Obsolete weapons in modern militaries

Over the past two decades, remote warfare, driven by technologies like armed drones and AI-enabled systems, has transformed armed conflict, reshaping how battles are fought and how civilian harm happens and is addressed. This manuscript explores how protecting civilians has become central to military legitimacy in modern warfare, especially as liberal democracies institutionalize civilian harm mitigation (CHM) in response to past failures. CHM is increasingly viewed not just as a legal or ethical obligation, but as a strategic imperative, vital to operational success and public support. As AI and autonomous technologies gain influence in targeting decisions, traditional frameworks like international humanitarian law, balancing principles of military necessity and humanity, are under pressure. The manuscript develops a framework connecting legality, legitimacy, transparency, accountability, and civilian protection, testing it across five chapters based on published research. It addresses urgent questions about how legitimacy is maintained in AI-enabled and increasingly autonomous warfare and how CHM principles can be preserved in this shifting landscape. The research also emphasizes the role of diverse stakeholders such as militaries, legal experts, technologists, and civil society, in governing the use of force amid rapid technological change. Ultimately, it offers both theoretical and practical insights into how modern militaries can uphold humanitarian principles while navigating the evolving realities of increasingly autonomous warfare.

Green financial technology (fintech) focuses on achieving sustainable development goals. The Ant Forest application is a typical example that reflects the characteristics of green fintech, serving as a focal point for investigation in this study. Environmental concerns and green trust are important factors in promoting the user acceptance and adoption of green services. As green fintech has green and technological features, however, the joint effects among environmental concerns and green trust and the technology adoption perspective on users’ sustainable use of green fintech (i.e., Ant Forest) remain unknown. To address this research gap, the expectation-confirmation model (ECM) is applied in this paper by integrating environmental concerns and green trust to construct a research model to investigate users’ continuous willingness to use green fintech. We employed a survey research method by collecting 653 responses to examine the model. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was adopted for statistical examination. The results show that environmental concerns can improve green trust and that green trust can improve user satisfaction through confirmation and perceived usefulness, thus enhancing users’ willingness to continuously use green fintech. This paper provides theoretical contributions by extending two green antecedents (i.e., environmental concerns and green trust) to the ECM to further understand user decisions to continuously use green fintech. The findings also hold significant practical implications for green fintech vendors, especially in terms of designing fintech solutions and collaborating with environmental agencies to promote continuous public use of green fintech.

Virtual interactive platforms have gained popularity in remote and hybrid work settings. However, limited research exists regarding factors that explain employees’ continued use of these platforms, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study aims to introduce a comprehensive research model that elucidates the relationships among platforms’ technological characteristics, individual motivations, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in the context of virtual interactive platforms. The authors conducted an empirical study involving 353 employees from SMEs in Daegu, South Korea, who utilized virtual interactive platforms for work. The study identified the platform features that enhance users’ intention to continue using the service, and examined the impact of different motivations on users’ behavioral intentions. The findings revealed that while telepresence and interactivity significantly influenced user satisfaction, they did not directly affect continued use intentions. User satisfaction and extrinsic motivation were positively associated with users’ intention to continue using the platform. Among the identified motivations, extrinsic motivation had the strongest impact on continued use intention, whereas intrinsic motivation had the weakest impact. This study has important implications for managers aiming to optimize the benefits of virtual interactive platforms in hybrid work environments. Additionally, it offers insights for platform providers seeking to enhance their services. By understanding the factors that drive user satisfaction and continued use intention, organizations can develop strategies to maximize the sustainability advantages of virtual interactive platforms.

The advent of technology has acted as a catalyst to the propensity and intensity of acts of terrorism across the globe owing to the production of Small and Light Weapons (SALW), which are easy to handle and deploy in conflict situations. This paper aims at examining the influence of the proliferation of SALW on terrorism in Northern Nigeria, which is largely perpetrated by the Boko Haram terrorist group and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP). The paper revealed that the proliferation of SALWs have significantly contributed to the recurrence and ferociousness of terrorism in Northern Nigeria. The paper also revealed that despite the copious legal framework regulating the use of arms and light weapons, arms have become a free-for-all particularly, in the hands of non-state actors in Nigeria. The resultant effects of this proliferation are loss of lives; wanton damage and destruction of properties and means of livelihood; displacements; economic downturn etc. The paper concludes that the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons (Convention) should be operational in Nigeria. However, reliance cannot be placed on legislation alone as a means of controlling the proliferation of arms but it is imperative for other measures to be in place such as an institutional framework involving the re-jig of the Nigerian security apparatus and community involvement in the control of SALW.

