You\u27re Out! Explaining Non-Criminal Diplomatic Expulsion

The practice of diplomatic expulsion, as well as expulsion of other foreign personnel by an executive, has received little attention in the field of International Relations or in Political Science more broadly. If expulsion were analyzed under the broader category of diplomatic relations, then studying the variation in expulsions could improve our understanding of international relations. It would be understood as one of the many tools executives use in negotiation between states. Executives, however, appeared to treat expulsion specially. Although no international convention requires executives to notify the public of the expulsion of a diplomat, ambassador or other personnel, it has been observed that executives do make highly publicized announcements in some cases, which suggests that expulsions have domestic value to some executives. This project examines expulsions in terms of their political value to executives with special attention paid to executives from New Left regimes in Latin America and their relationship with the United States. The dissertation argues that expulsions increase in value to states on the weaker end of a power disparity. The stronger state could prefer to conduct diplomacy with military and/or economic threats, but the weaker state does not enjoy such options. The one option that is not limited by such a power disparity is expulsion. Executives of weaker countries may be quick to expel because reciprocation by the stronger state will do little harm to the weaker state. The radical, populist left executives in the expelling states need such a low cost and low risk move to actionize the anti-United States rhetoric they utilized as they were running for office

Gaussian Processes with Context-Supported Priors for Active Object Localization

We devise an algorithm using a Bayesian optimization framework in conjunction with contextual visual data for the efficient localization of objects in still images. Recent research has demonstrated substantial progress in object localization and related tasks for computer vision. However, many current state-of-the-art object localization procedures still suffer from inaccuracy and inefficiency, in addition to failing to provide a principled and interpretable system amenable to high-level vision tasks. We address these issues with the current research. Our method encompasses an active search procedure that uses contextual data to generate initial bounding-box proposals for a target object. We train a convolutional neural network to approximate an offset distance from the target object. Next, we use a Gaussian Process to model this offset response signal over the search space of the target. We then employ a Bayesian active search for accurate localization of the target. In experiments, we compare our approach to a state-of-theart bounding-box regression method for a challenging pedestrian localization task. Our method exhibits a substantial improvement over this baseline regression method.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

The Limitations of Democratic Peace

The theory of Democratic Peace suggests that democracies are unlikely to wage war on one another, yet it spends little time actually defining what democracies are. Research on the theory of Democratic Peace suggests that the theory only applies to mature democracies, but how is maturity determined? The criteria used by multiple scholars is needed to defend the theory from particular challenges such as the Cenepa Valley War, but even with such defenses, the criteria omits how a state treats women and racial minorities. These omissions become clear when one examines how scholars treat the United States of America. This thesis will assert that the criteria for determining a democracy\u27s maturity is incomplete and requires revision

Catching Fire: Religion, Ritual, and the Mind

This paper examines the element of fire through a cognitive archaeological lens, in relation to multi-tiered cosmologies found in religious and ritual milieus. Furthermore, this paper maintains that a “holistic” archaeological approach is tantamount to an understanding of human spiritual experience in the ancient world. Such an approach allows us to share in some of the emotional experiences of our ancient ancestors because both “past and present people are both human and similar” (Vianello 2013); the ancient and modern mind operates in the same conscious ways. This may help to explain the many commonalities found throughout space and time within the archaeological record. Analyzing the ritual use of fire offers us one pathway into this methodology.The controlled use of fire enabled the evolution of the human brain, thus allowing for consciousness itself to evolve. In turn, consciousness enables humans to create and negotiate a mental and physical landscape imbued with symbolic meaning. The creation and usage of tools, artistic expression, language, and religion are the elemental symbolic frameworks that shape human culture and experience, and in turn these frameworks are constantly renegotiated structurally. The study of these frameworks in combination is therefore the study of the human mind and the nature of human consciousness. As mentioned above, taking this approach requires a holistic methodology. Past approaches see-saw between materiality and social theory; these methodologies too often focus on the differences between, and within cultural groups. Cognitive archaeology focuses on commonalities, and therefore presupposes a common mindful origin for human spiritual experience. When searching for cultural differences, functional and structural models tend to miss what ancient people believed and how they perceived the world in which they lived. Functionalism and structuralism are a welcome portion of the analysis, but shall remain on equal footing with art, architecture, and mythology in relation to spiritual and cosmological beliefs. This paper will discuss the cross-cultural manifestations of elemental fire in religious ritual and practice. In it, I will outline how fire is recognized not only as a transformative force, but also as an element that “magically” transubstantiates material. Finally, I will discuss how fire is seen by ancient people as a transcendent force imbued with notions of spiritual cleansing and purification, liminality, and communication with the divine

