Simulation of Thermionic Emission from Quantum Wires

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Liu ◽  
T. S. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Quantum Wires ◽  
Thermionic Emission ◽  
Electrical Current ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Generation Efficiency ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
Quantum Models ◽  
Alternative Power

In the late 19th century, Edison observed electrical current flowing between hot and cold electrodes [1]. Since this discovery of thermionic emission, research has occurred with varying intensity in order to harness the simplicity and utility of the thermionic effect in power generation devices. Hatsopoulos and Gyftopoulos [2,3] provide details of the development of thermionic theory and practice. In general, thermionic power generation has not found widespread use, despite many inherent advantages over alternative power generation methods, because of material limitations that have precluded an attractive combination of power generation efficiency and capacity. This paper presents semiclassical and quantum models for the thermionic behavior of a newly developed class of materials, quantum wires, that may offer some promise in alleviating historic materials limitations of thermionic devices.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 180-194
Author(s):  
Jens Steffek
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
Historical Material ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Administrative Practice ◽  
International Theory ◽  
Coherent Body

The purpose of the Conclusion is to carve out the defining characteristics of technocratic internationalism and to discuss them critically. Reviewing the historical evidence, the first section of the Conclusion presents technocratic internationalism as a loose but distinct intellectual tradition. Since the late 19th century, varieties of technocratic internationalism have persisted in international theory and practice, even if they have never formed a particularly coherent body of thought. Technocratic internationalism has adapted to different ideological contexts, liberal and non-liberal alike. A history for technocratic internationalism is suggested here distinguishing four phases: pioneering, utopian, paradigmatic, and, eventually, that of disintegration. The second part of the chapter extracts from the historical material some recurring features of technocratic thought, such as the primacy of the expert in modern governance; the alleged objectivity of human needs, ecological imperatives, or technological necessities; and the ideal of ‘best solutions’ that can be universally implemented. This finding is related back to the politics-administration dichotomy. It helps to explore the contrast between governance based on disciplined reason-giving typical of expert discourse and administrative practice; and governance based on the execution of a political will, typical of international politics. Implications for the future of expert governance in international relations are discussed with regards to climate change and global pandemics.

Comedic Modernism

October ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 160 ◽  
pp. 5-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Turvey
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
Popular Cinema ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Narrative Structures ◽  
Modern Artists ◽  
Francis Picabia ◽  
Slapstick Comedy

Modern artists have long been fascinated with the pantomime, circus, and other comic entertainments, and since the late 19th century, many modernists have made use of the figure of the clown in advancing their avant-garde agendas. Turvey calls this strain within modernism “comedic modernism,” by which he does not mean humorous modernism, but rather the employment of the slapstick comedian as a subject and/or model in modernist theory and practice. Turvey accounts for the pervasive appeal of the clown to modernists by examining the European avant-garde's appropriation of film comics in the interwar period. He argues that comedian comedy's major conventions accorded with and sometimes shaped modernist innovations in this period, and that there was no single reason modern artists were drawn to the figure of the slapstick film comedian. Moreover, he suggests, most of the forms of assimilation of the clown by modernists were already established by the time they turned toward American popular cinema in the 1910s. Turvey identifies several features of slapstick comedy that modernists fastened on to: the de-psychologization and objectification of the comedian; the figure of the alienated, “sad clown”; incongruity in gags and narrative structures; the satire of the bourgeoisie and the carnivalesque leveling of social distinctions; the release of primitive, instinctual behavior; and the privileging of often rebellious objects. He then shows how Rene Clair synthesized some of these variants in Entr'acte (1924), the celebrated avant-garde short he made with Dadaist Francis Picabia, as well as some of his other more popular modernist films of the 1920s.

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