512 research outputs found
The Social Constructionist Challenge to Primacy Identity and the Emancipation of Oppressed Groups: Human Primacy Identity Politics and the Human/'Animal' Dualism
No full textIn a recent issue of this journal Mike Homfray asserted that social constructionism challenges emancipatory politics based in essential conceptualisations of identity. Thus for Homfray the concept of identity as associated with the pre-deconstructed subject is central for the emancipatory goal of oppressed groups like the lesbian and gay movements. In this paper I offer a distinction between radical identity politics that seeks to liberate oppressed groups, and what I have called primacy identity politics in which primacy identity is used to preserve the subjugation of those who are oppressed. In so doing I put forward a challenge to Homfray\'s somewhat wholesale rejection of the capacity for a critique of identity to work for emancipatory politics by focussing on primacy identity politics rather than on radical identity politics. In making an argument for the deconstruction of identities for emancipatory purposes I refer to my work on the human oppression of nonhuman animals. In this work I turn my attention away from those who are oppressed to the oppressors because this transfer of attention shows how useful the deconstruction of identity could be for the emancipation of oppressed groups. My examination of discourses used by the pro nonhuman animal experimentation lobby group Pro-Test shows how primacy identity politics can effectively be challenged by a social constructionist critique of essential identities and thus, contra Homfrey, I conclude that the deconstruction of identities can strengthen emancipatory causes.Human, Identity Politics, Nonhuman, Oppressed, Performative, Primacy, Radical, Social Construction
Fusion product studies via fast ion D-D and D-3He fusion on JET
No full textDedicated fast ion D-D and D-3He fusion experiments were performed on JET with carbon wall (2008) and ITER-like wall (2014) for testing the upgraded neutron and energetic ion diagnostics of fusion products. Energy spectrum of D-D neutrons was the focus of the studies in pure deuterium plasmas. A significant broadening of the energy spectrum of neutrons born in D-D fast fusion was observed, and dependence of the maximum D and D-D neutron energies on plasma density was established. Diagnostics of charged products of aneutronic D-3He fusion reactions, 3.7 MeV alpha-particles similar to those in D-T fusion, and 14.6 MeV protons, were the focus of the studies in D-3He plasmas. Measurements of 16.4 MeV gamma-rays born in the weak secondary branch of D(3He, γ)5Li reaction were used for assessing D-3He fusion power. For achieving high yield of D-D and D-3He reactions at relatively low levels of input heating power, an acceleration of D beam up to the MeV energy range was used employing 3rd harmonic () ICRH technique. These results were compared to the techniques of D beam injection into D-3He mixture, and 3He-minority ICRH in D plasmas
Mutations in MAP3K1 cause 46,XY disorders of sex development and implicate a common signal transduction pathway in human testis determination.
No full textInvestigations of humans with disorders of sex development (DSDs) resulted in the discovery of many of the now-known mammalian sex-determining genes, including SRY, RSPO1, SOX9, NR5A1, WT1, NR0B1, and WNT4. Here, the locus for an autosomal sex-determining gene was mapped via linkage analysis in two families with 46,XY DSD to the long arm of chromosome 5 with a combined, multipoint parametric LOD score of 6.21. A splice-acceptor mutation (c.634-8T>A) in MAP3K1 segregated with the phenotype in the first family and disrupted RNA splicing. Mutations were demonstrated in the second family (p.Gly616Arg) and in two of 11 sporadic cases (p.Leu189Pro, p.Leu189Arg)—18% prevalence in this cohort of sporadic cases. In cultured primary lymphoblastoid cells from family 1 and the two sporadic cases, these mutations altered the phosphorylation of the downstream targets, p38 and ERK1/2, and enhanced binding of RHOA to the MAP3K1 complex. Map3k1 within the syntenic region was expressed in the embryonic mouse gonad prior to, and after, sex determination. Thus, mutations in MAP3K1 that result in 46,XY DSD with partial or complete gonadal dysgenesis implicate this pathway in normal human sex determination
Genetic heterogeneity in Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) and CdLS-like phenotypes with observed and predicted levels of mosaicism
No full textCornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is a multisystem disorder with distinctive facial appearance, intellectual disability and growth failure as prominent features. Most individuals with typical CdLS have de novo heterozygous loss-of-function mutations in NIPBL with mosaic individuals representing a significant proportion. Mutations in other cohesin components, SMC1A, SMC3, HDAC8 and RAD21 cause less typical CdLS
Observation of enhanced ion particle transport in mixed H/D isotope plasmas on JET
No full textParticle transport in tokamak plasmas has been intensively studied in the past, particularly in relation to density peaking and the presence of anomalous inward particle convection in L- and H-modes. While in the L-mode case the presence of the anomalous inward pinch has previously been unambiguously demonstrated, particle transport in the H-mode was unclear. The main difficulty of such studies is that particle diffusion and convection could not be measured independently in steady-state conditions in the presence of a core particle flux. Therefore, it is usually not possible to separate the transport effect(inward convection), from the source effect (slow diffusion of particles introduced to the plasma core by neutral beam injection heating). In this work we describe experiments done on JET with mixtures of two hydrogenic isotopes: H and D. It is demonstrated that in the case of several ion species, convection and diffusion can be separated in a steady plasma without implementation of perturbative techniques such as gas puff modulation. Previous H-mode density peaking studies suggested that for this relatively high electron collisionality plasma scenario, the observed density gradient is mostly driven by particle source and low particle diffusivity D < 0.5 ∗ χ eff. Transport coefficients derived from observation of the isotope profiles in the new experiments far exceed that value - ion particle diffusion is found to be as high as D 2 ∗ χ eff, combined with a strong inward convection. Apparent disagreement with previous findings was explained by significantly faster transport of ion components with respect to the electrons, which could not be observed in a single main ion species plasma. This conclusion is confirmed by quasilinear gyrokinetic simulations
