195 research outputs found
Divide and Conquer? The Russian Plan for Ownership of the Caspian Sea
The search for alternative sources of oil has renewed U.S. interest in the Caspian Sea. Bordered by Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the Caspian Sea contains up to thirty-three billion barrels of proven oil reserYes. The legal status of the Caspian has remained unresolved since the collapse of the Soviet Union, however. In the early 1990s Russia joined with Iran to argue for common ownership of the sea by all five states, aiming for Yeto power over Western involvement in the region. Now, Russia argues for dividing the seabed (and the oil and gas underneath it) into national sectors, while leaving most of the surface waters for common management and use. The Russian solution offers political and economic benefits to both Russia and the United States in the short run, but may be an unsound basis for long-term stability in the Caspian region
State Failure and the Use of Force in the Age of Global Terror
The expansion of U.S. counterterrorist operations throughout the world coincides with a growing sense among some U.S. policymakers that so-called failed states pose grave threats to international security. The governments of failed states have weakened to the point that they can no longer provide public goods, such as territorial integrity, economic infrastructure, and physical security. U.S. defense strategists suspect that the lawlessness of failed states may do more to undermine security in the United States than direct confrontation by hostile governments. Denying terrorists the sanctuary they seek in failed states may become a central feature in the war on terror, and it is likely that the United States will use preemptive force against suspected terrorists inside a state that is incapable of policing itself. This Note examines the legality of using preemptive military force against suspected terrorists located in failed states
Rethinking Trust, Reconnecting Us
Advancements in online platforms can lead to a more widely informed public, but they also create room for false information. Misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine has become a public safety issue. Our team created a project that contributes to solving this global problem. Our projectâs mission is to tackle vaccine related misinformation. The project utilizes a human-centered method to design a solution.
Based on our literature review the main problem is skepticism about getting vaccinated. Our solution is to create an online portal targeted at college students, highlighting the benefits of vaccination, examining examples of misinformation, providing trusted sources for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals and persuading misinformation receivers to improve their media literacy.
Our understanding of the target audience increased via QR code stickers that directed unvaccinated individuals to a survey. This data, alongside student and expert interviews, helped design our platform. The siteâs tailored to the concerns of those less likely to receive the vaccine due to misinformation. Part of our campaign is to use Facebook to direct people to our website, which has had nearly 433 views since its launch in February.
A stronger future in a virtual world requires sharpening the world\u27s ability to spot misinformation. Our project called upon our target audience to engage in 4 Rs: rethink COVID vaccine information they receive, re-evaluate information by fact-checking, reconsider getting vaccinated so that they can reconnect with their family and friends safely. We built an internationally accessible website, fostered an accepting online environment for education and asking questions to a healthcare professional, increased awareness of COVID-19 misinformation, connected individuals with different perspectives on vaccinations, encouraged young people to improve their media literacy, developed an appealing brand for vaccine-hesitant young people, contributed to research about campaign strategies for reducing vaccine hesitancy, and weâve sparked a global conversation
Growth and Structure of Stochastic Sequences
We introduce a class of stochastic integer sequences. In these sequences,
every element is a sum of two previous elements, at least one of which is
chosen randomly. The interplay between randomness and memory underlying these
sequences leads to a wide variety of behaviors ranging from stretched
exponential to log-normal to algebraic growth. Interestingly, the set of all
possible sequence values has an intricate structure.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Fast Frictionless Expansion of an Optical Lattice
We investigate fast frictionless expansion of an optical lattice with
dynamically variable spacing (accordion lattice). We design an expansion
trajectory that yields a final state identical to the initial state up to an
irrelevant phase factor. We discuss the effect of additional force and
nonlinear interaction on the fast frictionless expansion.Comment: To be published in PL
Primary Care Physiciansâ Views on Medical Error and Disclosure in Cancer Care
Introduction: Effective physician-patient communication is critical in cancer care. Breakdowns in communication may follow an actual or suspected medical error because of various professional or medicolegal concerns about those events. We examined views of primary care physicians (PCPs) regarding two hypothetical medical errors, their perceptions of responsibility and intent to communicate these events to patients.
