Introduction

This chapter will motivate why it is useful to consider the topic of derivations and filtering in more detail. We will argue against the popular belief that the minimalist program and optimality theory are incompatible theories in that the former places the explanatory burden on the generative device (the computational system) whereas the latter places it on the fi ltering device (the OT evaluator). Although this belief may be correct in as far as it describes existing tendencies, we will argue that minimalist and optimality theoretic approaches normally adopt more or less the same global architecture of grammar: both assume that a generator defines a set S of potentially well-formed expressions that can be generated on the basis of a given input and that there is an evaluator that selects the expressions from S that are actually grammatical in a given language L. For this reason, we believe that it has a high priority to investigate the role of the two components in more detail in the hope that this will provide a better understanding of the differences and similarities between the two approaches. We will conclude this introduction with a brief review of the studies collected in this book.

Generating single-mode behavior in fiber-coupled optical cavities

We propose to turn two resonant distant cavities effectively into one by coupling them via an optical fiber which is coated with two-level atoms [Franson et al., Phys. Rev. A 70, 062302 (2004)]. The purpose of the atoms is to destructively measure the evanescent electric field of the fiber on a time scale which is long compared to the time it takes a photon to travel from one cavity to the other. Moreover, the boundary conditions imposed by the setup should support a small range of standing waves inside the fiber, including one at the frequency of the cavities. In this way, the fiber provides an additional decay channel for one common cavity field mode but not for the other. If the corresponding decay rate is sufficiently large, this mode decouples effectively from the system dynamics. A single non-local resonator mode is created.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, final version, accepted for publicatio

Methods for predicting thermal stress cracking in turbine stator or rotor blades Summary report

Test rig for predicting thermal stress cracking in turbine stator or rotor blade

Religion and trust: an experimental study

We investigate the relationship between religion and trust. Using a questionnaire, we measure: i) general religiosity, and; ii) the extent of religious beliefs, experience, and ritual. These are then analyzed with behaviour in a trust game (Berg et al., Games and Economic Behaviour, 1995), which we also extend by proving information of a potential trustee's religiosity in certain tasks. We find that trusting increases with the potential trustee's religiosity. The extent to which trusting increases with a trustee's religiosity, in turn, increases with a truster's religiosity. Trustworthiness also increases with religiosity, and at an increasing rate. --Religiosity,Trust,Stereotype,Questionnaire,Experiment

Non-exponential relaxation and hierarchically constrained dynamics in a protein

A scaling analysis within a model of hierarchically constrained dynamics is shown to reproduce the main features of non-exponential relaxation observed in kinetic studies of carbonmonoxymyoglobin.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures in text. Reference errors have been correcte

A parameterisation of the soot aging for global climate models

International audienceThe representation of soot in global climate models is desirable since it contributes to both the direct and indirect climate effect. While freshly emitted soot is initially hydrophobic and externally mixed, it can be transferred into an internal mixture by coagulation, condensation or photochemical processes. These aging processes affect the hygroscopic qualities and hence the growth behaviour, the optical properties and eventually the lifetime of the soot particles. However, due to computational limits the aging of soot in global climate models is often only parameterised by an estimated turnover rate resulting in a lifetime of soot of several days. Based on the results of our simulations with a comprehensive mesoscale model, we derive the timescale on which diesel soot is transferred from an external to internal mixture, and propose a parameterisation for the use in global climate models. This parameterisation is applicable to continental conditions in industrialised areas as can be found in Central Europe and North America. For daytime conditions, away from the sources, condensation is dominant and the aging process occurs very fast with a timescale of ?=2 h. During night time condensation is not effective. Then coagulation is the most important aging process and our parameterisation leads to a timescale between 10 h and 40 h