This meeting is devoted to discussing new approaches to critical fluctuation, quantum fluctuation and relaxation phenomena. The main topics include: the study of critical fluctuation, using perturbational expansions, generalized systematic cluster mean-field approximations, the CAM...; possible new systematic approaches to quantum fluctuation including quantum Monte Carlo simulations; and coherent approaches to fluctuation and relaxation in complex systems such as spin glasses.
Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.
Between Jesus and the Market looks at the appeal of the Christian right-wing movement in contemporary American politics and culture. In her discussions of books and videotapes that are widely distributed by the Christian right but little known by mainstream Americans, Linda Kintz makes explicit the crucial need to understand the psychological makeup of born-again Christians as well as the sociopolitical dynamics involved in their cause. She focuses on the role of religious women in right-wing Christianity and asks, for example, why so many women are attracted to what is often seen as an antiwoman philosophy. The result, a telling analysis of the complexity and appeal of the "emotions that matter" to many Americans, highlights how these emotions now determine public policy in ways that are increasingly dangerous for those outside familiarity’s circle. With texts from such organizations as the Christian Coalition, the Heritage Foundation, and Concerned Women for America, and writings by Elizabeth Dole, Newt Gingrich, Pat Robertson, and Rush Limbaugh, Kintz traces the usefulness of this activism for the secular claim that conservative political economy is, in fact, simply an expression of the deepest and most admirable elements of human nature itself. The discussion of Limbaugh shows how he draws on the skepticism of contemporary culture to create a sense of absolute truth within his own media performance—its truth guaranteed by the market. Kintz also describes how conservative interpretations of the Holy Scriptures, the U.S. Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence have been used to challenge causes such as feminism, women’s reproductive rights, and gay and lesbian rights. In addition to critiquing the intellectual and political left for underestimating the power of right-wing grassroots organizing, corporate interests, and postmodern media sophistication, Between Jesus and the Market discusses the proliferation of militia groups, Christian entrepreneurship, and the explosive growth and "selling" of the Promise Keepers.
Nanostructured materials have at least one dimension in the nanometer range. They became a very active research area in solid state physics and chemistry in recent years with anticipated applications in various domains, including solar cells, electronics, batteries and sensors. Nanocrystalline metals and oxides are dense polycrystalline solids with a mean grain size below 100 nm. This book is intended to give an overview on selected properties and applications of nanocrystalline metals and oxides by leading experts in the field. The first three chapters provide a very complete theoretical treatment of thermodynamics and atom/ion transport for nanocrystalline materials. The following chapters are experts' views on the development of experimental characterization techniques for nanocrystalline solids with emphasis on electroceramic materials. Nanocrystalline Metals and Oxides is intended for a broad range of readers, foremost chemists, physicists and materials scientists. Theoretical physicists and chemists will certainly also profit from this book. The electroceramics and solid state ionics community are particularly addressed, given the main interests of the editors.
