The decay of cyclonic eddies by Rossby wave radiation

It is argued that because shallow water cyclones on a β-plane drift westward at a speed equal to an available Rossby wave phase speed, they must radiate energy and cannot, therefore, be steady. The form of the Rossby wave wake accompanying a quasi-steady cyclone is calculated and the energy flux in the radiated waves determined. Further, an explicit expression for the radiation-induced northward drift of the cyclone is obtained. A general method for determining the effects of the radiation on the radius and amplitude of the vortex based on conservation of energy and potential vorticity is given. An example calculation for a cyclone with a ‘top-hat’ profile is presented, demonstrating that the primary effect of the radiation is to decrease the radius of the vortex. The dimensional timescale associated with the decay of oceanic vortices is of the order of several months to a year

Vortex equilibria in flow past a plate

Families of vortex equilibria, with constant vorticity, in steady flow past a flat plate are computed numerically. An equilibrium configuration, which can be thought of as a desingularized point vortex, involves a single symmetric vortex patch located wholly on one side of the plate. Given that the outermost edge of the vortex is unit distance from the plate, the equilibria depend on three parameters: the length of the plate, circulation about the plate, and the distance of the innermost edge of the vortex from the plate. Families in which there is zero circulation about the plate and for which the Kutta condition at the plate ends is satisfied are both considered. Properties such as vortex area, lift and free-stream speed are computed. Time-dependent numerical simulations are used to investigate the stability of the computed steady solutions

Shaping the future for primary care education and training project. Education and training provision to deliver integrated health & social care: course finder

Within the Shaping the Future for Primary Care Education and Training Project, the literature review concerning integrated health and social care identified a number of implications or recommendations for service and education. For education, these recommendations may be categorised under a number of headings or themes: Team working, Communication, Role Awareness, Practice Development and Leadership,Partnership Working. It would follow that if agencies in the North West are to deliver truly integrated health and social care services, educational curricula across the region should cover these themes. Prior to the Shaping the Future Project there was no simple way of looking across the entire region to gain insights into current education and training provision. One of the core objectives of the Shaping the Future Project was to develop a webbased Course Finder tool and to map existing regional provision of education and training which can support the delivery of integrated health and social care service

Factors that influence public engagement with eHealth: a literature review

Purpose: Public engagement with eHealth is generally viewed as beneficial. However, despite the potential benefits, public engagement with eHealth services remains variable. This article explores reasons for this variability through a review of published international literature. Methods: A focused search, conducted in January 2009, of three bibliographic databases, MEDLINE, CINAHL and EMBASE, returned 2622 unique abstracts. Results: Fifty articles met the inclusion criteria for the review. Four main types of eHealth service were identified: health information on the Internet; custom-made online health information; online support; and telehealth. Public engagement with these services appears to depend on a number of factors: characteristics of users; technological issues; characteristics of eHealth services; social aspects of use; and eHealth services in use. Conclusions: Recommendations for policy makers, developers, users and health professionals, include: targeting efforts towards those underserved by eHealth; improving access; tailoring services to meet the needs of a broader range of users; exploiting opportunities for social computing; and clarifying of the role of health professionals in endorsement, promotion and facilitation

Vortices near barriers with multiple gaps

Two models are presented for the motion of vortices near gaps in infinitely long barriers. The first model considers a line vortex for which the exact nonlinear trajectories satisfying the governing two-dimensional Euler equations are obtained analytically. The second model considers a finite-area patch of constant vorticity and is based on conformal mapping and the numerical method of contour surgery. The two models enable a comparison of the trajectories of line vortices and vortex patches. The case of a double gap formed by an island lying between two headlands is considered in detail. It is noted that Kelvin's theorem constrains the circulation around the island to be a constant and thus forces a time-dependent volume flux between the islands and the headlands. When the gap between the island and a headland is small this flux requires arbitrarily large flow speeds through the gap. In most examples the centroid of the patch is constrained to follow closely the trajectory of a line vortex of the same circulation. Exceptions occur when the through-gap flow forces the vortex patch close to an edge of the island where it splits into two with only part of the vortex passing through the gap. In general the part squeezing through a narrow gap returns to near-circular to have a diameter significantly larger than the gap width

Toward a periodic table of personality: Mapping personality scales between the five-factor model and the circumplex model

In this study, we examine the structures of 10 personality inventories (PIs) widely used for personnel assessment by mapping the scales of PIs to the lexical Big Five circumplex model resulting in a Periodic Table of Personality. Correlations between 273 scales from 10 internationally popular PIs with independent markers of the lexical Big Five are reported, based on data from samples in 2 countries (United Kingdom, N 286; United States, N 1,046), permitting us to map these scales onto the Abridged Big Five Dimensional Circumplex model (Hofstee, de Raad, & Goldberg, 1992). Emerging from our findings we propose a common facet framework derived from the scales of the PIs in our study. These results provide important insights into the literature on criterion-related validity of personality traits, and enable researchers and practitioners to understand how different PI scales converge and diverge and how compound PI scales may be constructed or replicated. Implications for research and practice are considered

Ferritic stainless steels in structural applications

Ferritic stainless steels are low cost, price-stable, corrosion-resistant materials. Although widely used in the automotive and domestic appliance sectors, structural applications are scarce owing to a dearth of performance data and design guidance. The characteristics of ferritics make them appropriate for structures requiring strong and moderately durable structural elements with attractive metallic surface finishes. The present paper provides an overview of the structural behaviour of ferritic stainless steels, including a summary of the findings of a recent European project (SAFSS) on ferritics. Laboratory experiments have been completed including material tests as well as structural member tests, both at ambient and elevated temperatures. The experimental data is supplemented by numerical analysis in order to study a wide range of parameters. The findings of this work have enabled design guidance to be proposed, as discussed herein

External Shocks and the Indian Economy: Analyzing through a Small, Structural Quarterly Macroeconometric Model

Though a large number of structural macroeconometric models have been estimated for India, the fact that all these are based on annual data limit their usefulness for short-term policy analysis, particularly in volatile periods of the type seen during last few quarters. Therefore the present paper builds up a short-term macroeconometric model for India using quarterly data. The model has reasonably good in-sample performance. One important feature of the model is use of quadratic relation between government expenditure and credit to private sector, which shows presence of both crowding in and crowding out effects, the latter dominating the former when expenditure is high enough. Some simulations are also carried out to analyse the impact of recent external shocks such as rise in global food and fuel prices and the global financial meltdown, on the Indian economy. The results show that the current slowdown in India’s growth predates the global price shock and the global financial crisis, and is more of a regular cyclical downturn. The global developments only further deepen the slowdown and prolong the recovery.Structural model, External Shocks, India