Relative Distribution Of Power Research Articles

The spring stiffness profile within a passive, full-leg exoskeleton affects lower-limb joint mechanics while hopping.

Passive, full-leg exoskeletons that act in parallel with the legs can reduce the metabolic power of bouncing gaits like hopping. However, the magnitude of metabolic power reduction depends on the spring stiffness profile of the exoskeleton and is presumably affected by how users adapt their lower-limb joint mechanics. We determined the effects of using a passive, full-leg exoskeleton with degressive (DG), linear (LN) and progressive (PG) stiffness springs on lower-limb joint kinematics and kinetics during stationary, bilateral hopping at 2.4 Hz. We found that the use of a passive, full-leg exoskeleton primarily reduced the muscle-tendon units (MTUs) contribution to overall joint moment and power at the ankle, followed by the knee, due to the average exoskeleton moment arm around each joint. The greatest reductions occurred with DG springs, followed by LN and PG stiffness springs, probably due to differences in elastic energy return. Moreover, the relative distribution of positive joint power remained unchanged when using a passive, full-leg exoskeleton compared with unassisted hopping. Passive, full-leg exoskeletons simultaneously assist multiple lower-limb joints and future assistive devices should consider the effects of spring stiffness profile in their design.

How regional organisation survives: ASEAN, hedging and international society

ABSTRACT How can a regional organisation survive in great power contests? This article uses the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the empirical case to address the puzzle. The inquiry is important for three reasons. First, the recent developments in world politics have shown the increasingly penetrative actions of the major powers into regional multilateral organisations. Second, looking at ASEAN, the internal cohesion and solidity of the Association's member countries over the last decade have been challenged by the competition between China and the U.S. Third, the existing literature on ASEAN regional strategic affairs has been focused on hedging as the weaker states’ agential choice to manage their relations with the stronger states. However, there is insufficient explanation of what makes sustainable Southeast Asian states’ hedging possible. Working within the English School theory of IR, this article offers two factors explaining ASEAN’s survival as a regional international society: elite diplomatic culture and great power management. The argument is that ASEAN has developed its ideas and values of intra-regional diplomatic relations and built institutions that can mitigate the damaging consequences of the U.S.–China order contestation. Furthermore, this study promotes an English School perspective on hedging based on the ASEAN case. Arguing against the realist theory of hedging, which focuses on the domestic function of foreign policy strategy, the narrow conception of national interests and the relative distribution of power at the systemic level, hedging works because of viable institutions of the regional international society oriented toward constructing and preserving order .

Rywalizacja chińsko-amerykańska w drugiej dekadzie XXI wieku: Analiza porównawcza polityki Baracka Obamy i Donalda Trumpa

Sino-American Rivalry in the Second Decade of the 21st Century: A Comparative Analysis of Barack Obama and Donald Trump Policies The Sino-American trade war has become a symbol of rivalry for leadership in the international system. It also attracts growing attention to the problem of possible change to the regional and global hegemony. The debate with its possible ramifications is clear to academics, the media and political elites. However, it has focused on a limited scope of factors and mostly at the leadership level of, most notably, the United States of America. Considering its complexity, the issue of US policy towards China should be analyzed at various levels. These include the presidents, their collaborators, domestic politics and US strategy, and, finally, the international system as it experiences the relative change of power distribution. The main goal of this article is to analyze the recent US administrations’ strategy towards the People’s Republic of China. This is in the context of changes to the international system, focusing on the relative change of power distribution. The hypothesis driving this article states that the US strategy towards China is a response to the changing relative distribution of power in the regional and global system. It follows that American administrations differ rather in methods than in goals of foreign policy. This text is prepared with reference to the Power Transition Theory of A. Organski and J. Kugler, and the research is based on the US strategic documents’ analysis and statistical analysis of the power distribution in the system.

