"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't": Mimicking behaviour of growth-oriented terrorist organizations

This paper examines the interaction between a growth-oriented terrorist organization and an uninformed government based on a two-period signaling game. The terrorists, taking into account the government's counter-terrorism response to first period attacks, gain additional manpower from successful attacks and choose their strategy to maximize the available manpower at the end of period 2. The government tries to infer the terrorist organization's size from the terrorists' attack choice it observes in period 1 and adjusts its second period counter-terrorism spending according to the perceived threat of terrorism. Combining the signaling game and organizational growth approaches of previous contributions, this paper shows that, if a terrorist group follows a growth strategy, it has an incentive to appear weaker than it is by mimicking the behaviour of a smaller organization. Furthermore, depending on its beliefs about the extent of the terrorist threat it can be optimal for a government to spend more on second period counter-terrorism measures if it is not attacked than if it were attacked. The behaviour of contemporary terrorist groups suggests that the assumptions of a growth strategy and mimicking behaviour are justified

Sales and Consumer Inventory

Temporary price reductions (sales) are quite common for many goods and usually result in an increase in the quantity sold. We explore whether the data support the hypothesis that these increases are, at least partly, due to dynamic consumer behavior: at low prices consumers stockpile for future consumption. This effect, if present, has broad implications for interpretation of demand estimates. We construct a dynamic model of consumer choice and use it to derive testable predictions. We test the implications of the model using two years of store-level scanner data and data on the purchases of a panel of households over the same time. The results support the existence of household stockpiling behavior.

Thermoplastic rubberlike material produced at low cost

Thermoplastic rubberlike material is prepared by blending a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate with asphalt and a petroleum distillate. This low cost material is easily molded or extruded and is compatible with a variety of fillers

Thermoplastic rubber comprising ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, asphalt and fluxing oil

A thermoplastic rubber is made from a mixture of between about 10 percent and about 50 percent of asphalt, between about 5 percent and about 30 percent fluxing oil, and between about 35 percent and about 70 percent of a copolymer of polyethylene and vinyl acetate

On the universal mod pp supersingular quotients for GL2(F)\mathrm {GL}_2(F) over F‾p\overline{\mathbb F}_p for a general F/QpF/\mathbb{Q}_p

Let $F/\mathbb{Q}_p$ be a finite extension. We explore the universal supersingular mod $p$ representations of $\mathrm{GL}_2(F)$ through computing a basis of their invariant space under the pro-$p$ Iwahori subgroup. This generalizes works of Breuil and Schein from $\mathbb{Q}_p$ and the totally ramified cases to the arbitrary one. Using these results we then construct for an unramified $F/\mathbb{Q}_p$ a quotient of the universal supersingular module which has as quotients all the supersingular representations of $\mathrm{GL}_2(F)$ with a $\mathrm{GL}_2(\mathcal{O}_F)$-socle that is expected to appear in the mod $p$ local Langlands correspondence. A construction for the case of an extension of $\mathbb{Q}_p$ with inertia degree 2 and suitable ramification index is also presented.Comment: 30 pages, comments welcome. Revised version: bad alignment of equations, typos and some layout issues fixed. Conclusion 1.3 about endomorhpisms of the universal supersingular quotients added. Proofs in Sections 3.2 and 3.3 made clearer. Main results unchange

Adaptive type-2 fuzzy second order sliding mode control for nonlinear uncertain chaotic system

In this paper, a robust adaptive type-2 fuzzy higher order sliding mode controller is designed to stabilize the unstable periodic orbits of uncertain perturbed chaotic system with internal parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. In Higher Order Sliding Mode Control (HOSMC),the chattering phenomena of the control effort is reduced, by using Super Twisting algorithm. Adaptive interval type-2 fuzzy systems are proposed to approximate the unknown part of uncertain chaotic system and to generate the Super Twisting signals. Based on Lyapunov criterion, adaptation laws are derived and the closed loop system stability is guaranteed. An illustrative example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, International Journal of Computational Science, Information Technology and Control Engineering (IJCSITCE) Vol.2, No.4, October 201

Cold solid propellant motor has stop-restart capability

Solid propellant rocket is kept and fired at low temperatures in launch vehicles or spacecraft. The motor is capable of developing a specific impulse comparable to that of liquid propellant motors, is started, stopped, and restarted, and is stored in space without solar radiation causing hot spots on the motor casing

The Irrational Element of Self and Creation in the Time of the Plague

In this paper I discuss how I went beyond commonplace, rational ways of theater-making and relied on certain “extreme”, irrational gestures to create my production of Charles Mee’s Orestes 2.0. I discuss the circumstances that led me to unlock my subjective artistry, the manner in which I tackled and fulfilled my “directorial concept”, and how I created a production that challenged the tyranny of rationality both on the stage and within the culture of the theater department. I relate personal experiences entering school during a time of national suspicion, and I discuss how a more expansive artistic outlook developed in response to my environment. I go through the execution of my directorial concept and show how I “projected a world” from my interior into the theatrical concrete, drawing on the work of master Polish director Tadeusz Kantor. I describe the “rules” of my theatrical world in terms of its diegetic reality, its method of construction, and its aims. I then describe the rehearsal process, highlighting the ways that irrational methods and a focus on body and imagination drove the process. I discuss my creative state of mind, my performance as the character Farley, and the way in which I hoped authority and sense-making functioned in the audience experience of the performance.Throughout, I accompany my ideas with supporting quotations from Mee’s play and the writing of French theorist, poet, and director Antonin Artaud, situating my use of the power of the irrational inside the theatrical tradition and the play-text

Addition of solid oxidizer increases liquid fuel specific impulse

Adding soluble solid oxidizers to hydrazine and similar fuels makes them useful in low temperature bipropellant systems. These oxidizers improve the low specific impulse, high freezing point, low boiling point, and low density of the fuels