Divergent Positions Research Articles

New Valences of Terrorism

Abstract The most dangerous of present threats is regarded as international terrorism. The areas of instability are numerous and are located generally on major strategic fault but reality shows us that such areas could appear even in the heart of stable countries and economic, political and social potential very high. In the evolution of terrorism there is a tendency to join left to the right terrorism, of seriality and concomitant in terrorist actions and to increase the precision and effects of terrorist activity data convergence between terrorism and high technology used. The expansion of the phenomenon at the universally level requires joint actions to counteraction it and determines the achievement of a general consensus. Thus we are witnessing an impressive group of forces and capabilities, backed by a political consensus unimaginable some time ago. States with divergent positions until yesterday are now on the same frontline of the fight against terrorism. How will it evolve? It can be appreciated that terrorism will remain a problem for the whole world. The phenomenon has serious and numerous implications it be an intolerable attack against universal human values. The terrorism of future years will reflect further technological developments social changes, structural changes at the state and regional and global transfers of increasingly apparent influence in a changing world.

EU Coast Guard: a Governance Framework Based On the Principles of Sustainable Development.

In recent years, Europe is facing an unprecedented wave of migration via sea routes. Gaps and weaknesses of the EU sea borders system are used by thousands of migrants to enter EU territories. More than 1.5 million persons have crossed the EU borders illegally during 2015. So far, the EU reaction was marked by divergent policies and positions between EU Member States, either in terms of responsibilities (National vs. European) or in respect of required actions and resources (border control means, asylum and return policies, large scale search and rescue cooperation). This paper explores the viability of a new governance approach for managing EU maritime challenges based on the principles of sustainable development and the concept of the European Union Coast Guard. The outcome is based on the results of using the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development as an investigation and analysis tool. This is an attempt to test the applicability of this framework methodology outside of the traditional ecological aspects of the marine environment into the socio-technical area of maritime domain awareness. The conclusions support the establishment of the EU Coast Guard and outline guidelines for a potential governance model. Keywords : Sustainable Development, Maritime Domain Awareness, Governance, EU Coast Guard, Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development,

O desenvolvimento e a política de conteúdo local na indústria petrolífera: visões divergentes

<p>O setor de petróleo e gás no Brasil é considerado hoje, pela elevada demanda que exerce por bens e serviços, como uma das fronteiras de expansão e diversificação do parque industrial nacional. Os desafios tecnológicos que caracterizam o setor ensejam a busca constante por inovação, motivando a atração de empresas estrangeiras detentoras de tecnologias complexas. Contudo, é sabido que o setor petrolífero só se constitui em mola propulsora do desenvolvimento pelo efeito multiplicador que exerce sobre outros setores industriais e de serviços. Assim, tanto o Governo como entidades representativas dos interesses do empresariado nacional defenderam e implantaram uma Política de Conteúdo Local, presente desde a 1ª Rodada de Licitações para exploração, em 1999, como parte dos critérios de escolha nos processos licitatórios. Entretanto, esta Política tem suscitado posições divergentes. Certos técnicos e entidades se posicionam a favor da crescente participação das empresas nacionais, enquanto outros argumentam que a falta de qualificação técnica poderá afetar seriamente a competitividade brasileira no fornecimento à indústria petrolífera.</p>

What it Takes to Successfully Implement Technology for Aging in Place: Focus Groups With Stakeholders.

