583 research outputs found
Muthi traders on the Witwatersrand, South Africa - an urban mosaic
The Witwatersrand is an extensively urbanised complex in Gauteng, South Africa. The complex is divided into three regions, namely the East Rand, Johannesburg and West Rand. In February 1994, prior to the democratic elections, a study of the trade in traditional herbal medicines in the region was initiated. Before the survey of the plant species could commence the regional distribution of the herb-traders and also their ethnicity and gender was established in order to select traders for the study that were proportionately representative of the herb-traders actually present. Using municipal trade licence records, telephone directories and personal communications the nature of the 'urban mosaic' of herb-traders was established. There were approximately 244 herb-traders in 1994, 70% of whom were located in Johannesburg, 20% in the East Rand and 10% in the West Rand In addition, 52% of the traders were Black followed by Indian (25%), White (16%) and Coloured (1%). Since the elections the pattern of the mosaic has visibly altered to reflect the current pattern of South Africa's demography more accurately
Reptiles sold as traditional medicine in Xipamanine and Xiquelene Markets (Maputo, Mozambique).
Zootherapy plays a role in healing practices in Mozambican society. Although several studies have focused on ethnobotany and traditional medicine in the country, little research has been conducted on the use of reptiles in zootherapy. The aim of this study was therefore to fill this gap by assessing the reptile species traded for traditional medicine in the Xipamanine and Xiquelene Markets in Maputo, Mozambique. We found that few reptile species are traded domestically for traditional medicine and that their use appears to be in decline in Mozambique. Our findings also suggest that the domestic trade of reptiles for traditional medicines in Maputo markets is unlikely to have a significant impact on the conservation of reptiles in Mozambique. However, we suggest that international trade with South Africa is likely having a larger impact, given observations of Mozambican nationals selling a diverse range of fauna in urban traditional medicine markets in Johannesburg and Durban.SP201
Development of a training program to support health care professionals to deliver the SPACE for COPD self-management program
Open access journalBackground: With the growing burden of COPD and associated morbidity and mortality, a need for self-management has been identified. The Self-management Programme of Activity, Coping and Education for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (SPACE for COPD) manual was developed to support self-management in COPD patients. Currently, there is no literature available regarding health care professionals’ training needs when supporting patients with COPD on self-management.
Aim: This study sought to identify these needs to inform, design and develop a training program for health care professionals being trained to deliver a self-management program in COPD.
Methods: Fourteen health care professionals from both primary and secondary care COPD services participated in face-to-face semistructured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to produce a framework and identify training needs and views on delivery of the SPACE for COPD self-management program. Components of training were web-based knowledge training, with pre- and posttraining knowledge questionnaires, and a 1-day program to introduce the self-management manual. Feedback was given after training to guide the development of the training program.
Results: Health care professionals were able to identify areas where they required increased knowledge to support patients. This was overwhelming in aspects of COPD seen to be outside of their current clinical role. Skills in goal setting and behavioral change were not elicited as a training need, suggesting a lack of understanding of components of supporting self-management. An increase in knowledge of COPD was demonstrated following the training program.
Conclusion: Both knowledge and skill gaps existed in those who would deliver self-management. Analysis of this has enabled a training program to be designed to address these gaps and enable health care professionals to support patients in self-management.
Keywords: self-management, COPD, health care professionals, trainin
Production efficiency of Feshbach molecules in fermion systems
We present a consistent nonequilibrium theory for the production of molecular
dimers from a two-component quantum-degenerate fermion atomic gas, via a linear
downward sweep of the magnetic field across a Feshbach resonance. This problem
raises interest because it is presently unclear as to why deviations from the
universal Landau-Zener formula for the transition probability at two-level
crossing are observed in the experimentally measured production efficiencies.
We show that the molecular conversion efficiency is represented by a power
series in terms of a dimensionless parameter which, in the zero-temperature
limit, depends solely on the initial gas density and the Landau-Zener
parameter. Our result reveals a hindrance of the canonical Landau-Zener
transition probability due to many-body effects, and presents an explanation
for the experimentally observed deviations [K.E. Strecker \textit{et al.},
Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}, 080406 (2003)].Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Instability of the rhodium magnetic moment as origin of the metamagnetic phase transition in alpha-FeRh
Based on ab initio total energy calculations we show that two magnetic states
of rhodium atoms together with competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic
exchange interactions are responsible for a temperature induced metamagnetic
phase transition, which experimentally is observed for stoichiometric
alpha-FeRh. A first-principle spin-based model allows to reproduce this
first-order metamagnetic transition by means of Monte Carlo simulations.
