# life: to protect freedoms, not just funding.

<< At Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Columbia University in New York City, cuts to previously granted federal research funds have been accompanied by demands from the government. If enacted, the changes to departmental oversight, disciplinary procedures, campus police and governance structures would allow the government to dictate hiring, student admissions and disciplinary decisions. >>

<< So far, the US science community has been outspoken about the threats that funding cuts pose to health, innovation and the economy. Yet, few researchers have decried the devastation wreaked on science by attacks on civil liberties and the rule of law. >>

Andrew M. Leifer, Andrea J. Liu, Sidney R. Nagel. US researchers must stand up to protect freedoms, not just funding. Nature 641, 592-593. May 13, 2025.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01466-5

Also: people who turn career into a game playing ... FonT. May 31, 2017.

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2017/05/s-game-people-who-turn-career-into-game.html

Also: minimal risk, in FonT 

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=minimal+risk

Also: acad, in Font https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=acad.  acad, in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry) https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=acad

Also:  dance, game, transition, sars* covid* (aka 1or2achoos), forms of power, Mr. Donald, are you ready, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Also: nefst (e.g. not embedded, freestyle thinker) 

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED20173/track

Keywords: life, acad, game, dance, transitions, nefst, 1or2achoos, minimal risk, turn career, forms of power, Mr. Donald, are you ready.

# gst: accelerated first detection in discrete-time quantum walks using sharp restarts.

<< Restart is a common strategy observed in nature that accelerates first-passage processes, and has been extensively studied using classical random walks. In the quantum regime, restart in continuous-time quantum walks (CTQWs) has been shown to expedite the quantum hitting times [Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 050802 (2023)]. >>

 Here, AA << study how restarting monitored discrete-time quantum walks (DTQWs) affects the quantum hitting times. (They) show that the restarted DTQWs outperform classical random walks in target searches, benefiting from quantum ballistic propagation, a feature shared with their continuous-time counterparts. >>

Kunal Shukla, Riddhi Chatterjee, C. M. Chandrashekar. Accelerated first detection in discrete-time quantum walks using sharp restarts. Phys. Rev. Research 7, 023069. Apr 21, 2025.

https://journals.aps.org/prresearch/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.023069

Also: walk, random, network, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, networks, randomness, walk, random walk, quantum walk, stochasticity, sharp restart.

# gst: biased random walks on networks with stochastic resetting.

<< This study explores biased random walk dynamics with stochastic resetting on general networks. (AA) show that the combination of biased random walks and stochastic resetting makes significant contributions by analyzing the search efficiency. (They) derive two analytical expressions for the stationary distribution and the mean first passage time, which are related to the spectral representation of the probability transition matrix of a biased random walk without resetting. These expressions can be used to determine the capacity of a random walker to reach the specific target and probe a finite network. >>

AA << apply the analytical results to two types of networks, pseudofractal scale-free webs and T-fractals, which are constructed through an iterative process. (They) also extend a strategy to explore other complex structure networks or larger networks by leveraging the spectral properties. >>

Anlin Li, Xiaohan Sun. Biased random walks on networks with stochastic resetting. Phys. Rev. E 111, 054309. May 16, 2025.

https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.111.054309

Also: walk, random, network, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, networks, randomness, random walk, stochasticity, stochastic resetting.

# life: the pervasive "soft power" of ancient India.

<< One of the big contentions of popular historian William Dalrymple’s latest book “The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World,” which came out in the United States a few weeks ago, is that the Indian subcontinent’s connections to the West, especially via the Roman Empire, were far richer than those of China (i.e. the “Silk Road” cited). Once the might of Rome reached Egypt and the maritime routes of the Red Sea, it brought the customers of the Mediterranean to India’s doorstep. It also saw Indian philosophy and mathematics travel west and east. >>

<< Once their economic links to the West thinned with the collapse of the Roman Empire, South Indian merchant guilds turned east, embarking on trade and contacts that spread Indian religion and ideas across a wide expanse of Asia and underlay the grandeur of centuries-old temple complexes like Angkor Wat in Cambodia or Borubudur in Indonesia. >>

<< it’s one of the great soft power miracles of world history, because unlike Islam and unlike quite a lot of Christianity, no one took Buddhism at the point of a sword. No one imposed Buddhism at any point. It was the sophistication of its ideas and particularly its attractiveness to the merchant classes, bizarrely. The Buddhist monasteries act as banks, as factories and as caravanserais. >>

Ishaan Tharoor with Rachel Pannett. How ancient India changed the world. WorldView (by mail). washingtonpost.com. May 19, 2025.

https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=660de34bb906a33aae6b8103&s=682aadf6f062960b82a2f3e6

Also:  forms of power, waves, attractor, Zen, compassion, transition, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: life, forms of power, soft power, waves, attractors, Zen, compassion, transition.

