Shift-Symmetric Configurations in Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata: Irreversibility, Insolvability, and Enumeration

The search for symmetry as an unusual yet profoundly appealing phenomenon, and the origin of regular, repeating configuration patterns have been for a long time a central focus of complexity science, and physics. Here, we introduce group-theoretic concepts to identify and enumerate the symmetric inputs, which result in irreversible system behaviors with undesired effects on many computational tasks. The concept of so-called configuration shift-symmetry is applied on two-dimensional cellular automata as an ideal model of computation. The results show the universal insolvability of “non-symmetric” tasks regardless of the transition function. By using a compact enumeration formula and bounding the number of shift-symmetric configurations for a given lattice size, we efficiently calculate how likely a configuration randomly generated from a uniform or density-uniform distribution turns shift-symmetric. Further, we devise an algorithm detecting the presence of shift-symmetry in a configuration. The enumeration and probability formulas can directly help to lower the minimal expected error for many crucial (non-symmetric) distributed problems, such as leader election, edge detection, pattern recognition, convex hull/minimum bounding rectangle, and encryption. Besides cellular automata, the shift-symmetry analysis can be used to study the non-linear behavior in various synchronous rule-based systems that include inference engines, Boolean networks, neural networks, and systolic arrays

Water turned into wine : comparing and contrasting classical Arabic, Lebanese, Moroccan and Maltese versions

Typologically, the modem Maltese language is poised between the Arabic dialectal bundle, on the one hand, and Romance languages, particularly Sicilian and Italian, on the other. Moreover, Maltese is unevenly poised between eastern and western dialectal varieties of Arabic, with a considerable inclination towards the Maghribi dialects. One way of observing the varying degrees of correspondence between Maltese and Arabic is to compare and contrast Arabic (Classical, Lebanese, and Moroccan) and Maltese translations of a literary text, in this case, an excerpt from the Gospel of St. John. Lebanese and Moroccan represent eastern and western Arabic typologies respectively. The arbitrary choice of a relatively short excerpt - John 2: 1-12 - precludes any accurate pronouncements about the areal affiliationls of the Arabic element in Maltese. The aim of this study is limited to the consideration of issues of fonnal correspondence and translation equivalence via the textual segmentation of the four versions under consideration.peer-reviewe

Ballistic Josephson junctions in edge-contacted graphene

Hybrid graphene-superconductor devices have attracted much attention since the early days of graphene research. So far, these studies have been limited to the case of diffusive transport through graphene with poorly defined and modest quality graphene-superconductor interfaces, usually combined with small critical magnetic fields of the superconducting electrodes. Here we report graphene based Josephson junctions with one-dimensional edge contacts of Molybdenum Rhenium. The contacts exhibit a well defined, transparent interface to the graphene, have a critical magnetic field of 8 Tesla at 4 Kelvin and the graphene has a high quality due to its encapsulation in hexagonal boron nitride. This allows us to study and exploit graphene Josephson junctions in a new regime, characterized by ballistic transport. We find that the critical current oscillates with the carrier density due to phase coherent interference of the electrons and holes that carry the supercurrent caused by the formation of a Fabry-P\'{e}rot cavity. Furthermore, relatively large supercurrents are observed over unprecedented long distances of up to 1.5 $\mu$m. Finally, in the quantum Hall regime we observe broken symmetry states while the contacts remain superconducting. These achievements open up new avenues to exploit the Dirac nature of graphene in interaction with the superconducting state.Comment: Updated version after peer review. Includes supplementary material and ancillary file with source code for tight binding simulation

Performing Elusive Homecomings: Mobility, Embodiment, and Diasporic Filipino Youth

The Filipino global diaspora has precipitated the circulation of embodied modesof identification and belonging. This paper focuses on the experiences of Filipinoyoung people who were born and/or raised abroad, and who have returned to thePhilippines to seek fame and economic mobility in the entertainment industry.These migrant hopefuls, unlike older counterparts, enact the material tensionsand semantic contradictions that form part of popular discourse around lifeabroad. As such, institutional media practices and mass audience perceptionsmirror such conditions and create shifting systems of valuation around suchthings as skin color, accent, and bodily comportment. To respond and conformto these demands, these migrant returnees refashion cultural citizenship bydeploying performances of locality and authenticity with varying successes. Suchcorporeal revisions enable the displacement of attachments to and affinities forvarious expressions of home, citizenship, and selfhood. The main contention ofthis ethnographic and media study is that these experiences constitute what isbeing called an “aesthetics of mobility” where the shifts and travels of meaningsand value inherent among this group return migrants are embodied in ways thatunravel notions of class, gender, race and national belonging. The experiences ofthis youth group provide a distinctive narrative about the travails and travel ofbodies and generations of modern Filipinos in the world

