bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A positivity-preserving adaptive-order finite-difference scheme for GRMHD
Authors: Deppe Nils , Kidder Lawrence E , Teukolsky Saul A , Bonilla Marceline S , Hébert François , Kim Yoonsoo , Scheel Mark A , Throwe William , Vu Nils L
Published: November 2023

We present an adaptive-order positivity-preserving conservative finite-difference scheme that allows a high-order solution away from shocks and discontinuities while guaranteeing positivity and robustness at discontinuities. This is achieved by monitoring the relative power in the highest mode of the reconstructed polynomial and reducing the order when the polynomial series no longer converges. Our approach is similar to the multidimensional optimal order detection strategy, but differs in several ways. The approach is a priori and so does not require retaking a time step. It can also readily be combined with positivity-preserving flux limiters that have gained significant traction in computational astrophysics and numerical relativity. This combination ultimately guarantees a physical solution both during reconstruction and time stepping. We demonstrate the capabilities of the method using a standard suite of very challenging 1d, 2d, and 3d general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics test problems.
QoQ: a Q-transform based test for gravitational wave transient events
Authors: Soni Siddharth , Marx Ethan , Katsavounidis Erik , Essick Reed , Cabourn Davies G S , Brockill Patrick , Coughlin Michael W , Ghosh Shaon , Godwin Patrick
Published: November 2023

The observation of transient gravitational waves (GWs) is hindered by the presence of transient noise, colloquially referred to as glitches. These glitches can often be misidentified as GWs by searches for unmodeled transients using the excess-power type of methods and sometimes even excite template waveforms for compact binary coalescences while using matched filter techniques. They thus create a significant background in the searches. This background is more critical in getting identified promptly and efficiently within the context of real-time searches for GW transients. Such searches are the ones that have enabled multi-messenger astrophysics with the start of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo data taking in 2015 and they will continue to enable the field for further discoveries. With this work we propose and demonstrate the use of a signal-based test that quantifies the fidelity of the time-frequency decomposition of the putative signal based on first principles on how astrophysical transients are expected to be registered in the detectors and empirically measuring the instrumental noise. It is based on the Q-transform and a measure of the occupancy of the corresponding time-frequency pixels over select time-frequency volumes; we call it ‘QoQ’. Our method shows a 40% reduction in the number of retraction of public alerts that were issued by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaborations during the third observing run with negligible loss in sensitivity. Receiver Operator Characteristic measurements suggest the method can be used in online and offline searches for transients, reducing their background significantly.
Linearly convergent adjoint free solution of least squares problems by random descent
Authors: Lorenz Dirk A , Schneppe Felix , Tondji Lionel
Published: November 2023

We consider the problem of solving linear least squares problems in a framework where only evaluations of the linear map are possible. We derive randomized methods that do not need any other matrix operations than forward evaluations, especially no evaluation of the adjoint map is needed. Our method is motivated by the simple observation that one can get an unbiased estimate of the application of the adjoint. We show convergence of the method and then derive a more efficient method that uses an exact linesearch. This method, called random descent, resembles known methods in other context and has the randomized coordinate descent method as special case. We provide convergence analysis of the random descent method emphasizing the dependence on the underlying distribution of the random vectors. Furthermore we investigate the applicability of the method in the context of ill-posed inverse problems and show that the method can have beneficial properties when the unknown solution is rough. We illustrate the theoretical findings in numerical examples. One particular result is that the random descent method actually outperforms established transposed-free methods (TFQMR and CGS) in examples.
A high-quality broadband tunable terahertz metamaterial absorber based on graphene
Authors: Chao Xiongying , Xu Yan , Huang Feng , Chen Zhaoyang
Published: November 2023

We design a graphene-based broadband tunable terahertz metamaterial absorber (MMA). Its structure consists of a surface graphene pattern layer, a medium layer and an underlying metal film. CST simulation results show that the absorption bandwidth for more than 90% absorption rate reaches 2.12 THz, and the range is 3.2–5.32 THz. The absorption bandwidth for more than 99% absorption rate reaches 1.38 THz, and the range is 3.45–4.83 THz, which was not achieved by most of the previous MMA. Multiple reflection interference theory is used to confirm the simulation results. In order to explore the physical mechanism of wideband absorption, we study the surface electric field distribution of the structure. We also find that the absorber has polarization insensitivity and wide-angle incidence characteristics. The absorption frequency of the absorber can be adjusted by changing the chemical potential of graphene. Therefore, the absorber has potential applications in terahertz absorption, filtering and sensing.
Parameterizing smooth viscous fluid dynamics with a viscous blast wave
Authors: Yang Zhidong , Fries Rainer J
Published: November 2023

