53,127 research outputs found
Review of the book "Small Wars, Big Data" by Eli Berman, Joseph H. Felter, e Jacob N. Shapiro
No full textIn the intentions of the authors, Small Wars, Big Data, is aimed to address the complex issue of civil or intrastate wars and their impact on civilians. This is certainly a topical issue, and it will be a key topic in the coming years, given the spreading of unconventional conflicts. Ongoing conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, addressed in the chapters of this book, show how the boundary between international and non-international conflicts became blurred after the Second World War.
The impact of conflicts on the civil population is the authors' greatest concern. Civilians have always been the innocent victims of every war, but, although protected by the Geneva Conventions, they have become the subject of indiscriminate attacks since 1945 (e.g. the allied bombing of Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
At the core of this work, there is the change in the type of warfare. It is a thorny issue, which would require a discussion of what is meant by terrorism and whether and when guerrilla warfare is to be considered a legitimate tactic by insurgents – guerrilla was categorized as "terrorism" from a certain point in time. Today everything from political opponents to hybrid conflicts and even organized crime is "terrorism".
Originally, terrorism was an offshoot guerrilla military tactic employed by resistance groups. Early examples of insurgencies and guerrilla warfare can be traced back to the Túpac Amaru indigenous uprising in highland Peru against Spanish control in the 1780s and in the Caste War in the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico in the 1840s and 1850s (Castro, 1999).
From the fifties onwards, in the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, insurgency in Latin America was grounded on Marxist-Leninist ideology, and characterized by the use of a variety of violent and nonviolent tactics, including terror, to overthrow governments with guerrilla warfare (Debray, 1967). This phenomenon, previously classified as "insurgency" and/or "guerrilla", was then rebranded "terrorism".
The meaning of terrorism has changed over time. Since the early sixties the term has often been used in a political sense to label national liberation movements in Africa and later in Latin America. It took hold as an instrument in political struggles against governments in the U.S. and Europe, and finally has been identified with the Islamic world.
Any violence can be terrorism, or anti-terrorism. Legitimate defence or aggressive attacks are semantics that depend on the arbitrary judgment of the involved parties. This, by definition, defeats the concept of justice and legality. Terrorism is an effective method of conflict because it is limited in scope, targeted against civilians, and almost impossible to eradicate. This isolates it from the traditional military applications, and by extension, from the same legal and judicial argumentation. However, there are cases where terrorists were those who defended their land from invaders, and the invaders were the ones who marked them as terrorists. There needs to be a clear division between what is and what is not terrorism, and only then will it be possible to clearly define the terms and the scope of conflict against those who are terrorists.
The words "terrorist" and "terrorism" became fluid terms, easy to be manipulated. Today everything, from political opponents to hybrid conflicts and even organized crime, can be construed as terrorism. The very concept of terrorism has changed since the word has a political meaning. Thus, it becomes difficult to distinguish ‘true’ terrorists from those who are political opponents or just common criminals. Terrorism has become an umbrella term encompassing criminals and political opponents. It seems that the problem in labelling acts as terrorism is not what is done, but who does it. Klabbers (2003, p. 300-1) argues that "today's terrorist is tomorrow's freedom fighter", due to the "state-centric nature of international law" and to the "sheer supremacy of politics over law".
The authors correctly frame the international, transnational and hybrid nature of terrorism, as well as its various purposes, whether purely criminal, or political. The limitation of this approach is that the hypothesis that terrorism can also have a state matrix, as demonstrated by several parts, is not taken into consideration at all – this is especially true regarding the recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, undertaken in the name of the "War on Terror".
There are hundreds of definitions of terrorism, none of them tackle the problem of state terrorism. Currently the term ‘terrorism’ is commonly used to describe acts committed by non-state or subnational entities, thereby excluding acts committed by lawful governments – it allows those who determine the merit of inclusion the ultimate decision-making power, and there is no accountability, and no oversight of these decisions. Those who pursue these tactics are not persecuted, nor are their methods questioned thoroughly. It would be appropriate to develop a definition of terrorism that would encompass the possibility of a pseudo-state led by terrorists, and the appropriate response in case of a conflict with such a state (e.g. ISIS).
Bockstette (2008, p. 8) wrote that terrorism is "political violence in an asymmetrical conflict that is designed to induce terror and psychic fear (sometimes indiscriminate) through the violent victimisation and destruction of non-combatant targets (sometimes iconic symbols)". Deeming that terror acts are performed by "an illicit clandestine organisation", he excludes their being carried out by a government or its agents. In his definition we perceive Bockstette's typically military vision, which makes a distinction between tactics ("short-and midterm political goals") and strategy ("desired long-term end states").
Through the ten chapters of this book, are analysed conflicts that occurred in the last twenty years in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria and in the Philippines, establishing a relationship between rebels, governments and civilians. The authors conclude that ‘conventional military methods’ might succeed but undermine lasting peace.
