• Volume 21, Issue 5

May 2016,   pages  391-489

• Editorial

• Science Smiles

• Steven Vogel (1940-2015)

Steven Vogel was a pinoneer in applying principles of mechanics to diverse living systems. This article first provides a brief overview of his career. It then reviews the concepts of P´eclet number and Reynolds number which are helpful in appreciating the Classics article by Vogel reproduced in this issue.

• Grid Computing

A computing grid interconnects resources such as high performancecomputers, scientific databases, and computercontrolledscientific instruments of cooperating organizationseach of which is autonomous. It precedes and is quitedifferent from cloud computing, which provides computingresources by vendors to customers on demand. In this article,we describe the grid computing model and enumerate themajor differences between grid and cloud computing.

• Impact of University Lecturers' Intervention in School Math Teaching

Some schools in the neighbourhood of Sefako MakgathoHealth Sciences University (SMU) in South Africa persistentlyyielded poor mathematics results in the past years. Thiswas of concern since maths is the main subject for manyopportunities, including admissiontoSMUstudy programmes.Some SMU maths lecturers partnered with local schools toprepare the students in these schools. The aimwas to improvemaths teaching and matric maths results. The teachers wereassisted with maths concepts of most difficulty. This articledescribes the initiatives by some academics of SMU in achievingthis.

• Errors in The Feynman Lectures on Physics: Symmetry and Crystals

We discuss some errors in The Feynman Lectures on Physicsrelated to the concept of symmetry.We also suggest a possiblecorrection to Fig.1.4 of Vol. I. The discussion may be usefulfor students of crystallography, solid state physics and solidstate chemistry.

• On the Prime Ideals of C[0,1]

It is well known that the set C[0, 1] of real-valuedcontinuous functions on the closed interval [0, 1]has a natural ring structure. Its maximal idealsare known to be points. Here we show thatalthough there exist prime ideals which are notmaximal, the zero set is again a singleton. In particular,each prime ideal is contained in a uniquemaximal ideal.

• A Paradox of Newtonian Gravitation and Laplace's Solution

• Fall and Rise of a D$_2$O Ice Cube in Liquid H$_2$O

The demonstration described in this article is to show thatwhile H$_2$O ice floats in water, D$_2$O ice sinks in water, provingthe higher density of ‘heavy water’. This experiment can bedone in a classroom or in an auditoriam.

• Demonstration Model of Self Inductance Using Relay

Using an electrical component like a relay, the phenomenonof self inductance caneasily be demonstrated to undergraduatestudents. By wiring simple electrical components like relay,neon bulb and a DC power supply, intermittent backelectromotive force (emf) can be generated in the range from60 to 100 volt. The glowing of neon bulb provides visualevidence for the generation of large back emf due to selfinductance.

• Steven Vogel and His Theory of Comparative Biomechanics

• Living in a Physical World

• Flowering Trees