The Lense--Thirring Effect and Mach's Principle

We respond to a recent paper by Rindler on the ``Anti--Machian'' nature of the Lense--Thirring effect. We remark that his conclusion depends crucially on the particular formulation of Mach's principle used.Comment: 13 pages, Latex file, no figure

Activation processes in biology

Many processes in physics and biology can be understand through the framework of escape from a metastable state, including (but not limited to) the rates of chemical reactions, the unfolding of proteins, the nucleation of bubbles, and the condensation of gases. To understand the kinetics of these processes, we have to be able to calculate the rate of escape. In this thesis, I solve several of such of escape problems, each addressing a specific physical or biological system. I first show how the forced unfolding of heteropolymers could be a process with non-exponential kinetics, developing ideas about the importance of unfolding pathways in determining kinetics of unfolding. Then, I consider forced unfolding when a molecule is attached to a yielding (viscoelastic) substrate, and a constant force is applied. I show that the rates of unfolding depend on both the elastic and viscous response of the substrate. This problem is related to the biological process of mechanosensing, when the unfolding `sensor' protein exposes catalytic residues and generates a chemical signal to the cell. Related to this is the analysis of population-dynamics study of cells adhesion on substrates, which allows me to extract key characteristics and parameters of the adhesome complex. Then, I apply the ideas of escape from a metastable state to ask about the rates of a ligand at the end of a tethered polymer binding to a surface receptor, using a mean field approach to reduce the problem to one dimension. I show that there is a trade-off between the entropic cost of reaching to a receptor vs the volumetric cost of expanding the tether length. I then show that for a Gaussian chain with multiple ligands along its length, there exists a finite, non-zero optimal number of ligands to minimise the time taken for the end of the chain to bind to the surface. Finally, I consider the problem of microswimmers in an obstacle lattice, calculating their transport properties, and showing how we can use lattices to examine the underlying stochastic dynamics.I was funded through an EPSRC studentship: EP/M508007/1

Vaccine Hesitancy and Biden\u27s Rhetoric

Within the setting and context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study uses Ernest Bormann’s Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT) framework to analyze fantasy themes which emerged from the rhetoric of the American President, Joe Biden, regarding vaccinations. The main question of this study is why President Biden’s rhetorical vision either chained out and was accepted among the American public resulting in increased vaccination or failed to chain out resulting in Americans refusing to become vaccinated. To answer this question, a selection of artifacts consisting of examples of President Biden’s rhetoric are gathered, and using those artifacts, SCT fantasy themes are developed. Three SCT fantasies are delineated and explored to answer the central question of this study. The first fantasy theme which emerged from President Biden’s rhetoric is: “President Biden assumes the role of a sanctioning agent, portraying and positioning himself as a war time President who will lead America through one of its darkest hours.” The second fantasy which is developed in this study is: “President Biden encourages Americans to become heroes by partaking in the battle against COVID-19 by becoming vaccinated, while unvaccinated Americans are demonized as villains.” The third fantasy which emerged from President Biden’s rhetoric is: “President Biden portrayed contradicting narratives to the “official narrative” as existential threats to America and the current political order.” Using these three fantasies, this study then develops explanations why proponents of President Biden’s rhetorical vision accepted it, and why opponents of his vision rejected it

Symposium: Intermediate Appellate Court Practice - Problems and Solutions

Following these brief words of introduction is presented a collage of individual opinion - mounted, framed and presented as a reflection upon the state of today\u27s appellate process as well as upon various problems and solutions involved therei

A Space for Making, Making One\u27s Own Space

Site: Hong Kong The programming is focused around the supporting of activities that broadly involve making and working with one\u27s hands. Specifically, woodworking and gardening are chosen as activities that can be engaged in at varying levels of difficulty and enjoyed by a wide range of age groups. The first means through which multiple generations interact is the mentor/student relationship, where someone with previous skills in either area acts as a facilitator for an older or younger student to learn. There are two higher level activities, dragon-boat building and orchid gardening, that comprise the long-term work of the space and occupy the larger volumes to the front and rear. Occupying the central spaces are activities geared toward learning the skills of woodworking and gardening. The hope is that as participants of all ages develop skills they can begin to engage in the boat-building and orchid-growing, and play mentor roles to newer participants, so that there is a constant flux in terms of who is teaching and learning, with young and old playing both roles. Architecturally, the building has a conceptual core, where learning takes play—this area serves the periphery, the two larger volumes that house the orchid greenhouse and boat shop. The three are connected visually by shifting floor slabs that push into the periphery and allow connections. The core space is vertically connected by terraced circulation that allows for gathering spots and a series of courtyards that bring illumination to the ground floor.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/spring2019_greer/1000/thumbnail.jp

Ubiquitous Information Systems – Understanding privacy concerns

Ubiquitous information systems (UBIS) adapt current Information System thinking to explicitly differentiate technology between hardware devices and software components. An unfolding vision of vast numbers of computing devices becoming a pervasive part of our everyday lives in underway as more routine activities move into the realm of information and communication technology (ICT). Customer loyalty smart card tracking, mobile and smart phone application, wireless MP3 players, intelligent key cards, close circuit television cameras, motion sensors, electronic passports and RFID cards are some of the frequently used ubiquitous devices that handle personal information about their owners and of which a typical average consumer could own more than one of them. This research paper investigates personal privacy issues confronting ubiquitous system users with the aim of constructing a framework that can help designers of such systems to better protect the personal privacy of the users of these systems through the integration of certain design concepts suggested by the framework into their design processes. Ten selected users of ubiquitous devices were interviewed, focusing on issue around the misunderstanding of some personal privacy concepts relating to their ubiquitous devices and locations of use. Interview responses were transcribed into electronic format and analyzed using grounded theory analysis and micro-coding techniques. The grounded theory analysis led to the identification of five concepts: Scope of potential disclosure of information, Scope of actual disclosure of information, Complexity of configuration, Top level control mechanism and integration of existing practices