747 research outputs found
Methodology for Measuring Distortions to Agricultural Incentives
distorted incentives, agricultural and trade policy reforms, national agricultural development, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, Q18,
Absence of weak antilocalization in ferromagnetic films
We present magnetoresistance measurements performed on ultrathin films of
amorphous Ni and Fe. In these films the Curie temperature drops to zero at
small thickness, making it possible to study the effect of ferromagnetism on
localization. We find that non-ferromagnetic films are characterized by
positive magnetoresistance. This is interpreted as resulting from weak
antilocalization due to strong Bychkov-Rashba spin orbit scattering. As the
films become ferromagnetic the magnetoresistance changes sign and becomes
negative. We analyze our data to identify the individual contributions of weak
localization, weak antilocalization and anisotropic magnetoresistance and
conclude that the magnetic order suppresses the influence of spin-orbit effects
on localization phenomena in agreement with theoretical predictions.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
The Interacting Branching Process as a Simple Model of Innovation
We describe innovation in terms of a generalized branching process. Each new
invention pairs with any existing one to produce a number of offspring, which
is Poisson distributed with mean p. Existing inventions die with probability
p/\tau at each generation. In contrast to mean field results, no phase
transition occurs; the chance for survival is finite for all p > 0. For \tau =
\infty, surviving processes exhibit a bottleneck before exploding
super-exponentially - a growth consistent with a law of accelerating returns.
This behavior persists for finite \tau. We analyze, in detail, the asymptotic
behavior as p \to 0.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Borel-Cantelli sequences
A sequence in is called Borel-Cantelli (BC) if
for all non-increasing sequences of positive real numbers with
the set
has full Lebesgue measure. (To put it informally, BC
sequences are sequences for which a natural converse to the Borel-Cantelli
Theorem holds).
The notion of BC sequences is motivated by the Monotone Shrinking Target
Property for dynamical systems, but our approach is from a geometric rather
than dynamical perspective. A sufficient condition, a necessary condition and a
necessary and sufficient condition for a sequence to be BC are established. A
number of examples of BC and not BC sequences are presented.
The property of a sequence to be BC is a delicate diophantine property. For
example, the orbits of a pseudo-Anosoff IET (interval exchange transformation)
are BC while the orbits of a "generic" IET are not.
The notion of BC sequences is extended to more general spaces.Comment: 20 pages. Some proofs clarifie
Webs of Lagrangian Tori in Projective Symplectic Manifolds
For a Lagrangian torus A in a simply-connected projective symplectic manifold
M, we prove that M has a hypersurface disjoint from a deformation of A. This
implies that a Lagrangian torus in a compact hyperk\"ahler manifold is a fiber
of an almost holomorphic Lagrangian fibration, giving an affirmative answer to
a question of Beauville's. Our proof employs two different tools: the theory of
action-angle variables for algebraically completely integrable Hamiltonian
systems and Wielandt's theory of subnormal subgroups.Comment: 18 pages, minor latex problem fixe
Foundations for Relativistic Quantum Theory I: Feynman's Operator Calculus and the Dyson Conjectures
In this paper, we provide a representation theory for the Feynman operator
calculus. This allows us to solve the general initial-value problem and
construct the Dyson series. We show that the series is asymptotic, thus proving
Dyson's second conjecture for QED. In addition, we show that the expansion may
be considered exact to any finite order by producing the remainder term. This
implies that every nonperturbative solution has a perturbative expansion. Using
a physical analysis of information from experiment versus that implied by our
models, we reformulate our theory as a sum over paths. This allows us to relate
our theory to Feynman's path integral, and to prove Dyson's first conjecture
that the divergences are in part due to a violation of Heisenberg's uncertainly
relations
Counterexamples, covering systems, and zero-one laws for inhomogeneous approximation
We develop the inhomogeneous counterpart to some key aspects of the story of the Duffin-Schaeffer Conjecture (1941). Specifically, we construct counterexamples to a number of candidates for a sans-monotonicity version of Schmidt's inhomogeneous (1964) version of Khintchine's Theorem (1924). For example, given any real sequence , we build a divergent series of non-negative reals such that for any , almost no real number is inhomogeneously -approximable with inhomogeneous parameter . Furthermore, given any second sequence not intersecting the rational span of , we can ensure that almost every real number is inhomogeneously -approximable with any inhomogeneous parameter . (This extension depends on a dynamical version of Erdos' Covering Systems Conjecture (1950).) Next, we prove a positive result that is near optimal in view of the limitations that our counterexamples impose. This leads to a discussion of natural analogues of the Duffin-Schaeffer Conjecture and Duffin-Schaeffer Theorem (1941) in the inhomogeneous setting. As a step toward these, we prove versions of Gallagher's Zero-One Law (1961) for inhomogeneous approximation by reduced fractions
The art of being human : a project for general philosophy of science
Throughout the medieval and modern periods, in various sacred and secular guises, the unification of all forms of knowledge under the rubric of âscienceâ has been taken as the prerogative of humanity as a species. However, as our sense of species privilege has been called increasingly into question, so too has the very salience of âhumanityâ and âscienceâ as general categories, let alone ones that might bear some essential relationship to each other. After showing how the ascendant Stanford School in the philosophy of science has contributed to this joint demystification of âhumanityâ and âscienceâ, I proceed on a more positive note to a conceptual framework for making sense of science as the art of being human. My understanding of âscienceâ is indebted to the red thread that runs from Christian theology through the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment to the Humboldtian revival of the university as the site for the synthesis of knowledge as the culmination of self-development. Especially salient to this idea is scienceâs epistemic capacity to manage modality (i.e. to determine the conditions under which possibilities can be actualised) and its political capacity to organize humanity into projects of universal concern. However, the challenge facing such an ideal in the twentyfirst century is that the predicate âhumanâ may be projected in three quite distinct ways, governed by what I call âecologicalâ, âbiomedicalâ and âcyberneticâ interests. Which one of these future humanities would claim todayâs humans as proper ancestors and could these futures co-habit the same world thus become two important questions that general philosophy of science will need to address in the coming years
Knowledge politics and new converging technologies: a social epistemological perspective
The ânew converging technologiesâ refers to the prospect of advancing the human condition by the integrated study and application of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and the cognitive sciences - or âNBICâ. In recent years, it has loomed large, albeit with somewhat different emphases, in national science policy agendas throughout the world. This article considers the political and intellectual sources - both historical and contemporary - of the converging technologies agenda. Underlying it is a fluid conception of humanity that is captured by the ethically challenging notion of âenhancing evolutionâ
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