National Polar Research as a Manifestation of Turkey’s Soft Power

In the global economy of the 21st century, the production of information and technology and the process of its transformation into economic benefit have become the most important parameter in the relative distribution of power among states. Intending to have a larger share of the global economic pie, Turkey has been trying to conduct an efficient public diplomacy process. Turkish Polar Scientific Expeditions and Researches, which are conducted with national and international academic partnerships, are examined in the context of soft power and public diplomacy. The aim of this study is, as a successful public diplomacy case, to present the prospective contributions of these researches to Turkey’s soft power capacity from science diplomacy perspective.

Activation patterns of pelvic floor muscles in women with incontinence while running: a randomized controlled trial.

Running is known to cause urinary leakage in women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Task-specific fiber-type recruitment while running can be estimated using wavelets. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of a new physiotherapy program including involuntary, reflexive training with a standard physiotherapy program on pelvic floor muscle (PFM) activation patterns and fiber-type recruitment behavior while running. In this triple-blinded randomized controlled trial, women with SUI were randomly allocated to the control group (CON), which performed a standard physiotherapy program, or the experimental group (EXP), which received additional involuntary, reflexive training. PFM electromyography (EMG) was recorded during 10s at three running speeds and analyzed using Morse wavelets. The relative distribution of power (%) over the frequencies from 20 to 200Hz was extracted and analyzed within six-time intervals of 30ms. Statistical nonparametric mapping was performed to identify power spectra differences. Thirty-nine (CON) and 38 (EXP) women were included. The power spectra showed no statistically significant group differences. The time intervals from 30ms before to 30ms after initial contact showed significantly lower intensities than the intervals from 30 to 150ms after initial contact in the lowest and higher intensities in the highest frequencies for all running speeds and both groups. Power spectra shifts toward higher frequency bands in the pre-initial contact phase could indicate a feed-forward anticipation and a muscle tuning for the expected impact of initial contact event in order to maintain continence.

The Domestic Politics of Strategic Retrenchment, Power Shifts, and Preventive War

We present a formal model of international bargaining between two states in which one government must negotiate with a domestic opposition faction to secure tax revenue for military spending. The model examines how robust the international order is to domestic political crises that activate a stark trade-off to a governing coalition. Namely, offering fiscal relief to stave off domestic revolution can simultaneously undermine the larger international political order by facilitating military spending that can, under some circumstances, result in sizable shifts in the relative distribution of military power between states. We find that two key domestic conditions influence the likelihood of preventive war: the distribution of income within the state's economy and the relative economic stake that opposition groups possess in international settlements.

Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of opposing lateral visuospatial asymmetries in the upper and lower visual fields

Neurologically healthy individuals typically exhibit a subtle bias towards the left visual field during spatial judgments, known as “pseudoneglect”. However, it has yet to be reliably established if the direction and magnitude of this lateral bias varies along the vertical plane. Here, participants were required to distribute their attention equally across a checkerboard array spanning the entire visual field in order to detect transient targets that appeared at unpredictable locations. Reaction times (RTs) were faster to left hemifield targets in the lower visual field but the opposite trend was observed for targets in the upper field. Electroencephalogram (EEG) analyses focused on the interval prior to target onset in order to identify endogenous neural correlates of these behavioral asymmetries. The relative hemispheric distribution of pre-target oscillatory alpha power was predictive of RT bias to targets in the lower visual field but not the upper field, indicating separate attentional mechanisms for the upper and lower visual fields. Analysis of multifocal visual-evoked potentials (MVEP) in the pre-target interval also indicated that the opposing upper and lower field asymmetries may impact on the magnitude of primary visual cortical responses. These results provide new evidence of a functional segregation of upper and lower field visuospatial processing.

Electoral Career Movements and the Flow of Political Power in the American Federal System

AbstractI offer a novel way of documenting the flow of power between the state and federal governments. Rather than look at programs or expenditures, I examine the behavior of elected officials. Assuming that ambitious politicians gravitate toward the locus of political power, I track the flow of elected officials in the American federal system. Specifically, I look at the career paths of more than 12,000 individuals who served in the U.S. Congress between 1789 and 2012. By analyzing the movement of elected officials between the state and federal levels, I confirm the prevailing story line on the evolution of American federalism while generating a measure that can be used to assess the relative distribution of power in the system across time.

A New Outside Option Value for Networks: The Kappa-Value – Measuring Distribution of Power of Political Agreements

In an economic or social situation where agents have to group in order to achieve common goals, how can we calculate the coalitional rents of the agents arising from the coalition formation? Once we have formalized the situation via a TU-game and a network describing the economic structure, we can apply different allocation rules to assign the coalitional rents to the agents. We specifically analyze situations where parties with a specific vote distribution in a parliament have to build agreements in order to reach some required quorum. In this situation, we want to measure the (relative) distribution of power. We analyze the allocation rules called Position value (Meessen (1988) and Borm et al. (1992)) and graph-X-value (Casajus (2009)). Applying the generalized framework (Gomez et al. (2008)), a framework where coalitions are not established yet, we find that the graph-X-value does not differ for networks referring to the same coalition while the Position value takes into account the specific role of an agent within the network, i.e. the communication path. We define and characterize a new outside option sensitive value, the Kappa-value, which takes into account both outside options and the role of an agent within the network.

Culture and Conflict Landscapes in Organizations

This research will examine the relationship of cross-cultural differences in value orientations for power distribution and type and degree of interdependence on managing conflict at work. Based on previous theory and research (Coleman, Kugler, Mitchinson, Chung and Musallam, 2011), we propose that three fundamental aspects of social relations, relative distribution of power, type of interdependence and degree of interdependence, interact to situate parties psychologically in different regions of a conflict stimulus field (Kelley, 1997), and that these differences tend to afford distinct psychological orientations to conflict. There are three objectives of this study. First, we aim to explore cultural differences between the U.S. and South Korea in attractor landscape for conflict orientations. Second, we will examine if more adaptive orientations (flexible, non-chronic approaches) to conflict affect satisfaction with conflict processes at work. Lastly, we will examine cultural tightness-looseness (Gelfand, Nishii & Raver, 2006) to see if it predicts differences in in-group variance with both US and Korean samples. The theory, methods and results of the study will be presented at IACM.

ON THE TAPERED OPTICAL FIBERS WITH RADIALLY ANISOTROPIC LIQUID CRYSTAL CLAD

The paper presents an analytical investigation of a tapered core optical flber of which the outermost section is loaded with radially anisotropic liquid crystal. The analyses are dealt with transverse modes supported in the flber structure followed by the relative distribution of power in the difierent flber sections. Preliminary dispersion characteristics of the guide are also illustrated. The results demonstrate that the TE modes transport very large amount of power in the outermost liquid crystal region | the criteria much useful for flber optic sensing and fleld coupling devices.

Chirofibers with helical windings – An analytical investigation

In this communication, the propagation characteristic of a chiral fiber having helical windings at the core–cladding boundary is analyzed in respect of the relative distribution of power over the sustained modes. The core and the cladding sections of the chirofiber are assumed to have different chirality admittance values while the helical winding pitch angle is considered to attain two particular values - 0 ∘ and 90°. It is observed that the introduction of helical structure leaves a dominant effect on the relative power distribution of the chiral fiber as the variations of the confinement factor with the allowed values of the propagation constants corresponding to different azimuthal modes exhibit much difference in nature for different values of the angle of pitch. It is noticed that the power confinement in the core is much higher when the pitch angle of the helix is effectively introduced by keeping the windings perpendicular to the propagation direction. Further, the property of mode degeneracy in chirofibers is also observed, which is reported to be of much significance when the helical structure remains parallel to the direction of propagation. A more profound mode degeneration characteristic is found for the chiral fiber with larger core dimension.

