384 research outputs found
Beyond the welcoming rhetoric: Hospitality as a principle of care for the displaced
The concept of hospitality has seen a strong revival in the literature on migration and among pro-migrant activists. However, its meaning, its scope, and the nature of the obligations it imposes remain contested. Open-border advocates see hospitality as a moral principle of openness that should trump nationalist arguments for closure, while nationalists tap into the home analogy and compare the state to a house-hold welcoming migrants as guests, whose stay should accordingly be temporary and marked by gratitude. Some consider hospitality a virtue that should translate into a personal responsibility to open oneâs doors to others, while some politicise the concept to apply it to borders and state duties towards migrants. This paper unpacks the various literal and metaphorical meanings of the age-old concept of hospitality, and the shortcomings of its rhetorical uses. It then argues for a conception of hospitality as a principle of care towards displaced people. Hospital-ity alleviates ordinary obstacles that prevent a functional life in a new environment and allows for practices. It is triggered by the vulnerability created by displacement, i.e., the material, emotional and political harms resulting from the loss of a home
Sacred welcomes: How religious reasons, structures, and interactions shape refugee advocacy and settlement
This special section explores the role of religious ideas and religious associations in shaping the response of states and non-state actors to asylum-seekers and refugees. It brings together insights from anthropology, law, history, and political theory to enrich our understanding of how religious values and resources are mobilized to respond to refugees and to circumvent usual narratives of secularization. Examining these questions within multicultural African, European, and North American contexts, the special section argues that religion provides moral reasons and structural support to welcome and resettle refugees, and constitutes a framework of analysis to better understand the social, legal, and political dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in contexts of migration
Barrier effect to charge injection in polyethylene by silver nanoparticles containing plasma polymer composites investigated by conductivity measurements
International audienceMain challenge in the development of HVDC polymeric insulation is to avoid the accumulation of space charge under electrical and/or thermal stresses which can significantly reduce the component reliability. Injection mitigation in low density polyethylene (LDPE) films by plasma processed silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) containing plasma polymer composites was recently reported through space charge measurements. The barrier effect has been assigned to the creation of permanent deep traps by introducing silver nanoparticles near the polyethylene surface. To substantiate the above findings, current measurements realized on composite layers and on polyethylene films with and without silver nanoparticles have been carried out. It is shown that in the presence of AgNPs in organosilicon layer, polarization/depolarization currents are one order of magnitude lower, transient currents decay faster and are not sensitive to multiple polarization. This can be understood if the AgNPs in the layer are acting as deep traps mitigating further injection with the result to decrease the apparent conductivity of the layer and to increase its breakdown strength. Similar trend is observed in polyethylene tailored by composite layer. These results strengthen the interpretation of the barrier effect based on space charge stabilized by deep traps formed by the AgNPs
Fluorescent oxide nanoparticles adapted to active tips for near-field optics
We present a new kind of fluorescent oxide nanoparticles with properties well
suited to active-tip based near-field optics. These particles with an average
diameter in the range 5-10 nm are produced by Low Energy Cluster Beam
Deposition (LECBD) from a YAG:Ce3+ target. They are studied by transmission
electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), classical
photoluminescence, cathodoluminescence and near-field scanning optical
microscopy (NSOM). Particles of extreme photo-stability as small as 10 nm in
size are observed. These emitters are validated as building blocks of active
NSOM tips by coating a standard optical tip with a 10 nm thick layer of
YAG:Ce3+ particles directly in the LECBD reactor and by subsequently performing
NSOM imaging of test surfaces.Comment: Changes made following Referee's comments; added references; one
added figure. See story on this article at:
http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/3606
Detection of the tSZ effect with the NIKA camera
We present the first detection of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect
from a cluster of galaxies performed with a KIDs (Kinetic Inductance Detectors)
based instrument. The tSZ effect is a distortion of the black body CMB (Cosmic
Microwave Background) spectrum produced by the inverse Compton interaction of
CMB photons with the hot electrons of the ionized intra-cluster medium. The
massive, intermediate redshift cluster RX J1347.5-1145 has been observed using
NIKA (New IRAM KIDs arrays), a dual-band (140 and 240 GHz) mm-wave imaging
camera, which exploits two arrays of hundreds of KIDs: the resonant frequencies
of the superconducting resonators are shifted by mm-wave photons absorption.
