832 research outputs found
Blur discrimination and its relation to blur-mediated depth perception
Retinal images of three-dimensional scenes often contain regions that are spatially blurred by different amounts, owing to depth variation in the scene and depth-of-focus limitations in the eye. Variations in blur between regions in the retinal image therefore offer a cue to their relative physical depths. In the first experiment we investigated apparent depth ordering in images containing two regions of random texture separated by a vertical sinusoidal border. The texture was sharp on one side of the border, and blurred on the other side. In some presentations the border itself was also blurred. Results showed that blur variation alone is sufficient to determine the apparent depth ordering. A subsequent series of experiments measured blur-discrimination thresholds with stimuli similar to those used in the depth-ordering experiment. Weber fractions for blur discrimination ranged from 0.28 to 0.56. It is concluded that the utility of blur variation as a depth cue is constrained by the relatively mediocre ability of observers to discriminate different levels of blur. Blur is best viewed as a relatively coarse, qualitative depth cue
Effect of Iodine Doping on BiSrCaCuO: Charge Transfer or Interlayer Coupling?
A comparative study has been made of iodine-intercalated
BiSrCaCuO single crystal and 1 atm O
annealed BiSrCaCuO single crystal using AC
susceptibility measurement, X-ray photoemission (XPS) and angle-resolved
ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (ARUPS). AC susceptibility measurement
indicates that O-doped samples studied have T of 84 K,
whereas T of Iodine-doped samples studied are 80 K. XPS Cu 2p core
level data establish that the hole concentration in the CuO planes are
essentially the same for these two kinds of samples. ARUPS measurements show
that electronic structure of the normal states near the Fermi level has been
strongly affected by iodine intercalation. We conclude that the dominant effect
of iodine doping is to alter the interlayer coupling.Comment: LBL 9 pages, APS_Revtex. 5 Figures, available upon request.
UW-Madison preprin
Gravitomagnetism and the Clock Effect
The main theoretical aspects of gravitomagnetism are reviewed. It is shown
that the gravitomagnetic precession of a gyroscope is intimately connected with
the special temporal structure around a rotating mass that is revealed by the
gravitomagnetic clock effect. This remarkable effect, which involves the
difference in the proper periods of a standard clock in prograde and retrograde
circular geodesic orbits around a rotating mass, is discussed in detail. The
implications of this effect for the notion of ``inertial dragging'' in the
general theory of relativity are presented. The theory of the clock effect is
developed within the PPN framework and the possibility of measuring it via
spaceborne clocks is examined.Comment: 27 pages, LaTeX, submitted to Proc. Bad Honnef Meeting on: GYROS,
CLOCKS, AND INTERFEROMETERS: TESTING GENERAL RELATIVITY IN SPACE (22 - 27
August 1999; Bad Honnef, Germany
Soft systems methodology: a context within a 50-year retrospective of OR/MS
Soft systems methodology (SSM) has been used in the practice of operations research and management science OR/MS) since the early 1970s. In the 1990s, it emerged as a viable academic discipline. Unfortunately, its proponents consider SSM and traditional systems thinking to be mutually exclusive. Despite the differences claimed by SSM proponents between the two, they have been complementary. An extensive sampling of the OR/MS literature over its entire lifetime demonstrates the richness with which the non-SSM literature has been addressing the very same issues as does SSM
High-temperature ferromagnetism of electrons in narrow impurity bands: Application to CaB
Ferromagnetism with high Curie temperature , well above room
temperature, and very small saturation moment has been reported in various
carbon and boron systems. It is argued that the magnetization must be very
inhomogeneous with only a small fraction of the sample ferromagnetically
ordered. It is shown that a possible source of high within the
ferromagnetic regions is itinerant electrons occupying a narrow impurity band.
