Search results for: evolutionary state

Authors: E. Eroglu, S. Semsit, E. Sener, U.S. Sener

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In Electromagnetics, there are three canonical boundary value problem with given initial conditions for the electromagnetic field sought, namely: Cavity Problem, Waveguide Problem, and External Problem. The Cavity Problem and Waveguide Problem were rigorously studied and new results were arised at original works in the past decades. In based on studies of an analytical time domain method Evolutionary Approach to Electromagnetics (EAE), electromagnetic field strength vectors produced by a time dependent source function are sought. The fields are took place in L2 Hilbert space. The source function that performs signal transferring, energy and surplus of energy has been demonstrated with all clarity. Depth of the method and ease of applications are emerged needs of gathering obtained results. Main discussion is about perfect electric conductor and hollow waveguide. Even if well studied time-domain modes problems are mentioned, specifically, the modes which have a hollow (i.e., medium-free) cross-section domain are considered.

Keywords: evolutionary approach to electromagnetics, time-domain waveguide mode, Neumann problem, Dirichlet boundary value problem, Klein-Gordon

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Authors: Suren Chilingaryan

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We study two models describing a single two-level system coupled to two boson field modes in either a parallel or orthogonal setup. Both models may be feasible for experimental realization through Raman adiabatic driving in cavity QED. We study their ground state configurations; that is, we find the quantum precursors of the corresponding semi-classical phase transitions. We found that the ground state configurations of both models present the same critical coupling as the quantum Rabi model. Around this critical coupling, the ground state goes from the so-called normal configuration with no excitation, the qubit in the ground state and the fields in the quantum vacuum state, to a ground state with excitations, the qubit in a superposition of ground and excited state, while the fields are not in the vacuum anymore, for the first model. The second model shows a more complex ground state configuration landscape where we find the normal configuration mentioned above, two single-mode configurations, where just one of the fields and the qubit are excited, and a dual-mode configuration, where both fields and the qubit are excited.

Keywords: quantum optics, quantum phase transition, cavity QED, circuit QED

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Authors: Xiongxiong You, Zhanwen Niu

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Choosing an appropriate surrogate model plays an important role in surrogates-assisted evolutionary algorithms (SAEAs) since there are many types and different kernel functions in the surrogate model. In this paper, an adaptive selection of the best suitable surrogate model method is proposed to solve different kinds of expensive optimization problems. Firstly, according to the prediction residual error sum of square (PRESS) and different model selection strategies, the excellent individual surrogate models are integrated into multiple ensemble models in each generation. Then, based on the minimum root of mean square error (RMSE), the best suitable surrogate model is selected dynamically. Secondly, two methods with dynamic number of models and selection strategies are designed, which are used to show the influence of the number of individual models and selection strategy. Finally, some compared studies are made to deal with several commonly used benchmark problems, as well as a rotor system optimization problem. The results demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the proposed method.

Keywords: adaptive selection, expensive optimization, rotor system, surrogates assisted evolutionary algorithms

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Authors: Manotar Tampubolon

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Indonesia is a country that upholds the law, human rights and religious freedom. The freedom that implied in various laws and constitution (Undang-undang 1945) is not necessarily applicable in practice of religious life. In one side, the state has a duty as protector and guarantor of freedom, on the other side, however, it turns into one of the actors of freedom violations of religion minority. State action that interferes freedom of religion is done in various ways both intentionally or negligently or not to perform its obligations in the enforcement of human rights (human rights due diligence). Besides the state, non-state actors such as religious organizations, individuals also become violators of the rights of religious freedom. This article will discuss two fundamental issues that interfere freedom of religion in Indonesia after democratic era. In addition, this article also discusses a comprehensive state policy that discriminates minority religions to manifest their faith.

Keywords: religious freedom, constitution, minority faith, state actor

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Authors: Oluwatosin Olofintoye, Josiah Adeyemo, Gbemileke Shomade

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The relationship between rainfall and runoff is an important issue in surface water hydrology therefore the understanding and development of accurate rainfall-runoff models and their applications in water resources planning, management and operation are of paramount importance in hydrological studies. This paper reviews some of the previous works on the rainfall-runoff process modeling. The hydrologic applications of conceptual models and artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the precipitation-runoff process modeling were studied. Gradient training methods such as error back-propagation (BP) and evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are discussed in relation to the training of artificial neural networks and it is shown that application of EAs to artificial neural networks training could be an alternative to other training methods. Therefore, further research interest to exploit the abundant expert knowledge in the area of artificial intelligence for the solution of hydrologic and water resources planning and management problems is needed.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, artificial neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, gradient training method, rainfall-runoff model

