric, plus 2N unphysical massless fermions, quantized with opposite metrics. The positive metric Hilbert subspace, which is isomorphic to the space of states of a massive free fermion theory, is selected by a subsidiary-like condition. Employing the standard bosonization scheme, the equivalent boson theory is derived. The results obtained are used as a guideline to discuss the solution of a theory including a current-current interaction.Comment: 23 pages, Late

Autonomous Driving in Highway Scenarios through Artificial Potential Fields and Model Predictive Control

An approach for automated driving in highway scenarios in the context of a two levels hierarchical architecture is proposed. In particular, we define suitable artificial potential functions (APF) combinations that can effectively handle the most relevant maneuvers of highway driving, such as speed and distance tracking, lane keeping, overtaking and returning. Parameters of the APF functions are dynamically tuned according to the acquired scenario. The defined APF are included in the cost function of a Model Predictive Control (MPC) control problem to generate the path trajectory. A behavioral logic described by a finite state machine (FSM), based on sensor acquired data and suitable dynamic conditions is defined to select the most appropriate maneuver to realize. Extensive simulation tests are introduced to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach

Evidenze altomedievali nelle valli dei fiumi Torto e Imera settentrionale

Si illustrano i risultati relativi al periodo altomedievale nell'area della Sicilia centro-settentrionale corrispondente ai bacini dei fiumi Torto e Imera settentrionale. I dati archeologici, frutto delle prospezioni qui condotte, testimoniano forme di popolamento rurale sparso, con poche eccezioni rappresentate da siti egemoni

Evidences for butterfly diagrams for spots on active late-type stars

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Centrifugally driven electrostatic instability in extragalactic jets

The stability problem of the rotation induced electrostatic wave in extragalactic jets is presented. Solving a set of equations describing dynamics of a relativistic plasma flow of AGN jets, an expression of the instability rate has been derived and analyzed for typical values of AGNs. The growth rate was studied versus the wave length and the inclination angle and it has been found that the instability process is much efficient with respect to the accretion disk evolution, indicating high efficiency of the instability.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Detection of differential rotation in psi Cap with profile analysis

We report detection of differential rotation on the F5 dwarf psi Cap using line profile analysis. The Fourier transform of both FeI lambda 5775 and SiI lambda 5772 are used to obtain a projected rotational velocity of v sini = (42+-1)km/s. Modelling of the Fourier transformed profiles shows that the combined effects of equatorial velocity, inclination and differential rotation dominate the line profile while limb darkening and turbulence velocities have only minor effects. Rigid rotation is shown to be inconsistent with the measured profiles. Modelling the line profiles analogous to solar differential rotation we find a differential rotation parameter of alpha = 0.15+-0.1 (15+-10%) comparable to the solar case. To our knowledge this is the first successful measurement of differential rotation through line profile analysis.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Letter

The Quantum Dynamics of Heterotic Vortex Strings

We study the quantum dynamics of vortex strings in N=1 SQCD with U(N_c) gauge group and N_f=N_c quarks. The classical worldsheet of the string has N=(0,2) supersymmetry, but this is broken by quantum effects. We show how the pattern of supersymmetry breaking and restoration on the worldsheet captures the quantum dynamics of the underlying 4d theory. We also find qualitative matching of the meson spectrum in 4d and the spectrum on the worldsheet.Comment: 13 page