Gyrokinetic Studies of Microinstabilities in the RFP

An analytic equilibrium, the Toroidal Bessel Function Model, is used in conjunction with the gyrokinetic code GYRO to investigate the nature of microinstabilities in a reversed field pinch (RFP) plasma. The effect of the normalized electron plasma pressure ({\beta}) on the characteristics of the microinstabilities is studied. A transition between an ion temperature gradient (ITG) driven mode and a microtearing mode as the dominant instability is found to occur at a {\beta} value of approximately 4.5%. Suppression of the ITG mode occurs as in the tokamak, through coupling to shear Alfven waves, with a critical {\beta} for stability higher than its tokamak equivalent due to a shorter parallel connection length. There is a steep dependence of the microtearing growth rate on temperature gradient suggesting high profile stiffness. There is evidence for a collisionless microtearing mode. The properties of this mode are investigated, and it is found that curvature drift plays an important role in the instability.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Physics of Plasma

The Thermal Structure of Gas in Pre-Stellar Cores: A Case Study of Barnard 68

We present a direct comparison of a chemical/physical model to multitransitional observations of C18O and 13CO towards the Barnard 68 pre-stellar core. These observations provide a sensitive test for models of low UV field photodissociation regions and offer the best constraint on the gas temperature of a pre-stellar core. We find that the gas temperature of this object is surprisingly low (~7-8 K), and significantly below the dust temperature, in the outer layers (Av < 5 mag) that are traced by C18O and 13CO emission. As shown previously, the inner layers (Av > 5 mag) exhibit significant freeze-out of CO onto grain surfaces. Because the dust and gas are not fully coupled, depletion of key coolants in the densest layers raises the core (gas) temperature, but only by ~1 K. The gas temperature in layers not traced by C18O and 13CO emission can be probed by NH3 emission, with a previously estimated temperature of ~10-11 K. To reach these temperatures in the inner core requires an order of magnitude reduction in the gas to dust coupling rate. This potentially argues for a lack of small grains in the densest gas, presumably due to grain coagulation.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journa

'Debating 'The Rediscovery of Liberalism' in Zambia: Responses to Harri Englund

In Africa 83(4) (November 2013), Harri Englund discussed several recent books on Zambia published preceding the country’s fiftieth independence anniversary. His article explored the ways in which recent publications by Zambian and Zambianist authors have launched a fresh research agenda, and he focused in particular on the scholarly engagement with liberalism. Below, we publish responses from David M.Gordon, Bizeck Jube Phiri and Giacomo Macola, whose work was discussed in this article, and a comment by James Ferguson on more scholarly directions

Effects of a brief mindfulness-based intervention on emotional regulation and levels of mindfulness in senior students

Mindfulness-based interventions have been applied in diverse populations and achieved mental health benefits. This study examined the effects of a brief mindfulness program for emotional regulation and levels of mindfulness on senior students in Brazil. The intervention consisted of six weekly meetings attended by 30 participants. It is a pre-experimental research, with pre- and post-test comparative and correlation measurements. The preliminary results, which relied on parametrical and non-parametrical tests, revealed a reduction in total emotional regulation difficulties (p = 0.0001; r = − 0.55). Also, there was an increase in the levels of mindfulness in the subtests for both dimensions under evaluation: “Awareness” (p = 0.0001; d = 0.77) and “Acceptance” (p = 0.048; d = 0.37). By associating the amount of meditative practices performed by students with the variables, a significant positive correlation was found with the mindfulness dimension “Awareness” (rP = 0.422; p = 0.020), and there was a significant negative correlation with Difficulties in emotion regulation (rS = − 0.478; p = 0.008) and with its respective subscales “Non-acceptance” (rS = − 0.654; p = 0.0001) and “Clarity” (rS = − 0.463; p = 0.010). In conclusion, the application of a brief mindfulness-based intervention is promising in Brazilian university contexts; moreover, it can bring benefits to students, e.g., an increase in emotion regulation as well as in levels of mindfulness. We suggest that further research should use an experimental design and follow-up.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Educating Souls, Selves, or Minds?

ABSTRACT Margaret Carmody: Educating Souls, Selves, or Minds? (Under the direction of Madeleine Grumet) At the beginning of the twentieth century, the term “soul” was virtually deleted from curriculum theory and replaced with the categories of “self” and “mind” from the learning sciences. This dissertation is a hermeneutic study undertaken to explore inviting the term back as a structuring concept in curriculum theory without privileging specific religious beliefs and to address those aesthetic, subjective, moral, and somatic dimensions of human experience that often do not get addressed in curricula focused on minds and selves. I explore how a fusion of Waldorf School founder Rudolf Steiner’s theory of soul, Waldorf curriculum theory, psychotherapist Mari Ruti’s theory of a post-humanist soul, and philosopher Kieran Egan’s curriculum theory may provide a new horizon to which curriculum theory may direct its efforts to educate human beings to be more open to what is unknown and learn to respond to difference in caring, creative, and conscious ways. Keywords: Soul, Rudolf Steiner, Mari Ruti, Kieran Egan, Elementary School Curriculum Theory, Waldorf Education.Doctor of Philosoph

Contesting the Dominant Discourse of Child Sexual Abuse: Sexual Subjects, Agency, and Ethics

Responding to previous scholars’ call to explore the complexities of child sexual abuse (CSA), this article presents narratives of CSA and scrutinizes a binary construction underpinning this discourse of CSA, namely, the positioning of children as powerless and adults as powerful. The narratives belong to three Indonesian young people who have had sexual interactions with adults when they were children. The findings demonstrate how this binary positioning has been both drawn upon and resisted in the ways participants understand their sexual experiences. This article contributes to the existing literature by providing analyses of some vignettes of everyday experiences of how children might be constituted as sexual subjects, including their capability to exercise agency, perform resistance, and negotiate ethics. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to how the recognition of children as sexual subjects and their sexual agency might be beneficial for parents, educators, and counselors

A facile and green route to terpene derived acrylate and methacrylate monomers and simple free radical polymerisation to yield new renewable polymers and coatings

We present new acrylic monomers derived directly from abundant naturally available terpenes via a facile, green and catalytic approach. These monomers can be polymerised to create new polymers with a wide range of mechanical properties that positions them ideally for application across the commodity and specialty plastics landscape; from packaging, cosmetic and medical, through to composites and coatings. We demonstrate their utility through formation of novel renewable polymer coatings

High Efficiency Single Crystal CdTe Solar Cells: November 19, 2009 - January 31, 2011

The goal of the program was to develop single crystal CdTe-based top cells grown on Si solar cells as a platform for the subsequent manufacture of high efficiency tandem cells for CPV applications. The keys to both the single junction and the tandem junction cell architectures are the ability to grow high quality single-crystal CdTe and CdZnTe layers on p-type Si substrates, to dope the CdTe and CdZnTe controllably, both n and p-type, and to make low resistance ohmic front and back contacts. EPIR demonstrated the consistent MBE growth of CdTe/Si and CdZnTe/Si having high crystalline quality despite very large lattice mismatches; epitaxial CdTe/Si and CdZnTe/Si consistently showed state-of-the-art electron mobilities and good hole mobilities; bulk minority carrier recombination lifetimes of unintentionally p-doped CdTe and CdZnTe grown by MBE on Si were demonstrated to be consistently of order 100 ns or longer; desired n- and p-doping levels were achieved; solar cell series specific resistances <10 ?-cm2 were achieved; A single-junction solar cell having a state-of-the-art value of Voc and a unverified 16.4% efficiency was fabricated from CdZnTe having a 1.80 eV bandgap, ideal for the top junction in a tandem cell with a Si bottom junction