Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Measurement of the Planck Constant and the Revision of the SI

A revision of our system of units, the SI, is currently discussed and may be implemented as early as 2018. The new SI is a logical extension of an argument made in 1983 when the meter was redefined to be based on the exact value of the speed of light. In the new SI all units will be derived from seven fundamental reference constants, thus replacing the seven base units of the current system.

For example, the unit of mass, the kilogram, is currently defined by an artifact called the International Prototype of the Kilogram (IPK). In the future we will be able to realize the unit of mass, not just at the kilogram level, from a fixed value of the Planck constant, which has units of kg m^2/s.

One condition for redefinition is agreement between different measurements of the Planck constant.  Currently two measurement strategies lead to values with relative uncertainties less than 100 parts per billion (ppb): (1) Avogadro’s number can be determined by estimating the number of atoms in a well characterized crystal. From Avogadro’s number h can be calculated using the Rydberg constant, which is known with much smaller uncertainty (2) A watt balance can be used to measure mechanical power in units of electrical power. Electrical power can be measured as the product of the Planck constant and two frequencies by utilizing the Josephson effect and the Quantum Hall effect. NIST has carried out measurements of h with watt balances for over 20 years. In 2012/13 a new team has performed a largely independent determination of h. I will describe this measurement and measurements from other laboratories.

Refreshments will be served in CP 179 at 3:15 PM

Date:
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Location:
CP155
Event Series:
Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

Joint Mathematics and Biology Colloquium

Title: 

"Best" in a Biological Context: Optimization across the Biological Hierarchy

 

Abstract: 

Many central concepts in biology involve notions of what is "better" or "best" in the context of evolution, physiology, and behavior. Similarly, in many applied areas of the life sciences, we are concerned with developing a "best" method to carry out drug therapies, resource harvesting, pest management, and epidemic control. I will discuss, with audience participation, what it might mean to be "best" for several problems at different levels of the biological hierarchy. This includes being clear about differences between maximization and optimization, and taking account of constraints, historical and others, on biological systems.  Examples will incorporate notions of optimal control, emphasizing

spatial problems.   

There will be a reception at 3:30 in POT 745 before the talk. 



Brief Biography: 

Louis J. Gross is a James R. Cox and Alvin and Sally Beaman Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics and Director of The Institute for Environmental Modeling at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is also Director Emeritus of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, a National Science Foundation-funded center to foster research and education at the interface between math and biology. He completed a B.S. degree in Mathematics at Drexel University and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, and has been a faculty member at UTK since 1979. His research focuses on applications of mathematics and computational methods in many areas of ecology, including disease ecology, landscape ecology, spatial control for natural resource management, photosynthetic dynamics, and the development of quantitative curricula for life science undergraduates. Among other activities he has served as Program Chair of the Ecological Society of America, as President of the Society for Mathematical Biology, President of the UTK Faculty Senate and as Chair of the National Research Council Committee on Education in Biocomplexity Research. He is the 2006 Distinguished Scientist awardee of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, is a Fellow of the American Association for  the Advancement of Science, and is co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Theoretical Ecology, published in 2012 by the University of California Press. Along with Erin Bodine and Suzanne Lenhart, he is co-author of the text Mathematics for the Life Sciences

published by Princeton University Press in 2014.  

 

This event is supported, in part by the College of Arts and Sciences

 

Date:
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Location:
White Hall Classroom Building Room 110

Katherine Behar: E-Waste

 

By Whitney Hale

(Nov. 3, 2014) – University of Kentucky's College of Arts and Sciences and School of Art and Visual Studies has welcomed Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist Katherine Behar to campus as part of a two-week campus residency. The public is invited to experience Behar's work as well through "E-Waste," a free public exhibition of new work from the artist presented in conjunction with her visit at UK’s Tuska Center for Contemporary Art, located in the Fine Arts Building. "E-Waste," which runs through Nov. 7, will have an opening reception beginning 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, at Tuska.

