Symbol, costume, compass: "synthetic apparel" for transcultural experiences

Virtual design concerns itself with artifacts which are purchased and consumed solely within the online, participatory virtual worlds in which they are created: Edward Castranova estimates the revenue generated by current virtual economies, which are based upon the trade of such virtual artifacts to be in the ballpark of several billions of US Dollars per annum. Of further interest is the fact that despite the severe recessions which their physical counterparts have undergone in recent times, virtual economies seem to show a steady upward trend of growth. Although the present state of health of virtual economies is of significance when examining the relevance of virtual design, what is also of interest is an exploration of virtual artifacts as a means for establishing cultural bridges. These bridges may manifest themselves not only between virtual worlds and the real world, but also between diverse cultures within the physical world itself. The virtual design object is freed from many of the constraints of its physical counterpart as far as functionality, utility and ergonomics are concerned. Virtual objects are utilized for fantastical, playful activity inside virtual worlds and as such it would be appropriate to examine their ultimate function as the messengers of novel amalgamated ways of being; and indeed as pathways between cultures and cultural identities

Covariant gravitational dynamics in 3+1+1 dimensions

We develop a 3+1+1 covariant formalism with cosmological and astrophysical applications. First we give the evolution and constraint equations both on the brane and off-brane in terms of 3-space covariant kinematical, gravito-electro-magnetic (Weyl) and matter variables. We discuss the junction conditions across the brane in terms of the new variables. Then we establish a closure condition for the equations on the brane. We also establish the connection of this formalism with isotropic and anisotropic cosmological brane-worlds. Finally we derive a new brane solution in the framework of our formalism: the tidal charged Taub-NUT-(A)dS brane, which obeys the closure condition.Comment: 35 pages 1 fig; significantly expanded with (a) new closure condition on the brane, (b) discussion of anisotropic brane-worlds, (c) stationary vacuum space-times with local rotational symmetry including (d) a new tidal charged Taub-NUT-(A)dS brane solution; published version

Interpretation of Possible Worlds of The Buddha of Suburb and Its Multi-themes

The article attempts to use cognitive poetics’ possible worlds theory to explore how the novel The Buddha of Suburbia narrates stories with its unique skills and how readers participate in the reading process and form possible worlds about the novel so as to understand such multiple themes as identity, racial discrimination and features of the times in it

Cosmological Solution in M-theory on S^1/Z_2

We provide the first example of a cosmological solution of the Horava-Witten supergravity. This solution is obtained by exchanging the role of time with the radial coordinate of the transverse space to the five-brane soliton. On the boundary this corresponds to rotating an instanton solution into a tunneling process in a space with Lorentzian signature, leading to an expanding universe. Due to the freedom to choose different non-trivial Yang-Mills backgrounds on the boundaries, the two walls of the universe ( visible and hidden worlds) expand differently. However at late times the anisotropy is washed away by gravitational interactions.Comment: 10 pages, latex, no figur

Z7Z_7 Orbifold Models in M-Theory

Among $T^7/\Gamma$ orbifold compactifications of $M$-theory, we examine models containing the particle physics Standard Model in four-dimensional spacetimes, which appear as fixed subspaces of the ten-dimensional spacetimes at each end of the interval, $I^1\simeq S^1/Z_2$, spanning the $11^\text{th}$ dimension. Using the $Z_7$ projection to break the $E_8$ gauge symmetry in each of the four-planes and a limiting relation to corresponding heterotic string compactifications, we discuss the restrictions on the possible resulting gauge field and matter spectra. In particular, some of the states are non-local: they connect two four-dimensional Worlds across the $11^\text{th}$ dimension. We illustrate our programmable calculations of the matter field spectrum, including the anomalous U(1) factor which satisfies a universal Green-Schwarz relation, discuss a Dynkin diagram technique to showcase a model with $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)^5$ gauge symmetry, and discuss generalizations to higher order orbifolds.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables; LaTeX 3 time

Analysis of MERCATOR data Part I: variable B stars

We re-classified 31 variable B stars which were observed more than 50 times in the Geneva photometric system with the P7 photometer attached to the MERCATOR telescope (La Palma) during its first 3 years of scientific observations. HD89688 is a possible beta Cephei/slowly pulsating B star hybrid and the main mode of the COROT target HD180642 shows non-linear effects. The Maia candidates are re-classified as either ellipsoidal variables or spotted stars. Although the mode identification is still ongoing, all the well-identified modes so far have a degree l = 0, 1 or 2.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. To appear in: Proceedings of JENAM 2005 'Distant worlds', Communications in Asteroseismolog