The Hydrogen Bomb,Lewis L. Strauss and the Writing of Nuclear History

In January 1950 President Harry S. Truman announced that the United States would proceed with further work to determine the feasibility of a ‘Super’, or hydrogen, bomb. The events leading up to that decision – counter-pressures and advocacy from a number of quarters, including the divided Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the nuclear scientists, Congress and the Pentagon – is well known. Less attention has been given to how the story of the Super came to be told in official and popular publications. Admiral Lewis L. Strauss, rogue member of the AEC, later presidential adviser on atomic affairs and AEC chairman, was one of the most vigorous advocates of developing thermonuclear weapons. He was also a highly skilled player of bureaucratic politics. This article draws upon the Strauss archives to examine how he used his position and his contacts to shape the history of the H-bomb to his own political advantage.     

Geopolitical Risks and Movements in Islamic Bond and Equity Markets: A Note

This study applies a non-parametric causality-in-quantiles test to examine the causal effect of geopolitical risks on return and volatility dynamics of Islamic equity and bond markets. Geopolitical risks are generally found to impact Islamic equity market volatility measures, rather than returns. However, geopolitical risks tend to predict both returns and volatility measures of Islamic bonds. Interestingly, causality, when it exists for returns and/or volatility of Islamic equities and bonds, is found to hold over entire conditional distributions of returns and volatilities, barring the extreme ends of the same.     

Theoretical calculation and experimental study on the interaction mechanism between TKX-50 and AP

The combination of 5,5′-bistetrazole-1,1′-diolate (TKX-50) and ammonium perchlorate (AP) can make greater use of the chemical energy of TKX-50 based energetic materials. The research on the interaction mechanism between TKX-50 and AP is very important for designing TKX-50-AP compounds and judging the formation feasibility of composite particles, which can lay a theoretical foundation for the preparation of TKX-50-AP mixed crystals and the application of TKX-50 in propellant, propellant and explosive. Herein, in order to research the interaction mechanism between TKX-50 and AP, density-functional theory calculation was applied to optimize three configurations of TKX-50-AP compounds. The geometry structure, electrostatic potential and binding energy of the compounds were predicted, and the electronic density topological analysis was also carried out. Then TKX-50-AP mixed crystals structures were constructed, and the radial distribution function of H–O and H–N in mixed crystals was calculated. Finally, solvent/non-solvent method was applied to prepare TKX-50-AP composites, and the infrared spectroscopy and the non-isothermal decomposition performance of the composites were characterized. Results show that the superposition of positive charges in TKX-50 molecule and negative charges in AP makes the electrostatic potential distributions of TKX-50-AP compounds different from that of TKX-50 and AP. The interaction energies of TKX-50-AP 1, TKX-50-AP 2 and TKX-50-AP 3 are 39.743 kJ/mol, 61.206 kJ/mol and 27.702 kJ/mol, respectively. The interaction between TKX-50 molecules and AP molecules in TKX-50-AP mixed crystals both depends on hydrogen bonds and van der Waals force, and the number and strength of hydrogen bonds are significantly greater than that of van der Waals force. The composition of AP and TKX-50 makes the absorption peak of the five-membered rings and NH₃OH⁺ of TKX-50 shift to low wavenumber in the infrared spectroscopy. In general, TKX-50 interacts with AP via hydrogen bonds and van der Waals force, and the calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental results. The composition of TKX-50 and AP can also prolong the decomposition process.     

Does Intent equal Capability? Al-Qaeda and Weapons of Mass Destruction

The prospect of terrorists deploying weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is often referred to as the foremost danger to American national security. This danger has become more realistic because of al-Qaeda's expanding global network and the expressed willingness to kill thousands of civilians. In the past four years, numerous media reports have documented the group's ongoing quest for WMD capabilities; many reports have detailed al-Qaeda members’ attempts to manufacture or obtain certain chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents to use in WMD against targets in the West and the Middle East. Yet the question remains: Does al-Qaeda's current WMD capability match its actual intent? While most studies of the group have focused on its explicit desire for WMD, allegations of CBRN acquisition, and the killing potential of specific CBRN agents, few open-source studies have closely examined the evolution of al-Qaeda's consideration of WMD and, most notably, the merit of actual CBRN production instructions as depicted and disseminated in the group's own literature and manuals. The following report will examine the history of al-Qaeda's interest in CBRN agents, the evolution of the network's attitude toward these weapons, and the internal debate within the organization concerning acquisition and use of WMD. More so, the following research will assess the validity of actual CBRN production instructions and capabilities as displayed and disseminated in al-Qaeda's own literature and websites.     

