La crisi de la identitat cultural

Els canvis produïts en la identitat nord-americana al llarg de les darreres dècades són objecte d’anàlisi en aquest primer capítol de l’últim llibre Qui som? Els desafiaments a la identitat nacional nord-americana. L’autor repassa les diferents articulacions d’aquesta identitat al llarg dels quatre segles d’història nord-americana a la vegada que apunta a una crisi generalitzada i global de la identitat nacional a tot arreu davant de l’augment d’identitats alternatives nascudes de la mundialització econòmica i tecnològica. Finalment, planteja quatre possibles escenaris per a la nova identitat sorgida als Estats Units després de l’11-S

¿Xoc de civilitzacions?

Les diferències entre civilitzacions existeixen realment, i la consciència d’aquest fet està creixent. La fricció entre les civilitzacions suplantarà el conflicte ideològic com a forma mundial dominant de confrontació. Les relacions internacionals s’aniran desoccidentalitzant cada vegada més i entraran en un esquema en el què les civilitzacions no occidentals seran actors i no merament subjectes passius. Els conflictes entre grups de diferents civilitzacions esdevindran més freqüents, més prolongats i més violents que no pas els conflictes entre grups de la mateixa civilització; de fet, són la font més probable i més perillosa d’extensió bèl·lica

Developing strategies to toughen bio-inspired adhesives

Mussels and other marine creatures adhere very well in underwater environments, having the ability to withstand the force of the sea. These animals have inspired synthetic biomimetic adhesives for wet systems, presenting potential for biomedical applications. However, most current commercial adhesives tend to be brittle, not resisting repetitive movements. This study assesses toughening strategies to improve the mussel-inspired adhesives’ ductility while maintaining its strength. The strategies included altering the polymer’s chemical structure by changing the percentage of polyethylene glycol (PEG) in the molecule and by adding fillers, such as calcium carbonate, silica and nacre - a calcium carbonate compound found in shells. The dry adhesion of the glues was tested by shear lap tests on standard aluminum samples. The addition of PEG increased the ductility of the polymer considerably, creating a viscous paste rather than a solid. Future advances include analyzing the tensile strength and adhesion of the systems, as well as their resistance in wet environments. Furthermore, the toxicity of both the polymer and potential fillers should be investigated

Who punishes the leader? Leader culpability and coups during civil war

Who punishes leaders via coups during civil war? By distinguishing between different types of internal audiences within the government and their attempts to remove a leader forcefully, I illuminate the mechanisms that explain variation in who punishes the leader during wartime. I claim that whether leaders are culpable for the initiation of the war has an important implication for whether they are punished by members of the ruling coalition (i.e., those with access to decision-making and political power), or by those outside the ruling coalition. Empirical evidence supports my hypotheses: (i) culpable leaders are more likely to experience coup attempts led by those outside the leaders' ruling coalition, should the war go poorly; and (ii) nonculpable leaders are more likely to experience coups executed by members of their ruling coalition. The findings have important implications for how leaders respond to audience pressures as they consider whether to fight or settle

Writ(h)ing Images: Imagination, the Human Form, and the Divine in William Blake, Salman Rushdie, and Simon Louvish

In this paper, we address issues in segmentation Of remotely sensed LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) data. The LIDAR data, which were captured by airborne laser scanner, contain 2.5 dimensional (2.5D) terrain surface height information, e.g. houses, vegetation, flat field, river, basin, etc. Our aim in this paper is to segment ground (flat field)from non-ground (houses and high vegetation) in hilly urban areas. By projecting the 2.5D data onto a surface, we obtain a texture map as a grey-level image. Based on the image, Gabor wavelet filters are applied to generate Gabor wavelet features. These features are then grouped into various windows. Among these windows, a combination of their first and second order of statistics is used as a measure to determine the surface properties. The test results have shown that ground areas can successfully be segmented from LIDAR data. Most buildings and high vegetation can be detected. In addition, Gabor wavelet transform can partially remove hill or slope effects in the original data by tuning Gabor parameters