Stochastic Motion of an Open Bosonic String

We show that the classical stochastic motion of an open bosonic string leads to the same results as the standard first quantization of this system. For this, the diffusion constant governing the process has to be proportional to \alpha ', the Regge slope parameter, which is the only constant, along with the velocity of light, needed to describe the motion of a string.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. D, 9 pages RevTex, reference removed, no picture

Spin Glasses

This is a short review about recent methods and results, mostly for mean field spin glasses, based on interpolation and comparison schemes. In particular, the Parisi spontaneous replica symmetry breaking phenomenon is described in the frame of extended variational principles, Derrida-Ruelle probability cascades, and overlap locking.Comment: 25 page

In the name of identity. EUMA Paper Vol. 7, No. 8, June 2010

[From the Introduction]. In order to establish an accurate perception of the complex European identity, one must first examine the legal element that constitutes a European citizen: citizenship. European citizenship developed in stages during the entire process of European integration. At the Copenhagen summit in 1973, a paper on European identity was issued and at the Paris summit in 1974, the question of a ‘citizens’ Europe’ arose officially. The heads of state and government agreed on the establishment of special rights, in order to bring political and civil rights acknowledged by the European Community (EC) closer to rights traditionally acknowledge to the national citizens.6 In 1984, at the European Council of Fontainebleau, an ad hoc Committee was set up to address issues relating to a ‘people’s Europe’. The Adonnino Committee published two reports concerning the enlargement of economic rights, and the establishment of new rights to bring Europe closer to the citizens; the Committee put forward proposals on rights of citizens, culture, youth, exchange, health, social security, free movement of people, town twinning, and symbols of EC identity:7 The European passport, the European flag, the European anthem, which are elements of citizenship traditionally linked to nation-states, were adopted in order to increase the awareness of the EC as a new political actor, and foster the feeling of belonging to the Community.8 Moreover, exchange programs for students and professors were created to favor an open-minded European culture through mobility.9 In 1986, the Single European Act (Article 8A) clearly referred to the right of free circulation of people by granting Europeans substantial rights of movement. While the aforementioned initiatives paved the road for European citizenship, the formal meaning of said citizenship was explicitly composed in the Treaty of Maastricht (1992): in addition to granting political rights, it also constitutionalized existing rights that were part of the acquis communautaire, and establishing new rights for European citizens.1

When the textbook is not enough: How to shape an ELF classroom?

This chapter is devised for English language teaching (ELT) practitioners to reflect on how language and culture are portrayed in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks, and explore how an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) approach can be further integrated into their teaching practices through supplementary activities and teaching materials. The target audience is pre-service and in-service teachers as well as course-book designers. After reading the chapter, readers will be informed of several ELF-related teaching activities and materials that focus both on language and culture, so that they could explore and apply them in their teaching contexts

English as a Lingua Franca in Portugal: What students want, what teachers teach

This study seeks to show how Portuguese students and teachers view learning and using English today and how their attitudes can influence or be influenced by ELT policies and practices. It made use of two semi-structured questionnaires, one for students (N=247) and another for teachers (N=26). The subjects were part of four educational institutions – two universities and two polytechnic institutes. The methodology used in the analysis of attitudes toward the English language should be diversified, integrating several means of data collection and focusing on the identification of central aspects related to learning and teaching the language such as native and non-native varieties and cultures, native and non-native speakers’ use of English, learner’s goal, ownership of English, intelligibility of English, native and non-native teachers and motivation to learn English. Essentially, subjects displayed positive attitudes toward learning and using English as a Lingua Franca. Furthermore, most subjects viewed learning about culture positively, displayed a favourable attitude towards non-native speakers and their English, attached intrinsic value to both native and non-native teachers, and referred that the Portuguese learner should aim to become a competent user of English as an alternative to aiming to achieve native proficiency. However, at the same time they seemed to adopt a linguacentred view of English which emphasized the British variety and culture. By recognizing students’ and teachers’ attitudes toward learning and using English, this study also hopes to contribute to the ELT field by helping set approaches of investigation into the role of English as a Lingua Franca suggesting relevant areas and methodologies such as ELT in basic and secondary education, basic and secondary school teacher training programmes in universities, materials writers, teaching ESP in universities, and ELT policies for basic and secondary schools

Ghirlanda-Guerra identities and ultrametricity: An elementary proof in the discrete case

In this paper we give another proof of the fact that a random overlap array, which satisfies the Ghirlanda-Guerra identities and whose elements take values in a finite set, is ultrametric with probability one. The new proof bypasses random change of density invariance principles for directing measures of such arrays and, in addition to the Dobvysh-Sudakov representation, is based only on elementary algebraic consequences of the Ghirlanda-Guerra identities

Euclidean Field Theory

A coincise review about Euclidean (Quantum) Field Theory is presented. It deals with the general structural properties, the connections with Quantum Field Theory, the exploitation in Constructive Quantum Field Theory, and the physical interpretation.Comment: 19 page