Correlation effects do not reduce the effective interaction which enters the
Stoner criterion in the same way as in a bulk band. It is also shown how, in
the impurity band case, spin wave excitations may not be effective in lowering
below its value given by Stoner theory. These ideas are applied to
CaB and a thorough review of the experimental situation in this material is
given. It is suggested that the intrinsic magnetism of the B and O
dimers might be exploited in suitable structures containing these elements.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figure
Foundations of Relational Particle Dynamics
Relational particle dynamics include the dynamics of pure shape and cases in
which absolute scale or absolute rotation are additionally meaningful. These
are interesting as regards the absolute versus relative motion debate as well
as discussion of conceptual issues connected with the problem of time in
quantum gravity. In spatial dimension 1 and 2 the relative configuration spaces
of shapes are n-spheres and complex projective spaces, from which knowledge I
construct natural mechanics on these spaces. I also show that these coincide
with Barbour's indirectly-constructed relational dynamics by performing a full
reduction on the latter. Then the identification of the configuration spaces as
n-spheres and complex projective spaces, for which spaces much mathematics is
available, significantly advances the understanding of Barbour's relational
theory in spatial dimensions 1 and 2. I also provide the parallel study of a
new theory for which positon and scale are purely relative but orientation is
absolute. The configuration space for this is an n-sphere regardless of the
spatial dimension, which renders this theory a more tractable arena for
investigation of implications of scale invariance than Barbour's theory itself.Comment: Minor typos corrected; references update
Signatures of Quark-Gluon-Plasma formation in high energy heavy-ion collisions: A critical review
A critical review on signatures of Quark-Gluon-Plasma formation is given and
the current (1998) experimental status is discussed. After giving an
introduction to the properties of QCD matter in both, equilibrium- and
non-equilibrium theories, we focus on observables which may yield experimental
evidence for QGP formation. For each individual observable the discussion is
divided into three sections: first the connection between the respective
observable and QGP formation in terms of the underlying theoretical concepts is
given, then the relevant experimental results are reviewed and finally the
current status concerning the interpretation of both, theory and experiment, is
discussed. A comprehensive summary including an outlook towards RHIC is given
in the final section.Comment: Topical review, submitted to Journal of Physics G: 68 pages,
including 39 figures (revised version: only minor modifications, some
references added
Triangleland. I. Classical dynamics with exchange of relative angular momentum
In Euclidean relational particle mechanics, only relative times, relative
angles and relative separations are meaningful. Barbour--Bertotti (1982) theory
is of this form and can be viewed as a recovery of (a portion of) Newtonian
mechanics from relational premises. This is of interest in the absolute versus
relative motion debate and also shares a number of features with the
geometrodynamical formulation of general relativity, making it suitable for
some modelling of the problem of time in quantum gravity. I also study
similarity relational particle mechanics (`dynamics of pure shape'), in which
only relative times, relative angles and {\sl ratios of} relative separations
are meaningful. This I consider firstly as it is simpler, particularly in 1 and
2 d, for which the configuration space geometry turns out to be well-known,
e.g. S^2 for the `triangleland' (3-particle) case that I consider in detail.
Secondly, the similarity model occurs as a sub-model within the Euclidean
model: that admits a shape--scale split. For harmonic oscillator like
potentials, similarity triangleland model turns out to have the same
mathematics as a family of rigid rotor problems, while the Euclidean case turns
out to have parallels with the Kepler--Coulomb problem in spherical and
parabolic coordinates. Previous work on relational mechanics covered cases
where the constituent subsystems do not exchange relative angular momentum,
which is a simplifying (but in some ways undesirable) feature paralleling
centrality in ordinary mechanics. In this paper I lift this restriction. In
each case I reduce the relational problem to a standard one, thus obtain
various exact, asymptotic and numerical solutions, and then recast these into
the original mechanical variables for physical interpretation.Comment: Journal Reference added, minor updates to References and Figure
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Where constructionism and critical realism converge: interrogating the domain of epistemological relativism
The paper interrogates the status, nature and significance of epistemological relativism as a key element of constructionism and critical realism. It finds that epistemological relativism is espoused by authorities in critical realism and marginalized or displaced in the field of management and organization studies, resulting in forms of analysis that are empirically, but not fully critically, realist. This evaluation prompts reflection on the question of whether, how and with what implications epistemological relativism might be recast at the heart of critical realist studies of management and organization
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