Purpose The online healthcare platform (OHP) has become an essential element of the healthcare system, representing a technological shift in the job responsibilities of medical professionals. Drawing on a technology-based job demands–resources (JD-R) model, this study aims to examine how the technological characteristics of OHP affect doctors’ OHP use psychology and behavior. Design/methodology/approach This empirical study was based on a survey conducted among 423 doctors with OHP use experience. The proposed model underwent assessment through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to reveal the effects of technology-based job demands (i.e. technology-based work overload and technology-based work monitoring) and resources (i.e. perceived usefulness, facilitating conditions and IT mindfulness) on doctors’ OHP fatigue and continuance use intention. Findings Results suggest that technology-based work monitoring, perceived usefulness and facilitation conditions have significant impacts on doctors’ psychological and behavioral responses to using OHP, whereas technology-based work overload and IT mindfulness have a single impact on continuance use intention and fatigue of OHP. Research limitations/implications It assists doctors, healthcare administrators, policymakers and technology developers in understanding OHPs’ technological characteristics, enabling them to harness its benefits and mitigate potential challenges. Additionally, given the self-reported cross-sectional data from China, future studies can improve generalizability and adopt experimental methods or longitudinal designs with objective data. Originality/value It extends the research on OHP by employing a technology-based JD-R model to explore work attributes and dual effects associated with OHP’s technological characteristics. It also enriches existing research by examining the role of OHP’s technological characteristics in doctors’ psychological and behavioral responses.

INTRODUCTION In recent years, the global proliferation of conventional weapons has earned a prominent, if not a central, place on the increasingly crowded post-Cold War international security agenda. But while public, academic, and governmental awareness of the problems associated with the proliferation of conventional weapons is growing, the diffusion of light weapons (a subset of conventional armaments) remains seriously under-examined. This is somewhat surprising given that ninety per cent of all deaths and injuries sustained in the course of intrastate conflicts since 1993 were the result of direct fire from light weapons.(f.1) For those interested in dealing with the weapons that kill people in armed conflict, it is also disturbing; for, as one recent study concludes, 'before efforts to limit light weapons are likely to be effective, the issue itself must receive significantly more national and international attention.'(f.2) Simply stated, unless and until the ubiquity, ready availability, and continuing proliferation of light weapons is recognized as a serious impediment to democratization, development, good governance, and peacebuilding, it is unlikely that serious steps will be taken to develop a comprehensive strategy for dealing with them. The purpose of this article is threefold: to provide an overview of the causes and consequences of the ready availability and continuing proliferation of light weapons; to develop a framework for thinking about practical, realistic, and constructive measures to address the problem; and to identify ways in which Canada might take the lead in advancing this agenda. After a discussion of the nature of light weapons, the article develops four propositions: 1 the ready availability and continuing proliferation of light weapons pose serious challenges to development, democratization, good governance, and other aspects of 'sustainable human security'; 2 underpinning the diffusion of light weapons is a complex ecology of causation that includes the failure of states to provide adequate security against threats of organized or unstructured violence, the persistence of militarized cultural forms, the increased availability of light weapons on the international market, and the absence of any generally agreed international norm limiting the rights of states to acquire such weapons; 3 to be effective, political measures will have to address both the supply and demand sides of the light weapons equation; and 4 Canada can play an important, if modest, leadership role in mobilizing the international community to deal with the problems of light weapons. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Although there is no authoritative definition of light weapons, by convention they are understood to be armaments that are used in intercommunal and intrastate conflict and that fall below the threshold of major conventional weapons systems (that is, those weapons encompassed by the seven categories of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms: battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large calibre artillery, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, and missiles/launchers).(f.3) At one end of this spectrum are 'small arms' such as pistols, assault rifles, and light machine guns.(f.4) At the other end are crew-served armaments such as recoilless rifles, mortars, light artillery, and even some missile systems. Strictly speaking, the term includes landmines, though these are often treated as a separate category, especially in the context of international disarmament negotiations. Light weapons can be found at every point along the continuum of technological complexity. At one extreme, they can be highly sophisticated and embody increasingly advanced (and lethal) technologies. The most important technological developments include reductions in size and weight; improvements in target acquisition; increased rate of fire; 'improved ballistic and terminal effects of projectiles'; 'improvements in affordability, simplicity, and ruggedness'; and reduced maintenance requirements. …

