Professionalising the Civil Service: The Masters in Public Administration

The purpose of this paper is to explore the conception and implementation of a collaborative approach to public sector professional learning which seeks to explore some of the most sensitive and important relationships between power, politics and policy. Specifically the paper will consider 3 key issues. First, it will set out the pedagogic debate that exists within the discipline of public administration on links between theory and practice and how this translates into the content and delivery of an MPA programme. Second, it will outline how, as a result of this pedagogic debate senior NICS civil servants became an integral part of the design and delivery team for the new Masters programme. Third, the paper will consider how the first cohort of students responded to this collaborative provision and the impact which it had on their professional working experiences. Taking these factors into account, the paper will consider the scope for using this model as a basis for a new level of professionalisation of the civil service around the core business of governments, the exercise of power

Mean resolvent operator of statistically steady flows

This paper introduces a new operator relevant to input-output analysis of flows in a statistically steady regime far from the steady base flow: the mean resolvent $\mathbf{R}_0$. It is defined as the operator predicting, in the frequency domain, the mean linear response to forcing of the time-varying base flow. As such, it provides the statistically optimal linear time-invariant approximation of the input-output dynamics, which may be useful, for instance, in flow control applications. Theory is developed for the periodic case. The poles of the operator are shown to correspond to the Floquet exponents of the system, including purely imaginary poles at multiples of the fundamental frequency. In general, evaluating mean transfer functions from data requires averaging the response to many realizations of the same input. However, in the specific case of harmonic forcings, we show that the mean transfer functions may be identified without averaging: an observation referred to as `dynamic linearity' in the literature (Dahan et al., 2012). For incompressible flows in the weakly unsteady limit, i.e. when amplification of perturbations by the unsteady part of the periodic Jacobian is small compared to amplification by the mean Jacobian, the mean resolvent $\mathbf{R}_0$ is well-approximated by the well-known resolvent operator about the mean-flow. Although the theory presented in this paper only extends to quasiperiodic flows, the definition of $\mathbf{R}_0$ remains meaningful for flows with continuous or mixed spectra, including turbulent flows. Numerical evidence supports the close connection between the two resolvent operators in quasiperiodic, chaotic and stochastic two-dimensional incompressible flows

Structured linear fractional parametric controller H ∞ design and its applications

International audienceThis paper proposes a simple but yet effective approach to structured parametric controller design in a linear fractional form. The main contribution consists in using structured H1 oriented optimization tools in an original manner to either construct a parametric controller or a family of controllers with varying performances. Practical and numerical issues are also discussed to provide practitioners a simple way to deploy the proposed process. The overall approach is illustrated through two numerical examples: first, a controller parametrized by the model characteristics applied on a clamped beam model and second, a parametric performance controller applied on a very complex fluid flow control setup

Foreland Magmatism during the Arabia-Eurasia Collision: Pliocene-Quaternary Activity of the Karacadağ Volcanic Complex, SW Turkey

Pliocene to Quaternary magmatism in the Karacadağ Volcanic Complex in SE Turkey occurred in the foreland region of the Arabia-Eurasia collision and can be divided into two phases. The earlier Karacadağ phase formed a north-south-trending volcanic ridge that erupted three groups of lavas. The same range of mantle sources contributed to the younger Ovabağ phase lavas, which were erupted from monogenetic cones to the east of the Karacadağ fissure. As at several other intraplate localities across the northern Arabian Plate this magmatism represents mixtures of melt from shallow, isotopically enriched mantle and from deeper, more depleted mantle. The deep source is similar to the depleted mantle invoked for other northern Arabian intraplate volcanic fields but at Karacadağ this source contained phlogopite. This source could be located in the shallow convecting mantle or may represent a metasomatic layer in the base of the lithosphere. There is no evidence for a contribution from the Afar mantle plume, as has been proposed elsewhere in northern Arabia. Melting during the Karacadağ and Ovabağ phases could have resulted from a combination of upwelling beneath weak or thinned lithosphere and restricted local extension of that weakened lithosphere as it collided with Eurasia. Tension associated with the collision focused magma of the Karacadağ phase into the elongate shield volcano of Mt. Karacadağ. The northern end of the fissure accommodated more extensive differentiation of magma, with isolated cases of crustal contamination, consistent with greater stress in the lithosphere closest to the collision. Most magma batches of the Karacadağ and Ovabağ phases differentiated by fractional crystallization at ∼5 MPa, near the boundary between the upper and lower crust. Magma batches dominated by melt from garnet lherzolite show evidence for restricted amounts of differentiation at ∼22·5 MPa, which is close to the base of the lithospheric mantl

Deriving discrete solid phases from CSH-3T and CSHQ end-members to model cement hydration in PHREEQC