Blast wave fits are widely used in high energy nuclear collisions to capture essential features of global properties of systems near kinetic equilibrium. They usually provide temperature fields and collective velocity fields on a given hypersurface. We systematically compare blast wave fits of fluid dynamic simulations for Au+Au collisions at

s

NN

=
200

GeV

and Pb+Pb collisions at

s

NN

=
2.76

TeV with the original simulations. In particular, we investigate how faithful the viscous blast wave introduced in Yang and Fries (2022 Phys. Rev. C 105 014910) can reproduce the given temperature and specific shear viscosity fixed at freeze-out of a viscous fluid dynamic calculation, if the final spectrum and elliptic flow of several particle species are fitted. We find that viscous blast wave fits describe fluid dynamic pseudodata rather well and reproduce the specific shear viscosities to good accuracy. However, extracted temperatures tend to be underpredicted, especially for peripheral collisions. We investigate possible reasons for these deviations. We establish maps from true to fitted values. These maps can be used to improve raw fit results from viscous blast wave fits. Although our work is limited to two specific, albeit important, parameters and two collision systems, the same procedure can be easily generalized to other parameters and collision systems.
Synthesis of superconducting phase of La0.5Ce0.5H10 at high pressures
Authors: Huang Ge , Peng Di , Luo Tao , Chen Liu-Cheng , Dalladay-Simpson Philip , Cao Zi-Yu , Gorelli Federico A , Zhong Guo-Hua , Lin Hai-Qing , Chen Xiao-Jia
Published: November 2023

Clathrate hydride

F
m

3
ˉ

m

-LaH10 has been proven as the most extraordinary superconductor with the critical temperature Tc
above 250 K upon compression of hundreds of GPa in recent years. A general hope is to reduce the stabilization pressure and maintain the high Tc
value of the specific phase in LaH10. However, strong structural instability distorts

F
m

3
ˉ

m

structure and leads to a rapid decrease of Tc
at low pressures. Here, we investigate the phase stability and superconducting behaviors of

F
m

3
ˉ

m

-LaH10 with enhanced chemical pre-compression through partly replacing La by Ce atoms from both experiments and calculations. For explicitly characterizing the synthesized hydride, we choose lanthanum-cerium alloy with stoichiometry composition of 1:1. X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering measurements reveal the stabilization of

F
m

3
ˉ

m

-La0.5Ce0.5H10 in the pressure range of 140–160 GPa. Superconductivity with Tc
of 175 ± 2 K at 155 GPa is confirmed with the observation of the zero-resistivity state and supported by the theoretical calculations. These findings provide applicability in the future explorations for a large variety of hydrogen-rich hydrides.
Boltzmann machines and quantum many-body problems
Authors: Nomura Yusuke
Published: November 2023

Analyzing quantum many-body problems and elucidating the entangled structure of quantum states is a significant challenge common to a wide range of fields. Recently, a novel approach using machine learning was introduced to address this challenge. The idea is to ‘embed’ nontrivial quantum correlations (quantum entanglement) into artificial neural networks. Through intensive developments, artificial neural network methods are becoming new powerful tools for analyzing quantum many-body problems. Among various artificial neural networks, this topical review focuses on Boltzmann machines and provides an overview of recent developments and applications.
Phase diagram of three dimensional disordered nodal-line semimetals: weak localization to Anderson localization
Authors: Jia K X , Liu X Y , Ma R , Geng H , Sheng L , Xing D Y
Published: November 2023

Nodal-line semimetals are new members of the topological materials family whose experimental characterization has seen recent progress using both ARPES and quantum oscillation measurements. Here, we theoretically study the presence of a disorder-induced phase transition in a cubic lattice nodal-line semimetal using numerical diagonalization and spectral calculations. In contrast to the 3D nodal-point semimetals, we found that nodal-line semimetals do not display a stable disordered semimetal phase, as an infinitely weak disorder can lead to a diffusive metal phase. The absence of a semimetal phase is also reflected in the quadratic relationship of the electronic specific heat at low temperatures. Furthermore, we illustrate that a localization transition occurs under the influence of strong disorder, shifting the material from a weakly localized diffusive metal state to an Anderson insulator. This transition is substantiated by calculating the adjacent gap ratio and the typical density of states.
Inferring nonlinear fractional diffusion processes from single trajectories
Authors: Kassel Johannes A , Walter Benjamin , Kantz Holger
Published: November 2023

We present a method to infer the arbitrary space-dependent drift and diffusion of a nonlinear stochastic model driven by multiplicative fractional Gaussian noise from a single trajectory. Our method, fractional Onsager-Machlup optimisation (fOMo), introduces a maximum likelihood estimator by minimising a field-theoretic action which we construct from the observed time series. We successfully test fOMo for a wide range of Hurst exponents using artificial data with strong nonlinearities, and apply it to a data set of daily mean temperatures. We further highlight the significant systematic estimation errors when ignoring non-Markovianity, underlining the need for nonlinear fractional inference methods when studying real-world long-range (anti-)correlated systems.
Anisotropic inflation in dipolar Bose–Einstein condensates
Authors: Rana A , Pendse A , Wüster S , Panda S
Published: November 2023