BackgroundThere is a growing interest in empowering older adults to age in place by deploying various types of technology (ie, eHealth, ambient assisted living technology, smart home technology, and gerontechnology). However, initiatives aimed at implementing these technologies are complicated by the fact that multiple stakeholder groups are involved. Goals and motives of stakeholders may not always be transparent or aligned, yet research on convergent and divergent positions of stakeholders is scarce.ObjectiveTo provide insight into the positions of stakeholder groups involved in the implementation of technology for aging in place by answering the following questions: What kind of technology do stakeholders see as relevant? What do stakeholders aim to achieve by implementing technology? What is needed to achieve successful implementations?MethodsMono-disciplinary focus groups were conducted with participants (n=29) representing five groups of stakeholders: older adults (6/29, 21%), care professionals (7/29, 24%), managers within home care or social work organizations (5/29, 17%), technology designers and suppliers (6/29, 21%), and policy makers (5/29, 17%). Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsStakeholders considered 26 different types of technologies to be relevant for enabling independent living. Only 6 out of 26 (23%) types of technology were mentioned by all stakeholder groups. Care professionals mentioned fewer different types of technology than other groups. All stakeholder groups felt that the implementation of technology for aging in place can be considered a success when (1) older adults’ needs and wishes are prioritized during development and deployment of the technology, (2) the technology is accepted by older adults, (3) the technology provides benefits to older adults, and (4) favorable prerequisites for the use of technology by older adults exist. While stakeholders seemed to have identical aims, several underlying differences emerged, for example, with regard to who should pay for the technology. Additionally, each stakeholder group mentioned specific steps that need to be taken to achieve successful implementation. Collectively, stakeholders felt that they need to take the leap (ie, change attitudes, change policies, and collaborate with other organizations); bridge the gap (ie, match technology with individuals and stimulate interdisciplinary education); facilitate technology for the masses (ie, work on products and research that support large-scale rollouts and train target groups on how to use technology); and take time to reflect (ie, evaluate use and outcomes).ConclusionsStakeholders largely agree on the direction in which they should be heading; however, they have different perspectives with regard to the technologies that can be employed and the work that is needed to implement them. Central to these issues seems to be the tailoring of technology or technologies to the specific needs of each community-dwelling older adult and the work that is needed by stakeholders to support this type of service delivery on a large scale.

Utilization of HIV-1 envelope V3 to identify X4- and R5-specific Tat and LTR sequence signatures.

BackgroundHIV-1 entry is a receptor-mediated process directed by the interaction of the viral envelope with the host cell CD4 molecule and one of two co-receptors, CCR5 or CXCR4. The amino acid sequence of the third variable (V3) loop of the HIV-1 envelope is highly predictive of co-receptor utilization preference during entry, and machine learning predictive algorithms have been developed to characterize sequences as CCR5-utilizing (R5) or CXCR4-utilizing (X4). It was hypothesized that while the V3 loop is predominantly responsible for determining co-receptor binding, additional components of the HIV-1 genome may contribute to overall viral tropism and display sequence signatures associated with co-receptor utilization.ResultsThe accessory protein Tat and the HlV-1 long terminal repeat (LTR) were analyzed with respect to genetic diversity and compared by Jensen–Shannon divergence which resulted in a correlation with both mean genetic diversity as well as the absolute difference in genetic diversity between R5- and X4-genome specific trends. As expected, the V3 domain of the gp120 protein was enriched with statistically divergent positions. Statistically divergent positions were also identified in Tat amino acid sequences within the transactivation and TAR-binding domains, and in nucleotide positions throughout the LTR. We further analyzed LTR sequences for putative transcription factor binding sites using the JASPAR transcription factor binding profile database and found several putative differences in transcription factor binding sites between R5 and X4 HIV-1 genomes, specifically identifying the C/EBP sites I and II, and Sp site III to differ with respect to sequence configuration for R5 and X4 LTRs.ConclusionThese observations support the hypothesis that co-receptor utilization coincides with specific genetic signatures in HIV-1 Tat and the LTR, likely due to differing transcriptional regulatory mechanisms and selective pressures applied within specific cellular targets during the course of productive HIV-1 infection.

Finite Element Analysis Based Lumbosacral Revision Surgery Using an Individual Navigation Template