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Authors: Daniel Schimmelpfennig

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This paper attempts to delineate the idea to curate the leveling up for whole-systems change. Curation is the act fo select, organize, look after, or present information from a professional point of view through expert knowledge. The trans-paradigmatic, trans-contextual, trans-disciplinary, trans-perspective of trans-media futures studies hopes to enable a move from a monochrome intellectual pursuit towards breathing a higher dimensionality. Progressing to the next level to equip actors for whole-systems change is in consideration of the commonly known symptoms of our time as well as in anticipation of future challenges, both a necessity and desirability. Systems of collective intelligence could potentially scale regenerative, adaptive, and anticipatory capacities. How could such a curation then be enacted and implemented, to initiate the process of leveling-up? The suggestion here is to focus on the metasystem transition, the bio-digital fusion, namely, by merging neurosciences, the ontological design of money as our operating system, and our understanding of the billions of years of time-proven permutations in nature, biomimicry, and biological metaphors like symbiogenesis. Evolutionary cybernetics accompanies the process of whole-systems change.

Keywords: bio-digital fusion, evolutionary cybernetics, metasystem transition, symbiogenesis, transmedia futures studies

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Authors: Janiel David Melamed Visbal

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The Islamic State has become one of the most remarkable threats for international security through their religious extremism and their establishment of a new caliphate by force. The main objective of this organization is to obtain territorial expansions beyond the Middle East and eventually to consolidate an Islamic global order based on their extremist ideology. This paper will conduct an analysis regarding how, over the past year, many jihadist organizations worldwide have pledged their alliagance to the Islamic State, transforming it into the most important jihadist franchise globally.

Keywords: Islamic state, franchise, jihad, Islamic fundamentalism, caliphate

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Authors: Lydia Tan, Philippe Lemey, Lieselot Houspie, Marco Viveen, Darren Martin, Frank Coenjaerts

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Introduction: Human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) is the leading cause of severe respiratory tract infections in infants under the age of two. Genomic substitutions and related evolutionary dynamics of hRSV are of great influence on virus transmission behavior. The evolutionary patterns formed are due to a precarious interplay between the host immune response and RSV, thereby selecting the most viable and less immunogenic strains. Studying genomic profiles can teach us which genes and consequent proteins play an important role in RSV survival and transmission dynamics. Study design: In this study, genetic diversity and evolutionary rate analysis were conducted on 36 RSV subgroup B whole genome sequences and 37 subgroup A genome sequences. Clinical RSV isolates were obtained from nasopharyngeal aspirates and swabs of children between 2 weeks and 5 years old of age. These strains, collected during epidemic seasons from 2001 to 2011 in the Netherlands and Belgium by either conventional or 454-sequencing. Sequences were analyzed for genetic diversity, recombination events, synonymous/non-synonymous substitution ratios, epistasis, and translational consequences of mutations were mapped to known 3D protein structures. We used Bayesian statistical inference to estimate the rate of RSV genome evolution and the rate of variability across the genome. Results: The A and B profiles were described in detail and compared to each other. Overall, the majority of the whole RSV genome is highly conserved among all strains. The attachment protein G was the most variable protein and its gene had, similar to the non-coding regions in RSV, more elevated (two-fold) substitution rates than other genes. In addition, the G gene has been identified as the major target for diversifying selection. Overall, less gene and protein variability was found within RSV-B compared to RSV-A and most protein variation between the subgroups was found in the F, G, SH and M2-2 proteins. For the F protein mutations and correlated amino acid changes are largely located in the F2 ligand-binding domain. The small hydrophobic phosphoprotein and nucleoprotein are the most conserved proteins. The evolutionary rates were similar in both subgroups (A: 6.47E-04, B: 7.76E-04 substitution/site/yr), but estimates of the time to the most recent common ancestor were much lower for RSV-B (B: 19, A: 46.8 yrs), indicating that there is more turnover in this subgroup. Conclusion: This study provides a detailed description of whole RSV genome mutations, the effect on translation products and the first estimate of the RSV genome evolution tempo. The immunogenic G protein seems to require high substitution rates in order to select less immunogenic strains and other conserved proteins are most likely essential to preserve RSV viability. The resulting G gene variability makes its protein a less interesting target for RSV intervention methods. The more conserved RSV F protein with less antigenic epitope shedding is, therefore, more suitable for developing therapeutic strategies or vaccines.