Early during the era of cosmic inflation, rotational invariance may have been broken, only later emerging as a feature of low-energy physics. This motivates ongoing searches for residual signatures of anisotropic space-time, for example in the power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background. We propose that dipolar Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) furnish a laboratory quantum simulation platform for the anisotropy evolution of fluctuation spectra during inflation, exploiting the fact that the speed of dipolar condensate sound waves depends on direction. We construct the anisotropic analogue space-time metric governing sound, by linking the time-varying strength of dipolar and contact interactions in the BEC to the scale factors in different coordinate directions. Based on these, we calculate the dynamics of phonon power spectra during an inflation that renders the initially anisotropic Universe isotropic. We find that the expansion speed provides an experimental handle to control and study the degree of final residual anisotropy. Gravity analogues using dipolar condensates can thus provide tuneable experiments for a field of cosmology that was until now confined to a single experiment, our Universe.
Nonlinear Wave Front Reconstruction from a Pyramid Sensor using Neural Networks
Authors: Wong Alison P. , Norris Barnaby R. M. , Deo Vincent , Tuthill Peter G. , Scalzo Richard , Sweeney David , Ahn Kyohoon , Lozi Julien , Vievard Sébastien , Guyon Olivier
Published: November 2023

The pyramid wave front sensor (PyWFS) has become increasingly popular to use in adaptive optics (AO) systems due to its high sensitivity. The main drawback of the PyWFS is that it is inherently nonlinear, which means that classic linear wave front reconstruction techniques face a significant reduction in performance at high wave front errors, particularly when the pyramid is unmodulated. In this paper, we consider the potential use of neural networks (NNs) to replace the widely used matrix vector multiplication (MVM) control. We aim to test the hypothesis that the NN's ability to model nonlinearities will give it a distinct advantage over MVM control. We compare the performance of a MVM linear reconstructor against a dense NN, using daytime data acquired on the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics system (SCExAO) instrument. In a first set of experiments, we produce wavefronts generated from 14 Zernike modes and the PyWFS responses at different modulation radii (25, 50, 75, and 100 mas). We find that the NN allows for a far more precise wave front reconstruction at all modulations, with differences in performance increasing in the regime where the PyWFS nonlinearity becomes significant. In a second set of experiments, we generate a data set of atmosphere-like wavefronts, and confirm that the NN outperforms the linear reconstructor. The SCExAO real-time computer software is used as baseline for the latter. These results suggest that NNs are well positioned to improve upon linear reconstructors and stand to bring about a leap forward in AO performance in the near future.
Density wavenumber spectrum measurements, synthetic diagnostic development, and tests of quasilinear turbulence modeling in the core of electron-heated DIII-D H-mode plasmas
Authors: Pratt Q. , Hall-Chen V. , Neiser T.F. , Hong R. , Damba J. , Rhodes T.L. , Thome K.E. , Yang J. , Haskey S.R. , Cote T. , Carter T.
Published: November 2023

Measurements of the turbulent density wavenumber spectrum,

δ

n
ˆ

e

(

k
⊥

)

, using the Doppler Back-Scattering (DBS) diagnostic are reported from DIII-D H-mode plasmas with electron cyclotron heating as the only auxiliary heating method. These electron-heated plasmas have low collisionality,

ν
e
∗

<
1

,

T
e

/

T
i

>
1

, and zero injected torque—a regime expected to be relevant for future fusion devices. We probe density fluctuations in the core (ρ ≈ 0.7) over a broad wavenumber range,

0.5
⩽

k
⊥

⩽
16

cm−1 (

0.1
⩽

k
⊥

ρ
s

⩽
5

), to characterize plasma instabilities and compare with theoretical predictions. We present a novel synthetic DBS diagnostic to relate the back-scattered power spectrum,

P
s

(

k
⊥

)

—which is directly measured by DBS—to the underlying electron density fluctuation spectrum,

δ

n
ˆ

e

(

k
⊥

)

. The synthetic DBS

P
s

(

k
⊥

)

spectrum is calculated by combining the SCOTTY beam-tracing code with a model

δ

n
ˆ

e

(

k
⊥

)

predicted either analytically or numerically. In this work we use the quasi-linear code Trapped Gyro-Landau Fluid (TGLF) to approximate the

δ

n
ˆ

e

(

k
⊥

)

spectrum. We find that TGLF, using the experimental profiles, is capable of closely reproducing the DBS measurements. Both the DBS measurements and the TGLF-DBS synthetic diagnostic show a wavenumber spectrum with variable decay. The measurements show weak decay (k
−0.6) for k < 3.5 cm−1, with k
−2.6 at intermediate-k (

3.5
⩽
k
⩽
8.5

cm−1), and rapid decay (k
−9.4) for k > 8.5 cm−1. Scans of physics parameters using TGLF suggest that the normalized

∇

T
e

scale-length,

R

/

L

T
e

, is an important factor for distinguishing microturbulence regimes in these plasmas. A combination of DBS observations and TGLF simulations indicate that fluctuations remain peaked at ITG-scales (low k) while

R

/

L

T
e

-driven TEM/ETG-type modes (intermediate/high k) are marginally sub-dominant.
Research and design for improved packaging of food during daily use outside refrigerated environment
Authors: Waelkens Natalie , Robaeyst Ben , Baccarne Bastiaan , Saldien Jelle
Published: November 2023

