To show that the response is indeed from the polymer within the gap, we studied the I-V response as a function of photoexcitation with a Xe lamp (150 W). The I-V response for the polymer-filled nanowire becomes slightly more conductive upon Xe light exposure. During the backward scan, the device was irradiated with the Xe lamp starting at -0.1 V (red arrows in Fig. 2A), and a change in slope in the I-V response was observed. The transient conductance change between 1.1 nS in the dark to 1.6 nS when irradiated is consistent with an increase in charge-carrier density, which would be expected if the gap were filled with the p-type polypyrrole (16).We report a novel lithographic process that allows one to generate designed gap structures on nanowire templates. The process is remarkably controllable, high-yielding, and easy to implement. It does not require sophisticated and expensive instrumentation and facilities, and it allows manipulation of an important class of structures that cannot be easily manipulated with conventional lithographic tools. Being able to make gap or notched structures with nanowires with OWL and relatively inexpensive instrumentation will facilitate the study of the electronic properties of nanomaterials and open avenues to the preparation of novel disk structures, which could be designed to have unusual optical properties as a function of gap and metal segment size Ee.g., plasmon waveguides (17)^.

The western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) is closely related to Asian climate. Previous examination of changes in the WPSH found a westward extension since the late 1970s, which has contributed to the interdecadal transition of East Asian climate. The reason for the westward extension is unknown, however. The present study suggests that this significant change of WPSH is partly due to the atmosphere's response to the observed Indian Ocean-western Pacific (IWP) warming. Coordinated by a European Union's Sixth Framework Programme, Understanding the Dynamics of the Coupled Climate System (DYNAMITE), five AGCMs were forced by identical idealized sea surface temperature patterns representative of the IWP warming and cooling. The results of these numerical experiments suggest that the negative heating in the central and eastern tropical Pacific and increased convective heating in the equatorial Indian Ocean/Maritime Continent associated with IWP warming are in favor of the westward extension of WPSH. The SST changes in IWP influences the Walker circulation, with a subsequent reduction of convections in the tropical central and eastern Pacific, which then forces an ENSO/Gill-type response that modulates the WPSH. The monsoon diabatic heating mechanism proposed by Rodwell and Hoskins plays a secondary reinforcing role in the westward extension of WPSH. The low-level equatorial flank of WPSH is interpreted as a Kelvin response to monsoon condensational heating, while the intensified poleward flow along the western flank of WPSH is in accord with Sverdrup vorticity balance. The IWP warming has led to an expansion of the South Asian high in the upper troposphere, as seen in the reanalysis.

Using experiments with an atmospheric general circulation model, the climate impacts of a basin-scale warming or cooling of the North Atlantic Ocean are investigated. Multidecadal fluctuations with this pattern were observed during the twentieth century, and similar variations-but with larger amplitude-are believed to have occurred in the more distant past. It is found that in all seasons the response to warming the North Atlantic is strongest, in the sense of highest signal-to-noise ratio, in the Tropics. However there is a large seasonal cycle in the climate impacts. The strongest response is found in boreal summer and is associated with suppressed precipitation and elevated temperatures over the lower-latitude parts of North and South America. In August-September-October there is a significant reduction in the vertical shear in the main development region for Atlantic hurricanes. In winter and spring, temperature anomalies over land in the extratropics are governed by dynamical changes in circulation rather than simply reflecting a thermodynamic response to the warming or cooling of the ocean.The tropical climate response is primarily forced by the tropical SST anomalies, and the major features are in line with simple models of the tropical circulation response to diabatic heating anomalies. The extratropical climate response is influenced both by tropical and higher-latitude SST anomalies and exhibits nonlinear sensitivity to the sign of the SST forcing. Comparisons with multidecadal changes in sea level pressure observed in the twentieth century support the conclusion that the impact of North Atlantic SST change is most important in summer, but also suggest a significant influence in lower latitudes in autumn and winter.Significant climate impacts are not restricted to the Atlantic basin, implying that the Atlantic Ocean could be an important driver of global decadal variability. The strongest remote impacts are found to occur in the tropical Pacific region in June-August and September-November. Surface anomalies in this region have the potential to excite coupled ocean-atmosphere feedbacks, which are likely to play an important role in shaping the ultimate climate response.