Macroscopic Floquet topological crystalline steel pump

The transport of a steel sphere on top of two dimensional periodic magnetic patterns is studied experimentally. Transport of the sphere is achieved by moving an external permanent magnet on a closed loop around the two dimensional crystal. The transport is topological i.e. the steel sphere is transported by a primitive unit vector of the lattice when the external magnet loop winds around specific directions. We experimentally determine the set of directions the loops must enclose for nontrivial transport of the steel sphere into various directions

Excited-state decay of hydrocarbon radicals, investigated by femtosecond time-resolved photoionization: Ethyl, propargyl, and benzyl

The excited state decay of the hydrocarbon radicals ethyl, C 2H 5; propargyl, C 3H 3; and benzyl, C 7H 7 was investigated by femtosecond time-resolved photoionization. Radicals were generated by flash pyrolysis of n-propyl nitrite, propargyl bromide, and toluene, respectively. It is shown that the 2 2A ??? (3s) Rydberg state of ethyl excited at 250 nm decays with a time constant of 20 fs. No residual signal was observed at longer delay times. For the 3 2B 1 state of propargyl excited at 255 nm a slower decay with a time constant 50??10 fs was determined. The 4 2B 2 state of benzyl excited at 255 nm decays within 150??30 fs.open242

Environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment research in the UK

In this paper we briefly review the state of academic research in the UK in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Through consideration of the number of articles related to EIA and SEA published in academic journals and the contribution of post-graduate students’ (PhD and master level) dissertation theses we aim to understand where activity has occurred in the field over recent decades. Simple literature and database searches reveal that the UK is an active environment for researchers and students in the field with numerous universities engaged in research and teaching (although not always both activities). However, we have also collected evidence to suggest that research funding is lacking and that there is variation over time in the number and scale of research projects being funded in the UK

Low significance of evidence for black hole echoes in gravitational wave data

Recent detections of merging black holes allow observational tests of the nature of these objects. In some proposed models, non-trivial structure at or near the black hole horizon could lead to echo signals in gravitational wave data. Recently, Abedi et al. claimed tentative evidence for repeating damped echo signals following the gravitational-wave signals of the binary black hole merger events recorded in the first observational period of the Advanced LIGO interferometers. We reanalyse the same data, addressing some of the shortcomings of their method using more background data and a modified procedure. We find a reduced statistical significance for the claims of evidence for echoes, calculating increased p-values for the null hypothesis of echo-free noise. The reduced significance is entirely consistent with noise, and so we conclude that the analysis of Abedi et al. does not provide any observational evidence for the existence of Planck-scale structure at black hole horizons.Comment: As accepted by Physical Review

Integrating planning and environmental protection : an analysis of post-Brexit regulatory styles and practitioner attitudes in the UK

Acknowledgements: We are grateful for the support of the Royal Town Planning Institute, who commissioned the research on which this paper is based, and to the reviewers and editors from Planning Theory and Practice for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the paper.Peer reviewedPostprin

The revised EIA Directive – possible implications for practice in England

Whilst environmental impact assessment (EIA) in England overall can be said to be of a good to satisfactory quality, we believe that the revised EIA Directive will be able to strengthen it further by addressing gaps with regards to the consideration of alternatives, climate change mitigation and adaptation, the consideration of accidents and disasters along with human health, land and biodiversity. Some challenges, however, are likely to remain, for example, with regards to penalties for non-compliance and a scoping stage that will remain optional. The biggest unknown at the time of writing this article however is whether or not the UK will remain in the EU, giving rise to some considerable uncertainties