Auxiliary Armed Forces and Innovations in Security Governance in Mozambique’s Civil War

Who rules during the civil war? This article argues that the concept of armed group governance must be expanded to include auxiliary armed forces linked to rebels or the government. Comparing the organization of rebel and government auxiliaries, the article demonstrates that security governance during war is never static, but evolves over time. Evidence from the civil war in Mozambique (1976–1992) shows that the auxiliary’s origin shapes its initial level of autonomy. Second, auxiliary contribution to battlefield success of one side may induce innovations adopted by auxiliaries on the other. Both have distinct consequences for the nature of governance.The Institutions of Politics; Design, Workings, and implications ( do not use, ended 1-1-2020

A microwave resistive squid for noise thermometry

A SQUID magnetometer has been shown to work at 10 GHz with a significant enhancement of signal-to-noise over 30 MHz devices. This article describes how such enhancement could lead to faster determinations of absolute temperature using a resistive SQUID, i. e., a noise thermometer. A prototype 10 GHz resistive SQUID is described and its performance evaluated. The feasibility of using a 10 GHz system is clearly established.Un SQUID travaillant à 10 GHz apporte une nette amélioration du rapport signal sur bruit par rapport aux dispositifs fonctionnant à 30 MHz. Cet article montre comment une telle amélioration peut conduire à des mesures de température plus rapides. On décrit les performances d'un SQUID résistif travaillant à 10 GHz. La possibilité de réaliser un tel système est donc clairement établie

SUPERCONDUCTING PROPERTIES OF IRIDIUM THIN FILMS

Nous avons réalisé des microponts supraconducteurs de type Dayem et des jonctions tunnel Al-Al2O3-Ir à partir de couches minces d'iridium que nous avons préparées ; ces jonctions ont des caractéristiques I-V typiques des jonctions Josephson. Nous avons mesuré la variation avec la température du gap d'énergie de ces couches minces d'iridium en utilisant les jonctions tunnel Al-Al2O3-Ir.We have prepared superconducting thin films of iridium from which we have fabricated Dayem-type microbridges and Al-Al2O3-Ir tunnel junctions that have I-V characteristics typical of these types of Josephson devices. Using the Al-Al2O3-Ir tunnel junctions, we have measured the temperature dependence of the superconducting energy gap of thin-film iridium

Drosophila homolog of the myotonic dystrophy-associated gene, SIX5, is required for muscle and gonad development

SIX5 belongs to a family of highly conserved homeodomain transcription factors implicated in development and disease 1, 2 and 3. The mammalian SIX5/SIX4 gene pair is likely to be involved in the development of mesodermal structures 4, 5 and 6. Moreover, a variety of data have implicated human SIX5 dysfunction as a contributor to myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), a condition characterized by a number of pathologies including muscle defects and testicular atrophy 7, 8 and 9. However, this link remains controversial. Here, we investigate the Drosophila gene, D-Six4, which is the closest homolog to SIX5 of the three Drosophila Six family members [10]. We show by mutant analysis that D-Six4 is required for the normal development of muscle and the mesodermal component of the gonad. Moreover, adult males with defective D-Six4 genes exhibit testicular reduction. We propose that D-Six4 directly or indirectly regulates genes involved in the cell recognition events required for myoblast fusion and the germline:soma interaction. While the exact phenotypic relationship between D-Six4 and SIX4/5 remains to be elucidated, the defects in D-Six4 mutant flies suggest that human SIX5 should be more strongly considered as being responsible for the muscle wasting and testicular atrophy phenotypes in DM1

Estimating surface water concentrations of “down-the-drain” chemicals in China using a global model

Predictions of surface water exposure to “down-the-drain” chemicals are presented which employ grid-based spatially-referenced data on average monthly runoff, population density, country-specific per capita domestic water and substance use rates and sewage treatment provision. Water and chemical load are routed through the landscape using flow directions derived from digital elevation data, accounting for in-stream chemical losses using simple first order kinetics. Although the spatial and temporal resolution of the model are relatively coarse, the model still has advantages over spatially inexplicit “unit-world” approaches, which apply arbitrary dilution factors, in terms of predicting the location of exposure hotspots and the statistical distribution of concentrations. The latter can be employed in probabilistic risk assessments. Here the model was applied to predict surface water exposure to “down-the-drain” chemicals in China for different levels of sewage treatment provision. Predicted spatial patterns of concentration were consistent with observed water quality classes for China