Food waste has a huge impact on economic losses and climate. One of the leading problems is due to lack of effective refrigeration. Transitioning to alternative cooling technologies, such as passive cooling, can offer a potentially more sustainable solution. Therefore, the research investigates how food can be kept cold without relying on a refrigerator or electrical components utilizing the combination of insulation materials and cooling fluid. Using design thinking as a methodology, first of all a user survey was conducted during the study to understand user behavior regarding the storage of chilled food and to define the target audience. Subsequently, an exploratory study was performed to determine the optimal placement of cooling elements to a cooling box for extended cooling. Further, material research was conducted for the inner and outer layer of the cooling container, considering temperature resistance and insulation effects. In parallel with this, an examination was carried out to identify a cooling fluid with efficient cooling capacity and low environmental impact. After implementing this method, it was discovered that the most efficient approach involved placing an ice cooling element at the bottom and around the side walls of a cooling container. Further, the material PLA was demonstrated as suitable to use for cold environments. In consideration of previous research and the application of cooling media in commercial settings, salt solutions were capable of storing food below 4.4 °C. Consequently, the decision was made to proceed with a 20% NaCl solution mixed with water. Ultimately, a final cooling element was designed that fits into the standard IKEA +365 containers measuring 15 x 15 x 7 cm. The cooling capacity of this product was tested and maintained a temperature below 4.4°C for an average of 1.17 hours. This study contributes to existing literature by providing more insights in how passive refrigeration can be aligned with the needs of end-users in order to design both practical and user-fit solutions. However, further research is required regarding the practical implications; to improve insulation, address condensation issues and evaluate compatibility with dishwashers.
Deep learning in optics—a tutorial
Authors: Hadad Barak , Froim Sahar , Yosef Erez , Giryes Raja , Bahabad Alon
Published: November 2023

In recent years, machine learning and deep neural networks applications have experienced a remarkable surge in the field of physics, with optics being no exception. This tutorial aims to offer a fundamental introduction to the utilization of deep learning in optics, catering specifically to newcomers. Within this tutorial, we cover essential concepts, survey the field, and provide guidelines for the creation and deployment of artificial neural network architectures tailored to optical problems.
An experimental method for choosing the tool pin profile and shoulder size to join dissimilar aluminum alloys AA7075-T651 and AA6061-T6 joints
Authors: Yuvaraj K P , Shobana A , Kaushik Nitish , Botto Addisu Boshe , Jha Sanjay Kumar
Published: November 2023

Many military and light weight aircraft designs call for joints between two different grades of aluminium alloy. This present study looked at the effect of tool shoulder diameter and tool pin profile on the tensile strength properties of dissimilar aluminium alloy AA6061-T6 and AA7075-T651 joints created by friction stir welding. The joints were fabricated utilizing three distinct tool shoulder diameters 15 mm, 20 mm and 25 mm along with two distinct tool pin profiles namely taper and square. The microstructure and microhardness of weld stir zone (WSZ) were examined and linked with the strength parameters of the joints. Adequate frictional heat generation from 20 mm shoulder diameter and pulsating stirring action of square pin revealed the formation of very fine grains in the weld nugget zone (WNZ). Due to enhanced material flow and the production of a defect-free stir zone, the joint created using a tool with a 20 mm shoulder diameter and square pin profile had the maximum hardness of 117 HV and the highest tensile strength of 284 MPa. The ductile mechanism of fracture is revealed by the presence of fine dimples accumulating in the tensile fractured surface of the joint fabricated by 20 mm tool shoulder diameter and square pin.
Characterization and optimization of abrasive water jet machining parameters of aluminium/silicon carbide composites
Authors: Gowthama K , Somasheker H M , Suresha B , Singh P Bhagat , Rajini N , Mohammad Faruq , Al-Lohedan Hamad A , Soleiman Ahmed A
Published: November 2023

Due to the complexity of high temperature and cutting tool wear, most machined components are still facing problems in terms of harder functional fillers that reinforce aluminium matrix composites. Conversely, abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) incredibly useful for the cutting of anisotropic and non-homogeneous metal matrix composites. In this research article, silicon carbide (SiC) particulates were utilized as reinforcement in the AA6026 matrix material (AA6026/SiC) and machined using AWJM under different process parameters namely SiC loading, traverse speed and stand-off distance. Two different compositions of SiC (4, and 8 wt%) were considered to fabricate AA6026 composites using the stir casting. In addition, outputs have been examined, e.g., surface roughness, material removal rate, and kerf angle. An optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, Brinell hardness tester and universal testing machine have been used to characterize the matrix material AA6026 and its composites. Microstructural analysis revealed that the inclusion of SiC particulates in AA6026 affects the very fine grain size of the composite. Furthermore, the 8 wt% composite exhibits the evolution of the Al-Si eutectic phase during solidification. Processing of these composites was performed using the L27 orthogonal geometry, successfully improving the parameters of the abrasive water jet process. The output response shows that reducing the SiC load improves the surface roughness under the key parameters of traverse speed and stand-off distance. However, increasing the SiC loading increases the material removal rate and kerf angle under the key parameters, namely traverse speed, and stand-off distance.
Paying a Heavy Price: Costs of Care for People With Severe Obesity in Nursing Homes
Authors: Fernandez Luisa , Shieu Bianca , Trinkoff Alison , Castle Nicholas , Wolf David G , Handler Steven , Harris John A
Published: November 2023

Background and Objectives

The prevalence of resident obesity in nursing homes has increased dramatically from 22% to 28% between 2005 and 2015. To provide care for people with obesity, nursing homes have changed their admissions, staffing, and equipment, but underlying these changes are increased resources and financial costs of care. The purpose of this study is to describe nursing home organizational aspects of caring for older adults with obesity, with a focus on economic factors, from the perspective of nursing home staff and leadership.

