DIVERGING NUCLEAR PATHWAYS IN SOUTH ASIA

Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb, by Feroz Hassan Khan. Stanford University Press, 2012. 544 pages, $29.95.

Managing India's Nuclear Forces, by Verghese Koithara. Brookings Institution Press, 2012. 304 pages, $59.95.     

Models of scientific and technological review for the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention

ABSTRACT

Science and technology (S&T) review is key to anticipating developments in the life sciences that may benefit or run contrary to the aims of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. It serves as a mechanism for both preparing against novel biological threats and identifying the best opportunities for developing and sharing the life sciences to the fullest extent. In the age of rapidly advancing biotechnology, S&T review needs to be wide ranging, involve a diverse set of inputs, and be transparent about its methods and data. This viewpoint considers four models of S&T review and their capacity to respond to the challenge of the life sciences: standing advisory boards; ad hoc working groups; peer review; and wikis. It then identifies a hybrid model that is suitably broad, diverse, and transparent.     

Nuclear weapons,existential threats,and the stability–instability paradox

Recent scholarship has largely ignored systematic differences in the existential threats that nuclear-weapon possessors pose to other states. This study theorizes that the capacity to pose existential threats shapes nuclear-armed states’ willingness to use military force against one another. We explore three hypotheses regarding how nuclear-based existential threats can deter conflict or encourage it, including under the conditions proposed by the stability–instability paradox. We rely on a statistical analysis of nuclear-armed dyads from 1950 to 2001 and employ the Nuclear Annihilation Threat (NAT) Index to capture variation in the existential threats nuclear-armed states pose to one another. We find that being able to pose an existential threat to another state emboldens potential initiators to use military force but does not deter attacks. The emboldening effects are particularly strong under the hypothesized conditions of the stability–instability paradox. Our study provides unique contributions to ongoing debates over the political effects of nuclear weapons.     

INTEGRATING NUCLEAR WEAPONS STOCKPILE MANAGEMENT AND NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL OBJECTIVES TO ENABLE SIGNIFICANT STOCKPILE REDUCTIONS

In his 2009 Prague speech and the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, President Barack Obama committed the United States to take concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament while maintaining a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent. There is an inherent tension between these two goals that is best addressed through improved integration of nuclear weapons objectives with nuclear arms control objectives. This article reviews historical examples of the interaction between the two sets of objectives, develops a framework for analyzing opportunities for future integration, and suggests specific ideas that could benefit the nuclear weapons enterprise as it undergoes transformation and that could make the future enterprise compatible with a variety of arms control futures.     

PREVENTING DIRTY BOMBS

Radioactive sealed sources have a long history and a much wider worldwide distribution than do weapons-usable fissile materials. This article compares the mechanisms for controlling radioactive sources with those of weapons-usable materials and makes the case for improved policy making on the safe and secure management of radioactive sources (often referred to simply as “sources”). Such sources have been widely distributed with commercial and government support to nearly every country, yet there are no legally binding, international agreements or regulations to control any aspect of their life cycle. This is problematic because some sources that are disused, abandoned, or otherwise fall out of regulatory control could be used in the form of a radiological dispersal device (RDD, or dirty bomb). An RDD could pose significant economic and psychological impacts with the potential for detrimental effects on public health. The lack of international measures to control sources is troubling for several reasons: creating an RDD is much easier than fashioning a nuclear weapon from scratch or from stolen fissile materials; given the many incidents involving diversion from regulatory control and the misuse of sources, an RDD attack would be one of the more likely scenarios; materials security for sources is generally weak and inconsistent; it is nearly impossible to determine the total amount of sources manufactured and distributed; used sources are frequently found uncontrolled and transiting borders, and penalties are light at best; the market-based supply and demand of sources facilitates their rapid and loosely regulated distribution; and the “peaceful uses” aspect of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons along with norms that began developing around the time of Atoms for Peace have promoted the nearly unchecked global distribution of sources. Several immediate and long-term actions are suggested to reduce the threat posed by radiological sources.     