Introduction A revision surgery in case of a lumbosacral non-union can be challenging especially if an implant related failure (e.g., a broken S1 screw) is complicating the clinical situation. Removal of the broken screw impairs the local bony enviroment jeopardizing the outcome of the revision. In the S1 segment the convergent bicortical screw trajectory provides a superior anchoring compared with any other directories (e.g., sacral ala screw), but the proper insertion of the new screws in a revision surgery can be impossible with freehand or fluoroscopy-guided technique. In this paper, we present a case suffering from a lumbosacral non-union complicated with a broken sacral pedicle screw what has been surgically managed by the application of a CT based 3D reconstruction method combined with finite element analysis (FEA) and computer assisted design (CAD). Method A step-by-step approach was developed and performed to manage the clinical problem. (1) Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) based patient-specific FE model of the sacrum was created. (2) To plan the revision surgery CAD model of the pedicle screw was inserted in the sacrum model in a bicortical convergent and a monocortical divergent position. (3) According to the two screw insertion scenarios two static FEAs were performed using 500 N tensile load applied to the screw head. (4) A template with the two screw guiding structures designed to fit on the bone surface was created for the sacrum using 3D design and photoactive 3D printing technology. The final template was made by cobalt chrome. (5) The revision screw has been implanted into the biomechanically optimal position guided by the patient- and condition-specific template. Postoperative CT scan was used to evaluate the accuracy of the pedicle screw placement. Results Based on the FEA results the modified bicortical convergent screw had better stability resulting in optimal von Misses stress distribution and less displacement compared with the monocortical divergent placement. Preoperatively the template was found to fit exactly on the printed plastic sacrum model, and screw insertion simulation was successfully performed. The design concept was proved to be accurate based on the CT scan and virtual model comparison. Intraoperatively the template also fitted on the bone surface and screw insertion was completed successfully. Postoperative CT scans confirmed that the inserted pedicle screw reached the virtually planed position. Conclusion The intraoperative pedicle screw navigation provided by a patient specific screw-guiding template allows the surgeon to insert the screw into its optimal position considering the local bone material property and the challenging geometrical situation. This technology for the surgical navigation can be widely accessible in the future through dedicated knowledge providers. Its advantages compared with the conventional surgical navigation techniques are the relatively low cost, minimized intraoperative X-ray exposure and the possibility for the consideration of the patient-specific biomechanics. This new patient- and condition-specific approach can be widely used in revision spine surgeries or in challenging primary cases after its further clinical validations.

The Parameters of a Charter Compliant Response to Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 5

The Supreme Court of Canada’s remedy in Carter was a declaration of invalidity: “Section 241(b) and s. 14 of the Criminal Code unjustifiably infringe s. 7 of the Charter and are of no force or effect to the extent that they prohibit physician-assisted death for a competent adult person who (1) clearly consents to the termination of life and (2) has a grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease or disability) that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition. (paras. 127 and 147)”The Court suspended its declaration of invalidity in Carter, initially for twelve months, and ultimately for sixteen months, because it recognized the complexity of the issues to be resolved. What the SCC found unconstitutional, and needs to be replaced, is an absolute ban on physician-assisted death. This leaves significant room for Parliament to choose what safeguards are necessary to protect the vulnerable. As the Court said: “Complex regulatory regimes are better created by Parliament than by the courts.” (para. 125) As the Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group on Physician-Assisted Dying said in its Final Report (November 30, 2015): “Although the Supreme Court did not outline the framework for such a system [of safeguards] in the Carter decision, it expressed confidence that such a system could be implemented in Canada.” (p. 15)The overlap of federal criminal law jurisdiction and provincial health jurisdiction raises the possibility of conflicting legislation. If the Criminal Code is stricter than provincial legislation, reliance on provincial legislation will not avail in a criminal prosecution. If the provincial legislation is stricter than the criminal law, the lack of criminal liability would not preclude professional discipline under provincial legislation, meaning the access contemplated under the criminal law would be thwarted. There is thus a high premium on harmonizing federal and provincial law.The Final Report of the External Panel on Options for a Legislative Response to Carter v. Canada (15 December 2015) set out the vastly divergent positions of a broad range of stakeholders; many choices have to be made. There is significant pressure to amend the Criminal Code by 6 June 2016, when the suspension of the declaration of invalidity will expire, in order that a system of safeguards under the criminal law be in place. However, nothing done as of 6 June 2016 is cast in stone. Adjustments based on reconsideration and/or experience will always be possible. Legislating in stages is also an option.In what follows I will explain why, in my assessment, it is consistent with Carter to (1) limit physician-assisted death to end-of-life conditions; (2) include a mechanism of prior review beyond doctors` assessments; (3) preclude reliance on advance directives; and (4) limit availability to those 18 and over.