Determination of isotope ratio in the divertor of JET-ILW by high-resolution H alpha spectroscopy: H-D experiment and implications for D-T experiment
No full textThe data of the H alpha high-resolution spectroscopy, collected on the multiple lines of sight, which cover the entire divertor space in poloidal cross-section, during the recent hydrogen-deuterium experiments in JET-ILW (ITER-like wall), are processed. A strong spatial inhomogeneity of the hydrogen concentration, H/(H + D), in divertor is found in many pulses. Namely, the H/(H + D) ratio may be lower in the inner divertor than that in the outer divertor by the values of 0.15-0.35, depending on the conditions of gas puffing and plasma heating. This effect suggests the necessity of spatially-resolved measurements of isotope ratio in the divertor in the upcoming deuterium-tritium experiments. Also, separation of the overlapped T alpha and D alpha spectral lines is shown to be a challenging task especially when the local Doppler-broadened (Gaussian) line shapes are noticeably distorted by the net inward flux of fast non-Maxwellian neutral atoms. We use the respective, formerly developed model of an asymmetric spectral line shape, while analysing the data of the first deuterium-tritium experiment in JET-C (carbon wall), and test the model via comparing the isotope ratio results with another diagnostic's measurements. This model is shown to increase the accuracy of tritium concentration measurements in the divertor
Scenario development for D-T operation at JET
No full textThe JET exploitation plan foresees D-T operations in 2020 (DTE2). With respect to the first D-T campaign in 1997 (DTE1), when JET was equipped with a carbon wall, the experiments will be conducted in presence of a beryllium-tungsten ITER-like wall and will benefit from an extended and improved set of diagnostics and higher additional heating power (32 MW neutral beam injection + 8 MW ion cyclotron resonance heating). There are several challenges presented by operations with the new wall: a general deterioration of the pedestal confinement; the risk of heavy impurity accumulation in the core, which, if not controlled, can cause the radiative collapse of the discharge; the requirement to protect the divertor from excessive heat loads, which may damage it permanently. Therefore, an intense activity of scenario development has been undertaken at JET during the last three years to overcome these difficulties and prepare the plasmas needed to demonstrate stationary high fusion performance and clear alpha particle effects. The paper describes the status and main achievements of this scenario development activity, both from an operational and plasma physics point of view
Observation of enhanced ion particle transport in mixed H/D isotope plasmas on JET
No full textParticle transport in tokamak plasmas has been intensively studied in the past, particularly in relation to density peaking and the presence of anomalous inward particle convection in L- and H-modes. While in the L-mode case the presence of the anomalous inward pinch has previously been unambiguously demonstrated, particle transport in the H-mode was unclear. The main difficulty of such studies is that particle diffusion and convection could not be measured independently in steady-state conditions in the presence of a core particle flux. Therefore, it is usually not possible to separate the transport effect(inward convection), from the source effect (slow diffusion of particles introduced to the plasma core by neutral beam injection heating). In this work we describe experiments done on JET with mixtures of two hydrogenic isotopes: H and D. It is demonstrated that in the case of several ion species, convection and diffusion can be separated in a steady plasma without implementation of perturbative techniques such as gas puff modulation. Previous H-mode density peaking studies suggested that for this relatively high electron collisionality plasma scenario, the observed density gradient is mostly driven by particle source and low particle diffusivity D < 0.5 ∗ χ eff. Transport coefficients derived from observation of the isotope profiles in the new experiments far exceed that value - ion particle diffusion is found to be as high as D 2 ∗ χ eff, combined with a strong inward convection. Apparent disagreement with previous findings was explained by significantly faster transport of ion components with respect to the electrons, which could not be observed in a single main ion species plasma. This conclusion is confirmed by quasilinear gyrokinetic simulations
Calculations to support JET neutron yield calibration: Modelling of neutron emission from a compact DT neutron generator
No full textAt the Joint European Torus (JET) the ex-vessel fission chambers and in-vessel activation detectors are used as the neutron production rate and neutron yield monitors respectively. In order to ensure that these detectors produce accurate measurements they need to be experimentally calibrated. A new calibration of neutron detectors to 14 MeV neutrons, resulting from deuterium–tritium (DT) plasmas, is planned at JET using a compact accelerator based neutron generator (NG) in which a D/T beam impinges on a solid target containing T/D, producing neutrons by DT fusion reactions. This paper presents the analysis that was performed to model the neutron source characteristics in terms of energy spectrum, angle–energy distribution and the effect of the neutron generator geometry. Different codes capable of simulating the accelerator based DT neutron sources are compared and sensitivities to uncertainties in the generator's internal structure analysed. The analysis was performed to support preparation to the experimental measurements performed to characterize the NG as a calibration source. Further extensive neutronics analyses, performed with this model of the NG, will be needed to support the neutron calibration experiments and take into account various differences between the calibration experiment and experiments using the plasma as a source of neutrons
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