8,988 research outputs found

    Land of My Fathers? Economic Development, Ethnic Division and Ethnic National Identity in 32 Countries

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    We investigate the reasons why some people, and some countries, place greater or lesser emphasis on the idea that membership of a nation is tied to ancestry. We test the influence of two key factors - economic development and ethnic division. Economic development is strongly associated with support for the ancestry criterion of national membership. Those who are more economically secure, who grew up in wealthier nations, or live in a wealthier nation currently, are less likely to emphasise ancestry as an important factor in national identity. Those who have grown up since mass immigration to a country begun are also less likely to emphasise ancestry. However, we find no evidence that historical conditions are correlated with current national identity beliefs.National Identity, Comparative, Survey, Generational Change

    Investigations into the Potential of Constructing Aligned Carbon Nanotube Composite Materials through Additive Layer Manufacture

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    Since their discovery Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted much interest from many fields of the scientific community owing to their range of unique and impressive properties. Measurements of the mechanical properties of these nanoscale molecules have shown strengths up to five times greater than that of steel at only a quarter of the density. Consequently many have attempted to unlock these remarkable properties by creating nano-composite structures where CNTs effectively reinforce materials with little increase in density. Unfortunately the tendency of CNTs to form agglomerations when allowed to disperse in fluid suspensions has made this process non trivial, and led to difficulties in achieving effective reinforcement when simply mixing CNTs into a matrix material. As a result it has become clear that new approaches to composite construction will be required if effective composite reinforcement using CNTs is to be achieved. Recent advances in CNT synthesis using Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) where tall forests of these nanoparticles are grown from the vapour phase have begun to solve the agglomeration problem. These forests are produced in aligned and dispersed arrays, and wetting of these structures with polymer matrices has demonstrated improvements in modulus of several hundred percent. These improvements arise as the CNTs retain both the dispersion and alignment of the forest when incorporated into the matrix thus overcoming the difficulties observed using traditional manufacture methods. New complications arise when attempting to extend these promising results to larger scale composite components owing to the typically millimetre size of CVD grown vertically aligned CNT (VACNT) forests. From these results it follows that to create large composite parts it will be required to incorporate many individually CVD grown VACNT forests into a single composite structure. Strategies to achieve such a composite are being developed, with a range of ideas extending from knowledge gained from the emerging technology of additive manufacture (AM) described as ā€˜...the process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer....ā€™. Indeed it is desirable to reinforce materials used in AM processes and the nano scale diameter of CNTs makes them the perfect choice owing to their high aspect ratios at the micron scale. In this thesis investigations are conducted into the feasibility of manufacturing CNT composite structures using CVD grown forests and AM techniques. These investigations include measurement of the anisotropic mechanical properties of composite samples, and studies of the wetting interactions that occur between CNT forests and polymer materials. Composite samples are constructed and tested mechanically in the transverse orientation and results compared to traditional fibre composite reinforcement models in order to understand the material properties that can be expected if such an AM process is achieved. Results show greater mechanical improvements in transverse modulus than expected, and these results are attributed to the wavy nature of individual CNTs within forest structures providing multi directional reinforcement to the matrix material. Further studies are conducted to investigate the flow of molten thermoplastic materials into CNT forest structures under capillary driven flow. Thermoplastics were allowed to flow into VACNT forests before being cooled and inspected using micro x-ray computed topography (Ī¼-CT) to gain an understanding of the wetting mechanism. Results from Ī¼-CT scans show that the polymer flows into the structure in peaks of similar radius. Finally dynamic investigations were conducted into the fast capillary driven flow of a low viscosity thermoset resin into VACNT forests using a high speed camera. Results are fitted to traditional models for dynamic capillary driven flow in porous media and an effective radius and porosity is calculated for VACNT forests. Experimental values illustrate that these nanoscale structures still fit to traditional flow models of fluids where the height of capillary rise is proportional to the square of the elapsed time. These results provide a further step in understanding methods of incorporating many VACNT structures into polymeric matrices to achieve large scale effective polymer VACNT composite materials.EADS IWEPSR

    Ideology, Truthmaking and Fundamentality

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    In chapter 1 I outline two conceptions of ideology: ideological pessimism and ideological realism. Ideological pessimism is the view that ideological inquiry has dim prospects insofar as ideology is tied to meaning. Ideological realism is the view that there is a fact of the matter about which ideology is taken as primitive when attempting to describe reality correctly. I respond to an argument on behalf of ideological pessimism, develop ideological realism, and then defend it against an objection that attempts to derive the unpalatable consequence that a main dispute in the metaphysics of properties is verbal. In chapter 2 I argue that we should uphold the traditional understanding of the ideology/ontology distinction in light of ideological realism. I then argue against the doctrine that certain disputes about composition have the epistemic consequence of providing no grounds for us to believe in one theory over another. In chapter 3 I argue that truthmakers do not necessitate the truths they make true. They either grounds their truths or make true their truths and nothing else can be said about the connection between truth and reality. It is to be taken as primitive that truthmakers make true the truths they make true. In chapter 4 I explore two versions of truthmaking as a theory of fundamentality. I argue against the first and defend the second against various objections and problems. I argue that if we adopt truthmaking as a theory of fundamentality, then we should believe in the second version

    A2_3 Terraforming Mars: Creating a Magnetic Field

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    This paper investigates the possibility of generating a magnetic field on Mars by using a single turn coil. It was found that the current needed to create a magnetic field of similar magnitude to that of the Earthā€™s is 9.47E8 A. In order for a cable of copper to be able to carry this current without melting it was found that it would need a radius of 70.4m. The power that is needed to run this coil was found to be 2.06E13 Js-1 which is 121% of the power used on Earth every second

    A2_5 Rotation Aviation

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    This paper investigates the feasibility of an aircraft flying using the Magnus efect by replacing its conventional wings with cylindrical wings that rotate. It is found that if the wings were to maintain roughly their current size, the minimum angular frequency required to create enough lift at take-off is 37.69 rad/s and at cruising speed is 8.58 rad/s

    A2_6 Look at the size of that!

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    Further to the paper titled "Terraforming Mars: Creating a Magnetic Field" we investigate the size of the magnetopause that would be created by giving Mars a dipolar magnetic field. It is found that if the magnetic field at the equator is the same as that on Earth (31,000nT) then the stand-off distance of the magnetopause would be roughly 37000km

    Strategy and its discontents: the place of strategy in national policymaking

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    This paper presents a collection of views about the definition, role, purpose and health of strategic policymaking. Introduction One of the liveliest debates to have taken place on ASPIā€™s blog, The Strategist, concerned the place of strategy in Canberraā€™s policymaking community. It seems that thereā€™s little consensus around what strategyā€™s core business should be, let alone who should practice it and whether indeed enough strategy is being done by DFAT, Defence or other parts of government. The 11 short pieces printed here by eight authors with quite diverse perspectives span a broad range of views about the definition, role, purpose and health of strategic policymaking. Thereā€™s no more important debate in public policy than on the place of strategy in meeting complex national challenges. This paper hopefully will encourage a more structured debate about strategyā€™s place at the heart of national policymaking
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