A critical sociolinguistic study of diasporization among Hungarians in Catalonia

This thesis investigates how contemporary diasporas evolve, how diasporization takes place under the conditions of late modernity, and how language features in this process. By diasporization, I refer to the process(es) in which diasporic groups emerge and individuals start to engage in certain diasporic practices, i.e., social practices that are associated with their ethnic or national origin or with their imagined homeland, or with boundary management in the host-land. The research was an ethnographically informed critical sociolinguistic study of first-generation Hungarians in Catalonia that drew on collaborative methodologies in order to include the emic perspectives of the participants. To capture these perspectives, the research combined many data generating techniques, such as ethnographic field notes, biographical interviews, online focus groups, collection of material evidence, and collaborative interpretation with the key participants in the research.La tesis investiga cómo evolucionan las diásporas contemporáneas y de qué modo se produce la diasporización en las condiciones de la modernidad tardía. Con diasporización me refiero al proceso, o procesos, en los que surgen los grupos diaspóricos y los individuos comienzan a llevar a cabo ciertas prácticas diaspóricas, es decir, prácticas sociales que se asocian a su origen étnico o nacional, su patria imaginada o la gestión de las fronteras en el país de acogida. La tesis toma la forma de estudio crítico informado etnográficamente en personas húngaras en Cataluña de primera generación y se basa en metodologías colaborativas para incluir las perspectivas émicas de las personas participantes. Con el fin de captar estas perspectivas, el estudio combina múltiples técnicas de generación de datos, como por ejemplo las notas de campo etnográficas, las entrevistas biográficas, los grupos focales en línea, la recopilación de rastros materiales y la interpretación colaborativa con las personas participantes clave en el estudio.La tesi investiga com evolucionen les diàspores contemporànies i de quina manera es produeix la diasporització en les condicions de la modernitat tardana. Amb diasporització em refereixo al procés, o processos, en què sorgeixen els grups diaspòrics i els individus comencen a dur a terme certes pràctiques diaspòriques, és a dir, pràctiques socials que s'associen al seu origen ètnic o nacional, la seva pàtria imaginada o la gestió de les fronteres al país d'acollida. La tesi pren forma d'estudi crític informat etnogràficament en persones hongareses a Catalunya de primera generació i es basa en metodologies col·laboratives per incloure les perspectives èmiques de les persones que hi participen. Per captar aquestes perspectives, l'estudi combina múltiples tècniques de generació de dades, com ara les notes de camp etnogràfiques, les entrevistes biogràfiques, els grups focals en línia, la recopilació de rastres materials i la interpretació col·laborativa amb les persones participants clau en l'estudi.Societat de la informació i el coneixemen

Algebraic Structures and Variations: From Latin Squares to Lie Quasigroups

In this Master\u27s Thesis we give an overview of the algebraic structure of sets with a single binary operation. Specifically, we are interested in quasigroups and loops and their historical connection with Latin squares; considering them in both finite and continuous variations. We also consider various mappings between such algebraic objects and utilize matrix representations to give a negative conclusion to a question concerning isotopies in the case of quasigroups

Among graphs, groups, and latin squares

A latin square of order n is an n × n array in which each row and each column contains each of the numbers {1, 2, . . . , n}. A k-plex in a latin square is a collection of entries which intersects each row and column k times and contains k copies of each symbol. This thesis studies the existence of k-plexes and approximations of k-plexes in latin squares, paying particular attention to latin squares which correspond to multiplication tables of groups. The most commonly studied class of k-plex is the 1-plex, better known as a transversal. Although many latin squares do not have transversals, Brualdi conjectured that every latin square has a near transversal—i.e. a collection of entries with distinct symbols which in- tersects all but one row and all but one column. Our first main result confirms Brualdi’s conjecture in the special case of group-based latin squares. Then, using a well-known equivalence between edge-colorings of complete bipartite graphs and latin squares, we introduce Hamilton 2-plexes. We conjecture that every latin square of order n ≥ 5 has a Hamilton 2-plex and provide a range of evidence for this conjecture. In particular, we confirm our conjecture computationally for n ≤ 8 and show that a suitable analogue of Hamilton 2-plexes always occur in n × n arrays with no symbol appearing more than n/√96 times. To study Hamilton 2-plexes in group-based latin squares, we generalize the notion of harmonious groups to what we call H2-harmonious groups. Our second main result classifies all H2-harmonious abelian groups. The last part of the thesis formalizes an idea which first appeared in a paper of Cameron and Wanless: a (k,l)-plex is a collection of entries which intersects each row and column k times and contains at most l copies of each symbol. We demonstrate the existence of (k, 4k)-plexes in all latin squares and (k, k + 1)-plexes in sufficiently large latin squares. We also find analogues of these theorems for Hamilton 2-plexes, including our third main result: every sufficiently large latin square has a Hamilton (2,3)-plex