Alternatives to Liberal Constitutional Democracy

The global appeal of liberal constitutional democracy—defined as a competitive multiparty system combined with governance within constitutional limits—cannot be taken for granted due to the existence of competing forms of government that appear successful along a number of practical dimensions and consequently enjoy high levels of public acceptance. Proponents of liberal constitutional democracy must be prepared to proactively explain and defend its capacity to satisfy first-order political needs. A system of government is unlikely to command popular acceptance unless it can plausibly claim to address the problems of oppression, tribalism, and physical and economic security. Along these dimensions, the advantages of liberal constitutional democracy over the alternatives of social democracy of the type seen in Scandinavia, and bureaucratic authoritarianism of the type seen in parts of Asia, are not self-evident. Within Asia alone, seemingly functional alternatives to liberal constitutional democracy run the gamut from illiberal nondemocracy in China, to liberal one-party rule in Japan, to illiberal constitutional democracy in Singapore, to liberal constitutional nondemocracy in Hong Kong, to hereditary monarchy in Bhutan

Effects of mixed rare earth occupancy on the low temperature properties of (R, R',R''...)Ni2Ge2 single crystals

Temperature and applied magnetic field dependent magnetization measurements on 34 single crystalline samples of (R, R',R''...)Ni2Ge2 compounds (R, R', R'', etc. being primarily Gd-Lu, Y), were made. These measurements reveal that, despite extremes in local moment anisotropy, the average de Gennes parameter is a remarkably good predictor of the paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic ordering temperature. In addition, the pronounced metamagnetic phase transitions seen in the low temperature phase of TbNi2Ge2 are found to be remarkably robust to high substitution levels of Gd and 25% substitutions of other heavy rare earths

Dynamics of atomic spin-orbit-state wave packets produced by short-pulse laser photodetachment

We analyse the experiment by Hultgren et al. [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 87}, 031404 (2013)] on orbital alignment and quantum beats in coherently excited atomic fine-structure manifolds produced by short-pulse laser photodetachment of C$^-$, Si$^-$ and Ge$^-$ negative ions, and derive a formula that describes the beats. Analysis of the experimental data enables us to extract the non-coherent background contribution for each species, and indicates the need for a full density matrix treatment of the problem

Comment on "Direct photodetachment of F−^- by mid-infrared few-cycle femtosecond laser pulses"

Multiphoton detachment of F$^-$ by strong few-cycle laser pulses was studied by Shearer and Monteith using a Keldysh-type approach [Phys. Rev. A 88, 033415 (2013)]. We believe that this work contained errors in the calculation of the detachment amplitude and photoelectron spectra. We describe the necessary corrections to the theory and show that the results, in particular, the interference features of the photoelectron spectra, appear noticeably different.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Chinese international students’ cross-cultural adaptation, mental health and related coping strategies and help-seeking behaviours in the UK

Section A: A literature review providing an overview and critical evaluation of existing research on Chinese international students’ acculturation experiences, especially their psychological and sociocultural adaptation, and related coping strategies and help-seeking behaviours. The quality of the 10 identified papers is assessed and results are considered in relation to relevant psychological theories, and implications for clinical practice and research are then discussed. Section B: An empirical study using interpretative phenomenology analysis (IPA) to explore how Chinese international students (CIS) make sense of their psychological wellbeing and related help-seeking in the UK. Eight students based in Southeast England attended semi-structured interviews. Three master themes emerged from the data: the jump from interdependence to independence, the importance of ‘zhong-yong’ when experiencing and expressing distress, and the perplexing nature of help seeking. Implications for clinical practices and research were discussed

Liquid bridging of cylindrical colloids in near-critical solvents

Within mean field theory, we investigate the bridging transition between a pair of parallel cylindrical colloids immersed in a binary liquid mixture as a solvent which is close to its critical consolute point $T_c$. We determine the universal scaling functions of the effective potential and of the force between the colloids. For a solvent which is at the critical concentration and close to $T_c$, we find that the critical Casimir force is the dominant interaction at close separations. This agrees very well with the corresponding Derjaguin approximation for the effective interaction between the two cylinders, while capillary forces originating from the extension of the liquid bridge turn out to be more important at large separations. In addition, we are able to infer from the wetting characteristics of the individual colloids the first-order transition of the liquid bridge connecting two colloidal particles to the ruptured state. While specific to cylindrical colloids, the results presented here provide also an outline for identifying critical Casimir forces acting on bridged colloidal particles as such, and for analyzing the bridging transition between them.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure

Wind tunnel evaluation of a truncated NACA 64-621 airfoil for wind turbine applications

An experimental program to measure the aerodynamic performance of a NACA 64-621 airfoil with a truncated trailing edge for wind turbine applications has been conducted in the Ohio State University Aeronautical and Astronautical Research Laboratory 6 in. by 21 in. pressurized wind tunnel. The blunted or trailing edge truncated (TET) airfoil has an advantage over similar trailing edge airfoils because it is able to streamline a larger spar structure, while also providing aerodynamic properties that are quite good. Surface pressures were measured and integrated to determine the lift, pressure drag, and moment coefficients over angles of attack ranging from -14 to +90 deg at Mach 0.2 and Reynolds numbers of 1,000,000 and 600,000. Results are compared to the NACA 0025, 0030, and 0035 thick airfoils with sharp trailing edges. Comparison shows that the 30 percent thick NACA 64-621-TET airfoil has higher maximum lift, higher lift curve slope, lower drag at higher lift coefficients, and higher chordwise force coefficient than similar thick airfoils with sharp trailing edges

Plasma harmonics Lissajous measurements

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