OPTING OUT OF THE IRON TRIANGLE

Between the 1960s and the 1990s, the US chemical industry went from lobbying against the Geneva Protocol and promoting increased funding for chemical warfare to refusing to produce binary chemical weapons and assisting with the negotiations of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)—even though the treaty included provisions that could be costly to industry. What happened in those thirty years to make the US chemical industry reverse its position on chemical weapons? This article argues these changes were largely caused by the chemical industry's desire to reform the negative public image it had acquired due to its involvement in the Agent Orange scandal and other high-profile incidents during the 1970s and 1980s. The chemical industry's assistance with CWC negotiations may be explained after an examination of the US public policy literature, which argues that industry will support apparently costly regulations if doing so helps it repair a damaged public image and ensures greater profits in the long run.     

太阳能光电热系统换热器性能实验研究

设计了新型半圆管形式的不锈钢板式换热器,对其作为太阳能光电热综合利用一体化系统集热组件的性能进行实验研究。通过新型集热光电热组件及光电组件系统的对比实验,研究该光电热组件在重庆地区夏季应用情况,分析其光电和光热特性。结果表明:在以晴朗为主的天气,半圆管形式的不锈钢板式光电热组件电热系统的电热性能与光电组件系统的相比较,前者的太阳能电池输出功率提高约26.48%,热利用效率提高23.70%以上,新型半圆管形式的光电热组件整体光电热(光电+光热)综合效率可达到25.70%,有效提高了光电热系统的综合效率。新型半圆管形式不锈钢板式换热器的换热面积增大,提高了换热效率,为太阳能光电热综合利用一体化系统在重庆等太阳辐射强度较小地区的应用提供了参考。     

基于CPU-GPU混合计算平台的RNA二级结构预测算法并行化研究

RNA二级结构预测是生物信息学领域重要的研究方向,基于最小自由能模型的Zuker算法是目前该领域最典型使用最广泛的算法之一。本文基于CPU GPU的混合计算平台实现了对Zuker算法的并行和加速。根据CPU和GPU计算性能的差异,通过合理的任务分配策略,实现二者之间的并行协作计算和处理单元间的负载平衡;针对CPU和GPU的不同硬件特性,对Zuker算法在CPU和GPU上的实现分别采取了不同的并行优化方法,提高了混合加速系统的计算性能。实验结果表明,CPU处理单元在混合系统中承担了14%以上的计算任务,与传统的多核CPU并行方案相比,采用混合并行加速方法可获得15.93的全局加速比;与最优的单纯GPU加速方案相比,可获得16%的性能提升,并且该混合计算方案可用于对其它生物信息学序列分析应用的并行和加速。     

频谱感知技术在认知无线电中的应用

频谱感知是认知无线电的关键技术,能量检测广泛应用于频谱感知。针对认知无线电频谱感知技术较少运用于实践的不足,提出了基于0FDM传输系统的频谱感知。在0FDM系统中利用能量检测的判决结果控制子载波的开关,实现感知结果对数据传输的控制,最后利用认知无线电平台进行实时数据的传输。实验结果表明,系统能够在认知无线电平台上成功进行无线通信的数据发送与接收,频谱感知结果能够有效控制数据传输,为认知无线电由理论研究步向实际应用奠定了基础,具有一定的实用价值。     

超宽带强电磁防护能量选择表面设计

为应对强电磁脉冲对电子信息系统的威胁,设计了一种具备收发兼容特性的超宽带强电磁防护能量选择表面,有效拓展了能量选择表面的工作带宽和工作频率,可为L、S、C波段的超宽带用频装备提供不低于14 dB的防护效果。该能量选择表面是一种周期结构,每个单元包含一对箭头形结构和一个开关二极管,可根据外界辐照电磁波的能量密度自适应切换反射或透波状态,从而实现强电磁防护与工作信号收发兼容。仿真研究表明,这一新型能量选择表面在L、S、C波段的插入损耗小于1 dB,强电磁防护能力达到22 dB。在波导中对设计的样件进行了性能验证,结果显示,该样件在波导中的平均插入损耗为1 dB,防护能力达到了14 dB,初步验证了设计结构的低插入损耗和高防护特性。