Short Proofs for Cut-and-Paste Sorting of Permutations

We consider the problem of determining the maximum number of moves required to sort a permutation of $[n]$ using cut-and-paste operations, in which a segment is cut out and then pasted into the remaining string, possibly reversed. We give short proofs that every permutation of $[n]$ can be transformed to the identity in at most \flr{2n/3} such moves and that some permutations require at least \flr{n/2} moves.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

FORMALISM VERSUS REALISM: THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE AND THE CRITICAL DATE FOR ASSESSING JURISDICTION

The 2011 judgment in Georgia v Russian Federation represents an apparent watershed in the approach of the International Court of Justice in ascertaining the critical date for assessing jurisdiction. With few historic exceptions, the Court had previously applied a doctrine of realism that allowed for the resolution of procedural defects between the date of seisin and the Court’s decision on jurisdiction. In Georgia however, the Court applied a formalistic approach that assessed competence solely by reference to the date on which the application was filed, and accordingly declined jurisdiction. This vacillating approach to the critical date is an example of how the Court exercises interpretative discretion to further its own procedural objectives through engagement in judicial case selection. This practice will be criticised on two grounds: first for depriving the Court of opportunities to fulfil its primary function of developing international law, and second for betraying an institution that has applied formalism on an ad-hoc basis on political grounds. It will be concluded that the Court’s broader institutional function would be better served through the adoption of a blanket and permanent approach of flexible realism in allowing for the post-filing resolution of jurisdictional defects

Checkered beetle genus Trichodes Herbst (Coleoptera: Cleridae): a pictorial key to North American taxa with notes on Colorado species, The

February 5, 2014.The Trichodes is a genus of checkered beetles (Cleridae: Clerinae) consisting predominately of predators of hymenopteran larvae and orthopteran egg pods (Foster, 1976). Adult Trichodes are floral visitors, feeding on pollen, mating on flowers, and ovipositing on flowers visited by Apoidea or oviposit directly into nests of ground dwelling bees. Three species inhabiting montane and plateau counties of western Colorado were recorded: T. nutalli, T. ornatus, T. simulator. The genus appears to be absent from the Great Plains Steppe Province of the eastern Colorado. A pictorial key for all North American species of Trichodes and recognized subspecies of T. ornatus is presented. Notes on the biology of three Colorado species are given. Available county records are also noted

AFA-NIET: The Culture of Qualifying and Its Effets on Forensics

It is my concern that we have created a culture that is primarily focused on qualifying for a national tournament rather than on the pursuit of excellence in performance. This culture of qualifying is just like any other culture: it has norms, rules and rituals. It has expected behaviors and offers rewards to those who meet those expectations and punishments to those who don\u27t. When this culture of qualifying replaces or supersedes other missions or goals of forensics competition, the following three problems result

The Culture of Qualifying Revisited: What is the End of Forensics

Ten years ago, at the last developmental conference, I again asked Larry’s question to the greater forensics community. In my paper on the Culture of Qualifying, I contended that the focus AFA schools place on qualifying for nationals resulted in three problems: pulling slots, hunting for legs and a reduction in the quality of regular season tournaments. Another ten years have passed, and not much has changed. The Culture of Qualifying still exists. And I am left wondering: Where do we go from here

Interfacing ultracold atoms with nanomagnetic domain walls

This thesis presents the first realisation of a new type of hybrid quantum device based on spintronic technology. We demonstrate an interaction between the magnetic fringing fields produced by domain walls within planar permalloy nanowires and a cloud of ultracold Rubidium 87 atoms. This interaction is manifested through the realisation of a magnetic atom mirror produced by a two-dimensional domain wall array. The interaction is tuned through the reconfiguration of the micromagnetic structure. Analytic modelling of the fringing fields is developed and shows good agreement with calculations based on micromagnetically simulated structures. The accurate and rapid calculation of the fringing fields permits simulation of the resulting atom dynamics, which agrees well with data. In turn, we use the atom dynamics as a probe of the micromagnetic reconfiguration processes that take place and observe a collective behaviour which is both reliably reproducible and in agreement with alternative, conventional magnetometry. We also observe evidence of stochastic behaviour, characteristic of superparamagnetic systems. We consider the development of a more advanced spintronics-based atom chip which will allow for the creation of extremely tight mobile atom traps. We consider the problems associated with ensuring that the trapping potential is adiabatic, sufficiently deep, and technically feasible. In particular we examine techniques to circumvent losses due to Majorana spin-flip transitions. As a result of this study we propose a novel scheme for creating time-averaged potentials via the piezoelectric actuation of magnetic field sources. We show that this technique presents significant fundamental and technical advantages over conventional time-averaging schemes