A new optical recording medium

Method has been developed for doping lithium niobiate crystals with transition metal to increase rate at which crystal can record optical data. Discovery may facilitate development of system for analog storage of TV frames, printed pages, photographs, and other visual information

On the adaptive advantage of always being right (even when one is not)

We propose another positive illusion – overconfidence in the generalisability of one’s theory – that fits with McKay & Dennett’s (M&D’s) criteria for adaptive misbeliefs. This illusion is pervasive in adult reasoning but we focus on its prevalence in children’s developing theories. It is a strongly held conviction arising from normal functioning of the doxastic system that confers adaptive advantage on the individual

Field tuned critical fluctuations in YFe2Al10: Evidence from magnetization, 27Al (NMR, NQR) investigations

We report magnetization, specific heat, and NMR investigations on YFe2Al10 over a wide range in temperature and magnetic field and zero field (NQR) measurements. Magnetic susceptibility, specific heat and spin-lattice relaxation rate divided by T (1/T1T) follow a weak power law (T^-0.4) temperature dependence, which is a signature of critical fluctuations of Fe moments. The value of the Sommerfeld-Wilson ratio and linear relation between 1/T1T and chi(T) suggest the existence of ferromagnetic correlations in this system. No magnetic ordering down to 50 mK in Cp(T) and the unusual temperature and field scaling of the bulk and NMR data are associated with a magnetic instability which drives the system to quantum criticality. The magnetic properties of the system are tuned by field wherein ferromagnetic fluctuations are suppressed and a crossover from quantum critical to FL behavior is observed with increasing magnetic field

Development of a theory of the spectral reflectance of minerals, part 4

A theory of the spectral reflectance or emittance of particulate minerals was developed. The theory is expected to prove invaluable in the interpretation of the remote infrared spectra of planetary surfaces

A Variational Principle for the Asymptotic Speed of Fronts of the Density Dependent Diffusion--Reaction Equation

We show that the minimal speed for the existence of monotonic fronts of the equation $u_t = (u^m)_{xx} + f(u)$ with $f(0) = f(1) = 0$, $m >1$ and $f>0$ in $(0,1)$ derives from a variational principle. The variational principle allows to calculate, in principle, the exact speed for arbitrary $f$. The case $m=1$ when $f'(0)=0$ is included as an extension of the results.Comment: Latex, postcript figure availabl

Traveling Wave Solutions of Advection-Diffusion Equations with Nonlinear Diffusion

We study the existence of particular traveling wave solutions of a nonlinear parabolic degenerate diffusion equation with a shear flow. Under some assumptions we prove that such solutions exist at least for propagation speeds c {\in}]c*, +{\infty}, where c* > 0 is explicitly computed but may not be optimal. We also prove that a free boundary hy- persurface separates a region where u = 0 and a region where u > 0, and that this free boundary can be globally parametrized as a Lipschitz continuous graph under some additional non-degeneracy hypothesis; we investigate solutions which are, in the region u > 0, planar and linear at infinity in the propagation direction, with slope equal to the propagation speed.Comment: 40 pages, 1 figur