bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Early stage oxynitridation process of Si(001) surface by NO gas: Reactive molecular dynamics simulation study
Authors: Cao Haining , Srivastava Pooja , Choi Keunsu , Kim Seungchul , Lee Kwang-Ryeol
Published: March 2016

Initial stage of oxynitridation process of Si substrate is of crucial importance in fabricating the ultrathin gate dielectric layer of high quality in advanced MOSFET devices. The oxynitridation reaction on a relaxed Si(001) surface is investigated via reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. A total of 1120 events of a single nitric oxide (NO) molecule reaction at temperatures ranging from 300 to 1000 K are statistically analyzed. The observed reaction kinetics are consistent with the previous experimental or calculation results, which show the viability of the reactive MD technique to study the NO dissociation reaction on Si. We suggest the reaction pathway for NO dissociation that is characterized by the inter-dimer bridge of a NO molecule as the intermediate state prior to NO dissociation. Although the energy of the inter-dimer bridge is higher than that of the intra-dimer one, our suggestion is supported by the ab initio nudged elastic band calculations showing that the energy barrier for the inter-dimer bridge formation is much lower. The growth mechanism of an ultrathin Si oxynitride layer is also investigated via consecutive NO reactions simulation. The simulation reveals the mechanism of self-limiting reaction at low temperature and the time evolution of the depth profile of N and O atoms depending on the process temperature, which would guide to optimize the oxynitridation process condition.
Hybrid quantum dot-tin disulfide field-effect transistors with improved photocurrent and spectral responsivity
Authors: Huang Yuan , Zang Huidong , Chen Jia-Shiang , Sutter Eli A. , Sutter Peter W. , Nam Chang-Yong , Cotlet Mircea
Published: March 2016

We report an improved photosensitivity in few-layer tin disulfide (SnS2) field-effect transistors (FETs) following doping with CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs). The hybrid QD-SnS2 FET devices achieve more than 500% increase in the photocurrent response compared with the starting SnS2-only FET device and a spectral responsivity reaching over 650 A/W at 400 nm wavelength. The negligible electrical conductance in a control QD-only FET device suggests that the energy transfer between QDs and SnS2 is the main mechanism responsible for the sensitization effect, which is consistent with the strong spectral overlap between QD photoluminescence and SnS2 optical absorption as well as the large nominal donor-acceptor interspacing between QD core and SnS2. We also find enhanced charge carrier mobility in hybrid QD-SnS2 FETs which we attribute to a reduced contact Schottky barrier width due to an elevated background charge carrier density.
Effect of junction temperature on heat dissipation of high power light emitting diodes
Authors: Kim Dae-Suk , Han Bongtae
Published: March 2016

The effect of junction temperature on heat dissipation of high power light emitting diodes (LEDs) is investigated. The theoretical aspect of junction temperature dependency of two major parameters—the forward voltage and the radiant flux—on heat dissipation is reviewed. Actual measurements of the heat dissipation over a wide range of junction temperatures are followed to quantify the effect of the parameters using commercially available LEDs. The results show that (1) the effect of the junction temperature dependency on heat dissipation is governed largely by the LED power efficiency and (2) each parameter contributes to the total heat dissipation in an opposite way so that the absolute changes of the heat dissipation are not significant over a wide range of junction temperature. An empirical model of heat dissipation is proposed for applications in practice.
Direct growth of nano-crystalline graphite films using pulsed laser deposition with in-situ monitoring based on reflection high-energy electron diffraction technique
Authors: Kwak Jeong Hun , Lee Sung Su , Lee Hyeon Jun , Anoop Gopinathan , Lee Hye Jeong , Kim Wan Sik , Ryu Sang-Wan , Kim Ha Sul , Jo Ji Young
Published: March 2016

We report an experimental method to overcome the long processing time required for fabricating graphite films by a transfer process from a catalytic layer to a substrate, as well as our study of the growth process of graphite films using a pulsed laser deposition combined with in-situ monitoring based on reflection high-energy electron diffraction technique. We monitored the structural evolution of nano-crystalline graphite films directly grown on AlN-coated Si substrates without any catalytic layer. We found that the carbon films grown for less than 600 s cannot manifest the graphite structure due to a high defect density arising from grain boundaries; however, the carbon film can gradually become a nano-crystalline graphite film with a thickness of approximately up to 5 nm. The Raman spectra and electrical properties of carbon films indicate that the nano-crystalline graphite films can be fabricated, even at the growth temperature as low as 850 °C within 600 s.
Strong diameter-dependence of nanowire emission coupled to waveguide modes
Authors: van Dam Dick , Abujetas Diego R. , Sánchez-Gil José A. , Haverkort Jos E. M. , Bakkers Erik P. A. M. , Gómez Rivas Jaime
Published: March 2016

