Toda joia, toda beleza! Finding what is left in the margins or regime collisions: A pluralist take on managerialism

This paper has two authors, two titles and is written in the form of a dialogue,rather than conveying a unitary voice, as one would instead expect of a coauthored paper. The reason for this is that the articulation of the authors' disagreement, despite the identification of each of them with “the left”, is precisely the object of inquiry. After briefly introducing the problem on which the authors’ discussion takes place, namely regime collisions, and the clash of approaches that are available to (decide whether to) deal with them, a dialogue follows, in which the authors’ voices are clearly separated as they discuss the specific issue of the measurement of quality as a (managerialist) proposal to “solve” regime collisions, and contrast that to more openly politicised views of approaching regime collisions. In the end, the main features of such discussion are examined in such a way as to bring forth the peculiar self-consciousness that pluralist spaces give rise to, weakening and downsizing every point of view that appoints itself as the “higher” vantage point from which to describe the world and enumerate problems, and stimulating a constant oscillation between perspectives. This commitment to a pluralistic confrontation and the ensuing hybridization of perspectives is, we argue, at the heart of the idea of “the left” which we both identify with

Quadratic Maps in Two Variables on Arbitrary Fields

Let $\mathbb{F}$ be a field of characteristic different from $2$ and $3$, and let $V$ be a vector space of dimension $2$ over $\mathbb{F}$. The generic classification of homogeneous quadratic maps $f\colon V\to V$ under the action of the linear group of $V$, is given and efficient computational criteria to recognize equivalence are provided.Comment: 12 pages, no figure

Time resolved pattern evolution in a large aperture laser

We have measured quasi-instantaneous transverse patterns in a broad aperture laser. Non-ordered patterns yielding to boundary determined regular structures in progressive time-integrated recording are observed. The linear analysis and numerical integration of the full Maxwell-Bloch equations allow us to interpret the features of the experiment. We show that this system being far from threshold cannot be fully understood with a perturbative model.Comment: 7 pages, 5 GIF figures . To be published in Phys. Rev. Let

The Role of Intuition in Metaphysics

In this paper I consider the possibility of a kind of a priori cognition that serves the purposes of metaphysics, given that metaphysics involves the search for modal knowledge. Necessary or, better, modal knowledge is a priori; so metaphysical knowledge is likewise a priori. Here I argue that intuition is the route to modal knowledge in metaphysics, and I insist that conceivability or knowledge of conceptual truths does not lead towards the modal realm of metaphysics

Augmented nodal matrices and normal trees

AbstractAugmented nodal matrices play an important role in the analysis of different features of electrical circuit models. Their study can be addressed in an abstract setting involving two- and three-colour weighted digraphs. By means of a detailed characterization of the structure of proper and normal trees, we provide a unifying framework for the rank analysis of augmented matrices. This covers in particular Maxwell’s tree-based determinantal expansions of (non-augmented) nodal matrices, which can be considered as a one-colour version of our results. Via different colour assignments to circuit devices, we tackle the DC-solvability problem and the index characterization of certain differential–algebraic models which arise in the nodal analysis of electrical circuits, extending several known results of passive circuits to the non-passive context

Magnetic force microscopy investigation of arrays of nickel nanowires and nanotubes

The magnetic properties of arrays of nanowires (NWs) and nanotubes (NTs), 150 nm in diameter, electrodeposited inside nanoporous polycarbonate membranes are investigated. The comparison of the nanoscopic magnetic force microscopy (MFM) imaging and the macroscopic behavior as measured by alternating gradient force magnetometry (AGFM) is made. It is shown that MFM is a complementary technique that provides an understanding of the magnetization reversal characteristics at the microscopic scale of individual nanostructures. The local hysteresis loops have been extracted by MFM measurements. The influence of the shape of such elongated nanostructures on the dipolar coupling and consequently on the squareness of the hysteresis curves is demonstrated. It is shown that the nanowires exhibit stronger magnetic interactions than nanotubes. The non-uniformity of the magnetization states is also revealed by combining the MFM and AGFM measurements.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Cryptanalysis of a novel cryptosystem based on chaotic oscillators and feedback inversion

An analysis of a recently proposed cryptosystem based on chaotic oscillators and feedback inversion is presented. It is shown how the cryptosystem can be broken when Duffing's oscillator is considered. Some implementation problems of the system are also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, latex forma