International Atomic Energy Agency United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization International Centre for Theoretical Phvsics No. 34135 May/June 1990 Contents Abdus Salam Receiving the Premi fnternacional Catalunya European Parliament Just Published Diploma Course at ICTP The Human Condition Mastering the Fine Art of Writing Reports for Nonscientists Communication Tips for the Scientist Visits to ICTP Sixth Argentine Congress of Meteorology Hot Papers Articles Alert Activities at ICTP May-June 1990 Activities at ICTP in 1990-91 l 2 2 3 3 5 7 7 8 8 9 10 15 Abdus Salam Receiving the Premi Internacional Catalunya As announced in the previous issue of this newsletter, Abdus Salam, Director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics and President of the Third World Academy of Sciences, received the Premi Internacional Catalunya (Catalonia International Prize) in Barcelona on 29 May. On this occasion, he was also received by H.M. Juan Carlos King of Spain at the Royal Palace in Madrid. The Prize consists of a work of art — a sculpture symbolizing the Mediterranean by Eduard Arranz Bravo — and the amount of US$ 100,000, and is awarded by the Catalonia Regional Government through the Catalan Institute for Mediterranean Studies. Abdus Salam received the Prize for the following reasons: forces together with Glashow and Weinberg. This discovery earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979. It is one of tlu great theoretical dvances in the field of physics since Isaac Newton. Electromagnetic force is responsible for virtwally all chemical and biological phenomena, in addition to having an essenfial role in modern technology. Weak interaction is responsible for beta radioactive disintegration and lws a basic function in nuclear fusion processes that are the energy source of the sun and the stors. Salam's great scientific contribution consists of having reduced these two forces into one, the IF w w w m W/iv : 1 fi^^fl ill King fuan Carlos receiving Professor AMus Salatn. First •— For the decisive contribution Prof. Abdus Salam has made to contemporary science, namely the creation and development of the unified electromagnetic and weak nuclear force, unifying both pre-existing theories. Second — For the great lwmanistic and ecological concern of Professor Abdus theory of electromagnetic and weak Salam, who has strongly opposed the
Transcript
International Atomic Energy Agency
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
International Centre for Theoretical Phvsics
No. 34135May/June 1990
Contents
Abdus Salam Receivingthe Premi fnternacional
Catalunya
European Parliament
Just Published
Diploma Course at ICTP
The Human Condition
Mastering the Fine Artof Writing Reportsfor Nonscientists
Communication Tipsfor the Scientist
Visits to ICTP
Sixth Argentine Congressof Meteorology
Hot Papers
Articles Alert
Activities at ICTPMay-June 1990
Activities at ICTP in 1990-91
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15
Abdus Salam Receivingthe Premi Internacional
Catalunya
As announced in the previous issueof this newsletter, Abdus Salam,Director of the International Centre forTheoretical Physics and President of the
Third World Academy of Sciences,received the Premi InternacionalCatalunya (Catalonia International Prize)in Barcelona on 29 May. On thisoccasion, he was also received by H.M.Juan Carlos King of Spain at the RoyalPalace in Madrid.
The Prize consists of a work of art— a sculpture symbolizing theMediterranean by Eduard Arranz Bravo— and the amount of US$ 100,000, andis awarded by the Catalonia RegionalGovernment through the CatalanInstitute for Mediterranean Studies.Abdus Salam received the Prize for thefollowing reasons:
forces together with Glashow andWeinberg. This discovery earned himthe Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979. Itis one of tlu great theoretical dvances inthe field of physics since Isaac Newton.Electromagnetic force is responsible forvirtwally all chemical and biologicalphenomena, in addition to having anessenfial role in modern technology.Weak interaction is responsible for betaradioactive disintegration and lws a basicfunction in nuclear fusion processes thatare the energy source of the sun and thestors. Salam's great scientificcontribution consists of having reducedthese two forces into one, the
IFwwwm
W/iv : 1
fi^^fl i l l
King fuan Carlos receiving Professor AMus Salatn.
First •— For the decisive contributionProf. Abdus Salam has made tocontemporary science, namely thecreation and development of the unified
electromagnetic and weak nuclear force,unifying both pre-existing theories.Second — For the great lwmanistic andecological concern of Professor Abdus
theory of electromagnetic and weak Salam, who has strongly opposed the
News from ICTP - No. 34/35 - May/June 1990
anns race and the use of rutclear weaponsand worked literally without respite tosolve the problems of the Third World,such as tlu advance of fuserts or tlu lackof cultural and scientific information.His concern for the latter issue led himto creote the International Centre forTheoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste in1964, under the auspices of tle UnitedNations and the ltalian Government.Until now he lns been director of theinstitute, which received 5,000professors and postgraduates just in1989; most of these people came fromthe Third World. In Trieste they have achance to do wlat is impossible in theircountries of origin: broaden theirknowledge and devote their time toresearch. Professor Salam's entirepersonal fortune belongs to the ICTP,which will also be the recipient of theamount granted by the "PremiInternacional Catalunya".Thfud — For Professor Salam's ties tothe Mediterranean through theInternational Centre for TheoreticalPhysics in Trieste, facing the Adriaticsea. Due to his contibution, theMediterranean is otu of tlrc main centersof scienrtfic training for the Third World.
The Selection Committee for thePrize includes the Advisory Council ofthe ICEM, presided by the HonorablePresident of the Generalitat, Jordi Pujol,and includes Ricard Bofill, AMelwahabBouhdiba, Julio Caro Baroja, GeorgesDuby, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Hugues deJouvenel, Fernando L6zuo Carreter,Andreu Mas-Colell, Predrag Matvejevic,Federico Mayor Zuagoza, JoaquimMolas, Edgar Morin, Simon Nora, Joan016, Amos Oz, Karl R. Popper, BaltazarPorcel, Hugh Thomas and AntoninoZichichi.
European Parliament
A delegation of about twenty-fiveMembers of the European Parliamentheaded by Willy De Clercq visited theInternational Centre for TheoreticalPhysics in Trieste on Wednesday 27June 1990. After the welcome address ofAbdus Salam, Direcoor of ICTP andhesi&nt of tle Third World Academy ofSciences (TWAS), the delegation wasthoroughly briefed on both institutions
Professor Abdus Salam addresskg the Members of tlv European Pailiarnent. On hisleft, Mr. Willy De Clercq, Chairman of the Conunittee on Erternal Ecotpmic Relations ofthe European Parliatnent. On his right, Mr. G. Rossetti, Member of the EuropeanParlianenl, from Trieste. On the far right, Prof. L. Bertocchi, Deputy Director of tleICTP, and, on tlv far left, Prof. M.HA. Hassan, Executive Secretary of tlv Third WorldAcademy of Scicnces.
by Prof. L. Bertocchi, Deputy Directorof ICTP, and Prof. M.H.A. Hassan,Executive Secretary of TWAS.
Willy De Clercq — a BelgianMinister of State and President of theCommittee on External EconomicRelations of the European Parliament —expressed his admiration for theachievements of Abdus Salam and hiscollaborators and stated that since thetime for East-West tension is over,Europe is now re-activating its dossieron North-South relations. The EuropeanParliament is conscious of itsresponsibilities in this respect and isprepared to consider concrete proposals.
In his reply, Abdus Salam recalledthat he had chaired at the ICTP aConference on East-West Co-operationin Science in March and that, forincreasing this role, the Centre wouldneed an additional US$ 3m. He alsorequested that the ICTP trainingprogramme for experimentalists fromdeveloping countries, presently limitedto Italian laboratories, be extended to allEuropean countries. After a briefdiscussion, the delegation was given anopportunity to meet with the scientistsof the Centre
The visit had been prepared during ameeting with G. Rossetti, Member ofthe European Parliament, on 5 June.
Just Published
Unificarton of Frndatrcntal Forces—The First of the 1988 Dirac MemoialLectures, Cambridge University Press,1990, 160 pages.
Cambridge University Press has justpublished "Unification of FundamentalForces — The 1988 Dirac MemorialLectures" by Abdus Salam, Director ofthe International Centre for TheoreticalPhysics and hesident of the Third WorldAcademy of Sciences in Trieste.
The annual lectures in honor ofP.A.M. Dirac at Cambridge Universityare always anticipated as exciting sourcesof insight into the works and thoughtsof this century's most influentialphysicists. This volume features anexpanded version of the third DiracMemorial lrcture, presented by AMusSalam, as well as two previouslyunpublished lechrres by Paul Dirac andWemer Heisenberg. Presented to generalaudiences, tlrese lectures are largely non-.technical and easily accessible to allthose interested in the development ofmodern physics.
The Unification of FundamentalForces
Salam's theme h the development of
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physics as the discovery of fundamentalunifications. Beginning with Galileo,who with his telescope demonsEated theuniversality of physics by proving thatthe laws of shadow making were thesame on the moon as on the Earth,Salam reviews New0on's unification ofterrestrial and celestial gravity, Faradayand Ampere's unification of electricityand magnetism, Maxwell's unification ofelectromagnetism and optics, andEinstein's unification of space and time.
