Source: John Brindley
On Wednesday 12 July 1995, an international gathering of scientists witnessed a re-creation of the famous canal sighting of the soliton or solitary wave first seen in August 1834. They were attending a conference on nonlinear coherent structures in physics and biology at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, organised by Chris Eilbeck and Dugald Duncan of the Department of Mathematics.
The occasion also marked the naming of a new aqueduct after John Scott Russell, the Scottish scientist who made the original observation. the aqueduct carries the Union Canal over the Edinburgh City Bypass. The naming ceremony was carried out by Professor Alwyn Scott of Tucson and Lyngby.
A brief report including a colour photograph appeared in the Aug 3 issue of Nature (v. 376, pg 373, 1995).
Details of the meeting (including electronic proceedings) and of the soliton re-creation (including a video) can be found on WWW at http://www.ma.hw.ac.uk/solitons/.
Source: Chris Eilbeck (chris@ma.hw.ac.uk)
The application of a variety of acoustic waves at the mouth (the "Forced Oscillation Technique") enables the mechanical impedance, Zrs, to be computed in the time and frequency domains. This can be useful in characterising asthma and chronic bronchitis: as the measurements are easy to make, they are very valuable in paediatrics or adult clinical cases where normal lung function measurements (eg: spirometry) can be impossible or unreliable. The impedance Zrs can be modelled in terms of network behaviour and becomes quite non-linear during breathing or in respiratory diseased states.
Currently the group has 27 members in 7 countries and is quite active.
Source: Dr D.MacLeod
(D.Macleod@soton.ac.uk)
Reseach Fellow, Southampton General Hospital
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