Systems engineering for very large systems

Very large integrated systems have always posed special problems for engineers. Whether they are power generation systems, computer networks or space vehicles, whenever there are multiple interfaces, complex technologies or just demanding customers, the challenges are unique. 'Systems engineering' has evolved as a discipline in order to meet these challenges by providing a structured, top-down design and development methodology for the engineer. This paper attempts to define the general class of problems requiring the complete systems engineering treatment and to show how systems engineering can be utilized to improve customer satisfaction and profit ability. Specifically, this work will focus on a design methodology for the largest of systems, not necessarily in terms of physical size, but in terms of complexity and interconnectivity

Dynamics of the particle - hole pair creation in graphene

The process of coherent creation of particle - hole excitations by an electric field in graphene is quantitatively described. We calculate the evolution of current density, number of pairs and energy after switching on the electric field. In particular, it leads to a dynamical visualization of the universal finite resistivity without dissipation in pure graphene. We show that the DC conductivity of pure graphene is rather $\frac{\pi e^{2}}{2 h}$ than the often cited value of $\frac{4 e^{2}}{\pi h}$. This value coincides with the AC conductivity calculated and measured recently at optical frequencies. The effect of temperature and random chemical potential (charge puddles) are considered and explain the recent experiment on suspended graphene. A possibility of Bloch oscillations is discussed within the tight binding model.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Signature of Schwinger's pair creation rate via radiation generated in graphene by strong electric current

Electron - hole pairs are copuously created by an applied electric field near the Dirac point in graphene or similar 2D electronic systems. It was shown recently that for sufficiently large electric fields and ballistic times the I-V characteristics become strongly nonlinear due to Schwinger's pair creation. Since there is no energy gap the radiation from the pairs' annihilation is enhanced. The spectrum of radiation is calculated. The angular and polarization dependence of the emitted photons with respect to the graphene sheet is quite distinctive. For very large currents the recombination rate becomes so large that it leads to the second Ohmic regime due to radiation friction.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Discrimination of the Healthy and Sick Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System by a New Wavelet Analysis of Heartbeat Intervals

We demonstrate that it is possible to distinguish with a complete certainty between healthy subjects and patients with various dysfunctions of the cardiac nervous system by way of multiresolutional wavelet transform of RR intervals. We repeated the study of Thurner et al on different ensemble of subjects. We show that reconstructed series using a filter which discards wavelet coefficients related with higher scales enables one to classify individuals for which the method otherwise is inconclusive. We suggest a delimiting diagnostic value of the standard deviation of the filtered, reconstructed RR interval time series in the range of $\sim 0.035$ (for the above mentioned filter), below which individuals are at risk.Comment: 5 latex pages (including 6 figures). Accepted in Fractal

Ballistic transport, chiral anomaly and emergence of the neutral electron - hole plasma in graphene

The process of coherent creation of particle - hole excitations by an electric field in graphene is quantitatively described using a dynamic "first quantized" approach. We calculate the evolution of current density, number of pairs and energy in ballistic regime using the tight binding model. The series in electric field strength $E$ up to third order in both DC and AC are calculated. We show how the physics far from the two Dirac points enters various physical quantities in linear response and how it is related to the chiral anomaly. The third harmonic generation and the imaginary part of conductivity are obtained. It is shown that at certain time scale $t_{nl}\propto E^{-1/2}$ the physical behaviour dramatically changes and the perturbation theory breaks down. Beyond the linear response physics is explored using an exact solution of the first quantized equations. While for small electric fields the I-V curve is linear characterized by the universal minimal resistivity $\sigma =\pi /2(e^{2}/h)$%, at $t>t_{nl}$ the conductivity grows fast. The copious pair creation (with rate $E^{3/2}$), analogous to Schwinger's electron - positron pair creation from vacuum in QED, leads to creation of the electron - hole plasma at ballistic times of order $t_{nl}$. This process is terminated by a relaxational recombination.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures

Ballistic transport in graphene beyond linear response

The process of coherent creation of particle - hole excitations by an electric field in graphene is quantitatively described beyond linear response. We calculate the evolution of current density, number of pairs and energy in ballistic regime for electric field E using the tight binding model. While for small ballistic flight times the current is linear in E and independent of time, for larger ballistic times the current increases and finally at yet larger times Bloch oscillations set in. It is shown that the number of pairs follows the 2D generalization of the Schwinger's creation rate only on certain time segments with a prefactor different from that obtained using the asymptotic formula.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Touch and look: the role of visual-haptic cues for categorical learning in children

Benefits of synchronous presentation of multisensory compared to unisensory cues are well established. However, the generality of such findings to children’s learning with visual and haptic sensory cue pairings is unclear. Children aged six to ten years (N=180) participated in a novel table-top category learning paradigm with visual, haptic or visuo-haptic informative cues. The results indicated that combinations of complimentary visual and haptic cues facilitated learning above unisensory visual cues only in 8-year-old children. Primarily, however, haptic information was found to dominate children’s category learning across ages, particularly in the youngest children (six-year-olds), even with equal discriminability of haptic and visual exemplars. These findings suggest developmental changes in the ability to effectively combine un-related visual and haptic information for categorical learning. Implications for the use of non-pertinent visuohaptic cues in learning tasks within educational settings at different ages, and in particular the dominance of haptic stimuli for children’s learning are discussed