Chomsky, Noam, and Adriana Belletti, Luigi Rizzi (editors), Nature and Language, Cambridge University Press 2002 Amazon book description: 'In On Nature and Language Noam Chomsky develops his thinking on the relation between language, mind, and brain, integrating current research in linguistics into the burgeoning field of neuroscience. Following a lucid introduction is a penetrating interview with Chomsky, in which he provides the clearest and most elegant introduction to current theory available. It makes his Minimalist Program accessible to all. The volume concludes with an essay on the role of intellectuals in society and government. A significant landmark in the development of linguistic theory, On Nature and Language will be welcomed by students and researchers in theoretical linguistics, neurolinguistics, cognitive science and politics, as well as anyone interested in the development of Chomsky's thought. ' 
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Chomsky, Noam, and Nirmalangshu Mukherjee, B. N. Patnaik, R. K. Agnihotri, Rama Kant Agnihotri (editors), The Architecture of Language, Oxford University Press 2000 Jacket: 'Chomsky ... has consistently maintained that human beings are genetically endowed with an innate language faculty - a set of principles that constitute what he calls 'Universal Grammar'. Particular languages are generated by specific environmental conditions. This approach to the study of languages has been called a 'generative enterprise' and has revolutionised our understanding of human languages and other cognitive systems. This book consists of the edited transcipt of a lecture, delivered at the University of Delhi in January 1996, where Chomsky reflected on the history of the enterprise and related it to some strikingly novel advances in recent grammatical theory called the 'Minimalist Program'. Integrating philosophical and conceptual isses with empirical research, he sketched some of the key issues that have characterised generative grammar in recent years to chart out the agenda for future research in language theory.' 
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Chomsky, Noam, and Mitsou Ronat, On Language: Chomsky's Classic Works Language and Responsibility and Reflections on Language in One Volume, New Press 1998 Amazon book description: 'Two of Chomsky's most famous and accessible works, back in print in one ... volume. ... On Language features some of the noted linguist and political critic's most informal and highly accessible work, making it an ideal introduction to his thought. In Part I ("Language and Responsibility") Chomsky presents a fascinating self-portrait of his political, moral, and linguistic thinking. In Part II ("Reflections on Language") Chomsky explores the more general implications of the study of language and offers incisive analyses of the controversies among psychologists, philosophers, and linguists over fundamental questions of language.'  
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Dawkins, Richard, The Selfish Gene , Oxford UP 1976 Amazon: Editorial review: 'Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and maintain us in order to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to answer many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thought of evolution in the same way since.' Rob Lightner 
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Freud, Sigmund, Civilization and its Discontents, Wilder Publications 2010 'Newly designed in a uniform format, each new paperback in the Standard Edition [of Freud] opens with a biographical essay on Freud's life and work—along with a note on the individual volume (Peter Gay, Sterling Professor of History at Yale )  
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Nielsen, Michael A, and Isaac L Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, Cambridge University Press 2000 Review: A rigorous, comprehensive text on quantum information is timely. The study of quantum information and computation represents a particularly direct route to understanding quantum mechanics. Unlike the traditional route to quantum mechanics via Schroedinger's equation and the hydrogen atom, the study of quantum information requires no calculus, merely a knowledge of complex numbers and matrix multiplication. In addition, quantum information processing gives direct access to the traditionally advanced topics of measurement of quantum systems and decoherence.' Seth Lloyd, Department of Quantum Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Nature 6876: vol 416 page 19, 7 March 2002. 
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Noble, David F, The Religion of Technology: The Divinity of Man and the Spirit of Invention, Penguin Books 1999 Introduction: 'It is the aim of this book to demonstrate that the present enchantment with things technological ... is rooted in religious myths and ancient imaginings. Although today's technologists, in their sober pursuit of utility, power and profit, seem to set society's standard for rationality ... their true inspiration lies elsewhere, in an enduring, other-worldly quest for transcendence and salvation.'  
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O'Murchu, Diarmuid, Quantum Theology : Spiritual Implications of the New Physics, Crossroad Publishing Company 1997 Jacket: 'For quantum theorists, the fact that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts underpins all reality. "This is not merely a scientific principle of immense significance for our times" writes DO'M, "it is also a theological norm, known to mystics for centuries and now maturing into the supreme wisdom of our age."' 
