Complex functions as lumps of energy

We present an application of the basic mathematical concept of complex functions as topological solitons, a most interesting area of research in physics. Such application of complex theory is virtually unknown outside the community of soliton researches.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure. To appear in "Revista Mexicana de Fisica

Social organization of the Tajiks of Andarab Valley, Afghanistan

The thesis is a description of the social organization of the Persian-speaking peasantry and part-pastoralists of a highland district in the central Hindu Kush of Afghanistan. Andarab district, with an estimated population of 33,000 souls, constitutes a geographical as well as governmental entity, and, as the people are orthodox Muslims, it is also a small segment of the cosmopolitan Islamic fraternity. The thesis falls into two parts, which are separated by a statement of the methods of fieldwork (Chapter III) employed in the prevailing political and local circumstances. The first part (Chapter II) attempts a comprehensive report of Adarab. After an account of the geographical, ecological and demographic background, it describes the division of the population into individual autocephalous households, either simple or polygynous, and grouped into village communities on the basis of patrilocal domicile. The factors of socio-economic stratification are specified. An examination of the boundaries of the four "electoral wards" into which Andarab is divided, suggests that a system of competitive oppositions is the main theme in political activity. The second part of the thesis presents exploratory material on the local community, the Afghan state, and Islam. Chapter IV suggests that, in the absence of corporate estates and succession by descent, the dynamic of the individual's life-career in his local community derives from the cycle of domestic development and his position vis-a-vis his coparceners as well as other kin relations. The Koranic rules of marriage and inheritance are given, and followed by an examination of their characteristic patterns among clusters of close collateral agnates, which are the only factional groups within the local community. An illustrative case of a matrilateral cross-cousin marriage within one village, shows that competitive opposition comes to a head over questions of marriage bestowal and bridewealth. Chapter V describes the system of local government; and the careers in Andarab of two successive deputy commissioners, with reference to their policies in dealing with the departmental personnel within the district secretariat, and also the circle of native intermediaries through whom the business of administration must be carried on. Chapter VI deals briefly with the rites through which the local community is integrated in to cosmopolitan Islam. The main element in these rites of Muslimhood is the congregational one, and the seclusion of women rigidly excludes them from participation in it. It is suggested that the function of purdah is to define the particularist side of local citizenship, while the communal and universalist side is enjoined on the men by the periodic congregational rites

A simple model of mixing and chemical reaction in a turbulent shear layer

Arguments are presented to show that the concept of gradient diffusion is inapplicable to mixing in turbulent shear layers. A new model is proposed for treating molecular mixing and chemical reaction in such flows at high Reynolds number. It is based upon the experimental observations that revealed the presence of coherent structures and that showed that fluid elements from the two streams are distributed unmixed throughout the layer by large-scale inviscid motions. The model incorporates features of the strained flame model and makes use of the Kolmogorov cascade in scales. Several model predictions differ markedly from those of diffusion models and suggest experiments for testing the two approaches

The 'Parekh Report' - national identities with nations and nationalism

‘Multiculturalists’ often advocate national identities. Yet few study the ways in which ‘multiculturalists’ do so and in this article I will help to fill this gap. I will show that the Commission for Multi-Ethnic Britain’s report reflects a previously unnoticed way of thinking about the nature and worth of national identities that the Commission’s chair, and prominent political theorist, Bhikhu Parekh, had been developing since the 1970s. This way of thinking will be shown to avoid the questionable ways in which conservative and liberal nationalists discuss the nature and worth of national identities while offering an alternative way to do so. I will thus show that a report that was once criticised for the way it discussed national identities reflects how ‘multiculturalists’ think about national identities in a distinct and valuable way that has gone unrecognised

Scaling laws for magnetic fields on the quiet Sun

The Sun's magnetic field is structured over a range of scales that span approximately seven orders of magnitudes, four of which lie beyond the resolving power of current telescopes. Here we have used a Hinode SOT/SP deep mode data set for the quiet-sun disk center in combination with constraints from the Hanle effect to derive scaling laws that describe how the magnetic structuring varies from the resolved scales down to the magnetic diffusion limit, where the field ceases to be frozen-in. The focus of the analysis is a derivation of the magnetic energy spectrum, but we also discuss the scale dependence of the probability density function (PDF) for the flux densities and the role of the cancellation function for the average unsigned flux density. Analysis of the Hinode data set with the line-ratio method reveals a collapsed flux population in the form of flux tubes with a size distribution that is peaked in the 10-100 km range. Magnetic energy is injected into this scale range by the instability mechanism of flux tube collapse, which is driven by the external gas pressure in the superadiabatic region at the top of the convection zone. This elevates the magnetic energy spectrum just beyond the telescope resolution limit. Flux tube decay feeds an inertial range that cascades down the scale spectrum to the magnetic diffusion limit, and which contains the tangled, "hidden" flux that is known to exist from observations of the Hanle effect. The observational constraints demand that the total magnetic energy in the hidden flux must be of the same order as the total energy in the kG flux tubes. Both the flux tubes and the hidden flux are found to be preferentially located in the intergranular lanes, which is to be expected since they are physically related.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