The majority of Salam's talk isdevoted to a wonderfully lucid overviewof today's Standard Model of particlephysics, including a close look at Dirac'sequation for elementrry entities, as wellas his own contributions to theunification of the electromagnetic andweak forces. In conclusion, he looksbeyond the Sandard Model at the notionof supersymmetry, the 'search forparticles even more elementary thanquarks and leptons, the unification of thestrong and electroweak forces, and therecent convergence of particle physicswith early universe cosmology. Finally,he speculates as to whether superstringsmight be the key to the greatestunification of all—the unification ofgravity and the other fundamental forcesby the Theory of Everything.
It is important to add that in thislecture, Salam,—whose ability as ascientist is equaled by his ability toexplain complex subjects with clarity,simplicity, and eloquence—hascontributed one of the most readable andstimulating summaries of particlephysics ever achieved"
History UnfoldingDelivered in 1968 at the Intemational
Centre for Theoretical Physics at Tries0eduring an historic lecture series entitledFrom a Life of Physics, WernerHeisenberg's "Theory, Criticism, and aPhilosophy," and Paul Dirac's "Methodsin Theoretical Physics," offer rareglimpses into the personalities of thesefounders of quantum physics.Reviewing their own lives in physics,they also provide unique insighs intothe methodologies and philosophies oftheir contemporaries, including Bohr,Einstein, Schrtidinger, and Pauli. Theirfrsthand accounts of some of the mostsignificant breakthroughs in physics
provide remarkable opportunities toreview the history of physics as irunfold€d.
Diploma Course at ICTP
The ICTP announces the institutionof a one-year raining programme inhigh-energy physics, condensed matterphysics and mathematics open to youngpromising graduates in physics andnationals mainly from developingcountries. The programme is expectedto start with academic year 199l-1992and will lead to a Diploma.
The main topics in each of the threefields will include:High energy physics: quantum fieldtheory; particle physics; cosmology;selected advanced opics;Condensed matter physics: solid statephysics; statistical mechanics; many-body theory; selected advanced tgpics;Mathematics: analysis; algebra;differential geometry; toplogy; slectedadvanced topics.
Request for Participation Forms havebeen circulated in the mailing list and areavailable upon request to the ICI?.
The Human Condition
Courtesy ofThe Economist, May 26, 1990.
Moses made the first recordedattempt; Plato, Rousseau andMarx had shots at it. TheUnited Nations DevelopmentPrograrnme had high standards tomatch in trying, as it does in anew report, to define andmeasure "human development".
As philosophy, the UNDP's shortdefinition will do: "Human developmentis a process of enlarging people'schoices." As measurement, however, itssums leave much to be desired, becausethe measuring instruments are faultywhere they are not lacking altogether.
For the choices the UNDP deemscritical—a long and healthy life,education, access !o resources— figures,of a kind, are available and capable ofrefinement. But there are no figures at
all for the social achievements that arerightly said !o be just as important forthe quality of life: political freedom,human rights, individual self-respect.The UNDP intends to redo itsassessment each year, and o widen thescope as it works out how.
For several decades the best way ofranking nations by their economicsuccess has been o lmk ttrem up in thetables of the World Bank's mnaal WorldDevelopment Report, which providesfigures for each country's gross nationalproduct per head, and for the rate atwhich that is changing. The UNDPteam, under a Pakistani economic guru,Mr Mahboub ul Haq, offen the WorldBankers some healthy competition. ItsHuman Development Report 1990unveils a new "human developmentindex" (HDI).
For each of 130 countries with apopulation of more than lm, the indexcombines purchasing power, lifeexpectancy and literacy. The next pagesets out the numbers. Sri Lankans havean official GNP of $400 per head, butpurchasing power of more ttnn $2,000per head because goods are cheap; then-life expecancy is 7l yurs; 81% of tlremare literate. That gives them an HDI-rankof83. Brazilians (GNP per head of$2,020) have purchasing power of$4,300, can expect to live 65 years, and78% of them are literate. They get anHDI-rank of 80. Saudi Arabia (GNP perhead of $6200) scores purchasing powerof $8,320, life expectancy of 64 yearsand 55% of literacy, for an HDI-rank of&. f ta t order reversss the conventionalranking by GNP per head"
Subjectively revealingThe strength of the HDI is in
reminding those who cannot see beyondthe end of their statistics that there ismore to life than GNP. Its bigweakness, inevitably, is that it issubjective. The implicit weighting ofpurchasing lx)wer, life expectancy andliterrcy is a6irary. Because the index isintended to measure the absence ofdeprivation, it gives no credit for incomegrowth beyond an "adequate" inbomelevel of just under $5,000 (see the notesto the table). This helps to explainsome peculiar results.
How many would agrce, for instance.
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NigerMaliBurkina FasoSierra LeoneChadCuineaSomaliaMauritaniaAfghanistanBeninBunrndiBhutanMozarnbiqueMalawiSudanC. African R.NepalSenegalEthiopiaZaieRwandaAngolaBangladeshNigeriaYemen Arab R.LiberiaTogoUgandaHaitiGhanaYemen PDRC6te d'IvoireCongoNamibiaTanzaniaPakistanIndiaMadagascarPapua N. GuineaKampuchea D.CameroonKenyaZanrbiaMoroccoEgyptLaosGabonOmanBoliviaBurmaHondurasZimbabweLesothoIndonesiaGuatemalaVietnamAlgeriaBotswanaEl SalvadorTunisiakanSyriaDominican R.Saudi Arabia
The iable ranks the countries in ascending order of their scote on the human-development index. The UNDP's researchers combined thefirsi tluee columns in each part of the tabli-showing life expectancy, adult literacy and purchasing power to deduce the index shown in thefourth column. For each indicator, a "minimum" value and a "desirable" value had o be specified. Minimum values were set equal to thelowest actually observed in 1987: 42 yearc for life expectancy (as in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Sierra Lane), l29o for adult literacy (as inSomalia) ana $ZZO for purchasing power (as n Zaltre). Desirable values were set at 78 years for life expectancy (as in lapan), 100% foradult literacy, ana $+,0et for purihasing power (this is the average official poverty line for nine industrial countries, adjusted forpurchasing-power parity). One iurther complication: to reflect "diminishing retums in the conversion of income into the fulfilment ofhuman needs", logarithms rathet than absoluie values of pwchasing power were used. With these minirnum and desirable values fixing theend-points, and with the intewal between them set equal io one, thi iountries could be located on each scale, A simple average of the threereadings then yields the HDL The last two columns in each part of the table show the ranking by unadjusted GNP per person and theranking by HDI, respectively.
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that Singapore (line 96) deserves 0o beranked three places lower than Argentina,or the United States (112) no fewer than18 places lower than top-placed Japan(and three lower than Spain)? Odditiesbecome absurdities in the case of thecommunist and newly ex-communistcountries, whose underlying GNPfigures are worthless. Hands upeverybody who thinks that North Korea(82) has reached a higher plane ofdevelopment than Brazil, or the SovietUnion (105) than Portugal.
Still, development buffs will studypromotion and relegation in the HDIleague with interest. Among the moresurprising promotions is that of India(37). By raw GNP per head, only 24countries are poorer. On the HDI, Indiamoves in front of another 12.
Most Arab nations, with highincomes but also high death-rates andlow literacy, are relegated en bloc by theHDI. Several social-democraticcountries in and around Latin America—such as Costa Rica (103), Uruguay (I02)and Jamaica (87F—win promotion; so dosome "proglessive" Asian countries suchas Sri I-anka and Thailand (78). Bravely,the UNDP opines that this may havesomething to do with freedom, evenwith democracy. Unfortunately ttre bestof all Latin American performers hasbeen Chile (107)—not exactly free ordemocratic in recent years.
Wishful thinking aside, the reporthas little to say about why somecountries have been so much better thanothers at translating growth in GNP into"development"; more guidance on policyis promised for next time. Not longago, the UNDP might have argued thatgfowth hardly matters, but attitudes havechanged. Growth is good, it nowaffirms. What is needed is more of theright sort of public spending, especiallyon primary education and health and lessof the wrong sort—--€.g., on armies.
The UNDP adds to the literature onmilitary waste with figures on soldiersin relation to teachers. In the rich world,Japqr's armed forces enlist 25 people forevery 100 employed in teaching. In theUnied S a e s .*rere are as many soldiersas teachers. In the big West Europeancountries with conscription the armedforces are usually slightly larger than theteaching profession. Britain, with no
conscription, has 62 soldiers per 100t€achers.
In the Third World, the most over-militarised countries tend to beneighboun scared of each otheq with thesmaller neighbour having proportion-ately the larger armed forces. PoorSomalia has 525 soldiers per 100teachers, because larger Ethiopia has494. Iraq has 428, because larger hanhas 112. Syria has 32O, Jordan 245,Israel only 191—but then every adultIsraeli is a soldiet and most of them alklike teachers too.
In Pakistan's 154 soldiers per 100teachers face India's 28 per 100—and,partly in consequence, India's adult-literacy rate is 43% to Pakistan's 30%.Yet people do learn to read, even withbig armies. Nicaragua (88% literate) had3Zi soldiers per 100 teachers when thesefigures were gathered, in 1988; it hasmany fewer since this year's elections.Thanks to financial support from theUnited States, El Salvador still has its183 soldiers per 100 teachers, and a 72%adult-literacy rate.