Research Design and Methods

This qualitative study used descriptive approaches; data were collected through semistructured telephone interviews. Of 77 nursing home staff and leaders identified as potential study participants, 6 were ineligible, and 71 participated in the study through interviews conducted from 2019 to 2022.

Results

A total of 4 primary themes described the issues surrounding the cost of care for obesity in nursing homes: inefficient and risky use of staff time in a setting of persistent staff shortage, expensive and unique equipment needs, inadequate general reimbursement with an absence of obesity-specific reimbursement supplements, and competing short- and long-term management solutions.

Discussion and Implications

This qualitative study of nursing home staff and leadership underscores a need for improved approaches to funding obesity care within existing nursing payment models. The increasing prevalence of obesity and the burden of the costs of obesity care for nursing homes will escalate this need over the coming decade.
Effie Deans’s phantom pregnancy
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

The wonderful plot of The Heart of Midlothian–– Jeanie Deans’s refusing to perjure herself in court to save her sister’s life, and her tramp down to London to beg mercy from the queen –– originate in the misfortune of Effie’s pregnancy. Yet that misfortune, closely examined, is an extremely problematic thing. Certain improbabilities in it force us to assume either, (1) that Scott found himself trapped in a narrative difficulty which he could not easily write himself out of, or (2) that there is more to the episode than meets the casual reader’s eye.
Mysteries of the Dickensian year
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Novelists like George Eliot, Thackeray, and Trollope make it easy for the pedantic reader to work out a monthly calendar of events in their major fictions. In Middlemarch, for example, we can set down the following chronology for the novel’s main events:

Vanity Fair, although it covers a much longer tract of history (1813–32) than Middlemarch (1828–32), is meticulous about calendar time-markings, particularly in its early, tight-knit sections covering the period from summer 1813 to summer 1815. Thackeray’s narrative opens with ostentatious chronological exactitude: ‘While the present century was in its teens, and on one sunshiny morning in June . . .’ In the next hundred pages we learn that Rebecca is to stay ten days with the Sedleys, that the year coyly given as the ‘teens’ of the century must be 1813, and the ‘sunshiny morning in June’ is the fifteenth of that month.
Is Heathcliff a murderer?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

When he returns to Wuthering Heights after his mysterious three-year period of exile Heathcliff has become someone very cruel. He left an uncouth but essentially humane stable-lad. He returns a gentleman psychopath. His subsequent brutalities are graphically recorded. They are many and very unpleasant. He humiliates Edgar Linton who has married Cathy during his absence. ‘I wish you joy of the milk-blooded coward’ (p. 115), he tells Cathy in her husband’s presence. The taunt is the more brutal since Edgar is clearly the weaker man and in no position to exact physical reparation. Heathcliff goes on to torment Edgar by hinting that he has cuckolded him.
What kind of murderer is John Barton?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

As Edgar Wright points out, Mrs Gaskell ‘originally meant her novel to be called “John Barton”. She mentions to two or three correspondents that she had envisaged the novel as a tragic poem with John Barton as the hero’ (p. xv). This ur-narrative would have concentrated in detail on the working-class hero’s suffering, his alienation and seduction by the ‘vile’ doctrines of Chartism and Communism, his lapse into homicidal crime, and his redemption. Unfortunately, as many modern critics feel, Gaskell succumbed to the preferences of her readers and publishers by recasting her plot as Mary Barton, the story of a virtuous working-class girl who resists the blandishments of a rich seducer and heroically saves her true love from the gallows. John Barton’s melancholy story is relegated to the status of sub-plot.
R. H. Hutton’s spoiling hand
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

The original text of The Portrait of a Lady has what is arguably the most delicately understated ending in all Victorian fiction. Isabel has at last come to a true appreciation of her husband, Osmond, and sees a straight path in front of her. In full consciousness of his moral worthlessness, and the worthiness of her loyal suitor, Caspar Goodwood, she has made a decision. The reader is not directly informed what that decision is. Osmond is meanwhile in Italy, and Isabel has been staying in London with her friend, Henrietta:

Two days afterwards Caspar Goodwood knocked at the door of the house in Wimpole Street in which Henrietta Stackpole occupied furnished lodgings. He had hardly removed his hand from the knocker when the door was opened and Miss Stackpole herself stood before him. She had on her hat and jacket; she was on the point of going out. ‘Oh, good morning,’ he said, ‘I was in hopes I should find Mrs Osmond.’

