Risk management for drinking water safety in low and middle income countries: cultural influences on water safety plan (WSP) implementation in urban water utilities

We investigated cultural influences on the implementation of water safety plans (WSPs) using case studies from WSP pilots in India, Uganda and Jamaica. A comprehensive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews (n = 150 utility customers, n = 32 WSP ‘implementers’ and n = 9 WSP ‘promoters’), field observations and related documents revealed 12 cultural themes, offered as ‘enabling’, ‘limiting’, or ‘neutral’, that influence WSP implementation in urban water utilities to varying extents. Aspects such as a ‘deliver first, safety later’ mind set; supply system knowledge management and storage practices; and non-compliance are deemed influential. Emergent themes of cultural influence (ET1 to ET12) are discussed by reference to the risk management, development studies and institutional culture literatures; by reference to their positive, negative or neutral influence on WSP implementation. The results have implications for the utility endorsement of WSPs, for the impact of organisational cultures on WSP implementation; for the scale-up of pilot studies; and they support repeated calls from practitioner communities for cultural attentiveness during WSP design. Findings on organisational cultures mirror those from utilities in higher income nations implementing WSPs – leadership, advocacy among promoters and customers (not just implementers) and purposeful knowledge management are critical to WSP success

The dynamical evolution of very low mass binaries in open clusters

Very low mass binaries (VLMBs), with system masses 100 au can be destroyed in high-density clusters, but are mainly unaffected in low-density clusters. Therefore, the initial VLMB population must contain many more binaries with these separations than now, or such systems must be made by capture during cluster dissolution. M-dwarf binaries are processed in the same way as VLMBs and so the difference in the current field populations either points to fundamentally different birth populations or significant observational incompleteness in one or both sample

The same, but different: stochasticity in binary destruction

Observations of binaries in clusters tend to be of visual binaries with separations of tens to hundreds of au. Such binaries are ‘intermediates' and their destruction or survival depends on the exact details of their individual dynamical history. We investigate the stochasticity of the destruction of such binaries and the differences between the initial and processed populations using N-body simulations. We concentrate on Orion nebula cluster-like clusters, where the observed binary separation distribution ranges from 62 to 620 au. We find that, starting from the same initial binary population in statistically identical clusters, the number of intermediate binaries that are destroyed after 1 Myr can vary by a factor of >2, and that the resulting separation distributions can be statistically completely different in initially substructured clusters. We also find that the mass ratio distributions are altered (destroying more low mass-ratio systems), but not as significantly as the binary fractions or separation distributions. We conclude that finding very different intermediate (visual) binary populations in different clusters does not provide conclusive evidence that the initial populations were differen

Electronic Structure and Lattice dynamics of NaFeAs

The similarity of the electronic structures of NaFeAs and other Fe pnictides has been demonstrated on the basis of first-principle calculations. The global double-degeneracy of electronic bands along X-M and R-A direction indicates the instability of Fe pnictides and is explained on the basis of a tight-binding model. The de Haas-van Alphen parameters for the Fermi surface (FS) of NaFeAs have been calculated. A $\mathbf{Q}_{M}=(1/2,1/2,0)$ spin density wave (SDW) instead of a charge density wave (CDW) ground state is predicted based on the calculated generalized susceptibility $\chi(\mathbf{q})$ and a criterion derived from a restricted Hatree-Fock model. The strongest electron-phonon (e-p) coupling has been found to involve only As, Na z-direction vibration with linear-response calculations. A possible enhancement mechanism for e-p coupling due to correlation is suggested

