Nuclear rivalry in South Asia : an examination of post Cold War nuclear arms control initiatives

South Asia has emerged in the post-Cold War era as a region where ongoing nuclear rivalry has the potential to result in a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan. The United States, together with the global community, is devoting considerable effort to prevent the further development and deployment of nuclear weapons by India and Pakistan. This thesis analyses the underlying reasons for the ongoing nuclear rivalry between India and Pakistan, details post-Cold War initiatives to end the nuclear rivalry and examines the prospect of United States efforts to cap, reduce and eventually eliminate the nuclear arsenals of India and Pakistan. The thesis finds that historical factors form the basis of the continuing hostility and animosity between the two nations. The two nations have been bitter rivals since the time of partition in 1947 and the disputed territory of Kashmir continues to be the manifestation of deep seated antagonism and hostility. Pakistan's geography leaves it extremely vulnerable to conventional Indian attack and possession of nuclear weapons is seen as a means to redress the imbalance. Strong domestic support together with fervent nationalism and international prestige will continue to drive the nuclear programs of each nation. This thesis concludes that the nuclear rivalry between India and Pakistan is regional in nature and the end of the Cold War has done little to improve the prospects for nuclear disarmament in the region. United States led efforts have failed to persuade India or Pakistan to either accede to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or dismantle their nuclear weapons. The thesis also notes that the United States has failed to take account of China as a significant regional power and it's impact on the nuclear programs of India and Pakistan. A fresh approach (to include China) with more emphasis on regional dialogue is suggested as a first step to ending the nuclear rivalry.

Instant rivalry: the Melbourne Victory versus Melbourne Heart derby

The Australian A-League football (soccer) competition only began in 2005 after a major reconstruction of the governance of the game. The model adopted was one team per city so local derbies, often the focus of intense and long-running rivalries in football overseas, did not exist. In 2010 a second team began in Melbourne where previously Melbourne Victory had a monopoly. Within a couple of seasons an intense local rivalry has developed attracting over 40,000 fans to games between Victory and newcomer Melbourne Heart. This is the story of that rivalry and how it has become one of the most eagerly anticipated sporting occasions in a country where historically soccer has been a minority sport.

Neoconservatism, US-China conflict, and Australia's 'great and powerful friends' dilemma

Following its time-honoured 'great and powerful friends' foreign policy tradition, Australia has been cultivating close ties simultaneously with the United States and China. Yet, as a rivalry between the two powers apparently looms large, Australia faces an acute dilemma. While the rise of China and the question of Taiwan are often cited as main causes of US-China discord, this article argues that the American neoconservative policy on China, underpinned by a belief in both military strength and moral clarity, is integral to this growing competition and is, by extension, partly responsible for the emergence of Australia's predicament. To avoid such a difficult choice, the article suggests that Australia should strive to curb the policy influence of neoconservatism both in the United States and at home by pursuing a more independent foreign policy, making clear its strategic postures on US-China relations, and helping establish a trilateral strategic forum between Australia, the United States, and China.

The profit-driven action sport industry working within the not-for-profit Australian sport system : the case of freestyle BMX Australia and the Australian sports commission

When not-for-profit organisations and for-profit organisations are forced to work together, conflict can arise. This paper explores the tensions that have resulted in the Australian sport setting when the Australian Sport Commission (ASC), with its emphasis predominantly directed at not for profit sport, sought to embrace the traditionally for profit sport of Freestyle BMX into the mainstream sport system. This case study traces the development and implementation of the ASC's Street Active program through Freestyle BMX. It was found that Freestyle BMX experienced mission drift and did not provide a product or service relevant to its consumers by adhering to the guidelines required by the ASC. Further, in the development of the program, the ASC did not expect the rivalry between suppliers in the free market action sport industry when it engaged three management groups to deliver the Street Active program. As a result the action sport industry is further fragmented into for-profit agencies, and farther removed from the Australia's federal governing agency, the ASC.

Interest, nations, and the state in development: Instability in archipelic Southeast Asia

The Southeast Asian archipelago has become marked by divisions
within existing states, placing significant local constraints upon
the process of ‘development’. These divisions include ‘vertical’
challenges to the state, i.e. they have the capacity to split the state
into geographic divisions based on proto-nationalist identity, and
‘horizontal’ challenges to the state, defined by ethnic and
communal rivalry and conflict. This brief paper will canvas some
issues in such divisions.

Hyperstereopsis in helmet-mounted NVDs : absolute distance perception

Modern helmet-mounted night vision devices, such as the Thales TopOwl helmet, project imagery from intensifiers mounted on the side of the helmet onto the helmet faceplate. The increased separation of the cameras induces hyperstereopsis - the exaggeration of the stereoscopic disparities that support the perception of relative depth around the point of fixation. Increased camera separation may also affect absolute depth perception, because it increases the amount of vergence (crossing) of the eyes required for binocular fusion, and because the differential perspective from the viewpoints of the two eyes is increased. The effect of hyperstereopsis on the perception of absolute distance was investigated using a large-scale stereoscopic display system. A fronto-parallel textured surface was projected at a distance of 6 metres. Three stereoscopic viewing conditions were simulated - hyperstereopsis (four times magnification), normal stereopsis, and hypostereopsis (one quarter magnification). The apparent distance of the surface was measured relative to a grid placed in a virtual "leaf room" that provided rich monocular cues, such as texture gradients and linear perspective, to absolute distance as well as veridical sterescopic disparity cues. The different stereoscopic viewing conditions had no differential effect on the apparent distance of the textured surface at this viewing distance

Hyperstereopsis in helmet-mounted NVDs : time to contact estimation

The side mounting of the night-vision sensors on some helmet-mounted systems creates a situation of hyperstereopsis in which the binocular cues available to the operator are exaggerated such that distances around the point of fixation are increased. For a moving surface approaching the observer, the increased apparent distance created by hyperstereopsis should result in greater apparent speed of approach towards the surface and so an operator will have the impression they have reached the surface before contact actually occurs. We simulated motion towards a surface with hyperstereopsis and compared judgements of time to contact with that under normal stereopsis as well as under binocular viewing without stereopsis. We simulated approach of a large, random-field textured and found that time to contact estimates were shorter under the hyperstereoscopic condition than those under normal stereo and no stereo, indicating that hyperstereopsis may cause observers to underestimate time to contact leading operators to undershoot the ground plane when landing.

