Alternative explanation of North Korea's survival: successful application of smart power

The original contribution of this study is to demonstrate how North Korea survives by using smart power. The existing literature has offered partial explanations, but many have lost their explanatory power over time and there seems to be no definitive answer to explain how North Korea survives. This multi-case study was designed to explore how the North uses smart power by examining its provocations from the Korean War to August 2015. The rationale for this study is to increase understanding of Pyongyang’s behavior and offer recommendations to bring long-term stability to the Korean Peninsula. This study purposefully began with the Korean War because it was assumed that, without understanding the origin of North Korean provocations, it would be difficult to provide the proper temporal context for other provocations. This study reveals that Kim Il-sung and his guerrillas consolidated power and established totalitarian rule dominated by his Juche ideology (self-reliance). Subsequently, they waged a long war of reunification from 1948 to the 1980s. Although Kim’s smart power attempts failed to achieve his principal aim of reunification, when Beijing and Moscow abandoned him in the early 1990s he focused on regime survival. He bolstered his weak hand by playing the nuclear card to buy more time to ensure the hereditary succession by his son Kim Jong-il, who defied predictions he would not survive and proclaimed Songun (military-first) to deal with the changing international environment. He demonstrated his own skill by exploiting Seoul’s Sunshine Policy and successfully negotiating three nuclear agreements with the U.S. After his death, Kim Jong-un waged a reign of terror to consolidate power and manufactured crises to bolster his legitimacy and demonstrate his leadership. He also invoked his grandfather’s anti-Japanese legacy and the Byungjin policy (simultaneous development of nuclear weapons and the economy) to legitimize his rule. The evidence shows he is rational and that offers opportunities to resolve the North Korea issue

Cohomology of toric line bundles via simplicial Alexander duality

We give a rigorous mathematical proof for the validity of the toric sheaf cohomology algorithm conjectured in the recent paper by R. Blumenhagen, B. Jurke, T. Rahn, and H. Roschy (arXiv:1003.5217). We actually prove not only the original algorithm but also a speed-up version of it. Our proof is independent from (in fact appeared earlier on the arXiv than) the proof by H. Roschy and T. Rahn (arXiv:1006.2392), and has several advantages such as being shorter and cleaner and can also settle the additional conjecture on "Serre duality for Betti numbers" which was raised but unresolved in arXiv:1006.2392.Comment: 9 pages. Theorem 1.1 and Corollary 1.2 improved; Abstract and Introduction modified; References updated. To appear in Journal of Mathematical Physic

Statistics of unstable periodic orbits of a chaotic dynamical system with a large number of degrees of freedom

For a simple model of chaotic dynamical systems with a large number of degrees of freedom, we find that there is an ensemble of unstable periodic orbits (UPOs) with the special property that the expectation values of macroscopic quantities can be calculated using only one UPO sampled from the ensemble. Evidence to support this conclusion is obtained by generating the ensemble by Monte Carlo calculation for a statistical mechanical model described by a space-time Hamiltonian that is expressed in terms of Floquet exponents of UPOs. This result allows us to interpret the recent interesting discovery that statistical properties of turbulence can be obtained from only one UPO [G. Kawahara and S. Kida, J. Fluid Mech. {\bf 449}, 291 (2001); S. Kato and M. Yamada, Phys. Rev. E {\bf 68}, 025302(R)(2003)].Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. In order to clarify generality of our result and the role of a large number of degrees of freedom, a brief subsection was adde

A theoretical and numerical approach to "magic angle" of stone skipping

We investigate oblique impacts of a circular disk and water surface. An experiment [ Clanet, C., Hersen, F. and Bocquet, L., Nature 427, 29 (2004) ] revealed that there exists a "magic angle" of 20 [deg.] between a disk face and water surface which minimize the required speed for ricochet. We perform 3-dimensional simulation of the water impacts using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and analyze the results with an ordinal differential equation (ODE) model. Our simulation is in good agreement with the experiment. The analysis with the ODE model give us a theoretical insight for the ``magic angle" of stone skipping.Comment: 4 pages, 4figure

Optical Weak Link between Two Spatially Separate Bose-Einstein Condensates

Two spatially separate Bose-Einstein condensates were prepared in an optical double-well potential. A bidirectional coupling between the two condensates was established by two pairs of Bragg beams which continuously outcoupled atoms in opposite directions. The atomic currents induced by the optical coupling depend on the relative phase of the two condensates and on an additional controllable coupling phase. This was observed through symmetric and antisymmetric correlations between the two outcoupled atom fluxes. A Josephson optical coupling of two condensates in a ring geometry is proposed. The continuous outcoupling method was used to monitor slow relative motions of two elongated condensates and characterize the trapping potential.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

