Are Muslims the New Catholics? Europe’s Headscarf Laws in Comparative Historical Perspective

In this paper a biologically-inspired model for partly occluded patterns is proposed. The model is based on the hypothesis that in human visual system occluding patterns play a key role in recognition as well as in reconstructing internal representation for a pattern’s occluding parts. The proposed model is realized with a bidirectional hierarchical neural network. In this network top-down cues, generated by direct connections from the lower to higher levels of hierarchy, interact with the bottom-up information, generated from the un-occluded parts, to recognize occluded patterns. Moreover, positional cues of the occluded as well as occluding patterns, that are computed separately but in the same network, modulate the top-down and bottom-up processing to reconstruct the occluded patterns. Simulation results support the presented hypothesis as well as effectiveness of the model in providing a solution to recognition of occluded patterns. The behavior of the model is in accordance to the known human behavior on the occluded patterns

Symmetries of Electrostatic Interaction between DNA Molecules

We study a model for pair interaction $U$ of DNA molecules generated by the discrete dipole moments of base-pairs and the charges of phosphate groups, and find noncommutative group of eighth order ${\cal S}$ of symmetries that leave $U$ invariant. We classify the minima using group ${\cal S}$ and employ numerical methods for finding them. The minima may correspond to several cholesteric phases, as well as phases formed by cross-like conformations of molecules at an angle close to $\rm{90}^{o}$, "snowflake phase". The results depend on the effective charge $Q$ of the phosphate group which can be modified by the polycations or the ions of metals. The snowflake phase could exist for $Q$ above the threshold $Q_C$. Below $Q_C$ there could be several cholesteric phases. Close to $Q_C$ the snowflake phase could change into the cholesteric one at constant distance between adjacent molecules.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Quantum effects in linguistic endeavors

Classifying the information content of neural spike trains in a linguistic endeavor, an uncertainty relation emerges between the bit size of a word and its duration. This uncertainty is associated with the task of synchronizing the spike trains of different duration representing different words. The uncertainty involves peculiar quantum features, so that word comparison amounts to measurement-based-quantum computation. Such a quantum behavior explains the onset and decay of the memory window connecting successive pieces of a linguistic text. The behavior here discussed is applicable to other reported evidences of quantum effects in human linguistic processes, so far lacking a plausible framework, since either no efforts to assign an appropriate quantum constant had been associated or speculating on microscopic processes dependent on Planck's constant resulted in unrealistic decoherence times

From Retinal Waves to Activity-Dependent Retinogeniculate Map Development

A neural model is described of how spontaneous retinal waves are formed in infant mammals, and how these waves organize activity-dependent development of a topographic map in the lateral geniculate nucleus, with connections from each eye segregated into separate anatomical layers. The model simulates the spontaneous behavior of starburst amacrine cells and retinal ganglion cells during the production of retinal waves during the first few weeks of mammalian postnatal development. It proposes how excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms within individual cells, such as Ca2+-activated K+ channels, and cAMP currents and signaling cascades, can modulate the spatiotemporal dynamics of waves, notably by controlling the after-hyperpolarization currents of starburst amacrine cells. Given the critical role of the geniculate map in the development of visual cortex, these results provide a foundation for analyzing the temporal dynamics whereby the visual cortex itself develops

Letting the Right Ones In: Whitelists, Jurisdictional Reputation, and the Racial Dynamics of Online Gambling Regulation.

Using a case study of a recent UK whitelist intended to regulate online gambling, I examine the affective politics of listing. I pay particular attention to the racial dynamics of black and white listing. By charting how the gambling whitelist worked and failed to work as a tool in the designation of jurisdictional reputation, I argue that the use and subsequent abandonment of the whitelist shows the centrality of racial dynamics to listing practices, particularly in relation to how the list was deployed in debates about the trustworthiness of the Kahnawá:ke territory and Antigua and Barbuda. In section 5 I examine what happened after the demise of the online gambling whitelist. Although non-listing techniques of governance look to be expanding, in the form of increased surveillance of individual gamblers, lists continue to play a key role in the UK government’s new model of gambling regulation. I suggest that this confirms the co-constitutive and mutually reinforcing nature of black and white lists as techniques of governance, and the value of exploring them and their racialized implications together

