First Record of the Arid-Land Termite, \u3ci\u3eReticulitermes Tibialis\u3c/i\u3e Banks, in Wisconsin

During a survey of termites in Wisconsin, one colony was found from a different habitat than the remaining populations. This observation led to further genetic testing which resulted in a determination of Reticulitermes tibialis Banks. This is the first record of a termite species other than Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) to be established in the state

Plasmonic Antennas Hybridized with Dielectric Waveguides

For the purpose of using plasmonics in an integrated scheme where single emitters can be probed efficiently, we experimentally and theoretically study the scattering properties of single nano-rod gold antennas as well as antenna arrays placed on one-dimensional dielectric silicon nitride waveguides. Using real space and Fourier microscopy correlated with waveguide transmission measurements, we quantify the spectral properties, absolute strength and directivity of scattering. The scattering processes can be well understood in the framework of the physics of dipolar objects placed on a planar layered environment with a waveguiding layer. We use the single plasmonic structures on top of the waveguide as dipolar building blocks for new types of antennas where the waveguide enhances the coupling between antenna elements. We report on waveguide hybridized Yagi-Uda antennas which show directionality in out-coupling of guided modes as well as directionality for in-coupling into the waveguide of localized excitations positioned at the feed element. These measurements together with simulations demonstrate that this system is ideal as a platform for plasmon quantum optics schemes as well as for fluorescence lab-on-chip applications

Experimentally Attainable Optimal Pulse Shapes Obtained with the Aid of Genetic Algorithms

We propose a methodology to design optimal pulses for achieving quantum optimal control on molecular systems. Our approach constrains pulse shapes to linear combinations of a fixed number of experimentally relevant pulse functions. Quantum optimal control is obtained by maximizing a multi-target fitness function with genetic algorithms. As a first application of the methodology we generated an optimal pulse that successfully maximized the yield on a selected dissociation channel of a diatomic molecule. Our pulse is obtained as a linear combination of linearly chirped pulse functions. Data recorded along the evolution of the genetic algorithm contained important information regarding the interplay between radiative and diabatic processes. We performed a principal component analysis on these data to retrieve the most relevant processes along the optimal path. Our proposed methodology could be useful for performing quantum optimal control on more complex systems by employing a wider variety of pulse shape functions.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Differences between thin films deposition systems in the production transition metal nitride

The progress in vacuum technology have enabled the development of advanced coatings processes such as plasma assisted systems, which can produce thin films of different composition and optimum properties, that cannot be collected for the same material. The techniques of Pulsed Arc, Ionic Implantation and Sputtering have differences to produce coatings. Currently, AuN films have been grown by different techniques such as ion implantation, Reactive Ion Sputtering and Pulsed Arc, which have differences in the grown of the film. Siller 2002 reported a binding energy of 396.6 eV to N1s narrow spectrum as the first direct observation of a gold nitride. In this work, AuN thin films were grown in a system Plasma-Assisted Physical Vapor Deposition by pulsed arc technique. A N1s spectra was obtained with binding energies of 398.1, which by means of the differences between the techniques of ion implantation, sputtering and pulsed arc is concluded have been assigned to gold nitride species

Enhanced Representative Days and System States Modeling for Energy Storage Investment Analysis

This paper analyzes different models for evaluating investments in Energy Storage Systems (ESS) in power systems with high penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). First of all, two methodologies proposed in the literature are extended to consider ESS investment: a unit commitment model that uses the System States (SS) method of representing time; and another one that uses a representative periods (RP) method. Besides, this paper proposes two new models that improve the previous ones without a significant increase of computation time. The enhanced models are the System States Reduced Frequency Matrix (SS-RFM) model which addresses short-term energy storage more approximately than the SS method to reduce the number of constraints in the problem, and the Representative Periods with Transition Matrix and Cluster Indices (RP-TM&CI) model which guarantees some continuity between representative periods, e.g. days, and introduces long-term storage into a model originally designed only for the short term. All these models are compared using an hourly unit commitment model as benchmark. While both system state models provide an excellent representation of long-term storage, their representation of short-term storage is frequently unrealistic. The RP-TM&CI model, on the other hand, succeeds in approximating both short- and long-term storage, which leads to almost 10 times lower error in storage investment results in comparison to the other models analyzed

Responsabilidad social de la organizaciones públicas en la difusión de la ciencia

En el presente trabajo se abordará la importancia de la difusión del conocimiento y de la ciencia a través de las políticas públicas; ya que es por medio de estos programas como el Estado busca ilustrar a la sociedad. La importancia de la sociedad educada en ciencia es fundamental para impulsar el desarrollo del país. La responsabilidad de las organizaciones públicas de legislar es de suma importancia, en el entendido que el poder legislativo es quien genera normas encaminadas a buscar la ilustración de la sociedad. Podemos concretar que a mayor promoción y protección del desarrollo científico de la sociedad, mayor amplitud de alcance del conocimiento científico en los ciudadanos del país. Por ultimo, se definirá la conceptualización del término Open Access, la cual en algunos países ha sido aceptada con gran amplitud y que hoy en día se plantea en México como una gran posibilidad para potenciar el acceso a la información científica libre

From sensorimotor dependencies to perceptual practices: making enactivism social

Proponents of enactivism should be interested in exploring what notion of action best captures the type of action-perception link that the view proposes, such that it covers all the aspects in which our doings constitute and are constituted by our perceiving. This article proposes and defends the thesis that the notion of sensorimotor dependencies is insufficient to account for the reality of human perception, and that the central enactive notion should be that of perceptual practices. Sensorimotor enactivism is insufficient because it has no traction on socially dependent perceptions, which are essential to the role and significance of perception in our lives. Since the social dimension is a central desideratum in a theory of human perception, enactivism needs a notion that accounts for such an aspect. This article sketches the main features of the Wittgenstein-inspired notion of perceptual practices as the central notion to understand perception. Perception, I claim, is properly understood as woven into a type of social practices that includes food, dance, dress, music, etc. More specifically, perceptual practices are the enactment of culturally structured, normatively rich techniques of commerce of meaningful multi- and inter-modal perceptible material. I argue that perceptual practices explain three central features of socially dependent perception: attentional focus, aspects’ saliency, and modal-specific harmony-like relations