One of the HDI's brightest stars isCosta Rica. It is a small counfry withno more than middling purchasingpower, but life expeclancy fully up torich-country standards. It has no army,so nought soldiers per teacher—and 937oadult literacy.
Votes for fewer womenThat women generally get a raw deal
is scarcely a surprise. That the deal isgetting slightly less raw is encouraging.In every single country women havebeen catching up with men in literacy,and in the proportion enrolled in primaryeducation. That may, in the long run,help m close the status gap; but notunless women get more of a share inpower. If parliaments are where powerlies, that is happening slowly if at all.
Women hold more than one seat infive in the parliaments of only 16countries. Four of them are Nordic:Denmark's is the least feminist, with29% of female members. The otherdozen are ten members of Comecon,plus China and North Korea. It seemsthat one way to have women inparliament is not to hold properelections. As democracy spreads inEastern Europe, watch the statutory
women fade off the parliamentary scene.In 20 parliaments women hold
between l0% and fu% of sr;ats. Nine ofthese assemblies are chosen byreasonably democratic processes. Thedemocratic parliament with the highestfemale enrolment (after those fourNcdics) is that of Trinidad and Tobago,with 16.6%o; closely followed by WestGermany, New Zealand and, yes,Switzerland on 147o. Women accountfor 9.9% of Canada's parliament, for6.3% of Briiain's and 5.3% of theAmerican Congress.
Doing without elections does notnecessarily bring in the women. Thereis not one woman in the parliaments offive Arab states, a recsd matclpd amongdemocracies only by Papua New Guinea"
Mastering the Fine Artof Writing Reportsfor Nonscientists
by Tlnnus L. Warren
From "Tle Scbntisf', April 30, 1990;Copyright 1990, 'Thc Scientist".
All rights resemed.Reprinted by permission.
Being a good scientist has alwaysmeant staying abreast of newtechnological advancements, keeping upwith the literature in one's field, andknowing when to call on the expertise ofothers. These days, more than everbefore, it also means doing a lot ofwriting: in peer-reviewed journals, aprerequisite for advancement in one'scareer; and in grant proposals, anecessity of research life for manyscientists.
In addition to writing scientificpapers and applications for funding,today's researchers are also frequentlycalled on to provide writtencommunications to nonscientists:accountants, public relations officers,personnel directors, and the like. Formany researchers, reports tononspecialists are more difficult to wdtethan the most daunting grantapplication, because in communicatingto people outside the field a scientist hasto adapt his or her writing style toreaden' needs and level of expertise.
News from ICTP - No. 34/35 - May/June 1990
If you're the kind of person who findsthis kind of writing an insufferablechore, you may find yourself wastingvaluable research time by agonizing overthese interdepartmental communications.You write, rewrite—and your report stillcomes back from the reader withquestions, or ,worse, goes forward unread.
The unread report is not just a wasteof time; it is a threat to yourorganization, and even to your researchitself. Accountants will review yourbudget request whether or not you helpthem by writing clearly and directly,anticipating their need for information—and your budget may not be approved ifyour request is unclear. Yourorganization's publicist will not do aneffective job of getting the word outabout your research if your reports areambiguous and full of jargon.
A reader will tend to put a reportaside if it is written with no thought tohis or her need for information.Undoubtedly, you yourself haveencounlered this problem with some ofthe interdepartmen[al communicationsyou have read. While perusing a reportfrom the accounting department, forexample, you may have wondered,"What impact will the l0 percent drop inaccounts receivable have on myresearch?" It is important to bear inmind, however , that yourcommunications to the accouncants maybe just as incomprehensible to them astheir papers are to you. To circumventthis problem it is useful to give somethought to your readers before you beginto write.
Reader AnalysisYour readers tum to reports (or any
written material, for that matter) with aneed for specific information. The taskfor you, the writer, is to determine whatthe needed information is and to provideit in the most helpful way possible.
For scarters, find out who has !o readwhat you write. Once you have a nameor job title, ask yourself three questions:• What does my reader need toknow? Many communication situationsare problem-centered. The reader's task is!o determine whether your equipment iscost-effective, or to let the public knowabout recent discoveries. The status quowill change once that person has received
your report. If you have done your job,then new equipment will arrive, or thepublic will support the research effort.On the other hand, a poorly writtenreport could mean no new equipment ora loss of public support.
To determine the content of yourreport, it may be helpful to thinkthrough the communication situationyou are frced with, and o consider whatyour reader will use your informationfor, before you sit down to write. Areyou writing from a proactive or reactivestandpoint—that is, are you initiatingcommunication or responding? Ifproactive, then what are the key piecesof information yow reader needs to gantyour request? If reactive, why does thereader want your infumation?
Like many writers in other fields,scientists often are consumed withinterest in their own disciplines and tendo tell their readers more than they needto know. Rarely will an auditor wantyou to tell all you know aboutlipoprotein. Rather, you may beexpected to write a memo explaininghow a particular expenditure applies toyour research ino lipoproteins and fat-soluble vitamins.• How can I help my reader tounderstand? As you know, costaccounting has its own vocabulary andtheory, which can be as arcane as thoseof biophysics—and jus t asincomprehensible to anyone outside thefield. When you write a report to be readby nonspecialists, your readers usuallyhave little knowledge of your field, soyou have to help them understand thematerial.
What if, when asked to provide astalement about the purpose of a recentstudy you were doing, you produced thefollowing:
"The purpose of the study reportedhere was the establishment of anunsophisticated in vitro system, basedon measurement of the rate of release ofgrowth homone from isolated fragmentsof anterior pituitary from rats, whichcould provide a suitable technique forfurther elucidation of the mechanisms bywhich regulation of the growth hormonesecretory process in the cells of theanterior pituitary may be rhieved.'
This paragraph is perfectlyappropriate for a peer-reviewed iturnal—
and, in fact, it actually appeared in ajournal article. But it misses the markas a communication o a nonspecialist.In a paragraph like this, what do youassume your reader knows about thework? Does he c she rctually know thetechnical terms (in vitro, posterior,pinitary, growth ltormone secretory, andso on)? How can a lay reader respond,except to ask for an explanation? Willyou have the time—or the will—towrite it?
Helping your reader !o understandmeans defining terms, providinganalogies, giving examples from ougidethe lab, simplifying concepts, andclarifying graphs and ables.
No one is asking that youoversimplify to the point of disortingwhat you mean. Just be aware that,although your reader may know themeaning of individual words in yourreports, the combinations may bemysterious. Researchers in animalscience know what "heavy beef heartmitochondria protein" is, but who elsedoes? Many readen will wonder whetherthe "heavy" modifies "b@f' or "heart" or"protein" or what.
No matler how clear the concepts areto you, you are not the reader, and yourterms may be completely meaningless tothat person. When communication fails,frequently the problem is that the writerfailed to help the reader understand themess:rge.• What do I want my reader to dowith the information? When youconsider what action you expect fromyour reader, you also have !o considerwhat persuasive elements to use. Forexample, the most important persuasiveelement is your credibility as a scientislThis credibility certainly carries the daywhen you are discussing scientificissues. But what content of your reportis nonscientific*such as a request foradditional staff? In cases like this, youneed otler approaches.
You can appeal to your readerthrough logic. To be most effective,organize your presen[a[ion as a logicitlarangement of the facts that lead to theinevitable conclusion that you need helpor money. The problem here is whatform of logic o use. Does your readeragree that the most logical thing to do ishire more people? From a science
6
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standpoint, the request may becompletely logical. But what aboutfrom a larger, organizational point ofview? Increasing your budget for staffsalaries could mean reducing funding forother work.
To determine the best approach, youwill have to know your reader. What inyour qualifications will he or sheconsider important? What kind oflogical appeal will work? It all comesback to providing the information in aform that the reader can easilyunderstand"
TlntrusL. Warren is a director of tlwTechnical Writing Program andcoordinator of graduate studies inEnglish at Oklaloma State University.He has published many articles ontechnical communication, spoken tomany diverse groups on effectivecommunication, and written a self-lrclpcourse in report writing for the AmericanManagement Association.
Communication Tipsfor the Scientist
by Ricki Lcwis
From "The Scientist", April 30, 1990;Copyright 1990, 'TlE Scientist".
All rights reserved.Reprinted by permission.
Nontechnical professionals whofrequently read scientists' reports offerthe following suggestiurs for researchersneeding to get their messages acrossclearly:1. Know Your Audience
The purpose of a paper shoulddetermine its style and organization.Nancy Thornton, who teaches writingeffectiveness 0o word-weary scientists atsome 20 institutions in upstate NewYork, suggests that researchers pondertheh report's destination before sittingdown to write.
'ils it a Fogress report for a manager?If s6, what will the manager do wittr it?Will he or ihe send it on to someoneelse, and how will that affect thelanguage to be used?" asks Thornlon,whose clients include scientists atSterling Winthrop, General Electric, the
New York State Department ofEnvironmental Conservation, andnumerous small technical firms. Well-written in-house reports often sart withjournalism's "fiys \[s"—'1yho, what,where, when, why—"so that the readercan focus on where [the paper] ishead€d," she says.