Values and DSM-5: looking at the debate on attenuated psychosis syndrome.

BackgroundAlthough values have increasingly received attention in psychiatric literature over the last three decades, their role has been only partially acknowledged in psychiatric classification endeavors. The review process of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) received harsh criticism, and was even considered secretive by some authors. Also, it lacked an official discussion of values at play. In this perspective paper we briefly discuss the interplay of some values in the scientific and non-scientific debate around one of the most debated DSM-5 category proposals, the Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome (APS). Then, we point out some ethical consequences of a facts-plus-values perspective in psychiatric classification.DiscussionDifferent stakeholders participated in the APS-debate and for analytical purposes we divided them into four groups: (i) researchers in the field of high-risk mental states; (ii) the DSM-5 Psychotic Disorders Work Group; (iii) patient, carers and advocacy groups; and (iv) external stakeholders, not related to the previous groups, but which also publicly expressed their opinions about APS inclusion in DSM-5. We found that each group differently stressed the role of values we examined in the APS-debate. These values were ethical, but also epistemic, political, economic and ontological. The prominence given to some values, and the lack of discussion about others, generated divergent positions among stakeholders in the debate.SummaryAs exemplified by the APS discussion, although medicine is primarily an ethical endeavor, values of different kinds that take part in it also shape to a large extent the profession. Thus, it may be strategic to openly discuss values at play in the elaboration of diagnostic tools and classificatory systems. This task, more than scientifically or politically significant, is ethically important.

Women’s Equality, Candidate Difference, and the Vote

ABSTRACTThis article argues that the status of women continues to be a major issue in the ongoing culture wars over morality politics. While more scholarly and media attention has focused on abortion and gay marriage, since the 1970s the Democratic and Republican Parties have also taken divergent positions on the status of women. Data from the American National Election Studies show that while the general public has become more supportive of equal roles for women, the presidential candidates are perceived to differ considerably on gender roles and positions on abortion. Since the 1970s perceptions of candidate differences on gender equity have been strong predictors of the presidential vote, even after controlling for party identification, abortion attitudes, religiosity, retrospective assessments of the economy, and perceived candidate differences on other issues, including abortion.

How is global climate policy interpreted on the ground? Insights from the analysis of local discourses about forest management and REDD+ in Indonesia

The implementation of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) will inevitably be affected by local social and political dynamics, with the potential for success depending significantly on cooperation from a range of stakeholders at the subnational level. Building on recent critical research on REDD+, we look at how global policy is interpreted locally by actors who are likely to be involved in REDD+ implementation. We do this by examining local stakeholder perceptions of REDD+ and forest management in two contrasting provinces of Indonesia, Riau and Papua, where deforestation rates are high and low, respectively. Using data collected from stakeholder workshops, we conduct a discourse analysis that reveals how subnational actors perceive and position themselves around REDD+ and forest governance. The results reveal six discourses common to both case-study provinces, which variously conflict and converge as they are employed by different actors. Seen together, these discourses provide critical insights into the subnational policy environment, which is largely a product of Indonesia's underlying land and forest politics, and they indicate in turn how REDD+ in practice is likely to be interpreted and reconstituted at the local level. A key finding is that local discourses can be grouped around two divergent positions on REDD+: one that supports forest exploitation and sees limited prospects in forest carbon, and one that embraces sustainable forest management and expresses conditional support for REDD+ subject to benefit-sharing and property arrangements. REDD+ practitioners will therefore need to craft policies and project processes that account for these discursive dynamics.

A debate: entre «feminismo» anarquista y el feminismo burgués

The aim of this study is to compare various proposals of women who fought for a more just society. We analyze how these anarchists and bourgeois feminists, from divergent ideologies and positions, addressed issues as education, secularism, motherhood and marriage. With this purpose we have considered appropriate to use their texts and make them debate as if it was a discussion, following the suggestions of dialogic feminism.