Keywords: drug target selection, epidemiology, respiratory syncytial virus, RSV

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Authors: Rosa Nurtazina, Yerkebulan Zhumashov, Maral Tomanova

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Humanity is entering an era when 'virtual reality' as the image of the world created by the media with the help of the Internet does not match the reality in many respects, when new communication technologies create a fundamentally different and previously unknown 'global space'. According to these technologies, the state begins to change the basic technology of political communication of the state and society, the state and the state. Nowadays, image of the state becomes the most important tool and technology. Image is a purposefully created image granting political object (person, organization, country, etc.) certain social and political values and promoting more emotional perception. Political image of the state plays an important role in international relations. The success of the country's foreign policy, development of trade and economic relations with other countries depends on whether it is positive or negative. Foreign policy image has an impact on political processes taking place in the state: the negative image of the countries can be used by opposition forces as one of the arguments to criticize the government and its policies.

Keywords: image of the country, country's image classification, function of the country image, country's image components

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Authors: Eny Suastuti

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This paper is about state’s capital equity in establishing State-owned Company (PT Merpati Persero). Under private law regime, PT Merpati Persero equity is a state asset allocated separately from the State Budget. Consequently, it is no longer a state asset; rather, it becomes a part of company assets. The adoption of Act No. 17 of 2003 on State Finance, Act No. 31 of 1999, which is amended by Act No. 20 of 2001 on Eradication of Corrupt Practices, Act No. 15 of 2004 on Auditing, Management, and Accountability of State Finance, and Act No. 15 of 2006 Audit Board raises legal issues of whether State-owned Company’s (PT Merpati Persero) loss may be deemed as loss on state finance made by the Directors of PT Merpati Persero, which implication leads to corrupt practices conducted by the Directors. The principle of civil law states that state assets are separated from the state budget is not a government asset. Therefore the case of a lease agreement 2 (two) units of Boeing 737-400 and Boeing 737-500 between PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines with companies Third Stone Aircraft Leasing Group (TALG) the United States cannot be prosecuted under Articles 2 and 3 of Act No. 31 of 1999 Jo Act No. 20 of 2001 on Eradication of Corrupt Practices (Law PTPK). From this paper, three things are found. First, state’s capital equity, which has been allocated separately from state assets in establishing the PT Merpati Perserois not state asset; rather, it is company’s asset. Second, in the case of mismanagement leading to company loss, the Directors of PT Merpati Persero may not be charged with committing corrupt practice as prescribed in Articles 2 and 3 of Corrupt Practices Eradication Law. Third, misperception has been made by judicial practices since the courts consider loss in certain transaction made by Directors of PT Merpati Persero to be loss of state finance whose implication is applicability of Articles 2 and 3 of Corrupt Practices Eradication Law.

Keywords: corrupt practice, loss, state's capital equity, state finance (PT Merpati Persero)

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Authors: Yumei Wang, Xiaoyu Xu, Li Lu

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Solid-state battery adopts solid-state electrolyte such as oxide- and composite-based solid electrolytes. With the adaption of nonflammable or less flammable solid electrolytes, the safety of solid-state batteries can be largely increased. NASICON (Na₃Zr₂Si₂PO₁₂, NZSP) is one of the sodium ion conductors that possess relatively high ionic conductivity, wide electrochemical stable range and good chemical stability. Therefore, it has received increased attention. We report the development of high-density NZSP through liquid phase sintering and its organic-inorganic composite electrolyte. Through reactive liquid phase sintering, the grain boundary conductivity can be largely enhanced while using an organic-inorganic composite electrolyte, interfacial wetting and impedance can be largely reduced hence being possible to fabricate scalable solid-state batteries.

Keywords: solid-state electrolyte, composite electrolyte, electrochemical performance, conductivity

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Authors: Mohammed Farag, Mina Attari, S. Andrew Gadsden, Saeid R. Habibi

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Battery state of charge (SOC) estimation is an important parameter as it measures the total amount of electrical energy stored at a current time. The SOC percentage acts as a fuel gauge if it is compared with a conventional vehicle. Estimating the SOC is, therefore, essential for monitoring the amount of useful life remaining in the battery system. This paper looks at the implementation of three nonlinear estimation strategies for Li-Ion battery SOC estimation. One of the most common behavioral battery models is the one state hysteresis (OSH) model. The extended Kalman filter (EKF), the smooth variable structure filter (SVSF), and the time-varying smoothing boundary layer SVSF are applied on this model, and the results are compared.

