19,151 research outputs found
I Gotta Testify: Kanye West, Hip Hop, and the Church
The goal of this project, “I Gotta Testify: Kanye West, Hip Hop, and the Church,” is to add a new perspective to the scholarly discourse on Hip Hop and Christianity within classrooms, religious institutions, and popular culture by focusing on Kanye. We chose to focus on Kanye because he has been one of Hip Hop’s most influential artists in the past decade. Furthermore, Kanye is one of the most polarizing celebrities in America and across the globe. His music, fashion, political views, and family (which includes the Kardashians) dominate discourse on social media, blogs, television, and other forms of mass media. With the exception of Julius Bailey’s 2014 edited book, The Cultural Impact of Kanye West, there has been little scholarly work published on Kanye. Bailey’s book contained just one essay, written by Monica R. Miller, dedicated to the theme of Kanye and religion. We intended to produce a nontraditional journal issue, partly because Kanye has never adhered to traditional boundaries. We also chose this method because we wanted to provide a document suitable for both academic and popular audiences. Kanye West identifies as a Christian and primarily uses Christian themes in his music, videos, concerts, and messaging.
Dr. Joshua K. Wright, Dr. Adria Y. Goldman and Dr. VaNatta S. For
Free energy of formation of clusters of sulphuric acid and water molecules determined by guided disassembly
We evaluate the grand potential of a cluster of two molecular species,
equivalent to its free energy of formation from a binary vapour phase, using a
nonequilibrium molecular dynamics technique where guide particles, each
tethered to a molecule by a harmonic force, move apart to disassemble a cluster
into its components. The mechanical work performed in an ensemble of
trajectories is analysed using the Jarzynski equality to obtain a free energy
of disassembly, a contribution to the cluster grand potential. We study
clusters of sulphuric acid and water at 300 K, using a classical interaction
scheme, and contrast two modes of guided disassembly. In one, the cluster is
broken apart through simple pulling by the guide particles, but we find the
trajectories tend to be mechanically irreversible. In the second approach, the
guide motion and strength of tethering are modified in a way that prises the
cluster apart, a procedure that seems more reversible. We construct a surface
representing the cluster grand potential, and identify a critical cluster for
droplet nucleation under given vapour conditions. We compare the equilibrium
populations of clusters with calculations reported by Henschel et al. [J. Phys.
Chem. A 118, 2599 (2014)] based on optimised quantum chemical structures
The variability of the Crab Nebula in radio: No radio counterpart to gamma-ray flares
We present new Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) radio images of the Crab Nebula
at 5.5 GHz, taken at two epochs separated by 6 days about two months after a
gamma-ray flare in 2012 July. We find no significant change in the Crab's radio
emission localized to a region of <2 light-months in radius, either over the
6-day interval between our present observations or between the present
observations and ones from 2001. Any radio counterpart to the flare has a radio
luminosity of <~ times that of the nebula. Comparing our
images to one from 2001, we do however find changes in radio brightness, up to
10% in amplitude, which occur on decade timescales throughout the nebula. The
morphology of the changes is complex suggesting both filamentary and knotty
structures. The variability is stronger, and the timescales likely somewhat
shorter, nearer the centre of the nebula. We further find that even with the
excellent uv~coverage and signal-to-noise of the VLA, deconvolution errors are
much larger than the noise, being up to 1.2% of peak brightness of the nebula
in this particular case.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS; 13 pages, 6 figure
The Quantum Interest Conjecture
Although quantum field theory allows local negative energy densities and
fluxes, it also places severe restrictions upon the magnitude and extent of the
negative energy. The restrictions take the form of quantum inequalities. These
inequalities imply that a pulse of negative energy must not only be followed by
a compensating pulse of positive energy, but that the temporal separation
between the pulses is inversely proportional to their amplitude. In an earlier
paper we conjectured that there is a further constraint upon a negative and
positive energy delta-function pulse pair. This conjecture (the quantum
interest conjecture) states that a positive energy pulse must overcompensate
the negative energy pulse by an amount which is a monotonically increasing
function of the pulse separation. In the present paper we prove the conjecture
for massless quantized scalar fields in two and four-dimensional flat
spacetime, and show that it is implied by the quantum inequalities.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, 3 figures, uses eps
Measuring quality of perception in distributed multimedia: Verbalizers vs. imagers
This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2008 ElsevierThis paper presents the results of a study which investigated the impact of cognitive styles on perceptual multimedia quality. More specifically, we examine the different preferences demonstrated by verbalizers and imagers when viewing multimedia content presented with different quality of service (QoS) levels pertaining to frame rates and color depth. Recognizing multimedia’s infotainment duality, we used the quality of perception (QoP) metric to characterize perceived quality. Results showed that in terms of low and high dynamisms clips, the frame rate at which multimedia content is displayed influences the levels of information assimilated by Imagers. Whilst black and white presentations are shown to be beneficial for both Biomodals and Imagers in order to experience enhanced levels of information assimilation, Imagers were shown to enjoy presentations in full 24-bit colour
Quantum Inequalities for the Electromagnetic Field
A quantum inequality for the quantized electromagnetic field is developed for
observers in static curved spacetimes. The quantum inequality derived is a
generalized expression given by a mode function expansion of the four-vector
potential, and the sampling function used to weight the energy integrals is
left arbitrary up to the constraints that it be a positive, continuous function
of unit area and that it decays at infinity. Examples of the quantum inequality
are developed for Minkowski spacetime, Rindler spacetime and the Einstein
closed universe.Comment: 19 pages, 1 table and 1 figure. RevTex styl
What Brown saw and you can too
A discussion is given of Robert Brown's original observations of particles
ejected by pollen of the plant \textit{Clarkia pulchella} undergoing what is
now called Brownian motion. We consider the nature of those particles, and how
he misinterpreted the Airy disc of the smallest particles to be universal
organic building blocks. Relevant qualitative and quantitative investigations
with a modern microscope and with a "homemade" single lens microscope similar
to Brown's, are presented.Comment: 14.1 pages, 11 figures, to be published in the American Journal of
Physics. This differs from the previous version only in the web site referred
to in reference 3. Today, this Brownian motion web site was launched, and
http://physerver.hamilton.edu/Research/Brownian/index.html, is now correc
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Analysis of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry data for catalytic lignin depolymerization using positive matrix factorization
Various catalytic technologies are being developed to efficiently convert lignin into renewable chemicals. However, due to its complexity, catalytic lignin depolymerization often generates a wide and complex distribution of product compounds. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a common analytical technique to profile the compounds that comprise lignin depolymerization products. GC-MS is applied not only to determine the product composition, but also to develop an understanding of the catalytic reaction pathways and of the relationships among catalyst structure, reaction conditions, and the resulting compounds generated. Although a very useful tool, the analysis of lignin depolymerization products with GC-MS is limited by the quality and scope of the available mass spectral libraries and the ability to correlate changes in GC-MS chromatograms to changes in lignin structure, catalyst structure, and other reaction conditions. In this study, the GC-MS data of the depolymerization products generated from organosolv hybrid poplar lignin using a copper-doped porous metal oxide catalyst and a methanol/dimethyl carbonate co-solvent was analyzed by applying a factor analysis technique, positive matrix factorization (PMF). Several different solutions for the PMF model were explored. A 13-factor solution sufficiently explains the chemical changes occurring to lignin depolymerization products as a function of lignin, reaction time, catalyst, and solvent. Overall, seven factors were found to represent aromatic compounds, while one factor was defined by aliphatic compounds
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