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Peacock, John A, Cosmological Physics, Cambridge University Press 1999 Nature Book Review: ' The intermingling of observational detail and fundamental theory has made cosmology an exceptionally rich, exciting and controversial science. Students in the field — whether observers or particle theorists — are expected to be acquainted with matters ranging from the Supernova Ia distance scale, Big Bang nucleosynthesis theory, scale-free quantum fluctuations during inflation, the galaxy two-point correlation function, particle theory candidates for the dark matter, and the star formation history of the Universe. Several general science books, conference proceedings and specialized monographs have addressed these issues. Peacock's Cosmological Physics ambitiously fills the void for introducing students with a strong undergraduate background in physics to the entire world of current physical cosmology. The majestic sweep of his discussion of this vast terrain is awesome, and is bound to capture the imagination of most students.' Ray Carlberg, Nature 399:322 
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Pinker, Steven, How the Mind Works, W. W. Norton & Company 2009 Editorial review from Library Journal 'MIT's Pinker, who received considerable acclaim for The Language Instinct (LJ 2/1/94), turns his attention to how the mind functions and how and why it evolved as it did. The author relies primarily on the computational theory of mind and the theory of the natural selection of replicators to explain how the mind perceives, reasons, interacts socially, experiences varied emotions, creates, and philosophizes. Drawing upon theory and research from a variety of disciplines (most notably cognitive science and evolutionary biology) and using the principle of "reverse-engineering," Pinker speculates on what the mind was designed to do and how it has evolved into a system of "psychological faculties or mental modules." His latest book is extraordinarily ambitious, often complex, occasionally tedious, frequently entertaining, and consistently challenging. Appropriate for academic and large public libraries.' Laurie Bartolini, MacMurray Coll. Lib., Jacksonville, Ill. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc 
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Robinson, Marilynne , Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of Self (The Terry Lecture Series), Yale University Press 2010 Introduction: 'These essays examine one side in the venerable controversy called the conflict between science and religion, in order to question the legitimacy of the claim its exponents make to speak with the authority of science and in order to raise questions about the quality of thought that lies behind it. . . . ' 
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Tanenbaum, Andrew S, Computer Networks, Prentice Hall International 1996 Preface: 'The key to designing a computer network was first enunciated by Julius Caesar: Divide and Conquer. The idea is to design a network as a sequence of layers, or abstract machines, each one based upon the previous one. . . . This book uses a model in which networks are divided into seven layers. The structure of the book follows the structure of the model to a considerable extent.'  
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Wilczek (2008), Frank, The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces, Basic Books 2008 ' In this excursion to the outer limits of particle physics, Wilczek explores what quarks and gluons, which compose protons and neutrons, reveal about the manifestation of mass and gravity. A corecipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, Wilczek knows what he’s writing about; the question is, will general science readers? Happily, they know what the strong interaction is (the forces that bind the nucleus), and in Wilczek, they have a jovial guide who adheres to trade publishing’s belief that a successful physics title will not include too many equations. Despite this injunction (against which he lightly protests), Wilczek delivers an approachable verbal picture of what quarks and gluons are doing inside a proton that gives rise to mass and, hence, gravity. Casting the light-speed lives of quarks against “the Grid,” Wilczek’s term for the vacuum that theoretically seethes with quantum activity, Wilczek exudes a contagious excitement for discovery. A near-obligatory acquisition for circulating physics collections.' --Gilbert Taylor  
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Yancey, Philip, I Was Just Wondering, Strand Publishing 2003 Amazon customer review: 'I Was Just Wondering is a collection of essays that Phil Yancey wrote for Christianity Today; he still writes the essays for the magazine. While I haven't read all of his books, I have read many. I read this book on my first sitting because I could see the genesis of his ideas for his other GREAT books (What is So Amazing About Grace, The Jesus I Never Knew, Where is God When it Hurts, etc.) So if you haven't read his other "true" books, read this book first. If you have read his other books, read this one as well. One sees that Yancey's ideas and theses are consistent, uplifting and God-inspired. I enjoyed the book and I am looking forward to reading Yancey's new book (The Bible Jesus Read).' A Customer 
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Ahmd M Siddiqi, The West is getting Afghanistan wrong – again, ‘Al-Qaeda is coming back’ Two days before the fall of Kabul, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace declared that Afghanistan was “heading towards civil war”, suggesting the history of Afghanistan and the fragmented nature of the Taliban movement meant al-Qaeda would “probably come back”. . . . ‘The Taliban is fragmented’ . . . this assertion has been made repeatedly over the years, notably during the Obama presidency as an excuse to avoid serious negotiations: if the Taliban leadership has no control over its constituent commanders, who is there to negotiate with? . . . ‘The Taliban triumphed due to foreign support’ Accompanying ISAF and the Afghan government’s failures over the years has been a steady narrative drumbeat in search of a scapegoat, most commonly Pakistan, which has been accused of providing support for the Taliban. . . . ‘The US withdrew too soon’ Since the Taliban takeover, US President Joe Biden has faced a crescendo of criticism from Republicans, pro-war sections of the media, the foreign policy establishment and allies like the UK. . . . ' back

