Degeneracy between Abelian and Non-Abelian Strings

In a model that supports both Abelian (Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen) and non-Abelian strings we analyze the parameter space to find examples in which these strings not only coexist but are degenerate in tension. We prove that both solutions are locally stable, i.e there are no negative modes in the string background. The tension degeneracy is achieved at the classical level and is expected to be lifted by quantum corrections. The set up of the model, analogous to that of Witten's superconducting cosmic strings, had been extended to include non-Abelian strings

Unconventional classifiers and anti-social machine intelligences. Artists creating spaces of contestation and sensibilities of difference across human-machine networks

Artificial intelligence technologies and data structures required for training have become more accessible in recent years and this has enabled artists to incorporate these technologies into their works to various ends. This paper is concerned with the ways in which present day artists are engaging with artificial intelligence, specifically material practices that endeavor to use these technologies and their potential non-human agencies as collaborators with differential objectives to commercial fields. The intentions behind artists’ use of artificial intelligence is varied. Many works, with the accelerating assimilation of artificial intelligence technologies into everyday life, follow a critical path. Such as attempting to unveil how artificial intelligence materially works and is embodied, or to critically work through the potential future adoptions of artificial intelligence technologies into everyday life. However, I diverge from unpacking the criticality of these works and instead follow the suggestion of Bruno Latour to consider their composition. As for Latour, critique implies the capacity to discover a ‘truer’ understanding of reality, whereas composition addresses immanence, how things come together and the emergence of experience. Central to this paper are works that seek to collaborate with artificial intelligence, and to use it to drift out of rather than to affirm or mimic human agency. This goes beyond techniques such as ‘style transfer’ which is seen to support and encode existing human biases or patterns in data. Collaboration with signifies a recognition of a wider field of what constitutes the activity of artistic composition beyond being a singularly human, or AI, act, where composition can be situated in a system. This paper will look at how this approach allows an artist to consider the emerging materiality of a system which they are composing, its resistances and potentials, and the possibilities afforded by the exchange between human and machine intentions in co-compositio

Mortality Salience and Smokers' Reactions to Anti-smoking Messages

Terror management theory (TMT) states that self-esteem acts as a buffer to prevent humans from experiencing anxiety about their own mortality. TMT research on health behaviors has demonstrated that people are more likely to engage in risky health behaviors that are consistent with their self-image when under the influence of mortality salience (MS). The present study looks to reverse that tendency by coupling MS with messages that present self-image related risky health behaviors as socially threatening. When smokers were presented with socially threatening anti-smoking messages, participants who received an MS induction were more likely to report higher quitting intentions compared to controls. No such difference was found for participants who were presented with anti-smoking messages that threatened health. Implications for how TMT could be utilized to create more persuasive health messages is discussed

An Inexpensive Liquid Crystal Spectropolarimeter for the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Plaskett Telescope

A new, inexpensive polarimetric unit has been constructed for the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO) 1.8-m Plaskett telescope. It is implemented as a plug-in module for the telescope's existing Cassegrain spectrograph, and enables medium resolution (R~10,000) circular spectropolarimetry of point sources. A dual-beam design together with fast switching of the wave plate at rates up to 100Hz, and synchronized with charge shuffling on the CCD, is used to significantly reduce instrumental effects and achieve high-precision spectropolarimetric measurements for a very low cost. The instrument is optimized to work in the wavelength range 4700 - 5300A to simultaneously detect polarization signals in the H beta line as well as nearby metallic lines. In this paper we describe the technical details of the instrument, our observing strategy and data reduction techniques, and present tests of its scientific performance.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in PAS

Addressing the Reader in Charlotte Bronte\u27s Novels: Jane Eyre, Vilette, and The Professor

Charlotte Bronte\u27 s use of direct address in three of her novels, Jane Eyre, Villette, and The Professor is fundamental for each character\u27 s growth in his or her respective novel. Addressing and communicating with the reader is the characters\u27 only means for gaining an understanding and caring person in a life where they are social outcasts. Jane Eyre, Lucy Snowe, and William Crimsworth tackle vastly different struggles throughout their young lives: Jane longs for an empathetic listener, Lucy is wrought with jealousy and obsession, and William is privileged and arrogant. While each character deals with different struggles, they each have one commonality: solitude which results in perpetual loneliness. The sole outlet in a life of seclusion for the characters is to address their reader. Jane, Lucy, and W illiam construct their reader in a way that ideally benefits them they address their reader in the way that they would like to be addressed, or how they perceive others (the reader included) think of them. Jane longs for compassion and therefore addresses her reader as gentle. Because Lucy is oftentimes criticized by those around her, she addresses her reader in the same way: showing great anxieties about the way she perceives herself. While William has more advantages because he is male, he is still patronized by his family and others, a trait that William, perhaps inadvertently, bestows upon his reader. Regardless of the ways in which each character addresses his or her reader the end result is the same: Jane, Lucy, and William are validated by their understanding and compassionate reader