Measurement of surface velocity fields

A new technique for measuring surface velocity fields is briefly described. It determines the surface velocity vector as a function of location and time by the analysis of thermal fluctuations of the surface profile in a small domain around the point of interest. The apparatus now being constructed will be used in a series of experiments involving flow fields established by temperature gradients imposed along a surface

Promoting Public Health In The Context Of The “Obesity Epidemic”: False Starts And Promising New Directions

In the battle to combat obesity rates in the United States, several misconceptions have dominated policy initiatives. We address those misconceptions, including the notion that restrictive diets lead to long-term weight loss, that stigmatizing obesity is an effective strategy for promoting weight reduction, and that weight and physical health should be considered synonymous with one another. In offering correctives to each of these points, we draw on psychological science to suggest new policies that could be enacted at both the local and national levels. Instead of policies that rely solely on individual willpower, which is susceptible to failure, we recommend those that make use of environmental changes to reduce the amount of willpower necessary to achieve healthy behavior. Ultimately, the most effective policies will promote health rather than any arbitrary level of weight

Can conformal Transformations change the fate of 2D black holes?

By using a classical Liouville-type model of two dimensional dilaton gravity we show that the one-loop theory implies that the fate of a black hole depends on the conformal frame. There is one frame for which the evaporation process never stops and another one leading to a complete disappearance of the black hole. This can be seen as a consequence of the fact that thermodynamic variables are not conformally invariant. In the second case the evaporation always produces the same static and regular end-point geometry, irrespective of the initial state.Comment: Some typos corrected. A few comments and two references added. Accepted for publication in PLB. Latex, 11 pages, no figure