11,285 research outputs found
George F. Kennan’s strategy of Containment: an assessment of Kennan’s coherence and consistency
This thesis examines George F. Kennan’s coherence and consistency when he formulated the strategy of containment. Kennan’s work went through different stages which depended on the political context it was set in as circumstances evolved and the position he held. The aim is not to criticise Kennan but understand whether he remained consistent and coherent and why changes occurred. When Kennan sent the Long Telegram and delivered lectures at the National War College, the strategy had not been structured. In 1946 and early 1947, containment was not a strategy, it was still an idea. The Long Telegram provided him with the opportunity to move to the National War College to develop and structure a strategy. The invitation in 1947 to enter the official bureaucracy as the Director of the Policy Planning Staff did not demand that Kennan create a strategy but he was able to use it as an opportunity to build the strategy he had been advocating which was to contain Soviet expansion through the economic rehabilitation of Western Europe, Germany and Japan. Kennan remained consistent with his recommendations for a political-economic containment, specifically avoiding any military intervention. Kennan became trapped by the X article, as it distorted his views, making it appear that he was contradicting his original approach to containment. Kennan attempted to fight back against the misunderstanding of this article by focusing on political-economic policies, but it became clear that he was losing his influence and struggling to implement a coherent strategy. The extension of the containment strategy beyond strategic areas, the rejection of Program A, along with the continued division of Europe and the more militarized tone of the containment strategy stopped Kennan from implementing a coherent containment strategy. By 1953, Kennan and his containment strategy had been defeated
Automated searching for quantum subsystem codes
Quantum error correction allows for faulty quantum systems to behave in an
effectively error free manner. One important class of techniques for quantum
error correction is the class of quantum subsystem codes, which are relevant
both to active quantum error correcting schemes as well as to the design of
self-correcting quantum memories. Previous approaches for investigating these
codes have focused on applying theoretical analysis to look for interesting
codes and to investigate their properties. In this paper we present an
alternative approach that uses computational analysis to accomplish the same
goals. Specifically, we present an algorithm that computes the optimal quantum
subsystem code that can be implemented given an arbitrary set of measurement
operators that are tensor products of Pauli operators. We then demonstrate the
utility of this algorithm by performing a systematic investigation of the
quantum subsystem codes that exist in the setting where the interactions are
limited to 2-body interactions between neighbors on lattices derived from the
convex uniform tilings of the plane.Comment: 38 pages, 15 figure, 10 tables. The algorithm described in this paper
is available as both library and a command line program (including full
source code) that can be downloaded from
http://github.com/gcross/CodeQuest/downloads. The source code used to apply
the algorithm to scan the lattices is available upon request. Please feel
free to contact the authors with question
From Differentiated Coffee Markets Towards Alternative Trade and Knowledge Networks
This chapter presents a case study focusing on the Community Agroecology Network (CAN), an organization started by the United States and Mesoamerica’s activists, whose effort is to create an alternative trade and knowledge network. The basic aim behind CAN is to benefit conservation and social development efforts by linking producers, consumers, and producer organizations. CAN is a response to the problems arising out of the dominance of certification processes in Fair Trade and organic coffee networks, and the chapter discusses the organization’s main goals of intercommunity relationship development, direct coffee marketing, and ecological sustainability. It moots a comparison between alternative agro-food networks and CAN on the grounds of biodiversity conservation, empowerment, and enhanced livelihoods
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Learning styles, personalisation and adaptable e-learning
Common Learning Management Systems (for example Moodle [1] and Blackboard [2]) are limited in the amount of personalisation that they can offer the learner. They are used widely and do offer a number of tools for instructors to enable them to create and manage courses, however, they do not allow for the learner to have a unique personalised learning experience. The e-Learning platform iLearn offers personalisation for the learner in a number of ways and one way is to offer the specific learning material to the learner based on the learner's learning style. Learning styles and how we learn is a vast research area. Brusilovsky and Millan [3] state that learning styles are typically defined as the way people prefer to learn. Examples of commonly used learning styles are Kolb Learning Styles Theory [4], Felder and Silverman Index of Learning Styles [5], VARK [6] and Honey and Mumford Index of Learning Styles [7] and many research projects (SMILE [8], INSPIRE [9], iWeaver [10] amonst others) attempt to incorporate these learning styles into adaptive e-Learning systems. This paper describes how learning styles are currently being used within the area of adaptive e-Learning. The paper then gives an overview of the iLearn project and also how iLearn is using the VARK learning style to enhance the platform's personalisation and adaptability for the learner. This research also describes the system's design and how the learning style is incorporated into the system design and semantic framework within the learner's profile
Galaxy-Galaxy Flexion: Weak Lensing to Second Order
In this paper, we develop a new gravitational lensing inversion technique.
