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...

the aim of this paper is to develop a systematic method to analyze the effects of forming parameters on the quality of part formability and determine the optimal combination of the forming parameters for the sheet hydroforming process. in this paper, the effects of four important process parameters namely fluid pressure, friction coefficient at blank/punch interface, gap between die rim block a...

NASA is preparing a giant gravity wave observatory that will be placed in space. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) consists of three spacecraft forming a equilateral triangle with 5 million km armlength. Changes in the armlength of 20pm will be detected. The ends of each interferometer arm are formed by freely floating masses that must be kept inertial (i.e. free of non-gravitationa...

Passive forces play a large role in hand function after tetraplegia. Most individuals with tetraplegia choose not to undergo surgical reconstruction of hand function and, therefore, depend on the passive properties of their musculoskeletal system to perform functional tasks. Knowledge of the levels of force needed to perform many of these tasks is lacking. Understanding the mechanics of produci...

NASA is preparing a giant gravity wave observatory that will be placed in space. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) consists of three spacecraft forming a equilateral triangle with 5 million km armlength. Changes in the armlength of 20pm will be detected. The ends of each interferometer arm are formed by freely floating masses that must be kept inertial (i.e. free of non-gravitationa...

Flexible forming is a sheet metal forming process with the application of soft material tooling. In this study, flexible (silicone rubber, SR, and styrene butadiene rubber, SBR) and semi-rigid (polyamide 66, PA) polymeric materials were adopted to make several upper dies which were used in combination with aluminium lower dies. Stamping operations were performed on a thin aluminium alloy sheet ...