Deformation of an elastic cell in a uniform stream and in a circulatory flow

The deformation of a circular, inextensible elastic cell is examined when the cell is placed into two different background potential flows: a uniform stream and a circulatory flow induced by a point vortex located inside the cell. In a circulatory flow a cell may deform into a mode m shape with m-fold rotational symmetry. In a uniform stream, shapes with two-fold rotational symmetry tend to be selected. In a weak stream a cell deforms linearly into an ellipse with either its major or its minor axis aligned with the oncoming flow. This marks an interesting difference with a bubble with constant surface tension in a uniform stream, which can only deform into a mode 2 shape with its major axis perpendicular to the stream (Vanden-Broeck & Keller, 1980b). In general, as the strength of the uniform stream is increased from zero, solutions emerge continuously from the cell configurations in quiescent fluid found by Flaherty et al. (1972). A richly populated solution space is described with multiple solution branches which either terminate when a cell reaches a state with a point of self-contact or loop round to continuously connect cell states which exist under identical conditions in the absence of flow

Modelling soil moisture for a grassland and a woodland site in south-east England

International audienceThis paper describes a comparison between two soil moisture prediction models. One is MORECS (Met Office Rainfall and Evaporation Calculation Scheme), the Met Office soil moisture model that is used by agriculture, flood modellers and weather forecasters to initialise their models. The other is MOSES (Met Office Surface Exchange Scheme), modified with a runoff generation module. The models are made compatible by increasing the vegetation information available to MOSES. Both models were run with standard parameters and were driven using meteorological observations at Wallingford (1995-1997). Detailed soil moisture measurements were available at a grassland site and a woodland site in this area. The comparison between the models and the observed soil moisture indicated that, for the grassland site, MORECS dried out too quickly in the spring and, for the woodland site, was too wet. Overall, the performance of MOSES was superior. The soil moisture predicted by the new, modified MOSES will be included as a product of Nimrod - the 5 km x 5km gridded network of observed meteorological data across the UK. Keywords: Soil moisture, model, observation, field capacit

Solitary waves on a ferrofluid jet

The propagation of axisymmetric solitary waves on the surface of an otherwise cylindrical ferrofluid jet subjected to a magnetic field is investigated. An azimuthal magnetic field is generated by an electric current flowing along a stationary metal rod which is mounted along the axis of the moving jet. A numerical method is used to compute fully-nonlinear travelling solitary waves and predictions of elevation waves and depression waves by Rannacher & Engel (2006) using a weakly-nonlinear theory are confirmed in the appropriate ranges of the magnetic Bond number. New nonlinear branches of solitary wave solutions are identified. As the Bond number is varied, the solitary wave profiles may approach a limiting configuration with a trapped toroidal-shaped bubble, or they may approach a static wave (i.e. one with zero phase speed). For a sufficiently large axial rod, the limiting profile may exhibit a cusp

Extreme Promiscuity in a Mating System Dominated by Sexual Conflict

Coelopids live in wrack beds consisting of seaweed washed up on beaches. 5 Their mating system is characterized by sexual conflict and convenience 6 polyandry, with females resisting male mating attempts. We estimated the 7 level of harassment by males and the success rate of rejection by females 8 collected from a high density wild population. Males mounted a female every 9 8.41 min. Of these mounts 35% resulted in copulation. This suggests that 10 females could be mated up to 5 times every 2 h. Females typically live for 11 3 weeks, and thus, could mate with hundreds of males during their lifetime. 12 We found a 50:50 sex ratio throughout the wrack bed revealing that females 13 do not avoidmale harassment by leaving the wrack bed when not ovipositing

F-regular semigroups

A semigroup S is called F-regular if S is regular and if there exists a group congruence rho on S such that every rho-class contains a greatest element with respect to the natural partial order of S (see [K.S. Nambooripad, Proc. Edinburgh Math. Soc. 23 (1980) 249-260]). These semigroups were investigated in [C.C. Edwards, Semigroup Forum 19 (1980) 331-345] where a description similar to the F-inverse case (see [R. McFadden, L. O'Carroll, Proc. London Math. Soc. 22 (1971) 652-666]) is given. Further characterizations of F-regular semigroups, including an axiomatic one, are provided. The main objective is to give a new representation of such semigroups by means of Szendrei triples (see [M. Szendrei, Acta Sci. Math. 51 (1987) 229-249]). The particular case of F-regular semigroups S satisfying the identity (xy)* = y*x*, where x* epsilon S denotes the greatest element of the rho-class containing x epsilon S, is considered. Also the F-inversive semigroups, for which this identity holds, are characterized. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - POCTI

Phase-field approach to heterogeneous nucleation

We consider the problem of heterogeneous nucleation and growth. The system is described by a phase field model in which the temperature is included through thermal noise. We show that this phase field approach is suitable to describe homogeneous as well as heterogeneous nucleation starting from several general hypotheses. Thus we can investigate the influence of grain boundaries, localized impurities, or any general kind of imperfections in a systematic way. We also put forward the applicability of our model to study other physical situations such as island formation, amorphous crystallization, or recrystallization.Comment: 8 pages including 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Improved modelling of Siberian river flow through the use of an alternative frozen soil hydrology scheme in a land surface model

A parameterisation to incorporate the effects of frozen soil on modelled hydrology is described and implemented within a land surface model, the Joint UK Land Surface Environment Simulator. It is shown to generally improve the modelled flow of Siberian rivers compared to observations, specifically in seasons of freezing or thawing soil. Most noticeably, the revised model increases the snowmelt flow peak by 26–100% compared to the control model thereby better matching observed flows. The model physics resulting in the changes to river flow are discussed and attention is given to the effect of inaccuracies in snowfall driving data which can hinder the comparison of new model processes

The changing profile of surrogacy in the UK – implications for national and international policy and practice

Since 2007, the numbers of UK Parental Orders granted following surrogacy have markedly increased. More recently, eligibility criteria have been extended to unmarried heterosexual couples and same-sex couples rather than only married couples. Numbers seeking fertility treatments, including through surrogates, outside their country of residence have also increased. This paper presents the limited data currently available – from UK General Register Offices, Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service for England and the UK surrogacy agencies: COTS, Surrogacy UK, British Surrogacy Centre – to consider potential reasons for the increase and to consider policy and practice implications. It charts the apparent decline in involvement of surrogacy agencies and suggests the potential for exploitation where scrutiny of arrangements and follow up are limited. It recommends improvements to data collection and argues the need for a more integrated approach to review of surrogacy arrangements both nationally and internationally