Transport Exponents of Sturmian Hamiltonians

We consider discrete Schr\"odinger operators with Sturmian potentials and study the transport exponents associated with them. Under suitable assumptions on the frequency, we establish upper and lower bounds for the upper transport exponents. As an application of these bounds, we identify the large coupling asymptotics of the upper transport exponents for frequencies of constant type. We also bound the large coupling asymptotics uniformly from above for Lebesgue-typical frequency. A particular consequence of these results is that for most frequencies of constant type, transport is faster than for Lebesgue almost every frequency. We also show quasi-ballistic transport for all coupling constants, generic frequencies, and suitable phases.Comment: 30 page

When Will the Mute Swan Sing? On the “Orientalism” and its “False Truth”

Edward Said, by surveying closely and decoding the Orientalism from the eighteenth until the mid-twentieth century, makes truth articulate from inside the Orientalist untruth, to echo Marx: the Orient could not represent themselves; they had to be represented by Europe; yet the originally “well-intentioned” Orientalist representation, the discourses of Orientalism turn out to be but of “schematization” of the entire Orient; European culture, by speaking, interpreting the Orient, managed to construct its own domination over other non-White cultures, managed to colonize the East in fine name. What passed for universal truths about European superiority and the other side inferiority yet now prove to be merely culturally specific, historically relative constructions in service of colonialism and imperialism. The Orient was “Orientalized” within systematic economy of Western imagination, invention, one-sidedness, or even untruthfulness, lies. Key words: “universal truth”; Orientalism; culture; Colonialism; ImperialismRésumé: Edward Said, en examinant de près et en décodant l'orientalisme à partir du XVIIIe jusqu'au milieu du XXe siècle, fait énoncer la vérité de l'intérieur du mensonge orientaliste, ce qui se répercute sur Marx : l'Orient ne pouvait pas se représenter, il devait se faire représenter par l'Europe; pourtant la représentation orientaliste bien-intentionnée, le discours de l'orientalisme se révélent d’être un prétexte de la schématisation de l'Orient, la culture européenne, en parlant de l'Orient et en l’interprétant, a réussi à construire sa propre domination sur d’autres cultures non-blanches et à coloniser l'Est. Ce qui s’est passé pour des vérités universelles sur la supériorité européenne et l'infériorité de l’autre côté prouvent encore aujourd’hui des constructions culturellement spécifiques, historiquement relatives au service du colonialisme et de l'impérialisme. L'Orient était orientalisé dans l'économie systématique de l'imagination occidentale, de l'invention, de la partialité, voire des mensonges.Mots-Clés: vérité universelle; orientalisme; culture; colonialisme; impérialism

The Mute in the Shadow in the Distance: Towards a New “Oriental Femininism”

Ruan Lingyu as a film illustrating “women as women” as real women denies radical Feminism of film studies to remarkable degree: there’s no sexual appeal, thus no “male gaze” in sense of humiliating females; there is persecution of patriarchism, yet what finally leaves her no choice other than death is that the three men she loves would not give her real love in return. Though the woman is in “center stage” position, as if “the whole sky”, she’s especially unhappy. And, how striking her beauty, silence, endurance, her will are, even and especially in the distance in the shadow. Here the “Oriental” Femininism is in fact for the mute among all the women in this world, for those who never pronounce anger and resistance, because their happiness lies not simply in “equality”, “liberation”, but in “love”, no matter in the “first” or “second” or “third” world they are. Key words: Oriental Femininism; Subject; Object; Aesthetics of femininityResumé: Ruan Lingyu est un film qui illustre "les femmes en tant que femmes». Les vraies femmes dénient le féminisme radical. Il n'y a pas d'appel sexuel, donc pas de "regard masculin" dans le sens de l'humiliation des femmes; il y a une persécution du patriarcat, mais ce qui l'a finalement privée des choix de vivre sont les trois hommes qu'elle aime, et qui ne lui donnerait pas leur véritable amour en retour. Bien que la femme est dans la position de "la scène centrale" , elle est particulièrement malheureuse. Et malgré sa beauté fulgurante, son silence, son endurance et sa volonté sont, même et surtout au loin dans l'ombre. Ici le fémininisme "oriental" est pour la muette parmi toutes les femmes dans le monde, pour celles qui ne prononcent jamais leur colère et résistance, parce que leur bonheur ne réside pas simplement dans "l'égalité", dans la "libération", mais dans "l'amour", peu importe qu'elles sont dans le premier, deuxième ou tiers monde.Mots-clés: fémininisme oriental; sujet; objet; esthétique de la féminit

