Tensor-Scalar Torsion

A theory of gravity with torsion is examined in which the torsion tensor is constructed from the exterior derivative of an antisymmetric rank two potential plus the dual of the gradient of a scalar field. Field equations for the theory are derived by demanding that the action be stationary under variations with respect to the metric, the antisymmetric potential, and the scalar field. A material action is introduced and the equations of motion are derived. The correct conservation law for rotational angular momentum plus spin is observed to hold in this theory.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, Mod. Phys. Lett. A accepte

Establishing a support service for educational technology within a university

This paper covers some of the issues associated with the support of learning technology within an institution. It describes the activities of a working support service, and highlights approaches to some of the academic, technological, political and management issues that have helped it perform effectively over a four‐year period

Strings in gravity with torsion

A theory of gravitation in 4D is presented with strings used in the material action in $U_4$ spacetime. It is shown that the string naturally gives rise to torsion. It is also shown that the equation of motion a string follows from the Bianchi identity, gives the identical result as the Noether conservation laws, and follows a geodesic only in the lowest order approximation. In addition, the conservation laws show that strings naturally have spin, which arises not from their motion but from their one dimensional structure.Comment: 16 page

Experimental and numerical study of error fields in the CNT stellarator

Sources of error fields were indirectly inferred in a stellarator by reconciling computed and numerical flux surfaces. Sources considered so far include the displacements and tilts (but not the deformations, yet) of the four circular coils featured in the simple CNT stellarator. The flux surfaces were measured by means of an electron beam and phosphor rod, and were computed by means of a Biot-Savart field-line tracing code. If the ideal coil locations and orientations are used in the computation, agreement with measurements is poor. Discrepancies are ascribed to errors in the positioning and orientation of the in-vessel interlocked coils. To that end, an iterative numerical method was developed. A Newton-Raphson algorithm searches for the coils' displacements and tilts that minimize the discrepancy between the measured and computed flux surfaces. This method was verified by misplacing and tilting the coils in a numerical model of CNT, calculating the flux surfaces that they generated, and testing the algorithm's ability to deduce the coils' displacements and tilts. Subsequently, the numerical method was applied to the experimental data, arriving at a set of coil displacements whose resulting field errors exhibited significantly improved quantitative and qualitative agreement with experimental results.Comment: Special Issue on the 20th International Stellarator-Heliotron Worksho

Spinless Matter in Transposed-Equi-Affine Theory of Gravity

We derive and discus the equations of motion for spinless matter: relativistic spinless scalar fields, particles and fluids in the recently proposed by A. Saa model of gravity with covariantly constant volume with respect to the transposed connection in Einstein-Cartan spaces. A new interpretation of this theory as a theory with variable Plank "constant" is suggested. We show that the consistency of the semiclassical limit of the wave equation and classical motion dictates a new definite universal interaction of torsion with massive fields.Comment: 29 pages, latex, no figures. New Section on semiclassical limit of wave equation added; old references rearranged; new references, remarks, comments, and acknowledgments added; typos correcte

Moment bounds for the Smoluchowski equation and their consequences

We prove uniform bounds on moments X_a = \sum_{m}{m^a f_m(x,t)} of the Smoluchowski coagulation equations with diffusion, valid in any dimension. If the collision propensities \alpha(n,m) of mass n and mass m particles grow more slowly than (n+m)(d(n) + d(m)), and the diffusion rate d(\cdot) is non-increasing and satisfies m^{-b_1} \leq d(m) \leq m^{-b_2} for some b_1 and b_2 satisfying 0 \leq b_2 < b_1 < \infty, then any weak solution satisfies X_a \in L^{\infty}(\mathbb{R}^d \times [0,T]) \cap L^1(\mathbb{R}^d \times [0,T]) for every a \in \mathbb{N} and T \in (0,\infty), (provided that certain moments of the initial data are finite). As a consequence, we infer that these conditions are sufficient to ensure uniqueness of a weak solution and its conservation of mass.Comment: 30 page

Onion gene expression in response to ethylene and 1-MCP

Onion is regarded as a non-climacteric vegetable. In onions, however, ethylene can suppress sprouting while the ethylene binding inhibitor, 1-MCP (1- methylcyclopropene) can also suppress sprout growth yet, it is unknown how ethylene and 1-MCP elicit the same response. In this study, onions were treated with 10 μL L-1 ethylene or 1 μL L-1 1-MCP individually or in combination for 24 h at 20°C before or after curing (six weeks) at 20 or 28°C then stored at 1°C. Following curing, a subset of these same onions was stored separately under continuous air or ethylene (10 μL L- 1) at 1°C Onions treated with ethylene and 1-MCP in combination after curing for 24 h had reduced sprout growth as compared with the control 25 weeks after harvest. Sprout growth following storage beyond 25 weeks was only reduced through continuous ethylene treatment. This observation was supported by a higher proportion of down-regulated genes characterised as being involved in photosynthesis measured using a newly developed onion microarray. Physiological and biochemical data suggested that ethylene was being perceived in the presence of 1-MCP since sprout growth was reduced in onions treated with 1-MCP and ethylene applied in combination but not when applied individually. A cluster of probes representing transcripts up-regulated by 1-MCP alone but down-regulated by ethylene alone or in the presence of 1-MCP support this suggestion. Ethylene and 1-MCP both down52 regulated a probe tentatively annotated as an ethylene receptor as well as EIN3, suggesting that both treatments down-regulate the perception and signalling events of ethylene