Alan Rappeport, Inquiry finds World Bank officials, including now-I.M.F. chief, pushed staff to inflate China data., ' WASHINGTON — An investigation into manipulation of an annual World Bank report has found that Kristalina Georgieva, the bank’s former chief executive, who now leads the International Monetary Fund, directed staff to alter data to placate China. The findings of the investigation, which was conducted by the law firm WilmerHale at the request of the bank’s ethics committee, raised questions about the judgment of Ms. Georgieva during her time at the World Bank and underscored the pressure that the bank has been under to accommodate China, its third-largest shareholder after the United States and Japan.' back

Alex Lo, China’s dollar diplomacy preferable to West’s military interventions, ' So, as France, the EU and the United States are withdrawing from their imperial or liberal-interventionist ventures or whatever you care to call them, China is stepping into the vacuum. But it’s doing so with capital and developmental aid and investment, rather than bullets and bombs. Some of those projects will pan out; others will fail. Some may benefit the locals, others or perhaps the same ones will end up lining the pockets of corrupt local political bosses or fanatical Islamic militants. Who knows? But it’s only money. And if I were a dirt-poor local, it’s a lot better than having unmanned drones dropping bombs on my home and wiping out my wife and children. What’s the point of democracy when you can’t vote because you and your whole family are dead? ' back

Anshel Pfeffer, In Jerusalem's Holiest Site, These Modern Pilgrims Are Playing With Fire , ' There’s a place in the heart of Jerusalem, perhaps the most divided and polarized city in the world, where you can find peace and solitude. Where you can sit with your thoughts at the end of a dusty path, in the shade of ancient olive trees for a short while, without disturbance. Far from the hating crowd. That place is at the heart of the conflict, in a little grove, littered with piles of new and very old masonry, on the eastern side of the Temple Mount. In a dip in the ground, hidden from the Dome of the Rock plaza to your left, just off the paved path that goes the length of the Old City’s walls, where the groups of Jewish pilgrims walk.' back

Black Snake Moan (film) - Wikipedia, Black Snake Moan (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Black Snake Moan is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Craig Brewer, and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Timberlake. The plot focuses on a Mississippi bluesman (Jackson) who holds a troubled local woman (Ricci) captive in his house in an attempt to cure her of her nymphomania after finding her severely beaten on the side of a road. The title of the film derives from the 1927 Blind Lemon Jefferson song. The film draws numerous references to the Mississippi Blues movement, particularly in its title and soundtrack.' back

Christopher Knaus, ‘Killed like animals’: documents reveal how Australia turned a blind eye to a West Papuan massacre, ' When bodies began washing up on Biak’s beaches, many mutilated horrifically, the Indonesian military blamed a tsunami in Papua New Guinea, more than 1,000km away. . . . The true extent of the Howard government’s knowledge of the massacre has, until now, largely remained unknown. But a newly released, unredacted intelligence report handed to Guardian Australia reveals an Australian intelligence officer provided the government with compelling evidence just 11 days after the killings that Indonesia “almost certainly used excessive force against pro-independence demonstrators”. The same officer was also handed photographic evidence by West Papuans on Biak, at great risk to their safety. The photos were distributed to his superiors within defence, but never saw the light of day. New evidence suggests they have since been destroyed by the defence department, despite consistent calls for a proper investigation into the atrocity.' back

Classical capacity - Wikipedia, Classical capacity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' We briefly review the HSW coding theorem (the statement of the achievability of the Holevo information rate I ( X ; B ) for communicating classical data over a quantum channel). We first review the minimal amount of quantum mechanics needed for the theorem. We then cover quantum typicality, and finally we prove the theorem using a recent sequential decoding technique. back

