1,149 research outputs found
Symmetry breaking in MAST plasma turbulence due to toroidal flow shear
The flow shear associated with the differential toroidal rotation of tokamak
plasmas breaks an underlying symmetry of the turbulent fluctuations imposed by
the up-down symmetry of the magnetic equilibrium. Using experimental
Beam-Emission-Spectroscopy (BES) measurements and gyrokinetic simulations, this
symmetry breaking in ion-scale turbulence in MAST is shown to manifest itself
as a tilt of the spatial correlation function and a finite skew in the
distribution of the fluctuating density field. The tilt is a statistical
expression of the "shearing" of the turbulent structures by the mean flow. The
skewness of the distribution is related to the emergence of long-lived density
structures in sheared, near-marginal plasma turbulence. The extent to which
these effects are pronounced is argued (with the aid of the simulations) to
depend on the distance from the nonlinear stability threshold. Away from the
threshold, the symmetry is effectively restored
Of Remedies and Poisons: Recreational Use of Antiretroviral Drugs in the Social Imagination of South African Carers
During an ethnographic study of barriers to, and compliance with, antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in the South Africa’s West Coast region, our team came across a general sense amongst heath care providers that there was a lively illicit trade in antiretroviral medications. In itself, this is seen to be a barrier to adherence for many of their patients whose medication is traded to, or stolen by, drug dealers. Independent anecdotal evidence is emerging about this trade, though there has been little hard data verifying the existence of a recreational market for ARVs. While there are rumours that Efavirenz (some of whose side effects are hallucinogenic) is being used in the manufacture of crystal methamphetamine (locally ‘tik’), such reports, in themselves, do not seem able to explain the ubiquity (and the confidence) of the belief in this trade amongst the health care providers with whom we have interacted. This paper explores aspects of the off-label trade of ARVs (as we have come to know it) and, as importantly, how rumor and knowledge of this trade has gained increasing currency in the social imagination of health and social care workers. This, we argue, could precipitate a real crisis in the Government’s public rollout programme.Keywords: Social Imagination, South Africa, antiretroviral treatment, Recreational drugs, HIV/AID
UBV(RI)C JHK observations of Hipparcos-selected nearby stars
We present homogeneous, standardized UBV(RI)C photometry for over 700 nearby stars
selected on the basis of Hipparcos parallaxes. Additionally, we list JHK photometry for about
half of these stars, as well as L photometry for 86 of the brightest. A number of stars with
peculiar colours or anomalous locations in various colour–magnitude diagrams are discussed.Web of Scienc
Metal Concentrations in Grape Spirits
Metals are a necessity for human health as they play significant roles in biological systems. However,contamination of food and beverages by heavy metals such as lead (Pb), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), cadmium(Cd), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn) is a major public health problem in developingcountries. In this study we evaluated the levels of Li, Be, B, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Sr,Mo, Cd, Sb, Ba, Hg and Pb in grape spirits, including pot still spirit, neutral wine spirit and commercialbrandies. Interesting variations in the levels of metals was observed. Factors such as origin and type ofspirits influenced levels of metals in spirits. These differences in some metal levels such as copper canbe used to determine possible adulteration and in authenticity assessments of brandies. Surprisingly thecommercial brandies had higher metal concentrations when compared to pot still spirit and neutral winespirit. Unmatured pot still spirit had the highest copper levels. Our study shows that generally the metallevels in most of the commercial brandies were within permissible limits
Further observations of Hipparcos red stars and standards for UBV(RI)C photometry
We present homogeneous and standardized UBV(RI)C JHK photometry for over 100 M stars
selected from an earlier paper on the basis of apparent photometric constancy. L photometry
has been obtained for stars brighter than about L = 6. Most of the stars have a substantial
number of UBV(RI)C observations and, it is hoped, will prove useful as red supplementary
standards. Additionally,we list JHK photometry for nearly 300 Hipparcos red stars not selected
as standards, as well as L photometry for the brightest stars.Web of Scienc
Ion-scale turbulence in MAST: anomalous transport, subcritical transitions, and comparison to BES measurements
We investigate the effect of varying the ion temperature gradient (ITG) and
toroidal equilibrium scale sheared flow on ion-scale turbulence in the outer
core of MAST by means of local gyrokinetic simulations. We show that nonlinear
simulations reproduce the experimental ion heat flux and that the
experimentally measured values of the ITG and the flow shear lie close to the
turbulence threshold. We demonstrate that the system is subcritical in the
presence of flow shear, i.e., the system is formally stable to small
perturbations, but transitions to a turbulent state given a large enough
initial perturbation. We propose that the transition to subcritical turbulence
occurs via an intermediate state dominated by low number of coherent long-lived
structures, close to threshold, which increase in number as the system is taken
