Are counter-terrorism strategies effective? The results of the Campbell systematic review on counter-terrorism evaluation research

The events of September 11th have led to massive increases in personal, commercial, and governmental expenditures on anti-terrorism strategies, as well as a proliferation of programs designed to fight terrorism. These increases in spending and program development have focused attention on the most significant and central policy question related to these interventions: Are these programs effective? To explore this question, this study reports the results of a Campbell Collaboration systematic review on evaluation research of counter-terrorism strategies. Not only did we discover an almost complete absence of evaluation research on counter-terrorism interventions, but from those evaluations that we could find, it appears that some interventions either did not achieve the outcomes sought or sometimes increased the likelihood of terrorism occurring. The findings dramatically emphasize the need for government leaders, policy makers, researchers, and funding agencies to support both outcome evaluations of these programs as well as efforts to develop an infrastructure to foster counter-terrorism evaluation research.     

互动——对外开放酝酿的显著特点

互动是十一届三中全会前夕对外开放酝酿的显著特点。正是由于国内外互动、中国共产党高层内部互动、社会及党内上下思想互动,对外开放意见和想法激烈碰撞、融合,在取得对外开放共识基础上,对外开放基本国策最终确立。     

Merger simulations with observed diversion ratios

One approach to merger simulations used in antitrust cases is to calibrate demand from market shares and a few additional parameters. When the products involved in the merger case are differentiated along several dimensions, actual diversion ratios may be very different from those calculated from market shares. This again may affect the predicted post-merger price effects. This article shows how merger simulation can be performed using observed diversion ratios. To illustrate the potential effects of this approach we use diversion ratios from a local grocery market in Norway. In this case diversions from the acquired to the acquiring stores were considerably smaller than suggested by market shares, and the predicted average price increase from the acquisition was 40% lower using this model rather than a model based upon market shares. This analysis also suggests that even a subset of observed diversion ratios may significantly change the prediction from a merger simulation based upon market shares.     

Development and validation of the AmpFℓSTR® Identifiler® Direct PCR Amplification Kit: a multiplex assay for the direct amplification of single-source samples

Abstract: The AmpF?STR^® Identifiler^® Direct PCR Amplification Kit is a new short tandem repeat multiplex assay optimized to allow the direct amplification of single‐source blood and buccal samples on FTA^® card without the need for sample purification and quantification. This multiplex assay has been validated according to the FBI/National Standards and SWGDAM guidelines. Validation results revealed that slight variations in primer concentration, master mix component concentration, and thermal cycling parameters did not affect the performance of the chemistry. The assay’s sensitivity was demonstrated by amplifying known amounts of white blood cells spotted onto FTA^® cards, and the assay’s specificity was verified by establishing minimal cross‐reactivity with nonhuman DNA. No effect on the age of the sample stored on the FTA^® substrate was observed and full concordance was established in the population study. These findings of the validation study support the use of the Identifiler^® Direct Kit for forensic standards and database samples genotyping.     

From mourning to allegory: Post-3.11 Space Battleship Yamato in motion

Abstract

Since 1977, when the first movie version was premiered, Uchūsenkan Yamato (Space Battleship Yamato) has fueled the continuance of an earlier anime boom in Japan, and in the past decades, the anime text has generated multifarious interpretations. One of the most widely embraced readings contextualizes Yamato within Japan's defeat in the Second World War and this approach to the anime not only celebrated its scientific imagination but also legitimized, with a revisionist tone, the country's righteousness in the war. In the wake of the 3/11 earthquake and the subsequent Fukushima disaster, however, this line of canonical reading has declined. In turn, users of internet social media such as Twitter and 2 Channel have revamped the significance of Yamato, largely extolling the anime text as a prognosis of the Fukushima crisis. Surrounding Yamato, those clamorous voices on the internet appear to have grown into what Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri call ‘multitude’, a social body of collaboration. Online constituents of multitudes are, though still randomly and loosely connected, gravitating to Yamato's newly discovered quality as the allegory of apocalyptic post-3/11 Japan. Whereas concrete action is yet to be taken, the internet multitudes of Yamato fans have engaged in various brainstorming conversations that concern Japan's future and its relation with nuclear technology.     

