The Evolving Balance of Power (1130s–1148)

2020 ◽  
pp. 99-121
Author(s):  
Nicholas Morton
Keyword(s):  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Complete Failure ◽  
Crusader States ◽  
Key Questions

Chapter 4 The Evolving Balance of Power examines the period when the Crusader States’ military expansion was essentially over. It discusses how the Franks adjusted themselves to a new environment in which they were no longer the predominant military force, a reality which became apparent with the rise of the Turkish ruler Zangi and the rapid expansion of his empire, centred on Aleppo and Mosul. The Byzantines also made frequent incursions into Northern Syria and Cilia, compelling the Franks to address their relationship with this powerful northern neighbour. This chapter considers in particular two events of long-term significance for the Crusader States: the fall of Edessa in 1144 and the subsequent arrival of the Second Crusade. It addresses key questions including: why Zangi chose to attack Edessa in December of 1144 and why the Second Crusade’s campaign against Damascus ended in complete failure.

National Concepts of Security and the Problem Of Integration in Transcaucasia

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-301
Author(s):  
Anush Begoyan
Keyword(s):  
Regional Integration ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
Regional Powers ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
State Security ◽  
Joint Provision

AbstractThe article examines security issues of the Transcaucasian region with the focus on nonmilitary and trans-border security threats and a regional security community that also includes non-state security actors of the region, such as not-recognised autonomous entities, nations, ethnic groups, minorities, etc.This approach to regional security shifts the focus of policies from balance of power to closer regional integration and cooperation, as well as joint provision of regional security. Despite many objectives and existing obstacles to this scenario of regional development, the author sees it to be the only way toward a stable and long-term security in the region. The article argues that closer regional cooperation and integration would allow to accommodate interests and security concerns of non-state actors of the region and would bring the fate of regional issues back in the hands of the regional powers and create bases for sustainable and lasting peace in the region.

scholarly journals Worldwide variations in artificial skyglow

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher C. M. Kyba ◽  
Kai Pong Tong ◽  
Jonathan Bennie ◽  
Ignacio Birriel ◽  
Jennifer J. Birriel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Clear Sky ◽  
International Monitoring ◽  
Sky Brightness ◽  
Ground Truthing ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Night Sky Brightness ◽  
Key Questions

Abstract Despite constituting a widespread and significant environmental change, understanding of artificial nighttime skyglow is extremely limited. Until now, published monitoring studies have been local or regional in scope and typically of short duration. In this first major international compilation of monitoring data we answer several key questions about skyglow properties. Skyglow is observed to vary over four orders of magnitude, a range hundreds of times larger than was the case before artificial light. Nearly all of the study sites were polluted by artificial light. A non-linear relationship is observed between the sky brightness on clear and overcast nights, with a change in behavior near the rural to urban landuse transition. Overcast skies ranged from a third darker to almost 18 times brighter than clear. Clear sky radiances estimated by the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness were found to be overestimated by ~25%; our dataset will play an important role in the calibration and ground truthing of future skyglow models. Most of the brightly lit sites darkened as the night progressed, typically by ~5% per hour. The great variation in skyglow radiance observed from site-to-site and with changing meteorological conditions underlines the need for a long-term international monitoring program.

The Real Effects of Military Spending on Security

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd J. Dumas
Keyword(s):  
Military Spending ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Physical Security ◽  
Dead Weight ◽  
Economic Relationships ◽  
Real Effects ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run

AbstractThe indirect effects of military spending on security are stronger and more important than its direct effects, and its long run impact more telling than its short run impact. In the short run, military spending can be a source of both physical security and economic stimulus. In the long run, it can be counterproductive in terms of physical security and will be a dead weight on the economy. How a society’s productive resources are deployed, as between military spending and more economically productive activities, sets it on a long-term course with powerful implications for the ability of its economy to do what it is supposed to do – provide for the material well-being of the population as a whole. The mechanism by which the extensive and extended diversion of productive economic resources to economically unproductive military spending drags an economy down is analyzed. Furthermore, it is possible to use properly structured international and domestic economic relationships in place of threats or use of military force to increase national and international security, while at the same time enhancing, rather than degrading, economic wellbeing. Three principles for structuring such a “peacekeeping economy” are set forth.

