We experimentally investigated the generation of high-energy electron beams from laserdriven wakefield acceleration in argon gas jets by using tens of terawatt 30 fs ultrafast laser pulses that were focused to a relatively large-spot size, unmatched with the laser-plasma parameters. In this interaction, and depending on the Ar gas jet density, we could distinguish two different regimes for electron acceleration in the argon medium. In the high-density argon gas jet where argon clusters are formed, upon interaction with the laser electron beams having as high a charge as 3nC are generated. However, the energy spectra of those electron beams were continuous. On the other hand, high-quality quasi-mono-energetic electron beams with a modest charge of tens of pC are observed at much lower argon gas jet densities. The generation of such a high-quality electron beam is attributed to the ionization injection mechanism in which the electron injection takes place over only a few hundred micrometers of the laser-plasma interaction length, leading to the generation of high-quality electron beams.
Simple SummaryThe question of how to kill animals for food has persisted unresolved in the Anglo-American and European social and political discourse for more than a century. Scientific informed narrative has been directed at “documenting” the experience of the slaughtered animal in the last few seconds of life. Other narratives include wide social informed narratives of cultural, historical and religious meanings of food. Slaughter by rapid exsanguination is examined as an “essentially contested” concept as a response to the resiliency of this question in modern society.AbstractThe phrase “essentially contested concept” (ECC) entered the academic literature in 1956 in an attempt to better characterize certain contentious concepts of political theory. Commonly identified examples of contested concepts are morality, religion, democracy, science, nature, philosophy, and certain types of creative products such as the novel and art. The structure proposed to identify an ECC has proven useful in a wide variety of deliberative discourse in the social, political, and religious arenas where seemingly intractable but productive debates are found. Where a strongly held moral position is contradicted by law, a portion of the citizenry see the law as illegitimate and do not feel compelled to respect it. This paper will attempt to apply the analytic structure of ECC to the concept of animal wellbeing at the time of slaughter specifically a “good death.” The results of this analysis supports an understanding that the current slaughter debate is a disagreement in moral belief and normative moral theory. The parties to the dispute have differing visions of the “good.” The method of slaughter is not an essentially contested concept where further discourse is likely to result in a negotiated resolution. The position statements of veterinary organizations are used as an example of current discourse.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.