793 research outputs found
Water rights in Southern Rhodesia -1
A law journal article on water rights in the then Southern Rhodesia,.This is the first of a series of articles on the water law of Southern Rhodesia, and traces the historical development of the legislation, culminating in the Water Act, 1927, which is Chapter 251 of the Revised Edition of the Statutes.
Although considerably amended over the years, the Water Act has in general stood the test of time remarkably well. One of the main difficulties encountered by legal practitioners in its application has been the lack of any textbook to supplement the Act in those many respects in which it differs from the corresponding South African legislation.
Judge Hoffman, who has presided over the Water Court for many years, will remedy this lack of a textbook in this series of articles
Ising model with periodic pinning of mobile defects
A two-dimensional Ising model with short-range interactions and mobile
defects describing the formation and thermal destruction of defect stripes is
studied. In particular, the effect of a local pinning of the defects at the
sites of straight equidistant lines is analysed using Monte Carlo simulations
and the transfer matrix method. The pinning leads to a long-range ordered
magnetic phase at low temperatures. The dependence of the phase transition
temperature, at which the defect stripes are destabilized, on the pinning
strength is determined. The transition seems to be of first order, with and
without pinning.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
Higher order terms in the inflaton potential and the lower bound on the tensor to scalar ratio r
The MCMC analysis of the CMB+LSS data in the context of the Ginsburg-Landau
approach to inflation indicated that the fourth degree double--well inflaton
potential best fits the present CMB and LSS data. This provided a lower bound
for the ratio r of the tensor to scalar fluctuations and as most probable value
r = 0.05, within reach of the forthcoming CMB observations. We systematically
analyze here the effects of arbitrary higher order terms in the inflaton
potential on the CMB observables: spectral index ns and ratio r. Furthermore,
we compute in close form the inflaton potential dynamically generated when the
inflaton field is a fermion condensate in the inflationary universe. This
inflaton potential turns to belong to the Ginsburg-Landau class too. The
theoretical values in the (ns,r) plane for all double well inflaton potentials
in the Ginsburg-Landau approach (including the potential generated by fermions)
turn to be inside a universal banana-shaped region B. The upper border of the
banana-shaped region B is given by the fourth order double--well potential and
provides an upper bound for the ratio r.The lower border of B is defined by the
quadratic plus an infinite barrier inflaton potential and provides a lower
bound for the ratio r. For example, the current best value of the spectral
index ns = 0.964, implies r is in the interval: 0.021 < r < 0.053.
Interestingly enough, this range is within reach of forthcoming CMB
observations.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures. Presentation improved. To appear in Annals of
Physic
Quasiparticle scattering and local density of states in the d-density wave phase
We study the effects of single-impurity scattering on the local density of
states in the high- cuprates. We compare the quasiparticle interference
patterns in three different ordered states: d-wave superconductor (DSC),
d-density wave (DDW), and coexisting DSC and DDW (DSC-DDW). In the coexisting
state, at energies below the DSC gap, the patterns are almost identical to
those in the pure DSC state with the same DSC gap. However, they are
significantly different for energies greater than or equal to the DSC gap. This
transition at an energy around the DSC gap can be used to test the nature of
the superconducting state of the underdoped cuprates by scanning tunneling
microscopy. Furthermore, we note that in the DDW state the effect of the
coherence factors is stronger than in the DSC state. The new features arising
due to DDW ordering are discussed.Comment: 6 page, 5 figures (Higher resolution figures are available by
request
Kontsevich product and gauge invariance
We analyze the question of gauge invariance in a flat
non-commutative space where the parameter of non-commutativity,
, is a local function satisfying Jacobi identity (and
thereby leading to an associative Kontsevich product). We show that in this
case, both gauge transformations as well as the definitions of covariant
derivatives have to modify so as to have a gauge invariant action. We work out
the gauge invariant actions for the matter fields in the fundamental and the
adjoint representations up to order while we discuss the gauge
invariant Maxwell theory up to order . We show that despite the
modifications in the gauge transformations, the covariant derivative and the
field strength, Seiberg-Witten map continues to hold for this theory. In this
theory, translations do not form a subgroup of the gauge transformations
(unlike in the case when is a constant) which is reflected in
the stress tensor not being conserved.Comment: 7 page
Role of Sterile Neutrino Warm Dark Matter in Rhenium and Tritium Beta Decays
Sterile neutrinos with mass in the range of one to a few keV are important as
extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics and are serious dark
matter (DM) candidates. This DM mass scale (warm DM) is in agreement with both
cosmological and galactic observations. We study the role of a keV sterile
neutrino through its mixing with a light active neutrino in Rhenium 187 and
Tritium beta decays. We pinpoint the energy spectrum of the beta particle, 0 <
T_e < (Q_{beta} - m_s), as the region where a sterile neutrino could be
detected and where its mass m_s could be measured. This energy region is at
least 1 keV away rom the region suitable to measure the mass of the light
active neutrino, located near the endpoint Q_{beta} . The emission of a keV
sterile neutrino in a beta decay could show up as a small kink in the spectrum
of the emitted beta particle. With this in view, we perform a careful
calculation of the Rhenium and Tritium beta spectra and estimate the size of
this perturbation by means of the dimensionless ratio R of the sterile neutrino
to the active neutrino contributions. We comment on the possibility of
searching for sterile neutrino signatures in two experiments which are
currently running at present, MARE and KATRIN, focused on the Rhenium 187 and
Tritium beta decays respectively.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures. Version to appear in Nucl. Phys. B. Results and
conclusions unchange
Critical Currents and Vortex States at Fractional Matching Fields in Superconductors with Periodic Pinning
We study vortex states and dynamics in 2D superconductors with periodic
pinning at fractional sub-matching fields using numerical simulations. For
square pinning arrays we show that ordered states form at 1/1, 1/2, and 1/4
filling fractions while only partially ordered states form at other filling
fractions, such as 1/3 and 1/5, in agreement with recent imaging experiments.
