On the jets, kinks, and spheromaks formed by a planar magnetized coaxial gun

Measurements of the various plasma configurations produced by a planar magnetized coaxial gun provide insight into the magnetic topology evolution resulting from magnetic helicity injection. Important features of the experiments are a very simple coaxial gun design so that all observed geometrical complexity is due to the intrinsic physical dynamics rather than the source shape and use of a fast multiple-frame digital camera which provides direct imaging of topologically complex shapes and dynamics. Three key experimental findings were obtained: (1) formation of an axial collimated jet [Hsu and Bellan, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 334, 257 (2002)] that is consistent with a magnetohydrodynamic description of astrophysical jets, (2) identification of the kink instability when this jet satisfies the Kruskal-Shafranov limit, and (3) the nonlinear properties of the kink instability providing a conversion of toroidal to poloidal flux as required for spheromak formation by a coaxial magnetized source [Hsu and Bellan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 215002 (2003)]. A new interpretation is proposed for how the n=1 central column instability provides flux amplification during spheromak formation and sustainment, and it is shown that jet collimation can occur within one rotation of the background poloidal field.Comment: Physics of Plasmas (accepted

Nurses worth listening to

[Executive Summary]: In 2001 the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in conjunction with the Queensland Nurses’ Union (QNU) undertook a study of enrolled and registered nurse and assistant-in-nursing members. In Queensland, registered nurses (RNs) and enrolled nurses (ENs) are qualified to practice nursing and are licensed by the Queensland Nursing Council (QNC), an independent body responsible for the setting and maintaining of nursing standards in the State. Although not licensed by the QNC Assistants in Nursing (AINs) work within a nursing model of care. These workers may also have other titles such as Personal Care Assistants or Carers. Regardless of their title, they work under the direct or indirect supervision of a RN. The study was confined to nurses employed in the public sector (acute hospitals, community health), the private sector (acute hospitals and domicillary nursing) and the aged care sector (government and non-government). In 2004 a similar study was conducted. The major findings of the 2004 study were that nurses believed: • nursing is emotionally challenging and physically demanding • their workload is heavy and that their skills and experience as a professional nurse are poorly rewarded (remunerated or recognised) • work stress is high and morale is perceived to be poor and, similar to 2001, deteriorating • there are insufficient staff in their workplace and that the skill mix is inadequate • the majority of nurses are unable to complete their work to their level of professional satisfaction in the time available. While there were some changes between 2001 and 2004 (some could be seen as improvements, others deteriorations), the overwhelming impression one has, especially from the qualitative data, is of a workforce frustrated and unable to provide safe and quality care to their patients/clients within the time allocated

Grantham College: reinspection of science and mathematics, December 1999 (Report from the Inspectorate)

The FEFC has agreed that colleges with provision judged by the inspectorate to be less than satisfactory or poor (grade 4 or 5) should be reinspected. In these circumstances, a college may have its funding agreement with the FEFC qualified to prevent it increasing the number of new students in an unsatisfactory curriculum area until the FEFC is satisfied that weaknesses have been addressed. Satisfactory provision may also be reinspected if actions have been taken to improve quality and the college’s existing inspection grade is the only factor which prevents it from meeting the criteria for FEFC accreditation

The jump

The Jump built on my research into the cinematic and specifically the relationship and contradiction of a succession of individual images creating the illusion of movement (previous work included Frames -http://www.andrewbracey.co.uk/page15.htm). the Jump also explores cinema’s relationship to painting as a means of creating spaces rather than recording them, which is becoming more prevalent within the CGI as opposed to a traditional relationship of cinema emerging from photography. The piece was a 30 minute animation, composing of over 500 paintings interpreting every still image from the film, La Jetee. Chris Marker’s seminal film is perhaps the clearest indicator of how cinema is made up of still images. The work was shown as a back projection onto a screen in a group exhibition, Between Tracks (15/05/2009 - 11/06/2009) made up of 6 Swiss and 12 British artists at Badhaus, St. Gallen, Switzerland. I was invited by British curators Lesley Young and James Hutchinson of The Salford Restoration Office and Swiss based Nextex with Rachel Lumsden. The exhibition was supported by British Council, Arts Council England, Swiss Arts Council and Swiss Cultural Fund in Britain. The Jump was discussed as part of Janet Harbord's keynote lecture, Excentric Cinema at an academic roundtable discussion on artists and cinema at Cornerhouse, Manchester on 12th November 2010, co-organised by Cornerhouse, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts and the Institute for Cultural Practices at the University of Manhcester. It is also included in a touring exhibiton, the Machine Aesthetic, curated by Eric Butcher and Simon Granell which tours to Gallery North, Newcastle, Bath Spa University galleries and Text & Work, Bournemouth. The exhibition also includes Emma Hart, Dan Hays Simón Granell, Natasha Kidd, David Connearn, Sarah al Omar, Eric Butcher, Michael Roberts, Mark Vaux, Rob Currie, Sarah Key, Ross Hansen and Tim Knowles

Democracy, Pluralization and Voice

This article explores different theoretical and political dimensions of voice in democratic theory. Drawing on recent developments in political theory, ranging from James Bohman?s work on the movement from demos to demoi in transnational politics, to William Connolly?s writings on pluralization, it develops a critical account of the emphasis within conventional pluralism on the representation of extant identities. Instead, it foregrounds the need to engage with emerging identities, demands, and claims that fall outside the parameters of dominant discursive orders. Building on the works of Ranciere and Cavell, it highlights the importance of an analytical engagement with the emergence and articulation of new struggles and voices -the processes through which inchoate demands are given political expression- so as to counter the ongoing possibilities of domination, understood here as a ?deprivation of voice.? The article develops an account of the centrality of the category of responsiveness to such claims and demands for democratic theory, especially in relation to a range of democratic struggles in our contemporary world. In so doing, it contributes to a growing body of work that questions the taken for granted character and status of the institutional forms of liberal democracy