Basic zeta functions and some applications in physics

It is the aim of these lectures to introduce some basic zeta functions and their uses in the areas of the Casimir effect and Bose-Einstein condensation. A brief introduction into these areas is given in the respective sections. We will consider exclusively spectral zeta functions, that is zeta functions arising from the eigenvalue spectrum of suitable differential operators. There is a set of technical tools that are at the very heart of understanding analytical properties of essentially every spectral zeta function. Those tools are introduced using the well-studied examples of the Hurwitz, Epstein and Barnes zeta function. It is explained how these different examples of zeta functions can all be thought of as being generated by the same mechanism, namely they all result from eigenvalues of suitable (partial) differential operators. It is this relation with partial differential operators that provides the motivation for analyzing the zeta functions considered in these lectures. Motivations come for example from the questions "Can one hear the shape of a drum?" and "What does the Casimir effect know about a boundary?". Finally "What does a Bose gas know about its container?"Comment: To appear in "A Window into Zeta and Modular Physics", Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Publications, Vol. 57, 2010, Cambridge University Pres

Political liberalism and the value of autonomy

Is there a conflict between the claim that the state ought not to promote any values and the idea that it ought to encourage autonomy? Colburn (2010) denies such a conflict. In this paper, I will argue that Colburn’s considerations fail to dissolve the dissent between political liberalism and an autonomy-minded perfectionism. In order to show this, I will focus on the question of whether or not the state may be committed to the value of autonomy in the educational system

Not as strong as we thought: The puzzling collapse of the Mubarak regime in Egypt

After nearly thirty years in rule, the regime of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt was considered by many to be as 1Cimmovable as the pyramids 1D (Hamid 2011: 102). However, the collapse of this regime in 2011, following a mere eighteen days of protests stymied many scholars who began to question how such a revered 18pharaoh 19 could have fallen so abruptly. In this thesis, I try to provide an answer to this question. I hypothesise that the collapse of the Mubarak regime was facilitated by four developments, which, when combined, exposed the true hollowness of the regime 19s coercive and persuasive powers. These four developments were: the declining legitimacy of the Mubarak regime; the defection of key internal and external allies from the regime; the coalescence of a broad and unified opposition; and the strategic use of social media by that opposition. Through the development of a theoretical framework and the subsequent application of that framework to the case study of Egypt, this thesis finds that all four of these developments were present and did in fact facilitate the collapse of the Mubarak regime by revealing the regime 19s lack of coercive and persuasive powers