Optical pumping uses light to affect the internal degrees of freedom of a sample of atoms in a vapor. These internal degrees of freedom are angular momentum states of the atomic ground state, which are populated when light is absorbed and emitted. This experiment reveals many phenomena of quantum mechanics including angular momentum selection rules, the density matrix, and resonance. Optical pu...

Wastewater pumping consumes 10% to 20% of electricity in wastewater treatment plants. To reduce the energy consumption, a data-driven approach is applied to model and optimize the wastewater pumping process. Datamining algorithm and multilayer perceptron neural network are used to build the pumping energy model. The optimization model is solved by an improved harmony search algorithm. Optimal p...

Price-based interventions can be corrective where users extract from a common resource, but may also impact existing social norms, often crowding them out. In contrast, I find a pumping tax implemented by a group of irrigators in Southern Colorado effectively crowded-in pro-conservation norms, enhancing the financial incentive’s impact. Using a unique, spatially oriented panel-data set of groun...

We explore the limits of liquid pumping by "classical propellers" with molecular-scale blades. Our molecular dynamics simulations reveal a huge sensitivity of pumping to the chemistry of the blade-liquid interface. We demonstrate selective pumping of hydrophobic and hydrophilic liquids, where the pumping rate is determined by the effective profile of the solvated nanoscopic blades. These result...

We have numerically studied a non-adiabatic charge transport in the quantum Hall system pumped by a magnetic flux, as one of the simplest theoretical realizations of nonadiabatic Thouless pumping. In the adiabatic limit, a pumped charge is quantized, known as Laughlin’s argument in a cylindrical lattice. In a uniform electric field, we obtained a formula connecting quantized pumping in the adia...

We investigate the behavior of farmers who share an underground aquifer. In the case where seepage may occur the resource is nonexclusive, giving rise to a spatial externality whereby pumping by one user affects others nearby. Theoretically, these externalities are potentially important causes of welfare loss. Using a unique spatial data set of groundwater users in western Kansas, we are able t...

Rising energy costs have increased the cost of pumping to the point that many farmers are finding irrigation to be unprofitable or only marginally profitable. Fortunately, however, pumping costs are an item that farmers have some degree of control. Pumping costs often are higher than they need be for two reasons: 1.) more water is pumped than is necessary, and/or, 2.) the pumping plant operates...

Mechanical stimulation induces opposite behavioral responses in the adult and dauer pharynx. Tail tap of adults inhibits pharyngeal pumping via a pathway involving the innexin gene unc-7 and components of the glutamatergic pathway encoded by the genes avr-14 and avr-15. Tail tap of dauers stimulates pumping through a mechanism involving G alpha o and G alpha q. The nematocidal drug ivermectin i...

A novel single electron pump based on individual molecules (a single wall carbon nanotube) is discussed in terms of the hybrid superconducting-normal conducting pumping principle. A concept demonstration device has been built based on a carbon nanotube contacted by Nb-Ti leads. Charge current quantization is achieved through rf modulation of the back gate voltage. The device is able to transfer...

To explore the use of Caenorhabditis elegans and related nematodes for studying behavioral evolution, we conducted a comparative study of pharyngeal behaviors and neuronal regulation in free-living soil nematodes. The pharynx is divided into three parts: corpus, isthmus and terminal bulb, and pharyngeal behaviors consist of stereotyped patterns of two motions: pumping and peristalsis. Based on ...