Keywords: state of charge estimation, battery modeling, one-state hysteresis, filtering and estimation

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Authors: Nancy Retzlaff, Sarah J. Berkemer, Trudie Strauss

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In the last couple of decades, the advent of digitalization of any kind of data was probably one of the major advances in all fields of study. This paves the way for also analysing these data even though they might come from disciplines where there was no initial computational necessity to do so. Especially in linguistics, one can find a rather manual tradition. Still when considering studies that involve the history of language families it is hard to overlook the striking similarities to bioinformatics (phylogenetic) approaches. Alignments of words are such a fairly well studied example of an application of bioinformatics methods to historical linguistics. In this paper we will not only consider alignments of strings, i.e., words in this case, but also alignments of syntax trees of selected Indo-European languages. Based on initial, crude alignments, a sophisticated scoring model is trained on both letters and syntactic features. The aim is to gain a better understanding on which features in two languages are related, i.e., most likely to have the same root. Initially, all words in two languages are pre-aligned with a basic scoring model that primarily selects consonants and adjusts them before fitting in the vowels. Mixture models are subsequently used to filter ‘good’ alignments depending on the alignment length and the number of inserted gaps. Using these selected word alignments it is possible to perform tree alignments of the given syntax trees and consequently find sentences that correspond rather well to each other across languages. The syntax alignments are then filtered for meaningful scores—’good’ scores contain evolutionary information and are therefore used to train the sophisticated scoring model. Further iterations of alignments and training steps are performed until the scoring model saturates, i.e., barely changes anymore. A better evaluation of the trained scoring model and its function in containing evolutionary meaningful information will be given. An assessment of sentence alignment compared to possible phrase structure will also be provided. The method described here may have its flaws because of limited prior information. This, however, may offer a good starting point to study languages where only little prior knowledge is available and a detailed, unbiased study is needed.

Keywords: alignments, bioinformatics, comparative linguistics, historical linguistics, statistical methods

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Authors: Varun Singh, Mainak Bandyopadhyay, Maharana Pratap Singh

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The shortest path (SP) problem concerns with finding the shortest path from a specific origin to a specified destination in a given network while minimizing the total cost associated with the path. This problem has widespread applications. Important applications of the SP problem include vehicle routing in transportation systems particularly in the field of in-vehicle Route Guidance System (RGS) and traffic assignment problem (in transportation planning). Well known applications of evolutionary methods like Genetic Algorithms (GA), Ant Colony Optimization, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) have come up to solve complex optimization problems to overcome the shortcomings of existing shortest path analysis methods. It has been reported by various researchers that PSO performs better than other evolutionary optimization algorithms in terms of success rate and solution quality. Further Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have emerged as key information systems for geospatial data analysis and visualization. This research paper is focused towards the application of PSO for solving the shortest path problem between multiple points of interest (POI) based on spatial data of Allahabad City and traffic speed data collected using GPS. Geovisualization of results of analysis is carried out in GIS.

Keywords: particle swarm optimization, GIS, traffic data, outliers

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Authors: Galit Truman Zinman

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The 'Islamic State' (IS) is one of the most successful jihadist groups in the modern history. The 'Islamic State' strives to realize the idea of erasing the borders between Muslim countries and establishing a wide Islamic caliphate. The 'Islamic State' is based on religious unity and opposition to existing political order. In this paper, the main argument is that the 'Islamic State' is characterized by two significant tendencies of state-building: preservation and change. The methodology of this study is based on the process tracing method and the analysis of primary sources: decisions, announcements and speeches of religious leaders of the Islamic State, slogans, rituals and symbols, audio and video clips produced by the Al-Hayat Media Center, films distributed on YouTube, as well as the content analysis of Dabiq`s articles (IS official Journal) and nasheeds (jihadi songs). The major findings of this study indicate that in practice the 'Islamic State' uses the same socio-political functions typical to the modern state (preservation), but introduces a different religious-ideological content (change). On the one hand, there is a preservation of the principles of existing modern state. Even with the rejection of secularization, globalization, and nationalism, there is an establishment of typical modern nation-state patterns. It is still a state entity, which has an ideological infrastructure, territory, population, governance and a monopoly on the use of violence, security services, justice system, tax collection, etc. All these functions characterize the modern state, and despite the desire of the 'Islamic State' to create a new kind of state, it reminds patterns of the typical modern nation-state. As for the religious-ideological content of the new state, here we can see a tendency of great change. The 'Islamic State' aims to create an Islamic caliphate which would allow the establishment of religious law and order, under a big commitment to return civilization to a seventh-century environment. The 'Islamic State' favors the fight against Western culture and its liberal ideology. It supports the struggle for global jihad against the unbelievers. Today, despite the territorial 'contraction' and the undermining of the organization's governance in Iraq and Syria, the 'Islamic State' continues to maintain its brand among jihadist activists around the world.

