Urban encounters: juxtapositions of difference and the communicative interface of global cities

This article explores the communicative interface of global cities, especially as it is shaped in the juxtapositions of difference in culturally diverse urban neighbourhoods. These urban zones present powerful examples, where different groups live cheek by jowl, in close proximity and in intimate interaction — desired or unavoidable. In these urban locations, the need to manage difference is synonymous to making them liveable and one's own. In seeking (and sometimes finding) a location in the city and a location in the world, urban dwellers shape their communication practices as forms of everyday, mundane and bottom-up tactics for the management of diversity. The article looks at three particular areas where cultural diversity and urban communication practices come together into meaningful political and cultural relations for a sustainable cosmopolitan life: citizenship, imagination and identity

The dimension of the range of a transient random walk

We find formulas for the macroscopic Minkowski and Hausdorff dimensions of the range of an arbitrary transient walk in Z^d. This endeavor solves a problem of Barlow and Taylor (1991).Comment: 37 pages, 5 figure

Tailoring pH-responsive acrylic acid microgels with hydrophobic crosslinks for drug release

Amphiphilic microgels based on the hydrophilic acrylic acid (AA) and hydrophobic crosslinks of different compositions were synthesised using a lab-on-a-chip device. The microgels were formed by polymerising hydrophobic droplets. The droplets were generated via a microfluidic platform and contained a protected form of AA, a hydrophobic crosslinker (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, EGDMA) and a free radical initiator in an organic solvent. Following photopolymerisation and subsequent hydrolysis, AA based microgels of amphiphilic nature were produced and it was demonstrated that they can successfully deliver both hydrophilic as well as hydrophobic moieties. The model drug delivery and the swelling ability of the microgels were influenced by the pH of the aqueous solution as well as the crosslinking density and hydrophobic content of the microgels

Microfluidically fabricated pH-responsive anionic amphiphilic microgels for drug release

© 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Amphiphilic microgels of different composition based on the hydrophilic, pH-responsive acrylic acid (AA) and the hydrophobic, non-ionic n-butyl acrylate (BuA) were synthesised using a lab-on-a-chip device. Hydrophobic droplets were generated via a microfluidic platform that contained a protected form of AA, BuA, the hydrophobic crosslinker, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA), and a free radical initiator in an organic solvent. These hydrophobic droplets were photopolymerised within the microfluidic channels and subsequently hydrolysed, enabling an integrated platform for the rapid, automated, and in situ production of anionic amphiphilic microgels. The amphiphilic microgels did not feature the conventional core-shell structure but were instead based on random amphiphilic copolymers of AA and BuA and hydrophobic crosslinks. Due to their amphiphilic nature they were able to encapsulate and deliver both hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties. The model drug delivery and the swelling ability of the microgels were influenced by the pH of the surrounding aqueous solution and the hydrophobic content of the microgels

Escape through a time-dependent hole in the doubling map

We investigate the escape dynamics of the doubling map with a time-periodic hole. We use Ulam's method to calculate the escape rate as a function of the control parameters. We consider two cases, oscillating or breathing holes, where the sides of the hole are moving in or out of phase respectively. We find out that the escape rate is well described by the overlap of the hole with its images, for holes centred at periodic orbits.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. To appear in Physical Review E in 201

Games on classes of spaces

Using the construction of Containing Spaces given in [1] we define some kind of games considered on topological classes of spaces

Transmission and Reflection in the Stadium Billiard: Time-dependent asymmetric transport

We investigate the transmission and reflection survival probabilities for the chaotic stadium billiard with two holes placed asymmetrically. Classically, these distributions are shown to have algebraic or exponential decays depending on the choice of injecting hole and exact expressions are given for the first time and confirmed numerically. As there is no reported quantum theoretical or experimental analogue we propose a model for experimental observation of the asymmetric transport using semiconductor nano-structures and comment on the relevant quantum time-scales.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A smartphone-based Teleradiology system

The development of a teleradiology application for remote monitoring and processing of patient image data using 2nd generation mobile devices with enhanced network services, is of extreme interest, especially when the final means of display is a smartphone, a very light and compact handheld device. In the following paper the development of applications, that are responsible for remote monitoring and processing of medical images, is investigated

Six-Quark Amplitudes from Fermionic MHV Vertices

The fermionic extension of the CSW approach to perturbative gauge theory coupled with fermions is used to compute the six-quark QCD amplitudes. We find complete agreement with the results obtained by using the usual Feynman rules.Comment: Latex file, 16 pages, 4 figure