10 research outputs found
Empowering indigenous communities in India through the use of design thinking methods
The project explored how user-led design research methods such as design thinking can be used to engage with, and empower indigenous communities in rural India, with a focus on how to improve their health and well-being. The project was a collaboration with researchers from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in India; villagers from indigenous tribal communities in the Kerala State of India; medical doctors and healthcare workers who work in these rural communities; and experts in eHealth solutions. The design thinking methods used in the project are based on many of the key principles of indigenous research methods, but also put a strong emphasis on how to generate impact by considering solutions that are desirable, feasible and viable. The project included ethnographic field work in three tribal villages in the Wayanad district of Kerala; participatory workshops to help discover and develop new ideas to meet the health needs of the indigenous tribal communities; and reflections by tribal villagers and healthcare workers on the benefits of the project, as well as limitations and on-going challenges. This paper documents the approach taken in the project and the lessons learnt - in particular, how design thinking methods and techniques can be effectively used to engage with indigenous communities in a respectful manner, to ensure equitable partnership, and to enable the mobilization of knowledge to help improve the health and well-being of indigenous communities in India
Particle Dark Matter Constraints from the Draco Dwarf Galaxy
It is widely thought that neutralinos, the lightest supersymmetric particles,
could comprise most of the dark matter. If so, then dark halos will emit radio
and gamma ray signals initiated by neutralino annihilation. A particularly
promising place to look for these indicators is at the center of the local
group dwarf spheroidal galaxy Draco, and recent measurements of the motion of
its stars have revealed it to be an even better target for dark matter
detection than previously thought. We compute limits on WIMP properties for
various models of Draco's dark matter halo. We find that if the halo is nearly
isothermal, as the new measurements indicate, then current gamma ray flux
limits prohibit much of the neutralino parameter space. If Draco has a moderate
magnetic field, then current radio limits can rule out more of it. These
results are appreciably stronger than other current constraints, and so
acquiring more detailed data on Draco's density profile becomes one of the most
promising avenues for identifying dark matter.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure
Nonthermal radiation mechanisms
In this paper we review the possible radiation mechanisms for the observed
non-thermal emission in clusters of galaxies, with a primary focus on the radio
and hard X-ray emission. We show that the difficulty with the non-thermal,
non-relativistic Bremsstrahlung model for the hard X-ray emission, first
pointed out by Petrosian (2001) using a cold target approximation, is somewhat
alleviated when one treats the problem more exactly by including the fact that
the background plasma particle energies are on average a factor of 10 below the
energy of the non-thermal particles. This increases the lifetime of the
non-thermal particles, and as a result decreases the extreme energy
requirement, but at most by a factor of three. We then review the synchrotron
and so-called inverse Compton emission by relativistic electrons, which when
compared with observations can constrain the value of the magnetic field and
energy of relativistic electrons. This model requires a low value of the
magnetic field which is far from the equipartition value. We briefly review the
possibilities of gamma-ray emission and prospects for GLAST observations. We
also present a toy model of the non-thermal electron spectra that are produced
by the acceleration mechanisms discussed in an accompanying paper.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Space Science
Reviews, special issue "Clusters of galaxies: beyond the thermal view",
Editor J.S. Kaastra, Chapter 10; work done by an international team at the
International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, organised by J.S.
Kaastra, A.M. Bykov, S. Schindler & J.A.M. Bleeke
Jobs, work and citizens' income : four strategies and a new regime
Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020