Autonomous Bursting in a Homoclinic System

A continuous train of irregularly spaced spikes, peculiar of homoclinic chaos, transforms into clusters of regularly spaced spikes, with quiescent periods in between (bursting regime), by feeding back a low frequency portion of the dynamical output. Such autonomous bursting results to be extremely robust against noise; we provide experimental evidence of it in a CO2 laser with feedback. The phenomen here presented display qualitative analogies with bursting phenomena in neurons.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett., 14 pages, 5 figure

Smash and Bash Cricket? Affective Technological Innovations in the Big Bash

Focusing on the Australian KFC T20 Big Bash League (BBL), this article explores the innovative televisual technologies that represent T20 cricket as an action packed 'smash and bash' spectacle. An array of innovative technologies is deployed to aesthetically and affectively re-present the BBL. Cameras and microphones are embedded within the field of play, operate in highly mobile and fluid ways, and are framed in close proximity to the action - particularly when placed on the players themselves. The BBL provides intersecting affective layers for viewer engagement built upon tools for analysis, sites of commodification, visual renditions of pseudo-player perspectives and an emphasis on fast-paced entertainment. By constructing degrees of sensory invigoration and vicarious involvement for both casual and invested viewers, these innovative technologies mobilise 'smash and bash' cricket as an affective televisual spectacle

Micro Concentrator Concept for Cost Reduction and Efficiency Enhancement of Thin Film Chalcopyrite Photovoltaics Results from EU Joint Research Program CHEETAH

Results for research on chalcopyrite micro concentrator solar cells obtained within the framework of CHEETAH joint program are shown. A top down proof of concept study reveals close to 30 relative efficiency increase under light concentration using inkjet printed CIGSSe. A novel bottom up approach for local chalcopyrite absorbers grown from indium islands demonstrates working CISe micro cells. Millimeter sized lenses are fabricated from PMMA by a casting process to be applied as concentrator optics. For a combined exploitation of direct and diffuse light components an angular splitting concentrator based on chalcopyrite and kesterite absorber material is proposed. The scientific innovation brought will enrich further development of CIGSe solar cells and contribute to their relevance in photovoltaic energy productio

Recognizing Speech in a Novel Accent: The Motor Theory of Speech Perception Reframed

The motor theory of speech perception holds that we perceive the speech of another in terms of a motor representation of that speech. However, when we have learned to recognize a foreign accent, it seems plausible that recognition of a word rarely involves reconstruction of the speech gestures of the speaker rather than the listener. To better assess the motor theory and this observation, we proceed in three stages. Part 1 places the motor theory of speech perception in a larger framework based on our earlier models of the adaptive formation of mirror neurons for grasping, and for viewing extensions of that mirror system as part of a larger system for neuro-linguistic processing, augmented by the present consideration of recognizing speech in a novel accent. Part 2 then offers a novel computational model of how a listener comes to understand the speech of someone speaking the listener's native language with a foreign accent. The core tenet of the model is that the listener uses hypotheses about the word the speaker is currently uttering to update probabilities linking the sound produced by the speaker to phonemes in the native language repertoire of the listener. This, on average, improves the recognition of later words. This model is neutral regarding the nature of the representations it uses (motor vs. auditory). It serve as a reference point for the discussion in Part 3, which proposes a dual-stream neuro-linguistic architecture to revisits claims for and against the motor theory of speech perception and the relevance of mirror neurons, and extracts some implications for the reframing of the motor theory

WARNING: Physics Envy May Be Hazardous To Your Wealth!

The quantitative aspirations of economists and financial analysts have for many years been based on the belief that it should be possible to build models of economic systems - and financial markets in particular - that are as predictive as those in physics. While this perspective has led to a number of important breakthroughs in economics, "physics envy" has also created a false sense of mathematical precision in some cases. We speculate on the origins of physics envy, and then describe an alternate perspective of economic behavior based on a new taxonomy of uncertainty. We illustrate the relevance of this taxonomy with two concrete examples: the classical harmonic oscillator with some new twists that make physics look more like economics, and a quantitative equity market-neutral strategy. We conclude by offering a new interpretation of tail events, proposing an "uncertainty checklist" with which our taxonomy can be implemented, and considering the role that quants played in the current financial crisis.Comment: v3 adds 2 reference