Care must be taken in describingscientific work to public relationsprofessionals so as !o avoid prematuretrumpeting of a "breakthrough." Pressreleases often require much back-and-forth benpeen scientist and writer, with ago-between sometimes called in to"Eanslate." "We use people who oncewere practicing scientists, or technicalwriters," says one public relationsperson whose accounts cover suchdiverse fields as monoclonal antibodies,lasers, and polymers.
But many other public informationspecialists lack such technical expertise."The majority of people working withinstitutions such as medical centers donot have science backgroundp," saysLaura Feragen, manager of mediarelations at Pennsylvania Hospital inPhiladelphia. "I studied English andsocial studies, but I've been in healthcare reporting for 11 years," she says,adding that in positions like hers, "youhave to learn not to be intimidated bywords thrown at you." Garret DeYoung,a freelance writer who has edited suchpublications as High Technology andPhotonics Spectra and written for theIllinois Institute of Technology, aglees."Scientists should write cleady, assumethat the [reader] is intelligent, explainthings when asked, yet at the same timenot be condescending," he says.2. Organize
"Is there a clear introduction,experimental section, results,conclusions, and recommendations? Aable helps where there is a paragraph of
solid data or a comparison of two orthree methods. Find whichorganizational format will work thebest," suggests Thornton. Adds JimMagee, a patent attorney at the GeneralElectric Research and DevelopmentCenter in Schenectady, N.Y., 'Whatproblem are you nying to solve, andwhat did you do to solve it?" See thebig picture—and make sure the readerdoes, too.
3 . PolishIt may help to edit the editors. "In
writing for government agencies, it's notuncommon for 25 people to edit ascientific paper. By the time it getsback to the poor scientist, he doesn'tknow where to start. The largersEucture is lost," says Thornlon. Thesame too-many-cooks problem arises fortextbook authors, whose work is oftenreviewed by multiple readers. Thesolution to the information overload—aconsensus reviewer to derive one list ofrecommendations.
Finally, put the paper aside for a dayor two. Let others read it. Read italotrd.4 . Be Aware Of Your
Discipline's lVriting QuirksThomton, who has helped thousands
of scientists improve their writingskills, has noted interesting trends."Elect r ica l engineers andpharmacologists are too tight," she says."They write with a telegram style. Atthe other exEeme, comput€r scientiststend o be oo wordy. Chemiss write inshut paragraphs, maybe because they areso used to representing things asftrrtulae."
Potential clients often expectThornton to whip their employeeswriting into Pulitzer form in just anhour or two. Perhaps ttris is because thesecret to good writing is to make thepaper read as if composing it wereeffutless.
But any scientist .who writesfrequently—be it in-house reports,journal articles, or grant proposals—knows how tough it is. Says Thornton,"People don't realize it takes a long timeand a lot of work !o master clear andeffective writing."
Ricki Lewis teaches biology at theState University of New York, Albany.
Visits to ICTP
Brazilian AmbassadorOn 10 May, His Excellency Mr.
Carlos Alberto Leite Barbosa,Ambassador of Brazil to Italy had a briefvisit of the Cenre. He was received bythe Deputy Director, Prof. L. Bertocchi,and Prof. H. Cerdeira Staff Associate of
News from ICTP - No. 34/35 - May/June 1990
the ICTP for Condensed Matter Physics,from UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil.
A. Gromiko (USSR)Prof. Anatoly Gromiko, Director of
the African Studies Section of the USSRAcademy of Science, was invited to theICTP within the framework of theprogramme "Science, High Technologyand Development". He delivered alecture entitled "New Thinking in aNuclear Age" on 13 May.
S.K. Chopra (India)Dr. S.K. Chopra, Adviser in the
Planning Commission of theGovernment of India, came to the CenEeon 18 May. He was received by theDirecor AMus Salam and met scientistsand other members of the ICTP Staff.
Minister J. Brunetti (Italy)On 21 May, Minister J. Brunetti
(Ms.) was received at the ICTP byProfessor Abdus Salam. MinisterBrunetti is the Director General of theGeneral Directorate for Cooperation toDevelopment of the Ministry of ForeignAffairs which finances, among others,the programmes of External Activitiesand of Training in Italian Laboralories.A meeting with all ICTP officialsfollowed.
J.L. ile Segovia (Spain)Prof. Josd L. de Segovia, President
of the International Union for VacuumScience, Technique and Applications,met Prof. Abdus Salam on 22 May todiscuss on closer cooperation betweenruVSTA and ICTP. ruVSTA has setup two new committees, the Co-Ordinated Activities Committees, chairedby Dr. A. Zalar from Yugoslavia, andthe Developing Countries Committee,chaired by Dr. P. Barna frorn Hungary.
R. Matera (Argentina)Dr. R. Matera, Secretary for Science
and Technology of Argentina, had ameeting with ICTP scientists andofficials on 24 May. Possibilities offurther collaboration between the ICTPanil Argentina were discussed-
Italian GeographersProf. G. Valussi of the Institute of
Economic Geography of the University
of Trieste, organized on 28 May a visitto the ICTP for forty universityprofessors from all over Italyparticipating in the yearly inter-university geographical excursion. Thisyear, they have had the opportunity tovisit the Trieste scientific institutions.
Czech MinisterOn 28 May, the Deputy Director of
the ICTP, Prof. L. Bertocchi, receivedMr. Jdn Pisrlt, First Deputy Minister ofEducation, Youth and Sport of theSlovak Socialist Republic, and Ms.Alena Brunovskd, Director of theDepartment of Science of the sameMinistry.
Sixth Argentine Congressof Meteorology
The Argentine Center ofMeteorologists is organizing the 6thArgentine Congress of Meteoology thatwill be held in Buenos Aires inNovember 1991. Papers are welcome inall aspects of meteorology andmeteorology-related fields.
More information about abstract anddeadlines will be published soon. Also,information can be obtained by writingto: Cenfto Argentino de Meleor6logos,Pabellon II, Ciudad Universitaria, 1428Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hot Papers
From "The Scientist",April 2 and May 14, 1990;
Copyright 1990, "The Scientist".All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission.
The articles listed below, all lessthan two years old, have received asubstantially greater number of citationsthan othen of the same tlpe and vintage,according to data ftom The ScienceCitation Index of the Institute forScientific Information, Philadelphia.Why have these research repo*s becomesuch stand-outs? A comment followingeach reference, supplied to Tlrc Scienrtstby one of the authors, attempts toprovide an answer.
THEORETICAL PHYSICSS. Coleman, "\ilhy there is
nothing rather than something: atheory of the cosmologicalconstantr" Nuclear Physics B,310, 643-68, 12 December 1988.
Sidney Coleman (HarvardUniversity, Cambridge, Mass.): "Thecosmological constant is a quantity thatappears in Einstein's gravitational fieldequations. It can be thought of as theenergy density of the ground state ofquantum field theory, empty space.Experiment gives an up'per bound on theconstant (consistent with it vanishingalogether). Rough theoretical estimatespredict a value several dozen orders ofmagnitude grcater than the experimentalupper bound. This is possibly the worstprediction in 20th-century physics andhas been an embarrassment for manyyea$.
"My paper extended earlier work byHawking and Linde to offer a noveltheory of the vanishing of thecosmological constant. The theory was(and is) highly speculative and I am notsure why it has received so much moreattention ttran its predecessors did. Itmight be because it opens thepossibility (till umealized) of computingother constants of nature. However, itmight be just that high-energy theoristscurrently have a lot of time on theirhands, a situation that will probablypersist until the next generation ofaccelerators comes on line."
SUPERCONDUCTIVITYM.A. Subramanian' C.C.
Torardi, J. Gopalakrishnan, P.L.Gai, et al., "Bulk super-conductivity up to 122"K in theTl-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system'
rlScicncc, 242, 249.52, 14October 19tt.
Mas Subramanian (E.I. Du Pontde Nemours and Co., Wilmington,Del.): "This is the frst paper !o reportsuperconductivity in the system Tl-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O with transition temperahresup to l22°K. It also reported the precisestructural and compositional informationof the 122"K superconductor derivedfrom high resolution microscopic andsingle crystal X-ray diffractioninvestigations.
"This paper auracted much attention
News from ICTP - No. 34135 - May/June 1990
because high-temperature super-conductors with transition temperaturesas high as 125"K were known in thesystem Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O but not in rheTl-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system. The workdemonstra[ed how one could stabilizenew superconductors by appropriatechemical substitution. It is nowrecognized that such substitutions notonly favor the phase stability, but alsomay alter the electronic structure, whichmay induce supercondrctivity."
Articles Alert
From "The Scientist",April 2, April 30, atd May 14, 1990;
The Scientist has asked a group ofexperts to comment periodically uponrecent articles that they have foundnoteworthy. Their selections, presentedherein every issue, are neitherendorsements of content nor the result ofsystematic searching. Rather, the listreprcsents personal choices of articles thecolumnists believe the scientificcommunity as a whole may also findinteresting. Reprints of ani articlescited here may be ordered through TheGenuine Article, 3501 Market St.,Philadelphia, Pa. 19104, or bytelephoning QI5) 38@399.
PHYSICSby Frank A. Wilczeck, School ofNatural Sciences, Institute for AdvancedStudy, Princeton, N.J., USA.
