Central to this research is the Urban Future-project, which consists of a large archive of artworks made from 2002 until now. The original question underpinning this project was: what... Show moreCentral to this research is the Urban Future-project, which consists of a large archive of artworks made from 2002 until now. The original question underpinning this project was: what influence do chaos, entropy and fragmentation have on the viability of the rapidly developing urbanizing world? In the course of the research project, the (literature and field) explorations led to the assumption that there is a demonstrable and necessary link between the quality of life in the city and vital social cohesion on the one hand and chaos, entropy and fragmentation on the other. In the artistic part of the research focuses on the question: is it possible to make the supposed connection between quality of urban life and chaos, entropy and fragmentation visible in artwork and, if so, how? In the written dissertation, working methods and strategies are contextualized and analyzed. The visual part derives from an artist's position which uses non-verbal, sensorial strategies to reach new insights. It mainly focuses on the visual and aesthetic possibilities of aspects of fragmentation, chaos and entropy because Scholten considers these aspects, as productive forces, to be the core of the experience of urbanization. Show less
The author addresses a recent force employment concept called effects-based operations, which first appeared during the 1991 war against Iraq. The attributes of effects-based operations can be... Show moreThe author addresses a recent force employment concept called effects-based operations, which first appeared during the 1991 war against Iraq. The attributes of effects-based operations can be grouped around three common, but interrelated elements such as effects focus, advanced technology, and systems thinking. However, the characteristics upon which the common elements are built, such as causality/deduction for effects focus, intangibles/control for advanced technology, and categorisation/analysis for systems thinking bear dangerous simplifications regarding the nature of war. These characterictics are in sharp contrast with war__s frictional nature as outlined by Clausewitz, who stated that effects in war cannot be traced back to single causes, as several concurrent causes are normally at work. Novelty must always be expected in war as friction dims expectations in terms of causality and the ability to achieve desired effects. The author suggests an organic approach to address the challenge posed by war. According to him the emphasis must shift towards learning and adaptation, instead of planning for desired effects. Friction indicates that often it is more important in war how we do things than what things we do, which has a clear practical limitation for the concept of effects-based operations. Show less
The initial goal of this thesis was to demonstrate chaos in an open two-mirror resonator. We have designed a bifocal mirror that forms a resonator with an unstable inner and a stable outer part. To... Show moreThe initial goal of this thesis was to demonstrate chaos in an open two-mirror resonator. We have designed a bifocal mirror that forms a resonator with an unstable inner and a stable outer part. To be able to distinguish phenomena unique for configuration from phenomena also present in conventional resonators, i.e., roughness-induced scattering and aberrations, the performance of a conventional stable resonator is investigated first. Roughness-induced scattering turns out to affect the cavity finesse as well as the average power throughput and produces mode coupling close to frequency-degenerate points. We demonstrate, furthermore, a method to accurately determine aberrations by measuring the Gouy phase of subsequent higher-order modes around frequency-degeneracy. The bifocal mirror is not fabricated by traditional grinding and polishing, but by diamond-machining. The eigenmodes of a resonator with one diamond-machined bifocal mirror turn out to be Laguerre-Gaussian. We demonstrate furthermore, the coupling of two resonators based on transmission spectra and patterns, and report on the ability of the configuration to fulfill the basic requirements to obtain chaos. Show less
