Hippolytus recast and a late antique Dies irae

The paper aims at casting some light on the intellectual and social context of an eschatological treatise transmitted under the name of Hippolytus (De consummatione mundi, CPG 1910) and a closely related metrical homily in Greek attributed to Ephrem of Syria and preserved in different versions (CPG 3946, 4012). The first of the two texts has long been known to be a reworking of a genuine work of Hippolytus on the subject (De Christo et Antichristo, CPG 1872) and its close relation to the Ephrem Graecus text has also been observed. In my paper I propose new clues as to the dating of these texts and explore in which way the eschatological vision of Hippolytus has been updated in the pseudepigraphon

Terahertz photoresponse of AlInSb/InSb/AlInSb quantum well structures

We have studied the photoresponse (transmission and photoconductivity of Corbino-shaped devices) of structures with InSb quantum wells (AlInSb barriers). To characterize the devices, the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) effect up to magnetic fields B of 7 T and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics at various magnetic fields were measured. Some of the samples showed clearly resolvable SdH oscillations. The I-V curves showed pronounced nonlinearities. The phototransmission and the photoconductivity at various terahertz (THz) frequencies were measured around 2.5 THz generated by a p-Ge laser. From the cyclotron resonance (transmission measurements) we deduced a cyclotron mass of 0.022m0. We also performed photoconductivity measurements on Corbino-shaped devices in the THz frequency range. Oscillations of the photoconductivity with maxima near the minima of the conductivity in the dark were observed. Thus, these devices are potentially suitable for the detection of THz radiation

Improvement of composition of CdTe thin films during heat treatment in the presence of CdCl2

CdCl2 treatment is a crucial step in development of CdS/CdTe solar cells. Although this rocessing step has been used over a period of three decades, full understanding is not yet achieved. This paper reports the experimental evidence for improvement of composition of CdTe layers during CdCl2 treatment. This investigation makes use of four selected analytical techniques; Photo-electro-chemical (PEC) cell, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). CdTe layers used were electroplated using three Cd precursors; CdSO4, Cd(NO3)2 and CdCl2. Results show the improvement of stoichiometry of CdTe layers during CdCl2 treatment through chemical reaction between Cd from CdCl2 and elemental Te that usually precipitate during CdTe growth, due to its natural behaviour. XRD and SEM results show that the low-temperature (~85ºC) electroplated CdTe layers consist of ~(20-60) nm size crystallites, but after CdCl2 treatment, the layers show drastic recrystallisation with grains becoming a few microns in size. These CdCl2 treated layers are then comparable to high temperature grown CdTe layers by the size of grains

How to Prove the Existence of a Supreme Being?

This essay undertakes the task of unravelling the history of the concept of the “Supreme Being” from the beginnings of Greek philosophy to the emergence of Christianity, with a special attention to a system of argumentation meant to demonstrate the existence - and eternity - of such a being. Referred to here as the “gradation argument”, it is related to the ontological proof, and thus our inquiry belongs to the discussion about the prehistory of the latter. The key authors in the development of the argument discussed are Xenophanes, Plato, Aristotle, and Cleanthes, but I devote a short excursus to the presence of the concept of the Supreme Deity in pseudo-Pythagorean and Middle Platonist authors, and to the epistemological aspect of the concept that connects it with the via eminentiae. Besides the historical inquiry, I examine the validity of the proof and propose a mathematical model that helps us to see its merits and limits

Blockchain-empowered service management for the decentralized metaverse of things

Abstract The future of networking will be driven by the current emerging trends of combining the physical and virtual realities in cyberspace. Considering the ambient pandemic challenges, the role of virtual and augmented reality will definitely grow over time by transforming into the paradigm of the Metaverse of Things, where each person, thing or other entity will simultaneously exist within multiple synchronized realities. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for future metaverse applications composed of multiple synchronized data flows from multiple operators through multiple wearable devices and with different quality requirements. A new service quality model is proposed based on a customizable utility function for each individual data flow. The proposed approach is based on dynamic fine-grained data flow allocation and service selection using non-fungible tokens, which can be traded over the blockchain among users and operators in a decentralized mobile network environment