The emission from nanowires can couple to waveguide modes supported by the nanowire geometry, thus governing the far-field angular pattern. To investigate the geometry-induced coupling of the emission to waveguide modes, we acquire Fourier microscopy images of the photoluminescence of nanowires with diameters ranging from 143 to 208 nm. From the investigated diameter range, we conclude that a few nanometers difference in diameter can abruptly change the coupling of the emission to a specific mode. Moreover, we observe a diameter-dependent width of the Gaussian-shaped angular pattern in the far-field emission. This dependence is understood in terms of interference of the guided modes, which emit at the end facets of the nanowire. Our results are important for the design of quantum emitters, solid state lighting, and photovoltaic devices based on nanowires.
Visible-blind and solar-blind ultraviolet photodiodes based on (InxGa1−x)2O3
Authors: Zhang Zhipeng , von Wenckstern Holger , Lenzner Jörg , Lorenz Michael , Grundmann Marius
Published: March 2016

UV and deep-UV selective photodiodes from visible-blind to solar-blind were realized based on a Si-doped (InxGa1–x)2O3 thin film with a monotonic lateral variation of 0.0035 < x < 0.83. Such layer was deposited by employing a continuous composition spread approach relying on the ablation of a single segmented target in pulsed-laser deposition. The photo response signal is provided from a metal-semiconductor-metal structure upon backside illumination. The absorption onset was tuned from 4.83 to 3.22 eV for increasing x. Higher responsivities were observed for photodiodes fabricated from indium-rich part of the sample, for which an internal gain mechanism could be identified.
Nanoscale doping of compound semiconductors by solid phase dopant diffusion
Authors: Ahn Jaehyun , Chou Harry , Koh Donghyi , Kim Taegon , Roy Anupam , Song Jonghan , Banerjee Sanjay K.
Published: March 2016

Achieving damage-free, uniform, abrupt, ultra-shallow junctions while simultaneously controlling the doping concentration on the nanoscale is an ongoing challenge to the scaling down of electronic device dimensions. Here, we demonstrate a simple method of effectively doping ΙΙΙ-V compound semiconductors, specifically InGaAs, by a solid phase doping source. This method is based on the in-diffusion of oxygen and/or silicon from a deposited non-stoichiometric silicon dioxide (SiOx) film on InGaAs, which then acts as donors upon activation by annealing. The dopant profile and concentration can be controlled by the deposited film thickness and thermal annealing parameters, giving active carrier concentration of 1.4 × 1018 cm−3. Our results also indicate that conventional silicon based processes must be carefully reviewed for compound semiconductor device fabrication to prevent unintended doping.
Modelling graphene quantum dot functionalization via ethylene-dinitrobenzoyl
Authors: Noori Keian , Hübener Hannes , Kymakis Emmanuel , Giustino Feliciano
Published: March 2016

Ethylene-dinitrobenzoyl (EDNB) linked to graphene oxide has been shown to improve the performance of graphene/polymer organic photovoltaics. Its binding conformation on graphene, however, is not yet clear, nor have its effects on work function and optical absorption been explored more generally for graphene quantum dots. In this report, we clarify the linkage of EDNB to GQDs from first principles and show that the binding of the molecule increases the work function of graphene, while simultaneously modifying its absorption in the ultraviolet region.
Laser Flash Photolysis Mechanism of Anthraquinone-2-Sodium Sulfonate in Pyridine Ionic Liquid/Water Mixed System
Authors: Zhu Guang-lai , Zhang Liang-wei , Liu Yan-cheng , Cui Zhi-feng , Xu Xin-sheng , Wu Guo-zhong
Published: March 2016

The photochemical reaction  process of anthraquinone-2-sodium sulfonate (AQS) in the mixture of water (H2O) and N-butylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate ([BPy][BF4]) was studied using the laser flash photolysis  technique. Experimental results show that the excited triplet of AQS (3AQS*) could react rapidly with H2O and the transient absorption spectra  greatly changed by increasing the volume fraction of the ionic liquid  (VIL) in [BPy][BF4]/H2O mixtures. The absorbance at 510 nm increased gradually with increasing VIL when 0<VIL<0.1. By contrast, the absorbance decreased gradually when VIL>0.1. Otherwise, the absorbance of the band near 380 nm steadily increased. The apparent kinetic parameters of transient species B and 3AQS* are obtained approximately. 3AQS* abstracting hydrogen from [BPy]+ was also explored. It was deduced that the 350–420 nm band was the superposition of the peaks of 3AQS* and AQSH·. The two reactions  of 3AQS* with [BPy][BF4] and H2O are a pair of competitive reactions.  We also concluded that the entire reaction  processes slow down in the case of high [BPy][BF4] concentrations.
Structural Dynamics of Phenyl Azide in Light-Absorbing Excited States: Resonance Raman and Quantum Mechanical Calculation Study
Authors: Yuan Rong-dan , Xue Jia-dan , Zheng Xu-ming
Published: March 2016

The excited state structural dynamics of phenyl azide (PhN3) after excitation to the light absorbing S2(A′), S3(A′), and S6(A′) states were studied using the resonance Raman spectroscopy and complete active space self-consistent field calculations. The vibrational spectra and the UV absorption bands were assigned on the basis of the Fourier transform (FT)-Raman, FT-infrared measurements, the density-functional theory computations and the normal mode analysis. The A-, B-, and C-bands resonance Raman spectra in cyclohexane, acetonitrile, and methanol solvents were, respectively, obtained at 273.9, 252.7, 245.9, 228.7, 223.1, and 208.8 nm excitation wavelengths to probe the corresponding structural dynamics of PhN3. The results indicated that the structural dynamics in the S2(A′), S3(A′), and S6(A′) states were significantly different. The crossing points of the potential energy surfaces, S2S1(1) and S2S1(2), were predicted to play a key role in the low-lying excited state decay dynamics, in accordance with Kasha's rule, and N7=N8 dissociation. Two decay channels initiated from the Franck-Condon region of the S2(A′) state were predicted: the radiative S2,min→S0 radiative decay and the S2→S1 internal conversion through the crossing points S2S1(1)/S2S1(2).
Reactions of Group V Metal Atoms with Hydrogen Sulfide: Argon Matrix Infrared Spectra and Theoretical Calculations
Authors: Zhao Jie , Xu Bing , Yu Wen-jie , Wang Xue-feng
Published: March 2016

The reaction of laser-ablated vanadium, niobium and tantalum atoms with hydrogen sulfide has been investigated using matrix isolation FTIR and theoretical calculations. The metal atoms inserted into the H−S bond of H2S to form the HMSH molecules (M=V, Nb, Ta), which rearranged to H2MS molecules on annealing for Nb and Ta. The HMSH molecule can also further react with another H2S to form the H2M(SH)2 molecules. These new molecules were identified on the basis of the D2S and H234S isotopic substitutions. DFT (B3LYP and BPW91) theoretical calculations are used to predict energies, geometries, and vibrational frequencies for these novel metal dihydrido complexes and molecules. Reaction mechanism for formation of group V dihydrido complex was investigated by DFT internal reaction coordinate calculations. The dissociation of HVSH gave VS+H2 on broad band irradiation and reverse reaction happened on annealing. Based on B3LYP calculation releasing hydrogen from HVSH is endothermic only by 13.5 kcal/mol with lower energy barrier of 16.9 kcal/mol.
Photodissociation Dynamics of 2-Iodotoluene Investigated by Femtosecond Time-Resolved Mass Spectrometry
Authors: Liu Zhi-ming , Wang Yan-mei , Hu Chun-long , Long Jin-you , Zhang Bing
Published: March 2016

The photodissociation dynamics of 2-iodotoluene following excitation at 266 nm have been investigated employing femtosecond  time-resolved  mass spectrometry.  The photofragments are detected by multiphoton ionization using an intense laser field centered at 800 nm. A dissociation time of 380±50 fs was measured from the rising time of the co-fragments of toluene radical (C7H7) and iodine atom (I), which is attributed to the averaged time needed for the C−I bond breaking for the simultaneously excited nσ* and ππ* states by 266 nm pump light. In addition, a probe light centered at 298.23 nm corresponding to resonance wavelength of ground-state iodine atom is used to selectively ionize ground-state iodine atoms generated from the dissociation of initially populated nσ* and ππ* states. And a rise time of 400±50 fs is extracted from the fitting of time-dependent I+ transient, which is in agreement with the dissociation time obtained by multiphoton ionization with 800 nm, suggesting that the main dissociative products are ground-state iodine atoms.
Plasmonic Field Enhancement for Vibration Spectroscopy at Metal/Water Interfaces
Authors: Liu Zhi-hua , Xu Qian , Liu Wei-tao
Published: March 2016

Electrochemical (EC) reactions play vital roles in many disciplines, and its molecular-level understanding is highly desired, in particular under reactions. The vibration spectroscopy is a powerful in situ technique for chemical analysis, yet its application to EC reactions is hindered by the strong attenuation of infrared (IR) light in both electrodes and electrolytes. Here we demonstrate that by incorporating appropriate sub-wavelength plasmonic structures at the metal electrode, the IR field at the EC interface can be greatly enhanced via the excitation of surface plasmon. This scheme facilitates in situ vibrational spectroscopic studies, especially using the surface-specific sum-frequency generation technique.
Photochemical Reaction of Benzoin Caged Compound: Time-Resolved Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Study
Authors: Dai Xiao-juan , Yu You-qing , Liu Kun-hui , Su Hong-mei
Published: March 2016

The benzoin group caged compound has received strong interests due to its excellent photo-deprotection properties and wide use in chemical and biological studies. We used time-resolved infrared spectroscopy to investigate the photochemical reaction of the benzoin caged compound, o-(2-methylbenzoyl)-DL-benzoin under 266 nm laser irradiation. Taking advantage of the specific vibrational marker bands and the IR discerning capability, we have detected and identified the uncaging product 2-methylbenzoic acid, and two intermediate radicals of benzoyl and 2-methylbenzoate benzyl in the transient infrared spectra. Our results provide spectral evidence to support the homolytic cleavage reaction of C–C=O bond in competition with the deprotection reaction. Moreover, the product yields of 2-methylbenzoic acid and benzoyl radical were observed to be affected by solvents and a largely water containing solvent can be in favor of the deprotection reaction.
Quantitative food webs and invertebrate assemblages of a large River: a spatiotemporal approach in floodplain shallow lakes
Authors: Carvalho Débora A. , Williner Verónica , Giri Federico , Vaccari Carina , Collins Pablo A.
Published: March 2016

