4,770 research outputs found
Guns and gender-based violence in South Africa
Background. The criminal use of firearms in South Africa is widespread and a major factor in the country having the thirdhighest homicide rate in the world. Violence is a common feature of South African society. A firearm in the home is a risk factor in intimate partner violence, but this has not been readily demonstrated in South Africa because of a lack of data. Methods. We drew on several South African studies including national homicide studies, intimate partner studies, studies with male participants and studies from the justice sector, to discuss the role of gun ownership in gender-based violence. Conclusion. Guns play a significant role in violence against women in South Africa, most notably in the killing of intimate partners. Although the overall homicide data suggest that death by shooting is decreasing, data for intimate partner violence are not readily available. We have no idea if the overall decrease in gunshot homicides applies to women in relationships, and therefore gun control should remain high on the legislative agenda
Depressive symptoms after a sexual assault among women: understanding victim-perpetrator relationships and the role of social perceptions
Objective: Although mental health impact of gender based violence has been documented for many decades, the impact of the socio-cultural dimensions and type of perpetrator on mental health outcomes has not been described outside of developed countries. We explore depression symptomatology four to six weeks post-rape in South Africa and examine whether this differs according to the circumstances of the rape.Method: 140 participants recruited from public hospital services in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces were interviewed within two weeks after completing the post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) medication. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic and sexual assault characteristics including perpetrator. Depressive symptomatology was measured using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Results: 84.3% (95% CI: 78.1-90.3) women were found to have high levels of depressive symptoms, but lower levels were found among women raped in circumstances in which there was a lesser likelihood of blame such as those raped by strangers rather than intimate partners (Odds Ratio: (OR) 0.28 (95% Confidence Intervals (CI): 0.11-0.69) and higher levels were associated with experiencing four or more side effects related to PEP medication (OR: 3.79: CI: 1.03-13.94). Receiving support and severe sexual assaults (involving weapons and multiple perpetrators) were not associated with depression.Conclusion: The study does not support the general assumption that more violent rape causes more psychological harm. These results have important implications for individual treatment because it is more generally assumed that multiple perpetrator rapes, stranger rapes and those with weapons would result in more psychological trauma and thus more enduring symptoms. Our findings point to the importance of understandingthe socio-cultural dimensions, including dynamics of blame and stigma, of rape on mental health sequelae.Keywords: Sexual assault; Depression; Rape; Victim-perpetrator relationshi
Exploring DCO as a tracer of thermal inversion in the disk around the Herbig Ae star HD163296
We aim to reproduce the DCO emission in the disk around HD163296 using a
simple 2D chemical model for the formation of DCO through the cold
deuteration channel and a parametric treatment of the warm deuteration channel.
We use data from ALMA in band 6 to obtain a resolved spectral imaging data cube
of the DCO =3--2 line in HD163296 with a synthesized beam of
0."53 0."42. We adopt a physical structure of the disk from the
literature that reproduces the spectral energy distribution. We then apply a
simplified chemical network for the formation of DCO that uses the physical
structure of the disk as parameters along with a CO abundance profile, a
constant HD abundance and a constant ionization rate. Finally, from the
resulting DCO abundances, we calculate the non-LTE emission using the 3D
radiative transfer code LIME. The observed DCO emission is reproduced by a
model with cold deuteration producing abundances up to .
Warm deuteration, at a constant abundance of , becomes
fully effective below 32 K and tapers off at higher temperatures, reproducing
the lack of DCO inside 90 AU. Throughout the DCO emitting zone a CO
abundance of is found, with 99\% of it frozen out below
19 K. At radii where both cold and warm deuteration are active, warm
deuteration contributes up to 20\% of DCO, consistent with detailed
chemical models. The decrease of DCO at large radii is attributed to a
temperature inversion at 250 AU, which raises temperatures above values where
cold deuteration operates. Increased photodesorption may also limit the radial
extent of DCO. The corresponding return of the DCO layer to the
midplane, together with a radially increasing ionization fraction, reproduces
the local DCO emission maximum at 260 AU.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted 7th July 201
DCO, DCN and ND reveal three different deuteration regimes in the disk around the Herbig Ae star HD163296
The formation pathways of deuterated species trace different regions of
protoplanetary disks and may shed light into their physical structure. We aim
to constrain the radial extent of main deuterated species; we are particularly
interested in spatially characterizing the high and low temperature pathways
for enhancing deuteration of these species. We observed the disk surrounding
the Herbig Ae star HD 163296 using ALMA in Band 6 and obtained resolved
spectral imaging data of DCO (=3-2), DCN (=3-2) and ND
(=3-2). We model the radial emission profiles of DCO, DCN and
ND, assuming their emission is optically thin, using a parametric model
of their abundances and radial excitation temperature estimates. DCO can be
described by a three-region model, with constant-abundance rings centered at 70
AU, 150 AU and 260 AU. The DCN radial profile peaks at about ~60 AU and
ND is seen in a ring at ~160 AU. Simple models of both molecules using
constant abundances reproduce the data. Assuming reasonable average excitation
temperatures for the whole disk, their disk-averaged column densities (and
deuterium fractionation ratios) are 1.6-2.6 cm
(0.04-0.07), 2.9-5.2 cm (0.02) and 1.6-2.5 cm (0.34-0.45) for DCO, DCN and ND, respectively.
