The Continuity of Scientific Discovery and Its Communication: The Example of Michael Faraday

This paper documents the cognitive strategies that led to Faraday’s first significant scientific discovery. For Faraday, discovery is essentially a matter seeing as, of substituting for the eye all possess the eye of analysis all scientists must develop. In the process of making his first significant discovery, Faraday learns to dismiss the magnetic attractions and repulsions he and others had observed; by means of systematic variations in his experimental set-up, he learns to see these motions as circular: it is the first indication that an electro-magnetic field exists. In communicating his discoveries, Faraday, of course, takes into consideration his various audiences’ varying needs and their differences in scientific competence; but whatever his audience, Faraday learns to convey what it feels like to do science, to shift from seeing to seeing as, from sight to insight

Grasp--a language to facilitate the synthesis of parallel programs

In the context of this thesis, the name Grasp subsumes three distinct but highly interrelated projects. First of all, Grasp is a programming language that allows the user to define properties of graph-theoretic objects by using high-level nonprocedural descriptions called specifications. Second, Grasp is a translator that converts specifications to standard sequential C functions. Finally, Grasp is a model of computation that has been left largely uninvestigated despite possessing several advantageous properties. Each of these aspects of Grasp is described in a contextually clean and detailed manner, but in the end the theoretical aspects of Grasp are espoused over the formal and practical aspects

The Limits of the Rhetorical Analysis of Science

Three case studies explore the limits of the rhetorical analysis of science. The first is a case in which scientific facts and theories eventually reach a stage where they are beyond argument and, as a consequence, beyond rhetorical analysis. The second is a case where a work is scientific, that is, moving toward facts and theories beyond argument and is, at the same time, an example of deliberative rhetoric whose claims, of course, can never be beyond argument. The third is a case in which, although the science in question is now beyond argument, its policy implications remain, and will continue to remain, well within the realm of rhetorical analysis

Bibliography of the Works of Alan G. Gross

Bibliography of the Works of Alan G. Gros

Technology, Hyperbole, and Irony

Except for metaphor, tropes are arguably irrelevant to the analysis of science and technology. Among tropes, moreover, hyperbole and irony seem particularly ill-suited as the former exaggerates, while the latter undermines, two strategies at odds with a language intent on closely following the contours of the world of experience. While neither hyperbole nor irony has a place in the professional discourses of science and technology, both play a role in their popular representations. Hyperbole expresses our sense that these achievements exemplify the sublime, a form of experience applied at first to feelings of awe generated by great literature, then in succession to natural wonders like the Grand Canyon, triumphs of science like Newtonian physics, and such technological achievements as the computer and the Large Hadron Collider. While the Collider, the largest and most powerful experimental apparatus ever built, is an unalloyed technological triumph worthy of hyperbole, some of the alterations in social life that the computer has ushered in are open to skeptical debate. This is especially true to the extent that computer-facilitated communication has taken the place of the face-to face interaction that makes a robust social life possible. Irony is this skepticism’s vehicle

The SYZ conjecture via homological mirror symmetry

These are expository notes based on a talk given at the Superschool on derived categories and D-branes at University of Alberta in July of 2016. The goal of these notes is to give a motivated introduction to the Strominger-Yau-Zaslow (SYZ) conjecture from the point of view of homological mirror symmetry.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the Superschool on derived categories and D-brane

Cooper pairing at large N in a 2-dimensional model

We study a 2-dimensional model of Fermi fields that is closely related to the Gross-Neveu model, and show that to leading order in 1/N a condensate forms. This effect is independent of the chemical potential, a peculiarity that we expect to be specific to 2 dimensions. We also expect the condensate to be unstable against corrections at higher orders in 1/N. We compute the Green's functions associated with the composite psi-psi, and show that the Fermion acquires a Majorana mass proportional to the gap, and that a massless Goldstone pole appears.Comment: 11 pages, plain TeX, no figure

Rapid single flux quantum very large scale integration

Thesis (MScEng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) of the Rapid Single Flux Quantum (RSFQ) superconducting logic family is researched. Insight into the design methodologies used for large-scale digital systems and related logistics are reviewed. A brief overview of basic RSFQ logic gates with in mind their application in a cell based layout scheme suited for RSFQ is given. A standard cell model is then proposed, incorporating these cells, on which, a library of low temperature superconducting (L TS) cells are laid out. Research is made into computer techniques for storing and manipulating large-scale circuit netlists. On this base, a method of technology mapping Boolean circuits to an RSFQ equivalent is achieved. Placements on-chip are made, optimized for minimum net length, routed and exported to a popular electronic mask format. Finally, the convergent technology fields of solid state cooling and high-temperature superconducting electronics (HTS) are investigated. This leads to a proposal for a low profile, low cost, HTS cryopackaging concept.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Grootskaalse integrasie (VLSI) van die "Rapid Single Flux Quantum" (RSFQ) supergeleidende familie van logiese hekke word uiteengesit. Insig in die ontwerpmetodes vir grootskaaIse digitale stelsels en verwante aspekte word ondersoek. 'n Kort oorsig van basiese RSFQ logiese hekke word gegee, met hulle toepassing in 'n uitlegskema wat geskik is vir RSFQ. 'n Standaard sel model, wat bogenoemde selle insluit, word voorgestel en 'n selbiblioteek word uitgele vir lae temperatuur supergeleidende bane. Ondersoek word ingestel na die manipulasie van die beskrywing van elektroniese bane en 'n manier om logiese Boolese baanbeskrywings om te skakel na fisiese RSFQ bane. Die fisiese plasing van selle word bespreek ten einde die verbindingslengte tussen selle te minimeer. Die finale uitleg word omgeskakel na 'n staandaard elektroniese formaat vir baanuitlegte. Die konvergerende tegnologievelde van "soliede toestand" verkoeling en hoe-temperatuur supergeleidende elektroniese bane word bespreek. Ten slotte word 'n nuwe tipe, lae profiel en lae koste kriogeniese verpakking voorgestel

Open-hardware e-puck Linux extension board for experimental swarm robotics research

In this paper we describe the implementation of a Linux extension board for the e-puck educational mobile robot, designed to enhance the computation, memory and networking performance of the robot at very low cost. The extension board is based on a 32-bit ARM9 microprocessor and provides wireless network support. The ARM9 extension board runs in parallel with the dsPIC microprocessor on the e-puck motherboard with communication between the two via an SPI bus. The extension board is designed to handle computationally intensive image processing, wireless communication and high-level intelligent robot control algorithms, while the dsPIC handles low-level sensor interfacing, data processing and motor control. The extension board runs an embedded Linux operating system, along with a Debian-based port of the root file system stored in a Micro SD card. The extended e-puck robot platform requires minimal effort to integrate the well-known open-source robot control framework Player and, when placed within a TCP/IP networked infrastructure, provides a powerful and flexible platform for experimental swarm robotics research. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved