A study of turbulent flow between parallel plates by a statistical method

Turbulent Couette flow between parallel plates was studied from a statistical mechanics approach utilizing a model equation, similar to the Boltzmann equation of kinetic theory, which was proposed by Lundgren from the velocity distribution of fluid elements. Solutions to this equation are obtained numerically, employing the discrete ordinate method and finite differences. Two types of boundary conditions on the distribution function are considered, and the results of the calculations are compared to available experimental data. The research establishes that Lundgren's equation provides a very good description of turbulence for the flow situation considered and that it offers an analytical tool for further study of more complex turbulent flows. The present work also indicates that modelling of the boundary conditions is an area where further study is required

‘Jugglers’, ‘copers’ and ‘strugglers’: academics’ perceptions of being a head of department in a post-1992 UK university and how it influences their future careers

This study investigates the experiences of academics who became department heads in a post-1992 UK university and explores the influence that being in the position has on their planned future academic career. Drawing on life history interviews undertaken with 17 male and female heads of department, the paper constitutes an in-depth study of their careers in the same university. The findings suggest that academics who become department heads not only need the capacity to assume a range of personal and professional identities, but need flexibility to regularly adopt and switch between them. Whether individuals can successfully balance and manage such multiple identities, or whether they experience major conflicts within or between them, greatly affects their experiences of being a head of department and seems to influence their subsequent career decisions. The paper concludes by proposing a conceptual framework and typology to interpret the career trajectories of academics that became department heads in the case university

The interaction of class and gender in illness narratives

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2008 BSA Publications Ltd.Perspectives on gender and identity that emphasize variability of performance, local context and individual agency have displaced earlier paradigms.These are now perceived to have supported gender stereotypes and language ideologies by emphasizing gender difference and homogeneity within genders. In a secondary analysis of health and illness narratives we explore the interaction of class and gender in individuals' constructions of gendered identity. High social class men perform gender in particularly varied ways and we speculate that this variable repertoire, including the use of what was once termed `women's language', is linked to a capacity to maintain social distinction and authority. Men's performance of conventional masculinity is often threatened by both the experience of illness and being interviewed about personal experience. Lower social class women in particular demonstrate an intensification of a pre-existing informal family and support group culture, marking successful members by awarding them the accolade of being `lovely'.ESR

Turning points: the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers

In the current higher education climate, there is a growing perception that the pressures associated with being an academic middle manager outweigh the perceived rewards of the position. This article investigates the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers by drawing on data from life history interviews undertaken with 17 male and female department heads from a range of disciplines, in a post-1992 UK university. The data suggests that experiencing conflict between personal and professional identities, manifested through different socialization experiences over time, can lead to a ‘turning point’ and a decision that affects a person’s career trajectory. Although the results of this study cannot be generalized, the findings may help other individuals and institutions move towards a firmer understanding of the academic who becomes head of department—in relation to theory, practice and research

Response of Arteries to Near-Wall Fluid Dynamic Behavior,"

Arteries are living tissues which react and adapt to their environment, particularly in relation to changes in the rate of blood flow required to supply peripheral tissues or organs. Medium and small size arteries increase in diameter in response to short-term demands for increased flow and decrease in diameter in the event of diminished demands. Such immediate reactions are regulated primarily by vasoactive substances acting directly on smooth muscle cells of the media or by release of smooth muscle relaxation or contraction factors elaborated by endothelial cells. Chronic or long-term changes in arterial diameter appear to be governed directly by near-wall flow phenomena, e.g. the fluid dynamic wall shear. Recent evidence suggests that the normal tendency of arteries to respond to long-term changes in the shear field can result in intimal thickening and that this response may also favor the development of atherosclerosis. Thus, there appears to be a close relationship between fluid dynamics and the structure of arteries. From the fluid dynamics viewpoint, the pulsatile, three dimensional nature of blood flow requires sophisticated experimental methods in order to provide adequate data for correlation with biological studies. Research within the past decade has led to the conclusion that arteries seek a vessel diameter-blood flow combination which results in a flow-induced mean wall shear stress of approximately 15 dynes/sq.cm. If this value is chronically exceeded, vessel enlargement develops. If normal baseline shear stress is not restored by this increase in radius, the local response may continue. Conversely, reduced wall shear tends to induce intimal thickening in order to reduce lumen radius and thus increase wall shear toward normal levels. Under certain conditions this reaction may progress to the development of atherosclerotic plaques. Despite this knowledge, key points remain to be clarified. Is it the wall shear stress or the wall shear rate which determines the reaction? The former possibility implies that a mechanical shear-related stimulus is at the heart of the biological response mechanisms while the latter suggests a mass transportrelated mechanism

Practitioner accounts and knowledge production: an analysis of three marketing discourses

Responding to repeated calls for marketing academicians to connect with marketing actors, we offer an empirically-sourced discourse analysis of the ways in which managers portray their practices. Focusing on the micro-discourses and narratives that marketing actors draw upon to represent their work we argue that dominant representations of marketing knowledge production present a number of critical concerns for marketing theory and marketing education. We also evidence that the often promoted idea of a need to close the gap between theory - as a dominant discourse - and practice, as a way of doing marketing, is problematic to pursue. We suggest that a more fruitful agenda resides in the development of a range of polyphonic and creative micro-discourses of management, promoting context, difference and individual meaning in marketing knowledge production

In good company: risk, security and choice in young people's drug decisions

This article draws on original empirical research with young people to question the degree to which 'individualisation of risk', as developed in the work of Beck and Giddens, adequately explains the risks young people bear and take. It draws on alternative understandings and critiques of 'risk' not to refute the notion of the reflexive individual upon which 'individualisation of risk' is based but to re-read that reflexivity in a more hermeneutic way. It explores specific risk-laden moments – young people's drug use decisions – in their natural social and cultural context of the friendship group. Studying these decisions in context, it suggests, reveals the meaning of 'risk' to be not given, but constructed through group discussion, disagreement and consensus and decisions taken to be rooted in emotional relations of trust, mutual accountability and common security. The article concludes that 'the individualisation of risk' fails to take adequate account of the significance of intersubjectivity in risk-decisions. It argues also that addressing the theoretical overemphasis on the individual bearer of risk requires not only further empirical testing of the theory but appropriate methodological reflection

High-Order Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Boltzmann Model Equations

High-order Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method is applied to the kinetic model equations describing rarefied gas flows. A conservative DG discretization of nonlinear collision relaxation term is formulated for Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook and ellipsoidal statistical models. The numerical solutions using RKDG method of order up to four are obtained for two flow problems: the heat transfer between parallel plates and the normal shock wave. The convergence of RKDG method is compared with the conventional secondorder finite volume method for the heat transfer problem. The normal shock wave solutions obtained using RKDG are compared with the experimental measurements of density and velocity distribution function inside the shock

Exploring the interplay between Buddhism and career development : a study of highly skilled women workers in Sri Lanka

This article adopts a socio cultural lens to examine the role of Buddhism in highly skilled women workers’ careers in Sri Lanka. While Buddhism enabled women’s career development by giving them strength to cope with difficult situations in work, it also seemed to restrict their agency and constrain their career advancement. Based on our findings, we argue that being perceived as a good Buddhist woman worked as a powerful form of career capital for the respondents in our sample, who used their faith to combat gender disadvantage in their work settings

Interaction between clients and physiotherapists in group exercise classes in geriatric rehabilitation

The aim of this paper is to explore how older people construct their interaction in group exercise classes in geriatric rehabilitation and what is their contribution to the interaction. Discourse analysis was employed and data, consisting of seven videotaped group-based exercise sessions, were collected from 52 older people (aged 66–93 years) and nine rehabilitation professionals in seven rehabilitation centres. Four discourse categories were found. In “taciturn exercising”, older people remained verbally silent but physically active. In “submissive disagreeing”, older people opposed the professionals’ agenda by displaying reluctant consent to proposals. In “resilient endeavouring”, older adults persisted on their course of action, regardless of the disapproval of the professionals. In “lay helping”, older people initiated spontaneous encouragement, but also gave verbal and physical assistance to their peers. Older people's meaningful contribution to interaction, whilst it may challenge the institutional flow of activities, can constitute an integral part of the re-ablement process of rehabilitation