Portmerion, Proportion and Perspective

The holiday village of Portmerion was created by Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis (1883 1978) over a period of fifty-one years, starting in 1926. It was grade II listed in 1971. However, Portmerion has become a part of western popular culture rather than of mainstream architectural history. Its use as the setting for the cult 1967 television series “The Prisoner” ensures continued worldwide interest and a constant stream of visitors. Williams Ellis’ design methods were empirical, initial designs being adjusted by eye on site in close collaboration with trusted builders. This paper analyses the development of Portmerion as a gesamtkunstwerk; considering the experience of movement through the village as a dynamic composition of shifting vistas, focussing the visitor on a series of constructed views. Through this analysis, Portmerion is revealed as both a manifestation of the architecture of pleasure and an exercise in the pleasure of architecture

Solving the Boltzmann equation in N log N

In [C. Mouhot and L. Pareschi, "Fast algorithms for computing the Boltzmann collision operator," Math. Comp., to appear; C. Mouhot and L. Pareschi, C. R. Math. Acad. Sci. Paris, 339 (2004), pp. 71-76], fast deterministic algorithms based on spectral methods were derived for the Boltzmann collision operator for a class of interactions including the hard spheres model in dimension three. These algorithms are implemented for the solution of the Boltzmann equation in two and three dimension, first for homogeneous solutions, then for general non homogeneous solutions. The results are compared to explicit solutions, when available, and to Monte-Carlo methods. In particular, the computational cost and accuracy are compared to those of Monte-Carlo methods as well as to those of previous spectral methods. Finally, for inhomogeneous solutions, we take advantage of the great computational efficiency of the method to show an oscillation phenomenon of the entropy functional in the trend to equilibrium, which was suggested in the work [L. Desvillettes and C. Villani, Invent. Math., 159 (2005), pp. 245-316].Comment: 32 page

Fast switching tunable laser sources for wavelength division multiplexing in passive optical access networks

Tunable laser structures with nanosecond switching time between wavelength channels and low-power injection locking are demonstrated on a low-cost platform. These lasers are suitable as source or slave lasers in WDM passive optical access networks

Time series comparisons of satellite and rocketsonde temperatures in 1978-1979

The Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) experiment on Nimbus 7 yielded temperature-versus-pressure (T(p)) profiles for each radiance scan. The present report describes time series comparisons between LIMS and rocketsonde T(p) values at rocketsonde station locations. Sample size has increased up to 665 by this new approach, leading to better statistics for a T(p) validation. The results indicate no clearly significant bias for LIMS versus Datasonde from 10 kPa at low and mid latitudes. There is a positive LIMS bias of 2 to 3 K in the upper stratosphere at high latitudes for the Northern Hemisphere in both winter and spring. LIMS is progressively colder than Datasonde from 0.4 kPa (about -3 K) to 0.1 kPa (about -9 K) at all latitudes. A similar comparison between LIMS and the more accurate falling sphere measurements reveals an equivalent mid-latitude LIMS bias at 0.4 kPa but a much smaller bias at 0.1 kPa (-4.6 K). Because the biases do not vary noticeably with season, it is concluded that they are not a function of atmospheric state. This result confirms the robustness of the LIMS temperature retrieval technique

Status of the superworld: from theory to experiment

Review to appear in Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics. Contents: {1}Introduction}{1} {2}High precision LEP data and convergence of couplings: physics is not Euclidean geometry}{2} {3}Interconnections between the measured quantities due to Unification}{7} {4}The origin of $M_{SUSY}$ and why it should be abandoned: masses and spectra are needed}{13} {5}The new step forward: Supergravity}{21} {6}The SU(5) Supergravity Model}{22} {7}SU(5)xU(1) Supergravity}{32} {8}Detailed calculations for the Tevatron}{47} {9}Detailed calculations for LEP}{48} {10}Detailed calculations for HERA}{53} {11}Detailed calculations for Underground Labs and Underwater facilities}{55} {12}Detailed calculations for indirect experimental detection}{65} {13}The problem of mass and $m_t$}{73} {14}Conclusions}{77}Comment: 90 pages, 41 figures (not included), latex. Send requests for hard copies to "[email protected]". CERN-TH.7136/94, CTP-TAMU-80/9

Supersymmetric Left-Right Model and its Tests in Linear Colliders

We investigate phenomenological implications of a supersymmetric left-right model based on $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R\times U(1)_{B-L}\,$ gauge symmetry testable in the next generation linear colliders. We concentrate in particular on the doubly charged $SU(2)_R$ triplet higgsino $\tilde\Delta$, which we find very suitable for experimental search. We estimate its production rate in $e^+e^-$, $e^-e^-$, $e^-\gamma$ and $\gamma\gamma$ collisions and consider its subsequent decays. These processes have a clear discovery signature with a very low background from other processes.Comment: 23 pages + 11 pages of figures (available on request), HU-SEFT R 1993-1