Reply to Nathan: How to reconstruct the causal argument

Nicholas Nathan tries to resist the current version of the causal argument for sense-data in two ways. First he suggests that, on what he considers to be the correct re-construction of the argument, it equivocates on the sense of proximate cause. Second he defends a form of disjunctivism, by claiming that there might be an extra mechanism involved in producing veridical hallucination, that is not present in perception. I argue that Nathan’s reconstruction of the argument is not the appropriate one, and that, properly interpreted, the argument does not equivocate on proximate cause. Furthermore, I claim that his postulation of a modified mechanism for hallucinations is implausibly ad hoc.     

Methods for implementing the stream boundary condition in DSMC computations

In the direct simulation Monte‐Carlo (DSMC) method for simulating rarefied gas flows, the velocities of simulator particles that cross a simulation boundary and enter the simulation space are typically generated using the acceptance–rejection procedure that samples the velocities from a truncated theoretical velocity distribution that excludes low and high velocities. This paper analyses an alternative technique, where the velocities of entering particles are obtained by extending the simulation procedures to a region adjacent to the simulation space, and considering the movement of particles generated within that region during the simulation time step. The alternative method may be considered as a form of acceptance–rejection procedure, and permits the generation of all possible velocities, although the population of high velocities is depleted with respect to the theoretical distribution. Nevertheless, this is an improvement over the standard acceptance–rejection method. Previous implementations of the alternative method gave a number flux lower than the theoretical number required. Two methods for obtaining the correct number flux are presented. For upstream boundaries in high‐speed flows, the alternative method is more computationally efficient than the acceptance–rejection method. However, for downstream boundaries, the alternative method is extremely inefficient. The alternative method, with the correct theoretical number flux, should therefore be used in DSMC computations in favour of the acceptance–rejection method for upstream boundaries in high‐speed flows. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulations of a filament in a flowing soap film

Experiments concerning the properties of soap films have recently been carried out and these systems have been proposed as experimental versions of theoretical two‐dimensional liquids. A silk filament introduced into a flowing soap film, was seen to demonstrate various stable modes, and these were, namely, a mode in which the filament oscillates and one in which the filament is stationary and aligns with the flow of the liquid. The system could be forced from the oscillatory mode into the non‐ oscillatory mode by varying the length of the filament. In this article we use numerical and computational techniques in order to simulate the strongly coupled behaviour of the filament and the fluid. Preliminary results are presented for the specific case in which the filament is seen to oscillate continuously for the duration of our simulation. We also find that the filament oscillations are strongly suppressed when we reduce the effective length of the filament. We believe that these results are reminiscent of the different oscillatory and non‐oscillatory modes observed in experiment. The numerical solutions show that, in contrast to experiment, vortices are created at the leading edge of the filament and are preferentially grown in the curvature of the filament and are eventually released from the trailing edge of the filament. In a similar manner to oscillating hydrofoils, it seems that the oscillating filaments are in a minimal energy state, extracting sufficient energy from the fluid to oscillate. In comparing numerical and experimental results it is possible that the soap film does have an effect on the fluid flow especially in the boundary layer where surface tension forces are large. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of two‐equation turbulence modelling for high Reynolds number hydrofoil flows

This paper presents an evaluation of the capability of turbulence models available in the commercial CFD code FLUENT 6.0 for their application to hydrofoil turbulent boundary layer separation flow at high Reynolds numbers. Four widely applied two‐equation RANS turbulence models were assessed through comparison with experimental data at Reynolds numbers of 8.284×106 and 1.657×107. They were the standard k–εmodel, the realizable k–εmodel, the standard k–ωmodel and the shear‐stress‐transport (SST) k–ωmodel. It has found that the realizable k–εturbulence model used with enhanced wall functions and near‐wall modelling techniques, consistently provides superior performance in predicting the flow characteristics around the hydrofoil. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photoinitiators with functional groups. VII. Covalently bonded camphorquinone—amines

Camphorquinone (CQ), a widely used photoinitiator (PI) in dental applications, was covalently bonded to aromatic amines to enhance the rate of electron and proton transfer effect due to the close vicinity of the diketone and the amine group. 10‐bromocamphorquinone and 10‐bromomethylcamphorquinone were selected as suitable precursors for esterification with the carboxyl group containing aromatic amines based on 4‐dimethylaminobenzoic acid. Properties of the new photoinitiating systems were investigated by UV spectroscopy and differential scanning photocalorimetry in lauryl acrylate. Compared to physical mixtures, in all cases similar or even better performance was obtained. Surprisingly, 10‐acetyl derivatives 7 – 9 and 18 especially, were found to be highly reactive. Compared to CQ/ethyl 4‐dimethylaminobenzoate, the rate of photopolymerization was increased by a factor of up to 2. Intramolecular reaction was confirmed by photo‐differential scanning calorimetry experiments with varying PI concentrations. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 4948–4963, 2004