Explaining the Long-Term Maintenance of a Military Regime: Panama before the U.S. Invasion

1992 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve C. Ropp
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Authoritarian Regime ◽  
Military Force ◽  
International Banking ◽  
Military Regimes ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Military ◽  
Term Maintenance ◽  
The U.S

Before the U.S. invasion of December 1989, Panama experienced one of the longest periods of military rule in the modern-day history of Latin America. While numerous authoritarian military regimes emerged in the region during the 1960s and established for themselves a relatively high degree of autonomy from both domestic and international actors, only those in Panama, Paraguay, and Chile survived until the late 1980s. And of these three surviving military regimes, only Panama's was ended through the application of external military force. For the past several years, there has been considerable discussion of the factors that seem best to account for General Manuel Antonio Noriega's personal ability to resist U.S. pressure from 1987 until 1989 and to largely insulate himself from the political and economic constraints of Panamanian domestic politics. However, much less attention has been devoted to discussion of the factors that explain the long-term maintenance of the military authoritarian regime in existence for fifteen years prior to his assumption of power. This analysis suggests that the long-term maintenance of Panama's military authoritarian regime was due in large part to its ability to acquire substantial amounts of foreign capital. During the 1970s, such capital was preferentially obtained from the international banking community. During the 1980s, it was obtained through illicit activities of various kinds, including participation in the growing international drug trade.

The Investment Manager

2020 ◽  
pp. 275-295
Author(s):  
Einar Lie
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Financial Wealth ◽  
Investment Manager ◽  
The Government ◽  
Traditional Roles

This chapter assesses how the management of the nation’s long-term savings in what is now the Government Pension Fund Global brought Norges Bank a brand new responsibility from the mid-1990s, and an unusual one for a central bank. While many central banks have historically played an important part in contributing to government financing and investing government debt in liquid securities, this had never been one of Norges Bank’s main roles. Indeed, one of the key aims of the acts of 1816 and 1891 was to prevent the government from funding itself through the central bank. From the mid-1990s, however, Norges Bank was in a way given the opposite task: a separate mandate to manage the country’s financial wealth on behalf of the government by investing it abroad in long-term bonds, shares, and eventually real estate. Within twenty years, thanks to high oil prices and substantial inflows from the government, the fund’s market value soared from nothing to around NOK 7 trillion. In recent years, the fund’s rapid expansion and financial importance have brought Norges Bank—and Norway—at least as much international attention as the bank’s more traditional roles in monetary policy and financial stability.

scholarly journals Efficacy and potential of phage therapy against multidrug resistantShigellaspp.

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swee-Seong Tang ◽  
Sudhangshu Kumar Biswas ◽  
Wen Siang Tan ◽  
Ananda Kumar Saha ◽  
Bey-Fen Leo
Keyword(s):  
Phage Therapy ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Multidrug Resistant ◽  
Genetically Engineered ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Suitable Alternative ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Conventional Antibiotics ◽  
Selection Of

Shigella-infected bacillary dysentery or commonly known as Shigellosis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The gradual emergence of multidrug resistantShigellaspp. has triggered the search for alternatives to conventional antibiotics. Phage therapy could be one such suitable alternative, given its proven long term safety profile as well as the rapid expansion of phage therapy research. To be successful, phage therapy will need an adequate regulatory framework, effective strategies, the proper selection of appropriate phages, early solutions to overcome phage therapy limitations, the implementation of safety protocols, and finally improved public awareness. To achieve all these criteria and successfully apply phage therapy against multidrug resistant shigellosis, a comprehensive study is required. In fact, a variety of phage-based approaches and products including single phages, phage cocktails, mutated phages, genetically engineered phages, and combinations of phages with antibiotics have already been carried out to test the applications of phage therapy against multidrug resistantShigella.This review provides a broad survey of phage treatments from past to present, focusing on the history, applications, limitations and effective solutions related to, as well as the prospects for, the use of phage therapy against multidrug resistantShigellaspp. and other multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens.

