Non-local dispersal

We consider a model of spatial spread that has applications in both material science and biology. The classical models are based upon partial differential equations, in particular reaction-diffusion equations. Here the dispersal term is given in terms of an integral operator and we restrict ourselves to the scalar case

Tom Vickers, Gary Craig and Karl Atkin (2013), ‘Addressing Ethnicity in Social Care Research’, Social Policy and Administration, 47 (3), June, 310–26

This article surveys recent developments in relation to the dimensions of ethnicity and ethnic disadvantage in social policy research and practice, with a focus on social care. While there has been limited increase in attention to ethnicity within general policy discussion and increasing sophistication within specialist debates, advances in theory and methodology have largely failed to penetrate the mainstream of research, let alone policy or practice. We argue for a more focussed consideration of ethnicity and ethnic disadvantage at all levels. Failure to do so creates the risk of social policy research being left behind in understanding rapid changes in ethnic minority demographics and patterns of migration, and increasing disadvantage to minorities

Community rotorcraft air transportation benefits and opportunities

Information about rotorcraft that will assist community planners in assessing and planning for the use of rotorcraft transportation in their communities is provided. Information useful to helicopter researchers, manufacturers, and operators concerning helicopter opportunities and benefits is also given. Three primary topics are discussed: the current status and future projections of rotorcraft technology, and the comparison of that technology with other transportation vehicles; the community benefits of promising rotorcraft transportation opportunities; and the integration and interfacing considerations between rotorcraft and other transportation vehicles. Helicopter applications in a number of business and public service fields are examined in various geographical settings

Gravitational waves, black holes and cosmic strings in cylindrical symmetry

Gravitational waves in cylindrically symmetric Einstein gravity are described by an effective energy tensor with the same form as that of a massless Klein- Gordon field, in terms of a gravitational potential generalizing the Newtonian potential. Energy-momentum vectors for the gravitational waves and matter are defined with respect to a canonical flow of time. The combined energy-momentum is covariantly conserved, the corresponding charge being the modified Thorne energy. Energy conservation is formulated as the first law expressing the gradient of the energy as work and energy-supply terms, including the energy flux of the gravitational waves. Projecting this equation along a trapping horizon yields a first law of black-hole dynamics containing the expected term involving area and surface gravity, where the dynamic surface gravity is defined with respect to the canonical flow of time. A first law for dynamic cosmic strings also follows. The Einstein equation is written as three wave equations plus the first law, each with sources determined by the combined energy tensor of the matter and gravitational waves.Comment: 10 pages, revtex. Published version with further detail

Understanding concurrent earcons: applying auditory scene analysis principles to concurrent earcon recognition

Two investigations into the identification of concurrently presented, structured sounds, called earcons were carried out. One of the experiments investigated how varying the number of concurrently presented earcons affected their identification. It was found that varying the number had a significant effect on the proportion of earcons identified. Reducing the number of concurrently presented earcons lead to a general increase in the proportion of presented earcons successfully identified. The second experiment investigated how modifying the earcons and their presentation, using techniques influenced by auditory scene analysis, affected earcon identification. It was found that both modifying the earcons such that each was presented with a unique timbre, and altering their presentation such that there was a 300 ms onset-to-onset time delay between each earcon were found to significantly increase identification. Guidelines were drawn from this work to assist future interface designers when incorporating concurrently presented earcons

Multidisciplinary approaches to the study of eating disorders and obesity: recent progress in research and development and future prospects

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Bailouts in a common market: a strategic approach

Governments in the EU grant Rescue and Restructure Subsidies to bail out ailing firms. In an international asymmetric Cournot duopoly we study effects of such subsidies on market structure and welfare. We adopt a common market setting, where consumers from the two countries form one market. We show that the subsidy is positive also when it fails to prevent the exit. The reason is a strategic effect, which forces the more efficient firm to make additional cost-reducing effort. When the exit is prevented, allocative and productive efficiencies are lower and the only gaining player is the rescued firm

Complex actions in two-dimensional topology change

We investigate topology change in (1+1) dimensions by analyzing the scalar-curvature action $1/2 \int R dV$ at the points of metric-degeneration that (with minor exceptions) any nontrivial Lorentzian cobordism necessarily possesses. In two dimensions any cobordism can be built up as a combination of only two elementary types, the ``yarmulke'' and the ``trousers.'' For each of these elementary cobordisms, we consider a family of Morse-theory inspired Lorentzian metrics that vanish smoothly at a single point, resulting in a conical-type singularity there. In the yarmulke case, the distinguished point is analogous to a cosmological initial (or final) singularity, with the spacetime as a whole being obtained from one causal region of Misner space by adjoining a single point. In the trousers case, the distinguished point is a ``crotch singularity'' that signals a change in the spacetime topology (this being also the fundamental vertex of string theory, if one makes that interpretation). We regularize the metrics by adding a small imaginary part whose sign is fixed to be positive by the condition that it lead to a convergent scalar field path integral on the regularized spacetime. As the regulator is removed, the scalar density $1/2 \sqrt{-g} R$ approaches a delta-function whose strength is complex: for the yarmulke family the strength is $\beta -2\pi i$, where $\beta$ is the rapidity parameter of the associated Misner space; for the trousers family it is simply $+2\pi i$. This implies that in the path integral over spacetime metrics for Einstein gravity in three or more spacetime dimensions, topology change via a crotch singularity is exponentially suppressed, whereas appearance or disappearance of a universe via a yarmulke singularity is exponentially enhanced.Comment: 34 pages, REVTeX v3.0. (Presentational reorganization; core results unchanged.

Liberal intervention in the foreign policy thinking of Tony Blair and David Cameron

David Cameron was a critic of Tony Blair’s doctrine of the international community, which was used to justify war in Kosovo and more controversially in Iraq, suggesting caution in projecting military force abroad while in opposition. However, and in spite of making severe cuts to the defence budget, the Cameron-led Coalition government signed Britain up to a military intervention in Libya within a year of coming into office. What does this say about the place liberal interventionism occupies in contemporary British foreign policy? To answer this question, this article studies the nature of what we describe as the ‘bounded liberal’ tradition that has informed British foreign policy thinking since 1945, suggesting that it puts a distinctly UK national twist on conventional conservative thought about international affairs. Its components are: scepticism of grand schemes to remake the world; instinctive Atlanticism; security through collective endeavour; and anti-appeasement. We then compare and contrast the conditions for intervention set out by Tony Blair and David Cameron. We explain the similarities but crucially also the vital differences between the two leaders’ thinking on intervention, with particular reference to Cameron’s perception that Downing Street needed to loosen its control over foreign policy-making after Iraq. Our argument is that policy substance, policy style and party political dilemmas prompted Blair and Cameron to reconnect British foreign policy with its ethical roots, ingraining a bounded liberal posture to British foreign policy after the moral bankruptcy of the John Major years. This return to a patient, pragmatic and ethically informed foreign policy meant that military operations in Kosovo and Libya were undertaken in quite different circumstances, yet came to be justified by similar arguments from the two leaders