State Expansion Research Articles

The Paradoxical Development of Liberal Governance: International Adoption Policy and Professional Social Work in Authoritarian South Korea, 1953–1976

Abstract This article explores the development of international adoption policy in post-liberation South Korea, emphasizing the roles of American and Korean professional social workers. By analyzing the orphan registry and a pivotal international adoption law, it reveals how international adoption in South Korea presents a unique opportunity to observe the formation of modern social policy in a newly liberated nation during the Cold War. The study argues that adoption policy served as a crucial locus of transnational governance, where American and Korean social workers pursued their liberal ideals of professional social work within the context of the authoritarian policies of the South Korean state. However, their quest for scientific professionalism, standardized procedures, and public oversight led to a paradoxical evolution of adoption policy, diverging sharply from the trajectory seen in Western liberal democracies where social work significantly contributed to the consolidation and expansion of the welfare state. In South Korea, embedded transnationality and ideological mismatch resulted in the state’s further withdrawal and the creation of policy workarounds that undermined the core social work principle of the child’s best interests. This case highlights the complexities and blurred moral boundaries in the shaping of modern governance and the broader journey toward modernity under postcolonial, Cold War conditions.

The physical and virtual presence of the local state and citizens’ life satisfaction in urbanising China

China’s rapid and ongoing urbanisation has led to the expansion of the local state. The state, traditionally exhibited as physical institutions of government, has emerged virtually in recent years based on intricate network infrastructure systems, such as social media platforms. Scholars contend that a strong physical state infrastructure enhances government function and can increase citizens’ life satisfaction; in contrast, the state’s virtual presence is unlikely to exert a substantial independent impact because of its reliance on the state’s physical infrastructure. In this research, we calibrated innovative measures of the state’s physical and virtual presence. Combined with data from the 2018 Urbanisation and Quality of Life Survey conducted in 40 sampling sites undergoing rural–urban transition, we further assessed how the local state’s physical and virtual presence is associated with citizens’ self-reported life satisfaction in the context of China’s national new-type urbanisation. Our results, based on three-level mixed-effects regressions, indicate that the local state’s bricks-and-mortar institutions do not correlate with citizens’ life satisfaction; rather, the establishment of a web-based, cost-effective, transparent, and coordinated virtual presence is associated with a higher level of life satisfaction among citizens. At a time when the Chinese central government emphasises its commitment to ‘people-centred’ urbanisation, the findings offer insight into the strategies that local governments could employ to improve governance quality and enhance citizens’ well-being.

The settler homeland: racial violence, frontier colonialism, and Filipino repatriation

ABSTRACT On March 1938, representatives from the Philippine Commonwealth and Filipino American community organizations organized the First Official Filipino National Convention in Seattle. A committee proposed to send their less-educated kababayan (countrymen) to the Philippines to colonize Mindanao, the archipelago's Moro (Muslim) and Lumad (non-Muslim and non-Christian Indigenous) South. For Filipino American leaders, state expansion into the archipelago's south was a project of recuperating the utility and respectability of destitute Filipino migrant men, and thus, for the growth of the provisional nation itself. By following Filipino repatriation schemes within migrant communities, and their relationship with the Philippine state's aspirations to expand into the south, I argue that Filipino diasporic nationalism - the consolidation of migrants' affiliations not with their regions and hometowns, but with a bourgeois patriotism that lays claim to the entire Philippine archipelago - constitutively imagined the ‘home country' as a settler homeland, a simultaneous place of homeward return as well as economic development and conquest. Probing the intersections between Asian American history, Southeast Asian statecraft, and settler colonial studies, I critical reconsider two fundamental questions in Asian migrant life: Where exactly is the home country—and what does it mean to ‘go back to where you came from’?

Race and authenticity in Argentine comics, 1950s–1970s: Indigenous peoples, mestizos, and white settlers on the frontier

ABSTRACT This article analyses several Argentine comics published between the 1950s and 1970s that depict the racialised hinterlands of state expansion in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Whether set in Argentina or the US, these comics are often celebrated as works that dismantle traditional dichotomies found in comics (e.g. white heroes vs. Indigenous villains). Referring to their use of the archive, of more nuanced Indigenous characters, and even of narratives constructed from “an Indigenous worldview”, comics creators are seen to disrupt stereotypical depictions of race. Positioning the works within a history of race in Argentina and political struggles over its rural interior, I unpack the creators’ claims to “authenticity” to set out an alternative reading of Indigeneity, mestizaje, and whiteness in these comics. I argue that this corpus ultimately preserves existing racial hierarchies by promoting figures of whiteness who support white settlerism in the name of modernisation and progress.

