Semiotic Exograms: Extending the Mind Fully

This essay is an analysis and expanded defense of John Sutton’s essay “Exograms and Interdisciplinarity: History, the Extended Mind, and the Civilizing Process.” The first section of the essay surveys the extended mind literature, following the first and second waves of the Extended Mind theory. The second section explains Sutton’s exograms as external representations of internal thought. This section also details his argument that exograms extend the mind because, historically, exograms play a role in the internal functioning of a mind. The third section defends Sutton’s argument from objections against their place in mental processes, namely memory. The fourth section argues against the objection that the mind cannot be extended beyond the brain, by appealing to a computational view of functionalism. The conclusions drawn from the third and fourth sections are that the mind, through language, extends with culture and that, even in cognitive science, it is fruitful to study the mind extended as such

Semiotic Exograms: Extending the Mind Fully

This essay is an analysis and expanded defense of John Sutton’s essay “Exograms and Interdisciplinarity: History, the Extended Mind, and the Civilizing Process.” The first section of the essay surveys the extended mind literature, following the first and second waves of the Extended Mind theory. The second section explains Sutton’s exograms as external representations of internal thought. This section also details his argument that exograms extend the mind because, historically, exograms play a role in the internal functioning of a mind. The third section defends Sutton’s argument from objections against their place in mental processes, namely memory. The fourth section argues against the objection that the mind cannot be extended beyond the brain, by appealing to a computational view of functionalism. The conclusions drawn from the third and fourth sections are that the mind, through language, extends with culture and that, even in cognitive science, it is fruitful to study the mind extended as such

Strategies to strengthen ceramics for windows and domes

Strengthening of transparent ceramics is highly constrained by the fact that the classic methods to toughen ceramics, via microstructure modification, increase light scattering. Nonetheless, improvements are possible when a composite approach is applied at the nanoscale. For example, attempts to toughen spinel by reinforcing with alumina show modest gains. This paper discusses those efforts and examines the possibility of applying the concept to other ceramics. Strategies and limitations for windows and domes, for which the transparency requirements are not as stringent as for some other optical applications, are discussed. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Variable fresh snow albedo: how snowpack and sub-nivean properties influence fresh snow reflectance

2021 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.The understanding of albedo, or ratio of outgoing to incoming shortwave radiation, is necessary for modeling the melt characteristics of a snowpack in snow-dominated areas. The timing and supply of meltwater downstream is influenced by the energy balance, and albedo is used in those calculations. Current snow albedo models range from simple models that only reset albedo with new snowfall to complex models that are not feasible for most applications. We present a variable fresh snow model that enhances a simple albedo model, initially created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and used extensively in the Canadian LAnd Surface Scheme (CLASS). The new approach considers conditions prior to and during a snowfall event to improve fresh snow albedo estimates, instead of resetting to a static value; it also considers differences in the albedo decay rate.Hourly shortwave radiation (incoming and outgoing), snow depth, temperature, and other meteorological data from two stations at the Senator Beck Basin in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest, Colorado were used for the period from 2005 to 2014. We evaluated changes in albedo of a high-elevation seasonal snowpack during fresh snow events and apply a set of multivariate regressions to recreate values of broadband albedo. The variable fresh snow albedo model approaches the Visible and Near-Shortwave Infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum differently and groups values by temperature. The model needs few inputs, specifically measurements of depth and temperature, an estimation of ground albedo, and for increased accuracy, a quantification of the number of aeolian dust deposition events on the snowpack every year. This variable fresh snow model showed higher accuracy in albedo values, both of fresh and decayed snow (R2 of 0.77 and Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency, NSE of 0.75) than of CLASS (R2 of 0.67 and NSE of 0.62). When isolating fresh snow events, the variable fresh snow albedo model was much more accurate than the single-reset albedo provided by CLASS but still had a weak correlation to measured values (R2 of 0.38). The variable fresh snow albedo model especially outperformed CLASS during the melt period, with ~24% more accurate absorption values to measured values than CLASS. Since fresh snow albedo is primarily weighted by albedo from the timestep before, we suggest this model also be used to correct erroneous values of albedo given incorrect sensor measurements, such as due to snow accumulation on the upward looking shortwave radiation sensor (pyranometer)

Nanostructured metal-ceramic composites by internal reduction

The nucleation and growth of metallic particles within metal-doped oxides exposed to reducing conditions is relevant to the processing of materials for catalysts, fuel cells, and structural applications. Here, the precipitation of metallic nickel during the internal reduction of nickel-doped yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is studied with electron microscopy and SQUID magnetometry. It is shown that the microstructure evolution proceeds in three distinct stages, each with its own kinetics description, dependent on the porosity and grain size. The transitions between stages depend on concentration gradients and electrostatic potentials that act upon the relevant transporting species, namely oxygen vacancies, electrons, nickel ions and zirconium vacancies. An understanding of these mechanisms enables the design of specific nanostructure

Niobium Oxide-Metal Based Seals for High Temperature Applications

The present final report describes technical progress made in regards to evaluating niobium oxide/alumina as a high temperature seal material. Fabrication and characterization of specimens comprising niobium oxide and alumina composites of various compositions was performed. The goal was to identify regions where a glass formed. There were no experimental conditions where a glassy phase was unequivocally identified. However, the results led to the formation of an interesting class of fibrous composites which may have applications where high compliance and high toughness are needed. It is clear that vapor phase sintering is an active mass transport mechanism in Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} composites (Figure 1), and it may be possible to design porous materials by utilizing vapor phase sintering. The compositions evaluated in the present work are 52, 60, 73, 82 and 95 mol. % Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5} with the remainder Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}. These were chosen so that some eutectic composition was present during cooling, in an attempt to encourage glass formation. However, the presence of large, elongated crystals, both in the slow cool and the quench experiments indicates that the driving force for crystallization is very high. Several joints were formed between high purity alumina with two compositions (60 and 82 mol. %) forming the joint. These were created by grinding and polishing alumina surfaces and stacking them end-to-end with the powdered Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} material in between. Joining was accomplished in air at temperatures between 1400 C and 1450 C. The joints failed during subsequent machining for strength bars, indicating low strength. It may be possible to use the compositions evaluated here as a joint material, but it seems unlikely that a glassy phase could be produced while joining

INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL TREATMENT METHODS ON MICROBIAL GROWTH IN WATER

Use of the TinO2n-1 electrode for water electrolysis process promotes the destruction of organic matter as shown by the changes in permanganate index different values of electrolysed and non electrolysed solution. Using the TinO2n-1 electrode in the electrolysis process with the presence of chlorine and bromine ions can create a lasting disinfectant effect that was demonstrated by the sharp decrease in the number of bacterial colony forming units in electrolysed solutions. Using the TinO2n-1 electrode in the electrolysis process with the presence of iodine ions can create a bacteriostatic effect which was maintained for at least 10 days in electrolysed solution

The formation of oriented barium carbonate from the decomposition of yttria-doped barium zirconate films

Yttria doped barium zirconate (BZY) thin films show promise thanks to their high proton conductivities and their possibility for use in studying fundamental processes such as exsolution. This work demonstrates that highly oriented BZY thin (45 nm) films on (100) single crystal strontium titanate decompose into oriented barium carbonate rods and yttria stabilized zirconia when exposed to industrial grade Ar or pure CO at 800 °C. It is shown with transmission electron microscopy that the rods nucleate on the BZY surface. The causes and modes of decomposition in these thin films are discussed in detail