Visible Muslimness in Scotland: between discrimination and integration

ABSTRACT

Bonino's article casts light on the realities and perceptions of ethno-religious discrimination among Muslims in Scotland, with particular reference to those living in Edinburgh, during both everyday social interaction with the indigenous Scottish community, and contact with police and security officers. Discrimination against ethnic minorities in Scotland can be traced back in history; however, it is its post-9/11 multifaceted form that has particularly targeted Muslims qua Muslims in a global climate of distrust and stigmatization. While publicly available statistics show a decrease in racist incidents in Scotland, findings from other studies illustrate a more complex situation in which prejudice and discrimination intermingle in ways that make it hard to quantify the precise extent of anti-Muslim sentiment. Qualitative data collected specifically in Edinburgh suggest that Muslims’ hyper-visibility has triggered ethno-religious discrimination by some members of the non-Muslim majority. However, the daily experiences of life in Scotland, and the social relations with non-Muslims, are more heterogeneous and nuanced; they include overall positive views of, and a certain engagement with, many non-Muslims in a context of relative harmony. Contact with police and security officers at airports constitutes the main area of concern for Scottish Muslims, whose confidence, sense of equality and feelings of belonging to society are severely undermined by the securitization of their ethno-religious difference. The path towards a pluralistic Scottishness rests on sociopolitical and institutional efforts to reduce the discrimination against visible diversity, especially at loci of security, and to include the symbolic and physical distinctiveness of Muslimness within the porous Scottish cultural boundaries.     

后9·11时代美国海运安全法的新发展

9.11事件发生后,美国海运安全法进行了全面的革新。针对这次革新,文章分析集装箱安全指导计划、关贸合作反恐计划及新的海上运输安全法的主要内容,论述这些安全措施在施行中的利弊,即这些安全措施虽然在一定程度上改善了美国海运业的安全状况,但也对其他国家的港口和对航运业的流转速度造成一些不利影响,进而提出只有在实践中不断总结和反思才能建立科学完善的海运安全制度。     

The state of public affairs after 11 September

There is a curiously subtle relationship between the public affairs function and the political world which it seeks to influence. A shock to the political system of the magnitude of the attack on the World Trade Center has effects on the practice of public affairs. Some of these impacts are obvious. Others will only become apparent with the passage of time. In its 15 years of existence the European Centre for Public Affairs has sought to be a ‘safe space’ in which the elements of the political world could meet and discuss in an independent manner and with a degree of academic rigour. From the moment of our founding, we rejected the idea of a world divided between government and lobbyists. It has always been our view that journalists and the media, lobbyists, both from civil society and from the corporate sector, and ministers, members of parliament and civil servants all form part of one seamless political world. They have the same fascination with power and with process. They are intimately and umbilically linked. With this holistic view of the political world, it is natural for the ECPA to be interested in assessing the impact of the events of 11 September on the practice of public affairs. Jointly with The Journal of Public Affairs and The Public Affairs Newsletter, we created a seminar at Chatham House on 9th January, 2002 entitled ‘Public Affairs and the World Crisis: What has changed since September 11th?’ Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Verbücherung einer Grunddienstbarkeit als Zubehör-WE zugunsten des jeweiligen Wohnungseigentümers eines WE-Objekts?

Falls Objekte zubeh?rtauglich sind (hier: 2 in einer Garage befindliche Kfz-Abstellpl?tze nach § 1 Abs 2 WEG 1975), k?nnen sie – die entsprechende Widmung und Erfassung im Rahmen der Nutzwertfestsetzung (hier durch Au?erstreitrichterbeschluss aus dem Jahr 1995) vorausgesetzt – als Grunddienstbarkeit zugunsten des jeweiligen Wohnungseigentümers eines WE-Objekts im Grundbuch einverleibt werden, wodurch die sachenrechtliche Zuordnung zum WE-Objekt erfolgt. Als Rechtsgrund für die Verbücherung des Zubeh?r-WE in Form einer Grunddienstbarkeit scheidet allerdings eine "Amtsbest?tigung" nach § 182 Abs 3 Au?StrG (früher § 178 Au?StrG aF) aus, da hiefür nur zu Lebzeiten des Erblassers bestehende und nicht erst nach seinem Tod zu begründende (beschr?nkte) dingliche Rechte in Frage kommen. Zum grundbücherlichen Zweck der "Amtsbest?tigung". Den Antrag nach § 182 Abs 3 Au?StrG kann nicht der Erbe, sondern nur der Verm?chtnisnehmer mit Zustimmung des/der Erben stellen. An allgemeinen Teilen der WE-Liegenschaft k?nnen entweder alle Wohnungseigentümer gemeinsam oder zumindest mit Zustimmung s?mtlicher Teilhaber zu Gunsten oder zu Lasten der jeweiligen Mindestanteile Grunddienstbarkeiten durch Einverleibung im Grundbuch erwerben. Die Dienstbarkeitsbelastung ist mit dem ausschlie?lichen Nutzungs- und Verfügungsrecht des einzelnen Wohnungseigentümers begrenzt.