The Design, Construction, and Experimental Characterization of Spatial Parallel Architectures of Elastofluidic Systems

Creating organic, life like motion has historically been extremely difficult and costly for general applications. Traditional structures and robots use rigid components with discrete joints to produce desired motions but are limited in freedom by the range of motion each additional component allows. In a traditionally rigid robot complex motion is obtained through the addition of joints and links. These additions add complexity to a rigid robot but improve its ability to create motion. Soft robotics aims to overcome the limitations of traditional robotics by creating integrated actuation and structure which more closely imitates organic movement. Often the most effective examples to learn from are natural phenomenon or organisms such as underwater and land based invertebrates. In pursuit of the goal of effective soft robotics researchers have explored the idea of a pneumatic elastofluidic actuator, one which expands and deforms in response to applied pressure. While these systems have demonstrated some limited success, they are often used either as a single entity or in series with one another to produce novel motions. In this thesis parallel structures made of these actuators are shown to have the potential to be extremely powerful and useful for soft robotic applications. These spatial arrangements of connected and dependent actuators exhibit behaviors impossible for a single actuator. This research concerns the effective design and construction of these complex parallel structures in an attempt to define a method of characterization which produces useful and desirable spatial architectures and motions

The constitution of the Northwest Territories

The general theme of the thesis is a broad examination of the nature and structure of the constitution of the Northwest Territories, including the relationship of the Territorial Government to the Federal Government and an examination of some possible future developments in the area. Following a review of the constitutional history of the Northwest Territories and a summary of relevant legislation, past and present, Chapter Two contains an examination of the status of the Government of the Northwest Territories, concluding that it is a government in the true sense and not simply an agency of the Federal Government. It has powers similar to those exercised by the Provincial Governments but differs from them in its lack of responsible government and its continuing legal and practical domination by the Federal Government. Some examination is made of the forces promoting change in the constitutional structure and status of the Territories. The two dominant forces examined are the existence of major non-renewable resources, particularly hydrocarbons, and the pressure for settlement of native land claims and native self-determination. An examination of the current law concerning control of natural resources and Federal Government policy statements indicates that the Federal Government has, and will endeavor to retain, virtually complete control over all non-renewable resources with a significant economic impact or national demand. A general review of some of the proposals for the settlement of native claims leads to the conclusion that the claims will be settled in the same manner as previous claims by native people in Canada but will be coupled with changes in the governmental structures of the Territories, consistent with Canadian political traditions, designed to promote and guarantee the involvement of native people in government. It is concluded that, for the most part, the constitution of the Northwest Territories will continue to evolve towards responsible government and full participation by the Territories as a member of the Confederation. That evolution will follow a pattern similar to that established by the development of the prairie provinces with the only significant differences being found in the role of native people in the political life of the community and the strengthened determination of the Federal Government to retain control of non-renewable resources for an indefinite period

IS A SOCIAL SUPPORT BASED MODEL BETTER FOR TREATING ALCOHOLISM? A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Alcoholism continues to persist as a significant health issue in the United States and impacts individuals and families across race, gender, and age. While much work has been made in the field of substance abuse treatment, there remains a substantial need for additional research to formulate effective strategies for treating alcoholism and related unhealthy drinking behaviors. The existing literature suggests that mutual support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous are the standard for achieving successful recovery among those seeking help. Simultaneously, there exists a growing amount of research proposing a range of other interventions that may prove effective in treating alcoholism. The purpose of this study is to examine the outcomes of existing research studies to determine (1) how effective social support-based interventions are at treating alcoholism; and (2) what other types of treatment options exist and how effective they are at treating alcoholism. Through a systematic review of results from search term combinations in an online academic database, peer-reviewed journal articles meeting selection criteria were selected, analyzed, and key findings were presented. Results from the systematic review provided a small number of articles for inclusion which are described in detail. Recommendations for future areas of research are discussed as well