Dynamic Winner-take-all Conflict

This paper develops a model of dynamic conflict featuring probabilistic winner- take-all outcomes and compares its behavior to a model in which combatants emerge with a share of the conflict spoils. While these two models generate the same behavior in a one-shot game, we find that in a repeated conflict setting the winner-take-all model generates richer dynamics than the dynamics generated by the share model. Differences include outcomes that illustrate the rise and fall of great powers, the endogenous extinction of combatants, and frequent changes in the relative dominance of combatants. The model's behavior is compared to real world military, business and political conflict outcomes.Anarchy, Fog of War, Paradox of Power, Winner-take-all conflict

Generating distributed entanglement from electron currents

This work is partially supported by a Royal Society University Research FellowshipSeveral recent experiments have demonstrated the viability of a passive device that can generate spin-entangled currents in two separate leads. However, manipulation and measurement of individual flying qubits in a solid state system has yet to be achieved. This is particularly difficult when a macroscopic number of these indistinguishable qubits are present. In order to access such an entangled current resource, we therefore show how to use it to generate distributed, static entanglement. The spatial separation between the entangled static pair can be much higher than that achieved by only exploiting the tunnelling effects between quantum dots. Our device is completely passive, and requires only weak Coulomb interactions between static and flying spins. We show that the entanglement generated is robust to decoherence for large enough currents.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

\u27WE ARE OBLIGATED TO THINK THAT THE STATE IS JUST:\u27 THE AKP\u27S GEOGRAPHIES OF ISLAM AND THE STATE IN TURKEY

In the 2002 national elections in Turkey, the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) won a majority of parliamentary seats and the leadership of all government ministries. Viewed by many voters as an alternative to both Turkey’s Kemalist establishment and the country’s Islamist political movement, this self described ‘conservative democratic’ party composed of former Islamist politicians and political neophytes sought to establish a Muslim political identity that was neither Islamist nor secular. This dissertation explores the discourse used by AKP politicians as they navigated several highly charged issues involving the religion-state relationship in Turkey. By examining what geographies AKP politicians articulated in discussing issues of religion and state, how they constructed Islam and the state through these articulations, and how these constructions compare to Kemalist and Islamist versions, this research strives to understand how these politicians are negotiating a moderate religious identity within a context of fundamentalist-secularist polarization. The research also presents an example of how recent changes observed in modern state spatiality are propagating beyond the economic dynamics usually studied. Drawing on statements made by AKP politicians in newspaper reports, legislative debates, and individual interviews, this project examines issues such as imam hatip schools, headscarves, the role of the Directorate of Pious Works, and Turkey’s geopolitical relationships to suggest answers to its research questions. The project concludes that a combination of religious and neoliberal logics is operating within the statements of the AKP politicians studied. By appealing to the individuality of religious choice, these AKP politicians differentiated their party from the deadlock of the Kemalist-Islamist polarity. Their appeal to individual choice suggests that the answer to providing the best welfare for the population is to reduce the state’s involvement in normal processes of everyday space and allow for God and the market to work their respective magics. Within their statements, the state retains a position as a source of knowledge, supporter of research, provider of information, and protector of order. However, the state loses its position as visionary leader and social engineer

Nonlinear response of a blade-stiffened graphite-epoxy panel with a discontinuous stiffener: Work in progress

The problem of calculating detailed stress distributions around discontinuities in buckled, composite structural components for use with the various analytical failure prediction techniques has not been thoroughly explored. The purpose here is the application of computational methods to the detailed stress analysis problem which is the focus of this session of the workshop. One approach to uncovering the difficulties of this type of analysis and to providing specific directions for future research in this area is a direct attack on the problem using currently available analysis tools. A candidate problem has been selected and experiences from calculating its structural response are described

Rotational levels in quantum dots

Low energy spectra of isotropic quantum dots are calculated in the regime of low electron densities where Coulomb interaction causes strong correlations. The earlier developed pocket state method is generalized to allow for continuous rotations. Detailed predictions are made for dots of shallow confinements and small particle numbers, including the occurance of spin blockades in transport.Comment: RevTeX, 10 pages, 2 figure

Experimental and Theoretical Deflections and Natural Frequencies of an Inflatable Fabric Plate

Static and vibration tests were performed on an inflatable square fabric plate supported on all edges. Lateral deflections and natural frequencies showed good agreement with calculations made using a linear small-deflection theory