109 research outputs found
Light scattering by an ensemble of interacting dipolar particles with both electric and magnetic polarizabilities
We have studied the problem of light scattering by an ensemble of dipoles with both electric and magnetic polarizabilities. Using the coupled electric and magnetic dipole method as the formal base, we have generalized the eigenvector decomposition of the local dipole moments previously derived for purely electric particles to the case of both electric and magnetic dipoles. We have analyzed the properties of eigenvalues and eigenvectors in the most elementary case of two particles. In the purely electric case, the eigenvalues correspond to the resonance modes of the system due to the electromagnetic coupling of its components. For a two-dipole system with both electric and magnetic responses, purely electric, purely magnetic, and mixed states can be distinguished. The resonance spectrum is analyzed as a function of the magnetic permeability, and it is shown that the latter can be fitted quite accurately by the eigenmode decomposition
Diffuse panbronchiolitis: not just an Asian disease: Australian case series and review of the literature
Diffuse panbronchiolitis is a disease of obscure aetiology that is traditionally associated with Asian ethnicity. We propose that this disease also occurs in Caucasians and the incidence in this population is greater than currently recognised. We further propose that high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and response to macrolide therapy should be relied upon to make this diagnosis without verification by lung biopsy. In most circumstances, obtaining a biopsy for histopathology is not practical, and the disease may then be mistaken for other more common airway diseases. Accuracy of diagnosis is important as untreated disease is associated with a poor prognosis, and effective treatment is available. We report four out of a series of cases as evidence that DPB is in fact more common in the Western population than is currently understood
Islands and despots
This paper challenges a conventional wisdom: that when discussing
political systems, small is democratic. And yet, can there be paradises
without serpents? The presumed manageability of small island spaces
promotes and nurtures dispositions for domination and control over
nature and society. In such dark circumstances, authoritarian rule is a
more natural fit than democracy. By adopting an inter-disciplinary
perspective, this paper argues that small island societies may be
wonderful places to live in, as long as one conforms to a dominant
cultural code. Should one deviate from expected and established
practices, the threat of ostracism is immense. Formal democratic
institutions may and often do exist, and a semblance of pluralism may
be manifest, but these are likely to be overshadowed by a set of
unitarist and homogenous values and practices to which many
significant social players, in politics and civil society, subscribe (at
least in public).peer-reviewe
A critical review of smaller state diplomacy
In The Peloponnesian War, Thucydides (1972: 402) highlights the effects of the general, overall
weakness of smaller states vis-Ă -vis larger, more powerful ones in a key passage, where the
Athenians remind the Melians that:
â⊠since you know as well as we do that, as the world goes, right is only in question
between equals in power. Meanwhile, the strong do what they can and the weak suffer
what they must.â
Concerns about the vulnerability of small, weak, isolated states have echoed throughout history:
from Thucydides, through the review by Machiavelli (1985) of the risks of inviting great powers
to intervene in domestic affairs, through 20th century US-led contemporary political science
(Vital, 1971; Handel, 1990) and Commonwealth led scholarship (Commonwealth Secretariat,
1985). In the context of 20th century âBalkanizationâ, the small state could also prove unstable,
even hostile and uncooperative, a situation tempting enough to invite the intrusion of more
powerful neighbours: a combination, according to Brzezinski (1997: 123-124) of a power
vacuum and a corollary power suction2: in the outcome, if the small state is âabsorbedâ, it would
be its fault, and its destiny, in the grand scheme of things. In an excellent review of small states
in the context of the global politics of development, Payne (2004: 623, 634) concludes that
âvulnerabilities rather than opportunities are the most striking consequence of smallnessâ. It has
been recently claimed that, since they cannot defend or represent themselves adequately, small
states âlack real independence, which makes them suboptimal participants in the international
systemâ (Hagalin, 2005: 1).
There is however, a less notable and acknowledged but more extraordinary strand of
argumentation that considers âthe power of powerlessnessâ, and the ability of small states to
exploit their smaller size in a variety of ways in order to achieve their intended, even if unlikely,
policy outcomes. The pursuance of smaller state goals becomes paradoxically acceptable and
achievable precisely because such smaller states do not have the power to leverage disputants or
pursue their own agenda. A case in point concerns the smallest state of all, the Vatican, whose
powers are both unique and ambiguous, but certainly not insignificant (The Economist, 2007).
Smaller states have âpunched above their weightâ (e.g. Edis, 1991); and, intermittently, political scientists confront their âamazing intractabilityâ (e.g. Suhrke, 1973: 508). Henry Kissinger
(1982: 172) referred to this stance, with obvious contempt, as âthe tyranny of the weakâ3.
This paper seeks a safe passage through these two, equally reductionist, propositions. It
deliberately focuses first on a comparative case analysis of two, distinct âsmall state-big stateâ
contests drawn from the 1970s, seeking to infer and tease out the conditions that enable smaller
âLilliputianâ states (whether often or rarely) to beat their respective Goliaths. The discussion is
then taken forward to examine whether similar tactics can work in relation to contemporary
concerns with environmental vulnerability, with a focus on two other, small island states. Before
that, the semiotics of âthe small stateâ need to be explored, since they are suggestive of the
perceptions and expectations that are harboured by decision makers at home and abroad and
which tend towards the self-fulfilling prophecy.peer-reviewe
Endoscopic biliary drainage as a bridging procedure to single-stage surgery for perforated choledochal cyst: a case report and review of the literature
Performance of elementary grade African American students on the Gray Oral Reading Tests
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83318/1/Performance_of_elementary_grade_African_American_students_on_the_Gray_Oral_Reading_Tests.pd
Recommended from our members
Microscopic theory of multiple scattering for open shell nuclei
The scattering of a distinguishable projectile from a nucleus is considered assuming that the underlying interaction Hamiltonian is a sum of two-body potentials. The effective interaction of the projectile with the nucleus in a truncated nuclear model space can be calculated as a linked cluster expansion. The shell-model interaction is required to be an energy-independent, hermitian potential; its expression is terms of the underlying two-body potential is given by folded diagrams. The terms in the expansion of the effective projectile-nucleus interaction must also contain folded diagrams but, unlike the shell-model potential, these are energy dependent in order to describe the singularities associated with the crossing of the scattering thresholds as the projectile energy is varied. Once the effective interaction is known, elastic and inelastic scattering may be evaluated numerically by solving a finite-dimensional coupled-channel equation. 24 refs., 12 figs
Ultrasonographic and clinicopathologic features of segmental dilatations of the common bile duct in four cats
Choledochal malformations in adults in the Netherlands: Results from a nationwide retrospective cohort study
- âŠ