The effects of impregnation of precious metals on the catalytic activity of titanium silicate (TS-1) in epoxidation of propene using hydrogen peroxide

Propene oxide is an important chemical intermediate and titanium silicalite (TS-1) has been widely investigated as a promising catalyst for the direct epoxidation of propene with ex-situ or in-situ produced hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant. In order to clarify the effects of the kind of precious metal and treatment process in the catalyst preparation on the propene epoxidation and the hydrogen peroxide decomposition, TS-1 was impregnated with gold and palladium via drying, calcination and reduction and the experiments to check its catalytic performance were conducted in a gas aspirating autoclave reactor in the absence of mass transfer limitations. The presence of precious metals vigorously catalyzed the side reactions and hydrogen peroxide decomposition. Some of the precious metal containing TS-1 catalysts showed high initial rates but there was no catalyst with a propene oxide yield after 5 h reaction time comparable to TS-1 alone because of the enhancement of side reactions by precious metals. The significant decline in the selectivity to propene oxide over the dried precious metal containing TS-1 catalysts was attributed to the leaching of precious metals into the reaction medium. Palladium containing TS-1 showed exceptionally high decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. Reduction and calcination increased the decomposition by forming metallic gold and palladium. Homogeneous dispersion of gold nanoparticles was achieved by a sol immobilization method which led to a decrease of propene oxide selectivity and an increase of hydrogen peroxide decomposition

Sine-Gordon Soliton on a Cnoidal Wave Background

The method of Darboux transformation, which is applied on cnoidal wave solutions of the sine-Gordon equation, gives solitons moving on a cnoidal wave background. Interesting characteristics of the solution, i.e., the velocity of solitons and the shift of crests of cnoidal waves along a soliton, are calculated. Solutions are classified into three types (Type-1A, Type-1B, Type-2) according to their apparent distinct properties.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, Contents change

Atom interferometry with Bose-Einstein condensates in a double-well potential

A trapped-atom interferometer was demonstrated using gaseous Bose-Einstein condensates coherently split by deforming an optical single-well potential into a double-well potential. The relative phase between the two condensates was determined from the spatial phase of the matter wave interference pattern formed upon releasing the condensates from the separated potential wells. Coherent phase evolution was observed for condensates held separated by 13 $\mu$m for up to 5 ms and was controlled by applying ac Stark shift potentials to either of the two separated condensates.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Degeneration and impaired regeneration of gray matter oligodendrocytes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Oligodendrocytes associate with axons to establish myelin and provide metabolic support to neurons. In the spinal cord of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mice, oligodendrocytes downregulate transporters that transfer glycolytic substrates to neurons and oligodendrocyte progenitors (NG2(+) cells) exhibit enhanced proliferation and differentiation, although the cause of these changes in oligodendroglia is unknown. We found extensive degeneration of gray matter oligodendrocytes in the spinal cord of SOD1 (G93A) ALS mice prior to disease onset. Although new oligodendrocytes were formed, they failed to mature, resulting in progressive demyelination. Oligodendrocyte dysfunction was also prevalent in human ALS, as gray matter demyelination and reactive changes in NG2(+) cells were observed in motor cortex and spinal cord of ALS patients. Selective removal of mutant SOD1 from oligodendroglia substantially delayed disease onset and prolonged survival in ALS mice, suggesting that ALS-linked genes enhance the vulnerability of motor neurons and accelerate disease by directly impairing the function of oligodendrocytes

Spin relaxation in mesoscopic superconducting Al wires

We studied the diffusion and the relaxation of the polarized quasiparticle spins in superconductors. To that end, quasiparticles of polarized spins were injected through an interface of a mesoscopic superconducting Al wire in proximity contact with an overlaid ferromagnetic Co wire in the single-domain state. The superconductivity was observed to be suppressed near the spin-injecting interface, as evidenced by the occurrence of a finite voltage for a bias current below the onset of the superconducting transition. The spin diffusion length, estimated from finite voltages over a certain length of Al wire near the interface, was almost temperature independent in the temperature range sufficiently below the superconducting transition but grew as the transition temperature was approached. This temperature dependence suggests that the relaxation of the spin polarization in the superconducting state is governed by the condensation of quasiparticles to the paired state. The spin relaxation in the superconducting state turned out to be more effective than in the normal state.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure