A proof of anomalous invasion speeds in a system of coupled Fisher-KPP equations

This article is concerned with the rigorous validation of anomalous spreading speeds in a system of coupled Fisher-KPP equations of cooperative type. Anomalous spreading refers to a scenario wherein the coupling of two equations leads to faster spreading speeds in one of the components. The existence of these spreading speeds can be predicted from the linearization about the unstable state. We prove that initial data consisting of compactly supported perturbations of Heaviside step functions spreads asymptotically with the anomalous speed. The proof makes use of a comparison principle and the explicit construction of sub and super solutions

Reconnecting Young Black Men: What Policies Would Help?

The term "disconnected youth" refers to young people who have been out of school and out of work for considerable periods of time – like a year or more. They are not temporarily "idle" but are fully disconnected from the mainstream worlds of schooling and work. They may be incarcerated or on parole or probation; they might be aging out of foster care or still attached to their nuclear families. But, overwhelmingly, they come from low-income families and often grow up in poor and relatively segregated neighborhoods. Of all racial and gender groups, young black men are by far the most likely to become "disconnected" from school and work. In the year 2000 – when the labor market was very tight – over 17 percent of all young black men between the ages of 16 and 24 were disconnected, while the comparable percentages for other race/gender groups were much lower. Indeed, this figure implies that one out of every six young black men was disconnected from both school and work at that time

Workforce Development and the Disadvantaged: New Directions for 2009 and Beyond

Assesses the 1998 Workforce Investment Act's successes and limitations. Outlines the changes needed, such as increasing funding and consolidating programs, for a more effective public workforce training system, especially for the young and hard-to-employ

Lattice Design in High-energy Particle Accelerators

This lecture gives an introduction into the design of high-energy storage ring lattices. Applying the formalism that has been established in transverse beam optics, the basic principles of the development of a magnet lattice are explained and the characteristics of the resulting magnet structure are discussed. The periodic assembly of a storage ring cell with its boundary conditions concerning stability and scaling of the beam optics parameters is addressed as well as special lattice insertions such asdrifts, mini beta sections, dispersion suppressors, etc. In addition to the exact calculations that are indispensable for a rigorous treatment of the matter, scaling rules are shown and simple rules of thumb are included that enable the lattice designer to do the first estimates and get the basic numbers 'on the back of an envelope'.Comment: 40 pages, contribution to the CAS - CERN Accelerator School: Advanced Accelerator Physics Course, Trondheim, Norway, 18-29 Aug 2013. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1303.651

On the complexity of rolling block and Alice mazes

We investigate the computational complexity of two maze problems, namely rolling block and Alice mazes. Simply speaking, in the former game one has to roll blocks through a maze, ending in a particular game situation, and in the latter one, one has to move tokens of variable speed through a maze following some prescribed directions. It turns out that when the number of blocks or the number of tokens is not restricted (unbounded),then the problem of solving such a maze becomes PSPACE-complete. Hardness is shown via a reduction from the nondeterministic constraint logic (NCL) of Demaine and Hearn to the problems in question. In this way we improve on a previous PSPACE-completeness result of Buchin and Buchin on rolling block mazes to best possible. Moreover, we also consider bounded variants of these maze games, i.e., when the number of blocks or tokens is bounded by a constant, and prove close relations to variants of graph reachability problems