380 research outputs found
Dataset supporting the publication "Buried 3D spot-size converters for silicon photonics"
No full textData underlying the results presented in the paper W. Zhang, M. Ebert, J. D. Reynolds, B. Chen, X. Yan, H. Du, M. Banakar, D. T. Tran, C. G. Littlejohns, G. T. Reed, and D. J. Thomson, "Buried 3D spot-size converters for silicon photonics," Optica 8, 1102-1108 (2021)</span
Nothing Beside Remains
No full textFull Text is available to authenticated members of The University of Auckland only.Today architecture bares a metaphysical hollowness. Devoid of any true meaning it is decadent, disguised behind shiny facades and the sickly comfortable interior furnishings of a complacent bourgeoisie who are sedated and nihilistic. In this crisis of purpose, the thesis seeks to find existential meaning for the author and for contemporary architecture, exploring the theory of Renato Rizzi to rebuild architectural practice from its etymological roots while reflecting on the core values that establish ones identity in a globalized world. The question central to this investigation is: what potential does architecture have to be a vessel of experimentation towards the rediscovery of meaning in this world? The findings of this research are critical of the postmoderncontemporary condition that architecture manifests, setting the world adrift within the simulacrum of existential meaning which is subverted by the ocularcentric worldview of Western culture and Metaphysics of Presence. Challenging this perspective through notions of the contemporary sublime and design methodologies which revitalise materiality with agency, namely imprinting, model making, and the casting of plaster; the thesis establishes the possibility for architectural practice to endeavour in the establishment of a new ontology which privileges the ground in terms of both absence and presence. It suggests the possibility to imagine a world in which nihilism might be replaced by an authenticity of human experience found in the fundamental encounters of matter and body, matter and mind, matter and soul
SERRS. in situ substrate formation and improved detection using microfluidics
No full textSurface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) of a model derivative of TNT was detected using a microflow cell designed within the framework of the lab-on-a-chip concept, using only the analyte and readily available reagents. The SERRS substrate, silver colloid, was prepared in situ, on-chip, by borohydride reduction of silver nitrate. The silver colloid was imaged within the chip using a white light microscope in either transmission or, due to the high reflectivity of the colloid, reflection mode. A fine stream of colloid 30 µm in width was formed in a 250-µm-wide channel at the point where the colloid preparation reagents met. The chip was designed to produce a concentrated stream of colloid within a laminar regime, such that particles did not readily disperse into the fluid. One result of this was to reduce the effective volume of analysis. Attempts to deliberately disrupt this stream with microstructured pillars, fabricated in the fluidic channels, were unsuccessful. The chip was also designed to have the appropriate dimensions for detection using a modern Raman microscope system, which collects scattering from a very small volume. A dye derived from TNT was used as a model analyte. Quantitative behavior was obtained over 4 orders of magnitude with a detection limit of 10 fmol. This performance is between 1 and 2 orders of magnitude better than that achieved using a macroflow SERRS cell. The technique has the added advantage that both reagent consumption and effluent production are greatly reduced, leading to reduced operating costs and a decreased environmental impact
Ultimement: Fragments d'un discours universitaire
No full text[French follows English]
In this thesis, the author presents, in the form of a research-creation essay, theoretical reflections on the current situation of writing at the university. How can we continue to write theses and dissertations today, when there are so many threats arrayed against the liberal arts and against human life more generally? This reflection is undertaken with concern for the author’s personal experience (via the practice of autotheory), namely that of physical illness, in combination with an attention to historical examples providing the ethical and political justification for writing under duress. A composite example is probed: the nineteenth century’s total work of art (the Gesamtkunstwerk or Grand projet), through many works and author-biographies taken from mainly French literature, namely Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Charles Nodier, Richard Wagner, Stéphane Mallarmé, Émile Zola, Marcel Proust, and the turn-of-the-century décadents, each addressing the idea of totality through their works in unique ways. Theoretical support is drawn from the Marxist tradition, including from Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, and Georg Lukács, and finally from Fredric Jameson, whose cognitive mapping project, seen as grounds for a new total work of art, is taken as a basis for the thesis’s second part. The author asks how we can write in a mode that will allow us, politically and ethically, to unite ourselves against society’s urgent challenges, to imagine ourselves and our common lot, even though contemporary theory seems to have hitherto only provided justifications and explanations of our division and disunity. This question is phrased again in literary terms: how can we write monumental works of literature, up to the task of facing a “mad century,” when we have no recent examples, in fiction and in life, of such successfully organized monumentality?
