The labor of surveillance and bureaucratized killing: new subjectivities of military drone operators

As the military's armed surveillance drones have become the iconic weapon of the early twenty-first century, they have also introduced radical transformations in the traditional labor of those who operate them – the pilots, crew, analysts, and commanders. In so doing, these transformations have engendered new kinds of subjectivity, with new ways of experiencing the work of surveillance and killing. This paper investigates the nature of these new subjectivities, how they are constructed through new technologies that combine surveillance with remote agency, the bureaucratization of killing, and the psychological implications for operators. It examines how scientific management strategies from Taylorism to business process re-engineering have contributed to reconstituting the subjectivity of drone pilots and sensor operators through decomposing their labor practices and reconstituting them within professionalized careers and technological systems of supervision and management. It also looks at how the decisions to use lethal force are themselves decomposed and distributed among individuals designated as responsible agents within the chain-of-command. In light of the creation of these new subjectivities, the paper examines the psychological stress experienced by those who occupy these new subject positions through an examination of several recent military studies, journalistic accounts, and a recent short film based upon an interview with a drone pilot, Omer Fast's 5,000 Feet is the Best (2011).     

毛泽东的干部路线

为了夺取政权,实现以毛泽东为代表的中国共产党人心中追求的崇高理想,中国共产党在长期艰苦卓绝的民主革命进程中,逐步形成了任人唯贤的干部路线,即毛泽东的干部路线。这是一条完整的干部路线,包括：德才兼备的干部标准;知人善任的干部政策;五湖四海全面团结干部的原则和通过学习培训及在实践中锻炼干部的途径。毛泽东任人唯贤的干部路线保证了党的任务的实现,有力地推进了党和人民事业的健康发展。     

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Protective and Risk Factors in 18 Survivors of a Plane Crash

The aim of this study is to identify protective and risk factors related to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on a sample of survivors from a single plane crash. Eighteen survivors were examined 6 months following the event. The subjects all underwent psychiatric interviews, Clinician‐Administered PTSD Scale structured interviews, personality and cognitive tests. Only 38.9% of them presented with all of the symptoms of PTSD; 22.2% showed no symptoms for PTSD; remaining survivors exhibited emotional/affective symptoms related to the event. In addition to the severity of the traumatic event itself, other risk factors identified were the loss of a relative, the manifestation of depressive symptoms, and the severity of physical injuries sustained. Low levels of hostility and high levels of self‐efficacy represented protective factors against developing PTSD.     

STRESS,GENES, AND GENERALIZABILITY ACROSS GENDER: EFFECTS OF MAOA AND STRESS SENSITIVITY ON CRIME AND DELINQUENCY*

In the current study, we extend the gene‐by‐environment interaction (cGxE) literature by examining how a widely studied polymorphism, the MAOA upstream variable number tandem repeat (MAOA‐uVNTR) interacts with distal and proximal stressors to explain variation in crime and delinquency. Prior research findings have revealed that MAOA‐uVNTR interacts with single indicators of environmental adversity to explain criminal behavior in general‐population and incarcerated samples. Nevertheless, the genetically moderated stress sensitivity hypothesis suggests that increased risk for criminal behavior associated with variation in the MAOA‐uVNTR can be best understood in the context of both distal stress during childhood and proximal stress in adulthood. Therefore, we employed Tobit regression analyses to examine a gene–distal–proximal environment (CGxExE) interaction across gender in a sample of university students (n = 267) and with data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health; n = 1,294). The results across both sets of analyses demonstrate that variation in the MAOA‐uVNTR interacts with distal and proximal stress to lead to increased risk for criminal behavior in males. Although proximal life stress is associated with an increase in crime and delinquency, this effect is more pronounced among MAOA‐L allele carriers that have experienced distal stress.     

热胁迫下奶牛肝脾HSP70的表达特征及脾淋巴细胞凋亡

为了探讨热胁迫对奶牛组织形态和机能的影响,对热胁迫奶公犊肝、脾进行了显微结构观察,分析了HSP70在肝、脾的表达特征,并进行了脾淋巴细胞凋亡的观察。结果表明:在25℃常温状态下,奶牛肝、脾结构基本一致;脾组织内淋巴小结界限较大,红髓、白髓结构完整性较好,边缘被膜平整,淋巴小结内的淋巴细胞排列较致密。在不同热胁迫下,各组奶牛肝、脾均有不同程度的损伤,而且肝、脾细胞的超微结构变化随热胁迫后不同时间点而有所不同。热应激奶牛组织中HSP70含量随胁迫时间的延长呈现波动变化,与同期各组织细胞所呈现的病理损伤变化存在一定的相关,提示HSP70含量可作为判定组织应激损伤的标志之一。热胁迫对奶牛器官组织的影响是逐渐加重的过程,呈现部分淋巴细胞从凋亡到坏死的病理学变化过程。不同高温热胁迫均可造成肝、脾结构及其细胞的损伤,温度越高损伤越重。     