Viewing Feminist Autobiography through a Spatial Lens: A Comparative Approach to Seyran Ateş’s Große Reise ins Feuer

This paper compares Gloria Anzaldua’s seminal autobiographical work Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987) with Seyran Ates’s autobiography Grose Reise ins Feuer: Die Geschichte einer deutschen Turkin (2003; Long journey into fire: The story of a German Turk) as a way of illuminating both the national differences in minority feminist autobiography as well as the similarities found in the content and form of both texts. Experiences of physical and psychic pain, trauma, and exclusion spur both authors to seek freedom; both do so by laying claim to spaces of representation, albeit from divergent political positions. Written fifteen years apart, the similarities in the techniques that give each narrative shape (such as an interest in pain and space) and the differences in national political application show feminist autobiography to be an extremely plastic genre with strategic use in performative identity-based struggles.

Negotiation and Management

Negotiations are a means of how to solve conflicts and differences through direct communication. It is a structured process through which parties overcome their differences and conflicts trying to reach an agreement about which solution will be acceptable to all. The basic meaning of negotiations is to obtain what you want from others. In this work the principal aspects of negotiations are being discussed, as one of the key business processes and an essential source of competitive advantage. The work attempts to show how one should behave in negotiations, the manner of acting of both opposing parties, in order to achieve the negotiation objectives. In addition, we shall see to get more closely acquainted with the negotiation skills, how to mutually negotiate and to help understand what happens when it comes to more complex situations than those with which every one of us is faced. In the beginning we shall demonstrate the very concept of negotiations and we shall point to how one ought to prepare oneself for them and how to set the objectives. The assessment of the expression of standpoints, their presentation as well as reconciling the divergent positions is the principal segments on which this work rests.

Sexual Enhancement Treatment for Sexually Violent Predators: Ethical and Legal Implications

The treatment of sexually violent predators (SVPs) has been controversial since the implementation of sexual predator laws and statutes that seek to balance the civil rights of SVPs and the protection of potential victims. In this paper, we will present the case of an SVP who sought sexual enhancement surgery in order to perform intercourse with his wife. We will also discuss the conflicting legal and ethical issues affecting a decision to implement sexual enhancement therapy for SVPs in an effort to reconcile these divergent positions.

Rights and Restrictions: Temporary Agricultural Migrants and Trade Unions’ Activism in Canada and Spain

In the last two decades, temporary worker programs have experienced an unprecedented expansion as instruments of what is defined as the migration management approach. Various migrant rights activists have voiced concerns about the treatment of temporary migrants in these programs and taken initiative to advance their rights. For some migrant rights advocates, it is the temporary nature of migration that is primarily responsible for the rights deficit. Yet, other migrant rights activists accept the temporariness of labour migration while trying to ensure that migrants receive legal protections for their work rights and that these protections are enforced. Trade unions are among the actors who try to protect and advance temporary migrants’ labour rights, but their role in supporting or challenging the principles of temporary migration governance has been neglected in the scholarly literature. The article addresses this gap by highlighting the divergent position of Canadian and Spanish Unions on temporariness of this type of migration. As the article argues, the difference is related to the following four factors: (1) the degree to which the unions in question are institutionally embedded in immigration policy-making, (2) the social environment (that is, discourses on temporariness advanced by other unions and grassroots organizations), (3) the degree of protectionism unions express vis-a-vis new immigrant flows and (4) whether regulated temporary migration is contrasted with permanent or unauthorized migration.

Interactions between African and Global International Societies: the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)

Through an analysis of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), one of the most visible and ambitious governance exercises undertaken by African states, this paper considers the ways in which an African international society and global international society have interacted. The presence of regional international societies implies the presence of difference in global international society, and therefore the possibility of a breakdown in global consensus and the fragmentation of global international society, a perennial concern of the English School. However, while divergences between African and global international societies on democracy and political governance result in tensions, the APRM can be seen as a way to negotiate between these divergent positions. The APRM is an uneasy and unstable compromise, indicating a highly ambivalent relationship between African and global international societies. This relationship has to be understood in the context of an unequal global international society, dominated by a number of core states with an increasingly solidarist governance agenda, as well as the attempts of a largely pluralist African international society to manage its demands.