• Measurements of the Z boson'slifetime give decisive information as 0othe possible existence of new species oflight neutrinos, in addition to the threeknown ones (electron, muon, t lepton).Even though the neutrinos themselvesare' essentially undetectable, bycomparing the actual Z d*ay rate to thedecay rate from "known causes," onemight see an indirect signal of theirexistence. Recent results stronglyindicate that the three known neutrinosexhaust the list. This result isimportant to cosmology because thenumber of neutrino species affects the
rale of expansion of the early universe,which is an ingredient in the calculationof element abundance in big-bangnucleosynthesis. (In addition to the text,there are more than three pages ofauthors' names, which must be somesort of record.)
D. Decamp, B. Deschizeaux, J.-P.Lees, M.-N. Minard, et al., "Aprecise determination of the numberof families with light neutrinos andof the Z boson paflial widths,"Physics Letters 8, 235, 399411, IFebruary 1990. (Laboratoire dePhysique des Particules, Annecy-le-Vieux, France; et al.)
• Quantum numbers used to bequantized. Lately, it is increasinglycommon to find numbers, once thoughtof as sacrosanct quantum numbers,indeed breaking into fractions. This isparticularly common in npo-dimensionalcondensed matter systems, in whichfractional electric charge, and evenfractional quantum statistics, haveb,ecome central o the Hall effecf theory.These are widely speculated o play arole in spin orderings (chiral spin states)and in high temperature (anyon)superconducti vity.
S.P. Benz, M.S. Rzchowski, M.Tinkham, C.J. Lobb, "Fractionalgiant Shapiro steps and spatiallycorrelated phase motion in 2DJosephson arrays," Physical ReviewLetters, 64, 693-6, 5 February 1990.(Harvard University, Cambridge,Mass.)
• The burgeoning state of the art inscanning microscopy is well-summarized.
R. Pool, "The children of ttre STM,'Science, 247, 634-6, 9 February1990. (AAAS, Washington, D.C.)
• How can a paper that opens, "Afunctioning human brain is a lump ofwarm wet matter of inordinatecomplexity," be resisted? It tackles,head-on, some of the classic "problems"of philosophy and psychology, bytaking the point of view—the onlydefensible one, in my opinion—-thatuntil proved otherwise we should assumethe laws of physics are adequate !odescribe all aspecs of reality. It also
isolates some of the key facts that reallydo need explaining. The paper makes agenuine contribution in a domain wherethe air is often both "thin and hoL"
M.J. Donald, "Quantum theory andthe brain," Proceedings of the RoyalSociety of London, A427, 43-93, 8January 1990. (University ofCambridge, England)
• Precision measurements of the Zboson lifetime has generated considerableexcitement recently. The Z bosonlifetime, which gives information aboutthe number of different neutrino species,is a value of great interest in cosmology.A complete srrrvey of the situation priorto these measurements provides a self-contained, elementary but masterly,account of the relevant cosmology.
D. Denegri, B. Sadoulet, M. Spiro,"The number of neutrino species,"Reviews of Modern Physics, 62, l-42, January 1990. (CERN, Geneva;CenEe dE$des Nucldaires de Saclay,Gif-sur-Yvetle, France; University ofCalifcnia, Berkeley)
• Strange and wonderful things arehappening at the center of our galaxy.There is impressive evidence that amassive (greater than 105 solar masses)black hole lives there: bathed in aninrushing whirlpool of inpouring gas,exerting hug gravitational fields onnearby objects. Observations, and someof the ingenious techniques used, aredescribed.
C. Townes, R. Genzel, "What ishappening at the center of ourgalaxy?" Scientific American, 262,46-55, April 1990. (University ofCalifornia, Berkeley; Max PlanckInstitute, Mainz, W.Ger.)
• A classic (and continually refined)chapter of mathematical physics dealswith proof of the stability of matter:why it doesnt all collapse in a heap (notobvious, because there are singularattractive forces!). A masterly and quiteaccessible recent survey of this deep anddelicate subject, by one of the maincontributors to the field, is given.
E.H. Lieb, "The stability of matter:from atoms to stars," Bulletin of theAmerican Matlumatical Society, 22,l-49, January 1990. (hinceton
News from ICTP - No. 34135 - May/June 1990
, University, N.J.)
• Fundamental physical theory isdominated at present by ideas ofsymmetry and gauge invariance:
Roughly speaking, gauge invariancemeans that the laws of physics are mostsimply expressed (specifically, arc loca[)in terms of variables that form a highlyredundant description of the physicalworld. Most stated equations, therefore,consist of the relationships betweenarbirary names. It is a real challenge,then, to extract their physical meaning.In this context, it often becomes difficulteven for experts !o relay their findings.A profound analysis is presented.
M. Henneaux, C. Teitelboim, J.Zanelli, "Gauge invariance and degreeof freedom count," Nuclear Physics,8332, 169-88, 26 February 1990.(Centro de Estudios Cientfficos deSantiago, Chile; Universitd Libre deBruxelles, Belgium; University ofTexas, Austin; Universidad de Chile,Santiago)
• Two leaders in theoretical physicshave presenled an accessible, up-to-datesummary of the current state ofturbulence—quite an outstandingchallenge in description alone.
U. Frisch, S.A. Orszag, "Turbulence:challenges for theory andexperiment," Physics Today, 43, U -32, lanaary 1990. (Observatoire deNice, France: Princeton University,N.J.)
PHYSICSby Sokrates T. Pantelides, IBM ResearchDivision, Thomas J. Watson ResearchCenter, Yorkoown Heights, N.Y.
• The fractional quantum Hall effectwas described theoretically some timeago, but its relationship to the integerHall effect has been rather elusive. Anew theory by Jain, Kivelson, andTrivedi bridges the gap. The theorry wasmotivated by unpublished experimentaldata, reporoed by Engel, Wei, Tsui, andShayegan, at the Eighth IntemationalConference on Electronic Properties ofTwo-Dimensional Systems, held inGrenoble, France, in 1989.
J.K. Jain, S.A. Kivelson, N. Trivedi,"Scaling theory of the fractional
quantum Hall effect," PhysicalReview Letters, 64, 1297-1300, 12March 1990. (State University ofNew York, Stony Brmk; Universityof California, Los Angeles)
• For many years , III-Vsemiconductors and alloys proved loyield a plethora of innovative transislors.Nowadays, mixing Ge in Si, by eithermolecular beam epitaxy (MBE) orchemical vapor deposition (CVD), ismaking possible comparable Si-baseddevices, feanring a controllable negativedifferential resistance in the collectorcurrent. A recent paper reports a SiGeresonant nrnneling hot-carrier transistor.Dont ever count Si out!
• The debate on Fermi-level pinning atsemiconductor-metal interfaces hasfocused so much on in0erface and defectstates that hydrogenation is an obviousdesirable probe. It's happening—theexperimental results are inriguing-—$utunderstanding is still elusive.
Y.Q. Jia, G.G. Qin, "Effects ofhydrogen on A/p-Si Schottky barrierdiodes," Applied Physics Lctters, 56,& l - 3 , 12 February 1990. @ekingUniversity, Beijing; AcademiaSinica, Shenyang, China)
• Measured hyperfine parameters haveoften led 0o unambiguous identificationof defects in semiconductors. A newreport shows that first-principlescalculations of hyperfine parameters isnow possible and can unambiguouslyresolve ambiguities!
C.G. Van de Walle, "Structuralidentification of hydrogen andmuonium centers in silicon: first-principles calculations of hyperfineparameters," Physical ReviewLetters, 64, 69-72, 5 February1990. (North American PhillipsCorporation, Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.)
• There seems !o be no end tro newprobes of individual atoms. A recentpaper reports that femtosecond pulses
can be used to "push" molecules in amolecular crystal along selected paths inthe lattice, very much as one pushes achild on a swing.
A.M. Weiner, D.E. Leaird, G.P.Wiederrecht, K.A. Nelson,"Femlosecond pulse sequences usedfu opical manipulation of molecularmotion," Science, 247, l3l7-19, 16March 1990. (Bell CommunicationsResearch, Red Bank, N.J.;Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, Cambridge)
Activities at ICTPMaY'June 1990
Title: SPRING SCHOOL ONSTRING TIIEORY AND QUANTUMGRAVITY AND WORKSHOP ONSTRING TIIEORY, 23 April - 4 May1990.
Organizers : Profs. M. Green(Queen Mary College, London, UK), H.Verlinde (Princeton University, USA),S. Randjbar-Daemi (ICTP) and E.Sezgin (ICTP), in co-operation with theInternational School for AdvancedStudies (SISSA, Trieste, Italy) and theItalian Institute for Nuclear Physics(INFN).
Lecturesz (Spring School)Topological aspects of conformal fieldtheory and 2-d gravity. Baryon violationat finit€ temperature. Integrable latticemodels and quantum groups. Recentdevelopments in 2d gravity. 2d gravityand mauix models. Self-duality and N=2string magic. Integrable lattice modelsand quantum groups. Quantumcosmology.
