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Professor Courtenay Raia lectures on science and religion as historical phenomena that have evolved over time. She examines the earlier mind-set before 1700 when into science fitted elements that came eventually to be seen as magical. The course also question how Western cosmologies became "disenchanted." Magical tradition transformed into modern mysticisms is also examined as well as the political implications of these movements. Includes...more
A special event to mark the publication of Professor Barrow's new book, 'The Book of Universes'. This is a book about universes, a story that revolves around a single unusual and unappreciated fact: that Einstein’s famous theory of relativity describe universes – entire universes. Not many solutions of Einstein’s tantalizing universe equations have ever been found, but those that have are all very remarkable. Some of them describe universe...more
This lecture describes a tour-de-force in integer data structures, called fusion trees (so named because they were published a year after the 1989 cold-fusion "scandal", and were perhaps just as surprising--though more correct). Fusion trees solve predecessor and successor among n w-bit integers in O(logw n) time per operation on the word RAM. The basic idea is to build a B-tree with branching factor wε. The tricky part is to build a wε-si...more
Professor Blight uses Herman Melville's poem "On the Slain Collegians" to introduce the horrifying slaughter of 1864. The architect of the strategy that would eventually lead to Union victory, but at a staggering human cost, was Ulysses S. Grant, brought East to assume control of all Union armies in 1864. Professor Blight narrates the campaigns of 1864, including the Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, and the siege o...more
In this lecture, Professor Holloway continues discussing African American political possibilities in the second half of the 1930s by examining the new mentality at work in black America. He focuses on the National Negro Congress, the Marian Anderson Easter Sunday Concert, and the March on Washington movement. These examples reveal the diverse strategies and organizing methods employed during this era, as the federal government learned that...more
Ice on earth is sensitive to climate change and ice plays a role in climate change processes. Recent trends in the Greenland ice sheet provide an important example. Over the past two decades the extent of surface melt water on the ice sheet has increased. Inaddition, satellites have detected a decrease in the overall mass of the Greenland Ice Sheet. .Paleoclimate is also discussed in this lecture, with a focus on climate over the last 5 mi...more
This video explains a data-type used to represent an abstract "Pile of Cards" (using a C linked list). It is broken into 2 short parts - this is part 1. This was used back in semester 1 of 2006 for the major project in UNSW's introductory programming course "Computing 1". The pile of cards was just an abstract linked list. In it I try to explain: "Why are these type definitions used?" and "What is going on here with abstraction?" bac...more
This video explains a data-type used to represent an abstract "Pile of Cards" (using a C linked list). It is broken into 2 short parts - this is part 2. This was used back in semester 1 of 2006 for the major project in UNSW's introductory programming course "Computing 1". The pile of cards was just an abstract linked list. In it I try to explain: "Why are these type definitions used?" and "What is going on here with abstraction?" bac...more
Mid-latitude frontal cyclones gain energy from temperature gradients rather than latent heat release as is the case with convective storms. They form in the belt of westerly winds and therefore generally move west to east in both the northern and southern hemispheres. A mid-latitude frontal cyclone develops from a kink in the polar front, and eventually warm and cold fronts develop around a low pressure center to form the storm. An example...more
Stability in the ocean is based on the density of the water. Density must increase with depth in order for the ocean to be stable. Density is a function of both temperature and salinity, with cold salty water having a higher density than warm fresh water. Temperature and salinity in the ocean can be affected by the atmosphere. Heat can be added to or removed from the ocean, and precipitation and evaporation change the salinity of the ocean...more
The student protests of May 1968 in France were linked to international protests against the American war in Vietnam and other political and social consequences of the Cold War. In many respects, the terrible condition of many schools in France that led students to revolt remains a problem. Recent attempts to impose American-style reforms on the university system have met with protests that echo some of the demands made in '68; although, o...more