Our simple best-fit models show a correlation between the radial location of
the first two rings in DCO and the DCN and ND abundance
distributions that can be interpreted as the high and low temperature
deuteration pathways regimes. The origin of the third DCO ring at 260 AU is
unknown but may be due to a local decrease of ultraviolet opacity allowing the
photodesorption of CO or due to thermal desorption of CO as a consequence of
radial drift and settlement of dust grains
Constraints on Resonant Particle Production during Inflation from the Matter and CMB Power Spectra
We analyze the limits on resonant particle production during inflation based
upon the power spectrum of fluctuations in matter and the cosmic microwave
background. We show that such a model is consistent with features observed in
the matter power spectrum deduced from galaxy surveys and damped Lyman-alpha
systems at high redshift. It also provides an alternative explanation for the
excess power observed in the power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background
fluctuations in the range of 1000 < l < 3500. For our best-fit models, epochs
of resonant particle creation reenter the horizon at wave numbers ~ 0.4 and/or
0.2 (h/Mpc). The amplitude and location of these features correspond to the
creation of fermion species of mass ~ 1-2 Mpl during inflation with a coupling
constant between the inflaton field and the created fermion species of near
unity. Although the evidence is marginal, if this interpretation is correct,
this could be one of the first observational hints of new physics at the Planck
scale.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, Phys. Rev. D15, in Press, Septermber 15 (2004)
Issu
Effects of structure formation on the expansion rate of the Universe: An estimate from numerical simulations
General relativistic corrections to the expansion rate of the Universe arise
when the Einstein equations are averaged over a spatial volume in a locally
inhomogeneous cosmology. It has been suggested that they may contribute to the
observed cosmic acceleration. In this paper, we propose a new scheme that
utilizes numerical simulations to make a realistic estimate of the magnitude of
these corrections for general inhomogeneities in (3+1) spacetime. We then
quantitatively calculate the volume averaged expansion rate using N-body
large-scale structure simulations and compare it with the expansion rate in a
standard FRW cosmology. We find that in the weak gravitational field limit, the
converged corrections are slightly larger than the previous claimed 10^{-5}
level, but not large enough nor even of the correct sign to drive the current
cosmic acceleration. Nevertheless, the question of whether the cumulative
effect can significantly change the expansion history of the Universe needs to
be further investigated with strong-field relativity.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, improved version published in Phys. Rev.
Quasar Proper Motions and Low-Frequency Gravitational Waves
We report observational upper limits on the mass-energy of the cosmological
gravitational-wave background, from limits on proper motions of quasars.
Gravitational waves with periods longer than the time span of observations
produce a simple pattern of apparent proper motions over the sky, composed
primarily of second-order transverse vector spherical harmonics. A fit of such
harmonics to measured motions yields a 95%-confidence limit on the mass-energy
of gravitational waves with frequencies <2e-9 Hz, of <0.11/h*h times the
closure density of the universe.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure. Also available at
http://charm.physics.ucsb.edu:80/people/cgwinn/cgwinn_group/index.htm
Finite temperature effects on cosmological baryon diffusion and inhomogeneous Big-Bang nucleosynthesis
We have studied finite temperature corrections to the baryon transport cross
sections and diffusion coefficients. These corrections are based upon the
recently computed renormalized electron mass and the modified state density due
to the background thermal bath in the early universe. It is found that the
optimum nucleosynthesis yields computed using our diffusion coefficients shift
to longer distance scales by a factor of about 3. We also find that the minimum
value of abundance decreases by while and
increase. Effects of these results on constraints from primordial
nucleosynthesis are discussed. In particular, we find that a large baryonic
contribution to the closure density (\Omega_b h_{50}^{2} \lsim 0.4) may be
allowed in inhomogeneous models corrected for finite temperature.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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