Analog reservoir computing via ferroelectric mixed phase boundary transistors

Analog reservoir computing (ARC) systems have attracted attention owing to their efficiency in processing temporal information. However, the distinct functionalities of the system components pose challenges for hardware implementation. Herein, we report a fully integrated ARC system that leverages material versatility of the ferroelectric-to-mixed phase boundary (MPB) hafnium zirconium oxides integrated onto indium–gallium–zinc oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs). MPB-based TFTs (MPBTFTs) with nonlinear short-term memory characteristics are utilized for physical reservoirs and artificial neuron, while nonvolatile ferroelectric TFTs mimic synaptic behavior for readout networks. Furthermore, double-gate configuration of MPBTFTs enhances reservoir state differentiation and state expansion for physical reservoir and processes both excitatory and inhibitory pulses for neuronal functionality with minimal hardware burden. The seamless integration of ARC components on a single wafer executes complex real-world time-series predictions with a low normalized root mean squared error of 0.28. The material-device co-optimization proposed in this study paves the way for the development of area- and energy-efficient ARC systems.

Constraints on Interstellar Sovereignty

Human space exploration and settlement of other planets is becoming increasingly technologically feasible, while mission concepts for remote and crewed missions to nearby star systems continue to be developed. But the long-term success of space settlement also requires extensions and advances in models of governance. This paper provides a synthesis of the physical factors that will constrain the application of sovereignty in space as well as legal precedent on Earth that likely applies to any crewed or uncrewed missions to other stellar systems. The Outer Space Treaty limits the territorial expansion of states into space, but the requirements for oversight of nongovernmental agencies and retention of property ownership enable the extension of state jurisdiction into space. Pragmatic constraints from historical precedent on Earth suggest that new space treaties will be unlikely to succeed and new global space agencies may have limited jurisdiction over states, while hard constraints of the space environment require adherence to technical capabilities, political feasibility, and long-term sustainability. These factors form a three-prong test for assessing the viability of interstellar governance models. This discussion of interstellar governance is intended to further the conversation about sovereignty in space prior to the first intentional launch of any interstellar spacecraft. Keywords: Space Settlement, Space Colonization, Interstellar Travel, Governance, Outer Space Treaty

Quantification of solvent-mediated host-ion interaction in graphite intercalation compounds for extreme-condition Li-ion batteries

Achieving simultaneous fast-charging capabilities and low-temperature adaptability in graphite-based lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with an acceptable cycle life remains challenging. Herein, an ether-based electrolyte with temperature-adaptive Li+ solvation structure is designed for graphite, and stable Li+/solvent co-intercalation has been achieved at subzero. As revealed by in-situ variable temperature (−20 ℃) X-ray diffraction (XRD), the poor compatibility of graphite in ether-based electrolyte at 25 ℃ is mainly due to the continuous electrolyte decomposition and the in-plane rearrangement below 0.5 V. Former results in a significant irreversible capacity, while latter maintains graphite in a prolonged state of extreme expansion, ultimately leading to its exfoliation and failure. In contrast, low temperature triggers the rearrangement of Li+ solvation structure with stronger Li+/solvent binding energy and shorter Li+–O bond length, which is conducive for reversible Li+/solvent co-intercalation and reducing the time of graphite in an extreme expansion state. In addition, the co-intercalation of solvents minimizes the interaction between Li-ions and host graphite, endowing graphite with fast diffusion kinetics. As expected, the graphite anode delivers about 84% of the capacity at room temperature at −20 ℃. Moreover, within 6 min, about 83%, 73%, and 43% of the capacity could be charged at 25, −20, and −40 ℃, respectively.

Medicaid/CHIP Coverage for Immigrants During Pregnancy, Childhood, and Adulthood: A Discussion of Relevant Policies and Evidence.