Woman as a Wonder as a Monster: on Mathilde The Woman Who Loses A Sex War

In Stendhal’s The Red and the Black, the second leading female character Mathilde appears a quite “monstrous” young woman yet with fascination. She is neither mystery nor enigma but simply of a psychological sex a “man+woman woman” in my concept, a dilemma typical of Her as Other as an Object meanwhile so self-consciously struggling for subjectivity, for transcendence. Noble, proud, passionate, a little hysteric, obsessed with fantasy. There buried, repressed deep, and, “hidden skilfully” in her is the “120% of ‘masculinity’ in her 120% femininity”. She takes efforts to behave like a woman, yet she seeks to realize her transcendence in the man she loves. Though the man, Julien, shares with her the same wild imagination and ambition, though they both are addicted to dream of heroism, he finally comes to the point of not loving her any more, for he gets tired of heroism. Mathilde loses in the war, for she fights, but fights in order to realize her heroism in love, in her lover, a man. Key words: psychological sex; sex war; French Feminism; transcendence; rival Résumé: Dans Le Rouge et le Noir de Stendhal, le deuxième personnage féminin Mathilde semble plutôt une "monstrueuse" jeune femme avec fascination. Dans mon concept, elle n'est ni mystère ni énigme, mais simplement d'un sexe psychologique "homme + femme femme", un dilemme typique d’Elle et d’Autre comme un Objet, et en même temps elle lutte avec une auto-conscience pour la subjectivité et la transcendance. Noble, fière, passionnée, un peu hystérique, obsédée par la fantaisie. Il y est enterrée, refloulée profondément et " dissimulée habilement " en elle une "120% de masculinité dans sa 120% de féminité". Elle prend des efforts pour se comporter comme une femme, mais elle cherche à réaliser sa transcendance à l'homme qu'elle aime. Bien que cet homme, Julien, partage avec elle la même imagination sauvage et l'ambition, et qu’ils soient adonnés au rêve de l'héroïsme, il finit enfin par ne plus l’aimer, car il se fatigue de l'héroïsme. Mathilde perd la guerre. Elle se bat, mais elle se bat pour réaliser son l'héroïsme dans l'amour, chez son amant, un homme. Mots-Clés: sexe psychologique; la guerre de sexe; le féminisme français; transcendence; riva

Quantification of the influence of drugs on zebrafish larvae swimming kinematics and energetics

The use of zebrafish larvae has aroused wide interest in the medical field for its potential role in the development of new therapies. The larvae grow extremely quickly and the embryos are nearly transparent which allows easy examination of its internal structures using fluorescent imaging techniques. Medical treatment of zebrafish larvae can directly influence its swimming behaviours. These behaviour changes are related to functional changes of central nervous system and transformations of the zebrafish body such as muscle mechanical power and force variation, which cannot be measured directly by pure experiment observation. To quantify the influence of drugs on zebrafish larvae swimming behaviours and energetics, we have developed a novel methodology to exploit intravital changes based on observed zebrafish locomotion. Specifically, by using an in-house MATLAB code to process the recorded live zebrafish swimming video, the kinematic locomotion equation of a 3D zebrafish larvae was obtained, and a customised Computational Fluid Dynamics tool was used to solve the fluid flow around the fish model which was geometrically the same as experimentally tested zebrafish. The developed methodology was firstly verified against experiment, and further applied to quantify the fish internal body force, torque and power consumption associated with a group of normal zebrafish larvae vs. those immersed in acetic acid and two neuroactive drugs. As indicated by our results, zebrafish larvae immersed in 0.01% acetic acid display approximately 30% higher hydrodynamic power and 10% higher cost of transport than control group. In addition, 500 μM diphenylhydantoin significantly decreases the locomotion activity for approximately 50% lower hydrodynamic power, whereas 100 mg/L yohimbine has not caused any significant influences on 5 dpf zebrafish larvae locomotion. The approach has potential to evaluate the influence of drugs on the aquatic animal’s behaviour changes and thus support the development of new analgesic and neuroactive drugs