To test the hypothesis that the hydrological regime of large Rivers affects the structure of invertebrate communities and food webs in floodplain lakes, we studied invertebrate assemblages and stomach contents of fish and decapods in two shallow lakes in the Paraná River floodplain, Argentina, with different connectivity (indirect and permanent, IPC; direct and temporal, DTC) to the fluvial system over three hydroperiods (flooding, transition, drought). Invertebrate assemblages exhibited temporal variation, with higher dissimilarity during the drought phase. However, zooplanktonic and pleustonic attributes varied spatiotemporally, and were better explained by other environmental variables. The food webs in the two lakes differed, with higher connectance and fewer predators in the DTC Lake. In general, the use of trophic resources by fish and decapods reflected the local and abundant resources in the system. The persistence of communities in floodplain lakes with temporary connectivity to the river may relate to the foraging decisions of consumers to buffer environmental fluctuations. The consumption of abundant resources highlighted the importance of autochthonous inputs into floodplain lakes. However, the variation in food supply as a key factor governing food-web structure and stability should be further investigated.
Spatial and temporal changes of three prey-fish assemblage structure in a hypersaline lagoon: the Coorong, South Australia
Authors: Hossain M. A. , Ye Q. , Leterme S. C. , Qin J. G.
Published: March 2016

Estuaries and coastal lagoons are the dynamic interface among marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments. The Coorong, an Australian wetland, has been ecologically degraded by protracted drought and subsequent low freshwater flow, and transformed into a hyper-saline lagoon system. The Coorong consists of the North and South lagoons and connects to the Southern Ocean through a narrow channel at Murray Estuary. The present study investigated spatiotemporal variation of three primary prey-fish assemblage in the Murray Estuary and Coorong. Spatial change in prey-fish assemblage was detected, but temporal variation was not obvious. Prey-fish assemblage was dominated by greater abundance of small-mouth hardyhead (Atherinosoma microstoma) in the South Lagoon. There was low abundance of sandy sprat (Hyperlophus vittatus) and Tamar goby (Afurcagobius tamarensis) in North Lagoon, and complete absence of both species in South Lagoon. The spatial variation in the distribution of prey-fish assemblage was attributed to elevated salinity gradients (Murray Estuary: 2–30; North Lagoon: 11–75; and South Lagoon: 40–85). The change of prey-fish assemblage is mainly driven by the salinity variation in the Murray Estuary and Coorong. The present study has improved our understanding on the dynamics of small-bodied prey-fish assemblage and key environmental factors regulating fish distribution in the Murray Estuary and Coorong.
Stalk cell differentiation without polyketides in the cellular slime mold
Authors: Sato Yukie G , Suarez Teresa , Saito Tamao
Published: March 2016

Polyketides induce prestalk cell differentiation in Dictyostelium. In the double-knockout mutant of the SteelyA and B polyketide synthases, most of the pstA cells—the major part of the prestalk cells—are lost, and we show by whole mount in situ hybridization that expression of prestalk genes is also reduced. Treatment of the double-knockout mutant with the PKS inhibitor cerulenin gave a further reduction, but some pstA cells still remained in the tip region, suggesting the existence of a polyketide-independent subtype of pstA cells. The double-knockout mutant and cerulenin-treated parental Ax2 cells form fruiting bodies with fragile, single-cell layered stalks after cerulenin treatment. Our results indicate that most pstA cells are induced by polyketides, but the pstA cells at the very tip of the slug are induced in some other way. In addition, a fruiting body with a single-cell layered, vacuolated stalk can form without polyketides.
Characterizing 𝜏-tilting finite algebras with radical square zero
Authors: Adachi Takahide
Published: March 2016

In this paper, we give a characterization of

τ
\tau

-tilting finite algebras with radical square zero in terms of the separated quivers, which is an analog of a famous characterization of representation-finite algebras with radical square zero due to Gabriel.
Reactive oxygen species stimulate mitochondrial allele segregation toward homoplasmy in human cells
Authors: Ling Feng , Niu Rong , Hatakeyama Hideyuki , Goto Yu-ichi , Shibata Takehiko , Yoshida Minoru
Published: March 2016

Mitochondria that contain a mixture of mutant and wild-type mitochondrial (mt) DNA copies are heteroplasmic. In humans, homoplasmy is restored during early oogenesis and reprogramming of somatic cells, but the mechanism of mt-allele segregation remains unknown. In budding yeast, homoplasmy is restored by head-to-tail concatemer formation in mother cells by reactive oxygen species (ROS)–induced rolling-circle replication and selective transmission of concatemers to daughter cells, but this mechanism is not obvious in higher eukaryotes. Here, using heteroplasmic m.3243A > G primary fibroblast cells derived from MELAS patients treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), we show that an optimal ROS level promotes mt-allele segregation toward wild-type and mutant mtDNA homoplasmy. Enhanced ROS level reduced the amount of intact mtDNA replication templates but increased linear tandem multimers linked by head-to-tail unit-sized mtDNA (mtDNA concatemers). ROS-triggered mt-allele segregation correlated with mtDNA-concatemer production and enabled transmission of multiple identical mt-genome copies as a single unit. Our results support a mechanism by which mt-allele segregation toward mt-homoplasmy is mediated by concatemers.
Eisosomes promote the ability of Sur7 to regulate plasma membrane organization inCandida albicans
Authors: Wang Hong X. , Douglas Lois M. , Veselá Petra , Rachel Reinhard , Malinsky Jan , Konopka James B.
Published: March 2016

