41. Tbe inportance of the changes now under way in the field of nuclear armaments and their carriers is not that their perfornance in nissions traditionally assigned to thern is improving year by year, but that essentially new types of rnisslons are becoming possible. rn this respect, che enhanced radiation neutron weaPons are particularly relevanti their perfonnance characteristics emphasize that most of the energy released is in the forn of ioniz j.ng lays rather than blast or heat' The peculiarity of these weapons is sonetines described as being more darnaging eo human life rather than property. But, precisely due to this feature, the Psychological threshold against their dePlol'nent may be low - a characteristic aenerauy associated with nany tactical weapons designed to reduce collateral danage. 42. The conbined effect of these develoFnents is a circular relationshlp betvteen technology and doctrine, which nakes the disarmament process increasingly complex and intractable. l,tew technologies open the way for new docCrines which in turn provide starting-points for new technological chanqes creating new situations for itrategic rethinking. This vicious causation between technology and doctrine nakes nuclear disarrnanent efforts go in circles where resbraints in one area are accompanied by renelved vigoui in another. There has been no dorvnltard trend in A/37/386 Eng1 ish Annex Page 22 nucLear testing, for exanple, since the partia.l Test-Ban Treaty was signed in1963' on the contrary, the rate of testrng in the past four years - af around 50 ayear - lras significantly higher than the previous four years (Lg7 4_Lg77) when theaverage was onry 37 tests. rn 1gg1 alone, a total of 49 nuclear tests wereconducted' with the united states and the soviet union accounting for rnost ofthen. I9./
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the development of nuclear weapons and their implications on international relations, security, and disarmament efforts. The language used is technical and focuses on the characteristics of new types of weapons, their performance, and the psychological impact on human life. The text also mentions the circular relationship between technology and doctrine, which makes disarmament efforts complex and intractable. This suggests that the category is likely to be related to international relations, security, and disarmament.

**Category**
Science and technology, International relations