# life: Balzac's world revisited

<< In a recent study picked up in the French press, the academic Mélanie Plouviez cites one of her country’s best-loved novelists to make a damning point. The power of inherited and unearned wealth in the France of 2025, she argues, replicates the social injustices found in Honoré de Balzac’s 19th-century chronicles of ambition and despair. As in the 1820s, she writes, “Who now could buy a place in Paris relying only on their wage and without family help? With the resurgence of inherited wealth, a gulf between what work allows and inheritance allows has also returned.” >>

<< The problem is a sadly familiar one across Europe, and the same observation could be made of Britain, Germany or Italy. >>

Editorial. The Guardian view on Europe’s growing wealth divide: back to the world of Balzac. A new study highlights the dangers of a modern rentier capitalism that perpetuates inequality through the generations. The Guardian. Thu 15 May 2025 19.25 CEST.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/15/the-guardian-view-on-europes-growing-wealth-divide-back-to-the-world-of-balzac

Also: oops! AI - artificial intelligence - now beats humans at basic tasks. FonT. Apr 17, 2024. 

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2024/04/life-oops-ai-artificial-intelligence.html

Also: ai (artificial intell) (bot), in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: life, ai, artificial intelligence, bot, income, ubi, unconditional basic income

Font: here is an intriguing question: who knows what any State will ask of individual citizens in exchange for the essential Citizenship allowance (e.g.Unconditional Basic Income, UBI), an allowance that it will have to give to the entire population to stabilize the survival of any community.

# gst: emergent scattering regimes in disordered metasurfaces near critical packing.

<< Disordered metasurfaces provide a versatile platform for harnessing near- and far-field scattered light. Most research has focused on either particulate topologies composed of individual, well-identified metaatoms or, to a lesser extent, semi-continuous aggregate topologies without well identified inclusions. >>

Here, AA << uncover an intermediate critical packing regime characterized by metasurface morphologies in which a significant fraction of metaatoms begin to connect. (They) experimentally demonstrate that, at this threshold, the properties of the scattered light abruptly change and interpret this change as a marked transition in the statistics of the photon density of states. >>

<< Unlike percolation metal films, this transition affects not only the specular but also the diffuse components of the scattered light in a profound way. (AA)  results introduce critical packing topologies as a novel design strategy for manipulating the spectral and angular characteristics of light using ultrathin optical coatings. Emergent functionalities include color shifts in diffuse light driven by multiple scattering and surface whitening, >>

Miao Chen, Adrian Agreda, et al. Emergent scattering regimes in disordered metasurfaces near critical packing. arXiv: 2505.02244v1 [physics.optics]. May 4, 2025.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.02244

Also: disorder & fluctuations, transition, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, disorder, fluctuations, transitions, disordered metasurfaces, ultrathin optical coatings, near- far- field scattered light, critical packing regime.

# gst: elasticity of fibers prefers the chaos of turbulence.

<< The dynamics of fibers, modeled as a sequence of inertial beads linked via elastic springs, in turbulent flows is dictated by a nontrivial interplay of inertia and elasticity. Such elastic, inertial fibers preferentially sample a three-dimensional turbulent flow in a manner that is qualitatively similar to that in two dimensions [R. Singh et al., Phys. Rev. E 101, 053105 (2020)]. >>

<< Both these intrinsic features have competing effects on fiber dynamics: Inertia drives fibers away from vortices while elasticity tends to trap them inside. However, these effects swap roles at very large values. A large inertia makes the fibers sample the flow more uniformly while a very large elasticity facilitates the sampling of straining regions. >>

<< This complex sampling behavior is further corroborated by quantifying the chaotic nature of sampled flow regions. This is achieved by evaluating the maximal Lagrangian Lyapunov Exponents associated with the flow along fiber trajectories. >>

Rahul K. Singh. Elasticity of fibers prefers the chaos of turbulence. Phys. Rev. E 111, L053101. May 5, 2025.

https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.111.L053101

Also: elastic, turbulence, chaos, transition, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, elasticity, turbulence, chaos, transitions