Law and the Law School in the Twenty-First Century

This article was presented as a lecture on "Capital Law School Day" organised by the New Zealand Institute of Advanced Legal Studies to mark the occasion of the centenary of the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington in 1999. The general theme of the Day's seminar was how the law and the Victoria University of Wellington's Law School should develop into the millennium. The author considers the future of Victoria Law School by referring to its unique strengths and attributes, and how these have led to successes in the past. The author then looks at the changes that have taken place and are taking place in our legal world.&nbsp

Courts and Access to Justice

(This article was presented as a lecture at the Australasian Law Teachers' Association Conference held at Victoria University of Wellington, 6 July 1999.) Ensuring access to justice is one of the most basic functions of the state. The author discusses the role and functioning of the Court of Appeal, the operation of the legal aid system in New Zealand, and the extent to which the operations of the court system should be open to the public. It is argued that any system of justice should reflect the values of its society. The author concludes that what is thought desirable in these three areas will change over time, and that there will always be a need for fine-tuning in light of societal values

Family Property Symposium: Welcome Address

Rt Hon Sir Ivor Richardson, then a Judge of the Court of Appeal and Chairperson of the New Zealand Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, provides a welcoming address to the Symposium on Family Property, Law and Policy.&nbsp

A general circulation model ensemble study of the atmospheric circulation of Venus

The response of three numerical model dynamical cores to Venus-like forcing and friction is described in this paper. Each dynamical core simulates a super-rotating atmospheric circulation with equatorial winds of 35 ± 10 m/s, maintained by horizontally propagating eddies leaving the equatorial region and inducing a momentum convergence there. We discuss the balance between the mean circulation and eddies with reference to the production of a super-rotating equatorial flow. The balance between the horizontal eddies and vertical eddies in the polar region is discussed and shown to produce an indirect overturning circulation above the jet. The indirect overturning may be related to the observed region of the polar dipole in the Venus atmosphere. Reservoirs of energy and momentum are calculated for each dynamical core and explicit sources and sinks are diagnosed from the general circulation model (GCM). The effect of a strong “sponge layer” damping to rest is compared with eddy damping and found to change significantly the momentum balance within the top “sponge layer” but does not significantly affect the super-rotation of the bulk of the atmosphere. The Lorenz (1955) energy cycle is calculated and the circulation is shown to be dominated by energy conversion between the mean potential energy and mean kinetic energy reservoirs, with barotropic energy conversion between the mean kinetic energy and eddy kinetic energy reservoirs. We suggest modifications to the GCM parameterizations on the basis of our analysis of the atmospheric circulation and discuss the effect of numerical parameterizations on the simulated atmosphere

Theory of pattern-formation of metallic microparticles in poorly conducting liquid

We develop continuum theory of self-assembly and pattern formation in metallic microparticles immersed in a poorly conducting liquid in DC electric field. The theory is formulated in terms of two conservation laws for the densities of immobile particles (precipitate) and bouncing particles (gas) coupled to the Navier-Stokes equation for the liquid. This theory successfully reproduces correct topology of the phase diagram and primary patterns observed in the experiment [Sapozhnikov et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. v. 90, 114301 (2003)]: static crystals and honeycombs and dynamic pulsating rings and rotating multi-petal vortices.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Estimation of Primordial Spectrum with post-WMAP 3 year data

In this paper we implement an improved (error sensitive) Richardson-Lucy deconvolution algorithm on the measured angular power spectrum from the WMAP 3 year data to determine the primordial power spectrum assuming different points in the cosmological parameter space for a flat LCDM cosmological model. We also present the preliminary results of the cosmological parameter estimation by assuming a free form of the primordial spectrum, for a reasonably large volume of the parameter space. The recovered spectrum for a considerably large number of the points in the cosmological parameter space has a likelihood far better than a `best fit' power law spectrum up to \Delta \chi^2_{eff} \approx -30. We use Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) for smoothing the raw recovered spectrum from the binned data. The results obtained here reconfirm and sharpen the conclusion drawn from our previous analysis of the WMAP 1st year data. A sharp cut off around the horizon scale and a bump after the horizon scale seem to be a common feature for all of these reconstructed primordial spectra. We have shown that although the WMAP 3 year data prefers a lower value of matter density for a power law form of the primordial spectrum, for a free form of the spectrum, we can get a very good likelihood to the data for higher values of matter density. We have also shown that even a flat CDM model, allowing a free form of the primordial spectrum, can give a very high likelihood fit to the data. Theoretical interpretation of the results is open to the cosmology community. However, this work provides strong evidence that the data retains discriminatory power in the cosmological parameter space even when there is full freedom in choosing the primordial spectrum.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, uses Revtex4, new analysis and results, references added, matches version accepted to Phys. Rev.

Development of a carbon fibre composite active mirror: Design and testing

Carbon fibre composite technology for lightweight mirrors is gaining increasing interest in the space- and ground-based astronomical communities for its low weight, ease of manufacturing, excellent thermal qualities and robustness. We present here first results of a project to design and produce a 27 cm diameter deformable carbon fibre composite mirror. The aim was to produce a high surface form accuracy as well as low surface roughness. As part of this programme, a passive mirror was developed to investigate stability and coating issues. Results from the manufacturing and polishing process are reported here. We also present results of a mechanical and thermal finite element analysis, as well as early experimental findings of the deformable mirror. Possible applications and future work are discussed.Comment: Accepted by Optical Engineering. Figures 1-7 on http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~sk/OEpaper_files

A first appraisal of the landing and mechanism of the Santos fishery

This paper summarizes and analyses the landing data collected at Santos, Brazil, during the 12 months period, July 1958-June 1959. These data are given in terms of weight landed of the more important fish and shrimp and also in terms of value. The distribution of the landings of each of the more important species is shown both according to the type of fishing gear used and fishing area. The fishing area is given in the form of statistical rectangles of 60 miles square. The landings are broken down to obtain a figure for the landing per hour of fishing for each species, for each gear and for each rectangle fished. This figure of landing per unit fishing time is used to compare one area with another, one gear with another, and one month with another for each of the important species. In this way, comparisons of the available density of a species by time, area and fishing gear are made.Êste trabalho sintetiza e analisa os dados coletados em Santos, Brasil, sobre o desembarque de pescado durante o período de 12 meses, de julho de 1958 a junho de 1959. Estes dados são apresentados em termos de peso desembarcado, para as espécies de peixes mais importantes e camarões e, também, em termos de valor econômico. A distribuição dos desembarques de cada uma das espécies mais importantes é apresentada tanto em relação ao tipo de aparelho de pesca usado, como em relação à área de pesca. Essa área é dada sob forma de retângulos estatísticos de 60 milhas quadradas. Os desembarques são classificados para se obter o valor do desembarque por hora de pesca para cada espécie, para cada aparelho e para cada retângulo pescado. Este valor do desembarque por unidade de tempo de captura é usado para comparar as áreas entre si, os aparelhos de captura entre si e os meses do ano entre si, em relação a cada espécie importante. Deste modo são feitas as comparações da densidade disponível de uma espécie no tempo, na área de pesca e por aparelho de pesca

Laplacian Growth and Whitham Equations of Soliton Theory

The Laplacian growth (the Hele-Shaw problem) of multi-connected domains in the case of zero surface tension is proven to be equivalent to an integrable systems of Whitham equations known in soliton theory. The Whitham equations describe slowly modulated periodic solutions of integrable hierarchies of nonlinear differential equations. Through this connection the Laplacian growth is understood as a flow in the moduli space of Riemann surfaces.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures, typos corrected, new references adde