Core Softening in Cavernously Weathered Tonalite

Tonalite exhibiting cavernous weathering at Catavina, Baja California, was investigated to determine the factors which contribute to differential hardness within the rock. Soft cores have a high degree of chemical weathering as indicated by kaolinite content. Hematite formed from the leaching of biotite occurs in coatings on rock surfaces, but the hardening effect of the coating is insignificant compared to the core-softening of the interior. The hardness, measured by an abrasion resistance hardness tester, is inversely correlated with kaolinite content in the tonalite. A one-dimensional water flow model was developed for core-softened. cavernously weathered boulders. It indicates that during infiltration and dessication the moisture flux is greatest through the cavern interior wall because of changes in the hydraulic conductivities induced by core softening. Therefore, the cavern interior wall should have the greatest weathering rate in the boulder

Brillouin light scattering study of Co2_{2}Cr0.6_{0.6}Fe0.4_{0.4}Al and Co2_{2}FeAl Heusler compounds

The thermal magnonic spectra of Co$_{2}$Cr$_{0.6}$Fe$_{0.4}$Al (CCFA) and Co$_2$FeAl were investigated using Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy (BLS). For CCFA, the exchange constant A (exchange stiffness D) is found to be 0.48 $\mu$erg/cm (203 meV A$^2$), while for Co$_2$FeAl the corresponding values of 1.55 $\mu$erg/cm (370 meV A$^2$) were found. The observed asymmetry in the BLS spectra between the Stokes and anti-Stokes frequencies was assigned to an interplay between the asymmetrical profiles of hybridized Damon-Esbach and perpendicular standing spin-wave modes, combined with the optical sensitivity of the BLS signal to the upper side of the CCFA or Co$_2$FeAl film

Towards an on-chip platform for the controlled application of forces via magnetic particles: A novel device for mechanobiology

In-vitro tests and analyses are of fundamental importance for investigating biological mechanisms in cells and bio-molecules. The controlled application of forces to activate specific bio-pathways and investigate their effects, mimicking the role of the cellular environment, is becoming a prominent approach in this field. In this work, we present a non-invasive magnetic on-chip platform which allows for the manipulation of magnetic particles, through micrometric magnetic conduits of Permalloy patterned on-chip. We show, from simulations and experiments, that this technology permits to exert a finely controlled force on magnetic beads along the chip surface. This force can be tuned from few to hundreds pN by applying a variable external magnetic field

The environmental security debate and its significance for climate change

Policymakers, military strategists and academics all increasingly hail climate change as a security issue. This article revisits the (comparatively) long-standing “environmental security debate” and asks what lessons that earlier debate holds for the push towards making climate change a security issue. Two important claims are made. First, the emerging climate security debate is in many ways a re-run of the earlier dispute. It features many of the same proponents and many of the same disagreements. These disagreements concern, amongst other things, the nature of the threat, the referent object of security and the appropriate policy responses. Second, given its many different interpretations, from an environmentalist perspective, securitisation of the climate is not necessarily a positive development

For richer or poorer in sickness for wealth: what price consumerism?

Affluence and material goods of varying types are portents of a millennium age consumer culture that encourages the masses to voluntarily participate in the need to buy, buy and buy! This trend to spend creates a purchasing fervour that preoccupies many consumers with the ongoing yearning to shop until they drop. Clever marketing tactics such as enticing smells, catchy jingles, prize-draw entries, lucrative sales, discounts and the recruitment of celebrities to advertise a range of different wares are just some of the ploys adopted by vendors and retailers to maintain the sustainability of this cycle of consumer spending. This scenario promotes what could be perceived as a never-ending desire to procure yet more products and merchandise, which can create social dilemmas such as personal debt due to, for example, impulse buying, excessive spending and unnecessary borrowing. Retailers and manufacturers are driven by a quest to sell so constantly tout their goods to tempt consumers including those with a need for personal and social respect, to take the bait in order to encourage them to keep buying. This, coupled with the rapid advances in technology over recent decades, has made it easier for consumers to shop, order, obtain and pay for their goods from the comfort of an armchair or via handheld devices, and all at a tap of a button. In essence, technology has added to, or even exacerbated, the materialistic consumer trend as witnessed across many global societies today – from the east and the west to the north and the south. But what impact does consumerism have on the well-being of humankind and, in turn, the environment? This chapter adopts a comparative approach to answer this question by exploring the implications of consumerism as a means for broadening the topic’s framework and to contribute to debates regarding consumerism, well-being, social dilemma, sustainability and techno-economics

A Kato type Theorem for the inviscid limit of the Navier-Stokes equations with a moving rigid body

The issue of the inviscid limit for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations when a no-slip condition is prescribed on the boundary is a famous open problem. A result by Tosio Kato says that convergence to the Euler equations holds true in the energy space if and only if the energy dissipation rate of the viscous flow in a boundary layer of width proportional to the viscosity vanishes. Of course, if one considers the motion of a solid body in an incompressible fluid, with a no-slip condition at the interface, the issue of the inviscid limit is as least as difficult. However it is not clear if the additional difficulties linked to the body's dynamic make this issue more difficult or not. In this paper we consider the motion of a rigid body in an incompressible fluid occupying the complementary set in the space and we prove that a Kato type condition implies the convergence of the fluid velocity and of the body velocity as well, what seems to indicate that an answer in the case of a fixed boundary could also bring an answer to the case where there is a moving body in the fluid

Asymptotics for models of non-stationary diffusion in domains with a surface distribution of obstacles

We consider a time-dependent model for the diffusion of a substance through an incompressible fluid in a perforated domain ??, urn:x-wiley:mma:media:mma5323:mma5323-math-0001 with n?=?3,4. The fluid flows in a domain containing a periodical set of ?obstacles? (?\??) placed along an inner (n???1)?dimensional manifold urn:x-wiley:mma:media:mma5323:mma5323-math-0002. The size of the obstacles is much smaller than the size of the characteristic period ?. An advection term appears in the partial differential equation linking the fluid velocity with the concentration, while we assume a nonlinear adsorption law on the boundary of the obstacles. This law involves a monotone nonlinear function ? of the concentration and a large adsorption parameter. The ?critical adsorption parameter? depends on the size of the obstacles , and, for different sizes, we derive the time?dependent homogenized models. These models contain a ?strange term? in the transmission conditions on ?, which is a nonlinear function and inherits the properties of ?. The case in which the fluid velocity and the concentration do not interact is also considered for n???3.The authors would like to thank the anonymous referees for their careful reading of the manupscript and useful comments. The work has been partially supported by MINECO, MTM2013-44883-P