Despite major expansions in public health insurance under Medicaid and CHIP over the last 60 years, many immigrants remain ineligible for coverage. We discuss the existing federal and state policies that extend public health eligibility to low-income pregnant immigrants, children, and nonelderly adults. We also conduct a literature review and summarize quasi-experimental evidence examining the impact of public health insurance eligibility expansions on insurance coverage, healthcare use, and health outcomes among immigrants. Public health insurance eligibility for immigrants varies widely across states due to the implementation of different federal and state policy options. Previous studies on expanded eligibility identified positive effects on insurance coverage and healthcare utilization among pregnant and child immigrants, as well as some evidence indicating improved health outcomes. Further research is required to understand the longer-term impacts of expanded coverage, as well as to examine impacts of recent state expansions for adults. A complicated patchwork of federal and states policies leads to major differences in immigrant access to publicly-funded insurance coverage across states and population groups. These policies likely have important implications for immigrant access to healthcare and health.

Solidarity in action: Collaborating with system‐impacted youth to transform the juvenile (in)justice system through YPAR

AbstractThe juvenile “justice” system in the United States and the expansion of the carceral state into communities of color are deeply rooted in white supremacy. To challenge these oppressive systems, it is essential for system‐impacted youth to have access to these subjugated histories. We argue that critical youth participatory action research (YPAR) is a powerful tool for providing these youth with the necessary exposure, space, and support to access these histories, develop critical consciousness, and transform their personal pain and experiences into reflection, collaboration, and actions aimed at challenging oppressive systems such as the juvenile legal system. To illustrate this potential, we present an overview of recent YPAR projects in partnership with system‐impacted youth. We underscore the importance of system‐impacted youth in meaningful, non‐tokenistic ways. Concrete recommendations for supporting YPAR projects with system‐impacted youth are provided.

(Invited) Lifetime Predictive Model of Capacity Loss, Resistance Increase, and Irreversible Thickness Growth

We present a battery lifetime model that predicts Irreversible battery thickness change under constant pressure operation as the battery ages, along with capacity loss and resistance growth. These metrics are very important for predicting lithium-ion battery state of health (SOH) and remaining useful life due to their interdependence with battery packaging and safety. To design and operate battery storage systems safely, we must be able to predict and detect changes in all three SOH metrics over life accurately and simultaneously. Traditionally, these three SOH metrics have been modeled separately. However, we developed a single model that simultaneously predicts battery capacity, resistance, and expansion over its lifetime.In this work, battery degradation is modeled using the single particle model (SPM) framework, including mechanical damage in the electrodes, which results in loss of active material (LAM), and the side reactions for SEI growth and Li plating, which result in loss of lithium inventory (LLI). We introduce an equivalent stress and concentration dependence of stress to the mechanical damage model. Commonly used fatigue models assume symmetric cycles (zero-mean stress) [1]. To account for cycling conditions with different currents on charge and discharge, an equivalent stress that adjusts for non-zero mean stress is needed. The concentration dependency of strain and the resulting stress allows us to capture different degradation rates for cells cycled at different depths of discharge (DOD). Lithium plating at the separator interface is often described as a spatially non-uniform process using the pseudo-2D (P2D) model. This phenomenon can be captured in the SPM framework using a current-dependent dynamic term to account for spatial-nonuniformity of electrolyte dynamics at higher currents.Experimental data from cells cycling with periodic reference performance tests were used to tune the degradation model. In addition to the standard I, V, and T measurements, continuous measurements of the thickness change of the battery pouch cells were recorded. From this data, we extracted the capacity, electrode state of health (eSOH), resistance, and reversible and irreversible expansion. The test conditions were designed to excite different dominant degradation mechanisms (e.g. mechanical damage) by cycling the cells at different conditions (C-rate, temperature, preload pressure, and DOD). The tuning, which uses accelerated aging simulations [2] (to speed up the tuning process), results in a single set of parameters that predicts capacity loss, resistance growth, and irreversible thickness change as the battery ages, even for conditions that were not used for parameter tuning.The tuning is performed in two sequential steps. First, the parameters related to the electrochemical and mechanical degradation rates, which result in LLI and LAM, are tuned to match the extracted eSOH variables at each Reference Performance Test (RPT). The first tuning gives us the amount of plated Li, SEI growth, and mechanical damage in the particles. We then relate these quantities to irreversible expansion using a linear relationship in the case of SEI and mechanical damage and quadratic in the case of Li plating [3]. The same relationship is used for all cells, and this represents the 2nd tuning step. Our data set and calibration are unique in that the dominant degradation mode is the loss of lithium inventory due to the loss of active anode material. Most prior work on lifetime predictive models relied on SEI growth as the dominant degradation mode. Figure 2 shows the tuned model prediction of the three performance metrics over the cycle life of cells for various cycling conditions. The markers represent the measurement at each reference performance test, and the lines correspond to the model.

