Dynamical behavior of a complex fluid near an out-of-equilibrium transition: approaching simple rheological chaos

We report here an extensive study of sustained oscillations of the viscosity of a complex fluid near an out-of-equilibrium transition. Using well defined protocols, we perform rheological measurements of the onion texture near a layering transition in a Couette flow. This complex fluid exhibits sustained oscillations of the viscosity, on a large time scale (500s) at controlled stress. These oscillations are directly correlated to an oscillating microstrutural change of the texture of the fluid. We observe a great diversity of dynamical behavior and we show that there is a coupling with spatial effects in the gradient v direction. This is in agreement with a carefull analysis of the temporal series of the viscosity with the dynamical system theory. This analysis indicates that the observed dynamical responses do not strictly correspond to 3-dimensional chaotic states, probably because some spatio-temporal effects are present and are likely to play an important role.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.

Evaluation of the Specialist Community Public Health Nursing Peripatetic Assessment Model

The Health Visitor Implementation Plan 2011-15: a call to action, called for an additional 4200 health visitors to be trained by 2015. To accommodate larger numbers of students, specialist community public health nursing (SCPHN) programmes across the UK have undergone significant transformation in terms of practice supervision. Somerset Partnership NHS Trust introduced a peripatetic assessment model involving practice teachers and practice mentors. This differed from traditional one-to-one approaches of supervision to one-to-three. Practice teachers mostly supervised students through close collaboration with mentors who worked directly with students on a daily basis. Using a mixed methods approach, the evaluation aimed to assess the effectiveness of the new model from the perspective of SCPHN students, mentors, practice teachers (PTs) and managers. Data was collected through an anonymous online survey and individual interviews or focus groups. Overall, participants were positive about the peripatetic model’s impact on student learning and practice experience, in addition to the general up-skilling of the wider health visiting workforce and possible implications of continuation into the future. Any concerns raised focused on adequate preparation and support for mentors and the need for clear communication and role differentiation between practice teachers and mentors

Semi-geostrophic particle motion and exponentially accurate normal forms

We give an exponentially-accurate normal form for a Lagrangian particle moving in a rotating shallow-water system in the semi-geostrophic limit, which describes the motion in the region of an exponentially-accurate slow manifold (a region of phase space for which dynamics on the fast scale are exponentially small in the Rossby number). The result extends to numerical solutions of this problem via backward error analysis, and extends to the Hamiltonian Particle-Mesh (HPM) method for the shallow-water equations where the result shows that HPM stays close to balance for exponentially-long times in the semi-geostrophic limit. We show how this result is related to the variational asymptotics approach of [Oliver, 2005]; the difference being that on the Hamiltonian side it is possible to obtain strong bounds on the growth of fast motion away from (but near to) the slow manifold

The ontology of causal process theories

There is a widespread belief that the so-called process theories of causation developed by Wesley Salmon and Phil Dowe have given us an original account of what causation really is. In this paper, I show that this is a misconception. The notion of "causal process" does not offer us a new ontological account of causation. I make this argument by explicating the implicit ontological commitments in Salmon and Dowe's theories. From this, it is clear that Salmon's Mark Transmission Theory collapses to a counterfactual theory of causation, while the Conserved Quantity Theory collapses to David Fair's phsyicalist reduction of causation

The cytoplasmic domain of CD4 promotes the development of CD4 lineage T cells.

Thymocytes must bind major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins on thymic epithelial cells in order to mature into either CD8+ cytotoxic T cells or CD4+ helper T cells. Thymic precursors express both CD8 and CD4, and it has been suggested that the intracellular signals generated by CD8 or CD4 binding to class I or II MHC, respectively, might influence the fate of uncommitted cells. Here we test the notion that intracellular signaling by CD4 directs the development of thymocytes to a CD4 lineage. A hybrid protein consisting of the CD8 extracellular and transmembrane domains and the cytoplasmic domain of CD4 (CD884) should bind class I MHC but deliver a CD4 intracellular signal. We find that expression of a hybrid CD884 protein in thymocytes of transgenic mice leads to the development of large numbers of class I MHC-specific, CD4 lineage T cells. We discuss these results in terms of current models for CD4 and CD8 lineage commitment

Analysis of rocket engine injection combustion processes

Mixing methodology improvement for the JANNAF DER and CICM injection/combustion analysis computer programs was accomplished. ZOM plane prediction model development was improved for installation into the new standardized DER computer program. An intra-element mixing model developing approach was recommended for gas/liquid coaxial injection elements for possible future incorporation into the CICM computer program