The evolution of binary populations in cool, clumpy star clusters

Observations and theory suggest that star clusters can form in a subvirial (cool) state and are highly substructured. Such initial conditions have been proposed to explain the level of mass segregation in clusters through dynamics, and have also been successful in explaining the origin of Trapezium-like systems. In this paper, we investigate, using N-body simulations, whether such a dynamical scenario is consistent with the observed binary properties in the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC). We find that several different primordial binary populations are consistent with the overall fraction and separation distribution of visual binaries in the ONC (in the range 67-670 au), and that these binary systems are heavily processed. The substructured, cool-collapse scenario requires a primordial binary fraction approaching 100 per cent. We find that the most important factor in processing the primordial binaries is the initial level of substructure; a highly substructured cluster processes up to 20 per cent more systems than a less substructured cluster because of localized pockets of high stellar density in the substructure. Binaries are processed in the substructure before the cluster reaches its densest phase, suggesting that even clusters remaining in virial equilibrium or undergoing supervirial expansion would dynamically alter their primordial binary population. Therefore, even some expanding associations may not preserve their primordial binary populatio

Seasonal and interannual behaviour of groundwater catchment boundaries in a Chalk aquifer

Groundwater catchment boundaries and their associated groundwater catchment areas are typically assumed to be fixed on a seasonal basis. We investigated whether this was true for a highly permeable carbonate aquifer in England, the Berkshire and Marlborough Downs Chalk aquifer, using both borehole hydrograph data and a physics-based distributed regional groundwater model. Borehole hydrograph data time series were used to construct a monthly interpolated water table surface, from which was then derived a monthly groundwater catchment boundary. Results from field data showed that the mean annual variation in groundwater catchment area was about 20% of the mean groundwater catchment area, but interannual variation can be very large, with the largest estimated catchment size being approximately 80% greater than the smallest. The flow in the river was also dependent on the groundwater catchment area. Model results corroborated those based on field data. These findings have significant implications for issues such as definition of source protection zones, recharge estimates based on water balance calculations and integrated conceptual modelling of surface water and groundwater system

Control via electron count of the competition between magnetism and superconductivity in cobalt and nickel doped NaFeAs

Using a combination of neutron, muon and synchrotron techniques we show how the magnetic state in NaFeAs can be tuned into superconductivity by replacing Fe by either Co or Ni. Electron count is the dominant factor, since Ni-doping has double the effect of Co-doping for the same doping level. We follow the structural, magnetic and superconducting properties as a function of doping to show how the superconducting state evolves, concluding that the addition of 0.1 electrons per Fe atom is sufficient to traverse the superconducting domain, and that magnetic order coexists with superconductivity at doping levels less than 0.025 electrons per Fe atom.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

The role of cluster evolution in disrupting planetary systems and disks: the Kozai mechanism

We examine the effects of dynamical evolution in clusters on planetary systems or protoplanetary disks orbiting the components of binary stars. In particular, we look for evidence that the companions of host stars of planetary systems or disks could have their inclination angles raised from zero to between the threshold angles (39.23 degrees and 140.77 degrees) that can induce the Kozai mechanism. We find that up to 20 per cent of binary systems have their inclination angles increased to within the threshold range. Given that half of all extrasolar planets could be in binary systems, we suggest that up to 10 per cent of extrasolar planets could be affected by this mechanism.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. References update

Testing the universality of star formation - I. Multiplicity in nearby star-forming regions

We have collated multiplicity data for five clusters (Taurus, Chamaeleon I, Ophiuchus, IC 348 and the Orion Nebula Cluster). We have applied the same mass ratio (flux ratios of ΔK≤ 2.5) and primary mass cuts (∼0.1-3.0 M⊙) to each cluster and therefore have directly comparable binary statistics for all five clusters in the separation range 62-620 au, and for Taurus, Chamaeleon I and Ophiuchus in the range 18-830 au. We find that the trend of decreasing binary fraction with cluster density is solely due to the high binary fraction of Taurus; the other clusters show no obvious trend over a factor of nearly 20 in density. With N-body simulations, we attempt to find a set of initial conditions that are able to reproduce the density, morphology and binary fractions of all five clusters. Only an initially clumpy (fractal) distribution with an initial total binary fraction of 73 per cent (17 per cent in the range 62-620 au) is able to reproduce all of the observations (albeit not very satisfactorily). Therefore, if star formation is universal, then the initial conditions must be clumpy and with a high (but not 100 per cent) binary fraction. This could suggest that most stars, including M dwarfs, form in binarie