The plasma membrane of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans forms a protective barrier that also mediates many processes needed for virulence, including cell wall synthesis, invasive hyphal morphogenesis, and nutrient uptake. Because compartmentalization of the plasma membrane is believed to coordinate these diverse activities, we examined plasma membrane microdomains termed eisosomes or membrane compartment of Can1 (MCC), which correspond to ∼200-nm-long furrows in the plasma membrane. A pil1∆ lsp1∆ mutant failed to form eisosomes and displayed strong defects in plasma membrane organization and morphogenesis, including extensive cell wall invaginations. Mutation of eisosome proteins Slm2, Pkh2, and Pkh3 did not cause similar cell wall defects, although pkh2∆ cells formed chains of furrows and pkh3∆ cells formed wider furrows, identifying novel roles for the Pkh protein kinases in regulating furrows. In contrast, the sur7∆ mutant formed cell wall invaginations similar to those for the pil1∆ lsp1∆ mutant even though it could form eisosomes and furrows. A PH-domain probe revealed that the regulatory lipid phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate was enriched at sites of cell wall invaginations in both the sur7∆ and pil1∆ lsp1∆ cells, indicating that this contributes to the defects. The sur7∆ and pil1∆ lsp1∆ mutants displayed differential susceptibility to various types of stress, indicating that they affect overlapping but distinct functions. In support of this, many mutant phenotypes of the pil1∆ lsp1∆ cells were rescued by overexpressing SUR7. These results demonstrate that C. albicans eisosomes promote the ability of Sur7 to regulate plasma membrane organization.
Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso
Authors: Gross Kali Nicole
Published: March 2016

Shortly after the discovery of a headless, limbless torso on the bank of a pond just outside of Philadelphia, investigators homed in on two black suspects: Hannah Mary Tabbs and George Wilson, a young man Tabbs implicates shortly after her arrest. The ensuing trial spanned several months, with court procceedings lasting from February to September—a record length of time for the late-nineteenth century. The crime and its adjudication took center stage in presses from New York to Missouri. The nature of the case allowed otherwise taboo subjects such as illicit sex, adultery, and domestic violence in the black community to become fodder for mainstream public discourses on race, gender, and crime. At the same time, the near-white complexion of the victim and one of his assailants further inflamed public anxieties about shifting notions of race and the prospect of miscegenation in the post-Reconstruction era. Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso gathers evidence from bills of indictment, trial testimony, coroner’s reports, and detective registers to explore intraracial and gender violence among black Philadelphians. Yet by mapping the crime and its investigation as events unfolded, this book also spotlights the chasm between African Americans and the legal system and shows how biased policing helped foment to urban crime.
The Woman Found
Authors: Gross Kali Nicole
Published: March 2016

Chapter 2 follows the investigation after a witness surfaces with valuable evidence about a black woman believed to be responsible for dumping the torso. Shadowing the detectives as the case moves from Eddington to Philadelphia, it also studies how the authorities interrogated suspects and potential witnesses in the black community. Once Hannah Mary Tabbs is identified and taken into custody, the chapter shows how race informs where and how investigators search for suspects and reveals that issues such as racial profiling, police brutality, and coercive police interrogations have a long, deep-seated history in black communities.
Held for Trial
Authors: Gross Kali Nicole
Published: March 2016

Chapter 5 follows the case through the coroner’s inquest and subsequent finding by a grand jury that George Wilson and Hannah Mary Tabbs face murder charges. Building on the arguments in chapter 4, this chapter explores how authorities and the press regarded Wilson with both suspicion and contempt, largely because of his ability to pass, while regarding Tabbs as more trustworthy because of the ways that she performed racial deference. In other words, despite evidence against Tabbs and a compelling motive, Philadelphia detectives position Wilson as the primary culprit because they resented his proximity to whiteness as it stirred fears of racial infiltration.
Epilogue
Authors: Gross Kali Nicole
Published: March 2016

The conclusion attempts to reconstruct the life of the victim, Wakefield Gaines. In doing so, it calls attention to the violence of history in that it finds the victim’s assailants better served by the discipline by virtue of their heinous crime. It also calls attention to the racial bias in the justice system and how it informs and foments crime in black communities. It also ends with a final summation about the troubling character of Hannah Mary Tabbs and her legacy for history.
Semantic and Pragmatic Stances toward Emerging Media
Authors: Grey John
Published: March 2016

This chapter introduces a distinction from the philosophy of language between semantic and pragmatic content, a distinction that has several applications in the analysis of the relationship between emerging and traditional forms of media. In particular, our evaluations of both the expressive power and the novelty of a medium of communication will depend on whether our focus is on the semantic or pragmatic content that the medium is used to convey. After developing this distinction as it applies to the evaluation of media of communication, the chapter applies this framework to discuss several cases of emerging media. The upshot is that, depending on what we are trying to understand about the medium we are evaluating, we may be required to focus on either its capacity to convey semantic content or its capacity to convey pragmatic content.
Speech Acts and the Internet: Austin to Bourdieu and Fraenkel
Authors: Ambroise Bruno
Published: March 2016

With the development of the Internet, “virtual” forms of communication have emerged, be they e-mails or social networks. Now if we follow J. L. Austin’s idea that to say something or communicate is always already to perform speech acts, we can ask whether the Internet is a new space wherein it is possible to accomplish speech acts and even new kinds of speech acts (we can for instance wonder what “to poke” on Facebook consists in). This hypothesis relies on two presuppositions. First, it presupposes that “virtual” communication can equally be a space wherein one can use language as one does in ordinary natural communication. Second and therefore, it presupposes that virtual speech acts have “felicity conditions” that parallel those identified by Austin. In this chapter, we examine whether there are “virtual” speech acts and which feature(s) they might have compared to those of natural language.
Philosophy of Critique: The New Media
Authors: Day Ronald E.
Published: March 2016

The purpose of this chapter is to give a very brief overview of the epistemological and ontological commitments of some well-known continental philosophers and critical theorists as these commitments either implicitly or explicitly engage the emergence of personal and group subjectivity via new, digital information and communication media. The philosophers and theorists discussed include Heidegger, Derrida, Deleuze and Guattari, Habermas, and Baudrillard. The chapter is organized around the relation of critique to these new media.
Considerations pertaining to the nature of logodiversity
Authors: Boeckx Cedric
Published: March 2016

The present chapter stresses the numerous problems associated with the notion of “parameter” and offers ways of constructing a parametric space without appealing to parameters. Appeals to structural parameters are shown to be inadequate, and the role of learning biases is stressed.
Deriving linguistic variation from learnability conditions
Authors: Fasanella Adriana , Fortuny Jordi
Published: March 2016

This chapter stresses that the central problem of parametric theory is Plato’s problem (how do humans learn a language?), whereas what we may call Greenberg’s problem (what is the shape and degree of linguistic variability?) is derivative. The chapter reviews several macro- and microparameters and shows that they do not satisfy certain learnability conditions, whereby they are not plausible learning paths or plausible elements of UG. It explores a parametric approach, which conjoins a mechanism of data analysis parametrically defined (the Chunking Procedure), arguably used by the LAD to attain a morphological analysis of its PLD, and bootstrapping mechanisms that use the attained morphological analysis to specify more abstract syntactic properties of the target language, the clustering properties which standard parameters range over.
Some remarks on parameter hierarchies
Authors: Roberts Ian
Published: March 2016

This chapter presents a justification for combining both a “macroparametric” and a “microparametric” view of cross-linguistic syntactic variation, followed by an illustration of four parametric hierarchies currently being investigated under the auspices of the ReCoS project. It further turns to the question of the nature of the features governing parametric variation, suggesting a more general and principled format for the hierarchies. The conclusion is that only those features characteristic of phase heads are subject to variation, while the only truly invariant feature is N.
The wh parameter and radical externalization
Authors: Mathieu Éric
Published: March 2016

Inspired by Richards (2010), the hypothesis of this chapter is that whether a language is a wh in situ or a wh movement language depends entirely on whether the language associates focus with prosody in a purely demarcative fashion. The chapter concentrates on French wh in situ. It proposes that, although CP is universal, variation in question formation is conditioned independently by prosodic factors. The logic of this proposal is compatible with the idea that syntax is mainly invariant but pushes the idea that externalization is radical in that it does away with “strength” parameters completely. In Chomsky’s system, some variation is kept in syntax by way of features (strong or weak), especially for cases such as the wh parameter. Since the hypothesis of this paper abandons such features, its theoretical stance is much closer to that of Boeckx (2012, 2014), who claims that syntactic parameters simply do not exist.
The Null Subject Parameter and the Lexicon in Minimalist Syntax
Authors: Mensching Guido , Weingart Anja
Published: March 2016

This chapter investigates some properties of null subject languages in the light of the idea that parametrization stems from the lexicon. Using a minimalist approach, the chapter analyzes SV(O) versus VS(O) order in some Romance null subject languages. It argues that the feature composition of (expletive) pro in the lexica of Spanish and Romanian is different from that in Italian and Portuguese, thereby explaining the fact that the latter do not license VS(O) with transitive/unergative verbs in an unmarked (thetic) reading: this follows from the presence/absence of an obligatory Case feature on pro, leading to different base positions. Motion and event verbs show deviant word order behavior in thetic sentences, due to a kind of stage topic, a variant of pro in this account. It is finally shown that change-of-state verbs cannot have thetic VS structures, because the specific articulated vP of these verbs does not permit the insertion of pro.
The Epicureans on Happiness, Wealth, and the Deviant Craft of Property Management
Authors: O’Keefe Tim
Published: March 2016

Ancient ethicists were concerned with the proper attitude towards acquiring wealth, as well as the place of the craft of financial planning or property management (oikonomia) in the good life. The Epicureans stake out distinctive and plausible positions on these issues. The later Epicurean Philodemus contends that there is indeed a craft that allows you to obtain and manage wealth skillfully, but that cultivating and exercising that craft is incompatible with being a virtuous person and obtaining happiness. Philodemus’ views are an advance on the Socratic and Aristotelian positions on the craft of property management against which he is reacting—or so this chapter argues. By devoting himself to becoming as skillful as he can in accumulating property, the expert property manager will acquire habits and attitudes that distort his personality and disturb his peace of mind.
The Separation of Economics from Virtue
Authors: Schliesser Eric
Published: March 2016

