9,628 research outputs found
Gender and Empowerment: Contemporary Lakota Women of Rosebud
Western-European stereotypes still permeate Plains Indian culture suggesting that women were passive and subjugated while men were dominant warriors. This research challenges those stereotypes through exploration of origin and spirituality accounts, kinship organization, historical impact, contemporary and traditional issues, and through first hand ethnographic research of the Sicangu Nation of Lakota people in regards to gender roles. Using feminist critique and reflexive theoretical approaches, information was collected through participant observation and interviews with Sicangu people in 2004. By focusing on how Lakota women have empowered themselves, this research illustrates how women were and continue to be respected, influential members of what is now a matrifocal society
Local order and magnetic field effects on the electronic properties of disordered binary alloys in the Quantum Site Percolation limit
Electronic properties of disordered binary alloys are studied via the
calculation of the average Density of States (DOS) in two and three dimensions.
We propose a new approximate scheme that allows for the inclusion of local
order effects in finite geometries and extrapolates the behavior of infinite
systems following `finite-size scaling' ideas. We particularly investigate the
limit of the Quantum Site Percolation regime described by a tight-binding
Hamiltonian. This limit was chosen to probe the role of short range order (SRO)
properties under extreme conditions. The method is numerically highly efficient
and asymptotically exact in important limits, predicting the correct DOS
structure as a function of the SRO parameters. Magnetic field effects can also
be included in our model to study the interplay of local order and the shifted
quantum interference driven by the field. The average DOS is highly sensitive
to changes in the SRO properties, and striking effects are observed when a
magnetic field is applied near the segregated regime. The new effects observed
are twofold: there is a reduction of the band width and the formation of a gap
in the middle of the band, both as a consequence of destructive interference of
electronic paths and the loss of coherence for particular values of the
magnetic field. The above phenomena are periodic in the magnetic flux. For
other limits that imply strong localization, the magnetic field produces minor
changes in the structure of the average DOS.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 31 references, RevTex preprint, submitted to
Phys. Rev.
Undulation textures at the phase transitions of some alkyloxybenzoic acids
We observed undulated smectic textures for some compounds of the
4,n-alkyloxybenzoic (nOBAC) acid series, at transitions between the smectic and
the isotropic phase and between the smectic and nematic phase. Studied
compounds were 12OBAC, 16OBAC and a binary mixture of 12- and 16OBAC. The
undulations are dressing a usual Schlieren texture. In the case of the binary
mixture, an interesting fingerprint pattern is observed too
Statistical fluctuations of the parametric derivative of the transmission and reflection coefficients in absorbing chaotic cavities
Motivated by recent theoretical and experimental works, we study the
statistical fluctuations of the parametric derivative of the transmission T and
reflection R coefficients in ballistic chaotic cavities in the presence of
absorption. Analytical results for the variance of the parametric derivative of
T and R, with and without time-reversal symmetry, are obtained for both
asymmetric and left-right symmetric cavities. These results are valid for
arbitrary number of channels, in completely agreement with the one channel case
in the absence of absorption studied in the literature.Comment: Modified version as accepted in PR
Copper and Barium Abundances in the Ursa Major Moving Group
We present Cu and Ba abundances for 7 G-K dwarf stars, members of the
solar-metallicity, 0.3 Gyr old Ursa Major Moving Group. All analyzed member
stars show [Ba/Fe] excesses of +0.3-plus, associated with [Cu/Fe] deficiencies
of up to -0.23 dex. The present results suggest that there is an
anti-correlation between the abundances of Cu and the heavy elements produced
by the main component of the neutron capture s-process. Other possible
anomalies are Na and C deficiencies with respect to normal solar-metallicity
stars. The new data do not confirm the recent claim that the group member
HR6094 is a Ba dwarf star.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted to MNRA
Vacuum polarization by topological defects in de Sitter spacetime
In this paper we investigate the vacuum polarization effects associated with
a massive quantum scalar field in de Sitter spacetime in the presence of
gravitational topological defects. Specifically we calculate the vacuum
expectation value of the field square, . Because this investigation
has been developed in a pure de Sitter space, here we are mainly interested on
the effects induced by the presence of the defects.Comment: Talk presented at the 1st. Mediterranean Conference on Classical and
Quantum Gravity (MCCQG
Statistical wave scattering through classically chaotic cavities in the presence of surface absorption
We propose a model to describe the statistical properties of wave scattering
through a classically chaotic cavity in the presence of surface absorption.
