Letter from Jacob Hoffman

1946. Letter from Jacob Hoffman in Nairobi confirming receival of books from the Polish YMCA attached to the Polish Armed Forces. Dated October 4, 1946.https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/ymcadocs/1046/thumbnail.jp

Ego strength in relation to perception of visual illusions

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityThe relationship between the global health level of the personality and perceptual behavior was explored in a fundamental manner independent of specific needs, drives, or psychopathology. Current psychoanalytic theory regarding the nature and functions of the ego served as the basis for the personality construct selected, ego strength. The ability to test reality served to establish the connection between level of ego strength and adequacy of the perceptual system. The selection of the operational definition of ego strength involved the consideration of a number of factors including the population to be studied, the independence of the operation from the behavior under study, the relationship to other research, and the congruence between the measure and the construct's description. An extensive review of the Barron Ego-Strength Scale, a sub-scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), indicted that it was the most reliable and valid measure of ego strength currently available [TRUNCATED

MWE as WSD: Solving Multiword Expression Identification with Word Sense Disambiguation

Recent approaches to word sense disambiguation (WSD) utilize encodings of the sense gloss (definition), in addition to the input context, to improve performance. In this work we demonstrate that this approach can be adapted for use in multiword expression (MWE) identification by training models which use gloss and context information to filter MWE candidates produced by a rule-based extraction pipeline. Our approach substantially improves precision, outperforming the state-of-the-art in MWE identification on the DiMSUM dataset by up to 1.9 F1 points and achieving competitive results on the PARSEME 1.1 English dataset. Our models also retain most of their WSD performance, showing that a single model can be used for both tasks. Finally, building on similar approaches using Bi-encoders for WSD, we introduce a novel Poly-encoder architecture which improves MWE identification performance

Photonic Hyper-Crystals

We introduce a new "universality class" of artificial optical media - photonic hyper-crystals. These hyperbolic metamaterials with periodic spatial variation of dielectric permittivity on subwavelength scale, combine the features of optical metamaterials and photonic crystals. In particular, surface waves supported by a hyper-crystal, possess the properties of both the optical Tamm states in photonic crystals and surface plasmon polaritons at the metal-dielectric interface

Topological Transitions in Metamaterials

The ideas of mathematical topology play an important role in many aspects of modern physics - from phase transitions to field theory to nonlinear dynamics (Nakahara M (2003) in Geometry, Topology and Physics, ed Brewer DF (IOP Publishing Ltd, Bristol and Philadelphia), Monastryskiy M (1987) in Riemann Topology and Physics, (Birkhauser Verlag AG)). An important example of this is the Lifshitz transition (Lifshitz IM (1960) Anomalies of electron characteristics of a metal in the high-pressure region, Sov Phys JETP 11: 1130-1135), where the transformation of the Fermi surface of a metal from a closed to an open geometry (due to e.g. external pressure) leads to a dramatic effect on the electron magneto-transport (Kosevich AM (2004) Topology and solid-state physics. Low Temp Phys 30: 97-118). Here, we present the optical equivalent of the Lifshitz transition in strongly anisotropic metamaterials. When one of the components of the dielectric permittivity tensor of such a composite changes sign, the corresponding iso-frequency surface transforms from an ellipsoid to a hyperboloid. Since the photonic density of states can be related to the volume enclosed by the iso-frequency surface, such a topological transition in a metamaterial leads to a dramatic change in the photonic density of states, with a resulting effect on every single physical parameter related to the metamaterial - from thermodynamic quantities such as its equilibrium electromagnetic energy to the nonlinear optical response to quantum-electrodynamic effects such as spontaneous emission. In the present paper, we demonstrate the modification of spontaneous light emission from quantum dots placed near the surface of the metamaterial undergoing the topological Lifshitz transition, and present the theoretical description of the effect

Influential Article Review - Systems And Systems Theory, Clusters And Networks

This paper examines operations. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: With the comprehensive term of “Mode 3,” we want to draw a conceptual link between systems and systems theory and want to demonstrate further how this can be applied to knowledge in the next steps. Systems can be understood as being composed of “elements”, which are tied together by a “self-rationale”. For innovation, often innovation clusters and innovation networks are being regarded as important. By leveraging systems theory for innovation concepts, one can implement references between the elements of a system and clusters (innovation clusters) and the self-rationale of a system and that of networks (innovation networks). One advantage of this approach is that it makes the tools of systems theory effectively available for research on innovation. Based on original research about the European Union, also the concept of a multi-level hierarchy promises conceptual opportunities. Further integrating systems theory, we can speak of multi-level systems of knowledge (following different levels of aggregation) and multi-level systems of innovation (also following different levels of aggregation). The popular and powerful concept of the national innovation system is being chronically challenged by continuous and ongoing processes of supranational and global integration. Conceptually unlocking the national innovation systems in favor of a broader multi-level logic implies furthermore to accept the existence of national innovation systems but, at the same time, also to emphasize their global embeddedness. Our suggested catchphrase of “Mode 3”, therefore, integrates several considerations that want to relate systems theory, knowledge, and innovation more directly to each other, and this should be understood as a contribution to a dynamically evolving general discourse on the topics of knowledge and innovation. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German

Assessing the threat of incel violence

In recent years, increasingly serious incidents of violence have been committed by young men predominantly in the United States and Canada who self-identify as incels (involuntary celibates). Although these attacks often specifically target women, the principal source of their animus, men as well as children have been among the casualties in the series of shootings and vehicular homicides that have occurred at universities, high schools, and on city streets. Although, the incel worldview is not obviously political, its core ethos entails the subjugation and repression of a group and its violence is designed to have far-reaching societal effects. Accordingly, incel violence arguably conforms to an emergent trend in terrorism with a more salient hate crime dimension that necessitates greater scrutiny and analysis—especially as it spreads to Europe and shows similarities to and has nascent connections with other terrorist movements.PostprintPeer reviewe