Statebuilding and the Origins of the “American Empire”: Towards the Problem of Legitimizing Sovereign Inequality in the 21st Century

In recent decades, “statebuilding” policies in the Greater Middle East have been used by Washington as a tool for forging an “American empire” based on unequal relations between the U.S. and its dependent regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. At the same time, current research focuses mainly on the instruments for implementing these policies and ensuring the acceptance of new political and economic institutions by the local population. Unlike the established approaches, the author examines Washington’s statebuilding efforts as a specific practice of legitimacy aimed at entrenching sovereign inequality and institutionalizing the US political control over “client-regimes.” The study draws on the theoretical legacy of the English school, which views “legitimacy” as a phenomenon inextricably linked with “international society,” comprising a group of states bound by common goals, institutions, and values. The legitimation strategies adopted by members of this society involve the performance of various international roles through which states acquire recognized statuses, rights and obligations. Focusing on the US roles such as “imperial power” and “patron,” the author concludes that Washington’s statebuilding efforts were aimed at linking the US interventionism in Afghanistan and Iraq with the collective goals of international society, and thus served to legitimize inequitable relations with “client-states” under the formal legal equality of members of international society. Therefore, the application of the proposed approach helps to shed light on the underexplored aspects of the legitimizing instruments of the US dominance and the means of institutionalizing sovereign inequality inherent in the “American empire” in the 21st century

Optomechanical manipulation with hyperbolic metasurfaces

Auxiliary nanostructures introduce additional flexibility into optomechanical manipulation schemes. Metamaterials and metasurfaces capable to control electromagnetic interactions at the near-field regions are especially beneficial for achieving improved spatial localization of particles, reducing laser powers required for trapping, and for tailoring directivity of optical forces. Here, optical forces acting on small particles situated next to anisotropic substrates, are investigated. A special class of hyperbolic metasurfaces is considered in details and is shown to be beneficial for achieving strong optical pulling forces in a broad spectral range. Spectral decomposition of the Green functions enables identifying contributions of different interaction channels and underlines the importance of the hyperbolic dispersion regime, which plays the key role in optomechanical interactions. Homogenised model of the hyperbolic metasurface is compared to its metal-dielectric multilayer realizations and is shown to predict the optomechanical behaviour under certain conditions related to composition of the top layer of the structure and its periodicity. Optomechanical metasurfaces open a venue for future fundamental investigations and a range of practical applications, where accurate control over mechanical motion of small objects is required

Estimating degradation of strength of neat PEEK and PEEK-CF laminates under cyclic loading by mechanical hysteresis loops

A method for assessing the degradation of mechanical properties of neat polyetheretherketone and its laminated composite reinforced with unidirectional carbon fibers is proposed. It is based on the calculation of the maximum and minimum strains in a cycle, as well as both dynamic and secant moduli estimated from mechanical hysteresis loops. These parameters reflect the material damage degree, enabling to predict its current mechanical state

Secure evaluation of polynomial using privacy ring homomorphisms

Method of secure evaluation of polynomial y=F(x_1, …, x_k) over some rings on untrusted computer is proposed. Two models of untrusted computer are considered: passive and active. In passive model untrusted computer correctly computes polynomial F and tries to know secret input (x_1, …, x_k) and output y. In active model untrusted computer tries to know input and output and tries to change correct output y so that this change cannot be determined. Secure computation is proposed by using one-time privacy ring homomorphism Z/nZ -> Z/nZ[z]/(f(z)), n = pq, generated by trusted computer. In the case of active model secret check point v = F(u_1, …, u_k) is used. Trusted computer generates polynomial f(z)=(z-t)(z+t), t in Z/nZ, and input X_i(z) in Z/nZ[z]/(f(z)) such that X_i(t)=x_i (mod n) for passive model, and f(z)=(z-t_1)(z-t_2)(z-t_3), t_i in Z/nZ and input X_i(z) in Z/nZ[z]/(f(z)) such that X_i(t_1)=x_i (mod n), X_i(t_2)= u_i (mod n) for active model. Untrusted computer computes function Y(z) = F(X_1(z), …, X_k(z)) in the ring Z/nZ[z]/(f(z)). For passive model trusted computer determines secret output y=Y(t) (mod n). For active model trusted computer checks that Y(t_2)=v (mod n), then determines correct output y=Y(t_1) (mod n)

Estimating degradation of strength of neat PEEK and PEEK-CF laminates under cyclic loading by mechanical hysteresis loops

A method for assessing the degradation of mechanical properties of neat polyetheretherketone and its laminated composite reinforced with unidirectional carbon fibers is proposed. It is based on the calculation of the maximum and minimum strains in a cycle, as well as both dynamic and secant moduli estimated from mechanical hysteresis loops. These parameters reflect the material damage degree, enabling to predict its current mechanical state