Subjective Aspects of the Art of Decision Analysis: Exploring the Role of Decision Analysis in Decision Structuring,Decision Support and Policy Dialogue

The paper argues that, until very recently, decision analysts have devoted relatively little attention to the processes of problem formulation and subjective judgement in handling ill-structured strategic decision problems. Therefore, following a brief review of existing varieties of decision analysis, a modified policy dialogue' model of decision analysis is presented which integrates decision analysis with decision aids and decision support technology. This model is developed using as an illustration strategic problems drawn from the insurance industry. The paper concludes with some suggestions for the successful application and implementation of decision analysis.     

Integrating over Higgs Branches

We develop some useful techniques for integrating over Higgs branches in supersymmetric theories with 4 and 8 supercharges. In particular, we define a regularized volume for hyperk?hler quotients. We evaluate this volume for certain ALE and ALF spaces in terms of the hyperk?hler periods. We also reduce these volumes for a large class of hyperk?hler quotients to simpler integrals. These quotients include complex coadjoint orbits, instanton moduli spaces on ℝ⁴ and ALE manifolds, Hitchin spaces, and moduli spaces of (parabolic) Higgs bundles on Riemann surfaces. In the case of Hitchin spaces the evaluation of the volume reduces to a summation over solutions of Bethe Ansatz equations for the non-linear Schr?dinger system. We discuss some applications of our results. Received: 2 May 1999/ Accepted: 16 July 1999     

Video-rate laser Doppler vibrometry by heterodyne holography

We report a demonstration video-rate heterodyne holography in off-axis configuration. Reconstruction and display of a one megapixel hologram is achieved at 24 frames per second, with a graphics processing unit. Our claims are validated with real-time screening of steady-state vibration amplitudes in a wide-field, noncontact vibrometry experiment.     

New poly(p‐phenylene vinylene) derivatives with two oxadiazole rings per repeat unit: Synthesis,photophysical properties,electroluminescence, and metal ion recognition

Two new poly(p‐phenylene vinylene) derivatives OX1‐PPV and OX2‐PPV bearing two 1,3,4‐oxadiazole rings per repeat unit and a fully conjugated backbone with solubilizing dodecyloxy side groups were synthesized and investigated. The amorphous conjugated polymers had glass‐transition temperature values of 60–75 °C and emitted intense blue or greenish‐blue light in solution with photoluminescence (PL) emission maxima at 379–492 nm and PL quantum yields of 0.41–0.52. In the solid state they emitted yellowish‐green light with PL emission maxima at 533–555 nm. Cyclic voltammetry showed that both conjugated polymers had reversible reduction and irreversible oxidation, making them n‐type materials. The electron affinity of OX2‐PPV was estimated as 2.85 eV whereas that of OX1‐PPV was 2.75 eV. Yellow electroluminescence (EL) was achieved from single‐layer light‐emitting diodes of OX2‐PPV with an EL emission maximum at 555 nm and a brightness of 70 cd/m². Polymer OX2‐PPV, which was functionalized with 2,6‐bis(1,3,4‐oxadiazole‐2‐yl)pyridine, demonstrated sensitivity to various metal ions as a fluorescence‐mode chemosensor. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 2112–2123, 2004     

Overcoming excitonic bottleneck in organic solar cells: electronic structure and spectra of novel semiconducting donor-acceptor block copolymers

A novel class of organic semiconductors aimed at improving the efficiency of organic photovoltaic devices is investigated by an ab initio electronic structure theory. Two conjugated block copolymers composed of chemically bound donor and acceptor blocks show substantial charge transfer upon photoexcitation, suggesting that the optically excited states are separated charge pairs rather than strongly interacting charges forming excitons. In contrast, little charge transfer is seen in the ground electronic state. The optical cross-sections of the charge separated states are quite high due to a good overlap of the tails of the ground and excited state wavefunctions. The absorption spectra of the systems cover visible spectrum and extend to the infrared, suggesting good prospects for light harvesting. The calculation results indicate that the proposed class of semiconducting molecular heterojunctions may overcome the exciton bottleneck problem in organic photovoltaic materials.     

Refractive index and nonlinear optical properties of polyaniline derivatives

An investigation of the refractive index and third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility χ⁽³⁾ of two polypernigraniline derivatives, poly (4,4'-diphenylimine methine) (PDPIM) and poly (4,4'-diphenylimine p-heptyloxybenzylidene) (PDPIHB) reveals effects of molecular structure on the linear optical and nonlinear optical properties of conjugated polymers. The χ⁽³⁾ (?3ωω,ω,ω) of PDPIM was found to decrease relative to polypernigraniline, reflecting the observed decrease of the oscillator strength of the 2.2 eV absorption band when a methine carbon replaces one of the nitrogen atoms of pernigraniline repeat unti. The alkoxyphenylene side group substitution at the methine carbon in PDPIHB, however, significantly enhances the nonlinear optical response of PDPIHB while reducing the refractive index compared to PDPIM and polypernigraniline. The present results suggest that structural changes in conjugated polymers can be made in such a way as to enhance the nonlinear optical properties while modulating the linear optical properties. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Cyclopentanones—XIII: The proton donor depending stereoselectivity of lithium ammonia reduction of 2,3-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-2-cyclopentenone

The stereochemistry of the lithium-liquid ammonia reduction of 2,3-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-2-cyclopentenone is discussed as a function of the acidity of the proton donor. It is shown that the configuration of the resulting 2,3-dimethyl-1,4-dihydroxycyclopentene is determined by competing intra- and intermolecular protonation.