This research's objective is to examine the effect of technological characteristics on trust and satisfaction in using a charity crowdfunding platform so that the user will reuse the platform. The use of technology in excellent and sustainable online donation fundraising requires the fulfilment of technological characteristics. A study by Bhattacherjee (2001)) stated that continued use influences information technology's success. Another significant area in information systems research is user satisfaction because it is an essential factor in measuring the use and success of an information system (Bailey and Pearson, 1983; Ives et al., 1983; Doll and Torkzadeh, 1988; Delone and McLean, 1992 in Roca et al., 2006). This study used the purposive sampling method and tested the hypothesis using the Structural Equation Model (SEM). This research proves that trust affects the satisfaction of using a charity crowdfunding platform, but not with technological characteristics. Meanwhile, users' satisfaction influences continued use but not trust. Keywords: Technology Characteristics, Continued Use, User Satisfaction, User Trust, Charity Crowdfunding Platform.

BackgroundTechnology offers opportunities to support older adults with mild cognitive impairments to remain independent and socially connected, but is often not used. Although determinants of technology use among older adults in general are well studied, much less is known about how these factors impact technology use behaviour in cognitively impaired older adults. This study aimed to bridge this gap in research by examining the factors underlying technology use in community-dwelling older adults with mild cognitive impairments.MethodsWe applied a generic qualitative design and used 16 semi-structured interviews to collect data from Belgian (Flemish) community-dwelling older adults diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment or dementia and informal caregivers. To get data from different perspectives, a focus group with professional caregivers was added. We used thematic analysis with an inductive approach to identify and select themes from the data.ResultsWe identified two themes: introduction of technology and determinants of technology adoption and continued use. Successful technology adoption in cognitively impaired older adults is need-driven and subject to individual, technological and contextual characteristics. Specific for older adults with cognitive impairments are the importance of disease awareness and cognitive ability for adoption and continued use, respectively. Although social support can be a valuable alternative to technology, it is an important facilitator of continued technology use in these older adults. Similarly, integration of technologies in daily routines can buffer discontinuation of technologies.ConclusionsFuture research is encouraged to validate our findings in a postpandemic era and to further develop a novel theoretical framework for technology acceptance among older adults with cognitive impairments. Moreover, identification of crucial determinants as well as strategies to remove use barriers are also important future research tasks. Clinical practice should focus on improving disease awareness to facilitate technology adoption and policies should invest in training and support of professional caregivers and in reimbursement strategies to facilitate implementation of technology in practice.

The escalating usage of light weapons in criminal and terrorist activities has necessitated the development of advanced weapon detection systems. This study centers on the application of the high-speed deep learning detection model, You Only Look Once version 7 (YOLOv7), to address the need for efficient and swift threat identification. The proposed system, trained on a self-curated dataset rich in images of various dangerous light weapons, is designed to recognize and distinguish multiple weapons simultaneously. The unique value of YOLOv7 in object and specifically weapon detection lies in its outstanding speed and accuracy, as demonstrated by certain weapon categories achieving a mean average precision (mAP) of 97%. The system’s performance can potentially be further enhanced by augmenting the image dataset for each weapon category. This study, therefore, not only validates the critical importance of YOLOv7 in advancing detection methodologies but also presents a practical solution for bolstering public safety.

The case studies in this volume have examined the challenges facing the countries of postcommunist Europe in reforming and in particular professionalising their armed forces. The context within which the processes of reform and professionalisation take place is an extremely challenging one. The economic problems of postcommunist transition impose severe constraints on the resources available for defence reform. In common with all European states, electorates in central and eastern Europe appear reluctant to give priority to defence transition, particularly at a time when more pressing demands are being made for economic transition and welfare reform. Modern militaries are responding to the revolution in military affairs that is focusing their attention on the application of advanced communications and sensor technologies and precision strike capabilities to warfare. West European armed forces are also struggling to respond to three other challenges: the need to build consensus for appropriate levels of defence expenditure to provide effective national security; the need to recruit personnel with a high level of technical skill and to further develop them in response to the introduction of increasingly complex weapons systems; and the need to becoming learning organisations capable of adapting rapidly to new and often unforeseen challenges such as those posed by the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.