Women’s Anti-Mining Activism and Development

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katy Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Women Activists ◽  
Extractive Industries ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
Multiple Challenges ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Global Arena ◽  
Community Decision ◽  
Key Questions

The extractive industries play a prominent but controversial role in the economies and development strategies of countries across the global South, often leading to clashes between local communities and governments and Transnational Corporations (TNCs) keen to exploit mineral reserves. Mining thus provides a multifaceted lens through which to engage with key questions about Development—who decides, who benefits, and who should be responsible for dealing with the long-term legacies of mining and associated issues of sustainability and environmental devastation? Women’s anti-mining activism is an important but underresearched element in this scenario and one that provides an interesting way to explore the complexities surrounding mining and development, from a gendered perspective, raising a number of questions and directions for future research. Current research on this topic not only highlights the highly unequal power relations operating in this context, but also elucidates the ways in which grassroots women’s voices are heard (or not heard) in the global arena; the gendered nature and dynamics of community decision making; the high levels of violence and intimidation common to the experiences of many women anti-mining activists; and the constraints and challenges women face as activists. More broadly, research on women’s anti-mining activism contributes to analyze the gendered nature of the extractivist model of development. Significant gaps in the existing literature provide productive avenues for future research. In particular, there is the potential to explore alternative visions of Development through engaging with women activists’ agendas, ambitions, and perspectives. However, there is also a need to further develop an understanding of the multiple challenges women activists face in this highly charged scenario and to analyze how the women themselves navigate and tackle these challenges. Finally, conducting research in this context presents particular methodological challenges. In this regard, it is important to consider possible approaches that might bring the perspectives of grassroots women anti-mining activists to the fore.

The breed structure and genetic analysis of the pedigree cattle breeds in Australia. III. The Hereford

1963 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 93 ◽  
Author(s):  
GP Davey ◽  
JSF Barker
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Genetic Analysis ◽  
Sampling Methods ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Genetic Contribution ◽  
Genetic History ◽  
Effective Generation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

(i) The structure and genetic history of the pedigree Hereford breed in Australia are analysed by pedigree sampling methods. (ii) The pattern of the breed structure is generally similar to that found in other breeds, but it is extremely dynamic owing to the present rapid expansion of the breed. Changes are taking place in the herd composition of the major breeders' groups and there are many new herds yet to find their level in the structure. (iii) Considerable emphasis has been placed on the use of imported animals in the development of the breed. Of all herds registering in Volume 24 of the herd book, 31.6% used imported sires, and the percentage of genes in the breed in 1949 derived from animals imported since 1880 was 97.7, and from animals imported since 1930, 53.9%. (iv) The most important herd in 1949 made a genetic contribution to the breed of 33.1%, while the contributions of the four next most important herds were 17.4, 10.1, 7.4, and 6.1%. In the four-generation pedigrees from which these figures were derived, the contribution of imported animals was 56.1%. (v) The animal with the highest relationship to the breed was Free Town Director (Imp.), with direct relationships of 5.6 and 9.2% to the 1941 and 1949 samples respectively. Of the 16 sires and one dam whose direct relationships are 3.0% or more in any of the three sample years, 12 sires were imported. (vi) The total inbreeding in 1949 (base year 1880) was 2.6%. This comprised 0.2% current inbreeding, 1.6% long-term inbreeding, and 0.8% strain inbreeding. There was no evidence of subdivision of the breed into separate strains. (vii) The effective generation length has decreased since 1930 to about 5.5 years in the 1949–50 sample. Nearly 50% of the animals in this sample were sired by bulls 4 years old or younger, while about 33% were from dams 4 years old or younger. (viii) Bulls from major breeders' herds are used widely throughout the breed, while about 90% of sires and 45% of dams were bred in herds other than the one in which they were used. Therefore, it is unlikely that there is much genetic variation between herds.