含孔洞铜板复合材料修复疲劳寿命数值分析

用ANSYS有限元软件对复合材料修复含中心圆孔钢板的疲劳寿命进行了数值分析。研究了孔洞大小、补片长度、宽度和厚度对钢板疲劳寿命的影响;分析了复合材料胶接修补的效果,并对修复所用的复合材料补片的大小及厚度进行了优化设计。研究结果表明,利用复合材料胶接修补带中心圆孔的钢板可以使其疲劳性能提高1.6~18倍。修补时,增加补片宽度和厚度都可增加结构疲劳寿命;补片宽度为孔径8倍以上时,增加宽度对疲劳寿命影响不大;补片的长度为孔径的3~4倍时,修复效果最佳。     

Dissolution of an Empire: Insights from the İstanbul Bourse and the Ottoman War Bond

During the transformation period of the Ottoman Empire leading to the Republic of Turkey, many conflicts took place between 1918 and 1923. These conflicts interrupted the servicing of the Ottoman war bond. The reimbursement likelihood of this bond was related to the outcomes of First World War and the hostilities. This paper analyses the impacts of First World War and hostilities on the risk assessments regarding the Ottoman war debt, using manually collected data on the price of the Ottoman war bond traded at the ?stanbul bourse between 1918 and 1925. The empirical results imply that the defeat of the Bulgarian army and the peace offer of Austria-Hungary were associated with the increasing premium demanded by investors of the bond. The victories of the Turkish National Movement and the peace offer of the Allies to end the hostilities by 1922 positively affected the likelihood of the servicing of the debt.     

可转换债券的复合期权定价模型

可转换债券是一种内含期权结构的特殊金融产品。可转换债券的内含期权是一种奇异期权——复合期权。本文通过分别对无期权债券和复合期权的定价,获得了可转换债券在风险中性条件下的定价模型。     

舰船主动力装置故障隔离与参数估计方法

针对舰船主动力装置结构复杂、故障种类多和系统不确定性等故障诊断问题,提出采用基于双因果键合图模型的定量故障隔离与参数估计方法。根据系统传感器配置方案,建立双因果键合图模型,通过因果路径分析,推导得到系统解析冗余关系,并获得故障特征矩阵。建立系统线性分式变换键合图模型,开展故障仿真,将其与双因果键合图模型耦合,在MATLAB/Simulink环境中进行仿真试验,实现了舰船主动力装置的故障隔离与参数估计。结果表明：对双因果键合图模型因果路径分析,可以避免手动推导系统解析冗余关系的繁杂过程;基于其部件构造方程的分析可以有效实现系统故障隔离与参数估计,实时跟踪和预测故障状态。     

微波等离子体源分析与紧凑型氢等离子体枪设计

介绍和分析了几种等离子体微波器件中等离子体源,重点讨论了紧凑型氢等离子体枪的设计及其驱动电路。     

试论价层轨道的杂化——兼论杂化轨道理论与价层电子对互斥理论的统一

在分子结构理论中,杂化轨道理论在多原子分子的空间构型被实验确定后,能够根据一定的假设给出合理的解释;价层电子对互斥理论主要用于预测分子或离子的空间构型,但其假设有些生硬、推理不够严密,对VP与电子对空间构型之间关系的推导比较繁琐,不易理解,也不能很好地解释一些多原子分子(如PF5、IF7等分子)中存在键长不等的现象。两种理论在各自的领域都取得了很大的成功,也各有其不足之处,一直未能统一。价层轨道杂化理论正是在综合了这两种理论的优点之后得到的。该理论在假设较少———即假设中心原子的价层轨道在成键时都要发生杂化,该假设与实验事实完全相符———的前提下,利用立体几何学原理对多原子分子的空间构型进行了非常简洁的推导,其结果不仅可全部继承前两种理论的成功之处,而且还能解释多原子分子中出现的键长不同、存在异构体等现象,这是其独到之处,也是其创新之处。