Militarized Development in Post‐war Sri Lanka: Consolidating Control

ABSTRACTDevelopment is an important, yet contentious word, in the history of post‐colonial Sri Lanka. Typically, it is linked with economic progress and societal change, intricately woven into political processes and frequently utilized as a platform to promote Sinhala‐Buddhist ethnonationalist agendas. This article looks at post‐colonial Sri Lanka's ‘core development project’ — the Mahaweli Development Programme — and its post‐war revival with the military as a key actor. Through a detailed ethnographic study, it traces the way in which the military assumed extraordinary powers and became vital to the post‐colonial project of development and the militarized practices that enabled this. The author argues that this project of militarized development unfolds in a fourfold manner: by normalizing the presence of the military; by ensuring the military is seen as charitable; by blurring the boundaries between the military and civilians; and lastly by portraying the work carried out by the military as transformative. The article concludes by demonstrating that this militarized project of development is the latest iteration of the long‐standing post‐colonial project of Sinhala‐Buddhist state expansion, enabled through development.

Analytical approximations of laminar flow states above a curved wall heated from below

An analytical framework is developed for estimating wall-bounded plane laminar flow states above curved walls subject to external shear and heating. The framework is applicable to arbitrary lower-wall geometries with arbitrary temperature prescriptions. The study relies on perturbation expansions of flow states with respect to the inverse of the dimensionless channel wavelength. Exact closed-form solutions are obtained for systems of perturbation equations up to the third order, which have the freedom to allow for any flow constraint. As an application of the analytical framework, we examine flow states above two specific instances of wall geometries with long channel wavelengths. The approximated flow states shed insights into morphologies of laminar convection states at low shear rates (i.e. low Reynolds numbers).

Holographic Gaussian Boson Sampling with Matrix Product States on 3D cQED Processors.

We introduce quantum circuits for simulations of multimode state vectors on 3D circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) processors using matrix product state representations. The circuits are demonstrated as applied to simulations of molecular docking based on holographic Gaussian boson sampling (GBS), as illustrated for the binding of a thiol-containing aryl sulfonamide ligand to the tumor necrosis factor-α converting enzyme receptor. We show that cQED devices with a modest number of modes could be employed to simulate multimode systems by repurposing working modes through measurement and reinitialization. We anticipate that a wide range of GBS applications could be implemented on compact 3D cQED processors analogously using the holographic approach. Simulations on qubit-based quantum computers could be implemented analogously using circuits that represent continuous variables in terms of truncated expansions of Fock states.

Convergence of resonant state expansions for transmission in double delta resonators

We investigate the transmission features of symmetric double Dirac delta resonators using a non-Hermitian quantum approach, based on resonant state expansions involving complex energy eigenvalues. We focus on the convergence properties of these expansions, which involve a sum of resonance and anti-resonance terms We demonstrate that systems with transmission profiles featuring sharp and isolated resonances converge more rapidly, whereas those with overlapping resonances exhibit slower convergence. We also show that for the former systems, by taking into account only the resonance terms, we can accurately describe the transmission coefficient as a sum of Breit-Wigner resonances, each distinctly characterized by its energy and width. We demonstrate that there is a one-to-one correlation between transmission peaks and the resonance energies of the system. We also compare the convergence properties of transmission using Mittag-Leffler expansions, noting their slower rates compared to resonant state expansions. These findings emphasize the advantage of using non-Hermitian resonant expansions for analyzing quantum mechanical systems, providing a clearer understanding of systems characterized by resonant features.

Spiritual Intelligence and Spiritual Care Among Nursing Students in a Selected University

Background: To ensure that nursing education adequately prepares nurses for comprehensive patient care, educators must develop a heightened awareness of the religious and spiritual elements involved in patient care. Moreover, educators must possess the ability to equip student nurses with the necessary knowledge and skills to provide spiritually-based care ethically. Methods: A descriptive-correlation study was conducted among 359 Nursing students in a non-sectarian, private university in the Philippines. Convenience sampling was employed using two adopted tools, the Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI) and the Student Survey of Spiritual Care (SSSC) to collect the data. A Spearman rank order was utilized for the test of the relationship. The data analysis was done using SPSS version 28.0. Results: The study revealed a higher level of spiritual intelligence in terms of critical existential thinking (M = 19.39, SD = 4.65) and lowest with conscious state expansion subscale (M = 13.65, SD = 3.55). Overall, the students exhibited a moderate level of spiritual intelligence (M = 66.16, SD = 3.82). Moreover, Nursing students perceived a very positive experience (M = 4.60, SD = 1.26) in providing spiritual care. There is a moderate relationship between spiritual intelligence and the ability to give spiritual care (rs = 0.515, p = 0.000), which was statistically significant. Conclusions: Spirituality holds great significance within the field of nursing, as it carries profound implications for the provision of care to patients. Moreover, it represents an indispensable component of holistic nursing care.