(Workslnp) Conformal field theory,triality and the monster. Extrinsicgeometry of non-critical strings.Renormalization group flows ingeneralized Toda field theories. Criticalexponents of l-dim, models from finite-size effects in conformal field theories.Quasi-exactly-solvable quantal problems:1 dim. analogue of rational conformalfield theories. Algebraic structure ofintegrable hierarchies in bilinear form.Self-duality and N=2 sning magic. Amodel of interacting strings and theHagedorn transition. One-loop quantumgravity effects in superstrings. Chern-Simons theory and geometric
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regularization. Quantum group tensorproducts and fusion rule multiplicities.Toda theory and W-algebra from aWZNW point of view. Heteroticsolitons. Matrix models and stringtheory: supersymmetry and non-ambiguous solutions. Classical r-matrixand exchange algebra WZhIW and Todatheories. On 2-d gravity in theformalism of conformal field theory.Non-universality of 3 d Diracdeterminant. The quantum Ising chainwith a general defect. Fusion of braidingmatrices for W-algebras and Boltzmannweights of integrable lattice models.Some non-perturbative aspects of therelationship between LG and CY omodels. Spectra and symmetries ofGepner models compared to Calabi-Yaucompactifications. Symmetry breakingin conformal theories of 4 dim.superstring. C-theorem and spectralrepresentation. The 2-d, effectivesupergravity and the super WZNWmodel. Three short stories on non-critical strings. The Aharanov Bohmeffect without gauge fields. Gravitationand multiloop superstring amplitudes.The covariant path integralrepresentation of the off-shell stringamplitudes. W - gravity.
The School and Workshop wereattended by 1 3 lechners and participants(33 from developing countries).
Title: SPRING COLLEGE INCONDENSED MATTER ON:PHYSICS OF LOW-DIMENSIONALSEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURES,23 April - 15 June 1990.
Organizing Committee: Profs.N.H. March (Chairman, University ofOxford, UK), P.N. Butcher (Universityof Warwick, UK), G. Chiarotti (IIUniversitA di Roma, Italy), P. Fulde(Max-Planck-Institut fiir Festk0rper-forschung, Stottgatg Federal Repubtc ofGermany), F. Garcia-Moliner (Institutode Ciencia de Materiales, Madri( Spain),F. Gautier (Universitd Louis Pasieur,Strasbourg, France), I.M. Khalatnikov(Ldindau Institute for TheoreticalPhtsics, Moscow, USSR), S. Lundqvist(Chalmers University of Technology,G0teborg, Sweden), Chi Wei Lung(Institute of Metal Research, Shenyang,P.R. China), K. Singwi (Northwestern
University, Evanslon, USA) and M.P.Tosi (Universitl di Trieste and ICTP,Trieste, Italy).
Course Directors: G.H. Ddhler(Universitflt Erlangen-Nurnberg, FederalRepublic of Germany) and M. Tomak(Middle East Technical University,Ankara, Turkey).
Co-operation of the InternationalCentre for Science; co-sponsorship ofthe Italian Direzione Generale per laCmperazione allo Sviluppo (Ministry ofForeign Affairs, Rome, Italy).
Lectures: Quantum wells andsuperlattices - an overview. Fabricationof low-dimensional stnrctures. Elecronicstructure (including many-body effectsand band offsets). Electron transport.Phonons. Unconventional structures andmalerials. Quantum Hall effect. Opticalproperties. Theory of fluctuation surfacestates in metal-insulator-semiconductorstructures. Spin effecs and other recentdevelopments in the fractional quantumHall effect. Quantum Hall effect(theory). Quantum wires and quantumdots. Electrons in superlattices. Phononemission, absorption and reflection froma two-dimensional electron gas. Bandstructure engineering (includingheterojunction bipolar transistors andHEMTs). Electron transport in smallsystems. Weak localization (theor,v andexperiments). Metallic superlattices.Tunneling. Quasi-one dimensionalcharge density wave systems. Infraredphotoconductivity of 2D electronsystems. Tunneling in asymmetricGaAs/AlAs double-barrier structures.Unusual magne0oresistance of quasi-2Dsemiconducting La2CuO4. Polaronictransport in quasi-2D semiconductors.Magnetic brder of quasi-2D semi-conducting La2CuO4. Magnetoransportand scattering experiments in hetero-structues in the integer quantum Hallregime. Quantum transport in ulrasmalldevices. Quantum adiabatic electrontransport in ballistic conductors. Forcebalance equation: a contribution tounderstanding electron transport. Theeffects of spin orbit coupling on theLandau levels in the tilted magneticfield. The problem of the Greenfunctions for the fractional quantum Halleffect. Two:dimensional electroncrystals. Elecron properties of low-dimensional organic conductors. Low-
frequency dynamics of a 2D electron gasin srong magnetic fields. Collectiveexcitations in 2D elecron systems.
Group Seminars: Intersubbandtransitions in 2D-systems. Commentson the theory of the integer quantumHall effect. A new cheap commercialMBE system for research. Renormalizedeffective-mass in semiconductm banbrs.Electronic structure and conductionproperties of polymers. ImPuritYspectroscopy of 3D and 2D systems.Diffusive excitation energy transport inquasi-one-dimensional sructures. Effectof finite temperatue and Landau levelbroadening on the quantum Hallconductance. Exact diagonal ization ofone-electron Green function for a 2DEGin a magnetic field. Capacitancemeasuring technique as applied toheteroj unction studies. A new method(ATM) to calculate the electon and holesubbands of semiconductor hetero-structures. Calculation of energy bandsusing quantum mechanical impedance.Transmission pnqerties of lD disorderedsystems. Calculation of energy bandsusing quantum mechanics impedance.Calculation of binding energies ofexcitonic molecules in sphericalquantum wells. Self+onsistent electronicsrucnre of a quantum pillar. Growth ofsemiconductors with MBE. Magnetoplasmons in a layered system. Theproperties and anomalous damping ofedge magnetoplasmons in a boundedquantum Hall elecfonic system. Iowtemperature mobility in. Si-Ge1Si1-'.Impurity centres in III-V compoundsemiconductors. Fluctuations and theIQHE. Coupling between intersubbandand cyclotron modes in quantum wellswith tilted valleys. Nonparabolic andnonisotopic 3D-electrons in a magneticfield. Deep level transient specaoscopyof Si doped with Pd centres. Elecronicband-sructure and excitonic effects inGaAs 6-doped n-i-p-i structures.Influerpes of a parallel magnetic field onlocalization of dismdered 2Dclecuons inGaAs/AlxGal-1As heterostructures.SQUID magnetic measurement ofL.B.MnSt2 films. Resonant Zenertunnelling in quantum wells. Effect ofmagnetic field on quantum tunnelling.Contact elecrification of polymen bymetals. a-Seh-Si heterojunctions. Effectof inhomogeneity of an elastic medium
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on the phonon relaxation rnechanism of2D carriers. ConsEaints of the chargecorrelation function of 2D-quantumsystems. Influence of the electron-phonon interaction on the coherenttransport in mesoscopic systems. On therelevance of the Chern-Simons action forthe description of the Q.H.E. Landaulevels and cyclotron masses inGaAs/Al*Ga1-*As quantum wells.Time-dependent tunnelling in alransverse magnetic field. Determinationof junction parameters of GaAs/Al*Ga1-
*As heterojunction by IV and CVtechniques. Application of resonanttunneling effects in future quantumfunctional devices. A MBE in-line slowpositron beam defect analysing system.Electron transport phenomena inpotential channel structures havingdiscontinuities in lateral dimension.Charge carrier transport, recombinationand trapping in QID conductingpolymers. DX center in Al*Ga1-*As andGaAs. Probing of epitaxial layerinterfaces by persistent photo-conductivity. Theory of Quantum HallEffects in lattice systems. Free-carrierabsorption in Q2D and QlD electrongas. Time dependent quantum nrnnelingapplied to semiconductor hetero-structures. Fabrication of 2D-MnSt2films. Laser and nonlinear opticalparameters of Q.W. heterostrucfirres.
The College was attended by 133lecturers and participants (46 fromdeveloping countries).
Title: FIRST ICFA SCHOOL ONBEAM DYNAMICS ANDENGINEERING OF SYNCHROTRONLIGHT SOURCES, 7 - 18 May 1990.
O r g a n i z e r s : Profs. E. Keil(CERN, Geneva, Switzerland), A.W.Chao (SSC, Berkeley, USA) and M.Puglisi (Sincrotrone, Trieste, Italy),with the assistance of the ICFA Panelon Beam Dynamics, and in co-operationwith the International Centre for Scierrce(ICS, Trieste, Italy), the InternationalCommittee for Future Accelerators(ICFA) and the Sincrotrone Trieste(Tfieste, Iaiy).
Lectures: Single particle dynamics.Synchroron light. Introduction to Ms-DOS. Magnets. Collective effects. Iontrapping and ion clearing in Elettra.
Radio frequency. Vacuum design.Vibration effects and orbit stabilizationin synchrotron radiation sources.Compact courses. Insertion devices.Instrumentation and conEols.
The School was attended by 60lecturers and participants (2 fromdeveloping counries).
Title: COLLEGE ON RECENTD E V E L O P M E N T S ANDAPPLICATIONS IN MATIIEMATICSAND COMPUTER SCIENCE, T May -I June 1990.
O r g a n i z e r s : Profs. R.F.Churchhouse (University of Cardiff,UK), V.K. Samaranayake (University ofColombo, Sri Lanka), K.T. Shah(University of Trieste and ICTP) and P.Zanella (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland).
