A study was conducted to examine the effects of nation-states’ political institutions on state relations. War-fighting and selection-effects explanation were compared to explain why democracies were more likely to win wars. An analysis of all interstate wars between 1816 and 1982 revealed that democracies that initiate wars often win them. Results also suggest that domestic political structure ...

Global fits to precision cosmological data which show that there is a dark energy component comprising about 2/3 of the total cosmological energy also hint that a dark energy with w = P/ρ < −1 is viable, even favored. Here we discuss implications of such a surprising w, including whether it jeopardizes vacuum stability. It appears to be secure in microscopic processes, but why bulk dark energy ...

Investors significantly reduce their future returns by selecting mutual funds with higher fees, allured by higher past returns that do not predict future performance. This suboptimal behavior, which can roughly halve an investor’s retirement savings, is driven by two psychological factors. One factor is difficulty comprehending rate information, which is critical given that mutual fund fees and...

A fundamental question in movement science is how humans perform stable movements in the presence of disturbances such as contact with objects. It remains unclear how the nervous system, with delayed responses to disturbances, maintains the stability of complex movements. We hypothesised that intrinsic muscle properties (i.e. the force-length-velocity properties of muscle fibres and tendon elas...

Abstract Band‐to‐band tunneling (BTBT) devices with superior subthreshold swing directly related to on/off switching speed and power consumption efficiency have emerged as a breakthrough of the limitation in conventional metal‐oxide‐semiconductor field‐effect transistors (MOSFETs). However, it is difficult reach higher level electrical characteristics only combination materials based on their i...

By treating both the short-range (solvation) and long-range (image force) electrostatic forces as well as charge polarization induced by these forces in a consistent manner, we obtain a simple theory for the self-energy of an ion that is continuous across the interface. Along with nonelectrostatic contributions, our theory enables a unified description of ions on both sides of the interface. Us...

We use an analytical method based on the perturbation of effective index at fixed frequency to calculate optical forces between silicon waveguides. We use the method to investigate the mechanical Kerr effect in a coupled-waveguide system with bipolar forces. We find that a positive mechanical Kerr coefficient results from either an attractive or repulsive force. An enhanced mechanical Kerr coef...

Spastic thumb deformity is the result of imbalance between intrinsic and extrinsic forces acting across unstable joints. This paper presents a classification of spastic thumb deformity based on the accurate assessment of the deforming forces, outlines methods for their correction and reviews the results of our surgery. Thumb reconstruction procedures were performed in 32 patients with 33 spasti...

Strawson’s case in favor of panpsychism is at heart an updated version of a venerable form of argument I’ll call the ‘intrinsic nature’ argument. It is an extremely interesting argument which deploys all sorts of high caliber metaphysical weaponry (despite the ‘down home’ appeals to common sense which Strawson frequently makes). The argument is also subtle and intricate. So let’s spend some tim...