2,726 research outputs found
Warren McCulloch and the British cyberneticians
Warren McCulloch was a significant influence on a number of British cyberneticians, as some British pioneers in this area were on him. He interacted regularly with most of the main figures on the British cybernetics scene, forming close friendships and collaborations with several, as well as mentoring others. Many of these interactions stemmed from a 1949 visit to London during which he gave the opening talk at the inaugural meeting of the Ratio Club, a gathering of brilliant, mainly young, British scientists working in areas related to cybernetics. This paper traces some of these relationships and interaction
Neurophysiology
Contains reports on two research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant NB-4897-03)U.S. Air Force (Aerospace Medical Division) under Contract AF33(615)-3885The Teagle Foundation, Inc.Bioscience Division of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Contract NSR 22-009-13
Energy versus electron transfer in organic solar cells: a comparison of the photophysics of two indenofluorene: fullerene blend films
In this paper, we compare the photophysics and photovoltaic device performance of two indenofluorene based polymers: poly[2,8-(6,6,12,12-tetraoctylindenofluorene)-co-4,7-(2,1,3-benzothiodiazole] (IF8BT) and poly[2,8-(6,6,12,12-tetraoctylindenofluorene)-co-5,5-(40,70-di-2-thienyl-20,10,30-benzothiodiazole] (IF8TBTT) blended with [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Photovoltaic devices made with IF8TBTT exhibit greatly superior photocurrent generation and photovoltaic efficiency compared to those made with IF8BT. The poor device efficiency of IF8BT/PCBM devices is shown to result from efficient, ultrafast singlet F€orster energy transfer from IF8BT to PCBM, with the resultant PCBM singlet exciton lacking sufficient energy to drive charge photogeneration. The higher photocurrent generation observed for IF8TBTT/PCBM devices is shown to result from IF8TBTT’s relatively weak, red-shifted photoluminescence characteristics, which switches off the polymer to fullerene singlet energy transfer pathway. As a consequence, IF8TBTT singlet excitons are able to drive charge separation at the polymer/fullerene interface, resulting in efficient photocurrent generation. These results are discussed in terms of the impact of donor/acceptor energy transfer upon photophysics and energetics of charge photogeneration in organic photovoltaic\ud
devices. The relevance of these results to the design of polymers for organic photovoltaic applications is also discussed, particularly with regard to explaining why highly luminescent polymers developed for organic light emitting diode applications often give relatively poor performance in organic photovoltaic devices
Eastern Asian emissions of anthropogenic halocarbons deduced from aircraft concentration data
The Montreal Protocol restricts production of ozone-depleting halocarbons worldwide. Enforcement of the protocol has relied mainly on annual government statistics of production and consumption of these compounds (bottom-up approach). We show here that aircraft observations of halocarbon:CO enhancement ratios on regional to continental scales can be used to infer halocarbon emissions, providing independent verification of the bottom-up approach. We apply this top-down approach to aircraft observations of Asian outflow from the TRACE-P mission over the western Pacific (March April 2001) and derive emissions from eastern Asia (China, Japan, and Korea). We derive an eastern Asian carbon tetrachloride (CCl ) source of 21.5 Gg yr , several-fold larger than previous estimates and amounting to 30% of the global budget for this gas. Our emission estimate for CFC-11 from eastern Asia is 50% higher than inventories derived from manufacturing records. Our emission estimates for methyl chloroform (CH ) and CFC-12 are in agreement with existing inventories. For halon 1211 we find only a strong local source originating from the Shanghai area. Our emission estimates for the above gases result in a 40% increase in the ozone depletion potential (ODP) of Asian emissions relative to previous estimates, corresponding to a 10% global increase in ODP
Can the Tajmar effect be explained using a modification of inertia?
The Tajmar effect is an unexplained acceleration observed by accelerometers
and laser gyroscopes close to rotating supercooled rings. The observed ratio
between the gyroscope and ring accelerations was 3+/-1.2x10^-8. Here, a new
model for inertia which has been tested quite successfully on the Pioneer and
flyby anomalies is applied to this problem. The model assumes that the inertia
of the gyroscope is caused by Unruh radiation that appears as the ring and the
fixed stars accelerate relative to it, and that this radiation is subject to a
Hubble-scale Casimir effect. The model predicts that the sudden acceleration of
the nearby ring causes a slight increase in the inertial mass of the gyroscope,
and, to conserve momentum in the reference frame of the spinning Earth, the
gyroscope rotates clockwise with an acceleration ratio of 1.8+/-0.25x10^-8 in
agreement with the observed ratio. However, this model does not explain the
parity violation seen in some of the gyroscope data. To test these ideas the
Tajmar experiment (setup B) could be exactly reproduced in the southern
hemisphere, since the model predicts that the anomalous acceleration should
then be anticlockwise.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure. Accepted by EPL on the 4th December, 200
PKS 1830-211: A Possible Compound Gravitational Lens
Measurements of the properties of gravitational lenses have the power to tell
us what sort of universe we live in. The brightest known radio Einstein
ring/gravitational lens PKS 1830-211 (Jauncey et al., 1991), whilst obscured by
our Galaxy at optical wavelengths, has recently been shown to contain
absorption at the millimetre waveband at a redshift of 0.89 (Wiklind and
Combes, 1996a). We report the detection of a new absorption feature, most
likely due to neutral hydrogen in a second redshift system at z = 0.19.
Follow-up VLBI observations have spatially resolved the absorption and reveal
it to cover the NE compact component and part of the lower surface brightness
ring. This new information, together with existing evidence of the unusual VLBI
radio structure and difficulties in modeling the lensing system, points to the
existence of a second lensing galaxy along our line of sight and implies that
PKS 1830-211 may be a compound gravitational lens.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX (aasms4.sty). Accepted for publication in
ApJ Letters. Preprint also available at
http://kerr.phys.utas.edu.au/preprints
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