Error analysis for an ALE evolving surface finite element method

We consider an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian evolving surface finite element method for the numerical approximation of advection and diffusion of a conserved scalar quantity on a moving surface. We describe the method, prove optimal order error bounds and present numerical simulations that agree with the theoretical results

A descriptive analysis of the drinking behaviour of the 1958 cohort at age 33 and the 1970 cohort at age 34

This paper provides a comparison of the drinking patterns of members of the 1958 British Birth Cohort at age 33 in 1991 and members of the 1970 British Birth Cohort at age 34 in 2004. In particular the focus is on the relationships between social class, gender and drinking behaviour and how these may have changed over time. In addition we exploit the detailed information available in the cohort studies about the kinds of alcohol that individuals drink to provide a description of how this varies between the two cohorts born twelve years apart. The paper also provides detailed descriptive analyses of the links between frequency of drinking and the number of units drunk for both cohorts. Results suggest that although the 1970 cohort report drinking more frequently than the 1958 cohort did at a similar age, there is only a modest increase in the average number of units of alcohol consumed per week for women and no increase for men. The paper also highlights some possible problems with data on alcohol consumption collected in the 2000 sweep of NCDS and BCS70 and concludes by making some comparisons between data collected in the cohort studies and data collected in the General Household Survey

‘You can't just say “words”’: literature and nonsense in the work of Robert Wyatt

Throughout his musical career, British musician Robert Wyatt has explored the interaction of words, language, sound and sense. His lyrical and musical delivery, by turns absurdist, infantile, angry and melancholic, deconstructs everyday phrases and invites listeners to question the borders of sense and nonsense. This chapter examines connections between Wyatt’s work and a range of literary voices, particularly those associated with nursery rhyme, nonsense verse and absurdism. A further aim is to explore the role of sense and nonsense in popular music. If one of the ways in which music differs from literature is through its ability to communicate without words, can there be a relationship between sense and nonsense in musical language that correlates with that found in literature? In what ways can musical language be said to make or not make sense? Exposure to Wyatt’s work emphasises the extent to which, as a musician, he has made use of words and vocables, even as he has occasionally distanced himself from the importance of lyrics in his music. By focussing on the literary-textual nature of Wyatt’s work, the text highlights the different demands and expectations placed on the ‘popular’ and the ‘literary’

Varieties of Exploratory Experimentation in Nanotoxicology

There has been relatively little effort to provide a systematic overview of different forms of exploratory experimentation (EE). The present paper examines the growing subdiscipline of nanotoxicology and suggests that it illustrates at least four ways that researchers can engage in EE: searching for regularities; developing new techniques, simulation models, and instrumentation; collecting and analyzing large swaths of data using new experimental strategies (e.g., computer-based simulation and “high-throughput” instrumentation); and structuring an entire disciplinary field around exploratory research agendas. In order to distinguish these and other activities more effectively, the paper proposes a taxonomy that includes three dimensions along which types of EE vary: (1) the aim of the experimental activity, (2) the role of theory in the activity, and (3) the methods or strategies employed for varying experimental parameters

Stability of Matter in Magnetic Fields

The proof of the stability of matter is three decades old, but the question of stability when arbitrarily large magnetic fields are taken into account was settled only recently. Even more recent is the solution to the question of the stability of relativistic matter when the electron motion is governed by the Dirac operator (together with Dirac's prescription of filling the ``negative energy sea"). When magnetic fields are included the question arises whether it is better to fill the negative energy sea of the free Dirac operator or of the Dirac operator with magnetic field. The answer is found to be that the former prescription is unstable while the latter is stable. This paper is a brief, nontechnical summary of recent work with M. Loss, J.P. Solovej and H. Siedentop.Comment: Review article, 8 pages, Tex, Zeits. f. Physik (in press