The aim of this chapter is to explain what philosophical commitments drove mainstream professional economists to understand their own discipline as leaving no space for ethics (including virtue) between 1887 and 1971. In particular, it is argued that economics embraced a technocratic conception of politics and science. Philosophers, too, embraced and continue to embrace a number of commitments about philosophy and science that entrench a sharp division of labor between philosophers and economics and that keep not just ethics, but virtue, outside of economics. Many of these philosophers’ commitments were adopted by economists, such that they could assume, in practice, that there is a self-sufficient apolitical domain of pure economics.
Do Markets Corrupt?
Authors: Brennan Jason
Published: March 2016

Many worry that, while market society is highly productive and tends to promote well-being, the emphasis on profit and impersonal exchange, as well as the push to commodify various goods and services, might corrupt our character. This chapter examines, and finds wanting, two common versions of this objection to markets. The selfishness objection holds that markets tend to make us more selfish, while the civics objection holds that markets tend to reduce civic virtue and political participation. This chapter argues that the empirical evidence shows that markets tend to make us more generous, trusting, and trustworthy, rather than less, and do not measurably reduce political participation. Further, it argues that the civics objection rests upon an overly narrow conception of civic virtue.
Conclusions
Authors: Holmberg Anders
Published: March 2016

There is a polarity feature/head in the IP of every sentence, mostly abstract in declaratives, typically overt in yes–no questions, where it is always unvalued, receiving a value in the answer, typically in the shape of a focused valued polarity feature, spelled out as a particle or lexically supported by a moved verb or remnant IP (PolP). The existence of negative yes–no questions implies that polarity is distinct from negation. There are two systems of answering negative questions. The distinction is dependent on the syntax of negation and the syntax of biased questions.
The Business of Technology Expectations
Authors: Pollock Neil , Williams Neil
Published: March 2016

Drawing upon the Sociology of Expectations, the chapter conceptualizes industry analysts as commercial ‘promissory organizations’: prolific producers of future-oriented research. To chart their many kinds of promissory work, the chapter sets out an initial typology that characterizes Gartner’s research outputs according to differences in how they are produced, legitimated, distributed, consumed and achieve influence. This includes: infrastructural knowledge, which typically attempts to define technological field and maps the players within that arena. These classifications are institutionalized, meaning that they exert a powerful and enduring influence but are rendered invisible (‘visible only upon breakdown’); visions let loose refers to more transitory forms of intervention through a stream of provocative signposts that analysts circulate about the state and future development of the industry; and statements and their world describes the differential assessments of the capacity and potential of various suppliers within particular product markets which exercise strong but contested influence on the market.
Give Me a 2✕2 Matrix and I Will Create the Market
Authors: D’Adderio Luciana
Published: March 2016

Scholars have described how rankings can be consequential in shaping the economy. The prevailing argument is that they wield influence through encouraging ‘mechanisms of reactivity’ amongst market actors. The chapter investigates whether there are additional agential aspects of rankings beyond such ‘social’ accounts. It suggests that ‘sociomateriality’ is also a significant aspect of a ranking’s influence. The chapter develops our discussion of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, and similar ranking devices such as the ‘Forrester Wave’, to show how the ‘format and furniture’ of a ranking can mediate and constitute markets. One constraint was rooted in the visual format. For a Magic Quadrant to help its audiences discriminate between offerings in the market, a certain number and distribution of vendors is needed. This was described to us as ‘the beautiful picture’: with too many it became hard to discriminate; with too few established providers there was little need to resort to analysts.
Error correcting codes and spatial coupling
Authors: Urbanke Rüdiger
Published: March 2016

This chapter discusses channel polarization, a code-constructing technique that allows capacity achieving. It creates synthetic channels out of the original channels according to a simple transform. The binary erasure channel is considered, and it is shown that for large blocklength, almost all the synthetic channels are “polarized” in the sense that the rate of each channel either approaches zero or the capacity of the BEC(ϵ). Linear codes are then defined and a particular scheme is studied in detail: low-density parity-check codes (LDPC), for which the factor graph representation is introduced. An iterative decoding algorithm known as belief propagation is explained and its asymptotic analysis is performed with the density evolution method. EXIT curves, a slight modification of density evolution, are introduced. Finally, spatially coupled LDPC, which allow threshold saturation, are discussed. This phenomenon is explained by three pictures: Maxwell construction, EXIT chart, and potential function.
Constraint satisfaction: random regulark-SAT
Authors: Coja-Oghlan Amin
Published: March 2016

This chapter discusses the random regular k-SAT problem, i.e., a random k-CNF formula Φ = Φk(n,d) on n variables such that each of the 2n literals appears exactly d times. With k0 a certain constant, for any k > k0 a number dk is identified such that for any d ≤ dk the random formula Φ admits a truth assignment that satisfies all but o(n) clauses with high probability, whereas for d > dk there is with high probability no such truth assignment. This phase transition is consistent with predictions based on the cavity method from statistical mechanics, and the proof also directly employs ideas from the cavity method, such as the notion of covers (relaxed satisfying assignments), which are obtained here via a whitening process.
Expectation propagation
Authors: Opper Manfred
Published: March 2016