Clive Stafford Smith, 9/11 should have led to a criminal investigation, not a war, ' First, we must ask: Was al-Qaeda truly an existential threat to world order on September 12, 2001? Clearly, it was not. They had murdered many people in a spectacular, televised fashion – a terrible offence. . . . 9/11 was hugely accentuated both because it took place in the US and because it was televised, and yet when it comes to the mayhem we humans intentionally wreak on each other it was really little more than a blip. . . . Thus, while the awful nature of 9/11 should never be forgotten, it is sheer folly to conclude, as do essentially all US politicians, that “Islamic extremism” was, or even is, an existential threat to our nation of 330 million. . . . It is said that the only lesson we learn from history is that we never learn from history. Let us hope we can look back over the last two decades and learn something useful, for once.' back

Daniel K. Finn, ‘Religion and the Rise of Capitalism’ Theology’s Invisible Hand, Review of Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, Benjamen M. Friedman: 'This is an excellent book, destined to be discussed widely. Friedman’s claim about Adam Smith is that “the time was ripe for new thinking on self-interest,” and religious developments were part of that ripening. The evidence for this influence of religion on the father of modern economics is, admittedly, circumstantial. But, of course, this is what makes Freidman’s claim so impressive. If there were textual evidence for it, someone would have made the argument a century ago. . . . In the chapter where Smith argues that self-love motivates the daily economic services offered by butchers and bakers, he does not claim that competition will protect the consumer from their greed. . . . Three hundred pages later, Smith observes that “the freer and more general the competition,” the greater will be “the advantage to the public".' back

Deutsch–Jozsa algorithm - Wikipedia, Deutsch–Jozsa algorithm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The Deutsch–Jozsa algorithm is a deterministic quantum algorithm proposed by David Deutsch and Richard Jozsa in 1992 with improvements by Richard Cleve, Artur Ekert, Chiara Macchiavello, and Michele Mosca in 1998. Although of little current practical use, it is one of the first examples of a quantum algorithm that is exponentially faster than any possible deterministic classical algorithm.' back

Elie Dolgin, The tangled history of mRNA vaccines, ' In late 1987, Robert Malone performed a landmark experiment. He mixed strands of messenger RNA with droplets of fat, to create a kind of molecular stew. Human cells bathed in this genetic gumbo absorbed the mRNA, and began producing proteins from it. . . . Later that year, Malone’s experiments showed that frog embryos absorbed such mRNA2. It was the first time anyone had used fatty droplets to ease mRNA’s passage into a living organism. Those experiments were a stepping stone towards two of the most important and profitable vaccines in history: the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines given to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Global sales of these are expected to top US$50 billion in 2021 alone.' back

Extended Backus-Naur Form - Wikipedia, Extended Backus-Naur Form - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In computer science, Extended Backus–Naur Form (EBNF) is a family of metasyntax notations used for expressing context-free grammars: that is, a formal way to describe computer programming languages and other formal languages. They are extensions of the basic Backus–Naur Form (BNF) metasyntax notation. The earliest EBNF was originally developed by Niklaus Wirth. However, many variants of EBNF are in use. The International Organization for Standardization has adopted an EBNF standard (ISO/IEC 14977). This article uses EBNF as specified by the ISO for examples applying to all EBNF:s. Other EBNF variants use somewhat different syntactic conventions.' back

Fernsndo C. Saldivar, Looking the Other Way: The Supreme Court prefers not to talk about human rights., ' Two important decisions this term highlight the power of the court’s language to mask the grave injustices. One of these was the court’s decision in the consolidated cases of Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe I and Cargill Inc. v. Doe I. . . . The notably cold language of the court’s majority opinion fails to acknowledge that the Nestlé and Cargill cases are about claims of child slavery related to cocoa production in Ivory Coast, a point wholly uncontested by the parties. The decision simply brushes past the fact that we are talking about whether, in the twenty-first century, a slave has recourse to our court system for a claim against an American corporation that has aided and abetted his bondage. The majority’s narrow focus on jurisdiction and procedure should not distract us—as it seems to have distracted them—from the fact that Nestlé and Cargill are all about former slaves suing their captors. . . . Nor was this the only case from this term where the Supreme Court seemed disturbing nonchalant about a violation of human rights. Earlier in the year, in Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, the court ruled in favor of Germany on claims belonging to the heirs of Jewish art dealers who were forced to sell medieval Christian relics to the Nazis.' back

Flora Sonkin & Bhumika Muchhala, It’s time for the World Bank to scrap its Doing Business rankings, ' On March 29, at a virtual meeting hosted by the London School of Economics before the 2021 World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings, World Bank President David Malpass called for long-term, integrated strategies that emphasise “green, inclusive and resilient development” to tackle what he calls the COVID-19 “pandemic of inequality”. Underlining the importance of helping countries improve their readiness for future pandemics through policies supporting sustainable development, he urged policymakers to avoid repeating the “errors of the past”. . . . Yet, one of the Bank’s most powerful policy advice tools, the Doing Business rankings, continues to produce skewed policy prescriptions that obstruct developing countries’ pandemic recovery efforts and constrain their resilience to future crises.' back

Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, Chanda :: About Chandra :: Telescope system, 'X-ray telescopes must be very different from optical telescopes. Because of their high-energy, X-ray photons penetrate into a mirror in much the same way that bullets slam into a wall. Likewise, just as bullets ricochet when they hit a wall at a grazing angle, so too will X-rays ricochet off mirrors. The mirrors have to be exquisitely shaped and aligned nearly parallel to incoming X-rays. Thus they look more like glass barrels than the familiar dish shape of optical telescopes.' back

Hilary and Jackie - Wikipedia, Hilary and Jackie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Hilary and Jackie is a 1998 British biographical film directed by Anand Tucker, starring Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths as the British classical musician sisters Jacqueline du Pré (cello) and Hilary du Pré (flute). The film covers Jacqueline's meteoric rise to fame, her alleged affair with Hilary's husband Christopher Finzi, and her struggle with multiple sclerosis starting in her late 20s. . . . The film attracted controversy and criticism for allegedly distorting details in Jacqueline's life, and several personal friends of Jacqueline du Pré publicly condemned the film. Hilary du Pré publicly defended her version of the story.' back

Janna Jihad, My generation can liberate Palestine and end the occupation, ' Not many people across the world know what life is like for Palestinian children, how unsafe we feel in our homes and what we go through every single day because of the Israeli occupation. I grew up in the village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank. When I was seven, I started making films on my mother’s mobile phone about our lives to share on social media and with news outlets. In my films, I try to show what daily life is like for us. The night raids – waking up at 3am to the sounds of gas canisters, bombing near your window, or Israeli forces trying to break into your house. There was even a time when I woke up to find an Israeli soldier in my room, breaking my toys with his gun. He went on to hold his weapon to my head.' back

Kevin Harnett, New Math Book Rescues Landmark Topology Proof, ' The Disc Embedding Theorem contains the first thorough and approachable exposition of Freedman's proof of the disc embedding theorem, with many new details. A self-contained account of decomposition space theory, a beautiful but outmoded branch of topology that produces non-differentiable homeomorphisms between manifolds, is provided, as well as a stand-alone interlude that explains the disc embedding theorem's key role in all known homeomorphism classifications of 4-manifolds via surgery theory and the s-cobordism theorem. Additionally, the ramifications of the disc embedding theorem within the study of topological 4-manifolds, for example Frank Quinn's development of fundamental tools like transversality are broadly described.' back

Klein-Nishina formula - Wikipedia, Klein-Nishina formula - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Klein–Nishina formula[1] gives the differential cross section of photons scattered from a single free electron in lowest order of quantum electrodynamics. At low frequencies (e.g., visible light) this is referred to as Thomson scattering; at higher frequencies (e.g., x-rays and gamma-rays) this is referred to as Compton scattering.' back

Lie Algebra - Wikipedia, Lie Algebra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics, a Lie algebra . . . is an algebraic structure whose main use is in studying geometric objects such as Lie groups and differentiable manifolds. Lie algebras were introduced to study the concept of infinitesimal transformations. The term "Lie algebra" (after Sophus Lie) was introduced by Hermann Weyl in the 1930s. In older texts, the name "infinitesimal group" is used.' back

Lov K Grover, Quantum mechanics helps in searching for a needle in a haystack, 'Quantum mechanics can speed up a range of search applications over unsorted data. For example imagine a phone directory containing N names arranged in completely random order. To find someone's phone number with a probability of 50%, any classical algorithm (whether deterministic or probabilistic) will need to access the database a minimum of O(N) times. Quantum mechanical systems can be in a superposition of states and simultaneously examine multiple names. By properly adjusting the phases of various operations, successful computations reinforce each other while others interfere randomly. As a result, the desired phone number can be obtained in only O(sqrt(N)) accesses to the database.' back

Meghan Henning, How threats of hellfire helped keep ‘immodest’ women in their place – from the ancient world to ‘My Unorthodox Life’ , ' “It was your mother’s responsibility to teach you modesty. … If any of your body parts were uncovered, there’s a very special form of hell that is reserved for both you and your mother. In this hell, your mother would dip your clothes in acid, put them on your body, and so throughout the day your body would decompose from the acid. And then the next morning it would start all over again, for thousands of years, or however many years hell lasts. When you learn this as a child, and everyone around you believes it, you believe it".' back

