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The case for drones in counter-insurgency operations in West African Sahel
Get PDFThe security situation in the Sahel region has been deteriorating with a consistent increase in violence. Despite tens of thousands of international troops in the region for over a decade, little headway has been made in establishing government control over the territory. The ongoing multilateral and large-scale military operations in the region have employed a boots-on-the-ground strategy that has been largely ineffective in stamping out the insurgency. The paper advocates for a recalibrated counter-insurgency strategy predicated on drones’ heightened and consistent deployment for counterinsurgency operations in the West African Sahel. This is in response to France’s phased withdrawal from the region and the limited effectiveness of current multilateral military endeavours to quell the insurgency. The paper presents two related arguments hinged on the tactical utility of drones, drawing on the concept of ungoverned spaces as a theoretical foundation
Design and numerical analysis of dual-core photonic crystal fiber-based biosensor
Get PDFIn this study, the coupling and the relative sensitivity characteristics of a Dual-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber (DC-PCF)-based liquid sensor are evaluated by employing the full-vectorial Finite element Method (FV-FEM). The simulation results demonstrate that coupling length of the proposed sensor varies between 2mm and 0.2mm length at wide wavelength range (800–1600 nm) for low index analytes (1.33–1.36). Besides, birefringence of order ≈ 10-4 is reported. It is found that analyte with 1.36 index reaches higher sensitivity levels. On the other hand, the coupling length of the proposed sensor can be optimized with the ellipticity ratio of the central core hole. Bending analysis on coupling length and optical power fluctuations is also reported. It is found that the power °ow in one core is increasing almost 90% towards the bending direction. The proposed structure with simple design parameters has a great potential in various biomedical applications including DNA detection and can also be employed as fibre-based refractometer in various sensing applications
Experiences of Social Stigma of Korean Students in the UK during COVID-19 Pandemic
Get PDFThis study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of the social stigma experienced by Korean students in the UK during COVID-19. Online interviews were conducted with 12 Korean students (6 males and 6 females) who studied in the UK between 2017 and 2021. As a result of data analysis using Colaizzi's phenomenological qualitative research method, 12 clusters of themes and 4 categories were identified. The first category is ‘Koreans who are indistinguishable from Chinese,’ and Korean students were ignored and mistaken for Chinese by British society even before the outbreak of COVID-19. The second category is ‘East Asians spreading COVID-19,’and Korean students were directly discriminated against as objects of caution and avoidance during COVID-19. The third category is ‘no choice but to endure,’ and Korean students did not directly resist unfair discrimination, but endured unpleasant feelings and continued their studies. The fourth category is ‘reduced expectations for long-term residence,’ and social stigma during COVID-19 has reduced Korean students' expectations of remaining in the UK after graduation. These results suggest that institutional and professional interventions are needed to improve the safety and mental health of Korean students studying abroad in a global pandemic situation such as COVID-19
Mozart and the (mostly) castrato voice:Booklet note for Franco Fagioli's 'Anime Immortali' album of Mozart arias
Get PDFA Reference GLL Implementation
Get PDFThe Generalised-LL (GLL) context-free parsing algorithmwas introduced at the 2009 LDTA workshop, and since then aseries of variant algorithms and implementations have beendescribed. There is a wide variety of optimisations that maybe applied to GLL, some of which were already present inthe originally published form.This paper presents a reference GLL implementation shornof all optimisations as a common baseline for the real-worldcomparison of performance across GLL variants. This baselineversion has particular value for non-specialists, sinceits simple form may be straightforwardly encoded in theimplementer’s preferred programming language.We also describe our approach to low level memory managementof GLL internal data structures. Our evaluation onlarge inputs shows a factor 3–4 speedup over a naïve implementationusing the standard Java APIs and a factor 4–5reduction in heap requirements. We conclude with noteson some algorithm-level optimisations that may be appliedindependently of the internal data representation
Affirmative otherness in a humanitarian NGO:Implications for accountability as responsiveness
Get PDFThis study critically reflects on the concept of ’accountability as responsiveness’ by investigating the coresponsiveness of the other within accountability relationships. The research focuses on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and recent ’localisation’ agendas in the humanitarian sector, which prioritise supporting and empowering local response efforts in crisis-affected areas. Drawing on an affirmative view of the other (Braidotti, 2006a, 2011a, 2013b, 2019, 2021), the study examines how this is manifested in specificparticipatory accountability practices. Two such practices within the ICRC, namely ’threats and risk assessments’ and ’mapping the journey of the affected person,’ are explored to demonstrate their role in the epistemic endeavour of understanding the other in a grounded, embodied, and affirmative manner. It is observed that these practices are designed to elicit specific levels and types of co-responsivity from the other. Furthermore, the study reveals how the intention to know the other in a situated and affirmative sense materialised across three main modes of knowing: the transformative experience of ’becoming’ an affected person, the coping mechanisms employed, and the navigation of humanitarian crises. These findings contribute to the literature on accountability as responsiveness by providing specific insights and alternative understandings of responsiveness in accountability relationships. Additionally, the study proposes that accountability practices of this kind can generate specific types of knowledge and facilitate empowerment
Caring for Male Prisoners Who Self-Harm:Perceptions, Attitudes and Experiences of Custodial Prison Staff and Male Prisoners in England
Get PDFDoes Economic Policy Uncertainty Explain Exchange Rate Movements in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS):A Panel ARDL Approach
Get PDFBeing Alone or Together:How Frontline Anthropomorphized Robots Affect Solo (vs. Joint) Service Consumption
Get PDFSolo consumption has become an emerging trend in recent years. However, the service experiences of solo customers with the growing adoption of frontline humanlike robots remain unclear, particularly in direct comparison with joint customers. Building on the literature of anthropomorphism and information processing theory, this study examines whether and how frontline anthropomorphized robots (FAR) might improve the service experiences of solo customers relative to their joint counterparts. Data from four studies, including field and online experiments, reveal that solo customers are more likely than joint customers to perceive FAR as offering rapport but also as being eerie, leading to different service evaluations (both attitudinal and behavioral outcomes). Nevertheless, as parallel mechanisms, these levels of social rapport and eeriness are contingent on features of the FAR, the service delivery process, and customers’ consumption goals. The rapport (eeriness) mechanism is strengthened (weakened) when the robot is of in-group favoritism, the service process deprives customers of control, and customers have a hedonic consumption goal. With the boom in adopting frontline humanlike robots in hospitality services, this study offers managerially relevant implications for serving solo customers as an emerging segment along with the traditional segment of joint customers
Assessing the Nature and Role of Terrorism Risk Models in the Insurance Sector
Get PDFInsurance represents an important but often overlooked component to managing and mitigating the impact of terrorism. It plays a key role in enhancing resilience to terrorism especially regarding high intensity terrorist campaigns or high impact terrorist attacks. Extremely little attention however has focused on how the insurance industry assesses and calculates terrorism risk and what the implications may be of this. This research article provides for the first time an overview of the three main terrorism risk-modelling platforms that are used in the insurance market today: Touchstone, RMS Probabilistic Terrorism Mode (PTM), and Sunstone. The article assesses the different approaches to threat and loss calculation that each of the models take. The analysis reveals that while the three models all approach the projection of terrorism loss in a broadly similar manner, there are variations in focus, which results in a significant difference in terrorism outlook and projected loss. The discussion concludes by considering some of the implications of these variations as well as potential avenues forward
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