A Tale of Two Paradigms: How Genealogical and Comparative Historical analysis can help reset the intractable debate over the causation of ideological violence

This study responds to the endemic lack of clarity and consensus afflicting academic and policy discussions on the causes of ideological violence and, by extension, the appropriate means for preventing/containing it. I trace, conceptualise, and problematise the long-standing debate between two deeply entrenched oppositional camps or ‘paradigms’ – heuristically dubbed the ‘conservative’ and ‘progressive’ paradigms of ideological violence, respectively – that propose competing explanations for the causation of ideological violence; the former considering it a product of irrational individual dysfunction, the latter viewing it as a rational (if often misguided) response to societal dysfunction. Further, I show that extant attempts at reconciling/synthesising these paradigms have, to date, proven problematic. I explore how and why these opposing paradigms emerged and why debate between them persists. I argue that they are shaped, perpetuated and marred by multiple extra-academic dynamics and naturalised assumptions and conclude that clarity and consensus is unlikely unless we can ‘reset’ the debate, making a conscious decision to ‘step back’ from our extant paradigms/assumptions and approach the phenomenon with fresh eyes. I propose and demonstrate two methodological approaches that – used in conjunction – can contribute towards this end. Firstly, I propose that – and demonstrate how - Genealogical Analysis can aid in this ‘stepping back’ by denaturalising our entrenched assumptions on the causes of ideological violence (i.e., our extant paradigms) by uncovering how and why those assumptions came to be held and reified. Secondly, I propose and demonstrate Comparative Historical Analysis’ utility as a tool that can aid in re-approaching the phenomena with fresh eyes by helping - gradually and collaboratively - to construct a new set of more methodologically-rigorous assumptions (i.e., a new paradigm) upon which extant research built upon either extant paradigm can be resituated, reinterpreted, de-limited, and synthesised, and further research can be premised

Remote sensing of coccolithophore blooms in selected oceanic regions using the PhytoDOAS method applied to hyper-spectral satellite data

In this study temporal variations of coccolithophore blooms are investigated using satellite data. Eight years (from 2003 to 2010) of data of SCIAMACHY, a hyper-spectral satellite sensor on-board ENVISAT, were processed by the PhytoDOAS method to monitor the biomass of coccolithophores in three selected regions. These regions are characterized by frequent occurrence of large coccolithophore blooms. The retrieval results, shown as monthly mean time series, were compared to related satellite products, including the total surface phytoplankton, i.e. total chlorophyll a (from GlobColour merged data) and the particulate inorganic carbon (from MODIS-Aqua). The inter-annual variations of the phytoplankton bloom cycles and their maximum monthly mean values have been compared in the three selected regions to the variations of the geophysical parameters: sea-surface temperature (SST), mixed-layer depth (MLD) and surface wind-speed, which are known to affect phytoplankton dynamics. For each region, the anomalies and linear trends of the monitored parameters over the period of this study have been computed. The patterns of total phytoplankton biomass and specific dynamics of coccolithophore chlorophyll a in the selected regions are discussed in relation to other studies. The PhytoDOAS results are consistent with the two other ocean color products and support the reported dependencies of coccolithophore biomass dynamics on the compared geophysical variables. This suggests that PhytoDOAS is a valid method for retrieving coccolithophore biomass and for monitoring its bloom developments in the global oceans. Future applications of time series studies using the PhytoDOAS data set are proposed, also using the new upcoming generations of hyper-spectral satellite sensors with improved spatial resolution

Electron propagation in crossed magnetic and electric fields

Laser-atom interaction can be an efficient mechanism for the production of coherent electrons. We analyze the dynamics of monoenergetic electrons in the presence of uniform, perpendicular magnetic and electric fields. The Green function technique is used to derive analytic results for the field--induced quantum mechanical drift motion of i) single electrons and ii) a dilute Fermi gas of electrons. The method yields the drift current and, at the same time it allows us to quantitatively establish the broadening of the (magnetic) Landau levels due to the electric field: Level number k is split into k+1 sublevels that render the $k$th oscillator eigenstate in energy space. Adjacent Landau levels will overlap if the electric field exceeds a critical strength. Our observations are relevant for quantum Hall configurations whenever electric field effects should be taken into account.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, submitte

Four-path interference and uncertainty principle in photodetachment microscopy

We study the quantal motion of electrons emitted by a pointlike monochromatic isotropic source into parallel uniform electric and magnetic fields. The two-path interference pattern in the emerging electron wave due to the electric force is modified by the magnetic lens effect which periodically focuses the beam into narrow filaments along the symmetry axis. There, four classical paths interfere. With increasing electron energy, the current distribution changes from a quantum regime governed by the uncertainty principle, to an intricate spatial pattern that yields to a semiclassical analysis.Comment: submitted to Europhysics Letter