away from the threshold into the more strongly turbulent regime, until they
fill the domain and a more conventional turbulence emerges. We show that the
properties of turbulence are effectively functions of the distance to
threshold, as quantified by the ion heat flux. We make quantitative comparisons
of correlation lengths, times, and amplitudes between our simulations and
experimental measurements using the MAST BES diagnostic. We find reasonable
agreement of the correlation properties, most notably of the correlation time,
for which significant discrepancies were found in previous numerical studies of
MAST turbulence.Comment: 67 pages, 37 figures. Submitted to PPC
Transition to subcritical turbulence in a tokamak plasma
Tokamak turbulence, driven by the ion-temperature gradient and occurring in
the presence of flow shear, is investigated by means of local, ion-scale,
electrostatic gyrokinetic simulations (with both kinetic ions and electrons) of
the conditions in the outer core of the Mega-Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST). A
parameter scan in the local values of the ion-temperature gradient and flow
shear is performed. It is demonstrated that the experimentally observed state
is near the stability threshold and that this stability threshold is nonlinear:
sheared turbulence is subcritical, i.e. the system is formally stable to small
perturbations, but, given a large enough initial perturbation, it transitions
to a turbulent state. A scenario for such a transition is proposed and
supported by numerical results: close to threshold, the nonlinear saturated
state and the associated anomalous heat transport are dominated by long-lived
coherent structures, which drift across the domain, have finite amplitudes, but
are not volume filling; as the system is taken away from the threshold into the
more unstable regime, the number of these structures increases until they
overlap and a more conventional chaotic state emerges. Whereas this appears to
represent a new scenario for transition to turbulence in tokamak plasmas, it is
reminiscent of the behaviour of other subcritically turbulent systems, e.g.
pipe flows and Keplerian magnetorotational accretion flows.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, accepted to Journal of Plasma Physic
Between the Clinic and the Community: Temporality and Patterns of ART Adherence in the Western Cape Province, South Africa
In an ethnographic study conducted over thirty months in South Africa’s Western Cape Province ending in 2012, we explored ART adherence amongst almost 200 patients attending three clinics. This setting contained significant political, structural, economic and socio cultural barriers to the uptake of, and adherence to, treatment. Such barriers certainly impacted patient drug use and the labelling of clients as ‘adherent’ or ‘non-adherent’. Yet, as our fieldwork developed, it became apparent that these labels also bore little relationship to the amount and regularity of drug consumption outside the clinic. Indeed, the people that we knew moved through these labels in ways that could not simply be explained by brute socio-economic circumstances, poor understanding of the functions of the drugs, or varying levels of family and community support, which themselves often changed over time. This paper presents four on-going ‘patterns of adherence’, which are clearly discernible in the communities in which we worked. Each pattern is demonstrated through the life of an ‘index patient’ whose case is seen to be representative of the range of experiences and practices observed under the terms ‘adherent’ and ‘non-adherent’. We argue that such terms are deeply contextual and, crucially, temporally situated. The complex intertwining of political, economic, socio cultural, gender, and biological factors that constitute the lives of participants exists in time and we call for a focus on evolving lives in relationship to changing health systems that can follow (and respond to) such developments to better deliver both information and services.Keywords: ART adherence, community, health systems, socio-cultural barriers drug consumptio
A search for previously unrecognised metal-poor subdwarfs in the Hipparcos astrometric catalogue
We have identified 317 stars included in the Hipparcos astrometric catalogue
which have parallaxes measured to a precision of better than 15%, and whose
location in the (M_V, (B-V)_T) diagram implies a metallicity comparable to or
less than that of the intermediate-abundance globular cluster, M5. We have
undertaken an extensive literature search to locate Stromgren, Johnson/Cousins
and Walraven photometry for over 120 stars. In addition, we present new UBVRI
photometry of 201 of these candidate halo stars, together with similar data for
a further 14 known metal-poor subdwarfs. Those observations provide the first
extensive dataset of RI photometry of metal-poor, main-sequence stars with
well-determined trigonometric parallaxes. Finally, we have obtained
intermediate-resolution optical spectroscopy of 175 stars. We are able to
estimate abundances for 270 stars. The overwhelming majority have near-solar
abundance, with their inclusion in the present sample stemming from errors in
the colours listed in the Hipparcos catalogue. Only 44 stars show consistent
evidence of abundances below [Fe/H]= -1.0. Nine are additions to the small
sample of metal-poor subdwarfs with accurate photometry. We consider briefly
the implication of these results for cluster main-sequence fitting.Comment: to appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (some
tables appear out of order in the text
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