Magnetic energy release in dynamic fan reconnection models

The problem of dynamic, three-dimensional magnetic reconnection is considered. Analytic “fan current” solutions are derived by superposing plane-wave disturbances on magnetic X-point equilibria. The localization of the wave produces a strong current sheet containing the neutral point. It is shown that the classical rate of resistive dissipation in the sheet, namely Wn~n1/2, represents the slowest possible energy-loss rate for the disturbance. The conditions required for fast coronal reconnection are then discussed. It is pointed out that significant “flare-like” energy release may be possible under physically realizable conditions. Moreover, the small length scales associated with the current sheet widths of order ∆x~n1/2 suggest that conditions are probably collisionless close to the neutral point. It is argued that our results are consistent with magnetic reconnection simulations that display “stalling” of the merging rate at small plasma resistivities

Shear wave dissipation in planar magnetic X-Points

The resistive dissipation of nonlinear shear wave disturbances is discussed. We consider an incompressible, “open” X-point geometry, in which mass and energy are free to enter and leave the reconnection region. An analytic treatment is possible which unifies many of the dynamic and steady-state X-point solutions obtained previously. We show that while field disturbances in the plane of the X-point have the potential for rapid energy release when suitably driven, perpendicular shear disturbances dissipate slowly, at a rate η1/2, where η is the plasma resistivity. This behavior can be understood in terms of the absence of flux pileup in nonplanar shear wave disturbances. We conclude that only planar shear waves have the potential for fast magnetic energy release

The effect of strategic marketing planning practices on performance: a study of Australian private hospitals

Although many marketing text books and a number of studies claim that strategic marketing planning can help firms improve their organizational performance, little or no study particularly in Australia has examined the effect of strategic marketing planning practices on private hospitals. This paper aims to present the results of a study that addressed whether strategic marketing planning practice is related to private hospitals organizational performance

Strategy implementation and organizational performance: a study of private hospitals

Although there is continuing interest in the concept of strategic planning, very little research has been done to examine whether the extent to which marketing strategies are implemented in private hospitals could explain variations in their organizational performance. This paper aims to present the results of a study that addressed whether there are significant differences in the extent to which marketing strategies are implemented in private hospitals that have high level of organizational performance versus private hospitals that have low level of organizational performance

Camellia

Camellia is an industrial suburb about five kilometres east of Parramatta city centre, on the south bank of the Parramatta River. The suburb is located between Clay Cliff Creek to the west, Duck River to the east, and Grand Avenue. The major roads dissecting the suburb are Grand Avenue (east-west) and James Ruse Drive (north-south). The rail link between Rydalmere and Clyde and the spur line from it to Camellia railway station were important transport links, as were the roads that opened the suburb for industrial use. This little suburb has had no school, post office or retail outlets (other than 'a lunch shop' on Grand Avenue near Devon Street) to sustain the nearby industrial workers during the week

Eastwood

A train journey from Sydney Central to Strathfield and thence north on the Hornsby rail line will bring a traveller to the suburb of Eastwood, some 21 kilometres from the city. Leaving the train to travel on to Hornsby and stepping out of the station on the east or west side, the visitor will see a busy suburban shopping centre, illustrating the fact that Eastwood developed around the railway station when the service began in 1886. However, the town's history goes back to the eighteenth century and even to earlier times, when the Wallumedegal Aboriginal people lived in the territory bounded by the Lane Cove and Parramatta rivers. The people were part of the Dharug group and they called their country Wallumetta

The Current Workplace Experience of Further Education Lecturers and Managers: Still Restrictive After All These Years?

This thesis uses a single-case study design to provide a qualitative, in-depth exploration of the current workforce experience of managers and lecturers within ‘Redgrove’, a recently merged, inner-city Further Education (FE) college. Since the incorporation of colleges in 1993 the literature has been consistent in reporting FE settings as difficult, oppressive places to work. At present, the Sector is being radically restructured via merger processes and ongoing, significant qualification reform, whilst colleges are simultaneously reporting severe financial pressures after a decade of austerity measures. The fact that these are largely ‘top-down’ policy initiatives indicates, as the thesis attests, that FE continues to offer neo-liberal workplace environments in which lecturers and managers struggle to shape key processes. The research organises itself around the premise that three processes are particularly influential in seeking to understand this struggle: policy, professionalism and workplace learning. These are used as three, often integrated, lenses to guide exploration of the case. The in-depth nature of the case study is supported by the ‘insider’ status of the researcher, documentation review and seventeen semi-structured interviews. The interviews include narrative accounts from all four of Redgrove’s organisational levels: senior, middle and junior managers as well as lecturers. This allows relationships between the different points in the hierarchy to emerge and for a range of perspectives across the three research lenses to be represented. Findings confirm that the FE workplace is marked by recurring interrelated constraints which produce isolating and ‘intensive’ working days. The process of identifying such constraints is bolstered by application of an expansive-restrictive framework which then works to support recommendations for possible ‘ways forward’. These include: removing early plateaus for expert teachers; aligning individual and organisational goals; more intelligent accountability; and opening up workplace structures to provide protected spaces in which to learn and from which to build connections across internal and external boundaries

Alistair McClymont, Everything we are capable of seeing

McClymont’s practice incorporates a range of materials and practices that include sculpture, photography and video. His most recent works reproduce natural phenomena as a means of exploring scientific and philosophical ideas. The means of production and installation of the work often reveals the science behind it. At the same time, it acknowledges that there is something inherently unknowable and uncontrollable about the way in which naturally or artificially induced phenomena behave that is capable of inducing awe and wonder. Solo Exhibition at Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh, US

Stuck in the Process, Facilitating Nothing? Justice, Capabilities and Planning for Value-Led Outcomes

The role of a planner as collaborative facilitator has come under renewed criticism, from both planning theory and planning practice. This paper explores how placing values of equity and justice at the centre of planning practice offers practitioners a valuable voice in the debate over urban outcomes. It draws on Nussbaum's capabilities approach to provide a situationally flexible, yet universally grounded, version of the planning profession to judging better or worse outcomes. Case study research from an area-based regeneration initiative in England is used to illustrate how changing planners' views of their aims could provide more socially just outcomes. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis

THE CHARACTER OF CIRCE IN THE ODYSSEY

The article describes the character of Circe in the Odyssey, emphasizing that she has not only an evil but a positive side to her character. The implications of her being a witch, swearing an oath to Odysseus and being a god are explored. She is also briefly compared with other characters in the Odyssey