Fluctuating Membranes with Tilt Order

Thermal fluctuations are important for amphiphilic bilayer membranes since typical bending stiffnesses can be a few $k_B T$. The rod-like constituent molecules are generically tilted with respect to the local normal for packing reasons. We study the effects of fluctuations on membranes with nematic order, a simplified idealization with the same novel features as realistic tilt order. We find that nematic membranes lie in the same universality class as hexatic membranes, {\it i.e.} the couplings that distinguish nematic from hexatic order are marginally irrelevant. Our calculation also illustrates the advantages of conformal gauge, which brings great conceptual and technical simplifications compared to the more popular Monge gauge.Comment: 13 pages; print this using plain Te

'Every Day Is A Good Day' - musical events to accompany the Hayward Touring Exhibition of John Cage's visual art. Huddersfield 2010

To accompany the Hayward Touring Exhibition of John Cage's visual art in Huddersfield, 2010, Philip Thomas curated a series of concerts featuring Cage's music. These included: Friday 19 November - Alvin Curran and edges ensemble (dir. Philip Thomas) performance: Alvin Curran 'Ear Training' Friday 19 November - edges ensemble (dir. Philip Thomas): John Cage 'Variations II' Saturday 20 November - Philip Thomas performs 12-hour solo version of John Cage 'Electronic Music for piano' Sunday 21 November - Apartment House perform John Cage 'Score (40 Drawings by Thoreau) and 23 parts...' at dawn in Yorkshire Sculpture Park, James Turrell deer shelter Wednesday 24 November - Philip Thomas and Apartment House: John Cage 'Winter Music + Atlas Eclipticalis' Wednesday 24 November - Alvin Curran, edges ensemble (dir. Philip Thomas) and Apartment House: Alvin Curran 'Take the Cage Train

Coping with creeping catastrophes: national political systems and the challenge of slow-moving policy problems

No abstract available

Loan Rate Stickiness: Theory and Evidence

Financial deregulation in the 1980s saw the lifting of regulations on interest rates charged by banks. In general, lending rates now respond more quickly to changes in banks’ cost of funds than they did in the regulated period. However, lending rates still do not always move one for one with changes in banks’ marginal cost of raising funds. This paper canvasses four theoretical explanations, other than collusive behaviour, for loan rate stickiness. These theories are based on equilibrium credit rationing, switching costs, implicit risk sharing and consumer irrationality. Using regression analysis, we also examine the degree of stickiness of Australian interest rates on secured and unsecured personal loans, credit cards, small and large business overdrafts, and housing loans. We find significant differences in the degree of interest rate stickiness among the different rates, even after allowing for lags in adjustment. The rate on credit cards is found to be the most sticky, followed by personal loan rates, the housing loan rate and the small business overdraft rate. The large business overdraft rate is found to adjust one for one with banks’ marginal cost of funds. We briefly examine the behaviour of selected U.S., U.K. and Canadian interest rates. The general order and magnitude of interest rate stickiness is similar to that found for Australia. Although it is not possible to empirically discriminate between the different theories of loan rate stickiness, we interpret the results as providing strong evidence for the switching cost explanation. In addition, implicit risk sharing probably plays an important role in the stickiness of the housing loan rate.

Supercooled and glassy water: Metastable liquid(s), amorphous solid(s), and a no-man's land

We review the recent research on supercooled and glassy water, focusing on the possible origins of its complex behavior. We stress the central role played by the strong directionality of the water-water interaction and by the competition between local energy, local entropy, and local density. In this context we discuss the phenomenon of polyamorphism (i.e., the existence of more than one disordered solid state), emphasizing both the role of the preparation protocols and the transformation between the different disordered ices. Finally, we present the ongoing debate on the possibility of linking polyamorphism with a liquid-liquid transition that could take place in the no-man's land, the temperature-pressure window in which homogeneous nucleation prevents the investigation of water in its metastable liquid form