Keywords: Islamic State, Islamic caliphate, modern nation-state, religious law and order

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Authors: Monika Florczak-Wator

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The model of positive obligations of the state concerning the protection of the rights of an individual was created within the jurisdiction of the German Federal Constitutional Court in the 1970s. That model assumes that the state should protect an individual against infringement of their fundamental rights by another individual. It is based on the idea concerning the modification of the function and duties of the state towards an individual and society. Initially the state was perceived as the main infringer of the fundamental rights of an individual formulating the individual’s obligations of negative nature (obligation of noninterference), however, at present the state is perceived as a guarantor and protector of the fundamental rights of an individual of positive nature (obligation of protection). Examination of the chosen judicial decisions of that court will enable us to determine what the obligation of protection is specifically about, when it is updated and whether it is accompanied by claims of an individual requesting the state to take actions protecting their fundamental rights against infringement by the private entities. The comparative perspective for the German model of positive obligations of the state will be an analogous model present in the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. It is justified to include it in the research as the Convention, similarly to the constitution, focuses on the protection of an individual against the infringement of their rights by the state and both models have been developed within the jurisdiction for several dozens of years. Analysis of the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland as well as judgements of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal will allow for the presentation of the application the model of the protective duties of the state in Poland.

Keywords: human rights, horizontal relationships, constitution, state protection

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Authors: Mohood A. Bamidele, Fadairo O. Olokesunsi, Muhammed A. Yunus

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This research work focuses on tourism and poverty alleviation in Osun State, it delves in the tourism resources of the state and strategic framework that has been put in place to manage the cultural base tourism that is most prominent in the state. The major instrument used for data collection was questionnaire which was designed for the area and data collected were analyzed using statistical table and chi-square analysis. The result revealed that tourism is under development in Osun State and the tourism potential of the state is yet to be exploited, this is due to lack of appropriate policy to master the development and management of tourism resources, poor publicity, awareness, and lack of adequate basic infrastructure. The research work, therefore, recommended, that, there should be proper and appropriate policy, and that the government should take a leading step to develop tourism in Osun State by creating a workable environment to the private sector and given a substantial budgetary allocation to the tourism in the state.

Keywords: appropriate policy, poor publicity, poverty alleviation, substantial budgetary allocation

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Authors: Julian David Rios Acuna

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This paper seeks to argue that the phenomenon of ‘paramilitarism’ in Colombia exhibits the role of violence as constitutive of the political process of state formation in the country. In order to do this, it takes as its point of departure a landmark moment in the long history of private armies known as the ‘paramilitary’ in Colombia. In 2001, paramilitary commanders, politicians, and members of the military and other branches of state power singed what is known as the ‘Pact of Ralito.’ In this pact, the paramilitary appropriated constitutional and legal language. The paper argues that this appropriation shows that the paramilitary and the state express the same claim to sovereign power and therefore have the same foundation. More precisely, paramilitary power shows itself to base its power on the same foundation as the legal order, namely, extreme forms of violence where death is generative of power. In this sense, the paper shows how, by sharing its foundation, Colombian paramilitarism exhibits that state power in Colombia can be characterized as necro-power as Achille Mbembe understands it. The paper argues that paramilitarism shows state power as necro-power by constituting itself as a symptom understood, following Zizek, as that which both shows and overthrows its own foundation. In this way, paramilitarism shows the foundation of the state, thereby reconfiguring this very state. This reconfiguration, explicitly based on necro-power, the paper concludes, transforms the state into a form more appropriate to the political demands of neo-liberalism. By exhibiting its foundation in necro-power through paramilitarism, the Colombian State turns from a liberal into a (neo)liberal democracy.

Keywords: necro-power, necropolitics, paramilitarism in Colombia, state formation, state power, sovereign power

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Authors: Dimeji Abe, Nonso Okoye, Gideon Ikpimi, Prince Idemudia

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Multi-reservoir optimization operation has been a critical issue for river basin management. Water, as a scarce resource, is in high demand and the problems associated with the reservoir as its storage facility are enormous. The complexity in balancing the supply and demand of this prime resource has created the need to examine the best way to solve the problem using optimization techniques. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the multi-objective meta-heuristic algorithm for the operation of Gariep Dam for satisfying ecological flow requirements. This study uses an evolutionary algorithm called backtrack search algorithm (BSA) to determine the best way to optimise the dam operations of hydropower production, flood control, and water supply without affecting the environmental flow requirement for the survival of aquatic bodies and sustain life downstream of the dam. To achieve this objective, the operations of the dam that corresponds to different tradeoffs between the objectives are optimized. The results indicate the best model from the algorithm that satisfies all the objectives without any constraint violation. It is expected that hydropower generation will be improved and more water will be available for ecological flow requirements with the use of the algorithm. This algorithm also provides farmers with more irrigation water as well to improve their business.