Henrietta kept him waiting a moment for her reply; but there was a good deal of expression about Miss Stackpole even when she was silent. ‘Pray what led you to suppose she was here?’
What does Edward Hyde look like?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Say ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, and the person you are speaking to will see in the mind’s eye Spencer Tracy’s amiably pudgy features dissolving into the monstrous physiognomy of Edward Hyde. The transformation is one of the high-points of early Hollywood special effects and close-up camera artistry. The World’s Classics volume pays tribute to the 1941 film by carrying on its cover a still photograph of Tracy in his Hyde make-up. Thanks to the film, when they think of Jekyll and Hyde modern readers see a face very vividly and in great detail. One of the puzzles in Stevenson’s source text, however, is that where Hyde’s face ought to be in the narrative there is a blank –– rather like the facial features technologically fuzzed out in television documentaries and newscasts ‘to protect the innocent’. What precisely was Stevenson’s motive for doing this?

The numerous descriptions of Edward Hyde in the narrative agree on a number of points: (1) he is physically small; (2) he is a ‘gentleman’; (3) he is young; (4) he is, in some unspecified way, ‘deformed’.
Slop Slip
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

‘Has anyone noticed that Sterne seems to have overreached himself and slipped in Volume Two, Chapter 8 of Tristram Shandy?’ Barbara Hardy asks, in Notes and Queries. Her query, and the explanatory note she offers, lead into a beguiling Shandean brain-twister. The ‘slip’ (which is chronological) is the more remarkable in that Sterne is a writer obsessively concerned with time in his novel. But is it, in fact, a slip?

The passage in question is found on page 83 of the World’s Classics edition. At last the hero, Tristram, is about to be born. It has been a long wait for would-be readers of his life and opinions. A commotion has been heard upstairs, where a very pregnant Mrs Shandy is confined with women attendants. Downstairs, Uncle Toby and Mr Shandy anxiously wait on natal events. On hearing the tell-tale noises and bustle above their heads, Uncle Toby has summoned the servant Obadiah by ringing the bell. It is not clear exactly when he performed this act –– there have been so many Shandean digressions. But, at some point previously, Obadiah has been sent off post-haste to fetch the man midwife, Dr Slop.
Who gets what in Heathcliff’s will?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Heathcliff’s death is among the most unusual in Victorian fiction. A man in rude health, 38 years old, dies of inanition. He does not eat or drink for four days (a short period, incidentally for someone in Heathcliff’s physical condition to starve to death). Every time he makes to eat or drink, he is interrupted –– as we deduce –– by a distracting vision of his lost love Catherine. ‘I’m animated with hunger; and, seemingly, I must not eat’ (p. 328), he observes. Nelly makes him coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner. But something always comes between him and sustenance. ‘I vainly reminded him of his protracted abstinence from food’, the housekeeper says in her stilted fashion: ‘if he stirred to touch anything in compliance with my entreaties, if he stretched out his hand to get a piece of bread, his fingers clenched, before they reached it, and remained on the table, forgetful of their aim’ (p. 331). It is a version of the Tantalus torture. ‘By God! she’s relentless’, Nelly overhears Heathcliff say. And, eventually, the relentless Cathy (‘she’) succeeds in killing him.
Will she ever come back?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Shirley opens with a robustly drawn ‘then and now’ framework. ‘Of late years,’ the unidentified narrator tells us, ‘an abundant shower of curates has fallen upon the north of England . . . but in eighteen-hundredeleven-twelve that affluent rain had not descended.’ Shirley’s ‘then’ is self-evidently 1811–12. Its ‘now’ (as Brontë’s subsequent reference to the Oxford Movement makes clear) is the period of writing and first publication of the novel, 1848–9. The location of the novel is as precisely staked out –– the West Riding of Yorkshire, a setting from which the narrative will not stray by so much as a yard into any neighbouring county.
The Barchester Towers that never was
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Readers attentive to the calendar will be arrested by the opening words of chapter 9 of Barchester Towers: ‘It is now three months since Dr Proudie began his reign.’ The time reference is perplexing. Trollope’s novel began vividly with old Bishop Grantly dying ‘in the latter days of July in the year 185–’. There follows the magnificent episode of the bishop’s son, Archdeacon Grantly, torn between filial grief and ecclesiastical ambition, dispatching a telegram to Downing Street in the hope that it will arrive before the government falls. He is too late (if only his father had died earlier, he thinks –– then hates himself for thinking such a thing). A new administration, Palmerston’s as we infer, comes in and the Archdeacon’s hopes of slipping into his father’s caligulae are dashed forever. The obnoxiously reforming Dr Proudie is elected Bishop of Barchester. The story of his and his domineering wife’s administration will be covered over the massive length of the subsequent Barchester Chronicles (1855–67).
Lemon or ladle?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Readers of my generation often bemoan the passing of the ‘old’ World’s Classics. They can still be found (although they are becoming increasingly expensive) in second-hand bookshops. Pocket-book sized, with hard covers (stamped prominently with the Oxford University crest and motto) they were beautiful things. Launched in 1906, they marked OUP’s entry into the world of general trade publishing. The World’s Classics came into their own in the 1920s and ran to 500 titles by the end of the decade.

