Recent developments in Monte-Carlo Event Generators

With Run II of the LHC having started, the need for high precision theory predictions whose uncertainty matches that of the data to be taken necessitated a range of new developments in Monte-Carlo Event Generators. This talk will give an overview of the progress in recent years in the field and what can and cannot be expected from these newly written tools.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, ISMD 2015 proceeding

Lucky joint action

In this paper, I argue that joint action permits a certain degree of luck. The cases I have in mind exhibit the following structure: each participant believes that the intended ends of each robustly support the joint action. This belief turns out to be false. Due to lucky circumstances, the discordance in intention never becomes common knowledge. However, common knowledge of the relevant intentions would have undermined the joint action altogether. The analysis of such cases shows the extent to which common knowledge of the participants’ intentions can be harmful to joint action. This extends a recent line of research that has questioned the necessity of common knowledge in joint action

From Functional Group Ensembles to Single Molecules: Scanning Force Microscopy of Supramolecular and Polymeric Systems

Surfaces in supramolecular and polymeric systems were characterized by scanning force microscopy (SFM) using probe tips functionalized with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). This approach allows one to control the forces between tip and surface by immobilizing suitable molecules, which expose selected functional groups, onto gold-coated probes. The objective of this Thesis work was the extension of SFM with SAM-functionalized probes (so-called "chemical force microscopy", CFM) to technologically relevant surfacetreated polymers and elastomers with the ultimate aim of laterally resolved detection of functional group distributions on a sub-100 nm level. In measurements of interaction forces between a few or even individual molecules in supramolecular systems the transition from studying continuum to studying non-continuum properties was also attempted. In situ measurements of reaction kinetics using "inverted CFM" on a scale of 10 - 100 molecules were achieved. Furthermore, interactions between ensembles of functional groups and individual molecules were studied and provided fundamental insight into functional group distributions on polymer surfaces as well as rupture forces of individual host-guest complexes

Lattice Imaging of Self-Assembled Monolayers of Partially Fluorinated Disulfides and Thiols on Sputtered Gold by Atomic Force Microscopy

The structure of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of various fluorinated disulfides, perfluoroalkylamide thiols, and a mixed alkyl perfluoroalkylamide disulfide on sputtered gold was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM, performed both in air and in ethanol, revealed the monolayer structure with molecular resolution on the polycrystalline gold substrates. For all partially fluorinated disulfides containing ester groups, a hexagonal lattice with a lattice constant of 5.8-5.9 Å was found. A mixed alkyl perfluoroalkylamide disulfide formed a hexagonal lattice of a slightly larger lattice constant (6.1 Å), whereas the lattice observed for fluorinated thiols containing an amide group was either hexagonal (5.7-5.8 Å) or distorted hexatic (5.6, 6.2, 5.6 Å), depending on the length of the perfluoroalkane segment and the imaging force. The observed deviation from hexagonal symmetry is attributed to the distorting effect of hydrogen bonding between neighboring amide groups within the monolayer. For short perfluoroalkane segments the distortion is observed at low imaging forces, whereas for long perfluoroalkane segments significantly higher imaging forces are necessary in order to observe the distortion. The force dependence of the measured lattice symmetries for different chain lengths suggests that the AFM tip penetrates into the SAM and probes at least partially the interior of the SAM

Beyond ‘Interaction’: How to Understand Social Effects on Social Cognition

In recent years, a number of philosophers and cognitive scientists have advocated for an ‘interactive turn’ in the methodology of social-cognition research: to become more ecologically valid, we must design experiments that are interactive, rather than merely observational. While the practical aim of improving ecological validity in the study of social cognition is laudable, we think that the notion of ‘interaction’ is not suitable for this task: as it is currently deployed in the social cognition literature, this notion leads to serious conceptual and methodological confusion. In this paper, we tackle this confusion on three fronts: 1) we revise the ‘interactionist’ definition of interaction; 2) we demonstrate a number of potential methodological confounds that arise in interactive experimental designs; and 3) we show that ersatz interactivity works just as well as the real thing. We conclude that the notion of ‘interaction’, as it is currently being deployed in this literature, obscures an accurate understanding of human social cognition

Self-Assembled Monolayers of Symmetrical and Mixed Alkyl Fluoroalkyl Disulfides on Gold. 1. Synthesis of Disulfides and Investigation of Monolayer Properties

The synthesis of a variety of symmetrical bis(alkyl) and bis(fluoroalkyl) disulfides as well as mixed alkyl fluoroalkyl disulfides containing ester or amide groups is described. Self-assembled monolayers of these compounds on gold formed by spontaneous adsorption from solution are studied by contact angle measurements and polarized grazing incidence Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The contact angles indicate tight packing of the molecules and the incorporation of both alkyl and fluoroalkyl chains in the monolayers. By means of FTIR, the typical tilted orientation of the alkyl chains is confirmed for monolayers derived from symmetrical alkyl disulfides, whereas, in self-assembled monolayers of the symmetrical fluorocarbon and the mixed disulfides, the molecules are oriented much closer to the surface normal direction. The wetting properties and the FTIR spectra of monolayers formed by coadsorption of an n-alkanethiol and a perfluorinated thiol are comparable to those formed by the self-assembly of the corresponding mixed disulfide. There is no indication for phase separation in any of the systems studied at room temperature. The mixed alkyl fluoroalkyl disulfides promise to form suitable monolayers on gold for the investigation of heat-induced phase separation on the gold surface