Noether's theorem - Wikipedia, Noether's theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Noether's (first) theorem states that any differentiable symmetry of the action of a physical system has a corresponding conservation law. The theorem was proved by German mathematician Emmy Noether in 1915 and published in 1918. The action of a physical system is the integral over time of a Lagrangian function (which may or may not be an integral over space of a Lagrangian density function), from which the system's behavior can be determined by the principle of least action.' back

Peruvian Inquisition - Wkipedia, Peruvian Inquisition - Wkipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Peruvian Inquisition was established on January 9, 1570 and ended in 1820. It was reinstated under King Felipe II of Spain in 1569. The Holy Office and tribunal of the Peruvian Inquisition were located in Lima, Peru.' back

Shor's algorithm - Wikipedia, Shor's algorithm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Shor's algorithm is a polynomial-time quantum computer algorithm for integer factorization. Informally, it solves the following problem: Given an integer N, find its prime factors. It was invented in 1994 by the American mathematician Peter Shor. . . . If a quantum computer with a sufficient number of qubits could operate without succumbing to quantum noise and other quantum-decoherence phenomena, then Shor's algorithm could be used to break public-key cryptography schemes, such as the widely used RSA scheme. RSA is based on the assumption that factoring large integers is computationally intractable.' back

Siobhan Roberts, The Godmother of the Digital Image, ' A professor at Duke University, in Durham, N.C., Daubechies’ métier is figuring out optimal ways to represent and analyze images and information. The great mathematical discovery of her early career, made in 1987 when she was 33, was the “Daubechies wavelet.” Her work, together with further wavelet developments, was instrumental to the invention of image-compression algorithms, like the JPEG2000, that pervade the digital age.' back

Stern-Gerlach experiment - Wikipedia, Stern-Gerlach experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Stern–Gerlach experiment demonstrated that the spatial orientation of angular momentum is quantized. It demonstrated that atomic-scale systems have intrinsically quantum properties, and that measurement in quantum mechanics affects the system being measured.' back

Thompson scattering - Wikipedia, Thompson scattering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, In physics, Thomson scattering is the elastic scattering of electromagnetic radiation by a free charged particle, as described by classical electromagnetism. The electric field of the incident wave accelerates the particle, causing it to in turn emit radiation at the same frequency as the incident wave, and thus, the wave is scattered. Thomson scattering is an important phenomenon in plasma physics and was first explained by the physicist J.J. Thomson. back

Tribune News Service, Scientists created the world’s whitest paint. It could eliminate the need for air conditioning., ' US professor Xiulin Ruan and his students created the substance, which has made it into the Guinness World Records book, to help combat climate change. . . . The paint reflects 98.1 per cent of solar radiation while also emitting infrared heat, cooling surfaces without consuming power Using this new paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet could result in a cooling power of 10 kilowatts.“That’s more powerful than the air conditioners used by most houses,” Ruan said.' back

Wojciech Hubert Zurek, Quantum origin of quantum jumps: breaking of unitary symmetry induced by information transfer and the transition from quantum to classical, 'Submitted on 17 Mar 2007 (v1), last revised 18 Mar 2008 (this version, v3)) Measurements transfer information about a system to the apparatus, and then further on – to observers and (often inadvertently) to the environment. I show that even imperfect copying essential in such situations restricts possible unperturbed outcomes to an orthogonal subset of all possible states of the system, thus breaking the unitary symmetry of its Hilbert space implied by the quantum superposition principle. Preferred outcome states emerge as a result. They provide framework for the “wavepacket collapse”, designating terminal points of quantum jumps, and defining the measured observable by specifying its eigenstates.' back

World Bank: Doing Business - Data Irregularities, Investigation of Data Irregularities in Doing Business 2018 and Doing Business 2020: Investigation Findings and Report to the Board of Executive Directors , ' Undue Pressure from Bank Leadership Doing Business 2018: 27. The changes to China’s data in Doing Business 2018 appear to be the product of two distinct types of pressure applied by Bank leadership on the Doing Business team: (1) pressure—both direct and indirect—applied by senior staff in the Office of the President, presumably at the direction of President Kim, to change the report’s methodology in an effort to boost China’s score; and (2) pressure applied by CEO Georgieva and her advisor, Mr. Djankov, to make specific changes to China’s data points in an effort to increase its ranking at precisely the same time the country was expected to play a key role in the Bank’s capital increase campaign.' back