The Reducts of the Homogeneous Binary Branching C-relation

Let (L;C) be the (up to isomorphism unique) countable homogeneous structure carrying a binary branching C-relation. We study the reducts of (L;C), i.e., the structures with domain L that are first-order definable in (L;C). We show that up to existential interdefinability, there are finitely many such reducts. This implies that there are finitely many reducts up to first-order interdefinability, thus confirming a conjecture of Simon Thomas for the special case of (L;C). We also study the endomorphism monoids of such reducts and show that they fall into four categories.Comment: 39 pages, 4 figure

Operator-Valued Norms

We introduce two kinds of operator-valued norms. One of them is an $L(H)$-valued norm. The other one is an $L(C(K))$-valued norm. We characterize the completeness with respect to a bounded $L(H)$-valued norm. Furthermore, for a given Banach space $\textbf{B}$, we provide an $L(C(K))$-valued norm on $\textbf{B}$. and we introduce an $L(C(K))$-valued norm on a Banach space satisfying special properties.Comment: 8 page

UCP 600 rules – changing letter of credit business for international traders?

A letter of credit (L/C), in international trade may be described as an instrument of finance carrying a conditional guarantee of payment from the overseas (buyer’s) bank to the seller. Consequently, a L/C is desirable in high value and/or high risk transactions. The guarantee is conditional upon the seller complying 100% with the documentary requirements of the L/C, an issue of particular concern to exporters, as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) estimates worldwide documentary discrepancy rates of 70%. L/C transactions are governed by ICC rules, and whilst these provide an international standardised process, the differing interpretations of what constitutes documentary compliance create difficulties for sellers in particular. The new rules: UCP 600, supposedly have simpler and clearer wording, to reduce ambiguity and differences in interpretation, and hopefully reduce documentary discrepancy rates and the associated financial risks. This article examines the major changes introduced by the UCP 600 and comments on their likely impact on future L/C business. Whilst acknowledging some improvements were introduced in the UCP 600, the article concludes that a number of issues have been ignored to the detriment of traders

Capalictus, a new subgenus of Lasioglossum Curtis, 1833 from South Africa, with description of three new species (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Halictidae)

Capalictus, a new subgenus of Lasioglossum Curtis, 1833 (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Halictidae), endemic to the South African Cape Province, is described. The type species is Halictus mosselinus Cockerell, 1945. Evylaeus (Sellalictus) fynbosensis (Pauly et al., 2008) is a new junior synonym of L. (C.) mosselinum. Three new species are described: Lasioglossum (Capalictus) hantamense sp. nov., L. (C.) tigrinum sp. nov. and L. (C.) timmermanni sp. nov. DNA sequence data from three nuclear genes support morphologically-determined species limits. Capalictus is a basal clade of the Hemihalictus series of Lasioglossum

Media authenticity and authority in Mauritius: On the mediality of language in religion

In this article I suggest that the rapidly growing interest in the intersection of linguistic anthropology and media needs to be accompanied by a deeper investigation of the mediality of language. Discussing Mauritian Muslims’ uses of sound reproduction in religious events revolving around the recitation of devotional poetry, this paper explores how language as a medium converges and interacts with media technologies of other kinds. I suggest that the oscillation between a foregrounding of the medium and its phenomenological withdrawal characterizes the functioning of both linguistic mediation and other media technologies and provides a comparative dimension to examine their interplay

Q(2) dependence of nuclear transparency for exclusive rho(0) production

Exclusive coherent and incoherent electroproduction of the rho(0) meson from H-1 and N-14 targets has been studied at the HERMES experiment as a function of coherence length (l(c)), corresponding to the lifetime of hadronic fluctuations of the virtual photon, and squared four-momentum of the virtual photon (-Q(2)). The ratio of N-14 to H-1 cross sections per nucleon, called nuclear transparency, was found to increase (decrease) with increasing l(c) for coherent (incoherent) rho(0) electroproduction. For fixed l(c), a rise of nuclear transparency with Q(2) is observed for both coherent and incoherent rho(0) production, which is in agreement with theoretical calculations of color transparency

Quantum repeaters with imperfect memories: cost and scalability

Memory dephasing and its impact on the rate of entanglement generation in quantum repeaters is addressed. For systems that rely on probabilistic schemes for entanglement distribution and connection, we estimate the maximum achievable rate per employed memory for our optimized partial nesting protocol. We show that, for any given distance $L$, the polynomial scaling of rate with distance can only be achieved if quantum memories with coherence times on the order of $L/c$ or longer, with $c$ being the speed of light in the channel, are available. The above rate degrades as a power of $\exp[-\sqrt{(L/c)/ \tau_c}]$ with distance when the coherence time $\tau_c \ll L/c$.Comment: Extended version with 5 figure