For triangular pinning arrays we observe matching effects at filling fractions
of 1/1, 6/7, 2/3, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, and 1/7. For both square and triangular
pinning arrays we also find that, for certian sub-matching fillings, vortex
configurations depend on pinning strength. For weak pinning, ordering in which
a portion of the vortices are positioned between pinning sites can occur.
Depinning of the vortices at the matching fields, where the vortices are
ordered, is elastic while at the incommensurate fields the motion is plastic.
At the incommensurate fields, as the applied driving force is increased, there
can be a transition to elastic flow where the vortices move along the pinning
sites in 1D channels and a reordering transition to a triangular or distorted
triangular lattice. We also discuss the current-voltage curves and how they
relate to the vortex ordering at commensurate and incommensurate fields.Comment: 14 figure
A systematic review of techniques and effects of self-help interventions for tinnitus: application of taxonomies from health psychology
Objective: Self-help interventions are followed by people independently with minimal or no therapist contact. This review aims to assess the effectiveness of self-help interventions for adults with chronic tinnitus and systematically identify the self-help techniques used. Design: Systematic review and application of health psychology taxonomies. Electronic database searches were conducted, supplemented by citation searching and hand-searching of key journals. Prospective controlled trials, which used measures of tinnitus distress, functional management, anxiety, depression, and quality of life, were included. Michie et al’s behaviour change techniques (BCTs) taxonomy and Taylor et al’s PRISMS taxonomy of self-management components were applied to describe interventions. Study sample: Five studies were included, providing low-to-moderate levels of evidence. Results: Randomized controlled trial studies were too few and heterogeneous for meta-analysis to be performed. Studies comparing self-help interventions to therapist-guided interventions and assessing non tinnitus-specific psychosocial outcomes and functional management were lacking. Fifteen BCTs and eight self-management components were identified across interventions. Conclusions: A lack of high-quality and homogeneous studies meant that confident conclusions could not be drawn regarding the efficacy of self-help interventions for tinnitus. Better reporting and categorization of intervention techniques is needed for replication in research and practice and to facilitate understanding of intervention mechanisms
Indirect search for dark matter: prospects for GLAST
Possible indirect detection of neutralino, through its gamma-ray annihilation
product, by the forthcoming GLAST satellite from our galactic halo, M31, M87
and the dwarf galaxies Draco and Sagittarius is studied. Gamma-ray fluxes are
evaluated for the two representative energy thresholds, 0.1 GeV and 1.0 GeV, at
which the spatial resolution of GLAST varies considerably. Apart from dwarfs
which are described either by a modified Plummer profile or by a
tidally-truncated King profiles, fluxes are compared for halos with central
cusps and cores. It is demonstrated that substructures, irrespective of their
profiles, enhance the gamma-ray emission only marginally. The expected
gamma-ray intensity above 1 GeV at high galactic latitudes is consistent with
the residual emission derived from EGRET data if the density profile has a
central core and the neutralino mass is less than 50 GeV, whereas for a central
cusp only a substantial enhancement would explain the observations. From M31,
the flux can be detected above 0.1 GeV and 1.0 GeV by GLAST only if the
neutralino mass is below 300 GeV and if the density profile has a central cusp,
case in which a significant boost in the gamma-ray emission is produced by the
central black hole. For Sagittarius, the flux above 0.1 GeV is detectable by
GLAST provided the neutralino mass is below 50 GeV. From M87 and Draco the
fluxes are always below the sensitivity limit of GLAST.Comment: 14 Pages, 7 Figures, 3 Tables, version to appear on Physical Review
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