"Oh! What a tangled web we weave": Englishness, communicative leisure, identity work and the cultural web of the English folk morris dance scene

In this paper, we consider the relationship between Englishness and the English folk morris dance scene, considering how the latter draws from and reinforces the former. Englishness is considered within the context of the cultural web; a tool more often applied to business management but linked to a sociological viewpoint here. By doing so, we draw the connections between this structured business model and the cultural identity of Englishness. Then, we use the framework of the cultural web and theories of leisure, culture and identity to understand how morris dancers see their role as dancers and ‘communicative leisure’ agents in consciously defending Englishness, English traditions and inventions, the practices and traditions of folk and morris, and the various symbolic communities they inhabit. We argue that most morris dancers in our research become and maintain their leisured identities as dancers because they are attracted to the idea of tradition – even if that tradition is invented and open to change

International criteria for electrocardiographic interpretation in athletes: Consensus statement.

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the leading cause of mortality in athletes during sport. A variety of mostly hereditary, structural or electrical cardiac disorders are associated with SCD in young athletes, the majority of which can be identified or suggested by abnormalities on a resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Whether used for diagnostic or screening purposes, physicians responsible for the cardiovascular care of athletes should be knowledgeable and competent in ECG interpretation in athletes. However, in most countries a shortage of physician expertise limits wider application of the ECG in the care of the athlete. A critical need exists for physician education in modern ECG interpretation that distinguishes normal physiological adaptations in athletes from distinctly abnormal findings suggestive of underlying pathology. Since the original 2010 European Society of Cardiology recommendations for ECG interpretation in athletes, ECG standards have evolved quickly, advanced by a growing body of scientific data and investigations that both examine proposed criteria sets and establish new evidence to guide refinements. On 26-27 February 2015, an international group of experts in sports cardiology, inherited cardiac disease, and sports medicine convened in Seattle, Washington (USA), to update contemporary standards for ECG interpretation in athletes. The objective of the meeting was to define and revise ECG interpretation standards based on new and emerging research and to develop a clear guide to the proper evaluation of ECG abnormalities in athletes. This statement represents an international consensus for ECG interpretation in athletes and provides expert opinion-based recommendations linking specific ECG abnormalities and the secondary evaluation for conditions associated with SCD

Equivalences between localisations of categories provided by replacements

We give a characterisation of functors whose induced functor on the level of localisations is an equivalence and where the isomorphism inverse is induced by some kind of replacements such as projective resolutions or cofibrant replacements

Cultural drivers of reforestation in tropical forest groves of the Western Ghats of India

Sacred forest groves in the Western Ghats of India are small fragments of tropical forest that have received protection due to religious beliefs and cultural practices. These forest fragments are an example of community-based conservation and they serve as refugia for many forest-dwelling species in otherwise highly anthropogenic tropical forest-agriculture landscapes of the Indian Western Ghats. Many of these sacred forest groves are considered ancient woodlands, but there is very little information on their origins. For instance: How old are these sacred groves? Are they relics of forest that was once continuous or are they patches of regenerated vegetation? How do changes in the surrounding landscape influence the vegetation in these groves? Based on palaeoecological reconstruction in two such sacred forest groves, we determined the age of these forest fragments. Both reconstructions indicate transition from non-forest open landscape to tree-covered landscape at these sites. These finding from two sacred groves challenge the common perception that sacred forest groves are remnants of once-continuous forest; instead, some sacred groves such as those studied might be regenerated forest patches that are approximately 400 years old. This further raises a number of questions about the drivers of reforestation in these groves. What were the social and cultural circumstances which led to the recovery of forest within these patches? How did land tenure influence forest recovery? What role did religious beliefs play in forest restoration? Using Wallace’s (1956) framework of ‘cultural revitalization’ and based on historical literature and palaeoecological analysis of the two sacred groves, this paper examines the drivers of reforestation in the Western Ghats of India. It suggests various social, ecological and economic drivers of such revitalization, recognizing strong linkages between the ‘social’ and the ‘ecological’ within the social–ecological system of sacred forest groves. This example of reforestation suggests that contemporary restoration of forests needs to operate at a landscape scale and look at restoration as a social–ecological intervention in forest management