136 research outputs found
Nuclei, Primes and the Random Matrix Connection
In this article, we discuss the remarkable connection between two very
different fields, number theory and nuclear physics. We describe the essential
aspects of these fields, the quantities studied, and how insights in one have
been fruitfully applied in the other. The exciting branch of modern
mathematics, random matrix theory, provides the connection between the two
fields. We assume no detailed knowledge of number theory, nuclear physics, or
random matrix theory; all that is required is some familiarity with linear
algebra and probability theory, as well as some results from complex analysis.
Our goal is to provide the inquisitive reader with a sound overview of the
subjects, placing them in their historical context in a way that is not
traditionally given in the popular and technical surveys.Comment: 54 pages, 11 image
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Study of the impact of ice formation in leads upon the sea ice pack mass balance using a new frazil and grease ice parameterization
Leads are cracks in sea ice that often form because of deformation. During winter months, leads expose the ocean to the cold atmosphere, resulting in supercooling and the formation of frazil ice crystals within the mixed layer. Here the authors investigate the role of frazil ice formation in leads on the mass balance of the sea ice pack through the incorporation of a new module into the Los Alamos sea ice model (CICE). The frazil ice module considers an initial cooling of leads followed by a steady-state formation of uniformly distributed single size frazil ice crystals that precipitate to the ocean surface as grease ice. The grease ice is pushed against one of the lead edges by wind and water drag that the authors represent through a variable collection thickness for new sea ice. Simulations of the sea ice cover in the Arctic and Antarctic are performed and compared to a model that treats leads the same as the open ocean. The processes of ice formation in the new module slow down the refreezing of leads, resulting in a longer period of frazil ice production. The fraction of frazil-derived sea ice increases from 10% to 50%, corresponding better to observations. The new module has higher ice formation rates in areas of high ice concentration and thus has a greater impact within multiyear ice than it does in the marginal seas. The thickness of sea ice in the central Arctic increases by over 0.5 m, whereas within the Antarctic it remains unchanged
Discourse and religion in educational practice
Despite the existence of long-held binaries between secular and sacred, private and public spaces, school and religious literacies in many contemporary societies, the significance of religion and its relationship to education and society more broadly has become increasingly topical. Yet, it is only recently that the investigation of the nexus of discourse and religion in educational practice has started to receive some scholarly attention. In this chapter, religion is understood as a cultural practice, historically situated and embedded in specific local and global contexts. This view of religion stresses the social alongside the subjective or experiential dimensions. It explores how through active participation and apprenticeship in culturally appropriate practices and behaviors often mediated intergenerationally and the mobilisation of linguistic and other semiotic resources but also affective, social and material resources, membership in religious communities is constructed and affirmed. The chapter reviews research strands that have explored different aspects of discourse and religion in educational practice as a growing interdisciplinary field. Research strands have examined the place and purpose of religion in general and evangelical Christianity in particular in English Language Teaching (ELT) programmes and the interplay of religion and teaching and learning in a wide range of religious and increasingly secular educational contexts. They provide useful insights for scholars of discourse studies to issues of identity, socialisation, pedagogy and language policy
Sono utili i Translation Studies per la pratica della traduzione?
The starting point for the present contribution is that professional translators as well as editors tend to consider the theoretical debate on translation with mistrust. By looking at the translation process in its various phases, this paper aims to demonstrate how theory does, as a matter of fact, provide a 'meta-language' that can be of great help in the training of prospective translators, while at the same time offering useful tools for an evaluation of the translated text that goes beyond a merely impressionistic critique, based on individual taste. Furthermore, this paper discusses a number of theoretical concepts developed in the field of translation theory that can be of use to the translator's analytical work before, during, and after his/her activity of transcodification
âAgainst the Dog Only a Dogâ. Talking Canines Civilizing Cynicism in Cervantesâ âcoloquio de los perrosâ (With Tentative Remarks on the Discourse and Method of Animal Studies)
Deriving its designation from the Greek word for âdogâ, cynicism is likely the
only philosophical âinterest groupâ with a diachronically dependable affinity
for various animalsâparticularly those of the canine kind. While dogs have met
with differing value judgments, chiefly along a perceived humanâanimal divide,
it is specifically discourses with cynical affinities that render problematic
this transitional field. The Cervantine âcoloquio de los perrosâ has received
scholarly attention for its (caninely) picaresque themes, its âcynomorphicâ
(Ziolkowski) narratological technique, its socio-historically informative
accounts relating to Early Modern Europe and the Iberian peninsula, including
its âzoopoeticallyâ (Derrida) relevant portrayal of dogs (see e.g., Alves,
Beusterien, MartĂn); nor did the dialogâs mention of cynical snarling go
unnoticed. The essay at hand commences with a chapter on questions of method
pertaining to âanimal narrationâ: with recourse to Montaigne, Descartes, and
Derrida, this first part serves to situate the ensuing close readings with
respect to the field of Animal Studies. The analysis of the Cervantine texts
synergizes thematic and narratological aspects at the discourse historical
level; it commences with a brief synopsis of the respective novellas in part
2; Section 3, Section 4 and Section 5 supply a description of the rhetorical
modes of crafting plausibility in the framework narrative (âThe Deceitful
Marriageâ), of pertinent (Scriptural) intertexts for the âColloquyâ. Parts 6â7
demonstrate that the choice of canine interlocutors as narrating agenciesâand
specifically in their capacity as dogsâis discursively motivated: no other
animal than this animal, and precisely as animal, would here serve the
discursive purpose that is concurrently present with the literal plane; for
this dialogic novella partakes of a (predominantly Stoicizing) tradition
attempting to resocialize the Cynics, which commences already with the
appearance of the Ancient arch-Cynic âDiogenesâ on the scene. At the
discursive level, a diachronic contextualization evinces that the Cervantine
text takes up and outperforms those rhetorical techniques of reintegration by
melding Christian, Platonic, Stoicizing elements with such as are reminiscent
of Diogenical ones. Reallocating Blumenbergâs reading of a notorious Goethean
dictum, this essay submits the formula âagainst the Dog only a dogâ as a
concise précis of the Cervantine method at the discursive level, attained to
via a decidedly pluralized rhetorical sermocination featuring, at a literal
level, specifically canine narrators in a dialogic setting
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