Further inclusion of spacial variation of exchange parameters leads to a
realistic description of the experimental magneto-volume effects in alpha-FeRh.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Critical Dynamics of Magnets
We review our current understanding of the critical dynamics of magnets above
and below the transition temperature with focus on the effects due to the
dipole--dipole interaction present in all real magnets. Significant progress in
our understanding of real ferromagnets in the vicinity of the critical point
has been made in the last decade through improved experimental techniques and
theoretical advances in taking into account realistic spin-spin interactions.
We start our review with a discussion of the theoretical results for the
critical dynamics based on recent renormalization group, mode coupling and spin
wave theories. A detailed comparison is made of the theory with experimental
results obtained by different measuring techniques, such as neutron scattering,
hyperfine interaction, muon--spin--resonance, electron--spin--resonance, and
magnetic relaxation, in various materials. Furthermore we discuss the effects
of dipolar interaction on the critical dynamics of three--dimensional isotropic
antiferromagnets and uniaxial ferromagnets. Special attention is also paid to a
discussion of the consequences of dipolar anisotropies on the existence of
magnetic order and the spin--wave spectrum in two--dimensional ferromagnets and
antiferromagnets. We close our review with a formulation of critical dynamics
in terms of nonlinear Langevin equations.Comment: Review article (154 pages, figures included
Influence of a low magnetic field on the thermal diffusivity of Bi-2212
The thermal diffusivity of a Bi-2212 polycrystalline sample has been measured
under a 1T magnetic field applied perpendicularly to the heat flux. The
magnetic contribution to the heat carrier mean free path has been extracted and
is found to behave as a simple power law. This behavior can be attributed to a
percolation process of electrons in the vortex lattice created by the magnetic
field.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev.
The Ginzburg regime and its effects on topological defect formation
The Ginzburg temperature has historically been proposed as the energy scale
of formation of topological defects at a second order symmetry breaking phase
transition. More recently alternative proposals which compute the time of
formation of defects from the critical dynamics of the system, have been
gaining both theoretical and experimental support. We investigate, using a
canonical model for string formation, how these two pictures compare. In
particular we show that prolonged exposure of a critical field configuration to
the Ginzburg regime results in no substantial suppression of the final density
of defects formed. These results dismiss the recently proposed role of the
Ginzburg regime in explaining the absence of topological defects in 4He
pressure quench experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 5 ps figure
Onset of magnetism in B2 transition metals aluminides
Ab initio calculation results for the electronic structure of disordered bcc
Fe(x)Al(1-x) (0.4<x<0.75), Co(x)Al(1-x) and Ni(x)Al(1-x) (x=0.4; 0.5; 0.6)
alloys near the 1:1 stoichiometry, as well as of the ordered B2 (FeAl, CoAl,
NiAl) phases with point defects are presented. The calculations were performed
using the coherent potential approximation within the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker
method (KKR-CPA) for the disordered case and the tight-binding linear
muffin-tin orbital (TB-LMTO) method for the intermetallic compounds. We studied
in particular the onset of magnetism in Fe-Al and Co-Al systems as a function
of the defect structure. We found the appearance of large local magnetic
moments associated with the transition metal (TM) antisite defect in FeAl and
CoAl compounds, in agreement with the experimental findings. Moreover, we found
that any vacancies on both sublattices enhance the magnetic moments via
reducing the charge transfer to a TM atom. Disordered Fe-Al alloys are
ferromagnetically ordered for the whole range of composition studied, whereas
Co-Al becomes magnetic only for Co concentration >0.5.Comment: 11 pages with 9 embedded postscript figures, to be published in
Phys.Rev.
Strong interactions in air showers
We study the role new gauge interactions in extensions of the standard model
play in air showers initiated by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. Hadron-hadron
events remain dominated by quantum chromodynamics, while projectiles and/or
targets from beyond the standard model permit us to see qualitative differences
arising due to the new interactions.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in JCA
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