"Gilbert Romme et la communauté scientifique pétersbourgeoise (1779-1786)"

Lire la présentation de la correspondance de Gilbert Romme http://chec.univ-bpclermont.fr/article127.htmlChoisi comme gouverneur du jeune Pavel Stroganov, Gilbert Romme séjourne en Russie de la fin 1779 au printemps 1786. Le père de son élève l'introduit très vite auprès des membres de l'Académie des sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg et il se lie plus particulièrement avec Peter Simon Pallas. Pourtant sa correspondance avec ses compatriotes et amis riomois reste très discrète sur ses lectures et sur les activités intenses et variées qu'il mène dans la capitale russe. Les Notes scientifiques et anecdotes viennent combler cette lacune. Romme, en effet, est devenu une véritable plaque tournante entre les savants pétersbourgeois et parisiens. Lui-même voit sa curiosité naturelle et sa réflexion stimulées par ces contacts qui font naître chez ce mathématicien et physicien des intérêts nouveaux, d'ordre linguistique par exemple, en phase avec ceux de son époque

A Most Fateful Encounter: How Scipio Africanus Defeated Hannibal Barca at the Battle of Zama

This thesis addresses the question of why Hannibal Barca suffered such a decisive defeat at the hands of Scipio Africanus in the Battle of Zama. I begin by conducting a thorough analysis of the two ancient sources that have provided us with the bulk of what is known about the battle and the events leading up to it. My analysis of them primarily concerns itself with determining how objective and trustworthy these accounts are, and as such how much faith can be placed in the details they provide. Using these sources, I then proceed to examine the events leading up to the Battle of Zama itself, specifically Scipio\u27s campaign in North Africa and how his strategic decisions and maneuvers ultimately forced Hannibal to return to North Africa and confront him. I then conduct an analysis of the battle itself and each general\u27s tactical performance. Before drawing my own conclusions as to why Hannibal lost, I review the texts of scholars who have also written on the subject to determine what they believe were the factors responsible for Hannibal\u27s defeat, categorizing them into two major schools of thought. Finally, I choose one side and then add my own contributions as to why Scipio Africanus triumphed in the end

Optical Classification of Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Swift Era

We propose a new method for the classification of optically dark gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), based on the X-ray and optical-to-X-ray spectral indices of GRB afterglows, and utilizing the spectral capabilities of Swift. This method depends less on model assumptions than previous methods, and can be used as a quick diagnostic tool to identify optically sub-luminous bursts. With this method we can also find GRBs that are extremely bright at optical wavelengths. We show that the previously suggested correlation between the optical darkness and the X-ray/gamma-ray brightness is merely an observational selection effect.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in Ap

Warranting the use of causal claims: a non-trivial case for interdisciplinarity

To what use can causal claims established in good studies be put? We give examples of studies from which inaccurate inferences were made about target policy situations. The usual diagnosis is that the studies in question lack external validity, which means that the same results do not hold in the target as in study. That’s a label that just repeats what we already knew. We offer a deeper analysis. Our analysis points to the need for interdisciplinarity and to the demand to focus not on the study – as the expression ‘external validity’ invites you to do – but on the target. The call for interdisciplinary approaches to real life problems is common since it is widely acknowledged that what happens in the real world seldom falls under the auspices of any single research domain. Our focus is on one specific real life problem: how to use causal claims from good studies to help predict whether the policies tested will work in a new situation. Our analysis of what it takes to back up these predictions points up very specific stages in the process of prediction where we are bound to get it wrong if we do not diversify our concepts, our knowledge and our methods. We isolate two reasons inferences from study to target fail. First, policy variables do not produce results on their own; they need helping factors. The distribution of helping factors is likely to be unique or local for each study, so one cannot expect external validity to be all that common. Second, researchers often give too concrete a description of the cause in the study for it to carry over to the target. Abstraction is necessary to get causes that travel. There is no sure-fire way to guard against these problems. But the unavailability of one perfect tool does not imply there are no second best contrivances. Two general pointers for Good Practice in policy advice follow from our diagnosis: focus on the concrete details in the target and use cross discipline heuristics that diversify background knowledge

CMOS On-Chip 3D Inductor Design & Application in RF Bio-Sensing

abstract: Three-dimensional (3D) inductors with square, hexagonal and octagonal geometries have been designed and simulated in ANSYS HFSS. The inductors have been designed on Silicon substrate with through-hole via with different width, spacing and thickness. Spice modeling has been done in Agilent ADS and comparison has been made with results of custom excel based calculator and HFSS simulation results. Single ended quality factor was measured as 12.97 and differential ended quality factor was measured as 15.96 at a maximum operational frequency of 3.65GHz. The single ended and differential inductance was measured as 2.98nH and 2.88nH respectively at this frequency. Based on results a symmetric octagonal inductor design has been recommended to be used for application in RF biosensing. A system design has been proposed based on use of this inductor and principle of inductive sensing using magnetic labeling.Dissertation/ThesisM.S. Electrical Engineering 201