AUBURN, CA, EVACUATION PLAN

Auburn is a small but famous gold mining and railroad town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Placer County, California. The city has seen recent and historically reoccurring wildfires. In 2021, 1.5 million acres burned in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, a new record. Auburn consists of three (3) nonadjacent and nonoverlapping sections or parcels of land. The three (3) centroids of each section of Auburn are identified and used in three (3) evacuation scenarios: First, Auburn is evacuated away from the three (3) centroids. We look at how far evacuees can reach in 5, 10, 15, and 30 minutes using emergency vehicle travel times, so signal lights, one-way streets, etc., are ignored. Second, we evacuate away from the three (3) centroids while also avoiding previous burn areas. Third, we evacuate Auburn toward the only area hospital, a structure likely to be defended from fire by first responders. Also, some evacuees might require medical attention. Future work includes looking at how far emergency vehicles from places like fire stations can reach in 5, 10, 15, and 30 minutes, providing a coverage area for first responders

Photonic mode dispersion of a two-dimensional distributed feedback polymer laser

G. A. Turnbull, P. Andrew, William L. Barnes, and I. D. W. Samuel, Physical Review B, Vol. 67, article 165107 (2003). "Copyright © 2003 by the American Physical Society."We present an analysis of the photonic mode dispersion of a two-dimensional (2D) distributed feedback polymer laser based on the conjugated polymer poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene]. We use a combination of a simple model, together with experimental measurements of the photonic mode dispersion in transmission and emission, to explain the operating characteristics of the laser. The laser was found to oscillate at 636 nm on one edge of a photonic stop band in the photonic dispersion. A 2D coupling of modes traveling perpendicular to the orthogonal gratings was found to lead to a low divergence laser emission normal to the waveguide. At pump energies well above the oscillation threshold for this mode, a divergent, cross-shaped far-field emission was observed, resulting from a distributed feedback occurring over a wide range of wave vectors in one band of the photonic dispersion

Quantum Correlations in Systems of Indistinguishable Particles

We discuss quantum correlations in systems of indistinguishable particles in relation to entanglement in composite quantum systems consisting of well separated subsystems. Our studies are motivated by recent experiments and theoretical investigations on quantum dots and neutral atoms in microtraps as tools for quantum information processing. We present analogies between distinguishable particles, bosons and fermions in low-dimensional Hilbert spaces. We introduce the notion of Slater rank for pure states of pairs of fermions and bosons in analogy to the Schmidt rank for pairs of distinguishable particles. This concept is generalized to mixed states and provides a correlation measure for indistinguishable particles. Then we generalize these notions to pure fermionic and bosonic states in higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces and also to the multi-particle case. We review the results on quantum correlations in mixed fermionic states and discuss the concept of fermionic Slater witnesses. Then the theory of quantum correlations in mixed bosonic states and of bosonic Slater witnesses is formulated. In both cases we provide methods of constructing optimal Slater witnesses that detect the degree of quantum correlations in mixed fermionic and bosonic states.Comment: 46 pages, 4 eps figure

Relationship between photonic band structure and emission characteristics of a polymer distributed feedback laser

G. A. Turnbull, P. Andrew, M. J. Jory, William L. Barnes, and I. D. W. Samuel, Physical Review B, Vol. 64, article 125122 (2001). "Copyright © 2001 by the American Physical Society."We present an experimental study of the emission characteristics and photonic band structure of a distributed feedback polymer laser, based on the material poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene]. We use measurements of the photonic band dispersion to explain how the substrate microstructure modifies both spontaneous and stimulated emission. The lasing structure exhibits a one-dimensional photonic band gap around 610 nm, with lasing occurring at one of the two associated band edges. The band edge (frequency) selection mechanism is found to be a difference in the level of output coupling of the modes associated with the two band edges. This is a feature of the second-order distributed feedback mechanism we have employed and is clearly evident in the measured photonic band structur

Advances in small lasers

M.T.H was supported by an Australian Research council Future Fellowship research grant for this work. M.C.G. is grateful to the Scottish Funding Council (via SUPA) for financial support.Small lasers have dimensions or modes sizes close to or smaller than the wavelength of emitted light. In recent years there has been significant progress towards reducing the size and improving the characteristics of these devices. This work has been led primarily by the innovative use of new materials and cavity designs. This Review summarizes some of the latest developments, particularly in metallic and plasmonic lasers, improvements in small dielectric lasers, and the emerging area of small bio-compatible or bio-derived lasers. We examine the different approaches employed to reduce size and how they result in significant differences in the final device, particularly between metal- and dielectric-cavity lasers. We also present potential applications for the various forms of small lasers, and indicate where further developments are required.PostprintPeer reviewe

Cortical processing during table tennis: An fNIRS study in experts and novices

Among the many factors that determine top athletic performance, little is known about the contribution of the brain. With the present study, we aimed to uncover aspects of this role by examining modulatory differences in brain processing as a function of expertise and task complexity in table tennis. For this purpose, 28 right-handed volunteers (14 experts and 14 novices) performed two table tennis strokes in a standardized manner. Hemodynamic response alterations reflecting neuronal activation were recorded during task execution using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and analyzed within and between groups. Our results showed localized activation patterns in motor areas (primary motor cortex (M1), premotor cortex (PMC), and inferior parietal cortex (IPC)) for experts and novices. Compared to novices, experts completed more table tennis strokes and showed a significant increase in hemodynamic response alterations in channels corresponding to motor areas. Furthermore, we found significant correlations between the number of strokes and hemodynamic response magnitudes in individual channels of M1, PMC, and IPC. Taken together, our findings show that table tennis performance is accompanied by extensive activation of M1, PMC, and IPC. Furthermore, the observed difference in behavioral performance between experts and novices was associated with increased activation in M1, PMC, and IPC. We postulate that these differences in brain processing between experts and novices potentially imply modulatory distinctions related to increased movement speed or frequency but may also reflect an increased task familiarity of the experts