Navigating International River Disputes to Avert Conflict

AbstractBuilding on the findings from the International Negotiation's 2000 issue on negotiations in international watercourses and the major advances in the field during the past nine years, this issue seeks to advance our knowledge about the management of international river disputes. Collectively, the articles in this issue move beyond the simple dichotomy of conflict and cooperation to suggest the possibility that both are often simultaneously present within a basin and should be studied as such. Using a diversity of methodological approaches from comparative case studies to single case studies to quantitative analysis, the articles also illustrate the growth of institutionalization within river basins and their contribution to conflict management. Moreover, the articles advance our knowledge of the role of the relative distribution of power within the basin on the resolution of water disputes and management of resources. Some scholars find power asymmetry important for treaty formation, while others suggest that issue linkages and side payments can provide weaker riparians with the means to gain from cooperation.

Secret State, Transparent Subject: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in the Age of Terror

This article describes the secrecy provisions embodied in the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Legislation Amendment Act 2003 (Cwlth). The article explains how these provisions curb freedom of speech and remove ASIO's activities from the domain of public scrutiny. It argues that by effectively criminalising open discussion of ASIO's activities the provisions insulate much of the domestic ‘war on terror’ from the public gaze. It also argues that the provisions implicitly sanction lawlessness by ASIO in open breach of the rule of law. By undermining free speech and the rule of law, this legislation increases the risk of torture of persons detained by ASIO. The legislation also exacerbates the punitiveness of such detention. Moreover, the secrecy offences will distort Australian politics by enabling the government to control and manipulate ‘security’ information. The article concludes that the increase in state secrecy and its impact are part of a continuing shift in the relative distribution of power between state and subject in liberal democracies; a shift that signals a move to more repressive or authoritarian forms of rule.

Secret State, Transparent Subject: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in the Age of Terror

This article describes the secrecy provisions embodied in the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Legislation Amendment Act 2003 (Cwlth). The article explains how these provisions curb freedom of speech and remove ASIO’s activities from the domain of public scrutiny. It argues that by effectively criminalising open discussion of ASIO’s activities the provisions insulate much of the domestic ‘war on terror’ from the public gaze. It also argues that the provisions implicitly sanction lawlessness by ASIO in open breach of the rule of law. By undermining free speech and the rule of law, this legislation increases the risk of torture of persons detained by ASIO. The legislation also exacerbates the punitiveness of such detention. Moreover, the secrecy offences will distort Australian politics by enabling the government to control and manipulate ‘security’ information. The article concludes that the increase in state secrecy and its impact are part of a continuing shift in the relative distribution of power between state and subject in liberal democracies; a shift that signals a move to more repressive or authoritarian forms of rule.

Relative power distribution in an infrared annular core optical fiber

Summary Using scalar field approximation, an analytical investigation has been made of the relative distribution of power in the guiding region of an annular core optical fiber operating in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The fiber core is assumed to be made of two concentric circles. Variation of the fractional power in the guiding region is plotted against the dimensionless core parameter. The cases of three lowest azimuthal modal indices have been described. It is found that the lower modes play a major role in the transmission of power.

Acute interactive effects of MK-801 and morphine on cortical EEG and EEG power spectra in rats

The interaction between MK-801 and morphine-induced effects on cortical electroencephalography (EEG) was investigated. Rats were administered one of five MK-801 doses (IP) prior to morphine (IV). MK-801 dose-dependently increased morphine-induced global spectral power, duration of morphine-induced EEG bursts and latency to sleep onset, and decreased morphine-induced mean frequency, mobility, complexity, and edge frequency. MK-801 pretreatment shifted the relative distribution of total power to the left. Significant interaction effects were found for all spectral parameters except peak frequency. A second group of rats was administered MK-801 prior to an increasing cumulative morphine dose. MK-801 increased maximal morphine effects on all spectral parameters except peak frequency. The results are in agreement with those of recent analgesia and in vitro studies in spinal neurons, and support observations of a synergistic interaction between effects of NMDA antagonism and morphine. These data further suggest that the component of cortical EEG that is produced by mu-opioid- and NMDA-receptor interactive effects may be dominated by an inhibitory effect of morphine on NMDA receptor activity.

