Molecular Dynamics Simulation of CO2-Fluid and CO2-Mineral Interfacial Properties: Application to Subsurface Gas Injection (CCS Projects)

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Voyagers in the Vault of Heaven: The Phenomenon of Ships in the Sky in Medieval Ireland and Beyond

This paper explores the phenomenon of ships voyaging in the sky. Such fantastical sightings are considered primarily in an early medieval Irish context, but evidence from places as widely separated in time and place as thirteenth-century England and eighteenth-century Canada is also addressed. The earliest material representation of an Irish currach (skin boat) being rowed heavenwards is on an eighth-century carved stone pillar. By connecting this iconographie evidence to the appearance of ships in the sky above a Celtic monastery, a framework is established from which to investigate the "airship" mirabilia. Understanding the cultural gulf that exists between medieval and modern thinking is central to the concept of "ships in the air. " The paper addresses the significance of the ship as an enduring cultural metaphor and religious symbol and affirms these meanings. Résumé L'article se penche sur le phénomène des navires se déplaçant dans le ciel. Ces visions surréelles sont d'abord et avant tout examinées dans le contexte de l'Irlande médiévale, mais l'auteur présente aussi des observations aussi distantes dans le temps et l'espace que l'Angleterre du Xllf siècle et le Canada du xvnf siècle. La plus ancienne représentation d'un currach (bateau de peau) irlandais voguant dans le ciel orne une colonne en pierre du Vllf siècle. En reliant cette preuve iconographique à l'apparition de navires dans le ciel d'un monastère celte, on dispose d'un cadre permettant d'étudier la légende de ces embarcations. La compréhension du concept des « navires célestes » nécessite que l'on comprenne le gouffre culturel qui existe entre la pensée médiévale et la pensée moderne. L'article examine et confirme la signification du navire en tant que métaphore culturelle et symbole religieux persistant

Between forum and tower: The sources of political judgement in the leadership of Pope John Paul II

According to Mary Ann Glendon, scholars and statespersons have often grappled with a tension of pursuing their political ideals within practical realities. In The Forum and The Tower, Glendon examines how the political judgments of prominent public figures illuminates how conceptions of political ends inform, or do not inform, those decisions. This thesis draws from contemporary debates on Aristotle’s phronesis to explore how political actors deliberate between acting with integrity and compromising their political ideals. It develops a theoretical framework to examine the sources of political judgment in the leadership of Pope John Paul II towards Communist authority in Poland. The research proposes that John Paul II’s moral diplomacy draws from his political aim to expand the peoples’ participation in Poland’s political culture and economic structure. His decisions served as a “catalyst” for the Solidarity movement, which ultimately helped secure his political aims. However, external pressures on the Communist Government make it difficult to determine the extent to which John Paul II is “practically wise” in this context

Frequency pulling and mixing of relaxation oscillations in superconducting nanowires

Many superconducting technologies such as rapid single flux quantum computing (RSFQ) and superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) rely on the modulation of nonlinear dynamics in Josephson junctions for functionality. More recently, however, superconducting devices have been developed based on the switching and thermal heating of nanowires for use in fields such as single photon detection and digital logic. In this paper, we use resistive shunting to control the nonlinear heating of a superconducting nanowire and compare the resulting dynamics to those observed in Josephson junctions. We show that interaction of the hotspot growth with the external shunt produces high frequency relaxation oscillations with similar behavior as observed in Josephson junctions due to their rapid time constants and ability to be modulated by a weak periodic signal. In particular, we use a microwave drive to pull and mix the oscillation frequency, resulting in phase locked features that resemble the AC Josephson effect. New nanowire devices based on these conclusions have promising applications in fields such as parametric amplification and frequency multiplexing