In my opinion, the difference between conventional/unconventional – both legally undefined terms – seems to be outdated. A knife, a broken bottle neck (if it cuts your jugular), even a fork, a hammer, a baseball bat, or a stone – according to the biblical story David kills Goliath by hurling a stone from his sling and hitting him in the centre of forehead – are all unconventional and potentially lethal weapons. Nevertheless, distinguishing between weapons, their effect and consequence, is necessary in order to avoid a cascade effect and undesirable outcomes (i.e., civil casualties).
Practitioners and researchers will find this publication useful, as it provides a comprehensive case study of the main conflicts that have occurred in the last twenty years. Small Wars, Big Data does not come to general conclusions, but it’s instead a compilation of stories and lessons learned, that could be useful to policymakers and military leaders to ‘open up political space to get deals done’; this is the strong point of the book.Review of the book "Small Wars, Big Data" by Eli Berman, Joseph H. Felter, and Jacob N. Shapiro, Princeton University Press, 2018, ISBN: 978-0-691-17707-6. The author gratefully acknowledges the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, for supporting this publication through research grant SFRH/BD/136170/2018
Checking nucleic acid crystal structures
No full textThe program SFCHECK [Vaguine et al. (1999), Acta Cryst. D55, 191-205] is used to survey the quality of the structure-factor data and the agreement of those data with the atomic coordinates in 105 nucleic acid crystal structures for which structure-factor amplitudes have been deposited in the Nucleic Acid Database [NDB; Berman et al. (1992), Biophys. J. 63, 751-759]. Nucleic acid structures present a particular challenge for structure-quality evaluations. The majority of these structures, and DNA molecules in particular, have been solved by molecular replacement of the double-helical motif, whose high degree of symmetry can lead to problems in positioning the molecule in the unit cell. In this paper, the overall quality of each structure was evaluated using parameters such as the R factor, the correlation coefficient and various atomic error estimates. In addition, each structure is characterized by the average values of several local quality indicators, which include the atomic displacement, the density correlation, the B factor and the density index. The latter parameter measures the relative electron-density level at the atomic position. In order to assess the quality of the model in specific regions, the same local quality indicators are also surveyed for individual groups of atoms in each structure. Several of the global quality indicators are found to vary linearly with resolution and less than a dozen structures are found to exhibit values significantly different from the mean for these indicators, showing that the quality of the nucleic acid structures tends to be rather uniform. Analysis of the mutual dependence of the values of different local quality indicators, computed for individual residues and atom groups, reveals that these indicators essentially complement each other and are not redundant with the B factor. Using several of these indicators, it was found that the atomic coordinates of the nucleic acid bases tend to be better defined than those of the backbone. One of the local indicators, the density index, is particularly useful in spotting regions of the model that fit poorly in the electron density. Using this parameter, the quality of crystallographic water positions in the analyzed structures was surveyed and it was found that a sizable fraction of these positions have poorly defined electron density and may therefore not be reliable. The possibility that cases of poorly positioned water molecules are symptomatic of more widespread problems with the structure as a whole is also raised
A 2 h periodic variation in the low-mass X-ray binary Ser X-1
No full textSpectroscopy of the low-mass X-ray binary Ser X-1 using the Gran Telescopio Canarias have revealed a ?2 h periodic variability that is present in the three strongest emission lines. We tentatively interpret this variability as due to orbital motion, making it the first indication of the orbital period of Ser X-1. Together with the fact that the emission lines are remarkably narrow, but still resolved, we show that a main-sequence K dwarf together with a canonical 1.4 M? neutron star gives a good description of the system. In this scenario, the most likely place for the emission lines to arise is the accretion disc, instead of a localized region in the binary (such as the irradiated surface or the stream-impact point), and their narrowness is due instead to the low inclination (?10°) of Ser X-1
Mesophilic-hydrothermal-thermophilic (M-H-T) digestion of green corn straw
No full textMesophilic-hydrothermal (80-160 degrees C, 30 min)-thermophilic (M-H-T) digestion and control tests of mesophilic (M), thermophilic (T), hydrothermal-mesophilic (H-M), and mesophilic-thermophilic digestion (M-T) of green corn straw were conducted for a 20-day fermentation period. The results indicate that M-H-T is an efficient method to improve methane production. A maximum methane yield of 371.74 mL/g volatile solid was obtained by the M (3 days)-H (140 degrees C)-T (17 days) process, which was 20.44%, 16.55%, 31.44%, and 14.31% higher than the yields of the M, T, 140-M, and M-T processes. The enhanced methane production was attributed to (1) the improved hemicellulose degradation and lignin disorganization; (2) prevention of the degradation of soluble sugar, easily hydrolyzed hemicellulose and cellulose into furfural and methylfurfural; and (3) lack of formation of Maillard reaction products during initial hydrothermal treatment. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Supplementary materials to: The event-specific benefits of writing about a difficult life experience