Keywords: BSA evolutionary algorithm, metaheuristics, optimization, river basin management

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Authors: Sa’adu Mafara Abubakar, Muhammad Nuraddeen Danjuma, Adewole Tomiwa Adetunji, Richard Mundembe, Salisu Mohammed, Francis Bayo Lewu, Joseph I. Kiok

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Pearl millet is the most drought tolerant of all domesticated cereals, is cultivated extensively to feed millions of people who mainly live in hash agroclimatic zones. It serves as a major source of food for more than 40 million smallholder farmers living in the marginal agricultural lands of Northern Nigeria. Pearl millet grain is more nutritious than other cereals like maize, is also a principal source of energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals for millions of poorest people in the regions where it is cultivated. Pearl millet has recorded relatively little research attention compared with other crops and no sufficient work has analyzed its genetic diversity in north-western Nigeria. Therefore, this study was undertaken with the objectives to analyze the genetic diversity of pearl millet accessions using SSR marker and to analyze the extent of evolutionary relationship among pearl millet accessions at the molecular level. The result of the present study confirmed diversity among accessions of pearl millet in the study area. Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) markers were used for genetic analysis and evolutionary relationship of the accessions of pearl millet. To analyze the level of genetic diversity, 8 polymorphic SSR markers were used to screen 69 accessions collected based on three maturity periods. SSR markers result reveal relationships among the accessions in terms of genetic similarities, evolutionary and ancestral origin, it also reveals a total of 53 alleles recorded with 8 microsatellites and an average of 6.875 per microsatellite, the range was from 3 to 9 alleles in PSMP2248 and PSMP2080 respectively. Moreover, both the factorial analysis and the dendrogram of phylogeny tree grouping patterns and cluster analysis were almost in agreement with each other that diversity is not clustering according to geographical patterns but, according to similarity, the result showed maximum similarity among clusters with few numbers of accessions. It has been recommended that other molecular markers should be tested in the same study area.

Keywords: pearl millet, genetic diversity, simple sequence repeat (SSR)

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Authors: Rebecca Rumbul

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The operation of the state can often appear opaque to citizens wishing to access official information, who have to negotiate a path through numerous levels of bureaucracy rationalized through institutional policy to acquire what information they want. Even where individual states have 'Right to Information' legislation guaranteeing citizen access to information, public sector conformity to such laws vary between states and between state organizations. In response to such difficulties in bringing citizens and information together, many NGO's around the world have begun designing and hosting digital portals to facilitate the requesting and receiving of official information. How then, are these 'civic technology' tools affecting the behavior of the state? Are they increasing the transparency of the state? This study looked at 5 Right to Information civic technology sites in Chile, Uruguay, Ukraine, Hungary and the UK, and found that such sites were providing a useful platform to publish official information, but that states were still reluctant to comply with all requests. It concludes that civic technology can be an important tool in increasing the transparency of the state, but that the state must have an institutional commitment to information rights for this to be fully effective.

Keywords: digital, ICT, transparency, civic technology

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Authors: Rabia Chaudhry, Andrew Dawson

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Identification of steady/critical state of coarse granular soil is challenging at conventional pressures. This study examines the drained and undrained triaxial tests for large strains on loose to dense, uniformly graded, Leighton Buzzard Fraction A sand. The triaxial tests are conducted under controlled test conditions. The comparison of soil behavior on shear strength characteristics at different effective stresses has been studied at the medium to large strains levels and the uniqueness of the critical state was discussed. The test results showed that there were two steady/critical state lines for drained and undrained conditions at confining pressures less than 1000 kPa. A critical state friction angle is not constant and the overall scatter in the steady/critical state line for the tested sand is ±0.01 in terms of void ratio at stress levels less than 1000 kPa.

Keywords: critical state, stress strain behavior, fabric/structure, triaxial tests

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Authors: Marek Dlapa

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The algebraic approach is applied to the control of the HiMAT (Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology). The objective is to find a robust controller which guarantees robust stability and decoupled control of longitudinal model of a scaled remotely controlled vehicle version of the advanced fighter HiMAT. Control design is performed by decoupling the nominal MIMO (multi-input multi-output) system into two identical SISO (single-input single-output) plants which are approximated by a 4th order transfer function. The algebraic approach is then used for pole placement design, and the nominal closed-loop poles are tuned so that the peak of the µ-function is minimal. As an optimization tool, evolutionary algorithm Differential Migration is used in order to overcome the multimodality of the cost function yielding simple controller with decoupling for nominal plant which is compared with the D-K iteration through simulations of standard longitudinal manoeuvres documenting decoupled control obtained from algebraic approach for nominal plant as well as worst case perturbation.

