6,089 research outputs found
Growth, profits and technological choice: The case of the Lancashire cotton textile industry
Using Lancashire textile industry company case studies and financial records, mainly from the period just before the First World War, the processes of growth and decline are re-examined. These are considered by reference to the nature of Lancashire entrepreneurship and the impact on technological choice. Capital accumulation, associated wealth distributions and the character of Lancashire business organisation were sybiotically linked to the success of the industry before 1914. However, the legacy of that accumulation in later decades, chronic overcapacity, formed a barrier to reconstruction and enhanced the preciptious decline of a once great industry
Statistical mechanics of an ideal Bose gas in a confined geometry
We study the behaviour of an ideal non-relativistic Bose gas in a
three-dimensional space where one of the dimensions is compactified to form a
circle. In this case there is no phase transition like that for the case of an
infinite volume, nevertheless Bose-Einstein condensation signified by a sudden
buildup of particles in the ground state can occur. We use the grand canonical
ensemble to study this problem. In particular, the specific heat is evaluated
numerically, as well as analytically in certain limits. We show analytically
how the familiar result for the specific heat is recovered as we let the size
of the circle become large so that the infinite volume limit is approached. We
also examine in detail the behaviour of the chemical potential and establish
the precise manner in which it approaches zero as the volume becomes large.Comment: 13 pages, 2 eps figures, revtex
One-Loop Renormalization of a Self-Interacting Scalar Field in Nonsimply Connected Spacetimes
Using the effective potential, we study the one-loop renormalization of a
massive self-interacting scalar field at finite temperature in flat manifolds
with one or more compactified spatial dimensions. We prove that, owing to the
compactification and finite temperature, the renormalized physical parameters
of the theory (mass and coupling constant) acquire thermal and topological
contributions. In the case of one compactified spatial dimension at finite
temperature, we find that the corrections to the mass are positive, but those
to the coupling constant are negative. We discuss the possibility of
triviality, i.e. that the renormalized coupling constant goes to zero at some
temperature or at some radius of the compactified spatial dimension.Comment: 16 pages, plain LATE
Effects of polymer additives on Rayleigh-Taylor turbulence
The role of polymers additives on the turbulent convective flow of a
Rayleigh--Taylor system is investigated by means of direct numerical
simulations (DNS) of Oldroyd-B viscoelastic model. The dynamics of polymers
elongation follow adiabatically the self-similar evolution of the turbulent
mixing layer, and shows the appearance of a strong feedback on the flow which
originate a cut off for polymer elongations. The viscoelastic effects on the
mixing properties of the flow are twofold. Mixing is appreciably enhanced at
large scales (the mixing layer growth-rate is larger than that of the purely
Newtonian case) and depleted at small scales (thermal plumes are more coherent
with respect to the Newtonian case). The observed speed up of the thermal
plumes, together with an increase of the correlations between temperature field
and vertical velocity, contributes to a significant {\it enhancement of heat
transport}. Our findings are consistent with a scenario of {\it drag reduction}
between falling and rising plumes induced by polymers, and provide further
evidence of the occurrence of drag reduction in absence of boundary layers. A
weakly non-linear model proposed by Fermi for the growth of the mixing layer is
reported in the Appendix.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure
Bose-Einstein condensation for interacting scalar fields in curved spacetime
We consider the model of self-interacting complex scalar fields with a rigid
gauge invariance under an arbitrary gauge group . In order to analyze the
phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation finite temperature and the possibility
of a finite background charge is included. Different approaches to derive the
relevant high-temperature behaviour of the theory are presented.Comment: 28 pages, LaTe
Drag Reduction by Polymers in Wall Bounded Turbulence
We address the mechanism of drag reduction by polymers in turbulent wall
bounded flows. On the basis of the equations of fluid mechanics we present a
quantitative derivation of the "maximum drag reduction (MDR) asymptote" which
is the maximum drag reduction attained by polymers. Based on Newtonian
information only we prove the existence of drag reduction, and with one
experimental parameter we reach a quantitative agreement with the experimental
measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 1 fig., included, PRL, submitte
Stress-energy tensor for a quantised bulk scalar field in the Randall-Sundrum brane model
We calculate the vacuum expectation value of the stress-energy tensor for a
quantised bulk scalar field in the Randall-Sundrum model, and discuss the
consequences of its local behaviour for the self-consistency of the model. We
find that, in general, the stress-energy tensor diverges in the vicinity of the
branes. Our main conclusion is that the stress-energy tensor is sufficiently
complicated that it has implications for the effective potential, or radion
stabilisation, methods that have so far been used.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures. Minor changes made and references added. To
appear in Phys. Rev.
Self-management in early-stage dementia: a pilot randomised controlled trial of the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a self-management group intervention (the SMART study).
Published onlineJournal ArticleRandomized Controlled TrialResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tBACKGROUND: The possibility of living well with a long-term condition has been identified as centrally relevant to the needs of people living with dementia. Growing numbers of people with early-stage dementia are contributing accounts that emphasise the benefits of actively engaging in managing the condition. Self-management interventions share the common objectives of educating about the condition, optimising well-being, enhancing control over the situation and enabling people to take more responsibility for managing the condition. Benefits of such an approach can include improved knowledge, self-efficacy, health status, and better performance of self-management behaviours. However, there is only preliminary evidence that people with early-stage dementia can benefit from such interventions. METHODS: This feasibility study involves the development of a self-management group intervention for people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia or mixed Alzheimer's and vascular dementia. This study is a single-site pilot randomised-controlled trial. Forty-two people with early stage dementia, each with a caregiver (family member/friend), will be randomised to either the self-management group intervention or to treatment as usual.The self-management group intervention will involve eight weekly sessions, each lasting 90 minutes, held at a memory clinic in North Wales. All participants will be re-assessed three and six months post-randomisation. This study is intended to supply an early evaluation of the self-management intervention so that a full scale trial may be powered from the best available evidence. It will assess the feasibility of the intervention, the study design and the recruitment strategies. It will estimate the parameters and confidence intervals for the research questions of interest. The primary outcome of interest is the self-efficacy score of the person with dementia at three months post-randomisation. Secondary outcomes for the person with dementia are self-efficacy at six months post-randomisation and cognitive ability, mood and well-being at three and six months post-randomisation. Secondary outcomes for caregivers are their distress and stress at three and six months post-randomisation. The cost-effectiveness of the intervention will also be examined. DISCUSSION: This study will provide preliminary information about the feasibility, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a self-management group intervention for people in the early stages of dementia. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN02023181.NISCHRERDF Ireland Wales Programme 2007–13National Health ServiceHigher Education Funding Council for Wale
Bose-Einstein condensation as symmetry breaking in compact curved spacetimes
We examine Bose-Einstein condensation as a form of symmetry breaking in the
specific model of the Einstein static universe. We show that symmetry breaking
never occursin the sense that the chemical potential never reaches its
critical value.This leads us to some statements about spaces of finite volume
in general. In an appendix we clarify the relationship between the standard
statistical mechanical approaches and the field theory method using zeta
functions.Comment: Revtex, 25 pages, 3 figures, uses EPSF.sty. To be published in Phys.
Rev.
Effective Lagrangian for self-interacting scalar field theories in curved spacetime
We consider a self-interacting scalar field theory in a slowly varying
gravitational background field. Using zeta-function regularization and
heat-kernel techniques, we derive the one-loop effective Lagrangian up to
second order in the variation of the background field and up to quadratic terms
in the curvature tensors. Specializing to different spacetimes of physical
interest, the influence of the curvature on the phase transition is considered.Comment: 14 pages, LaTex, UTF 29
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