Lectures: Colouring and Knotpolynomials. Applied mathematics andthe environment. Randomly- anduniformly- distributed point sets.Product integration rulgs. N-completeness and the travelling salesmanproblem. Fractals. Graph theory.Random number generators. Solvingordinary differential equations. Numbertheory. Graphics supercomputing.Desktop publishing. Parallel solution ofudinary differential equations. Computernetwork at ICTP. Software forgeometrical computations. Hittingprobabilities of DLA clusters. Julia sets.Burnside problems. Bounded rationalityin repeated decision problems.Diophantine equations. Neuralcomputing. Transportation problems.GO. Introduction to algebraic codingtheory. Algebraic coding theory, somerecent developments. Algebraiccomputation. Multigrid methods.Continuous system simulationenvironmen[ modeller-PC. Bifurcations.Supercomputers. Generalized Booleanalgebras. Mathematical models for SPwell loggins. Hausdorff-Kuratowskihierarchy of w-regular languges. Designof integrated geographic informativesystems. Graph theory (calculation ofchromatic polyrnmials).
The College was attended by 87lecturers and participants (25 fromdeveloping counries).
T i t l e : COLLEGE ONATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARYLAYER PHYSICS: I - MODELLINGOF THE ATMOSPHERIC FLOWFIELDS, 2l May - I June 1990.
Organizers: Profs. A. Barros(University of Buenos Aires, fugentina),D.P. Lalas (Wayne State University,Detroit, USA) and C.F. Ratto(University of Genoa, Italy). Local co-ordinator: Prof. G. Furlan (University ofTrieste and ICTP). Co-sponsorship ofthe International Cenfre for Science(ICS, Trieste, Italy), Direzione Generaleper la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo(Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome,Italy) and Kuwait Foundation for theAdvarrcement of Sciences.
Lectures: Introduction !o the ABLstructure and concepts. Introduction towind turbine siting. Modelling thevertical ABL strucnue. Turbulence in theABL. Diurnal variation of the ABL andhorizontal non-homogeneous ABL.Response of neutral boundary layer tochange of roughness. Wind turbinesiting. ABL numerical models. ABL in-situ ground based measurements.Measures and evaluations of ABLparameters. ABL measurements aloft.Flow driven by surface differentialheating. Introduction to mesoscalemodels and their use. The UBNMCmodel. Flow driven by surfacedifferential heating. Estimation of windenergy potential. Wind fieldreconstruction techniques. Evolution ofmass-consistent models: from NOABLto AIOIOS and WINDS. Limited areaatmospheric flow modelling. Coupling amass-consistent model with a non-stationary one-dimensional model.Lagrangian modelling of pollution.WINDS. A mass-consistent modelcoupled with a one-dimensional model.The Jackson-Hunt Theory. Anintroduction to MS-Micro/2: itsstructure and use. Wakes. Statisticalanalysis of extreme wind speeds. Anintroduction to AVENUE: its structureand use. AVENUE. Engineeringapplications of statistical analysis ofwind daa bases. An intoduction to theWASP model: its structure and use.WASP.
The first part of the College wasattended by 99 lecturen and participans
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(31 from developing counrias).
T i t l e : COLLEGE ONATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARYLAYER PHYSICS: II - AIRPOLLUTION MODELLING FORENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTASSESSMENT, 4 - 15 June 1990.
Organizers: Profs. A. Mancini(University of Catania, Italy), M.P.Singh (Indian Institute of Technology,Delhi, India) and Dr. T. Tirabassi(FISBAT-CNR, Bologna, Italy). Localco-ordinaton Prof. G. Furlan (Universityof Trieste and ICTP). Co-sponsorshipof the International Centre for Science(ICS, Trieste, Italy), Direzione Generaleper la Cooperazione allo SviluPPo(Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome,Italy) and Kuwait Foundation for theAdvancement of Sciences.
L e c t u r e s : Dispersion in theatmospheric boundary laYer.Concentrations, fluctuations in theatmosphere. The European SPaceAgency's programmes for observing theearth and its environment. Theestimation of air pollution diffusion.The removal of particulate matter fromthe atmosphere. Air Pollutionprobability density function. Pollutionmeteorology and atmospheric removalprocesses. An overview of air pollutionmodelling. Dispersion and depositioninto the atmosphere — a case study: theChernobyl accident. Use of convectivescaling models to calculate dispersionfrom tall stacks in urban areas.Stochastic models for real-time forecastand control of air pollution episodes.Modelling the transport and diffusion ofpollutants using puff models. Particlediffusion models. Application of puffmodels to emergency preParednesssystems at EDF. Diffusion fromcontinuous sources near the ground:similarity theory of the convectiveboundary layer. Modelling of accidentalreleases, of hazardous malerials, relevantphysical process: laboratory and fieldexperiment. Diffusion from continuoussodrces near the ground: similaritytheory of thi atmospheric surface layer.Atmospherii dispersion modelling inplanning and managemenc an overview.Diffusion of puffs near the ground:general framewort and vertical diffusion.Modelling of acciden0al releases, of
hazardous materials: sourae-term models.Diffusion of puffs near the ground:similarity theory for the influence ofwindshear on horizontal diffusion.Modelling of accidental releases, ofhazardous materials: atmosPhericdispersion models for neutrally andnegatively buoyant materials. Long-range models evaluation usingChernobyl data. An easy way to use ananalytical air pollution model.Theoretical background of acoustic andelectromagnetic remote sensing of theatmosphere. The DIMULA diffusionmodel. Applications of atmosphericremote sensing techniques to airpollution and environment qualityassessment. Monitoring stations for airquality control. Dispersion model fortoxic and inflammable chemicals: somecase studies. Operational atmosphericdispersion models.
The second part of the College wasattended by 98 lectruers and participants(35 from developing countries). .
Title: MINIWORKSHOP ONQUANTUM CHAOS, 4 June - 6 JulY1990.
Organizers : Profs. G. Casati(University of Milan, ItalY), H.A.Cerdeira (LINICAMP, Campinas, Brazil,and ICTP) and R. RamaswamY(Jawaharial Nehru UniversitY, NewDelhi, India).
Lectures: Resonances from periodicorbits. Self-similarity in quantumdynamics—a quantum KAM theorY.Localization phenomena in thevibrational dynamics of smallpolyatomic molecules. Excited hydrogenatoms: properties, Production andbehaviour in a static electric field.Anderson localization. Classicalstructures in the quantized BakerEansformation. Semiclassical theory ofsrongly perturbed Coulomb systems.Proposed experiments in the context ofquantum chaos. Far-infrared photovoltaicefJects in AlGaAs heterostructures:progress towards new experiments inquantum chaos. Semiclassicalquantization: methods and applications.Phase space quantum (semiclassical)mechanics. Hydrogen ard other Rydbergatoms in strong low- and mid-frequencyelectric fields. Time-dependent sys0ems.
Quantum chaos: statistical relaxation indiscrete spectrum. Some topics fromrandom matrices. The classicaVquanrumcarespondence for few-electron systems:the helium atom revisited. Quantizationof localized chaos. Dissipative quan$msystems. Irreversibility, dissipation andquantum chaos. Semiclassicalquantization of multi-dimensionalsystems. Wave chaos in singularquantum billiard. The configurationalquantum cat map. Circular ensemblesand quantum chaos. Some shrdies on tlpcoupled quartic oscillators. Quantumtheory of single events. Phase spacestructure of multidimensional systems:bottlenecks and transport. Hydrogenatoms in strong high-frequency fields.Selberg trace formulae. Random-matrixmodels for fluctuations in microscopicand mesoscopic systems. Numericalmethods. Quantization of maPs.Classical and quantum chaotic scarering.Classical mixing and quantum levelstatistics. Are GOE fluctuationsintimations of classical chaos? Quanurmmeasurement theory and experiments.
The Miniworkshop was att€nded bY95 lecturers and participants (18 fromdeveloping counries).
Title: ADRIATICO RESEARCHCONFERENCE ON QUANTUMCHAOS, 5 - 8 June 1990.
Organizing Committee: Profs.S. Lundqvist (Chairperson, ChalmersUniversity of Technology, Gdteborg,Sweden, and ICTP), H.A. Cerdeira(Chairperson, LINICAMP, CamPinas,Brazil, and ICTP), A. Levi (InternationalSchool for Advanced Studies, SISSA'
Trieste, Italy), E. Tosatti (IntemationalSchool for Advanced Studies, SISSA'
Triesle, Italy), M.P. Tosi (University ofTrieste, Italy) and Yu Lu (AcademiaSinica, Beijing, P.R. China, and ICTP).
Coursc Directors: Profs. G.Casati (University of Milan, Italy)' H'A.Cerdeira (IINICAMP, Campinas, Brazil,and ICTP) and M.C. Gutzwiller (IBMThomas J. Watson Research Centi:r,Ycktown Heights, USA).
CesponsorshiP of IBM-ItalY and heInternational School for AdvancedSurdie,s (SISSA, Trieste, ItalY).
Lectures: Quantum chaos: fact orfiction? A rule for quantizing chaos?