Keywords: algebraic approach, evolutionary computation, genetic algorithms, HiMAT, robust control, structured singular value

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Authors: Reni M. Sagayaraj, Anand Gnana S. Selvam, Reynald R. Susainathan

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In this paper, we consider stochastic queueing models for Steady-state behavior of a multi-phase M/M/1 queue in random evolution subject to catastrophe failure. The arrival flow of customers is described by a marked Markovian arrival process. The service times of different type customers have a phase-type distribution with different parameters. To facilitate the investigation of the system we use a generalized phase-type service time distribution. This model contains a repair state, when a catastrophe occurs the system is transferred to the failure state. The paper focuses on the steady-state equation, and observes that, the steady-state behavior of the underlying queueing model along with the average queue size is analyzed.

Keywords: M/G/1 queuing system, multi-phase, random evolution, steady-state equation, catastrophe failure

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Authors: E. K. Linsenmayer

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Traditional international relations theorists define state security, the principal national interest, as a state’s military force. However, many political theorists argue the current definition of security is not comprehensive and therefore, problematic. This paper argues that women’s physical security is not only linked but also necessary to achieve state security. In today’s unipolar political international system, the United States continues to accredit national security to its military. However, in one of the most militarized countries, women remain insecure. Through a case study method of the United States, this paper illuminates a necessary political prescription: the empowerment of women through an inside-out, feminist theoretical approach that makes state security attainable. The research through empirical testing, drawing from several databases, shows the positive effects of women’s physical security on state security. Women’s physical security is defined in terms of equal legal practices, health, education, and female representation in the government. State security is measured by the relative peace of a state, its involvement in conflict and a state’s relations with neighboring states. This paper shows that empowering women, 50% of the world’s population, is necessary for ending the current vicious circle of militarization, war, and insecurity. Without undoing gender power dynamics at the individual and societal level, security at all levels remains unattainable.

Keywords: gender inequality, politics, state security, women's security

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Authors: Akbar Jamali

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Hegel is the first great political philosopher who specifically contemplates on bureaucracy. For Hegel bureaucracy is the function of the state. Since state, essentially is a rational organization, its function; namely, bureaucracy must be rational. Since, what is rational is universal; Hegel had to explain how the bureaucracy could be understood as universal. Hegel discusses bureaucracy in his treatment of ‘executive power’. He analyses modern bureaucracy as a form of political organization, its constituent members, and its relation to the social environment. Therefore, the essence of bureaucracy in Hegel’s philosophy is the implementation of law and rules. Hegel argues that unlike the other social classes that are particular because they look for their own private interest, bureaucracy as a class is a ‘universal’ because their orientation is the interest of the state. State for Hegel is essentially rational and universal. It is the actualization of ‘objective Spirit’. Marx criticizes Hegel’s argument on the universality of state and bureaucracy. For Marx state is equal to bureaucracy, it constitutes a social class that based on the interest of bourgeois class that dominates the society and exploits proletarian class. Therefore, the main disagreement between these political philosophers is: whether the state (bureaucracy) is universal or particular. Growing e-government in modern state as an important aspect of development leads us to contemplate on the particularity and universality of e-government. In this article, we will argue that e-government essentially is universal. E-government, in itself, is impartial; therefore, it cannot be particular. The development of e-government eliminates many side effects of the private, personal or particular interest of the individuals who work as bureaucracy. Finally, we will argue that more a state is developed more it is universal. Therefore, development of e-government makes the state a more universal and affects the modern philosophical debate on the particularity or universality of bureaucracy and state.

