Monte Carlo methods are revolutionizing the on-line analysis of data in fields as diverse as financial modeling, target tracking and computer vision. These methods, appearing under the names of bootstrap filters, condensation, optimal Monte Carlo filters, particle filters and survival of the fittest, have made it possible to solve numerically many complex, non-standard problems that were previously intractable. This book presents the first comprehensive treatment of these techniques, including convergence results and applications to tracking, guidance, automated target recognition, aircraft navigation, robot navigation, econometrics, financial modeling, neural networks, optimal control, optimal filtering, communications, reinforcement learning, signal enhancement, model averaging and selection, computer vision, semiconductor design, population biology, dynamic Bayesian networks, and time series analysis. This will be of great value to students, researchers and practitioners, who have some basic knowledge of probability. Arnaud Doucet received the Ph. D. degree from the University of Paris-XI Orsay in 1997. From 1998 to 2000, he conducted research at the Signal Processing Group of Cambridge University, UK. He is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering of Melbourne University, Australia. His research interests include Bayesian statistics, dynamic models and Monte Carlo methods. Nando de Freitas obtained a Ph.D. degree in information engineering from Cambridge University in 1999. He is presently a research associate with the artificial intelligence group of the University of California at Berkeley. His main research interests are in Bayesian statistics and the application of on-line and batch Monte Carlo methods to machine learning. Neil Gordon obtained a Ph.D. in Statistics from Imperial College, University of London in 1993. He is with the Pattern and Information Processing group at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in the United Kingdom. His research interests are in time series, statistical data analysis, and pattern recognition with a particular emphasis on target tracking and missile guidance.

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Sequential Monte Carlo methods in practice

▪ Abstract Soft lithography, a set of techniques for microfabrication, is based on printing and molding using elastomeric stamps with the patterns of interest in bas-relief. As a technique for fabricating microstructures for biological applications, soft lithography overcomes many of the shortcomings of photolithography. In particular, soft lithography offers the ability to control the molecular structure of surfaces and to pattern the complex molecules relevant to biology, to fabricate channel structures appropriate for microfluidics, and to pattern and manipulate cells. For the relatively large feature sizes used in biology (≥50 μm), production of prototype patterns and structures is convenient, inexpensive, and rapid. Self-assembled monolayers of alkanethiolates on gold are particularly easy to pattern by soft lithography, and they provide exquisite control over surface biochemistry.

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Soft Lithography in Biology and Biochemistry

We have modeled experimental short-circuit photocurrent action spectra of poly(3-(4′-(1″,4″,7″-trioxaoctyl)phenyl)thiophene) (PEOPT)/fullerene (C60) thin film heterojunction photovoltaic devices. Modeling was based on the assumption that the photocurrent generation process is the result of the creation and diffusion of photogenerated species (excitons), which are dissociated by charge transfer at the PEOPT/C60 interface. The internal optical electric field distribution inside the devices was calculated with the use of complex indices of refraction and layer thickness of the materials as determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry. Contributions to the photocurrent from optical absorption in polymer and fullerene layers were both necessary to model the experimental photocurrent action spectra. We obtained values for the exciton diffusion range of 4.7 and 7.7 nm for PEOPT and C60, respectively. The calculated internal optical electric field distribution and resulting photocurrent action spectra were used in or...

Modeling photocurrent action spectra of photovoltaic devices based on organic thin films

Optical properties of thin films

The major increase in discharge duration and plasma energy in a next step DT fusion reactor will give rise to important plasma-material effects that will critically influence its operation, safety and performance. Erosion will increase to a scale of several centimetres from being barely measurable at a micron scale in today's tokamaks. Tritium co-deposited with carbon will strongly affect the operation of machines with carbon plasma facing components. Controlling plasma-wall interactions is critical to achieving high performance in present day tokamaks, and this is likely to continue to be the case in the approach to practical fusion reactors. Recognition of the important consequences of these phenomena stimulated an internationally co-ordinated effort in the field of plasma-surface interactions supporting the Engineering Design Activities of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project (ITER), and significant progress has been made in better understanding these issues. The paper reviews the underlying physical processes and the existing experimental database of plasma-material interactions both in tokamaks and laboratory simulation facilities for conditions of direct relevance to next step fusion reactors. Two main topical groups of interaction are considered: (i) erosion/redeposition from plasma sputtering and disruptions, including dust and flake generation and (ii) tritium retention and removal. The use of modelling tools to interpret the experimental results and make projections for conditions expected in future devices is explained. Outstanding technical issues and specific recommendations on potential R&D avenues for their resolution are presented.

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Plasma{material interactions in current tokamaks and their implications for next step fusion reactors

Preface. 1. The polarization of light waves. 2. Propagation of polarized light through polarizing optical systems. 3. Theory and analysis of measurements in ellipsometer systems. 4. Reflection and transmission of polarized light by stratified planar structures. 5. Instrumentation and techniques of ellipsometry. 6. Applications of ellipsometry. Appendix. Author index. Subject index.

R. M. A. Azzam

Papers

Ellipsometry and polarized light