Academic and Molecular Matrices:A Study of the Transformations of Connective Tissue Research at the University of Manchester (1947–1996)

This paper explores the different identities adopted by connective tissue research at the University of Manchester during the second half of the 20th century. By looking at the long-term redefinition of a research programme, it sheds new light on the interactions between different and conflicting levels in the study of biomedicine, such as the local and the global, or the medical and the biological. It also addresses the gap in the literature between the first biomedical complexes after World War II and the emergence of biotechnology. Connective tissue research in Manchester emerged as a field focused on new treatments for rheumatic diseases. During the 1950s and 60s, it absorbed a number of laboratory techniques from biology, namely cell culture and electron microscopy. The transformations in scientific policy during the late 70s and the migration of Manchester researchers to the US led them to adopt recombinant DNA methods, which were borrowed from human genetics. This resulted in the emergence of cell matrix biology, a new field which had one of its reference centres in Manchester. The Manchester story shows the potential of detailed and chronologically wide local studies of patterns of work to understand the mechanisms by which new biomedical tools and institutions interact with long-standing problems and existing affiliations

Dynamics and Scaling of Noise-Induced Domain Growth

The domain growth processes originating from noise-induced nonequilibrium phase transitions are analyzed, both for non-conserved and conserved dynamics. The existence of a dynamical scaling regime is established in the two cases, and the corresponding growth laws are determined. The resulting universal dynamical scaling scenarios are those of Allen-Cahn and Lifshitz-Slyozov, respectively. Additionally, the effect of noise sources on the behaviour of the pair correlation function at short distances is studied.Comment: 11 pages (including 13 figures) LaTeX file. Accepted in EPJ

Spatial Coherence Resonance near Pattern-Forming Instabilities

The analogue of temporal coherence resonance for spatial degrees of freedom is reported. Specifically, we show that spatiotemporal noise is able to optimally extract an intrinsic spatial scale in nonlinear media close to (but before) a pattern-forming instability. This effect is observed in a model of pattern-forming chemical reaction and in the Swift-Hohenberg model of fluid convection. In the latter case, the phenomenon is described analytically via an approximate approach.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Sequencing as a way of work : a history of its emergence and mechanisation - from proteins to DNA, 1945-2000

Imperial Users onl

Double-hybrid density functionals: merging wavefunction and density approaches to get the best of both worlds

We review why and how double-hybrid density functionals have become new leading actors in the field of computational chemistry, thanks to the combination of an unprecedented accuracy together with large robustness and reliability. Similar to their predecessors, the widely employed hybrid density functionals, they are rooted in the Adiabatic Connection Method from which they emerge in a natural way. We present recent achievements concerning applications to chemical systems of the most interest, and current extensions to deal with challenging issues such as non-covalent interactions and excitation energies. These promising methods, despite a slightly higher computational cost than other typical density-based models, are called to play a key role in the near future and can thus pave the way towards new discoveries or advances.The work in Alicante is supported by the “Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia” of Spain and the “European Regional Development Fund” through project CTQ2011-27253. The work in Paris is supported by the “Agence Nationale de la Recherche” of France through project DinfDNT ANR 2010 BLANC No. 0425 02 and by Sanofi-Aventis

Coherence and synchronization in diode-laser arrays with delayed global coupling

The dynamics of a semiconductor-laser array whose individual elements are coupled in a global way through an external mirror is numerically analysed. A coherent in-phase solution is seen to be preferred by the system at intermediate values of the feedback coupling strength. At low values of this parameter, a strong amplification of the spontaneous emission noise is observed. A tendency towards chaos synchronization is also observed at large values of the feedback strength.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, 6 PS figures, to appear in International Journal of Bifurcation and Chao