Families of Bianchi modular symbols: critical base-change p-adic L-functions and p-adic Artin formalism

Let $K$ be an imaginary quadratic field. In this article, we study the eigenvariety for GL(2)/K, proving an etaleness result for the weight map at non-critical classical points and a smoothness result at base-change classical points. We give three main applications of this; let $f$ be a regular $p$-stabilised newform of weight $k$ at least 2 without CM by $K$. (1) We construct a two-variable $p$-adic $L$-function attached to the base-change of $f$ to $K$ under assumptions on $f$ that we conjecture always hold, in particular making no assumption on the slope of $f$. (2) We construct three-variable $p$-adic $L$-functions over the eigenvariety interpolating the $p$-adic $L$-functions of classical base-change Bianchi cusp forms in families. (3) We prove that these base-change $p$-adic $L$-functions satisfy a $p$-adic Artin formalism result, that is, they factorise in the same way as the classical $L$-function under Artin formalism. In an appendix, Carl Wang-Erickson describes a base-change deformation functor and gives a characterisation of its Zariski tangent space.Comment: 26 pages, with a 3 page appendix by Carl Wang-Erickson. Comments welcome! Changes for v5: added contents, minor changes to exposition. v4: corrected funding acknowledgements. v3: This version has a new introduction, has been reorganised and greatly shortened, and incorporates minor corrections. v2: minor correction

A Quantum Computer Architecture using Nonlocal Interactions

Several authors have described the basic requirements essential to build a scalable quantum computer. Because many physical implementation schemes for quantum computing rely on nearest neighbor interactions, there is a hidden quantum communication overhead to connect distant nodes of the computer. In this paper we propose a physical solution to this problem which, together with the key building blocks, provides a pathway to a scalable quantum architecture using nonlocal interactions. Our solution involves the concept of a quantum bus that acts as a refreshable entanglement resource to connect distant memory nodes providing an architectural concept for quantum computers analogous to the von Neumann architecture for classical computers.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Slight modifications to satisfy referee, 2 new references, modified acknowledgement. This draft to appear in PRA Rapid Communication

The Microflora of the Huhu Grub

New Zealand's endemic longhorned beetle larvae, the Huhu grub (Prionoplus reticularis) feeds on dead coniferous wood. No studies have been conducted on its gut microflora. Given that the Huhu grub feeds solely on lignocelluloses, it is likely that there are microorganisms present in its gut which are capable of degrading lignocelluloses to release energy rich sugars. This process of lignocelluloses release is the rate limiting step in the utilisation of woody material for bioprocesses such as bioethanol production. Microbial communities from wild grubs were compared with those raised on laboratory diets of either: lignocellulose, cellulose, or complex nutrients. Bacterial gut communities were surveyed using 454 pyrosequencing of the variable 5 and 6 regions (400nt reads) of bacterial 16S rRNA genes as well as clone library analysis of the full length gene (1500bp). Fungal gut communities were analysed using cloning and Sanger sequencing of amplified fungal intergenic spacer (ITS) regions. The wild type gut bacterial population was highly diverse, with no known cellulose or lignin degraders detected in any abundance, although a strain of Burkholderia thought to be capable of nitrogen fixation was detected. No methanogenic archaea or acetogenic bacteria were detected. Fungal ITS sequences had high similarity with those of known lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose degraders in the public databases, and an uncultured Basidiomycete made up 51% of the wild type community, while species of the Penicillium genus dominated the grubs reared on laboratory diets of lignocellulose. When grubs were reared on a diet of only cellulose the fungal community was dominated by a single species identified as Candida shehatae, a hemicellulose degrader known to associate with other longhorned beetle larvae. These fungi may be of interest for the biological conversion of lignocelluloses

The Relationship Between the Educational Beliefs and the Instructional Practices of Education Interns

Education researchers suggest that, since belief systems influence practicing teachers\u27 behavior, it is important for teachers to examine their educational beliefs to determine whether those beliefs are consistent with current knowledge about teaching and learning. If the same relationship between beliefs and practices of inservice teachers holds true for preservice teachers, since beliefs are extremely resistant to change, reflection upon educational beliefs should be cultivated during the preservice stage of teacher development. To discover whether such a parallel exists, 12 preservice teachers, during their internships, were selected for study. First, they responded to a series of vignettes to ascertain beliefs about five instructional strategies. Second, a content analysis of the the interns\u27 lesson plans was conducted to determine their instructional practices. Finally, 7 of the 12 interns were interviewed to explore consistencies and discrepancies. The study\u27s results indicate that the findings of research studies documenting a connection between educational beliefs and instructional practices of inservice teachers also hold true with regard to preservice teachers. The study suggests that teacher education programs embrace and operationalize the proposition that encouraging reflective thought in teacher candidates is critical to enhancing their professional preparation

No Sleep \u27til Minsky\u27s: A One-Man Tribute to Burlesque and Vaudeville.

No Sleep \u27˜Til Minsky\u27s is a one-man show paying tribute to early 20th century variety entertainment. The writing process began with research into the forms of vaudeville and burlesque, including films of period acts, study of autobiographies and biographies of burlesque performers, and study of historical scripts performed in the time period and stored at the Library of Congress. The format of the show consists of a one-hour core script in which Lou Drake speaks of his life and career in burlesque. In addition to the core script, the structure is designed to allow more actors to participate in staging sketches described by Drake, as well as allowing external acts to splice their material into a performance

A Survey of 119 Scholarship Students at Eastern Illinois State College

No abstract provided by author

Ocean Transport of Containerized Liner Cargo in the United States-Mexico Trade

Commerce between the United States and Mexico will continue to grow due to the incremental benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement. This growth, however, will be slowed at least temporarily by the recent Mexican Peso crisis. Ocean transportation currently only moves about 8.5 percent of US-Mexico cargo by value even though it is the most efficient mode of transport over longer distances. This study hypothesized that the underutilized ocean transport sector has captured significant high-growth general cargo that is amenable to containerized transport from the air and/or trucking and rail sectors of the US-Mexico trade. Historical and ex post facto methodologies were utilized to study the subject. Nationalism, corruption, import substitution policies, intense trucking and rail competition, poor shipper recognition, and the marginal attention given to Mexico\u27s port system have all hindered waterborne commerce in the trade. In 1989, however, Mexico began upgrading its transportation infrastructure in earnest. Market entry by liner operators has been increasing as Mexican ports become more efficient. The hypothesis was accepted. A shift-share analysis revealed specific fast-growth general cargoes with long-term potential for capture by maritime transportation

Five minutes with Carl Cullinane on the Democratic Dashboard: “There’s a big difference between open data and accessible data.”

Sierra Williams caught up with Carl Cullinane, the project lead behind the Democratic Dashboard, a voter information resource making constituency data open and accessible in the run-up to the UK’s General Election. Because of the variety of data sources used, it was a huge job to harmonise the structure and formatting of the datasets to make them compatible. The Democratic Dashboard is fundamentally citizen-focused, but aims to provide enough depth and complexity to keep researchers and ‘election junkies’ interested