Tackling the Minimal Superpermutation Problem

A superpermutation on $n$ symbols is a string that contains each of the $n!$ permutations of the $n$ symbols as a contiguous substring. The shortest superpermutation on $n$ symbols was conjectured to have length $\sum_{i=1}^n i!$. The conjecture had been verified for $n \leq 5$. We disprove it by exhibiting an explicit counterexample for $n=6$. This counterexample was found by encoding the problem as an instance of the (asymmetric) Traveling Salesman Problem, and searching for a solution using a powerful heuristic solver.Comment: 5 page

'Thou glorious kingdome, thou chiefe of empires': Persia in seventeenth-century travel literature

Bringing together a range of little-considered materials, this article assesses the portrayal of Persia in seventeenth-century travel literature and drama. In particular it argues that such texts use their awareness of Islamic sectarian division to portray Persia as a good potential trading partner in preference to the Ottoman Empire. A close reading of John Day, William Rowley and George Wilkins’ The Travailes of the Three English Brothers (1607) demonstrates how the play develops a fantasy model of how relations between Persia and England might function. The potential unity between England and Persia, imagined in terms of both religion and trade, demonstrates how Persia figured as a model ‘other England’ in early modern literature

What did the Royal Almoner do in Britain and Ireland, c.1450-1700?

The late medieval and early modern royal almoner for England and Wales was an important figure, a senior cleric best documented as a court preacher who was the crown’s religious and moral face; prominent holders included Wolsey and Lancelot Andrewes. The article begins by looking at the almoner’s appointment and functions at court, but it is mostly devoted to his interactions with Tudor and Stuart society at large. Indeed he had many public roles that are poorly understood. These included arbitrating, mediating, and directing the distribution of the forfeited goods of suicides found felo de se by coroners’ inquests, granted to successive almoners by the crown. The article looks at the almoner’s operations both in courts such as Star Chamber and outside them. It argues that he sought to create or repair communal bonds when survivors of suicide denied their obligations. Exploring what he did to re-establish charity between neighbours, his role as a benevolent giver, and the underlying religious imperatives that directed his actions, the article illuminates central issues of lordship, law and community in a period of profound social, legal, religious and political change. Focusing mainly on England, it also uncovers the significantly different roles of the separate royal almoners of Ireland and Scotland.PostprintPeer reviewe

(The) influence of Spanish literature on English literature, with special reference to the romances of chivalry and the romances of roguery.

Another copy of this thesis was scanned by the Internet Archive. Typewritten sheets in cover. Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Governance in Organizational Expansion - Learning From Community Development Organizations

Community development organizations are dynamic nonprofits that adopt a range of proven strategies to revitalize neighborhoods so they are great places to live, work and play. These place-based nonprofits are positioned as organizations through which local community residents, partnering with civic and business leaders, can create vibrant and sustainable neighborhoods

Custom in context : Medieval and Early Modern Scotland and England

Studying custom and its context gives unique insights into relations of property, production and law in a society. The first part of the article discusses meaning in Scotland, focusing on ‘custom as normative practice, custom as unwritten law, and custom in opposition to law’. The second seeks to demonstrate (using evidence focusing principally on landholding) that custom as legal currency was more restricted for Scots than English. The third sets out the implications for continuity of landholding and for agrarian change in the Highlands of Scotland, an area where custom might be thought strong. The fourth deals with the differential legal development of Scotland and England between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries and its effects on social and tenurial relationships. A final section suggests why custom mattered more as a resource to the English, the domains in which it was important to Scots and the implications for understanding the comparative development of the two societies since the Middle Ages.PostprintPeer reviewe