If the old World’s Classics had any introductions at all (most didn’t) they were short belletristic effusions by writers such as Virginia Woolf or G. K. Chesterton. Latterly, in the 1960s, the series attempted to rejuvenate itself with bumper-value ‘double volumes’ and pictorial dust jackets by Lynton Lamb which are, in my opinion, the best modern illustrations of the Victorian novel we have.
Who will Angel marry next?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

The bitter ending to Tess of the d’Urbervilles is well known and much quoted. Angel Clare and his pubescent sister-in-law, Liza-Lu (Elizabeth Louise Durbeyfleld), are standing vigil outside Wintoncester Gaol:

Went on to what? The image, as critics have noted, evokes the end of Paradise Lost: ‘They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow | Through Eden took their solitary way.’ Adam and Eve are, of course, man and wife, carnally united. Is this what will happen here? Will Angel ‘go on’ to marry Liza-Lu? Tess, as we learn early in the novel, has six siblings. They are: Liza-Lu (four years younger than Tess), then in descending order Abraham, Hope, Modesty, and two unidentified younger children. At the beginning of the story Liza-Lu was described as twelve-and-a-half, and Abraham is apparently around nine.
What do we know about Frances Price (the first)?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

In a short note in the Jane Austen Society Report for 1982 Deirdre Le Faye points out a problem in the sketched background to Mansfield Park. It relates to the three Ward sisters, each of whom plays a significant, if supporting, role in the novel’s plot. The problem is laid out in Jane Austen’s typically crisp mise en scène in the first two pages of the narrative. ‘About thirty years ago,’ the novel opens, ‘Miss Maria Ward of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton’ (p. 1).

Given its date of publication, 1814, the ‘thirty years ago’ reference would set Maria’s happy catch in the ‘season’ of 1784 or thereabouts. Huntingdon and Northampton are neighbouring counties and the same social set attends the same events. We get a momentary glimpse of the family behind the bride, but no more than a glimpse: ‘All Huntingdon exclaimed on the greatness of the match, and her uncle, the lawyer himself, allowed her to be at least three thousand pounds short of any equitable claim to it.’

The lawyer uncle and the dowry (albeit three thousand short) indicate professional respectability and a middle rather than upper station in life (the younger sons of the nobility go into the church or the army, not the law; noble wives bring with them property, not money).
How old is Frank?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Middle-aged readers will take heart from the fact that Walter Scott did not publish his first novel until the age of 43, with Waverley (1814). Once started, the Wizard of the North made up for lost time, writing eighteen novels in ten years. Churning out three- and four-deckers at his factory rate of production (and he did much else than write novels) meant that Scott was occasionally obliged to be rough and ready in the finer points of construction. His fiction is speckled with piddling errors for his pedantic editor (‘Dr Dryasdust’, as Scott called the genus) to clear up. On his part, Scott did not fret about his slips, seeing them as a small tax to be paid for his speed of composition. Rob Roy (1817) has a lot of narrative errors: the hero crosses over an historically yet-to-be-built bridge to reach the inn at Aberfoil where so many exciting events occur; he attends an historically yet-to-be-built church in Glasgow; and reads yet-to-be-published books. One possible explanation is that the narrator’s memory may not be all it once was. Old men forget, and they embellish what they dimly remember. This explanation would be more convincing, however, if we knew exactly what was going on in Frank’s life as he tells his story, and how old he actually is. In fact, we have only the sketchiest portrait of the narrator in old age (if it is old age). We apprehend that he is telling the adventures of his early youth by letter to his friend Will Tresham, and that all ends happily with his marriage to Die Vernon. But since then, we gather, great
Should we change the end of The Mill on the Floss?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

In Can Jane Eyre Be Happy? I drew attention, as have other commentators, to troubling improbabilities in the tremendous watery climax to Eliot’s novel. Among other things, I pointed to: (1) the meteorological improbability of a flash flood of the torrential nature which Eliot describes in the low-lying, flat countryside around St Ogg’s. As Gordon Haight neatly put it –– if all the twentyfive inches of rain that falls on Lincolnshire in a year were to fall in a single night, it would not produce the biblical deluge Eliot portrays at the end of The Mill on the Floss;

the physical improbability of the large, wooden lump of machinery which rushes down on the flood current to crush Tom and Maggie, ‘overtaking’ their boat. This is against the laws of hydrodynamics. Large wooden objects do not float faster than smaller objects in the same stream. These problems were confronted and solved (after a fashion) by the adaptors of Eliot’s novel for television.
Jules Verne and the English Sunday
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Verne’s most famous story has a wonderful narrative ‘gimmick’. Phileas Fogg lays a bet with his fellow Reform Club members that he can –– using the latest transport systems (as advertised in the Daily Telegraph) –– circumnavigate the globe in ‘eighty days or less; in nineteen hundred and twenty hours, or a hundred and fifteen thousand two hundred minutes’ (p. 20). He will leave England on 2 October, and return on –– or before –– ‘Saturday the 21st of December, 1872’, at a quarter-to-nine. This narrative idea was supposedly inspired by the advertising material of Thomas Cook, catering for the first generation of world ‘tourists’.
What happens to Jim’s family?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