Objectives: To describe PCPs views on medical errors, perceived responsibility and communication after errors during cancer care.
Methods: We surveyed 630 PCPs at 3 healthcare organizations participating in the Cancer Research Network. Questionnaires included two vignettes describing possible medical errors: a delayed diagnosis of breast cancer and; preventable complications of colon cancer treatment. Questions assessed perceived responsibility and intent to communicate with the patient after the event.
Results: A total of 333 PCPs responded (response rate =53%). Eighty-one percent felt that the delayed diagnosis vignette described a serious error; (60%) believed that the preventable complications of colon cancer treatment vignette represented a serious medical error. Few would offer no apology at all for the delayed diagnosis (4%) or the colon cancer complications complications (7%). The most common expression of regret was âI am sorry about what happened to youâ without elaboration (48% delayed diagnosis; 56% complications). Just over half (51%) would not volunteer the cause of the delayed diagnosis; compared to 25% in the complications vignette. Perception of the error as serious, and of greater personal responsibility were both predictive of being more forthcoming when communicating to patient after the event; perceived self-efficacy in communication and the belief that oneâs organization values good communication were not.
Conclusion: PCPs vary in their attitudes towards medical errors, and their perceptions of responsibility. These attitudes and perceptions are predictive of how physicians intend to communicate with patients after such events, at least in response to two hypothetical cases
Kilohertz-driven Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices
We analyze time-of-flight absorption images obtained with dilute
Bose-Einstein con-densates released from shaken optical lattices, both
theoretically and experimentally. We argue that weakly interacting, ultracold
quantum gases in kilohertz-driven optical potentials constitute equilibrium
systems characterized by a steady-state distri-bution of Floquet-state
occupation numbers. Our experimental results consistently indicate that a
driven ultracold Bose gas tends to occupy a single Floquet state, just as it
occupies a single energy eigenstate when there is no forcing. When the driving
amplitude is sufficiently high, the Floquet state possessing the lowest mean
energy does not necessarily coincide with the Floquet state connected to the
ground state of the undriven system. We observe strongly driven Bose gases to
condense into the former state under such conditions, thus providing nontrivial
examples of dressed matter waves.Comment: 36 pages, 3 figures, Advance Atomic Molecular Physics in pres
From âgreenest government everâ to âget rid of all the green crapâ: David Cameron, the Conservatives and the environment
The environment was David Cameronâs signature issue underpinning his modernization agenda. In opposition the âVote Blue, Go Greenâ strategy had a positive impact on the partyâs image: the environment operated as a valence issue in a period of raised public concern, particularly about climate change, and Cameronâs high-profile support contributed to the cross-party consensus that delivered radical change in climate policy. Although the Coalition government has implemented important environmental measures, the Conservatives have not enhanced their green credentials in government and Cameron has failed to provide strong leadership on the issue. Since 2010, climate change has to some extent been transformed into a positional issue. Conservative MPs, urged on by the right-wing press, have adopted an increasingly partisan approach to climate change, and opinion polls reveal clear partisan divisions on climate change amongst public opinion. As a positional issue climate change has become challenging for the Conservatives, showing them to be internally divided, rebellious and inclined to support producer interests. This article makes a contribution to our understanding of Conservative modernization, while also challenging the dominant assumption in the scholarly literature that the environment, particularly climate change, is a valence issue
Quantum-state control in optical lattices
We study the means to prepare and coherently manipulate atomic wave packets
in optical lattices, with particular emphasis on alkali atoms in the
far-detuned limit. We derive a general, basis independent expression for the
lattice operator, and show that its off-diagonal elements can be tailored to
couple the vibrational manifolds of separate magnetic sublevels. Using these
couplings one can evolve the state of a trapped atom in a quantum coherent
fashion, and prepare pure quantum states by resolved-sideband Raman cooling. We
explore the use of atoms bound in optical lattices to study quantum tunneling
and the generation of macroscopic superposition states in a double-well
potential. Far-off-resonance optical potentials lend themselves particularly
well to reservoir engineering via well controlled fluctuations in the
potential, making the atom/lattice system attractive for the study of
decoherence and the connection between classical and quantum physics.Comment: 35 pages including 8 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. A. March 199
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