Extremal optimization for sensor report pre-processing

We describe the recently introduced extremal optimization algorithm and apply it to target detection and association problems arising in pre-processing for multi-target tracking. Here we consider the problem of pre-processing for multiple target tracking when the number of sensor reports received is very large and arrives in large bursts. In this case, it is sometimes necessary to pre-process reports before sending them to tracking modules in the fusion system. The pre-processing step associates reports to known tracks (or initializes new tracks for reports on objects that have not been seen before). It could also be used as a pre-process step before clustering, e.g., in order to test how many clusters to use. The pre-processing is done by solving an approximate version of the original problem. In this approximation, not all pair-wise conflicts are calculated. The approximation relies on knowing how many such pair-wise conflicts that are necessary to compute. To determine this, results on phase-transitions occurring when coloring (or clustering) large random instances of a particular graph ensemble are used.Comment: 10 page

Rating of electrical wires in vacuum environments

Electric conductors used in vacuum environments have smaller cross sections. This report provides data on the correct size wire for a required current load in free-air, low-pressure oxygen, and vacuum environments

Freezing in random graph ferromagnets

Using T=0 Monte Carlo and simulated annealing simulation, we study the energy relaxation of ferromagnetic Ising and Potts models on random graphs. In addition to the expected exponential decay to a zero energy ground state, a range of connectivities for which there is power law relaxation and freezing to a metastable state is found. For some connectivities this freezing persists even using simulated annealing to find the ground state. The freezing is caused by dynamic frustration in the graphs, and is a feature of the local search-nature of the Monte Carlo dynamics used. The implications of the freezing on agent-based complex systems models are briefly considered.Comment: Published version: 1 reference deleted, 1 word added. 4 pages, 5 figure

Swollen Micelles Plus Hydrophobically Modified Hydrosoluble Polymers in Aqueous Solutions: Decoration Versus Bridging. a Small Angle Neutron Scattering Study

In this paper we examine the effective interactions introduced between the droplets of an oil in water microemulsion upon progressive addition of hydrophobically modified water soluble poly(ethylene oxide)-PEO using essentially small angle neutron scattering. To discuss the relative importance of decoration and bridging of the droplets we compare analogous samples with addition of a PEO grafted at both extremities with hydrophobic C12H 25 chains (PEO-2m) or addition of a PEO grafted at one extremity only with a C12H 25 chain (PEO-m). PEO-m or PEO-2m adsorb onto the droplets via their hydrophobic extremities and the droplets are found to retain their form and size upon addition of up to 40 hydrophobic C12H 25 chains per droplet. When the volume fraction of droplets is less than about 10%, the effective interactions introduced by PEO-m or PEO-2m are found to be very different: PEO-m introduces a repulsive interaction while PEO-2m introduces an effective attractive interaction. This attractive interaction leads to an associative phase separation in the range of low volume fraction when a sufficient amount of PEO-2m is added

Asaba, Pull! A Construction from an African Fence

This is a tour of a construction project: the assembly of a 250- meter chain link fence in Penjem, Gambia, by me, a young American woman, along with seven inexperienced U.S. volunteers and four Gambian men. It’s also a tour of the construction of a trans-continental story. In this project I examine not only what happened at the fence but also how the travel experience transformed, and why this evolution matters in an American woman’s project of culture shock and reflection. The result, Asaba, Pull!, explores the power as well as the limits of a story as translation and representation of a person and culture, and how those inherent fences help to map out the volcanic processes of travel, leaving and returning

Alien Registration- Svenson, Anna (Vinalhaven, Knox County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/12982/thumbnail.jp

The Purpose, Praxis, and Future of Academia: Fichtean Approaches to Education

Following the publication of Schulze’s “Aenesidemus”, which detailed a skeptical critique of transcendental idealism, philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte found himself undergoing an “intellectual revolution”. Having agreed with many of Schulze’s arguments, he concluded that to preserve the spirit of Kantianism he would have to establish a foundationally reworked conceptualization of it. Fichte emerged from this process with a framework grounded upon the innovative claim that we should regard that there is nothing for us beyond our own consciousness, which creates both ourselves, and the world that we experience. Furthermore, because we create our own experiences, it is possible for us to access direct knowledge about our experiences through our “productive imagination”, and gain knowledge through experience. This approach piqued my interest because prevailing academic approaches to knowledge production are based upon materialist assumptions, Baconian procedure, and production-based outcomes, often at the expense of qualitative and experiential procedures. Wondering if Fichte’s philosophies might be able to offer alternative, more balanced approaches for academia, in this paper I participate in an exploratory process examining Fichte’s perspectives on pedagogy, scholarship, and education. Beginning with the question: if he wrote on the matter, what were Fichte’s perspectives on pedagogy? I discuss his relational pedagogy and the challenges he experienced balancing his students’ autonomy with his position as an instructor. Next, I ask: did Fichte address the purpose of scholarship and education in the broader, social sense? I suggest that his writings conceptualize scholarship as a public good necessary for the progressive development of humankind. Finally, I reconsider Fichte’s place in contemporary academia, wondering: where do we go from here and can Fichte help us get there? Ultimately, I argue for the relevancy of Fichtean approaches in addressing the problems facing academia today

Continents

In travel, the shock of the returning home is often no less surprising and visceral than that of entering a new culture, as with distance and perspective the traveler watches her norms become suddenly unfamiliar. This is a story of relearning the language of home after two months spent building a fence in the small village of Penyem, the Gambia, and of bridging the uncomfortable distance between the U.S. and Africa in an attempt to preserve love and the memories of a place. The things that surface in that bridging – the inadequacies, necessity and beautiful spaces of language difference and translation, the loneliness of distance, and the power of human connection – are the products of a rough but invaluable resettling