Fifty Years after the Second Vatican Council

Fifty Years after the Second Vatican Council

NAIRU economics and the Eurozone crisis

Intra-Eurozone current-account imbalances (and divergent external debt positions) cannot be attributed to the deterioration of cost (or price) competitiveness in Europe’s periphery vis-à-vis its core. Imbalances were driven by high domestic demand growth in the periphery, which was financed by capital flows from the core. The external finance – following capitalist logic – ended up in non-traded medium-low-tech activities (e.g. construction). This points to a structural problem in pan-European financial integration – which we locate in the economic ideology guiding the EMU: NAIRU economics. We zoom in on the reasons why NAIRU-based monetary policy deepened the already existing structural heterogeneity in the Eurozone, locking the Southern-European economies up in low- and medium-technology activities often in direct competition with China. The only way out is a rethink of Eurozone macroeconomic and industrial policies which – going beyond often-made calls for broad-based fiscal stimulus or a clearing arrangement – fundamentally reconsiders the role of the ECB in light of what needs to be done to create Europe’s non-price comparative advantage of tomorrow.

Chaos of Rearrangements in the Mating-Type Chromosomes of the Anther-Smut Fungus Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae.

Sex chromosomes in plants and animals and fungal mating-type chromosomes often show exceptional genome features, with extensive suppression of homologous recombination and cytological differentiation between members of the diploid chromosome pair. Despite strong interest in the genetics of these chromosomes, their large regions of suppressed recombination often are enriched in transposable elements and therefore can be challenging to assemble. Here we show that the latest improvements of the PacBio sequencing yield assembly of the whole genome of the anther-smut fungus, Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae (the pathogenic fungus causing anther-smut disease of Silene latifolia), into finished chromosomes or chromosome arms, even for the repeat-rich mating-type chromosomes and centromeres. Suppressed recombination of the mating-type chromosomes is revealed to span nearly 90% of their lengths, with extreme levels of rearrangements, transposable element accumulation, and differentiation between the two mating types. We observed no correlation between allelic divergence and physical position in the nonrecombining regions of the mating-type chromosomes. This may result from gene conversion or from rearrangements of ancient evolutionary strata, i.e., successive steps of suppressed recombination. Centromeres were found to be composed mainly of copia-like transposable elements and to possess specific minisatellite repeats identical between the different chromosomes. We also identified subtelomeric motifs. In addition, extensive signs of degeneration were detected in the nonrecombining regions in the form of transposable element accumulation and of hundreds of gene losses on each mating-type chromosome. Furthermore, our study highlights the potential of the latest breakthrough PacBio chemistry to resolve complex genome architectures.

WŎNHYO’S APPROACH TO HARMONIZATION OF THE MAHAYANA DOCTRINES (HWAJAENG)

Wŏnhyo (617–686) is known to the world as Korea’s leading Buddhist thinker and scriptural commentator, mainly due to his numerous exegeses and treatises that attempted to sort out the plethora of new Buddhist ideas generated in the fifth through seventh centuries in East Asia—ideas produced both through the continued influx of newly translated Indian texts, as well as the rapid appearance of fresh East Asian interpretations of the Buddhist doctrine. Wŏnhyo is especially noted for being the only scholar among the great East Asian commentators who had neither sectarian affiliation nor took a sectarian- based approach in the interpretation of Buddhist doctrines. Thus, the privileging of a specific sectarian approach was for Wŏnhyo impossible, since he saw each of the various doctrinal streams of Buddhism as representing a distinct but valid piece of the vast Mahāyāna system—as true as any other piece, but not to be seen as some kind of “ultimate” doctrine. Wonhyo’s method—known as hwajaeng 和諍 (“harmonization”)—is characterized by the juxtaposing of two or more divergent theoretical positions, comparing them, and clarifying their distinctive assumptions and aims. Once these assumptions are properly apprehended, what on the surface appear to be contradictory opinions are shown to be commensurate with each other from a deeper perspective. This article examines in detail the range of motivations, method-ologies, and approaches seen in Wonhyo’s hwajaeng project. Wonhyo’s approach will be examined in terms of three general aspects, which straddle the range of doctrinal/ scholastic, logical/philosophical, and religious, with the religious showing at least three levels of profundity.