Thermal conductive connection and method of making same Patent

Thermal conductive, electrically insulated cleavable adhesive connection between electronic module and heat sin

Exponential localization in one-dimensional quasiperiodic optical lattices

We investigate the localization properties of a one-dimensional bichromatic optical lattice in the tight binding regime, by discussing how exponentially localized states emerge upon changing the degree of commensurability. We also review the mapping onto the discrete Aubry-Andre' model, and provide evidences on how the momentum distribution gets modified in the crossover from extended to exponentially localized states. This analysis is relevant to the recent experiment on Anderson localization of a noninteracting Bose-Einstein condensate in a quasiperiodic optical lattice [G. Roati et al., Nature 453, 895 (2008)].Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Magnetic Field Effect on the Pseudogap Temperature within Precursor Superconductivity

We determine the magnetic field dependence of the pseudogap closing temperature T* within a precursor superconductivity scenario. Detailed calculations with an anisotropic attractive Hubbard model account for a recently determined experimental relation in BSCCO between the pseudogap closing field and the pseudogap temperature at zero field, as well as for the weak initial dependence of T* at low fields. Our results indicate that the available experimental data are fully compatible with a superconducting origin of the pseudogap in cuprate superconductors.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

The Microbial Community of a Terrestrial Anoxic Inter-Tidal Zone: A Model for Laboratory-Based Studies of Potentially Habitable Ancient Lacustrine Systems on Mars

Evidence indicates that Gale crater on Mars harboured a fluvio-lacustrine environment that was subjected to physio-chemical variations such as changes in redox conditions and evaporation with salinity changes, over time. Microbial communities from terrestrial environmental analogues sites are important for studying such potential habitability environments on early Mars, especially in laboratory-based simulation experiments. Traditionally, such studies have predominantly focused on microorganisms from extreme terrestrial environments. These are applicable to a range of Martian environments; however, they lack relevance to the lacustrine systems. In this study, we characterise an anoxic inter-tidal zone as a terrestrial analogue for the Gale crater lake system according to its chemical and physical properties, and its microbiological community. The sub-surface inter-tidal environment of the River Dee estuary, United Kingdom (53°21'015.40" N, 3°10'024.95" W) was selected and compared with available data from Early Hesperian-time Gale crater, and temperature, redox, and pH were similar. Compared to subsurface ‘groundwater’-type fluids invoked for the Gale subsurface, salinity was higher at the River Dee site, which are more comparable to increases in salinity that likely occurred as the Gale crater lake evolved. Similarities in clay abundance indicated similar access to, specifically, the bio-essential elements Mg, Fe and K. The River Dee microbial community consisted of taxa that were known to have members that could utilise chemolithoautotrophic and chemoorganoheterotrophic metabolism and such a mixed metabolic capability would potentially have been feasible on Mars. Microorganisms isolated from the site were able to grow under environment conditions that, based on mineralogical data, were similar to that of the Gale crater’s aqueous environment at Yellowknife Bay. Thus, the results from this study suggest that the microbial community from an anoxic inter-tidal zone is a plausible terrestrial analogue for studying habitability of fluvio-lacustrine systems on early Mars, using laboratory-based simulation experiments

'Gift of Hope' – motivation for brain donation into schizophrenia research

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Area distribution of two-dimensional random walks on a square lattice

The algebraic area probability distribution of closed planar random walks of length N on a square lattice is considered. The generating function for the distribution satisfies a recurrence relation in which the combinatorics is encoded. A particular case generalizes the q-binomial theorem to the case of three addends. The distribution fits the L\'evy probability distribution for Brownian curves with its first-order 1/N correction quite well, even for N rather small.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX 2e. Reformulated in terms of q-commutator

Ground-simulation investigations of VTOL airworthiness criteria for terminal-area operations

Several ground-based simulation experiments undertaken to investigate concerns related to tilt-rotor aircraft airworthiness were conducted. The experiments were conducted on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center's Vertical Motion Simulator, which permits simulation of a wide variety of aircraft with a high degree of fidelity of motion cueing. Variations in conversion/deceleration profile, type of augmentation or automation, level of display assistance, and meteorological conditions were considered in the course of the experiments. Certification pilots from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) participated, in addition to NASA research pilots. The setup of these experiments on the simulator is summarized, and some of the results highlighted

Determining the Locations of Dust Sources in FeLoBAL Quasars

We conduct a spectroscopic search of quasars observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with broad absorption line (BAL) troughs due to Mg II and troughs due to Fe II that simultaneously exhibit strong Balmer narrow emission lines (NELs). We find that in a redshift range of 0.4 less than or equal to z less than or equal to 0.9 approximately 23 of the 70 Mg II BALs and 4 of a subset of 15 Fe II BALs exhibit strong Balmer emission. We also find significant fractions of Mg II BALs (approximately 23%) and those Mg II BALs with Fe II troughs (approximately 27%) have strong continuum reddening, E(B - V) greater than or equal to 0.1. From measurements of the Balmer decrement in three objects, we find similarly significant reddening of the NEL region in three of the four objects; the NELs in the fourth object are not measurable. We also include one object in this study not taken from the SDSS sample that shows Fe II absorption and strong narrow emission, but due to measurement uncertainty and low continuum reddening the comparison is consistent but inconclusive. We find a trend in both the Mg II and Fe II BAL samples between the NEL reddening and continuum reddening. Because the narrow line reddening is consistent with the continuum reddening in every object in the two SDSS samples, it suggests that the reddening sources in these objects likely exist at larger radial distances than the narrow line regions from the central nucleus.Comment: 40 manuscript pages, accepted in ApJ (July

Syntheses and Properties of Salts of Chromophores with Ferrocenyl Electron Donor Groups and Quaternary Nitrogen Acceptors

A series of five new dipolar cations has been synthesized with ferrocenyl (Fc) electron donor groups connected to N-arylpyridinium, N-methylquinolinium, N-methylbenzothiazolium, or N-methylacridinium acceptors. Together with their known N-methylpyridinium analogue, these chromophores have been characterized as their PF_6^− salts by using various techniques including electronic absorption spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. Nine single-crystal X-ray structures have been determined, including two polymorphs of one salt obtained from a single crystallization experiment, and two of these are polar materials. A highly favorable degree of dipolar alignment for bulk NLO effects is observed in one case. Molecular quadratic nonlinear optical (NLO) responses have been determined by using femtosecond hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) at 1300 nm and also via Stark (electroabsorption) spectroscopic studies on the intense π → π^* intraligand and d → π^* metal-to-ligand charge-transfer bands. A broad correlation between the electron acceptor strength and the HRS-derived first hyperpolarizabilities β and the static first hyperpolarizabilities β0 estimated from the Stark data is evident. This is the first time that meaningful (albeit indirectly determined) β_0 data have been reported for Fc compounds, allowing quantitative comparisons with the chromophore in the technologically important material (E)-4′-(dimethylamino)-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium (DAS) tosylate. The observed β_0 values are in several cases similar to that of [DAS]PF_6, and possibly even larger in one instance