Stratified institutions and elementary homomorphisms

For conventional logic institutions, when one extends the sentences to contain open sentences, their satisfaction is then parameterized. For instance, in the first-order logic, the satisfaction is parameterized by the valuation of unbound variables, while in modal logics it is further by possible worlds. This paper proposes a uniform treatment of such parameterization of the satisfaction relation within the abstract setting of logics as institutions, by defining the new notion of stratified institutions. In this new framework, the notion of elementary model homomorphisms is defined independently of an internal stratification or elementary diagrams. At this level of abstraction, a general Tarski style study of connectives is developed. This is an abstract unified approach to the usual Boolean connectives, to quantifiers, and to modal connectives. A general theorem subsuming Tarski's elementary chain theorem is then proved for stratified institutions with this new notion of connectives.     

Biological vulnerability to alcoholism.

This article reviews the role of biological factors in the risk for alcoholism. The discussion notes the importance of the definition of primary alcoholism and highlights data indicating that this disorder is genetically influenced. The major emphasis is on studies of men at high risk for the future development of alcoholism. The most promising trait markers of a biological vulnerability to alcoholism include a decreased intensity of reaction to modest ethanol doses for sons of alcoholics compared with control subjects, a decreased amplitude of certain brain waves of the event-related potential, and a different pattern of background cortical electroencephalograms for young men at high risk for future alcoholism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A fast block Hankel solver based on an inversion formula for block Loewner matrices

We propose a newO(p ³ n ²) algorithm for solving complexnp×np linear systems that have block Hankel structure, where the blocks are square matrices of sizep×p. Via FFTs the block Hankel system is transformed into a block Loewner system. An inversion formula enables us to calculate the inverse of the block Loewner matrix explicitely. The parameters that occur in this inversion formula are calculated by solving two rational interpolation problems on the unit circle. We have implemented our algorithm in Fortran 90. Numerical examples are included.     

Modeling of submicrometer gate GaAs field effect transistors

Before describing the mainFet modelings today available, the main technological evolutions ofMesfet andTegfet are summarized. It is brought some information on the various physical effects that occur in the devices and that must be taken into account in the models. It is shown that the different kinds of modelings (Monte Carlo, two dimensional, one dimensional) constitute a continuous chain, where the different elements appear strictly complementary. Finally, the present situation concerning modeling ofMesfet andTegfet will be presented.     

QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT OF CHROMIUM'S ABILITY TO PROMOTE ADHESION

Using atomic force spectroscopy, we investigated the adhesion-promoting ability of chromium. An intermediate layer of chromium can overcome the low adhesion between metal films and silicon dioxide. For the first time, we quantitatively studied this experimentally well known fact. We compared the adhesion between chromium and different substrates such as gold, silver, mica, and silicon dioxide and, beyond that, the adhesion between silicon dioxide and the same substrates. To avoid additional effects due to water, we chose ethanol as a nonpolar solvent. Taking the interfacial energies of the surfaces with the liquid into account eliminates the direct influence of the fluid medium on the adhesion of the solid material. The results we obtained corroborate the experimental fact of higher adhesion of chromium with the chosen substrates, as well as substantiate the value of chromium as an adhesion promoter. The adhesion of chromium-coated probes on gold, silicon dioxide, and mica is higher than the adhesion of silicon dioxide probes on the same substrates.     

Adsorption of mercaptopropionic acid onto Au(1 1 1): Part II. Effect on copper electrodeposition

Copper deposition in the presence of an organic additive (3-mercaptopropionic acid, MPA) was studied by cyclic voltammetry and in situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and the results are compared to those for additive-free solutions. It is shown that underpotential deposition (upd) of copper onto a fully MPA-covered electrode produces a defect-rich substrate, but the defects are blocked by the dense organic film for bulk deposition, resulting in a low number of nuclei. A grain-refining effect of MPA, however, was found, when Cu deposition was initiated shortly after addition of MPA to the solution, i.e., for a low-coverage MPA adlayer.     

The dynamic contact area of elastomers at different velocities

The friction in tribo-systems that contain viscoelastic materials, such as elastomers, is relevant for a large number of applications. Examples include tyres, hoses, transmission and conveyor belts. To quantify the friction in these applications, one must first understand the contact behaviour of such viscoelastic materials, both in static and in dynamic situations. This work discusses an experimental study into the change of the contact area with the sliding velocity and relates the change in contact area with the mechanical properties of the elastomer. The results show that for a tribo-system containing an elastomer, there is a threshold velocity, above which the size of the contact area significantly reduces.     

Task-dependent evolution of modularity in neural networks

There exist many ideas and assumptions about the development and meaning of modularity in biological and technical neural systems. We empirically study the evolution of connectionist models in the context of modular problems. For this purpose, we define quantitative measures for the degree of modularity and monitor them during evolutionary processes under different constraints. It turns out that the modularity of the problem is reflected by the architecture of adapted systems, although learning can counterbalance some imperfection of the architecture. The demand for fast learning systems increases the selective pressure towards modularity.     

Perfect Laplacians for Polygon Meshes

A discrete Laplace‐Beltrami operator is called perfect if it possesses all the important properties of its smooth counterpart. It is known which triangle meshes admit perfect Laplace operators and how to fix any other mesh by changing the combinatorics. We extend the characterization of meshes that admit perfect Laplacians to general polygon meshes. More importantly, we provide an algorithm that computes a perfect Laplace operator for any polygon mesh without changing the combinatorics, although, possibly changing the embedding. We evaluate this algorithm and demonstrate it at applications.