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Dans cette thèse, l'auteur présente, sous la forme d'un essai de recherche création, des réflexions théoriques sur la situation actuelle de l'écriture à l'université. Comment pouvons-nous continuer à écrire des thèses et des mémoires aujourd'hui, alors qu'il y atant de menaces contre les arts libéraux et contre la vie humaine en général ? Cette réflexion est menée en tenant compte de l'expérience personnelle de l'auteur (via la pratique de l'autothéorie), à savoir celle de la maladie physique, en combinaison avec une attention aux exemples historiques fournissant la justification éthique et politique de l'écriture sous contrainte. Un exemple composite est exploré : l'œuvre d'art totale du XIXe siècle (le Gesamtkunstwerk ou Grand projet), à travers de nombreuses œuvres et biographies d'auteurs principalement tirées de la littérature française, à savoir Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Charles Nodier, Richard Wagner, Stéphane Mallarmé, Émile Zola, Marcel Proust, et les décadents de la fin du siècle, chacun abordant l'idée de totalité à travers leurs œuvres de manière unique. Le soutien théorique est tiré de la tradition marxiste, notamment de Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, et Georg Lukács, et enfin de Fredric Jameson, dont le projet de cognitive mapping, vu comme fondement d'une nouvelle œuvre d'art totale, est pris comme base pour la seconde partie de la thèse. L'auteur se demande comment nous pouvons écrire d'une manière qui nous permette, politiquement et éthiquement, de nous unir contre les défis urgents de la société, d'imaginer nous-mêmes et notre sort commun, alors que la théorie contemporaine semble jusqu'à présent n'avoir fourni que des justifications et des explications de notre division et désunion. Cette question est reformulée en termes littéraires : comment pouvons-nous écrire des œuvres monumentales de littérature, qui sont à la hauteur de faire face à un « siècle fou », alors que nous n’avons aucuns exemples récents, dans la fiction et dans la vie, où une telle monumentalité a été réussie ?Graduat
High Performance Silicon Optical Modulators
No full textHigh performance silicon optical modulators underpin a number of current and emerging applications based upon silicon photonic technology. Here we present our recent breakthroughs in this field. </p
Aquinas and Solovyov: Unified Christian ontological-epistemology in critique of epistemic reductivism
No full textModern positivism reduced ‘being to knowing’, considering being as cognitively inaccessible and its study as meaningless. In recent ‘scientistic’ scholarship, these presuppositions have found new life. However, Christian ontologically founded epistemology is concerned by this dismissal of being. In search of an ecumenical response, this work attempts a multi-patrimonial Christian, philosophical counterargument to reductive anti-metaphysical epistemology. A comparative analysis between the ontological epistemologies of Saint Thomas Aquinas (as representative of the Mediaeval Occidental Christian tradition) and Vladimir Solovyov (a modern, eastern Christian philosopher-theologian) is made. In this contrast, it is argued that a harmonic Christian philosophical voice is evident. In both Western and Eastern approaches, the causal complexity of being – by the fact that being is – implores the philosopher for a unified account, in contradiction to anti-metaphysical reductivism in any of its forms.
Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Bringing the Christian metaphysics and epistemology of Aquinas and Solovyov into conversation, which the author has not seen done in other literature, this work brings together Epistemology and Metaphysics, leading to a unified practical application in the critique of issue within contemporary Philosophy of Science, scientism
Capable companies or changing markets? Explaining the export performance of firms in the defence industry
No full textThe paper carries out an empirical analysis of the factors explaining the export performance of firms in the defence sector. We focus on the case of Norway, and make use of two complementary methodologies: the first is based on quantitative firm-level data analysis for the whole population of defence companies, and the second is based on qualitative case study research on the three most important defence export products (weapon stations, ammunition, electronics). Our empirical results highlight the importance of four major success factors for exporting firms: (1) the participation in offset agreements; (2) the ability to focus on their set of core competencies; (3) their R&D activities and interactions with the public S&T system; (4) demand opportunities and, relatedly, user-producer interactions.Defence industry; liberalization; export; R&D and innovation
Measurement of the single π⁰ production rate in neutral current neutrino interactions on water
No full textThe single π⁰ production rate in neutral current neutrino interactions on water in a neutrino beam with a peak neutrino energy of 0.6 GeV has been measured using the PØD, one of the subdetectors of the T2K near detector. The production rate was measured for data taking periods when the PØD contained water (2.64×10²⁰ protons-on-target) and also periods without water (3.49×10²⁰ protons-on-target). A measurement of the neutral current single π⁰ production rate on water is made using appropriate subtraction of the production rate with water in from the rate with water out of the target region. The subtraction analysis yields 106±41 (stat.) ± 69 (sys.) signal events where the uncertainties are statistical (stat.) and systematic (sys.) respectively. This is consistent with the prediction of 157 events from the nominal simulation. The measured to expected ratio is 0.68±0.26(stat)±0.44(sys)±0.12(flux). The nominal simulation uses a flux integrated cross section of 7.63×10-39 cm2 per nucleon with an average neutrino interaction energy of 1.3 GeV
Defence firms facing liberalization: innovation and export in an agent-based model of the defence industry
No full textThe paper presents an agent-based simulation model of the defence industry. The model resembles some of the key characteristics of the European defence sector, and studies how firms in this market will respond to the challenges and opportunities provided by a higher degree of openness and liberalization in the future. The simulation analysis points out that European defence firms will progressively become more efficient, less dependent on public procurement and innovation policy support, and more prone to knowledge sharing and inter-firm collaborations. This firm-level dynamics will in the long-run lead to an increase in the industry’s export propensity and a less concentrated market.Defence industry; liberalization; EU; export; innovation; agent-based simulation model
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