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19 April 2024 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Francois van Vuuren
Varsity Cup Shimlas
The FNB UFS Shimlas are confident to emerge victorious as they prepare to go against the FNB UCT Ikeys in FNB Varsity Cup final.

The FNB UFS Shimlas are confident of securing a win in the 2024 FNB Varsity Cup final as they prepare to take on the FNB UCT Ikeys at the University of the Free State (UFS) Shimla Park in Bloemfontein on 22 April 2024 at 19:00. 

This marks the first time since 2015 that the final is being hosted at Shimla Park. As such, the Shimlas hope to use this home ground advantage to emerge victorious.

Prof Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS, says he commends each player for their dedication, resilience, and sportsmanship throughout the season. “I will be cheering on the team – their efforts and commitment have already made us proud, and we look forward to supporting them on home ground. We are also immensely grateful to the coaching team for their support to the Shimlas. Good luck to the team, and know that every fellow Kovsie is behind you,” says Prof Petersen.

The Shimlas advanced to the final after a 38-24 win over the FNB Maties in the semi-finals held at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on 15 April 2024. According to André Tredoux, Head Coach of the FNB UFS Shimlas, this is a tremendous win for the team, as the FNB Maties have only lost ten times in the history of the FNB Varsity Cup when playing at home. In addition, he credits Assistant Coaches Melusi Mthethwa and Tiaan Liebenberg’s hard work for the success of the team up to this point.

The mindset of the UFS Shimlas heading into the final

According to Tredoux, the team assumes a new approach and mindset in preparation for each game. In the semi-finals, the team adopted the motto ‘breathe to succeed’, which helped align the focus and attitude of the team in the game. However, as the final approaches, he indicates that, “The big thing going into a final is to stick to our processes with our intensity, and then also for the medical team and the strength and conditioning team to get the team healthy”.

In addition, Tredoux encourages the UFS community to show up in their numbers to support the FNB UFS Shimlas. “The technical team will have a good plan and the players are ready to play with everything for the Cup. We have the firepower to do it with the support of the Kovsie students,” Tredoux expressed. He also highlights that those in attendance can expect a great atmosphere and some ‘awesome rugby’. This is because the FNB UFS Young Guns will also battle the FNB NWU Young Guns at Shimla Park on 22 April 2024 from 15:30.

Those interested in seeing any of this action can still purchase their tickets on the Varsity Cup website here

News Archive

Discovery in Scorpius constellation may signify clean energy for Earth
2017-01-23

 Description: Discovery in Scorpius constellation may signify clean energy for Earth Tags: Discovery in Scorpius constellation may signify clean energy for Earth

Earlier this year, a group of international astronomers
announced the discovery of an exotic binary star system,
AR Scorpii. The system is in the Scorpius constellation.
Photos: Supplied

See article on Nature’s website 

In future, stargazers and astronomers will look at the Scorpius constellation near the Milky Way with new eyes. Earlier this year, a group of international astronomers announced the discovery of an exotic binary star system, AR Scorpii. The system is in the Scorpius constellation.

Prof Pieter Meintjes, researcher in the Department of Physics at the University of the Free State (UFS), worked with four colleagues on what he describes as a “wonderful discovery”. This sensational discovery, which could lead to the production of cleaner energy on Earth, will be published in the research journal, Nature, early in 2017.

Model developed to interpret new set of measurements
The exotic binary star which was discovered consists of a red dwarf and a white dwarf revolving around each other every 3,5 hours. The binary system showed very prominent pulsations of 117 and 118 seconds respectively. The pulsations can be explained by a bundle radiation produced by the white dwarf star.

“These new observations have shown that the radiation is strongly polarised, a sign that we are dealing with synchrotron radiation here. Synchrotron radiation is produced by electrons accelerated to extremely high energy levels in the magnetic field of the white dwarf star,” says Prof Meintjes.

He developed a theoretical model to interpret a new set of measurements that was taken by the 1,9 m telescope and the 10 m SALT telescope at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAA0).

Totally unique phenomenon could contribute to energy production on Earth
“I further indicated that the interaction between the magnetic fields of the white dwarf star and the red dwarf star induces secondary processes that specifically describe the behaviour of the radiation in the radio band and infrared band accurately. AR Sco is the first white-red dwarf binary system of which all the pulsated radiation could be explained by the synchrotron process, which is totally unique,” says Prof Meintjes.

According to Prof Meintjes, the value of the model lies in the fact that the processes which produce the radiation in AR Sco, can also be applied to produce energy on Earth.

 

Plasma reactors are based on roughly the same processes which apply in AR Sco, and with refining, it could be utilised to generate electricity in future. This will be much cleaner than nuclear energy.

 

The model developed by Prof Meintjes explains all the radiation in the system – from radio waves to X-rays – in terms of electrons accelerated to extremely high energy levels by electric fields in the system, which then produce synchrotron radiation over a very wide band of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Prof Meintjes is currently working on a follow-up article examining the evolution of the AR Sco, in other words, the origin of such a unique system and the final state towards which it is evolving. “My vision for the immediate future is therefore to develop a model for the evolution of the source concerned,” he says.

 

 

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