The most discussed anomaly in Huckleberry Finn’s narrative has been satisfactorily explained away by modern critical commentary. In Chapter 8, Huck meets up with his fellow runaway, the slave Jim, on Jackson’s Island. Jim explains why it is he has run away. He overheard Miss Watson, his owner, planning to sell him in New Orleans, for $800, ‘and lit out mighty quick, I tell you’ (p. 41). He has hidden on the island, waiting for a raft to carry him downriver. He intends to go some twenty-five miles downstream, then hide on the Illinois side of the Mississippi. That is, he will go south, not north or east.
Why are there no public conveniences in Casterbridge?
Authors: Casterbridge? Martin Rowson Why are there no public conveniences in
Published: November 2023

The furmity-woman is Michael Henchard’s albatross, or the equivalent of Macbeth’s witches. Whenever she appears on the scene, bad things happen to the Mayor of Casterbridge. It is at the furmity-woman’s marquee that her rum-laced drink drives Henchard to the wild act of selling his wife Susan and his daughter Elizabeth-Jane for five guineas –– precipitating the long series of events which will, twenty-two years later, lead to his final disgrace and wretched extinction.

Henchard first meets this ominous figure at the Weydon-Priors annual fair (located as Weyhill in Hampshire). The date of the encounter is around 1828 (a period of historical significance –– the main part of the narrative pivots around the mid-1840s repeal of the Corn Laws; as the story opens, Wessex is still enjoying its protected prosperity as the granary of England). The fair, as a harvest festival with distant pagan origins, takes place in the hot mid-September (the fifteenth, as we can work out from Henchard’s great oath the next day). Its main attractions are ‘peep-shows, toy-stands, wax-works, inspired monsters, disinterested medical men, who travelled for the public good, thimble-riggers, nick-nack vendors, and readers of Fate’ (p. 8). Liquid refreshments are also on offer.
Unsuitable For Ladies
Authors: Robinson Jane
Published: November 2023

"‘Every page of this book pulses with adventure. It is totally exhilarating to hear the authentic voices of women brave enough to defy convention and tackle the globe.’ Daily Mail Real ladies do not travel, or so it was once said. This collection of intrepid travel dispels that myth, with amusing and thrilling extracts that prove that there are few corners of the world not visited by lady travellers. Isabella Bird, Karen Blixen, Christina Dodwell, Jan Morris, Dervla Murphy, Freya Stark, and Rebecca West are among almost 200 authors in this revealing anthology of women’s travel writing."
The heart
Authors: Peters A M , Myers M J
Published: November 2023

Blood flow through the left coronary artery is uniquein that it is maximal during diastole. This is because of the mechanical effects of ventricular contraction. Increasing abruptly at the onset of diastole, blood flow gradually falls during the remainder of diastole and the direction of flow may actually reverse.
The desire for children
Authors: Brockington Ian
Published: November 2023

The motivation of women towards motherhood is among the strongest and most universal. but it would be wrong to talk of a ‘maternal instinct’. Instincts are in-built behavioural responses which require no learning. Most of the components of maternal behaviour are learned and influenced by social pressures and role expectations.
Managing co-morbid medical conditions in surgical patients
Authors: Siklos Paul , Corlett Mike
Published: November 2023

Surgical intervention is carried out with the intention of either a cure or an improvement in the patient’s quality of life. Any decision to operate must depend on the nature of the presenting condition as well as an assessment of the relative risks and benefits of the operation. This chapter addresses the risks to the ‘surgical’ patient that may accrue from additional or co-morbid ‘medical’ problems.
Principles of management of malignant disease
Authors: Hargest Rachel
Published: November 2023

In Western societies, cancer is an increasingly important cause of death and imposes a substantial burden of morbidity on the community. In the UK, approximately 160 000 cancer deaths are recorded annually and it is estimated that the known prevalence of cancer is approximately 1 per cent of the population. Therefore at any one time, over half a million people in the UK have a history of cancer. The incidence figures show that over 270 000 new cancers are registered annually. These statistics translate into a lifetime risk of 1 in 3 for developing cancer and a 1 in 4 risk of dying from it. However, it is important to note that 70 per cent of all new cases are diagnosed in people over 60 years of age.
Thyroid, parathyroid, and salivary glands
Authors: Banerjee Anjan K , Quick Clive R
Published: November 2023

Head and neck surgery cannot be regarded as a coherent specialty because surgeons from several disciplines treat disorders in this region without many strict guidelines (Table 24.1). Even for a single condition such as a parotid swelling, a patient may come under the care of a general surgeon, an ENT surgeon, or a plastic surgeon, according to local practice and the preference of the referring doctor.
Neurology and Neuropsychology
Authors: Cutting J
Published: November 2023

The origins of neurology as a medical speciality can be traced to Willis (1621-1675) and Cullen. Willis, as well as coining the term ‘neurology’, established that the sub¬ stance of the brain, as opposed to its ventricles or other parts of the body, was the organ of the mind. Cullen (1800) proposed a classification of neurological conditions, which he called neuroses (p. 56). These included the various forms of insanity which, for the first time, were placed in a different subclass from the neurological conditions. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the various parts of the soul, previously considered to be scattered throughout the body, were amalgamated into a mind, and this mind was then linked with the brain and no other organ.