Soft Power Played on the Hardwood: United States Diplomacy through Basketball

This thesis demonstrates the importance of basketball as a form of soft power and a diplomatic asset to better achieve American foreign policy, which is defined and referred to as basketball diplomacy. Basketball diplomacy is also a lens to observe the evolution of American power from 1893 through present day. Basketball connects and permeates foreign cultures and effectively disseminates American influence unlike any other form of soft power, which is most powerfully illustrated by the United States’ basketball relationship with China. American basketball diplomacy will become stronger and connect with more countries with greater influence, and exist without relevant competition, until the likely rise of China in the indefinite future. As a result of basketball diplomacy, Chinese culture has internalized American influence, likewise for many other countries, which will positively benefit the United States as China possibly challenges American hegemony

Modding for Emergence: Using Cellular Automata, Randomness, and Influence Maps in the Source Game Engine

Recent advances in the field of educational technology have promoted the re-purposing of entertainment-oriented games and software for educational applications. This thesis extends a project developed at Texas A&M University called Room 309, a re-purposed modification of Valve Software’s Source Development Kit that models classroom scenarios to pre-service teachers. To further explore effectiveness in the area of re-playability, this work incorporates emergent game behaviors and environments using cellular automata, randomness, and influence maps within the existing nonemergent structure. By introducing these qualities game play is expected to become less predictable, thus increasing the effectiveness of Room 309 as a learning tool

On the relative importance of thermal and chemical buoyancy in regular and impact-induced melting in a Mars-like planet

We ran several series of two-dimensional numerical mantle convection simulations representing in idealized form the thermochemical evolution of a Mars-like planet. In order to study the importance of compositional buoyancy of melting mantle, the models were set up in pairs of one including all thermal and compositional contributions to buoyancy and one accounting only for the thermal contributions. In several of the model pairs, single large impacts were introduced as causes of additional strong local anomalies, and their evolution in the framework of the convecting mantle was tracked. The models confirm that the additional buoyancy provided by the depletion of the mantle by regular melting can establish a global stable stratification of the convecting mantle and throttle crust production. Furthermore, the compositional buoyancy is essential in the stabilization and preservation of local compositional anomalies directly beneath the lithosphere and offers a possible explanation for the existence of distinct, long-lived reservoirs in the martian mantle. The detection of such anomalies by geophysical means is probably difficult, however; they are expected to be detected by gravimetry rather than by seismic or heat flow measurements. The results further suggest that the crustal thickness can be locally overestimated by up to ~20 km if impact-induced density anomalies in the mantle are neglected.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure

Executive summary: "Mantle Frontier" workshop

The workshop on “Reaching the Mantle Frontier: Moho and Beyond� was held at the Broad Branch Road Campus of the Carnegie Institution of Washington on 9–11 September 2010. The workshop attracted seventy-four scientists and engineers from academia and industry in North America, Asia, and Europe.Reaching and sampling the mantle through penetration of the entire oceanic crust and the Mohorovi�ić discontinuity (Moho) has been a longstanding goal of the Earth science community. The Moho is a seismic transition, often sharp, from a region with compressional wave velocities (Vp) less than 7.5 km s-1 to velocities ~8 km s-1. It is interpreted in many tectonic settings, and particularly in tectonic exposures of oceanic lower crust, as the transition from igneous crust to mantle rocks that are the residues of melt extraction. Revealing the in situ geological meaning of the Moho is the heart of the Mohole project. Documenting ocean-crust exchanges and the nature and extent of the subseafloor biosphere have also become integral components of the endeavor. The purpose of the “Mantle Frontier� workshop was to identify key scientific objectives associated with innovative technology solutions along with associated timelines and costs for developments and implementation of this grandchallenge

Ancient heat flow, crustal thickness, and lithospheric mantle rheology in the Amenthes region, Mars

Surface heat flow calculations for the Amenthes region of Mars can be independently performed using the depth to the brittle–ductile transition and the effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere estimated for the Late Noachian/Early Hesperian (equivalent to an estimated absolute age of ~3.6–3.8 Ga). This, along with crustal heat production rates estimated from heat-producing elements abundances, permits us to put constraints, for that particular place and time, on both the thermal and mechanical properties of the lithosphere and the crustal thickness. The depth to the brittle– ductile transition deduced from modeling of the topography of Amenthes Rupes is 27–35 km, and the associated surface heat flow is 26–37 mWm−2. On the other hand, the effective elastic thickness in this region is between 19 and 35 km: the surface heat flow deduced by considering crustal and lithospheric mantle contributions to the total lithospheric strength, as well as wet or dry olivine for lithospheric mantle rheology, is 31–49mWm−2. The relatively limited overlap among Te- andzBDT-based heat flowvalues implies a surface heat flowof 31–36mWm−2 (with a high fraction originated from crustal heat sources) and awet mantle rheology. The so obtained local crustal thickness is 43–74 km,which suggests an average thickness of~40–75 km for the Martian crust; for the frequently used crustal density of 2900 kgm−3, our results suggest a crustal thickness of 50–63km for theAmenthes region, and an average crustal thickness of ~45–65 km for Mars

What can Olympus Mons tell us about the Martian lithosphere?

Under gravitational loading, a volcanic edifice deforms, and the underlying lithosphere downflexes. This has been observed on Earth, but is equally true on other planets. We use finite element models to simulate this gravity-driven deformation at Olympus Mons on Mars. Eleven model parameters, including the geometry and material properties of the edifice, lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere, are varied to establish which parameters have the greatest effect on deformation. Values for parameters that affect deformation at Olympus Mons, Mars, are constrained by minimising misfit between modelled and observed measurements of edifice height, edifice radius, and flexural moat width. Our inferred value for the Young's modulus of the Martian lithosphere, 17.8 GPa, is significantly lower than values used previously, suggesting that the Martian lithosphere is more porous than generally assumed. The best-fitting values for other parameters: edifice density (2111 – 2389 kg.m –3) and lithosphere thickness (83.3 km) are within ranges proposed hitherto. The best-fitting values of model parameters are interdependent; a decrease in lithosphere Young's modulus must be accompanied by a decrease in edifice density and/or an increase in lithosphere thickness. Our results identify the parameters that should be considered within all models of gravity-driven volcano deformation; highlight the importance of the often-overlooked Young's modulus; and provide further constraints on the properties of the Martian lithosphere, namely its porosity, which have implications for the transport and storage of fluid throughout Mars' history