“The big sleep: Elucidating the sequence of events in the first hours of death to determine the postmortem interval”

Recent developments on postmortem interval estimation (PMI) take an advantage of the autolysis process, pointing out to the analysis of the expression of apoptosis and autophagy genes towards this purpose. Oxidative stress plays a role in this signaling as a regulatory mechanism and/or as a consequence of cell death. Additionally, melatonin has been implicated on apoptosis and autophagy signaling, making melatonin a suitable target for PMI determination. The aim of this study was to investigate the early PMI through the analysis of the expression of autophagy genes as well as oxidative stress and melatonin receptor. Our results demonstrated a rapidly increased on the expression of autophagy genes according to the expected sequence of events, then a marked decrease in this expression, matched with the switch to the apoptosis signaling. These results revealed potential candidates to analyze the PMI in the first hours of death, helping to estimate the time-since-death.     

An Assessment of Judges’ Self‐Reported Experiences of Secondary Traumatic Stress

Many judges experience occupation‐specific stress, such as secondary traumatic stress (STS), burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious traumatization. A content analysis of 762 judges’ open‐ended responses to a survey asking whether they had suffered from STS revealed that judges moderately experienced most types of stress. Some case types (e.g., family court) and some job aspects (e.g., gruesome evidence) were particularly stressful. Judges reported both positive (e.g., social support) and negative (e.g., distractions) coping mechanisms. Interventions should be tailored to judges’ characteristics, (e.g., gender), job (e.g., family court), beliefs (e.g., that STS does not exist), and level of distress.     

Modeling job stress among police officers: interplay of work environment,counseling support,and family discussion with co-workers

Existing literature indicates that various factors affect police stress. This article uses data from the ‘Work and Family Services for Law Enforcement Personnel in the United States, 1995’ downloaded from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (‘ICPSR’) website. Respondents include 594 sworn police officers from 21 agencies in New York City. Using structural equation modeling, results indicate that sex, race, education, and tenure do not have a direct influence on total job stress, but have a direct impact on family discussion with co-workers, counseling support, and negative working environment. Rank has a direct impact on total job stress, negative working environment, and family discussion with co-workers. In addition, both negative working environment and counseling support directly impact police total job stress.     

An Investigation of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depressive Symptomatology among Female Victimsof Interpersonal Trauma

This study examined factors associated with PTSD-depression comorbidity among a sample of 162 adult female rape or assault victims with PTSD, as well as potential differential predictors of PTSD and depression severity. PTSD-only participants reported higher levels of childhood sexual abuse than those with comorbid PTSD and depression, and the PTSD/MDD group reported relatively more distorted trauma-related beliefs, dissociation, PTSD severity, and depression severity. Distorted trauma-related beliefs and dissociation were the strongest unique predictors of higher PTSD and depressive symptoms. Rates of PTSD and depression comorbidity did not appear to be a function of symptom overlap. Study findings suggest possible explanations for the high PTSD and depression comorbidity rates commonly found among victims of interpersonal violence. This research was supported in part by a grant to Patricia A. Resick from the National Institute of Mental Health (R02-MH51509).     

电针心经对急性心肌缺血大鼠海马CA1区氧化应激及BDNF信号通路相关蛋白表达的影响

目的 观察电针心经“神门-通里”段对急性心肌缺血(acute myocardial ischemia, AMI)大鼠海马CA1区超氧化物歧化酶(superoxide dismutase, SOD)、丙二醛(malondialdehyde, MDA)、脑源性神经营养因子(brain-derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF)、酪氨酸蛋白激酶B(tyrosine protein kinase, TrkB)、蛋白激酶B(protein kinase B,Akt)、磷酸化Akt(phosphorylated Akt, p-Akt)等变化的影响,分析电针心经改善AMI引发海马神经细胞损伤的机制。方法 将大鼠按照随机数字表法分为伪手术组、模型组、电针组,每组10只。采用冠状动脉左前降支结扎法制备AMI大鼠模型,伪手术组仅穿线不结扎。电针组予以双侧“神门-通里”段电针治疗,电流强度1 mA,频率2 Hz,每次30 min,连续3 d,其余两组不予治疗。用PowerLab 16导生理记录仪采集心电图,并分析ST段电位;苏木精-伊红染色法观察大鼠心肌组织形态;采用ELISA法检...