Terrorism and Public Opinion: The Effects of Terrorist Attacks on the Popularity of the President of the United States

This article uses a large-n dataset to investigate the effect of terrorist attacks with American victims on the popularity of the U.S. president. The study uses two broad theoretical frameworks to analyze this effect, the score-keeping framework and the rally-effect framework. The findings of the study show that, when excluding the effect from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, actual terrorist attacks have no generalizable short-term impact on the popularity of the U.S. president. This indicates that even though the topics of national security, terrorism, and the president’s ability to handle these issues are important in the political debate in the United States, actual terrorism has little or no short-term impact on presidential approval ratings.     

“9/11 is alive and well” or how critical terrorism studies has sustained the 9/11 narrative

ABSTRACT

This article argues that despite engaging in a powerful critique of the construction of the attacks of 11 September 2001 (or “9/11”) as temporal break, critical terrorism scholars have sustained and reproduced this same construction of “9/11”. Through a systematic analysis of the research articles published in Critical Studies on Terrorism, this article illustrates how critical scholars have overall failed to extricate themselves from this dominant narrative, as they inhabit the same visual, emotional and professional landscape as those they critique. After examining how CTS has reproduced but also renegotiated this narrative, the article concludes with what Michel Foucault would describe as an “effective history” of the attacks – in this case, a personal narrative of how the attacks did not constitute a moment of personal rupture but nonetheless later became a backdrop to justify my scholarship and career. It ends with a renewal of Maya Zeyfuss’ call to forget “9/11”.     

"9·11"后布什政府对"敌人"的建构

“9·11”恐怖主义袭击带来的最迫切需要是识别出美国的敌人。对敌人的建构包括两个方面,即对敌人的抽象化与非人化,对自身国家的拟人化。本文考察了布什政府在“9·11”后对其“敌人”的建构,认为其努力既有成功之处,也有失败之处。它成功地塑造了敌人“邪恶”和自身“善”的形象,但这只会是短期的成功。由于恐怖主义的性质,美国又不得不将敌人具体化、扩大化,从而导致了美国在“9·11”后建构“敌人”的长期失败。     

Allele frequencies of 15 STR loci in the population of the city of Quito, Ecuador

POPULATION: Quito City population (Ecuador, South America, n = 116-207).     

AMPFlSTR Identifiler STR allele frequencies in Tanzania, Africa

POPULATION:  Identifiler—Employees and students of Muhimibili University College of Health Sciences in Dar es Salaam representing 19 widely distributed administrative districts and 42 tribes within the country.     

Development and validation of the AmpFlSTR MiniFiler PCR Amplification Kit: a MiniSTR multiplex for the analysis of degraded and/or PCR inhibited DNA

DNA typing of degraded DNA samples can be a challenging task when using the current commercially available multiplex short tandem repeat (STR) analysis kits. However, the ability to type degraded DNA specimens improves by redesigning current STR marker amplicons such that smaller sized polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products are generated. In an effort to increase the amount of information derived from these types of DNA samples, the AmpFlSTR MiniFiler PCR Amplification Kit has been developed. The kit contains reagents for the amplification of eight miniSTRs which are the largest sized loci in the AmpFlSTR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit (D7S820, D13S317, D16S539, D21S11, D2S1338, D18S51, CSF1PO, and FGA). Five of these STR loci (D16S539, D21S11, D2S1338, D18S51, and FGA) also are some of the largest loci in the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus kit. This informative nine-locus multiplex, which includes the gender-identification locus Amelogenin, has been validated according to the FBI/National Standards and SWGDAM guidelines. Our results demonstrate significant performance improvements in models of DNA degradation, PCR inhibition, and nonprobative samples when compared to the AmpFlSTR Identifiler and SGM Plus kits. These data support that the MiniFiler kit will increase the likelihood of obtaining additional STR information from forensic samples in situations in which standard STR chemistries fail to produce complete profiles.     

Behauptetes Jugendlichenalter im Tatzeitpunkt; Einziehung von SIM-Karten

überschreitung der Strafbefugnisgrenze iSd ersten Falles der Z 11 des § 281 Abs 1 StPO ist auch dann gegeben, wenn eine unter Missachtung des § 5 JGG ausgemessene Strafe innerhalb des danach zu bildenden Strafrahmens liegt. Sachverst?ndige sind nur beizuziehen, wenn – nach der auf den Einzelfall bezogenen Wertung des Obersten Gerichtshofes – nicht jedes Mitglied des in der Schuldfrage (im Fall der Z 11 erster Fall iVm Z 4: in der Sanktionsfrage) erkennenden Spruchk?rpers die erforderlichen Fachkenntnisse für die Beurteilung einer Tatfrage besitzt. Im Zusammenhang mit einem Suchtgiftdelikt sichergestellte SIM-Karten k?nnen nur unter besonderen Umst?nden, die konkret festgestellt werden müssen, Gegenstand einer Einziehung gem § 26 StGB sein.     

Early epidermal changes in heat- and electrically injured pig skin. I. A light microscopic study

In order to find methods applicable for disclosing electrical torture, pig skin was exposed to heat and electricity under controlled circumstances. Biopsies were obtained immediately after exposure and the morphology of the heat lesions was compared to that of electrical lesions. The cytoplasm of epidermal cells in heat lesions appeared granular or fibrillar, while the nuclei were rather unaffected. In electrical lesions the cytoplasm appeared homogeneous often with a peculiar white colour in hematoxylin-eosin stained sections. The nuclei were either dark and shadowy or enlarged and vesicular. The keratin in electrical lesions often showed a bright yellow colour. Small defects in the epidermis were seen in some electrical lesions. Thus the morphology of electrical lesions differed markedly from that of heat lesions. Although some of these differences may be due to differences in distribution and intensity of energy, it is probable that pH shifts in the cells due to electrolysis is the main cause of the specific morphology of electrical lesions.