No full textSupplementary materials to: Stapleton, C. M., Zhang, H., & Berman, J. S. (2021). The event-specific benefits of writing about a difficult life experience. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 17(1), 53-69, https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.208
Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country’S H-Index
No full textThe aim of this study is to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development on country’s scientific ranking as measured by H-index. Moreover, this study applies ICT development sub-indices including ICT Use, ICT Access and ICT skill to find the distinct effect of these sub-indices on country’s H-index. To this purpose, required data for the panel of 14 Middle East countries over the period 1995 to 2009 is collected. Findings of the current study show that ICT development increases the H-index of the sample countries. The results also indicate that ICT Use and ICT Skill sub-indices positively contribute to higher H-index but the effect of ICT access on country’s H-index is not clear.Cite as:
FARHADI, M., SALEHI, H., EMBI, M. A., FOOLADI, M., FARHADI, H., AGHAEI CHADEGANI, A., & ALE EBRAHIM, N. (2013). Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country’S H-Index. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 57(1), 122-127
Radial limits of holomorphic functions on the ball
No full textIn this dissertation, we consider various aspects of the boundary behavior of holomorphic
functions of several complex variables. In dimension one, a characterization
of the radial limit zero sets of nonconstant holomorphic functions on the disc has
been given by Lusin, Privalov, McMillan, and Berman. In higher dimensions, no such
characterization is known for holomorphic functions on the unit ball B. Rudin posed
the question as to the existence of nonconstant holomorphic functions on the ball
with radial limit zero almost everywhere. Hakim, Sibony, and Dupain showed that
such functions exist. Because the characterization in dimension one involves both
Lebesgue measure and Baire category, it is natural to also ask whether there exist
nonconstant holomorphic functions on the ball having residual radial limit zero sets.
We show here that such functions exist. We also prove a higher dimensional version
of the Lusin-Privalov Radial Uniqueness Theorem, but we show that, in contrast to
what is the case in dimension one, the converse does not hold. We show that any
characterization of radial limit zero sets on the ball must take into account the "complex structure" on the ball by giving an example that shows that the family of these sets is not closed under orthogonal transformations of the underlying real coordinates.
In dimension one, using the theorem of McMillan and Berman, it is easy to see that
radial limit zero sets are not closed under unions (even finite unions). Since there is
no analogous result in higher dimensions of the McMillan and Berman result, it is not obvious whether the radial limit zero sets in higher dimensions are closed under finite unions. However, we show that, as is the case in dimension one, these sets are
not closed under finite unions. Finally, we show that there are smooth curves of finite
length in S that are non-tangential limit uniqueness sets for holomorphic functions
on B. This strengthens a result of M. Tsuji
Lah–Ribarič type inequalities for (h, g; m)-convex functions
No full textRecently introduced new class of (h, g; m)-convex functions unifies a certain range of convexity, thus allowing the generalizations of know results. In this paper we prove Lah–Ribarič type inequalities for (h, g; m)-convex functions from which we obtain inequalities of Hermite–Hadamard, Fejér, Giaccardi, Popoviciu and Petrović. © 2021, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Royal Academy of Sciences, Madrid
Mrs. H. M. Evers
No full textNewspaper Article - 'Mrs. H. M. Evers' - Mrs. Evers hopes she can learn much about the living conditions here and the possibilities for the Dutch settlers.Alberta Women's Institutes; AWI CollectionMRS. H. M. EVERS
I bring out his capital immediately
and until such time as their capital
is released things are quite
difficult. "' There are very few
provinces in Canada that will supply
the Dutch settlers with a loan",
Mr. Jensma stated.
On her arrival here Mrs. Evers
i was astounded at the unusua1.
building of the city and the large
• ields of wheat. " Of course we have
wheat too, but ours is only a small
country so we have to be very
economical and not spend out
land too freely". The buildings are
much taller and narrower, especially
in the cities. Wood is very
expensive so most of the homes are
built of brick and concrete with
corrugated steel and tile roofs.
Give True Picture
In her travels across the country
Mrs. Evers hopes she can lenrn
much about the living conditions
here and the possibilities for the
Dutch settlers so when she re-
| turns to her homeland she will b- i
able to give the women of Holland
all the information possible and
prepare them for their great adventure.
Mrs. Evers and her family reside
on a 150 acre farm in the
northern part of the country. Her
daughter Tjaakje is a teacher in
home economics and her son.
Luken, works on the farm.
Besides serving on the immigration
board she is a member of the
international board of the YWCA;
the international Council of Women:
international corporation of
Dutch Country Wives: the international
organization of the Associated
Country Women of thr
World: and a member of the Women's
Institutes.
She will leave on Tuesday for
Toronto, where she will be met by
Mr. W. Blome. who is with the
Netherlands Immigration Board
in Ottawa.
A doctor declares the British
people are taking 10.000,000 aspirin
tablets a day
X-Ray Crystallographic Determination of a Collagen-like Peptide with the Repeating Sequence (Pro-Pro-Gly)
No full text- …