In modern warfare, abdominal wounded constitute 4%-10% of all casualties and approximately 10% of those killed in action. In limited military conflicts, particularly guerilla incursions and hand to hand fighting, the frequency of abdominal wounds increases. During the Vietnam War, where light weapons were mainly used by the Vietcong, 14% of all American casualties had abdominal wounds. The incidence is slightly higher among the infantry than the armored corps and artillery.

With revolutionary advancements in technology, it is inevitable to not to develop the quality of concrete as it now a basic requirement for infrastructure. The objective of this review is to highlight the main aspects of Heavy Weight Concrete which covers the general concept of radiation physics being used in HWC, advancements in HWC technology, applications of HWC, cost optimization of HWC and future challenges. Recent researches have shown the requisite for Heavy Weight Concrete as it can efficiently absorb attenuate the radiation thus it is being used in nuclear facilities, medical facilities and now it is even being used in modern warfare. According to the past studies it is found that HWC can be used for shielding from high level radiations such as alpha-rays, beta-rays, X-rays and gamma-rays. Some of the rays propagated form radioactive material can be halted easily but some rays possess ultra-penetration ability and can penetrate through living being near them which results in destructive ionization of biological cells of a living being. This comprehensive review reaches out to the several critical areas such as future uses of HWC, cost optimization in HWC can be done by adding industrial residue of steel, glass, plastic fibers and other natural materials that can be used in HWC and increasing atomic mass for producing high quality radiation attenuation concrete.

While the mobile payment service market is expanding, few studies have been conducted on sports consumers to promote the continuous use of mobile payment services. The current study empirically analyzed the structural relationship between technological characteristics, perceived usefulness, trust, and continuous intention to use mobile payments services among sports consumers in millennials and Generation Z (MZ Generations). A questionnaire survey was conducted on students majoring in sports in 4-year universities located in Chungcheong and Gangwon Provinces, Korea. The collected data were examined using frequency analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling. The key results are as follows. First, the technological characteristics of mobile payment services had a positive effect on perceived usefulness of the services. Second, perceived usefulness had a positive effect on trust in the services. Third, perceived usefulness had a positive effect on continuous intention to use the services. Fourth, trust in mobile payment services had a positive effect on continuous intention to use the services. The results are significant as they provide a reference in establishing marketing strategies required to promote the continuous use of mobile payment services among sports consumers in MZ generations

This study analyzes the strategic role of railroads in modern warfare through the Russia-Ukraine war. Railways are essential resources for transporting military goods and maintaining economic activity, and act as an important factor in determining the victory or defeat of war. This study used a mixed research methodology combining quantitative data analysis and qualitative case analysis. Through this, the military and economic impact of the railway was evaluated, and the bombing of the Kramatorsk railway station and the explosion of the Crimean Bridge were considered in depth. Technological advances have changed the strategic value of railroads, and the introduction of high-speed railways, automation systems, and advanced information and communication technologies has greatly improved the speed and efficiency of railroads. These developments are expanding the role of railroads in modern warfare. In addition, the importance of international cooperation is emphasized, and measures to increase the strategic value of railroads through railway connection and standardization between countries are needed. The findings suggest the need for technology development to counter emerging threats such as drones and cyberattacks, and provide important implications for national security and economic policy establishment. Along with policy suggestions for building a sustainable rail system, technical research is proposed to strengthen the resilience and improve efficiency of the rail system as a future research direction. This research will contribute to enabling railroads to continue to strengthen their role as key infrastructure in modern warfare.

Intelligence creates the foundation for successful strategic combat.Climate Intelligence is the next stage in 'Defence Evolution'; underpinning modern warfare in a climate changed world where the physical environment is at once a shaping threat, a threat multiplier, and a direct threat itself. This article provides an overview of climate intelligence and its potential applications for militaryengagement with the climate and security agenda.The article highlights the potential scope and methodology for additional military taskings to support data collection as well as the integration of climate intelligence capabilities across defence and beyond.Key areas of focus include widening the breadth of indicators routinely reported on, the methodology required to facilitate enhanced military taskings, as well as increasing collaboration with academic institutions in order to enhance climate security forecasting and predictive analysis.