While traditional approaches assume that the lensing field varies little across
a galaxy image, we note that this variation in the field can give rise to a
``Flexion'' or bending of a galaxy image, which may then be used to detect a
lensing signal with increased signal to noise. Since the significance of the
Flexion signal increases on small scales, this is ideally suited to
galaxy-galaxy lensing. We develop an inversion technique based on the
``Shapelets'' formalism of Refregier (2003). We then demonstrate the proof of
this concept by measuring a Flexion signal in the Deep Lens Survey. Assuming an
intrinsically isothermal distribution, we find from the Flexion signal alone a
velocity width of v_c=221\pm 12 km/s for lens galaxies of r < 21.5, subject to
uncertainties in the intrinsic Flexion distribution.Comment: 11 pages, Latex, 4 figures. Accepted by ApJ, changes include revision
of errors from previous draf
Close Approach during Hard Binary--Binary Scattering
We report on an extensive series of numerical experiments of binary--binary
scattering, analysing the cross--section for close approach during interactions
for a range of hard binary parameters of interest in globular cluster cores. We
consider the implied rate for tidal interactions for different globular
clusters and compare our results with previous, complementary estimates of
stellar collision rates in globular clusters. We find that the collision rate
for binary--binary encounters dominates in low density clusters if the binary
fraction in the cluster is larger than for wide main--sequence binaries.
In dense clusters binary--single interactions dominate the collision rate and
the core binary fraction must be \ltorder 0.1 per decade in semi--major axis
or too many collisions take place compared to observations. The rates are
consistent if binaries with semi--major axes are overabundant in
low density clusters or if breakup and ejection substantially lowers the binary
fraction in denser clusters. Given reasonable assumptions about fractions of
binaries in the cores of low density clusters such as NGC~5053, we cannot
account for all the observed blue stragglers by stellar collisions during
binary encounters, suggesting a substantial fraction may be due to coalescence
of tight primordial binaries.Comment: 13 pages including 13 ps figures. MNRAS in pres
From optimal measurement to efficient quantum algorithms for the hidden subgroup problem over semidirect product groups
We approach the hidden subgroup problem by performing the so-called pretty
good measurement on hidden subgroup states. For various groups that can be
expressed as the semidirect product of an abelian group and a cyclic group, we
show that the pretty good measurement is optimal and that its probability of
success and unitary implementation are closely related to an average-case
algebraic problem. By solving this problem, we find efficient quantum
algorithms for a number of nonabelian hidden subgroup problems, including some
for which no efficient algorithm was previously known: certain metacyclic
groups as well as all groups of the form (Z_p)^r X| Z_p for fixed r (including
the Heisenberg group, r=2). In particular, our results show that entangled
measurements across multiple copies of hidden subgroup states can be useful for
efficiently solving the nonabelian HSP.Comment: 18 pages; v2: updated references on optimal measuremen
Cultivating Sustainable Coffee: Persistent Paradoxes
This chapter discusses the relationship and interconnections among changing the livelihoods of farmers, initiatives for sustainable coffee, and the production of shade-grown coffee. It examines the advantages and opportunities for farmers and producers engaged in coffee certification and diversification programs. The role of Fair Trade and organic networks in creating awareness of biodiversity conservation, the social and environment costs of coffee systems, and the need for supporting small farmers are also discussed. The methods to increase accountability and improve the efficiency of coffee cooperatives are presented in this chapter, as are the importance of understanding the sustainability initiatives and their implications for the regulators, along with the use of land patterns for coffee cultivation
The Optimal Single Copy Measurement for the Hidden Subgroup Problem
The optimization of measurements for the state distinction problem has
recently been applied to the theory of quantum algorithms with considerable
successes, including efficient new quantum algorithms for the non-abelian
hidden subgroup problem. Previous work has identified the optimal single copy
measurement for the hidden subgroup problem over abelian groups as well as for
the non-abelian problem in the setting where the subgroups are restricted to be
all conjugate to each other. Here we describe the optimal single copy
measurement for the hidden subgroup problem when all of the subgroups of the
group are given with equal a priori probability. The optimal measurement is
seen to be a hybrid of the two previously discovered single copy optimal
measurements for the hidden subgroup problem.Comment: 8 pages. Error in main proof fixe
Molecular basis of gap junctional communication in the CNS of the leech Hirudo medicinalis
Gap junctions are intercellular channels that allow the passage of ions and small molecules between cells. In the nervous system, gap junctions mediate electrical coupling between neurons. Despite sharing a common topology and similar physiology, two unrelated gap junction protein families exist in the animal kingdom. Vertebrate gap junctions are formed by members of the connexin family, whereas invertebrate gap junctions are composed of innexin proteins. Here we report the cloning of two innexins from the leech Hirudo medicinalis. These innexins show a differential expression in the leech CNS: Hm-inx1 is expressed by every neuron in the CNS but not in glia, whereas Hm-inx2 is expressed in glia but not neurons. Heterologous expression in the paired Xenopus oocyte system demonstrated that both innexins are able to form functional homotypic gap junctions. Hm-inx1 forms channels that are not strongly gated. In contrast, Hm-inx2 forms channels that are highly voltage-dependent; these channels demonstrate properties resembling those of a double rectifier. In addition, Hm-inx1 and Hm-inx2 are able to cooperate to form heterotypic gap junctions in Xenopus oocytes. The behavior of these channels is primarily that predicted from the properties of the constituent hemichannels but also demonstrates evidence of an interaction between the two. This work represents the first demonstration of a functional gap junction protein from a Lophotrochozoan animal and supports the hypothesis that connexin-based communication is restricted to the deuterostome clade
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