"E-Waste" centers on a new series of sculptures inspired by a science fiction scenario in which commonplace USB devices continue working, long after the humans they were designed to serve have gone extinct. The gadgets are transformed into mutant fossils, encased in stone with lights blinking, speakers chirping, and fans spinning eternally. The exhibition also includes a video series, "Modeling Big Data," in which the artist inhabits an obese, over-grown data body, to humorous and poignant effect.

Behar’s work challenges digital culture’s intense escalation of productivity. Wavering between poetry and parody, her works elicit sympathy for the devices we exploit, suggesting that we ourselves are becoming increasingly device-like: ensnared in compulsory productivity, whether “working” in the traditional sense for our own gain, or generating value for distant corporations each time we search the web or click “like.” Combining machine-made, handmade and organic forms, including a “fossilized” 3D printer, "E-Waste" offers a physical parallel to the excesses of big data, highlighting the counterpart surplus of consumer media artifacts, and drawing attention to its environmental impact.

The "E-Waste" exhibition at UK is made possible with support from a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by the Professional Staff Congress and the City University of New York.

In addition to the exhibition of her work, Behar has been busy on campus since Oct. 26 working with students, visiting classes and presenting a coffee chat for residents of WIRED, the living-learning community for the College of Arts and Sciences.

As an interdisciplinary artist, Behar has worked in several mediums including performance, interactive installation, video and writing about digital culture. Her work appears at festivals, galleries, performance spaces and art centers worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Judson Church in New York; UNOACTU in Dresden, Germany; The Girls Club Collection in Miami; Feldman Gallery + Project Space in Portland, Oregon; De Balie Centre for Culture and Politics in Amsterdam; the Mediations Biennale in Poznan, Poland; the Chicago Cultural Center; the Swiss Institute in Rome; the National Museum of Art in Cluj-Napoca, Romania; and many others.

Behar is the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Art Journal and the Rubin Museum of Art, in New York City, and grants including the Franklin Furnace Fund; the U.S. Consulate in Leipzig, Germany; the Illinois Arts Council; and the Cleveland Performance Art Festival. Her ongoing projects include two collaborations, the performance art group Disorientalism with Marianne M. Kim, and the art and technology team Resynplement with Ben Chang and Silvia Ruzanka. Behar's writings on technology and culture have been published in Lateral, Media-N, Parsons Journal for Information Mapping, Visual Communication Quarterly and EXTENSIONS: The Online Journal for Embodied Technology. She is currently assistant professor of new media arts at Baruch College.

Artist in Residence – Oct. 26 – Nov. 7

  • Opening reception | Nov. 6 at 5 p.m.
  • Lecture | Nov. 7 – noon – 12:50 p.m. (102 White hall classroom bldg.)

http://www.katherinebehar.com

 

Date:
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Location:
Tuska Gallery
Event Series:
Art Exhibition

Putnam practice sessions

Weekly practice sessions for the Putnam Exam organized by Prof. Avinash Sathaye.

Date:
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Location:
POT 703

Linguistics Seminar: "On the architecture of the left periphery in early Celtic and related matters"

While in verb-initial Old Irish, topicalization was achieved via left dislocation and focalization was achieved through clefting, the older Continental Celtic languages achieved such pragmatic information structuring through movement into the left periphery of the clause (though the right edge of the clause could also be a target for such purpose).  This paper commences with an inspection of relative clause syntax in Continental Celtic while outlining what we can tell about other movement mechanisms in the clause and then goes on to explore the architecture of the left periphery in these languages.  This exploration provides some insight into the prehistoric development of verb-initial clausal configuration in Insular Celtic.  Some comparative attention is also paid to the architecture of the left periphery in other Indo-European languages and it is found that the Continental Celtic languages have a role to play in determining the degree of articulation to be reconstructed for the left periphery of proto-Indo-European itself.

Date:
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Location:
Lexmark Room
Tags/Keywords:
linguistics
Event Series:
Linguistics Seminar Series
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