A new type of electrohydrodynamic instability in nematic liquid crystals with positive dielectric anisotropy

A new type of electrohydrodynamic instability originally reported in nematic liquid crystal mixtures with positive dielectric anisotropy and as moderately thick samples is further studied. The ability of homogeneously aligned nematics with positive dielectric anisotropy, in the presence of a magnetic field, to exhibit Williams domains as a threshold effect is numerically investigated. The variation of the threshold voltage for domain formation and dielectric alignment with dielectric anisotropy is calculated theoretically and compared with the experimental results as moderately thick and thin samples.     

Practicing Reform‐Based Science Curriculum in an Urban Classroom: A Hispanic Elementary School Teacher's Thinking and Decisions

This study explores the thinking and decisions of Vera (pseudonym), a Hispanic elementary teacher, while she enacted a reform‐based science curriculum in an urban school in the southern United States. Vera's thinking, decisions, experiences, and practices were documented over a 2‐year period. Using the data collected from semistructured interviews, participant observations and classroom documents, a rich and complex case study of Vera is developed in this paper. This case study describes how Vera makes curricular choices from reform‐based science curricula such as the LiFE curriculum; how she enacts those choices to empower poor urban minority students; how Vera believes that preparing students for the high‐stakes test is empowering because it ensures continued schooling for students; how, for Vera, teaching connected science using students' lived experiences is a risky act; and how she uses negotiation in her science teaching.     

Bianchi Type-IX viscous fluid cosmological model in general relativity

Bianchi Type-IX viscous fluid cosmological model is investigated. To get a deterministic model, we have assumed the conditiona = b ^m(m is a constant) between metric potentials andη ∞θ whereη is the coefficient of shear viscosity andθ the scalar of expansion in the model. The coefficient of bulk viscosity (ς) is taken as constant. The physical and geometrical aspects of the model are also discussed.     

Acousto-optic modulation in magnetised diffusive semiconductors

The modulation of an intense electromagnetic beam induced by the acousto-optic (AO) effect has been analysed in a transversely magnetised semiconductor-plasma medium. The effect of carrier diffusion on the threshold field and gain profile of the modulated wave has been extremely investigated using coupled mode theory. The origin of the AO interaction is assumed to lie in the induced nonlinear diffusion current density of the medium. By considering the modulation process as a four wave parametric interaction an expression for effective third-order AO susceptibility describing the phenomena has been deduced. The modulation is greatly modified by propagation characteristics such as dispersion and diffraction due to dielectric relaxation of the acoustic mode. The threshold pump field and the steady state growth rates are estimated from the effective third-order polarisation in the plasma medium. Analytical estimation reveals that in the presence of enhanced diffusion due to excess charge carriers the modulated beam can be effectively amplified in a dispersionless acoustic wave regime. The presence of an external dc magnetic field is found to be favourable for the onset of diffusion induced modulational amplification of the modulated wave in heavily doped regime. Received 5 November 2001     

Conformally flat tilted Bianchi Type-V cosmological models in general relativity

We have investigated two conformally flat tilted Bianchi Type-V cosmological models in general relativity. To get a determinate solution, we have assumed a supplementary conditionA =B ⁿ between metric potentials wheren is a constant. The behaviour of the model forn = 2 is discussed in detail. Various physical and geometrical aspects of the models are also discussed.