Experimentally, surface absorption could be realized by attaching an "absorbing
patch" to the inner wall of the cavity. In our model, the cavity is connected
to the outside by a waveguide with N open modes (or channels), while an
experimental patch is simulated by an "absorbing mirror" attached to the inside
wall of the cavity; the mirror, consisting of a waveguide that supports Na
channels, with absorption inside and a perfectly reflecting wall at its end, is
described by a subunitary scattering matrix Sa. The number of channels Na, as a
measure of the geometric cross section of the mirror, and the lack of unitarity
of Sa as a measure of absorption, are under our control: these parameters have
an important physical significance for real experiments. The absorption
strength in the cavity is quantified by the trace of the lack of unitarity. The
statistical distribution of the resulting S matrix for N=1 open channel and
only one absorbing channel, Na =1, is solved analytically for the orthogonal
and unitary universality classes, and the results are compared with those
arising from numerical simulations. The relation with other models existing in
the literature, in some of which absorption has a volumetric character, is also
studied.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
A Link Between the Semi-Major Axis of Extrasolar Gas Giant Planets and Stellar Metallicity
The fact that most extrasolar planets found to date are orbiting metal-rich
stars lends credence to the core accretion mechanism of gas giant planet
formation over its competitor, the disc instability mechanism. However, the
core accretion mechanism is not refined to the point of explaining orbital
parameters such as their unexpected semi-major axes and eccentricities. We
propose a model, which correlates the metallicity of the host star with the
original semi-major axis of its most massive planet, prior to migration,
considering that the core accretion scenario governs giant gas planet
formation. The model predicts that the optimum regions for planetary formation
shift inward as stellar metallicity decreases, providing an explanation for the
observed absence of long period planets in metal-poor stars. We compare our
predictions with the available data on extrasolar planets for stars with masses
similar to the mass of the Sun. A fitting procedure produces an estimate of
what we define as the Zero Age Planetary Orbit (ZAPO) curve as a function of
the metallicity of the star. The model also hints that the lack of planets
circling metal-poor stars may be partly caused by an enhanced destruction
probability during the migration process, since the planets lie initially
closer to the central stars.Comment: Nature of the replacement: According to recent simulations, the
temperature profile, T, is more adequately reproduced by beta = 1 rather than
beta = 2. We have introduced a distance scale factor that solves the very
fast drop of T for low metallicity and introduces naturally the inferior
distance limit of our ZAPO. Under this modification all the fitting process
was altere
Classical integrability of chiral and classical curves
In this letter, classical chiral is studied in the lightcone gauge
. The once integrated equation of motion for the current is shown to
be of the Lax form, which demonstrates an infinite number of conserved
quantities. Specializing to gauge group SU(2), we show that solutions to the
classical equations of motion can be identified with a very large class of
curves. We demonstrate this correspondence explicitly for two solutions. The
classical fermionic fields associated with these currents are then obtained.Comment: Final version to appear in Mod. Phys. Lett. A. A reference and two
footnotes added. 6 pages revte
A new analysis of the GJ581 extrasolar planetary system
We have done a new analysis of the available observations for the GJ581
exoplanetary system. Today this system is controversial due to choices that can
be done in the orbital determination. The main ones are the ocurrence of
aliases and the additional bodies - the planets f and g - announced in Vogt et
al. 2010. Any dynamical study of exoplanets requires the good knowledge of the
orbital elements and the investigations involving the planet g are particularly
interesting, since this body would lie in the Habitable Zone (HZ) of the star
GJ581. This region,for this system, is very attractive of the dynamical point
of view due to several resonances of two and three bodies present there. In
this work, we investigate the conditions under which the planet g may exist. We
stress the fact that the planet g is intimately related with the orbital
elements of the planet d; more precisely, we conclude that it is not possible
to disconnect its existence from the determination of the eccentricity of the
planet d. Concerning the planet f, we have found one solution with period
days, but we are judicious about any affirmation concernig this
body because its signal is in the threshold of detection and the high period is
in a spectral region where the ocorruence of aliases is very common. Besides,
we outline some dynamical features of the habitable zone with the dynamical map
and point out the role played by some resonances laying there.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure
- âŠ