This tSZ cluster observation demonstrates the potential of the next generation
NIKA2 instrument, being developed for the 30m telescope of IRAM, at Pico Veleta
(Spain). NIKA2 will have 1000 detectors at 140GHz and 2x2000 detectors at
240GHz, providing in that band also a measurement of the linear polarization.
NIKA2 will be commissioned in 2015.Comment: SF2A Proceedings 201
High resolution SZ observations at the IRAM 30-m telescope with NIKA
High resolution observations of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect
are necessary to allow the use of clusters of galaxies as a probe for large
scale structures at high redshifts. With its high resolution and dual-band
capability at millimeter wavelengths, the NIKA camera can play a significant
role in this context. NIKA is based on newly developed Kinetic Inductance
Detectors (KIDs) and operates at the IRAM 30m telescope, Pico Veleta, Spain. In
this paper, we give the status of the NIKA camera, focussing on the KID
technology. We then present observations of three galaxy clusters: RX
J1347.5-1145 as a demonstrator of the NIKA capabilities and the recent
observations of CL J1226.9+3332 (z = 0.89) and MACS J0717.5+3745 (z = 0.55). We
also discuss prospects for the final NIKA2 camera, which will have a 6.5
arcminute field of view with about 5000 detectors in two bands at 150 and 260
GHz
Photoluminescent diamond nanoparticles for cell labeling: study of the uptake mechanism in mammalian cells
Diamond nanoparticles (nanodiamonds) have been recently proposed as new
labels for cellular imaging. For small nanodiamonds (size <40 nm) resonant
laser scattering and Raman scattering cross-sections are too small to allow
single nanoparticle observation. Nanodiamonds can however be rendered
photoluminescent with a perfect photostability at room temperature. Such a
remarkable property allows easier single-particle tracking over long
time-scales. In this work we use photoluminescent nanodiamonds of size <50 nm
for intracellular labeling and investigate the mechanism of their uptake by
living cells . By blocking selectively different uptake processes we show that
nanodiamonds enter cells mainly by endocytosis and converging data indicate
that it is clathrin mediated. We also examine nanodiamonds intracellular
localization in endocytic vesicles using immunofluorescence and transmission
electron microscopy. We find a high degree of colocalization between vesicles
and the biggest nanoparticles or aggregates, while the smallest particles
appear free in the cytosol. Our results pave the way for the use of
photoluminescent nanodiamonds in targeted intracellular labeling or biomolecule
deliver
High-resolution tSZ cartography of clusters of galaxies with NIKA at the IRAM 30-m telescope
The thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (tSZ) is a powerful probe to study
clusters of galaxies and is complementary with respect to X-ray, lensing or
optical observations. Previous arcmin resolution tSZ observations ({\it e.g.}
SPT, ACT and Planck) only enabled detailed studies of the intra-cluster medium
morphology for low redshift clusters (). Thus, the development of
precision cosmology with clusters requires high angular resolution observations
to extend the understanding of galaxy cluster towards high redshift. NIKA2 is a
wide-field (6.5 arcmin field of view) dual-band camera, operated at and containing KID (Kinetic Inductance Detectors), designed to
observe the millimeter sky at 150 and 260 GHz, with an angular resolution of 18
and 12 arcsec respectively. The NIKA2 camera has been installed on the IRAM
30-m telescope (Pico Veleta, Spain) in September 2015. The NIKA2 tSZ
observation program will allow us to observe a large sample of clusters (50) at
redshift ranging between 0.5 and 1. As a pathfinder for NIKA2, several clusters
of galaxies have been observed at the IRAM 30-m telescope with the NIKA
prototype to cover the various configurations and observation conditions
expected for NIKA2.Comment: Proceedings of the 28th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics,
Geneva, Switzerland, December 13-18, 201
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