Reply to ``Comment on `Strongly magnetized cold degenerate electron gas: Mass-radius relation of the magnetized white dwarf'''

We show that the upper bound for the central magnetic field of a super-Chandrasekhar white dwarf calculated by Nityananda and Konar Phys. Rev. D 89, 103017 (2014)] and in the concerned comment, by the same authors, against our work U. Das and B. Mukhopadhyay, Phys. Rev. D 86, 042001 (2012)] is erroneous. This in turn strengthens the argument in favor of the stability of the recently proposed magnetized super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs. We also point out several other numerical errors in their work. Overall we conclude that the arguments put forth by Nityananda and Konar are misleading.

Response to ``Comment on `Frequency-domain stimulated and spontaneous light emission signals at molecular junctions''' J. Chem. Phys. 142, 137101 (2015)]

In a recent work [U. Harbola, B. K. Agrawalla, and S. Mukamel, J. Chem. Phys. 141, 074107 (2014)], we have presented a superoperator (Liouville space) diagrammatic formulation of spontaneous and stimulated optical signals from current-carrying molecular junctions. We computed the diagrams that contribute to the spontaneous light emission SLE (fluorescence and Raman) signal using a diagrammatic method which clearly distinguishes between the Raman and the fluorescence contributions. We pointed out some discrepancies with the work of Galperin, Ratner and Nitzan (GRN) [M. Galperin, M. A. Ratner and, A. Nitzan, J. Chem. Phys. 130, 144109 (2009)]. In their response [M. Galperin, M. A. Ratner and A. Nitzan, “Comment on‘ Frequency-domain stimulated and spontaneous light emission signals at molecular junctions’” [J. Chem. Phys. 141, 074107 (2014)], J. Chem. Phys. 142, 137101 (2015)] to our work, GRN have argued that there are no differences in the choice of Raman diagrams in both works. Here we reply to their points and show where the differences exist.

Comment peut-on encore philosopher après la Révélation?

Résumé: Le défi vital que la Révélation pose à la philosophie légitime la question de leurs rapports possibles. La raison considère d’abord l’absence de rapport en distinguant radicalement ce qui relève de chacune. Mais l’élan fondamental orienté vers le divin qui anime cette faculté, la rend naturellement théologique. Pour éviter le scepticisme, incompatible avec son dynamisme naturel, la raison finit par dévaloriser la Révélation. Cette attitude signifie l’unicité de l’autorité théologique de la raison, alors naturellement divine. Développée à partir du XVIIIème siècle, elle culmine avec l’homme démiurgique des XIX et XXème siècles. Mais, ne pouvant justifier l’universalité de ses élaborations idéologiques, la raison hésite entre le scepticisme ou le totalitarisme, deux renoncements à l’exercice philosophique. L’acceptation du soutien lumineux de la Révélation, qui suppose l’humble reconnaissance des limites de la raison, ne nuit pas à cet exercice, mais le féconde, et, seule, en permet l’épanouissement. Eclairée par la Révélation, la philosophie contribue au bonheur suprême des hommes, qui demeure son intention fondamentale.

Comment: Food web interactions and biomanipulation in Australian reservoirs

The authors have been studying the control of phytoplankton biomass in several Australian reservoirs. To manipulate fish communities in order to reduce phytoplankton biomass, one needs a thorough understanding of processes in the plankton-associated food webs. In contrast to the situation found in lakes of the northern hemisphere, the planktivorous fish of Australian reservoirs are relatively small and they may deplete small rather than large zooplankters, so that animals as large as the adults of Daphnia carinata may avoid predation. This would result in promotion of Daphnia, particularly if fish eliminate its smaller competitors. The aim of biomanipulation should be the establishment and maintenance of a proper ratio of planktivores/piscivores, adequate for water quality requirements. Successful selection of the appropriate ratio for a given reservoir will depend on the extent of our understanding of its food web interactions. For practical application of biomanipulation in management, further development of the food web theory under Australian conditions is needed.

Geometrical-transformation approach to optical two-dimensional beam shaping: comment

I show that the research reported by Arieli et al. [Appl. Opt. 86, 9129 (1997)] has two serious mistakes: One is that an important factor is lost in the formula used in that study to determine the x-direction coordinate transformation; the other is the conclusion that the geometrical-transformation approach given by Arieli et al. can provide a smooth phase distribution. A potential research direction for obtaining a smooth phase distribution for a generic two-dimensional beam-shaping problem is stated. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.

Comment on: Computation of the optical trapping force using an FDTD based technique

In this comment, problems associated with an oversimplified FDTD based model used for trapping force calculation in recent papers "Computation of the optical trapping force using an FDTD based technique" [Opt. Express 13, 3707 (2005)], and "Rigorous time domain simulation of momentum transfer between light and microscopic particles in optical trapping" [Opt. Express 12, 2220 (2004)] are discussed. A more rigorous model using in Poynting vector is also presented.