Science Goals and Mission Objectives for the Future Exploration of Ice Giants Systems - A Horizon 2061 Perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Blanc ◽  
Kathleen Mandt ◽  
Olivier Mousis ◽  
Nicolas Andre ◽  
Alexis Bouquet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Third Mission ◽  
National Agency ◽  
Atmospheric Entry ◽  
Entry Probe ◽  
Unique Source ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
Key Questions

<p>The comparative study of the different planetary systems accessible to our observations is a unique source of new scientific insight: it can reveal to us the diversity of these systems and of the objects within them, help us better understand their origins and how they work, find and characterize habitable worlds, and ultimately, search for alien life in our galactic neighborhood. But, in the solar system itself, two of its secondary planetary systems, the ice giant systems, as well as their two main objects, Uranus and Neptune, remain poorly explored. We will present an analysis of our current limited knowledge of these systems in the light of six key science questions about planetary systems formulated in the “Planetary Exploration, Horizon 2061” long-term foresight exercise: (Q1) What is the diversity of planetary systems objects? (Q2) What is the diversity of their architectures? (Q3) What do we know of their origins and formation scenarios? (Q4) How do they work? (Q5) Do they host potential habitats? (Q6) Where and how to search for life?</p> <p>We will show that a long-term plan for the space exploration of ice giants and their systems, complemented by the combination of Earth and space-based observations, will provide major contributions to answers to these six questions. In order to do so, we identify the measurements that must be performed in priority to address each of these questions, the destinations to choose (Uranus, Neptune, Triton or a subset of them), and the combinations of space platform(s) (orbiter, atmospheric entry probe(s), lander…) and of  flight sequences needed.</p> <p>Based on this analysis, we look at the different launch windows available until 2061, using a Jupiter fly-by, to send a mission to Uranus or Neptune and find that:</p> <p>(1) a single mission to one of the Ice giants, combining an atmospheric entry probe and an orbiter tour starting on a high-inclination, low-periapse orbit, followed by a sequence of lower- inclination orbits, at least at one of the planets, will make it possible to address a broad range of these key questions;</p> <p>(2) a combination of two well-designed missions to each of the ice giant systems, to be flown in parallel or in sequence, will make it possible to address five out of the six key questions, and to establish the prerequisites for addressing the sixth one. The 2032 Jupiter fly-by window offers a unique opportunity to achieve this goal;</p> <p>(3) if this window cannot be met, using the 2036 Jupiter fly-by window to send a mission to Uranus first, and then the 2045 window for a mission to Neptune, will achieve the same goals. As a back-up option, the feasibility of sending an orbiter + probe mission to one of the planets and using the opportunity of a mission on its way to the interstellar medium to execute a close fly-by of the other planet and deliver a probe into its atmosphere should be studied carefully;</p> <p>(4) based on the expected science return of the first two missions, a third mission focusing on the search for life at a promising moon, namely Triton based on our current knowledge, or perhaps one of the active moons of Uranus after due characterization, can be properly designed.</p> <p>By the 2061 horizon, the first two missions of this plan can be implemented and the design of a third mission focusing on the search for life can be consolidated. Given the likelihood that such a plan may be out of reach of a single national agency, international collaboration is the most promising way to implement it.</p>

scholarly journals Ketamine: stimulating antidepressant treatment?

BJPsych Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. e5-e9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gin S. Malhi ◽  
Yulisha Byrow ◽  
Frederick Cassidy ◽  
Andrea Cipriani ◽  
Koen Demyttenaere ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Mood Disorder ◽  
Clinical Experience ◽  
Antidepressant Treatment ◽  
Off Label Use ◽  
Off Label ◽  
Term Administration ◽  
Key Questions ◽  
Label Use

SummaryThe appeal of ketamine – in promptly ameliorating depressive symptoms even in those with non-response – has led to a dramatic increase in its off-label use. Initial promising results await robust corroboration and key questions remain, particularly concerning its long-term administration. It is, therefore, timely to review the opinions of mood disorder experts worldwide pertaining to ketamine's potential as an option for treating depression and provide a synthesis of perspectives – derived from evidence and clinical experience – and to consider strategies for future investigations.

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