Soft sphere model for electron correlation and scattering in the atomistic modelling of semiconductor devices

The atomistic modelling of silicon MOSFET devices becomes essential at deep sub-micron scales when it is no longer possible to represent the charged impurities by a continuous charge distribution with a determined doping density. Instead the spatial distribution and the actual number of dopants must be treated as discrete random variables. The present paper addresses the issue of modelling the dynamics of discrete carrier flow in a semiconductor device utilising a simple model of the carrier-carrier scattering and carrier-fixed impurity scattering which is suitable for efficient simulations of large ensembles of devices

Charge asymmetry in W + jets production at the LHC

The charge asymmetry in W + jets production at the LHC can serve to calibrate the presence of New Physics contributions. We study the ratio {\sigma}(W^+ + n jets)/{\sigma}(W^- + n jets) in the Standard Model for n <= 4, paying particular attention to the uncertainty in the prediction from higher-order perturbative corrections and uncertainties in parton distribution functions. We show that these uncertainties are generally of order a few percent, making the experimental measurement of the charge asymmetry ratio a particularly useful diagnostic tool for New Physics contributions.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Reference added. Slightly modified tex

Vestiges of the history of popular science [Essay Review]

Robert Chambers, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation and Other Evolutionary Writings, ed. James A. Secord. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1994. Pp. xlviii, vi, 390, viii, 254. US$ 19.95 PB. The title of Robert Chambers' anonymous evolutionary work, Vestiges of the natural history of creation, has long been familiar to even the most casual readers of the history of evolutionary theorising. From as early as 1861—when Charles Darwin first appended his 'historical sketch of the recent progress of opinion on the origin of species' to the third edition of his own more famous work on the subject—down to the present time, no history of what Loren Eiseley called 'evolution and the men who discovered it' has been complete without a discussion of this book. Yet as Eiseley's rather unfortunate phrase makes particularly clear, such histories of evolution are historiographically problematic. Indeed, it has become increasingly common over recent years to question altogether the value of 'evolution' as an object of historical study for any period before the middle of the nineteenth century, when the word began to acquire its familiar modern sense (viz., the origin of animal and plant species by a process of development from other forms). The great danger of evolution historiography is that it can unwittingly lead to teleological, present-centred history—more subtly so, perhaps, than in Eiseley's case, but nonetheless carrying the implication that Darwin's theory of natural selection (if not the modern evolutionary synthesis) was always out there, waiting to be 'discovered'

Exports and economic growth. The gains from reallocation in Korea.

This paper presents some empirical evidence suggesting that promotion of manufactured exports can lead to accelerated rates of growth in a developing economy. Based on a two-sectoral model involving exports and non-exports, a method is developed to measure the gains obtained through a reallocation of resources from the domestic to the external sector. The benefits from continued export expansion are found to decline over time. Cointegration tests confirm the long-run character of the estimated relationships. A simulation based on a dynamic, optimal control model illustrates the growth effects of different shocks and policies affecting the Korean export sector

The execution of William Wallace: the earliest account

A newly discovered English source, which also marks the earliest record of William Wallace’s execution, confirms outright what historians had only suspected before: the reason that Edward I dealt so harshly with Wallace was that he viewed him as a pretender to the Scottish crown

Beyond the "common context" : the production and reading of the Bridgewater Treatises

The Bridgewater Treatises were among the most widely circulated books of science in early nineteenth-century Britain, yet little is known of their contemporary readership. Drawing on the new history of the book, this essay examines the .. "communication circuit" in which the series was produced and read, exploring some of the processes that shaped the meanings the books possessed for their original readers. In so doing, it seeks to go beyond the standard interpretation of the Bridgewater Treatises as contributing to a "common context" for debate among the social and cultural elite. Instead, the essay demonstrates the wide circulation of the series among many classes of readers and shows that consideration of the distinctive meanings with which the books were invested by readers in divergent cultural groups serves to elucidate the contested meaning of science in the period. It is argued that by thus taking seriously the agency of all those involved in the communication circuit, including readers as well as authors and publishers, this approach supersedes the increasingly unworkable analytical category of "popular science.

Introduction [BJHS special section: book history and the sciences]

The expanding interest in book history over recent years has heralded the coming together of an interdisciplinary research community drawing scholars from a variety of literary, historical and cultural studies. Moreover, with a growing body of literature, the field is becoming increasingly visible on a wider scale, not least through the existence of the Society for the History of Authorship, Readership and Publishing (SHARP), with its newly founded journal Book History. Within the history of science, however, there remains not a little scepticism concerning the practical value of such an approach. It is often dismissed as an intellectual fad or as an enterprise which is illuminating but ultimately peripheral, rather than being valued as an approach which can offer major new insights within the field. This is no doubt in part because much of the most innovative work in history of science over recent years has been carried out by historians anxious to get away from an earlier overemphasis on printed sources. Eager to correct a profoundly unsocial history of ideas, usually rooted in texts, historians have looked increasingly to both the practices and the material culture of science. In such a context, a renewed focus on the history of books sometimes seems like a retrograde step, especially given the common misidentification of ‘books’ with ‘texts’. On the contrary, however, it is just such a twin emphasis on practices and material culture which also characterizes the new book history. Indeed, to the question ‘what is book history for?’ we might answer that its object is to reintroduce social actors, engaged in a variety of practices with respect to material objects, into a history in which books have too often been understood merely as disembodied texts, the meaning of which is defined by singular, uniquely creative authors, and is transparent to readers

The making of the Ragman Roll: the work of the notary

Between the middle of May and the end of August 1296, during the course of a royal progress through the kingdom of Scots, via an eastern coastal route, having militarily asserted his authority over the leading nobles of Scotland, Edward I received into his peace the prelates, earls, barons, nobles and the communities of the realm of Scotland. Over 1500 individuals performed fealty, with those who held their lands in capite (that is, ‘in chief’, immediately of the Crown) doing homage as well. Fealty was performed either individually or in groups, and the acts were recorded in over 180 deeds, in the form of letters patent written in French, with each individual or community attaching their own seal. Of these original deeds, about seventy are extant, preserved in the records of the exchequer, collection E 39, ‘Scottish Documents’, at The National Archives in Kew

A note on the archives of the British Society for the History of Science, 1947-97

[FIRST PARAGRAPH] It is perhaps ironic that a society of historians such as the British Society for the History of Science should have been in existence for some thirty-six years before any attempt was made to create a formal archive of its history. Such an oversight is doubtless attributable to the undue modesty of those involved in the earlier history of the Society, possibly tinged with a distrust of what historians can do with archival records, but it is none the less regrettable that there are not more early records of our Society's activities. The official Council Minutes from 1947 onwards, however, are more detailed than one might expect, and a very useful source of information