3,981 research outputs found
Colloid-stabilized emulsions: behaviour as the interfacial tension is reduced
We present confocal microscopy studies of novel particle-stabilized
emulsions. The novelty arises because the immiscible fluids have an accessible
upper critical solution temperature. The emulsions have been created by
beginning with particles dispersed in the single-fluid phase. On cooling,
regions of the minority phase nucleate. While coarsening these nuclei become
coated with particles due to the associated reduction in interfacial energy.
The resulting emulsion is arrested, and the particle-coated interfaces have
intriguing properties. Having made use of the binary-fluid phase diagram to
create the emulsion we then make use of it to study the properties of the
interfaces. As the emulsion is re-heated toward the single-fluid phase the
interfacial tension falls and the volume of the dispersed phase drops.
Crumpling, fracture or coalescence can follow. The results show that the
elasticity of the interfaces has a controlling influence over the emulsion
behaviour.Comment: Submitted for the proceedings of the 6th Liquid Matter Conference,
held in Utrecht (NL) in July 200
Balancing employee needs, project requirements and organisational priorities in team deployment
The 'people and performance' model asserts that performance is a sum of employee ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO). Despite extensive evidence of this people-performance link within manufacturing and many service sectors, studies within the construction industry are limited. Thus, a recent research project set out to explore the team deployment strategies of a large construction company with the view of establishing how a balance could be achieved between organisational strategic priorities, operational project requirements and individual employee needs and preferences. The findings suggested that project priorities often took precedence over the delivery of the strategic intentions of the organisation in meeting employees' individual needs. This approach is not sustainable in the long term because of the negative implications that such a policy had in relation to employee stress and staff turnover. It is suggested that a resourcing structure that takes into account the multiple facets of AMO may provide a more effective approach for balancing organisational strategic priorities, operational project requirements and individual employee needs and preferences more appropriately in the future
Seasonal forcing of summer dissolved inorganic carbon and chlorophyll a on the western shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 115 (2010): C03024, doi:10.1029/2009JC005267.The Southern Ocean is a climatically sensitive region that plays an important role in the regional and global modulation of atmospheric CO2. Based on satellite-derived sea ice data, wind and cloudiness estimates from numerical models (National Centers for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis), and in situ measurements of surface (0â20 m depth) chlorophyll a (ChlSurf) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DICSurf) concentration, we show sea ice concentration from June to November and spring wind patterns between 1979 and 2006 had a significant influence on midsummer (January) primary productivity and carbonate chemistry for the Western Shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula (WAP, 64°â68°S, 63.4°â73.3°W). In general, strong (>3.5 m sâ1) and persistent (>2 months) northerly winds during the previous spring were associated with relatively high (monthly mean > 2 mg mâ3) ChlSurf and low (monthly mean 200 m depth) âwinter-likeâ DIC on the WAP.This research was supported by NSF OPP grants 0217282 to HWD at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and 0823101 to HWD at the MBL
Statistical mechanics of voting
Decision procedures aggregating the preferences of multiple agents can
produce cycles and hence outcomes which have been described heuristically as
`chaotic'. We make this description precise by constructing an explicit
dynamical system from the agents' preferences and a voting rule. The dynamics
form a one dimensional statistical mechanics model; this suggests the use of
the topological entropy to quantify the complexity of the system. We formulate
natural political/social questions about the expected complexity of a voting
rule and degree of cohesion/diversity among agents in terms of random matrix
models---ensembles of statistical mechanics models---and compute quantitative
answers in some representative cases.Comment: 9 pages, plain TeX, 2 PostScript figures included with epsf.tex
(ignore the under/overfull \vbox error messages
The spectrum of BPS branes on a noncompact Calabi-Yau
We begin the study of the spectrum of BPS branes and its variation on lines
of marginal stability on O_P^2(-3), a Calabi-Yau ALE space asymptotic to
C^3/Z_3. We show how to get the complete spectrum near the large volume limit
and near the orbifold point, and find a striking similarity between the
descriptions of holomorphic bundles and BPS branes in these two limits. We use
these results to develop a general picture of the spectrum. We also suggest a
generalization of some of the ideas to the quintic Calabi-Yau.Comment: harvmac, 45 pp. (v2: added references
Discontinuous Molecular Dynamics for Semi-Flexible and Rigid Bodies
A general framework for performing event-driven simulations of systems with
semi-flexible or rigid bodies interacting under impulsive torques and forces is
outlined. Two different approaches are presented. In the first, the dynamics
and interaction rules are derived from Lagrangian mechanics in the presence of
constraints. This approach is most suitable when the body is composed of
relatively few point masses or is semi-flexible. In the second method, the
equations of rigid bodies are used to derive explicit analytical expressions
for the free evolution of arbitrary rigid molecules and to construct a simple
scheme for computing interaction rules. Efficient algorithms for the search for
the times of interaction events are designed in this context, and the handling
of missed interaction events is discussed.Comment: 16 pages, double column revte
When does hate hurt the most? Generational differences in the association between ethnic and racial harassment, ethnic attachment, and mental health
Using data from Understanding Society, this paper provides a comprehensive account of the associations between ethnic and racial harassment (ERH), mental health and ethnic attachment for ethnic minorities living in England. We find an association between ERH and poor mental health measured using GHQ for ethnic minorities, even after controlling for a rich array of individual and area level characteristics. We find that ethnic attachment, measured as ethnic identity and co-ethnic friendship ties, moderates this association but solely for UK born ethnic minorities. In contrast to previous research, we further find that living in areas of high co-ethnic concentration appears to exacerbate the association between ERH and mental ill-health
Microscale distribution patterns of terrestrial bryophytes in a subalpine forest: the use of logistic regression as an interpretive tool
This study investigated microhabitat relationships of terrestrial bryophytes in a subalpine forest of coastal British Columbia. Substratum affinities were characterized for dominant bryophytes. Logistic regression analysis was used to gain insight into the ecological determinants of fine scale (0.1 m2) bryophyte distribution by examining the predictive relationship between bryophyte species occurrence and localized environmental conditions, as well as the coverage of other bryophytes. The predictive relationships were compared to evaluate the relative importance of environmental factors versus interspecific interactions in structuring bryophyte communities. The results indicate that bryophytes show unique responses in their relationships to environmental conditions and other bryophytes. Positive feedback appears to be an important process among terrestrial bryophytes in subalpine forests
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