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To Destroy a People: Sexual Violence as Genocide during Conflict
Get PDFSexuality is one of the most central elements of human existence. Throughout history, attacks on women have been common during armed conflict. Frequently military forces have viewed sexual violence as a spoil of war, a punishment to defeated populations, or as the deviance of rogue soldiers. However, there are conflicts in which sexual violence is used as a weapon. In these conflicts, sexual violence evolves from a facet of conflict to genocide. When a military force’s command utilizes systematic and widespread sexual violence as a weapon of war, in both intent and effect, it fulfills every condition of the Geneva Convention standards of genocide.
Three cases are analyzed within this thesis: Chile under the Pinochet dictatorship, Rwanda during its genocide, and Bosnia during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. Motivations for each of the conflicts varied. However, the constant in all three conflicts was the intended elimination of a specific group and the implementation of a policy of sexual violence in order to do so.
In order for crimes to be considered genocide they must fulfill one of the following conditions, as stated in Article 2 of the Geneva Conventions, any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such: A. Killing members of the group; B. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; C. Deliberately inflicting on the group the conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; D. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; E. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. Egregious acts of sexual violence and torture were utilized by all three respective commands in order to murder, incur grievous mental and physical harms, destroy the group’s ability to procreate in the future and impose measures upon the group intended to bring about its end. This work demonstrates that irrespective of the cause of a conflict, when systematic and widespread sexual violence is used as a weapon of war, it is genocide
Session 1 Paper - Contemporary Expeditionary Warfare for Scientists and Engineers
Get PDFExpeditionary forces from many countries have deployed to mitigate the effects of natural disasters and human conflicts. Approaches are usually linked to the nation’s maritime strategy. Expeditionary forces provide rapid response to man-made disruptions such as mass casualties by terrorists, vessel hijackings by pirates, murders by drug cartels, and nuclear accidents. Recent examples include Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response (HA/DR) and Non Combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO). HA/DR type missions have been planned and executed to mitigate the effects of catastrophic tropical cyclones, flooding, wild fires, and tsunami. NEO missions are focused on the evacuation of a nation’s citizens and other foreigners from threatened areas abroad. The need for robust capabilities in this area in both expeditionary warfare and disaster recovery are required so that governments can perform their civil functions. This type of crisis response requires expeditionary forces to be self-sustaining and make data-driven decisions in austere and chaotic environments. Technology solutions have been developed to identify, study and resolve expeditionary warfare and force protection challenges, especially along dynamic coasts that are modified by waves, tides, and shallow water processes. This paper will highlight the impact of waves, tides, and shallow water processes. There are many other environmental factors that are required to support expeditionary warfare
Russian Foreign Policy and National Identity
Get PDFNational identity provides the interpretive framework through which foreign policy makers understand their role in the world and the actions of other states, and can also be utilized as a tool to mobilize public support behind foreign policy maneuvers. Foreign policy in turn is both shaped by constructions of national identity, and often used to forge and substantiate the narratives of national identity which best serve the regime’s domestic interests. This thesis will seek to establish the mutually constitutive relationship between national identity and foreign policy through an analysis of the interaction of these elements in the Russian Federation under President Vladimir Putin. Russian national identity will be considered in its formation with respect to the Historical, Internal, and External ‘Others’ in post-Soviet discourse originally identified by the constructivist analysis of Ted Hopf, with particular emphasis on the evolution of identity narratives disseminated from the Kremlin
Three-dimensional Nanomaterials for Supercapacitor Applications: From Metal Oxides to Metal Phosphides
Get PDFOver the past few years, energy storage devices have received tremendous interest due to the increasing demand for sustainable and renewable energy in modern society. Supercapacitors are considered as one of the most promising energy storage devices because of their high power density and long cycle life. However, low energy density remains as the main shortcoming for supercapacitors. The overall performance of supercapacitors is predominantly determined by the characteristics of the electrodes. Specifically, constructing nanostructured electrode material has been proven as an efficient way to improve the performance by providing large surface area and short ionic and electronic diffusion paths. Another approach to improve the performance of supercapacitors is the rational design of the asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC), which can extend the operation voltage. In this regard, we have focused on the synthesis and utilization of several nanomaterials, in particular, pseudocapacitance materials such as metal oxides and metal phosphides, on both positive and negative electrodes, as well as the ASC design and fabrication. First, three-dimensional TiO2 nanorod arrays have been synthesized on Ti substrate by a facile one-step hydrothermal method and demonstrated as an ideal supercapacitor positive electrode, which exhibited good areal capacitance and excellent cycling stability. Owing to the novel “dissolve and grow” mechanism, this method provides a simple and low-cost technique for flexible supercapacitor application. Second, using cobalt phosphide and iron phosphide as examples, we have demonstrated metal phosphides as high-performance supercapacitor negative electrodes for the first time. Cobalt phosphide nanowire arrays have been synthesized and presented a high capacitance of 571.3 mF/cm2. To improve the cycling stability, gel electrolyte was used to suppress the irreversible electrochemical reaction. The flexible solid-state asymmetric MnO2//CoP supercapacitor exhibited good electrochemical performance, such as a high energy density of 0.69 mWh/cm3 and a high power density of 114.2 mW/cm3. Furthermore, a PEDOT coating has been adapted to further enhance the cycling stability as well as capacitance performance of FeP nanorod arrays. The FeP/PEDOT electrode represents an outstanding capacitance of 790.59 mF/cm2 and a good stability of 82.12% retention after 5000 cycles. In addition, a MnO2//FeP/PEDOT ASC was fabricated with an excellent volumetric capacitance of 4.53 F/cm3 and an energy density of 1.61 mWh/cm3
Spirit of Parading
No full textJulie DeVita tells how she learned about New Orleans parading culture and her experiences performing with the marching group Gris Gris Strut. DeVita compares the non-interactive parades from her home of New York City to the participatory and collaborative parading traditions of New Orleans. From her perspective as a new member of Gris Gris Strut, DeVita gives visceral first-person descriptions of parade performance. Chris Nicotera—musican, teacher, and long-time member of Gris Gris Strut—tells DeVita about the history and customs of independent New Orleans krewes and marching groups
