The controls at low hinge moments

A very stable airplane remains very maneuverable when the hinge moments of the controls remain inferior to those obtained with the conventional forms and when the wing lift at high angles has been improved. From this point of view, elevators balanced by recoil of the hinge, and slotted wings present some interesting features

Miniaturized analytical platforms from nanoparticle components: studies in the construction, characterization, and high-throughput usage of these novel architectures

The future advancement of nearly all basic and applied sciences is linked in some aspect to understanding and/or controlling of events that occur on the nanometer size scale. One such tool that is being investigated to assist in these studies is nanoparticles. This thesis revolves around the theme of self-assembling nanoparticles to either understand the behavior of the nanoparticles themselves or create analytically useful architectures. The beginning of this thesis examines the interplay between various polymeric nanoparticle properties (i.e., surface chemistry) and patterns of monolayers that display differing chemical moieties. This investigation then leads to the development of guidelines for building two-dimensional patterns through solution deposition and self-assembly of nanoparticles on the underlying.;The properties of polymeric nanoparticles are further employed to create miniaturized platforms with a process involving both the layer-by-layer and photolithographic methodologies. This scheme creates structures with control over the magnitude of all three-dimensions. The analytical utility of the three dimensional structures is demonstrated through creation of a massively dense array of sub-femtoliter volume wells. These microwells are shown to be capable of isolating compounds micrometers apart from one another. Moreover, this characteristic, along with other properties of these wells, is exploited to develop a miniaturized, immunodiagnostic platform.;Finally, the theme of self-assembly of nanoparticles for the purpose of immunodiagnostics is advanced through the creation of a unique height based, bar-code read-out concept. The surfaces of gold and silica nanoparticles are designed to aggregate in a pre-determined pattern when in the presence of a specific analyte. An atomic force microscope (AFM) is employed to analyze the bar-code design and positively identify the presence of the analyte. A proof-of-concept experiment with that exploits the specificity of biotin-streptavidin binding is employed to validate the concept

On quantum fundamentalism

According to one possible diagnosis of the quantum measurement problem, it is a consequence of quantum fundamentalism claiming that ontology and epistemology of the world are exclusively quantum, and classical physics is only an approximation. For N. Bohr, the measurement problem is a pseudo-problem because any quantum phenomenon presupposes the classical context of an experimental setup and the use of classical concepts to describe it. We consider Bohr's position from the point of view of our contextual quantum realism (CQR), inspired by the later Wittgenstein philosophy. Our approach is consistent with H. Zinkernagel's interpretation, according to which Bohr's position is not only epistemological anti-fundamentalism, but also ontological anti-fundamentalism.Comment: 6 page

On "agential realism" and ontology of quantum mechanics

K. Barad proposes "agential realism" as a unified approach to natural and social phenomena. The position is inspired by quantum mechanics and in particular the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. Barad also sees similarities between her approach, N. Bohr's view and C. Rovelli's relational quantum mechanics. In our view, agential realism is a kind of ontological correlationism, not a realism. The analogy with the Bohr and Rovelli approaches is only partial. Agential realism is a wrong interpretation of quantum mechanics. It is also unsuitable for social theorizing, for which taking into account the sensitivity of ontology to the context is fundamental. As an alternative, we propose a contextual quantum realism that rejects substantive dualisms (as does Barad), but at the same time accepts the categorical dualism of the real and the ideal. Our approach also allows one to better understand Bohr's position and to correct Rovelli's relational quantum mechanics.Comment: 5 page