Hyperstereopsis in helmet-mounted NVDs : slope perception

Modern helmet-mounted night vision devices, such as the Thales TopOwl helmet, project imagery from intensifiers mounted on the sides of the helmet onto the helmet faceplate. This produces a situation of hyperstereopsis in which binocular disparities are magnified. This has the potential to distort the perception of slope in depth (an important cue to landing), because the slope cue provided by binocular disparity conflicts with veridical cues to slope, such as texture gradients and motion parallax. In the experiments, eight observers viewed sparse and dense textured surfaces tilted in depth under three viewing conditions: normal stereo hyper-stereo (4 times magnification), and hypostereo (1 / 4 magnification). The surfaces were either stationary, or rotated slowly around a central vertical axis. Stimuli were projected at 6 metres to minimise conflict between accommodation and convergence, and stereo viewing was provided by a Z-screen and passive polarised glasses. Observers matched perceived visual slope using a small tilt table set by hand. We found that slope estimates were distorted by hyperstereopsis, but to a much lesser degree than predicted by disparity magnification. The distortion was almost completely eliminated when motion parallax was present.

Does testosterone mediate the trade-off between nestling begging and growth in the canary (Serinus canaria)?

Nestling birds solicit food from their parents with vigorous begging displays, involving posturing, jostling and calling. In some species, such as canaries, begging is especially costly because it causes a trade off against nestling growth. Fitness costs of begging like this are predicted by evolutionary theory because they function to resolve conflicts of interest within the family over the provision of parental investment. However, the mechanism that links these costs with nestling behaviour remains unclear. In the present study, we determine if the relationships between nestling androgen levels, nestling begging intensities and nestling growth rates are consistent with the hypothesis that testosterone is responsible for the trade-off between begging and growth. We test this idea with a correlational study, using fecal androgens as a non-invasive method for assaying nestling androgen levels. Our results show that fecal androgen levels are positively correlated with nestling begging intensity, and reveal marked family differences in each trait. Furthermore, changes in fecal androgen levels between 5 and 8 days after hatching are positively associated with changes in nestling begging intensity, and negatively associated with nestling growth during this time. Although these correlational results support our predictions, we suggest that that experimental manipulations are now required to test the direct or indirect role of testosterone in mediating the trade-off between begging and growth.

Strategic significance of the island state of Sri Lanka

The study is focused on an analysis of the major diplomatic documents from the mid eighteenth century to the present as regards Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as it was known till 1972. The objectives of the study are to identify the issues underlying these diplomatic documents. These include the political and strategic factors and other subsidiary issues like trade and commerce relevant at the time these treaties, agreements, and proposed treaties were formulated. It is also a geopolitical study as it relates to Sri Lanka's geographical position in the Indian Ocean, and her possession of the Trincomalee Harbour on its east coast, which is one of the great natural harbours of the world. Over the centuries this harbour has had significant strategic value for naval deployments. The case study of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries studies the diplomatic documents against the political and strategic background for the French Revolution and actions of Napoleon, and the Anglo/French rivalry, spreading from Europe to North America and Asia. In the twentieth century the environment for studying the place of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean was created by the Russian Revolution, the failure to keep the peace of Versailles after World War I, the conflict and horrors of World War II which led to the disintegration of European colonial empires in Asia and Africa, and the tensions generated by the Cold War. A study of the documents would reveal that in international relations what matters is the ability of a party to promote its interests, and this depends on its power. This realist approach contrasts to the idealist approach where policies are based on moral and ethical principles. For the realist the states should follow to protect their interests and to survive. To achieve this is to strive for a ‘balance of power’. To do so is to form a favourable alliance system. As the documents examined cover a period from the mid-eighteenth century to the later part of the twentieth century, they reflect the changing technologies that have had an influence on naval and military matters. For example, this period witnessed great changes in technology of energy utilized to propel warships, from wind, to steam, to fuel and finally to nuclear power. These changes had an influence in determining strategic policies involving weapon systems and communications within a global and regional setting. The period covered was the beginning of the process described a ‘globalisation’. Its idea is not unique to this century; there were many attempts, in various times of history, to integrate societies within a global context. Viewed in this light, the Anglo-French rivalry of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was the indication of a global naval strategy, in which Sri Lanka was a major factor in the Indian Ocean region. This process was associated with the phenomena called the ‘expansion of Europe’. It covered all the oceans of the world and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries led to the founding of the largest maritime empire the world has ever seen: The British Empire. After World War I, the British naval strength (the basis of the British Empire) and her consequent position as a great power, was challenged by other powers like the United States of America and Japan. After World War II, the US Navy was supreme: and there was a close alliance between Britain and the USA. The strength of the US/British alliance was based on the navy and its bases, which were spread throughout the globe; to project power, and act as deterrence and balancing force. Sri Lanka, due to her strategic position, was a part of this evolving process, and was tied to a global strategy (with its regional connotations) from the eighteenth century to the present.