Keywords: particularity, universality, rational bureaucracy, impartiality

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Authors: Gyorgy Folk

Abstract:

A finite set of cardinal needs define the human core of living well shaped on the evolutionary time scale as attested by social and life sciences of the last decades. Well-being is the purported state of living well. Living of humans akin any other living beings involves the exchange of vital substance with nature, maintaining a supportive symbiosis with an array of other living beings, living up to bonds to kin and exerting efforts to sustain living. A supportive natural environment, access to material resources, the nearness to fellow beings, and life sustaining activity are prerequisites of well-being. Well-living is prone to misinterpretation as an individual achievement, one lives well only and only if bonded to human relationships, related to a place, incorporated in nature. Akin all other forms of it, human life is a self-sustaining arrangement. One may say that the substance of life is life, and not materials, products, and services converted into life. The human being remains shaped on an evolutionary time scale and is enabled within the non-altering core of human being, invariant of cultural differences in earthly space and time. Present paper proposes the introduction of weal, the missing link in the causal chain of societal performance and the goodness of life. Interpreted differently over the ages, cultures and disciplines, instead of well-being, the construct in general use, weal is proposed as the underlying foundation of well-being. Weal stands for the totality of socialised reality as framing well-being for the individual beyond the possibility of deliberate choice. The descriptive approach to weal, mapping it under the guidance of discrete scientific disciplines reveals a limited set of cardinal aspects, labeled here the cardinal needs. Cardinal expresses the fundamental reorientation weal can bring about, needs deliver the sense of sine qua non. Weal is conceived as a oneness mapped along eight cardinal needs. The needs, approached as aspects instead of analytically isolated factors do not require mutually exclusive definitions. To serve the purpose of reorientation, weal is operationalised as a domain in multidimensional space, each dimension encompassing an optimal level of availability of the fundamental satisfiers between the extremes of drastic insufficiency and harmful excess, ensured by actual human effort. Weal seeks balance among the material and social aspects of human being while allows for cultural and individual uniqueness in attaining human flourishing.

Keywords: human well-being, development, economic theory, human needs

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Authors: Benoît Bucher, Hika Kuroshima, Kazuo Fujita

Abstract:

Although altruism is commonly observed in humans and is considered one of the most important factors in the survival of our species, its cognitive mechanisms and evolutionary roots are yet to be explained. This study is based on the previous findings that bonobos (Pan Paniscus) preferred to share a limited amount of food with others regardless of their relationships with the others. Findings such as this suggest that humans’ propensity for altruistic food-sharing may be shared among apes and may have evolved much longer ago than previously considered. We thus adapted the previous experimental design using tufted capuchins (Cebus apella), New World monkeys separating from humans about 40 million years ago. In order to achieve this, 12 pairs of capuchins (consisting of a benefactors and a partner) were tested in a row of two adjacent cages separated by a swinging door locked by a key (Fig.1). We observed whether the monkeys in possession of food (the benefactors) would allow their partner to enter their cage by unlocking the door between them. Results showed that the monkeys clearly preferred to monopolize the food for themselves, even though they in a few cases unlocked the door after eating the preferred food. This suggests that this species, which has been shown to be sensitive to the others’ welfare, would not actively share food at a cost of their own. Although further studies are needed, our results suggest the existence of significant differences in the evolutionary development of the pro social tendencies between bonobos and capuchin monkeys.

Keywords: altruism, capuchin monkeys, food sharing, pro social behaviors

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Authors: Asaiel Alohaly

Abstract:

A theoretical framework for corporate governance is needed to bridge the gap between the corporate governance of private companies and State-owned Enterprises (SOEs). The two dominant models, being shareholder and stakeholder, do not always address the specific requirements and challenges posed by ‘hybrid’ companies; namely, previously national bodies that have been privatised bffu t where the government retains significant control or holds a majority of shareholders. Thus, an exploratory theoretical study is needed to identify how ‘hybrid’ companies should be defined and why the state model should be acknowledged since it is the less conspicuous model in comparison with the shareholder and stakeholder models. This research focuses on ‘the state model of corporate governance to understand the complex ownership, control pattern, goals, and corporate governance of these hybrid companies. The significance of this research lies in the fact that there is a limited available publication on the state model. The outcomes of this research are as follows. It became evident that the state model exists in the ecosystem. However, corporate governance theories have not extensively covered this model. Though, there is a lot being said about it by OECD and the World Bank. In response to this gap between theories and industry practice, this research argues for the state model, which proceeds from an understanding of the institutionally embedded character of hybrid companies where the government is either a majority of the total shares or a controlling shareholder.

Keywords: corporate governance, control, shareholders, state model

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Authors: Deepak Raj Bhat, Ryuichi Yatabe

Abstract:

In this study, a residual-state creep failure model was developed based on the residual-state creep test results of clayey soils. To develop the proposed model, the regression analyses were done by using the R. The model results of the failure time (tf) and critical displacement (δc) were compared with experimental results and found in close agreements to each others. It is expected that the proposed regression model for residual-state creep failure will be more useful for the prediction of displacement of different clayey soils in the future.

Keywords: regression model, residual-state creep failure, displacement prediction, clayey soils

Procedia PDF Downloads 377