First published in 2000. Virtual States challenge the idea that the nation state is dead. In all the hype about the Internet, little thought has been given to the systematic inequalities being brought about by globalisation, and exacerbated by the global spread of the Internet. Jerry Everard argues that new disparities are emerging between the information 'haves' ad the information 'have-nots': between wealthy and poor states; and between the wealthy and poor in wealthy states. Virtual States systematically addresses these inequalities.

The benefits of using technology to remake government seem almost infinite. The promise of such programs as user-friendly "virtual agencies" and portals where citizens can access all sections of government from a single website has excited international attention. The potential of a digital state cannot be realized, however, unless the rigid structures of the contemporary bureaucratic state change along with the times. Building the Virtual State explains how the American public sector must evolve and adapt to exploit the possibilities of digital governance fully and fairly. The book finds that many issues involved in integrating technology and government have not been adequately debated or even recognized. Drawing from a rich collection of case studies, the book argues that the real challenges lie not in achieving the technical capability of creating a government on the web, but rather in overcoming the entrenched organizational and political divisions within the state. Questions such as who pays for new government websites, which agencies will maintain the sites, and who will ensure that the privacy of citizens is respected reveal the extraordinary obstacles that confront efforts to create a virtual state. These political and structural battles will influence not only how the American state will be remade in the Information Age, but also who will be the winners and losers in a digital society.

This unique volume gives an accurate and very detailed description of the functioning and operation of basic nuclear reactors, as emerging from yet unpublished papers by Nobel Laureate Enrico Fermi. In the first part, the entire course of lectures on Neutron Physics delivered by Fermi at Los Alamos is reported, according to the version made by Anthony P French. Here, the fundamental physical phenomena are described very clearly and comprehensively, giving the appropriate physics grounds for the functioning of nuclear piles. In the second part, all the patents issued by Fermi (and coworkers) on the functioning, construction and operation of several different kinds of nuclear reactors are reported. Here, the main engineering problems are encountered and solved by employing simple and practical methods, which are described in detail. This seminal work mainly caters to students, teachers and researchers working in nuclear physics and engineering, but it is of invaluable interest to historians of physics too, since the material presented here is entirely novel.

In 1924, the last caliphate--an Islamic state as envisioned by the Koran--was dismantled in Turkey. With no state in existence that matches the radical Islamic ideal since, al Qaeda, which sees itself as a government in exile, along with its hundreds of affiliate organizations, has failed to achieve its goal of reestablishing the caliphate. It is precisely this failure to create a homeland, journalist Yaakov Lappin asserts, that has necessitated the formation of an unforeseen and unprecedented entity--that is, a virtual caliphate. An Islamist state that exists on computer servers around the world, the virtual caliphate is used by Islamists to carry out functions typically reserved for a physical state, such as creating training camps, mapping out a state's constitution, and drafting tax laws. In Virtual Caliphate, Lappin shows how Islamists, equipped with twenty-first-century technology to achieve a seventh-century vision, soon hope to upload the virtual caliphate into the physical world. Lappin dispels for the reader the mystery of the jihadi netherworld that exists everywhere and nowhere at once. Anyone interested in understanding the international jihadi movement will find this concise treatment compelling and indispensable.

This book is dedicated to the fundamental physical aspects of stability, the influence of structural defects on the properties and structural phase transformations of BCC alloys. The authors present patterns that occur in the structural-phase states of functional alloys with low stability or instability under thermal cycling effects. Structural-phase transformations and the physical laws governing the influence of the thermomechanical effect on the properties of alloys are examined to advance development of technological processes for processing functional materials. Features: Studies the correlation between structural phase states and changes in the physico-mechanical properties of intermetallic compounds Explores the influence of thermomechanical cycling on the properties of functional alloys Details low-stability pretransition states in alloys

The book presents principles of molecular vibrational spectroscopy from the viewpoint of Raman, Raman optical activity and high excitation. The quantum mechanical basis, vibrational analysis, representation of point groups and its applications are discussed as well. With exercises, it is an essential text for graduates, lecturers, and also researchers.

Key Topics in Nuclear Structure is the eighth in a well established series of conferences and is devoted to the discussion of significant topics in nuclear structure. Both experimental and theoretical issues at the forefront of current research on the subject are covered by leading physicists. In particular, on the experimental side the state of the art and the envisaged developments in the most important laboratories, where rare isotope beams are available, are reviewed in detail. On the theoretical side, the various approaches to a fundamental theory of nuclear structure starting from the nucleon-nucleon interaction are discussed, ranging from the few-body systems, where ab initio calculations are possible, to the complex nuclei, where the shell model plays a key role.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings® (ISTP® / ISI Proceedings)• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)• CC Proceedings — Engineering & Physical Sciences