Variational inference is a powerful concept that underlies many iterative approximation algorithms: expectation propagation, mean-field methods, belief propagation, and TAP equations can all be perceived in terms of this unifying framework. This chapter introduces the archetypal example of expectation propagation; after following its original derivation, we describe some of its properties, introduce some examples, and establish connections with the other approximation methods. The Gibbs free energy and its relation to these approximations, as well as double-loop algorithms for its minimization, are briefly discussed. Corrections by expansion about expectation propagation are then explained and, finally, some advanced inference topics and applications, such as recommender systems, Gaussian regression models and continuous-time stochastic dynamics, are explored.
Editions and Resources
Authors: Houghton H.A.G.
Published: March 2016

The following editions of the Latin New Testament are described in detail: Sabatier, Bibliorum Sacrorum Versiones Italicae; the Vetus Latina edition (including the Aus der Geschichte der lateinischen Bibel monograph series); Jülicher, Matzkow and Aland, Itala. Das Neue Testament in altlateinischer Überlieferung; Weber, Gryson et al., Biblia Sacra Vulgata (the ‘Stuttgart Vulgate’); Wordsworth, White et al., Nouum Testamentum Domini Nostri Iesu Christi (the ‘Oxford Vulgate’) and the Oxford Old-Latin Biblical Texts series. In addition, other editions of the Vulgate and the Vetus Latina Hispana are introduced. The treatment of Latin evidence in the Greek Editio Critica Maior and the Nestle-Aland and UBS hand editions is described. Other scholarly resources treated in this chapter include transcriptions of biblical manuscripts, editions of paratextual features such as prologues and chapter titles, the reconstruction of biblical books from quotations in Latin writers, and bibliographies.
Latin as a Witness for the Greek New Testament
Authors: Houghton H.A.G.
Published: March 2016

There are several issues which should be borne in mind when using the Latin tradition as a source for the Greek New Testament, including the relationship between the two languages, their grammatical similarities and differences, the borrowing of vocabulary, and the strategies adopted by translators. The earliest version was relatively loose and often omissive or harmonizing. Subsequent revisions, including that of Jerome, restored a more literal correspondence with Greek tradition. The reconstruction of text-types is helpful in identifying points at which there was contact between Latin and Greek texts. Even so, the differences between the languages mean that it is not always straightforward to apply Latin evidence in support of Greek readings. If a variation can be explained as an internal Latin development, this should be preferred. The reconstruction of Greek readings not otherwise attested is a last resort, although there are intriguing similarities between Latin and other early translations.
Perfective Aspect
Authors: Bentein Klaas
Published: March 2016

This chapter treats the use of εἰμί with the aorist participle (as in λυπηθεὶς ἔσῃ ‘you will be pained’) in Classical Greek. This constitutes a problem area: while some scholars argue that there is no continuity with the use of the construction in Post-Classical Greek, others believe we are essentially dealing with the same construction (in other words, a perfect periphrasis). In this chapter, it is argued that the construction is best considered an innovative periphrasis, following the establishment of εἰμί with the perfect and the present participle as periphrastic constructions. Its uses are quite complex, and approach both the functional domains of perfective and perfect aspect. From a more general point of view, it is argued that the development of this construction fits within the development of transitivization, which was also observed for εἰμί with the perfect and the present participle: not only the constructions themselves, but also periphrasis more generally acquires an increasingly transitive profile.
The Penultimate Curiosity
Authors: Wagner Roger , Briggs Andrew
Published: March 2016

This book sets out to answer one of the most important, vexed, and profound questions about the development of human thought: What lies at the root of the long entanglement between science and religion? Why throughout our journey from cave painting to quantum physics have attempts to describe the physical world that we can see been so closely enmeshed with the aspiration to see beyond the rim of the visible world? The university cities of Oxford and Cambridge each contain a remarkable invocation with a fascinating history. Both are set in the seminal scientific buildings of the university, and both articulate a connection between science and faith. How did they come to be there, and what connects them? The curiosity that leads to the search for religious understanding and the curiosity that leads to the search for scientific understanding have common origins in aspects of the human mind that go back as far as the earliest records of human intellectual endeavour. Their relationship developed as the categories of religion and science became distinct and new information was discovered. The struggle to make sense of the world as a whole seems to be an urgent and fundamental requirement in all human societies—an ultimate curiosity that creates a slipstream of interest in which penultimate curiosities about particular aspects of the physical world have (to a greater or lesser extent) been able to swim.
Primate Parallels
Authors: Wagner Roger , Briggs Andrew
Published: March 2016

This chapter first describes studies of primates by Jane Goodall (chimpanzees) and Dian Fossey (gorillas). Goodall observed that when a chimpanzee is suddenly frightened, he frequently reaches to touch or embrace a chimpanzee nearby. Chimpanzees also greeted one another using a variety of gestures which reflected their different position within the social group. The complex relationships between chimpanzees described by Goodall were paralleled in those of the silverback gorilla groups observed by Dian Fossey. The remainder of the chapter discusses studies confirming that chimpanzees possessed a ‘theory of mind’, i.e., they could put themselves in someone else’s position, imagine their intentions, and how they might fulfil them; primate tool use; and evidence of primate spirituality.