Modeling of residual spheres for subduction zone earthquakes: 1. Apparent slab penetration signatures in the NW Pacific caused by deep diffuse mantle anomalies

We have computed focal residual spheres for 145 subduction zone earthquakes along the northwest edge of the Pacific using regional and global mantle velocity models from tomographic inversions. The mantle models explain much of the observed residual sphere data and, to a certain extent, suggest the location of mantle velocity heterogeneities which are responsible for various residual sphere patterns. For most deep events considered, the fast slablike residual sphere anomalies are caused by diffuse heterogeneities, mainly of deep lower mantle and receiver mantle origin rather than by an extension of the slab. The region immediately below the deepest earthquakes, depths of 650–1500 km, has an effect usually smaller than or comparable to the effect of other regions of the mantle. Without a proper account of the teleseismic effect, attributing the long-wavelength anomalies of the residual sphere to near-source slab effects alone, or even primarily, is not valid. The fast bands in many observed residual spheres agree with seismicity trends. Once the deep mantle and receiver mantle effects are removed, these may give the approximate orientation, but not the depth extent, of near-source fast velocities. For most deep earthquakes under Japan the predominant fast band is subhorizontal rather than near vertical. This type feature would be overlooked in conventional residual sphere studies using only steeply diving rays and cosine weighting of the data

Making sense of handwritten signs in public spaces

This article is an ethnography of an investigation of an under-explored sociolinguistic phenomenon, namely handwritten signs in public spaces, against a context of urban regeneration and socio-cultural transformation. These signs are a subset of urban communicates that involve handwriting, lettering or the painting of letters and text using different materials and serving different functions. We focus primarily on handwritten signs on paper or cards. The data were collected in Stratford, a ward in the ethnically and linguistically diverse London Borough of Newham and home of the 2012 Olympics. Our analytical focus is on the indexicalities of the handwritten signs. We engaged ordinary residents in Stratford, customers and visitors of the two main shopping centres, precinct management, and local council staff who interacted with such signs as part of their everyday work and life, as well as non-participant commentators in interpreting and analysing the meanings of the signs. We also analyse the disappearance of the signs vis-à-vis urban development policies, and the emergence of refashioned painted signs with handwritten style lettering in the global-facing commercial spaces. The study highlights the significance of handwritten signs and invite the reader to engage in making sense of their meaning potentials and symbolic values

Soft power struggles: A diasporic perspective on the competing ideologies and innovative practices regarding the Chinese writing system

This critical essay aims to assess the linguistic ideologies regarding the Chinese writing system by locating them in historical and diasporic contexts and the new digital communication space. Drawing data from a long-term and ongoing digital ethnography of online communication and creative Sinographs in the global Chinese diaspora, it analyses how multilingual Chinese language users manipulate the affordances of the writing system in combination with the affordances of new, digital communication platforms to challenge the dominant language ideologies and policies, to articulate a new sense of transnationalism, and to participate in social activism. It argues that the diasporic perspective is not simply a context for the study of language variation and change but a crucial space for radical new thinking and actions that challenge orthodoxies of various kinds and enables cultural flow as well as social participation at a global scale

The instantaneous shear modulus in the shoving model

We point out that the instantaneous shear modulus of the shoving model for the non-Arrhenius temperature dependence of viscous liquids' relaxation time is the experimentally accessible high-frequency plateau modulus, not the idealized instantaneous affine shear modulus that cannot be measured. Data for a large selection of metallic glasses are compared to three different versions of the shoving model. The original shear-modulus based version shows a slight correlation to the Poisson ratio, which is eliminated by the energy-landscape formulation of the model in which the bulk modulus plays a minor role

Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in Graphene Proximity Coupled to an Antiferromagnetic Insulator

We propose realizing the quantum anomalous Hall effect by proximity coupling graphene to an antiferromagnetic insulator that provides both broken time-reversal symmetry and spin-orbit coupling. We illustrate our idea by performing ab initio calculations for graphene adsorbed on the (111) surface of BiFeO3. In this case, we find that the proximity-induced exchange field in graphene is about 70 meV, and that a topologically nontrivial band gap is opened by Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The size of the gap depends on the separation between the graphene and the thin film substrate, which can be tuned experimentally by applying external pressure.Comment: 5pages, 5 figure

Intercultural moments in translating and humanising the socio-legal system

This paper seeks to address the question how people go about intercultural differences in an institutional setting which aims to mediate between the socio-legal system and the ‘outsiders’ of the system, i.e. ordinary citizens, through an investigation of professional interactions between a legal advisor and her clients of Eastern European backgrounds in London. Drawing data from a linguistic ethnography, the analysis foregrounds the practice of re semiotisation and calibration. The second aim is to extend the notion of ‘intercultural moments’ and to explore its analytical benefits in understanding fleeting and seemingly mundane moments in encounters. Arykuł ten bada, jak ludzie radzą sobie z różnicami międzykulturowymi winstytucji, która pośredniczy pomiędzy systemem społeczno-prawnym a osobami spoza systemu, zwykłymi obywatelami, poprzez analizę interakcji w sytuacjach zawodowych pomiędzy radcą prawnym a jej klientami w Londynie, pochodzącymi z Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. Na podstawie socjolingwistycznych badań etnograficznych, analiza demonstruje praktyki resemiotyzacji oraz kalibracji. Drugim celem jest poszerzenie definicji pojęcia ‘momentów międzykulturowych’ oraz zbadanie ich analitycznych korzyści dla zrozumienia przelotnych i na pozór przyziemnych momentów podczas spotkań

Generalization of Friedberg-Lee Symmetry

We study the possible origin of Friedberg-Lee symmetry. First, we propose the generalized Friedberg-Lee symmetry in the potential by including the scalar fields in the field transformations, which can be broken down to the FL symmetry spontaneously. We show that the generalized Friedberg-Lee symmetry allows a typical form of Yukawa couplings, and the realistic neutrino masses and mixings can be generated via see-saw mechanism. If the right-handed neutrinos transform non-trivially under the generalized Friedberg-Lee symmetry, we can have the testable TeV scale see-saw mechanism. Second, we present two models with the $SO(3)\times U(1)$ global flavour symmetry in the lepton sector. After the flavour symmetry breaking, we can obtain the charged lepton masses, and explain the neutrino masses and mixings via see-saw mechanism. Interestingly, the complete neutrino mass matrices are similar to those of the above models with generalized Friedberg-Lee symmetry. So the Friedberg-Lee symmetry is the residual symmetry in the neutrino mass matrix after the $SO(3)\times U(1)$ flavour symmetry breaking.Comment: 16 pages, no figure, version published in PR

Tranßcripting: playful subversion with Chinese characters

This article discusses a relatively under-explored phenomenon that we call Tranßcripting – writing, designing and digitally generating new scripts with elements from different scriptal and semiotic systems. The data are drawn from examples of such scripts created by multilingual Chinese users in everyday online social interaction. We analyse the dynamic processes of how such scripts are created that transcend language boundaries as well as transforming the subjectivities of the writer and the reader. We are particularly interested in the playful subversiveness of such practices, and discuss it against the background of uni-scriptal language ideology in China. We are also interested in the methodological challenges of researching such practices, including the challenge of drawing distinctions between the ‘ordinary’ and the ‘unordinary’. We analyse the data from a translanguaging perspective