Dynorphin a-(1–13)-morphine interactions: Quantitative and qualitative eeg properties differ in morphine-naive vs. Morphine-tolerant rats

The effects of dynorphin A-(1–13) on cumulative IV morphine-induced EEG and EEG power spectra were studied in naive and morphine-tolerant rats. Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with cortical EEG electrodes and permanent indwelling ICV and IV cannulae. In naive rats, dynorphin A-(1–13) quantitatively decreased cumulative IV morphine-induced EEG spectral power as well as qualitatively shifting the relative distribution of spectral power to predominantly faster frequencies. In morphine-tolerant rats, the quantitative and qualitative EEG properties were identical to those in dynorphin A-(1–13) pretreated morphine-naive rats. Thus, dynorphin A-(1–13) pretreatment apparently produced instantaneous acute morphine tolerance. Furthermore, in morphine-tolerant rats, dynorphin A-(1–13) pretreatment quantitatively increased morphine-induced EEG power without qualitatively changing the relative distribution of EEG spectral power. This latter effect may be due to a summation of increased endogenous levels of dynorphin A-(1–13) associated with the development of morphine tolerance and the experimentally administered dynorphin A-(1–13). These results indicate that dynorphin-induced quantitative and qualitative EEG changes of morphine may reflect different underlying processes. That is, quantitative changes may reflect the number of receptors that are activated, while qualitative changes may reflect the nature of the receptor-effector coupling.

Specific absorption rates in simulated tissue media for a 10 x 10 cm 915-MHz waveguide applicator.

The use of hyperthermia in combination with radiotherapy is currently being investigated at many cancer treatment facilities. Several different types of heating modalities are presently being used and for each of these systems it is important to determine the power distributions of their hyperthermia applicators in tissue-equivalent phantoms. This information will be used for treatment planning, routine quality assurance, and acceptance testing as well as for comparison between these various modalities and systems. This report describes the power distribution characteristics of the Clini-Therm 10 x 10 cm 915-MHz waveguide applicator measured within muscle tissue phantom materials arranged in several clinically relevant treatment configurations. The net increase in temperature that resulted from 20-s pulses of microwave power was measured at various points within each phantom by the system's implantable fiberoptic temperature sensors. From these temperature measurements the distribution of power was calculated as specific absorption rates (SAR). The results are displayed as two-dimensional ISO-SAR maps which relate power levels throughout the irradiated volume to those obtained on the central axis of the applicator. When the applicator was in direct contact with the muscle phantom the highest SAR measured was 2 cm lateral to its central axis along the muscle surface. On the central axis approximately 50% of the power was attenuated by each centimeter of muscle material. The introduction of either fat, bone, or a water-filled pad between the applicator and the muscle altered the pattern of power distribution within the irradiated volume without substantially altering the relative distribution of power along the central axis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Trade Conflicts and the Common Defense: The United States and Japan

For the United States, providing for the common defense has always had a specific and distinctly American meaning. With few exceptions American policy makers have had a Manichean view of the world, a perspective that reflects the profound and pervasive influence of Lockean liberalism on foreign policy.' Other countries have been classified as either good or evil, as friends or enemies. The United States has found it difficult to identify common interests with enemies or irreconcilable conflicts with friends. In dealing with enemies American policy makers have been very alert to any alteration in the relative distribution of power and unconcerned with absolute gains. In contrast, in dealing with friends American policy makers have been almost exclusively concerned with absolute gains and have been insensitive to relative shifts in power capabilities. The precept that a country has permanent interests but not permanent friends is profoundly antithetical to the American perspective. U.S. policy makers have paid little attention to the possibility that a loss of power vis-a-vis friends could present serious and unforeseen difficulties, either because friends can become enemies or because managing the international system may be more difficult in a world in which power is more evenly distributed. Nowhere has this obliviousness to the potential importance of relative gains