Who Told You Your Hair was Nappy?: A Proposal for Replacing an Ineffective Standard for Determining Racially Discriminatory Employment Practices

Article published in the Michigan State Law Review

Triggering an eruptive flare by emerging flux in a solar active-region complex

A flare and fast coronal mass ejection originated between solar active regions NOAA 11514 and 11515 on July 1, 2012 in response to flux emergence in front of the leading sunspot of the trailing region 11515. Analyzing the evolution of the photospheric magnetic flux and the coronal structure, we find that the flux emergence triggered the eruption by interaction with overlying flux in a non-standard way. The new flux neither had the opposite orientation nor a location near the polarity inversion line, which are favorable for strong reconnection with the arcade flux under which it emerged. Moreover, its flux content remained significantly smaller than that of the arcade (approximately 40 %). However, a loop system rooted in the trailing active region ran in part under the arcade between the active regions, passing over the site of flux emergence. The reconnection with the emerging flux, leading to a series of jet emissions into the loop system, caused a strong but confined rise of the loop system. This lifted the arcade between the two active regions, weakening its downward tension force and thus destabilizing the considerably sheared flux under the arcade. The complex event was also associated with supporting precursor activity in an enhanced network near the active regions, acting on the large-scale overlying flux, and with two simultaneous confined flares within the active regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Topical Issue of Solar Physics: Solar and Stellar Flares. 25 pages, 12 figure

Performing Elusive Homecomings: Mobility, Embodiment, and Diasporic Filipino Youth

The Filipino global diaspora has precipitated the circulation of embodied modes of identification and belonging. This paper focuses on the experiences of Filipino young people who were born and/or raised abroad, and who have returned to the Philippines to seek fame and economic mobility in the entertainment industry. These migrant hopefuls, unlike older counterparts, enact the material tensions and semantic contradictions that form part of popular discourse around life abroad. As such, institutional media practices and mass audience perceptions mirror such conditions and create shifting systems of valuation around such things as skin color, accent, and bodily comportment. To respond and conform to these demands, these migrant returnees refashion cultural citizenship by deploying performances of locality and authenticity with varying successes. Such corporeal revisions enable the displacement of attachments to and affinities for various expressions of home, citizenship, and selfhood. The main contention of this ethnographic and media study is that these experiences constitute what is being called an “aesthetics of mobility” where the shifts and travels of meanings and value inherent among this group return migrants are embodied in ways that unravel notions of class, gender, race and national belonging. The experiences of this youth group provide a distinctive narrative about the travails and travel of bodies and generations of modern Filipinos in the world

Results of Operation Full Stop: Terminix Service Co. Inc., control of Formosan Subterranean Termites (Coptotermes Formosanus) in the French Quarter of New Orleans

In New Orleans alone, the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus, causes $300 million in damages annually. Formosan subterranean termites are the most destructive subterranean termite in the world wherever they occur. From 1998- 2011 Operation Full Stop was implemented in five phases. Basic parameters were set up through the LSU AgCenter. French Quarter Residents were allowed to select their own licensed pest control operator for approved termite treatments. The United States Department of Agriculture in New Orleans provided funds to Operation Full Stop to pay the pest control operator for initial treatment and yearly renewal of termite contracts. Terminix Service Co. Inc. in New Orleans participated fully in the program from 1998-2011 in New Orleans. Terminix Service Co. Inc. (Metairie, LA) had 404 Sentricon® baiting accounts in Operation Full Stop (Pest Control Solutions, Jackson Mississippi). From this list every 7th account was selected until one hundred accounts was achieved.From the master list each account was looked up on Dox Serve Software (Abita Spring, LA) where route sheets were stored. Each account had its own file stored in the Dox Serve system. Account information and route sheets were then individually analyzed and the information was manually implemented in an Excel spreadsheet, sorted by JMP statistical software by SAS and analyzed by SAS PROC MIXED. Termite activity was calculated based on an Attack Rate. Attack Rate was defined as the number stations with active termites/ number of stations divided by number of inspections and then multiplied by 100. Attack Rate average was calculated for each account per year. Our study measured termite activity based on sampled Terminix Sentricon® baiting accounts from 1998-2011 only. The main objective of this study was to determine if Terminix Service Co. Inc. decreased termite activity in sampled baiting accounts during Operation Full Stop. There was a significant decrease in Attack Rate from 1998-2011. The slope of this decreasing trend of Attack Rate observed from 1998-2011 was also significant. Our results suggest that termite baiting in Terminix Service Co. Inc. decreased Formosan subterranean termite activity in Operation Full Stop