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Excited hydrogen atoms in strongmicrowave fields: experiments vs.theories. Recent advances in thesemiclassical theory of chaotic systems.Bound, quasi-bound, and resonantquantum states: statistics and parameficmotion. New aspects of quantum chaos.Quantum remnants of periodic orbits inthe ergodic region of the kicked rotor.Rydberg atoms in external magnetic,electric and microwave fields. Quasienergy Eigen values and Eigenfunctionsof a series of time periodicHamillonians. Indicators of quantumchaos based on Eigenvector statistics.Separafix sta0es in the kicked quantumrotor. Riemann's zeta-function and thesemiclassical theory of spectral rigidity.Quantum signature of a family ofperiodic orbit in a Hamiltonian syst€m.On the dequantization map. The auto-correlation function—an indicator ofquantum chaos. Quantum effects inchaotic Josephson junctions. Resonancesfrom periodic orbits. Fluctuations in thehydrogen in microwave system. Fromlocalization to delocalization. Effect ofnoise on Hamiltonian systems with 1.5degrees of freedom. Chaos in ion-solid-interactions. Quantum chaos in theIBFM and IBFFM nuclear models.Quantum deformation of the Arnold cat
map as a K-system. Maslov indices andperiodic orbits. Deformed GOE forsyslems with a few degrees of freedom inthe chaotic regime. Random dynamics inthe quantized shifted stahdard map.Stability of quantum motion in regularand chaotic states. Dyson's Coulomb gasmodel as a rigorous conseqlrcnce of leveldynamics. Molecular specra and randommatrix theory. Semiclassical structuresof trace formulas. Irregular time-dependant scattering of electrons: cross-sections.
The Conference was attended by 57lecturers and participants (6 fromdeveloping counries).
Title: TRIESTE CONFERENCEON TOPOLOGICAL METHODS INQUANTUM FrELD THEORY, l l - 1 5June 190 .
O r g a n i z e r s : Profs. W. Nahm(Physikalische Institut, Bonn, FederalRepublic of Germany), S. Randjbar-Daemi (Iran/ICTP) and E. Witten(Princeton University, USA).
Lectures: The self-dual Yang-Millsequations and its descendants. Exactsolutions to models of two-dimensionalquantum gravity. Introduction toquantum field theory associated with
moduli problems. Covariant W-gravity.On the loop equation in 2d gravity. Onstable bundles and the formula of E.Verlinde. Exact solutions to models oftwo-dimensional quantum gravity.Modular invariance in conformal QFT2.The modular geometry of 2D gravity.Geomerical aspects of quantum fieldtheory. Exact solutions !o models oftwo-dimensional quantum gravity.Solving the srongly coupled 2D gravityin the conformal gauge. Solvable latticemodels. The critical exponent for stringsin dimension 0. A connection between2D gravity and 4D opologicd qrunolmgravity. Universal W-algebras inquantum field theory. Strings in lessthan one dimension and KdV flows.Attempt to understand anomaliesintuitively. Statistics in three-dimensional QFT and connections withquantum group theory. Integrability andconformal invariance. Srings in criticaldimensions.
The Conference was affended by 155lecturers and prticipants (17 fromdeveloping countrias).
Spring college in condensed matter on: Physics of low-dimensional semiconductor structures, 23 April -15 lune 1990.
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College on recent dzvelopments and applications in mathematics and computer science, T Moy -I Ime 190.
Activities at ICTP in 1990-91
1990Adriatico Research Conference on Ouantum fluctuations in mesoscopic and macroscooic systems 3 - 6 JulvAdriatico Research Conference on "Phvsics of stronclv correlated svstems" 10 - 13 JutvSymposium on Frontiers in condensed matter physics 11-13 AusustAdriatico Research Conference on Defects in HCP crvstals 14 - 17 Ausust6th Trieste IUPAP Semiconductu Symposium on "Hydrogen and semiconductcs:Bulk and surface orooerties" 2 7 - 3 l AugustWorkins Dartv on electrnchemistrv - Condensed matter asnects 27 Ausust - 7 SeotemberInternational conference on medical nhvsics 3 - 7 SeptemberColleee on medical ohvsics l 0 - 2 8 SeptemberSchool on qualitative asDects and applications of nonlinear evolution equations l0 September - 5 OctoberCollege on neurophysics: "Neural correlates of behaviour, development,nlasticitv and memory" I -19 OcoberCollege on "The desien of real time control svstems" I - 26 OcoberWorkshop on atmospheric limited area modellins 15 October - 3 NovemberThird autumn course on mathematical ecolosv 29 October -16 NovemberWotshop on earthquake sources and regional lithospheric structuresfrom seismic wave data 19-30 NovemberWorkshon on commsite materials 2i November - 7 DecemberExperimental wukshop on high-temperanne superconducton and related materials(advanced rctivities) 26 November -14 DecemberFirst International School on Computer network analysis and management 3 -14 December
1991Second college on theoretical and experimental radiopropagation physics 7 January - l FebruaryFifth international workshoo on comDutational condensed matter nhvsics 16 -18 JanuaryWinter college on "Multilevel techniques in computational physics @hysicsand compu[ations with multiple scales of lensths) 2l January - I FebruarySecond nainine collese on nhvsics and characterization of laser and ootical fibres 2l Januarv -15 FebruarvSecond ICTP-INFN course on basic VLSI desisn technioues 4 Februarv - l March
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Experimenal workshop on high temperature $rperconductors and related materialsOasic activities) l l Februarv - I MarchWinter collese on ulrafast ohenomena 18 Februarv-8 MarchWorkshop on mathematical phvsics and geometrv 4 -15 MarchICTP-WMO intemational technical conference on lons-ranse weather forecastins research 8 - 12 AorilSprine school and workshon on suDerstrinss 8 - 19 AprilCourse on "Oceanoqraohv of semienclosed seas" IS Aoril - 4 MavFifth workshoD on DersDectives in nuclear ohysics at intermediate enersies 6 - l 0 MavSpnng college in materials science on "Nucleation, growth and segregationin materials science and engineerinq" 6 Mav - 7 JuneInterface of high energy and condensed matter physics (oint conferencewith condensed matt€r sroup) 13 -17 MavThird ICFA school on instrumentation in elementarv oarticle ohvsics 13-31 MavStructural and phase stability of alloys (Adriatico Re.search Conference) 2l - Vl MavSprine school on plasma nhvsics 27 Mav - 2l JuneSecond schml on non-accelerator particle astronhysics 3 - 14 JuneWorkine D:ufi on initiation and srowth of cracks in materials 3 - 14 JuneWorking party on simulation of materials desradation 3 - 14 JunePhysics of inhomoseneous materials (Adriatico Research Conference) 1l - 14 JuneMiniworkshoo on nonlineariW: fracals. Dattern formation 11 June - 5 JulvTonics in quantum field theorv and amlications 17 June - 5 JulvResearch workshoo in condensed matter. atomic and molecular nhvsics 17 June-27 SentemberSummer school in hish enerqv ohvsics and cosmolosv 24 Jurle - 26 JulvInternational conference on comnlex svstems: fractals. snin slasses and neural networks 2 - 6 lulvMiniworkshop on strongly correlated electron systems 8 Julv - 2 AusustSronsly correlated electron svstems (Adriatico Research Conference) 16 - 19 JulvCourse on functional intesration and i s applications 19 - 30 AuzustColleee on sineularitv theorv 19 Aueust - 6 SeotemberWorkins party in condensed matter 2 -13 SeptemberWorkshoo on materials science and ohvsics of non-conventional enersv souroes 2 - 20 SeotemberFunctional integration and its apolications (ddriatico Research Confererrce) 3 - 6 SeotemberSchool on dvnamical svstems 9 - 27 SeotemberSixth collese on microorocessors: technolocv and annlications in ohvsics 23 Seuember - 25 OctoberConference on recent develoDments in tle phenomenolo[y of oarticle ohysics 30 Seotember - 4 OctoberWorkshop on soil physics 30 Seotember - 25 OctoberWorkshop on uroer-medium-lower afinosohere Ocober-NovemberWorkshop on stochastic and deterministic models 7 - l l OcoberSecond intemational workshoo on radon monitmins in radiomotection and earth science 7 -18 OcoberTrainins colleee on the applications of svnchrotron radiation 14 October - 8 NovemberWorkshop on climate and slobal chanse 2S October - l NovemberThird workshoD on t€lematics 28 October - 15 NbvemberExperimental wortshop on high temperatrtre zuperconductors and related materials(advanced activities) 4 . - 22 NovemberRemote sensins aoolications in earth sciences l l November - 6 DecemberSchool on materials for electronics: crowth. orooerties. and applications l8 November - 6 DecemberWorkshon on non-linear dvnamics and earthouake medictisr 25 November -13 December
For information and applications !o courses, kindly write to the Scientific Programme Office.
International Centre for Theoretical Physicsof IAEA and LJNESCOStrada Costier4 1lP.O; Box 58634136 TriesteItaly
EDITORIAL NOTE - News fron ICTP is not an official document of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Its pupose is to keepscientists informed on past and future activitics at the Centre and initiatives in their home cormtries. Suggestions and criticisms shouldbe addressed to Dr. A.M. Hamende. Scientific Information Officer.
