Why is there no queer international theory?

Over the last decade, Queer Studies have become Global Queer Studies, generating significant insights into key international political processes. Yet, the transformation from Queer to Global Queer has left the discipline of International Relations largely unaffected, which begs the question: if Queer Studies has gone global, why has the discipline of International Relations not gone somewhat queer? Or, to put it in Martin Wight’s provocative terms, why is there no Queer International Theory? This article claims that the presumed non-existence of Queer International Theory is an effect of how the discipline of International Relations combines homologization, figuration, and gentrification to code various types of theory as failures in order to manage the conduct of international theorizing in all its forms. This means there are generalizable lessons to be drawn from how the discipline categorizes Queer International Theory out of existence to bring a specific understanding of International Relations into existence

Holocene deglaciation and glacier readvances on the Fildes Peninsula and King George Island (Isla 25 de Mayo), South Shetland Islands, NW Antarctic Peninsula

To provide insights into glacier-climate dynamics of the South Shetland Islands (SSI), NW Antarctic Peninsula, we present a new deglaciation and readvance model for the Bellingshausen Ice Cap (BIC) on Fildes Peninsula and for King George Island/Isla 25 de Mayo (KGI) ~62°S. Deglaciation on KGI began after c. 15 ka cal BP and had progressed to within present-day limits on the Fildes Peninsula, its largest ice-free peninsula, by c. 6.6–5.3 ka cal BP. Probability density phase analysis of chronological data constraining Holocene glacier advances on KGI revealed up to eight 95% probability ‘gaps’ during which readvances could have occurred. These are grouped into four stages – Stage 1: a readvance and marine transgression, well-constrained by field data, between c. 7.4–6.6 ka cal BP; Stage 2: four probability ‘gaps’, less well-constrained by field data, between c. 5.3–2.2 ka cal BP; Stage 3: a well-constrained but restricted ‘readvance’ between c. 1.7–1.5 ka; Stage 4: two further minor ‘readvances’, one less well-constrained by field data between c. 1.3–0.7 ka cal BP (68% probability), and a ‘final’ well-constrained ‘readvance’ after 1950 CE) is associated with recent warming/more positive SAM-like conditions

Poly Economics-Capitalism, Class, and Polyamory

Academic research and popular writing on nonmonogamy and polyamory has so far paid insufficient attention to class divisions and questions of political economy. This is striking since research indicates the significance of class and race privilege within many polyamorous communities. This structure of privilege is mirrored in the exclusivist construction of these communities. The article aims to fill the gap created by the silence on class by suggesting a research agenda which is attentive to class and socioeconomic inequality. The paper addresses relevant research questions in the areas of intimacy and care, household formation, and spaces and institutions and advances an intersectional perspective which incorporates class as nondispensable core category. The author suggests that critical research in the field can stimulate critical self-reflexive practice on the level of community relations and activism. He further points to the critical relevance of Marxist and Postmarxist theories as important resources for the study of polyamory and calls for the study of the contradictions within poly culture from a materialist point of view. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Benchmarking DFT surface energies with quantum Monte Carlo

Previous work has demonstrated that for many materials, surface energies calculated by density functional theory (DFT) methods depend significantly on the exchange-correlation (xc) functional used. This could pose significant problems when using DFT for predicting structures of nanocrystals both in vacuum and on substrates. Here, we present initial results from a systematic study of , for a series of ionic materials using the VASP code and its projector augmented wave implementation of DFT. Calculations on LiH and MgO presented here were performed using four of the functionals available in VASP (LDA, PW91, PBE and RPBE) along with the recent Wu-Cohen modification of PBE. The results we present show that there is indeed a significant variation in due to differing functionals. Furthermore, we are able to ascertain which functionals gave the most accurate results by performing calculations of for LiH using diffusion quantum Monte Carlo methods that are generally accepted to be significantly more accurate, albeit more expensive, in calculating these quantities

Effect of the exchange-correlation energy and temperature on the generalized phase diagram of the 4d transition metals

Very recently, we have used first-principles methods to calculate the zero-temperature phase diagram of all the 4d transition metals up to P 500GPa. Even though we used a very accurate implementation of density functional theory and the accurate exchange-correlation functional of Wu and Cohen, we found that solid-solid transition pressures were underestimated by 10GPa with respect to room-temperature measurements. Here, we report the dependence of the transition pressures on the choice of the exchange-correlation functional. We also perform first-principles calculations of the harmonic phonon frequencies of molybdenum and zirconium in different crystalline structures in order to extend the phase diagram to non-zero temperatures. We use the results to discuss the reasons for the earlier disagreements between calculated and experimental transition pressures