Are there Local Minima in the Magnetic Monopole Potential in Compact QED?

We investigate the influence of the granularity of the lattice on the potential between monopoles. Using the flux definition of monopoles we introduce their centers of mass and are able to realize continuous shifts of the monopole positions. We find periodic deviations from the $1/r$-behavior of the monopole-antimonopole potential leading to local extrema. We suppose that these meta-stabilities may influence the order of the phase transition in compact QED.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Kingdom Comin\u27: The Largest Slave Rebellion in U.S. History

Over at Present in the Past, Michael Lynch recently posted a provocative question and accompanying video about slave revolt. It got the wheels in my head turning. It also helped that Monday night was my first lecture scheduled on my course syllabus to dig into the political war. My mind\u27s been swimming with concepts of violence and resistance, freedom and slavery

LaGrange, Town of and Civil Service Employees Association, Inc.

In the matter of the fact-finding between the Town of LaGrange, employer, and the Civil Service Employees Association, Inc., union. PERB case no. M2010-241. Before: Richard M. Gaba, Esq., Fact Finder

Ear-clipping Based Algorithms of Generating High-quality Polygon Triangulation

A basic and an improved ear clipping based algorithm for triangulating simple polygons and polygons with holes are presented. In the basic version, the ear with smallest interior angle is always selected to be cut in order to create fewer sliver triangles. To reduce sliver triangles in further, a bound of angle is set to determine whether a newly formed triangle has sharp angles, and edge swapping is accepted when the triangle is sharp. To apply the two algorithms on polygons with holes, "Bridge" edges are created to transform a polygon with holes to a degenerate polygon which can be triangulated by the two algorithms. Applications show that the basic algorithm can avoid creating sliver triangles and obtain better triangulations than the traditional ear clipping algorithm, and the improved algorithm can in further reduce sliver triangles effectively. Both of the algorithms run in O(n2) time and O(n) space.Comment: Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Information Technology and Software Engineering Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering Volume 212, 2013, pp 979-98

Learning a world model and planning with a self-organizing, dynamic neural system

We present a connectionist architecture that can learn a model of the relations between perceptions and actions and use this model for behavior planning. State representations are learned with a growing self-organizing layer which is directly coupled to a perception and a motor layer. Knowledge about possible state transitions is encoded in the lateral connectivity. Motor signals modulate this lateral connectivity and a dynamic field on the layer organizes a planning process. All mechanisms are local and adaptation is based on Hebbian ideas. The model is continuous in the action, perception, and time domain.Comment: 9 pages, see http://www.marc-toussaint.net

Consistency of lattice definitions of U(1) flux in Abelian projected SU(2) gauge theory

We reexamine the dual Abrikosov vortex under the requirement that the lattice averages of the fields satisfy exact Maxwell equations [ME]. The electric ME accounts for the total flux and the magnetic ME determines the shape of the confining string. This leads to unique and consistent definitions of flux and electric and magnetic currents at finite lattice spacing. The resulting modification of the standard DeGrand-Toussaint construction gives a magnetic current comprised of smeared monopoles.Comment: 2 pages, 2 eps figures, Lattice 2003 contributed tal

Developing a methodology for estimating the drag in front-crawl swimming at various velocities

We aimed to develop a new method for evaluating the drag in front-crawl swimming at various velocities and at full stroke. In this study, we introduce the basic principle and apparatus for the new method, which estimates the drag in swimming using measured values of residual thrust (MRT). Furthermore, we applied the MRT to evaluate the active drag (Da) and compared it with the passive drag (Dp) measured for the same swimmers. Da was estimated in five-stages for velocities ranging from 1.0 to 1.4 m s−1; Dp was measured at flow velocities ranging from 0.9 to 1.5 m s−1 at intervals of 0.1 m s−1. The variability in the values of Da at MRT was also investigated for two swimmers. According to the results, Da (Da = 32.3 v3.3, N = 30, R2 = 0.90) was larger than Dp (Dp = 23.5 v2.0, N = 42, R2 = 0.89) and the variability in Da for the two swimmers was 6.5% and 3.0%. MRT can be used to evaluate Da at various velocities and is special in that it can be applied to various swimming styles. Therefore, the evaluation of drag in swimming using MRT is expected to play a role in establishing the fundamental data for swimming

Monopole Percolation in pure gauge compact QED

The role of monopoles in quenched compact QED has been studied by measuring the cluster susceptibility and the order parameter $n_{max}/n_{tot}$ previously introduced by Hands and Wensley in the study of the percolation transition observed in non-compact QED. A correlation between these parameters and the energy (action) at the phase transition has been observed. We conclude that the order parameter $n_{max}/n_{tot}$ is a sensitive probe for studying the phase transition of pure gauge compact QED.Comment: LaTeX file + 4 PS figures, 12 pag., Pre-UAB-FT-308 ILL-(TH)-94-1