Bubble formation and growth - Study of the boundary conditions at a liquid-vapor interface through irreversible thermodynamics Quarterly progress report, Mar. - May 1966

Nonequilibrium effect on vapor bubble growth determined in study of boundary conditions at liquid-vapor interfac

Bubble formation and growth - Study of the boundary conditions at a liquid-vapor interface through irreversible thermodynamics Quarterly progress report, Jun. - Aug. 1966

Steady state mercury evaporation experiment to measure transport coefficient in liquid-vapor interface boundary condition stud

Optimizing the performance of thermionic devices using energy filtering

Conventional thermionic power generators and refrigerators utilize a barrier in the direction of transport to selectively transmit high-energy electrons. Here we show that the energy spectrum of electrons transmitted in this way is not optimal, and we derive the ideal energy spectrum for operation in the maximum power regime. By using suitable energy filters, such as resonances in quantum dots, the power of thermionic devices can, in principle, be improved by an order of magnitude.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure

Dynamic structure of motor cortical neuron coactivity carries behaviorally relevant information

AbstractSkillful, voluntary movements are underpinned by computations performed by networks of interconnected neurons in the primary motor cortex (M1). Computations are reflected by patterns of coactivity between neurons. Using pairwise spike time statistics, coactivity can be summarized as a functional network (FN). Here, we show that the structure of FNs constructed from an instructed-delay reach task in nonhuman primates is behaviorally specific: Low-dimensional embedding and graph alignment scores show that FNs constructed from closer target reach directions are also closer in network space. Using short intervals across a trial, we constructed temporal FNs and found that temporal FNs traverse a low-dimensional subspace in a reach-specific trajectory. Alignment scores show that FNs become separable and correspondingly decodable shortly after the Instruction cue. Finally, we observe that reciprocal connections in FNs transiently decrease following the Instruction cue, consistent with the hypothesis that information external to the recorded population temporarily alters the structure of the network at this moment

Efficiency in nanostructured thermionic and thermoelectric devices

Advances in solid-state device design now allow the spectrum of transmitted electrons in thermionic and thermoelectric devices to be engineered in ways that were not previously possible. Here we show that the shape of the electron energy spectrum in these devices has a significant impact on their performance. We distinguish between traditional thermionic devices where electron momentum is filtered in the direction of transport only and a second type, in which the electron filtering occurs according to total electron momentum. Such 'total momentum filtered' kr thermionic devices could potentially be implemented in, for example, quantum dot superlattices. It is shown that whilst total momentum filtered thermionic devices may achieve efficiency equal to the Carnot value, traditional thermionic devices are limited to efficiency below this. Our second main result is that the electronic efficiency of a device is not only improved by reducing the width of the transmission filter as has previously been shown, but also strongly depends on whether the transmission probability rises sharply from zero to full transmission. The benefit of increasing efficiency through a sharply rising transmission probability is that it can be achieved without sacrificing device power, in contrast to the use of a narrow transmission filter which can greatly reduce power. We show that devices which have a sharply-rising transmission probability significantly outperform those which do not and it is shown such transmission probabilities may be achieved with practical single and multibarrier devices. Finally, we comment on the implications of the effect the shape of the electron energy spectrum on the efficiency of thermoelectric devices.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figure

Applied thermionic research Quarterly progress report, 4 Mar. - 4 Jun. 1968

Oxidation products of cesium studied by differential thermal analysi

Plasma Magnetohydrodynamics and Energy Conversion

Contains research objectives and reports on x research projects.National Science Foundation under Grant G-9330U.S. Air Force (Aeronautical Systems Division) under Contract AF33(616)-7624 with the Flight Accessories Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohi

Weak pairwise correlations imply strongly correlated network states in a neural population

Biological networks have so many possible states that exhaustive sampling is impossible. Successful analysis thus depends on simplifying hypotheses, but experiments on many systems hint that complicated, higher order interactions among large groups of elements play an important role. In the vertebrate retina, we show that weak correlations between pairs of neurons coexist with strongly collective behavior in the responses of ten or more neurons. Surprisingly, we find that this collective behavior is described quantitatively by models that capture the observed pairwise correlations but assume no higher order interactions. These maximum entropy models are equivalent to Ising models, and predict that larger networks are completely dominated by correlation effects. This suggests that the neural code has associative or error-correcting properties, and we provide preliminary evidence for such behavior. As a first test for the generality of these ideas, we show that similar results are obtained from networks of cultured cortical neurons.Comment: Full account of work presented at the conference on Computational and Systems Neuroscience (COSYNE), 17-20 March 2005, in Salt Lake City, Utah (http://cosyne.org

Reactive direction control for a mobile robot: A locust-like control of escape direction emerges when a bilateral pair of model locust visual neurons are integrated

Locusts possess a bilateral pair of uniquely identifiable visual neurons that respond vigorously to the image of an approaching object. These neurons are called the lobula giant movement detectors (LGMDs). The locust LGMDs have been extensively studied and this has lead to the development of an LGMD model for use as an artificial collision detector in robotic applications. To date, robots have been equipped with only a single, central artificial LGMD sensor, and this triggers a non-directional stop or rotation when a potentially colliding object is detected. Clearly, for a robot to behave autonomously, it must react differently to stimuli approaching from different directions. In this study, we implement a bilateral pair of LGMD models in Khepera robots equipped with normal and panoramic cameras. We integrate the responses of these LGMD models using methodologies inspired by research on escape direction control in cockroaches. Using ‘randomised winner-take-all’ or ‘steering wheel’ algorithms for LGMD model integration, the khepera robots could escape an approaching threat in real time and with a similar distribution of escape directions as real locusts. We also found that by optimising these algorithms, we could use them to integrate the left and right DCMD responses of real jumping locusts offline and reproduce the actual escape directions that the locusts took in a particular trial. Our results significantly advance the development of an artificial collision detection and evasion system based on the locust LGMD by allowing it reactive control over robot behaviour. The success of this approach may also indicate some important areas to be pursued in future biological research