Expansion is Wrong! Applying Doppler to the Universe is Wrong

The concept of our universe has been it being in a state of expansion as everything is moving away from us, and away from everywhere. The expansion idea is specifically a conclusion to the finding of frequency the light waves being distorted by the motion of the source relative to the observer. The redshift frequency variation is called Doppler which was originally assigned to sound from arriving trains. This is an analysis of Doppler theory that revels that a redshift frequency of star light beams also occurs when the stars are ‘REVOLVING’ relative to an observer (such as us on earth). Everything in space does revolve around every observer. Thus, the rotation of all stars revolves around us and all other bodies. Then the rotation redshift must replace the theoretical ‘moving away’ redshift, is useless. The “physics model”, that defines physics, is specially based on the Doppler theory that demands expansion. How could this error have continued controlling all physics so long? Think about this!.

State Expansion of a Levitated Nanoparticle in a Dark Harmonic Potential.

We spatially expand and subsequently contract the motional thermal state of a levitated nanoparticle using a hybrid trapping scheme. The particle's center-of-mass motion is initialized in a thermal state (temperature 155mK) in an optical trap and then expanded by subsequent evolution in a much softer Paul trap in the absence of optical fields. We demonstrate expansion of the motional state's standard deviation in position by a factor of 24. In our system, state expansion occurs devoid of backaction from photon recoil, making this approach suitable for coherent wave function expansion.

On unitary time evolution out of equilibrium

We consider d-dimensional quantum systems which for positive times evolve with a time-independent Hamiltonian in a nonequilibrium state that we keep generic in order to account for arbitrary evolution at negative times. We show how the one-point functions of local operators depend on the coefficients of the expansion of the nonequilibrium state on the basis of energy eigenstates. We express in this way the asymptotic offset and show under which conditions oscillations around this value stay undamped at large times. We also show how, in the case of small quenches, the structure of the general results simplifies and reproduces that known perturbatively.

A novel adaptive trajectory tracking control for autonomous vehicles based on state expansion

A novel adaptive trajectory tracking control for autonomous vehicles based on state expansion

Changes in Facility Share of Medicaid-insured Patients With Urologic Cancers Following Implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

ObjectivesTo examine Medicaid-insurance acceptance at facilities treating urologic cancers following implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). MethodsWe conducted a retrospective, longitudinal study with a pre-post design. We accessed 2010-2017 data from the National Cancer Database, calculating the facility-level change in proportion of urologic cancer patients with Medicaid following implementation of the ACA. We used multivariable logistic regression to assess baseline clinical and demographic factors associated with changes in the proportion of patients at a facility insured through Medicaid. ResultsWe identified 630 facilities, including 287 in Medicaid expansion states and 343 in non-expansion states associated with 436,082 urologic cancer patients. The mean facility-level change in proportion of patients with Medicaid was +5.8% (95% CI 5.0-6.5%) in expansion states versus +0.6% (95% CI 0.2-0.9%) in non-expansion states. There were 179 facilities that experienced a decrease in the post-ACA period, representing 13.6% of facilities in expansion states and 40.8% in non-expansion states (p<0.001). Factors associated with a decrease in proportion of urologic cancer patients insured by Medicaid included non-expansion state status (OR 8.9, 95% CI 5.3-15.6, p<0.001), higher baseline proportion of patients with Medicaid (highest quartile versus lowest: OR 4.6, 95% CI 2.3-9.4, p<0.001) and high income zip code (highest versus lowest quartile: OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.5-6.6, p<0.001). ConclusionsUrologic cancer care for Medicaid-insured Americans remains unevenly distributed across cancer care centers, even in states that expanded coverage. Our findings suggest that this variation may reflect the effort of some facilities to reduce their financial exposure to increased numbers of Medicaid patients in the wake of ACA-supported state expansions.