Uncertainty about behavior: Uncertainty about behavior refers to uncertainty regarding the actions taken by others. Sometimes it is hard to know what other states are doing – in particular, if they are cooperating or defecting. Consider weapons of mass destruction. Whatever a state may say publicly, it is very difficult for others to ascertain whether it is pursuing technologies associated with...

The Logistic model and simulation algorithms in the ecological species were introduced to analyze the remote collaborative structure of weapons model development and the equilibrium and stability condition of its mode. The weapons development remote collaborative structure was designed, and two collaborative logistic models of the model development was built as “O—A” and “A—A”. The stability co...

Future arms-control and disarmament treaties could place numerical limits on all categories of nuclear weapons in the arsenals of weapon states, including tactical weapons, non-deployed weapons, and weapons awaiting dismantlement. Verification of such agreements is likely to require new types of inspection equipment — but also new verification protocols. This paper offers a set of definitions a...

The Loads-n-Limits (LNL) and Release-n-Sequence (RNS) modules are rule-based sub-systems designed to validate various configurations of aircraft stores loading and weapons release planning. LNL, in conjunction with verifying and validating the loads presented, returns usage restrictions and limitations of the aircraft and the weapons load. The RNS module evaluates user-selected weapons employme...

Males in many species invest substantially in structures that are used in combat with rivals over access to females. These weapons can attain extreme proportions, and have diversified in form repeatedly. I review empirical literature on the function and evolution of sexually selected weapons to clarify important unanswered questions for future research. Despite their many shapes and sizes, and ...

The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention prohibits the development, production, and stockpiling of biological weapons agents or delivery devices for anything other than peaceful purposes. A protocol currently in the final stages of negotiation adds verification measures to the convention. One of these measures will be international investigation of disease outbreaks that suggest a violation ...

We present an attempt at exploring the search space of weapons in team-based multiplayer First-Person Shooters (FPS). At the foundation of the experiment is Team Blockhead Wars (TBHW), a game that we developed for the purposes of this project. TBHW allows human players to enjoy classic multiplayer FPS gameplay and uses a genetic algorithm to continuously generate new weapons. A weapon’s genome ...

Most empirical studies of the effects of nuclear weapons treat these weapons as a binary variable, but there are strong reasons to think that the effects of a state’s nuclear arsenal are conditioned by that state’s policies. I argue that the effect of nuclear weapons in non-existential disputes is determined by what I call nuclear risk: the overall likelihood that these weapons may be used with...

This is the first longitudinal cohort study of Persian Gulf War US soldiers to examine belief in exposure to chemical and biological weapons before and shortly after combat. A longitudinal sample of n = 1250 male Persian Gulf War US Army soldiers were surveyed 3 to 4 months before and 6 to 10 months after the 1991 War. Six to 10 months after combat, 4.6% of the cohort believed they had been exp...

T he 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) was the first international treaty that enjoins nations to outlaw an entire class of weapons of mass destruction. The BWC’s Article I bans the development, production, stockpiling, or other acquisition of “microbial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities that have no ...