This paper presents a cement hydration model over time using the CEMDATA thermodynamic database and a series of discrete solid phases (DSP) to represent calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) as a ternary (CSH-3T) and quaternary (CSHQ) solid solution. C-S-H in cement is amorphous and poorly crystalline with a range of molar Ca/Si ratios = 0.6-1.7 and displays strongly incongruent dissolution behaviour where the release of calcium into solution is several orders of magnitude greater than silicon. It is therefore important that any cement hydration model provides a credible account of this behaviour. C-S-H has been described in the CEMDATA thermodynamic database as a number of binary, ternary and quaternary solid solutions using different end-members with differing levels of complexity. While solid solutions can be included in most modern geochemical software programs, it often leads to a significant increase in computation time. This paper presents how the two of the more complex C-S-H solid solutions, CSH-3T and CSHQ, available in the CEMDATA database, can be represented by DSP to model cement hydration over time using the PHREEQC geochemical software. By using DSP in place of solid solutions, analysis time is much improved with no loss in accuracy in producing stable phase assemblages and reasonable predictions of pH over time

Méthode itérative linéaire pour le contrôle en boucle fermée des écoulements quasi-périodiques

International audienceThis work proposes a feedback-loop strategy to suppress intrinsic oscillations of resonating flows in the fully nonlinear regime. The frequency response of the flow is obtained from the resolvent operator about the mean flow, extending the framework initially introduced by McKeon & Sharma (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 658, 2010, pp. 336–382) to study receptivity mechanisms in turbulent flows. Using this linear time-invariant model of the nonlinear flow, modern control methods such as structured H∞-synthesis can be used to design a controller. The approach is successful in damping self-sustained oscillations associated with specific eigenmodes of the mean-flow spectrum. Despite excellent performance, the linear controller is however unable to completely suppress flow oscillations, and the controlled flow is effectively attracted towards a new dynamical equilibrium. This new attractor is characterized by a different mean flow, which can in turn be used to design a second controller. The method can then be iterated on subsequent mean flows, until the coupled system eventually converges to the base flow. An intuitive parallel can be drawn with Newton’s iteration: at each step, a linearized model of the flow response to a perturbation of the input is sought, and a new linear controller is designed, aiming at further reducing the fluctuations. The method is illustrated on the well-known case of two-dimensional incompressible open-cavity flow at Reynolds number Re=7500, where the fully developed flow is initially quasiperiodic (2-torus state). The base flow is reached after five iterations. The present work demonstrates that nonlinear control problems may be solved without resorting to nonlinear reduced-order models. It also shows that physically relevant linear models can be systematically derived for nonlinear flows, without resorting to black-box identification from input–output data; the key ingredient being frequency-domain models based on the linearized Navier–Stokes equations about the mean flow. Applicability to amplifier flows and turbulent dynamics has, however, yet to be investigated

Abol-Fazl Hasanabadi, Elaheh Mahbub. Introducing the Safavid Documents of the Directorate of Documents and Publications of the Central Library of the Holy Shrine at Mashhad (Iran)

Il existe jusqu’à présent très peu de publications concernant Mašhad et l’administration gérant le mausolée de l’Emam Reḍā (m. 818), Āstān-e Qods-e Raḍavī. Cet article très clair est une introduction aux nombreux documents d’époque safavide conservés dans la bibliothèque du mausolée de l’Emām Reḍā à Mašhad. Les AA. soulignent l’importance de ces documents encore méconnus des chercheurs mais précieux pour établir une histoire de l’administration du mausolée et plus largement pour l’histoire a..

Capacité musculaire du cou : évaluation isocinétique

Dans toutes les activités sportives, le cou est un segment corporel essentiel. L'étude proposée ici en mouvement isocinétique vise à caractériser la capacité musculaire du cou dans un mouvement de rotation latérale dans le plan frontal et dans un mouvement de flexion extension dans le plan sagittal. L'appareillage utilisé, Biodex®, est de type ergomètre à un bras avec un asservissement en vitesse du mouvement. Les premières expériences réalisées sur des sujets volontaires du laboratoire et les résultats sont en accord satisfaisant avec les valeurs de la littérature; cette première étude permet de valider l'adaptation d'un module spécifique de liaison entre la tête et l'ergomètre lors de cycles successifs, un cycle étant défini par un mouvement d'aller et retour de vitesse et d'amplitude imposé. Les résultats obtenus permettront ainsi l'évaluation de la capacité musculaire dans les sports où le cou a une importance capitale : Sports mécaniques, football, lutte, ..

Daily and annual cycles in thermoregulatory behaviour and cardio‑respiratory physiology of black and white tegu lizards

This study was designed to determine the manner in which metabolism is suppressed during dormancy in black and white tegu lizards (Tupinambis merianae). To this end, heart rate (f H), respiration rate (f R), and deep body temperature (T b) were continuously monitored in outdoor enclosures by radio-telemetry for nine months. There was a continuous decline in nighttime breathing and heart rate, at constant T b, throughout the late summer and fall suggestive of an active metabolic suppression that developed progressively at night preceding the entrance into dormancy. During the day, however, the tegus still emerged to bask. In May, when the tegus made a behavioural commitment to dormancy, T b (day and night) fell to match burrow temperature, accompanied by a further reduction in f H and f R. Tegus, under the conditions of this study, did arouse periodically during dormancy. There was a complex interplay between changes in f H and T b associated with the direct effects of temperature and the indirect effects of thermoregulation, activity, and changes in metabolism. This interplay gave rise to a daily hysteresis in the f H/T b relationship reflective of the physiological changes associated with warming and cooling as preferred T b alternated between daytime and nighttime levels. The shape of the hysteresis curve varied with season along with changes in metabolic state and daytime and nighttime body temperature preferences