By Name United, By Sex Divided: A Brief Analysis of the Current Crisis Facing the Anglican Communion

The current controversies in relation to homosexuality - which emanated from the western quarters but quickly engulfed the entire Anglican Communion - highlight two significant issues. In our view, the first issue, regarding the 'religious citizenship' of lesbian and gay Christians, is generally a western concern. The second issue pertaining to the prospect of the disintegration of the Anglican Communion, however, needs to be examined within a global context. On the first issue, we argue that, since the contemporary western religious landscape (and society in general) prioritizes the authority of the self rather than that of religious institution/tradition, the traditional religious discourse that marginalizes lesbian and gay Christians is undermined by an increasingly sophisticated reverse discourse. This reverse discourse, equipped with lesbian and gay affirming theology and documentation of lived experiences, also converges with contemporary cultural (secular) discourse of human rights and personal liberty, which values social diversity, including sexual difference. We believe that the social and political currency of the reverse discourse will proliferate, thus eclipsing the traditional discourse that appears increasingly out of step with contemporary western socio-cultural reality. On the second issue, we welcome the heightened significance and relevance of (local) culture and Christianity in the debate. We argue that the decentralization (i.e. de-westernization) of the Anglican Communion should be welcomed, for there are various versions of Christianity, the conception and practice of which are closely informed by local cultures. Thus, to force the production of a unified Anglican response to moral or social issues that are differently defined across cultures may prove counter-productive.Anglican; Belief; Christian; Church; Gay; Homosexuality; Identity; Lesbian; Priest

Topological Excitations in Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates

We investigate the properties of skyrmion in the ferromagnetic state of spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates by means of the mean-field theory and show that the size of skyrmion is fixed to the order of the healing length. It is shown that the interaction between two skyrmions with oppositely rotating spin textures is attractive when their separation is large, following a unique power-law behavior with a power of -7/2.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Josephson Current between Triplet and Singlet Superconductors

The Josephson effect between triplet and singlet superconductors is studied. Josephson current can flow between triplet and singlet superconductors due to the spin-orbit coupling in the spin-triplet superconductor but it is finite only when triplet superconductor has $L_z=-S_z=\pm 1$, where $L_z$ and $S_z$ are the perpendicular components of orbital angular momentum and spin angular momentum of the triplet Cooper pairs, respectively. The recently observed temperature and orientational dependence of the critical current through a Josephson junction between UPt$_3$ and Nb is investigated by considering a non-unitary triplet state.Comment: 4 pages, no figure

Wildlife markets in South China

China is one of the largest consumers of wild animals for food and traditional Chinese medicine in the world. A large volume of illegal trade has been recorded in the primary cities, such as Hong Kong and Guangzhou, but the wildlife markets in secondary Chinese cities have not been investigated. This study was carried out in 7 cities in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. Wildlife trade data were collected using semi-structured interview, observation, and market survey. The study documented the selling of 97 animal species, \u3e7,000 individuals. The most frequently used animal groups by quantity were reptiles (51%), followed by birds (21%) and mammals (10%). Of the reported species, 23% were threatened, including 1 species critically endangered and 12 species endangered. In this study, there were 19 species observed that are recognized by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The results show that the animals originated not only from south China but also Indochina and Southeast Asia. Our survey also verified that Guangzhou and Hong Kong are not the only wildlife markets in South China. A large volume of illegal trade also is occurring in secondary cities in South China

Electronic State and Magnetic Susceptibility in Orbitally Degenerate (J=5/2) Periodic Anderson Model

Magnetic susceptibility in a heavy fermion systemis composed of the Pauli term (\chi_P) and the Van-Vleck term (\chi_V). The latter comes from the interband excitation, where f-orbital degeneracy is essential. In this work, we study \chi_P and \chi_V in the orbitally degenerate (J=5/2) periodic Anderson model for both the metallic and insulating cases. The effect of the correlation between f-electrons is investigated using the self-consistent second-order perturbation theory. The main results are as follows. (i) Sixfold degenerate model: both \chi_P and \chi_V are enhanced by a factor of 1/z (z is the renormalization constant). (ii) Nondegenerate model: only \chi_P is enhanced by 1/z. Thus, orbital degeneracy is indispensable for enhancement of \chi_V. Moreover, orbital degeneracy reduces the Wilson ratio and stabilizes a nonmagnetic Fermi liquid state.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. (No.8

Asymmetric Fermi superfluid in a harmonic trap

We consider a dilute two-component atomic fermion gas with unequal populations in a harmonic trap potential using the mean field theory and the local density approximation. We show that the system is phase separated into concentric shells with the superfluid in the core surrounded by the normal fermion gas in both the weak-coupling BCS side and near the Feshbach resonance. In the strong-coupling BEC side, the composite bosons and left-over fermions can be mixed. We calculate the cloud radii and compare axial density profiles systemically for the BCS, near resonance and BEC regimes.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure