Role of low-frequency vibrations on sound propagation in glasses at intermediate temperature

We report measurements of the temperature dependence of the sound attenuation and the fractional change in sound velocity for the glass (G) and orientational-glass (OG) phases of polymorphic ethanol. Strikingly similar behaviors are found for both phases despite the OG's underlying crystal (bcc) lattice. Such similarity, which is also revealed in dielectric spectroscopy and inelastic neutron scattering measurements, suggests whole molecule small-angle librations as a common microscopic origin for a wide variety of "glassy" phenomena.Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica PB95-0075-C03-0

Constellations of identity: place-ma(r)king beyond heritage

This paper will critically consider the different ways in which history and belonging have been treated in artworks situated in the Citadel development in Ayr on the West coast of Scotland. It will focus upon one artwork, Constellation by Stephen Hurrel, as an alternative to the more conventional landscapes of heritage which are adjacent, to examine the relationship between personal history and place history and argue the primacy of participatory process in the creation of place and any artwork therein. Through his artwork, Hurrel has attempted to adopt a material process through which place can be created performatively but, in part due to its non-representational form, proves problematic, aesthetically and longitudinally, in wholly engaging the community. The paper will suggest that through variants of ‘new genre public art’ such as this, personal and place histories can be actively re-created through the redevelopment of contemporary urban landscapes but also highlight the complexities and indeterminacies involved in the relationship between artwork, people and place

Doping evolution of the phonon density of states and electron-lattice interaction in Nd2−x_{2-x}Cex_xCuO4+δ_{4+\delta}

We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the evolution of the generalized phonon density of states (GDOS) of the $n$-type high-$T_c$ superconductor Nd$_{2-x}$Ce$_x$CuO$_{4+\delta}$ (NCCO), from the half-filled Mott-insulator ($x=0$) to the $T_c=24$ K superconductor ($x=0.15$). Upon doping the CuO$_2$ planes in Nd$_2$CuO$_{4+\delta}$ (NCO) with electrons by Ce substitution, the most significant change in the GDOS is the softening of the highest phonon branches associated with the Cu-O bond stretching and out-of-plane oxygen vibration modes. However, the softening occurs within the first few percent of Ce-doping and is not related to the electron doping induced nonsuperconducting-superconducting transition (NST) at $x\approx 0.12$. These results suggest that the electron-lattice coupling in the $n$-type high-$T_c$ superconductors is different from that in the $p$-type materials.Comment: 4 pages and 3 figure

Controls on Open‐Ocean North Atlantic ΔpCO2 at Seasonal and Interannual Time Scales Are Different

The North Atlantic is a substantial sink for anthropogenic CO2. Understanding the mechanisms driving the sink's variability is key to assessing its current state and predicting its potential response to global climate change. Here we apply a time series decomposition technique to satellite and in situ data to examine separately the factors (both biological and nonbiological) that affect the sea‐air CO2 difference (ΔpCO2) on seasonal and interannual time scales. We demonstrate that on seasonal time scales, the subpolar North Atlantic ΔpCO2 signal is predominantly correlated with biological processes, whereas seawater temperature dominates in the subtropics. However, the same factors do not necessarily control ΔpCO2 on interannual time scales. Our results imply that the mechanisms driving seasonal variability in ΔpCO2 cannot necessarily be extrapolated to predict how ΔpCO2, and thus the North Atlantic CO2 sink, may respond to increases in anthropogenic CO2 over longer time scales

Experimental Investigation and Large-Eddy Simulation of the Turbulent Flow past a Smooth and Rigid Hemisphere

Computations carried out on the German Federal Top-Level Computer SuperMUC at LRZ Munich under the contract number pr84na.International audienceThe objective of the present paper is to provide a detailed experimental and numerical investigation on the turbulent flow past a hemispherical obstacle (diameter D). For this purpose, the bluff body is exposed to a thick turbulent boundary layer of the thickness δ = D/2 at Re = 50,000. In the experiment this boundary layer thickness is achieved by specific fences placed in the upstream region of the wind tunnel. A detailed measurement of the upstream flow conditions by laser-Doppler and hot-film probes allows to mimic the inflow conditions for the complementary large-eddy simulation of the flow field using a synthetic turbulence inflow generator. These clearly defined boundary and operating conditions are the prerequisites for a combined experimental and numerical investigation of the flow field relying on the laser-Doppler anemometry and a finite-volume Navier-Stokes solver for block-structured curvilinear grids. The results comprise an analysis on the unsteady flow features observed in the vicinity of the hemisphere as well as a detailed discussion of the time-averaged flow field. The latter includes the mean velocity field as well as the Reynolds stresses. Owing to the proper description of the oncoming flow and supplementary numerical studies guaranteeing the choice of an appropriate grid and subgrid-scale model, the results of the measurements and the prediction are found to be in close agreement

Business ethics as practice

In this article we develop a conceptualization of business ethics as practice. Starting from the view that the ethics that organizations display in practice will have been forged through an ongoing process of debate and contestation over moral choices, we examine ethics in relation to the ambiguous, unpredictable, and subjective contexts of managerial action. Furthermore, we examine how discursively constituted practice relates to managerial subjectivity and the possibilities of managers being moral agents. The article concludes by discussing how the 'ethics as practice' approach that we expound provides theoretical resources for studying the different ways that ethics manifest themselves in organizations as well as providing a practical application of ethics in organizations that goes beyond moralistic and legalistic approaches. © 2006 British Academy of Management

Ants Sow the Seeds of Global Diversification in Flowering Plants

Background: The extraordinary diversification of angiosperm plants in the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods has produced an estimated 250,000–300,000 living angiosperm species and has fundamentally altered terrestrial ecosystems. Interactions with animals as pollinators or seed dispersers have long been suspected as drivers of angiosperm diversification, yet empirical examples remain sparse or inconclusive. Seed dispersal by ants (myrmecochory) may drive diversification as it can reduce extinction by providing selective advantages to plants and can increase speciation by enhancing geographical isolation by extremely limited dispersal distances. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using the most comprehensive sister-group comparison to date, we tested the hypothesis that myrmecochory leads to higher diversification rates in angiosperm plants. As predicted, diversification rates were substantially higher in ant-dispersed plants than in their non-myrmecochorous relatives. Data from 101 angiosperm lineages in 241 genera from all continents except Antarctica revealed that ant-dispersed lineages contained on average more than twice as many species as did their non-myrmecochorous sister groups. Contrasts in species diversity between sister groups demonstrated that diversification rates did not depend on seed dispersal mode in the sister group and were higher in myrmecochorous lineages in most biogeographic regions. Conclusions/Significance: Myrmecochory, which has evolved independently at least 100 times in angiosperms and is estimated to be present in at least 77 families and 11 000 species, is a key evolutionary innovation and a globally important driver of plant diversity. Myrmecochory provides the best example to date for a consistent effect of any mutualism on largescale diversification