Friendly Fire Research Articles

“Downed by Friendly Fire: Black Girls, White Girls, and Suburban Schooling”

“Downed by Friendly Fire: Black Girls, White Girls, and Suburban Schooling”

Tim O’Brien’s “Bad” Vietnam War: Going after Cacciato & Its Historical Perspective

Being the only Vietnam War author on the English curriculum for American middle and high schools, Tim O’Brien skillfully mixes his real wartime experience with fiction in his various bestsellers and awarded novels. All O'Brien's Vietnam War stories are always "bad," meaning that the war contains mostly sad and horrific experience for American soldiers and Vietnamese civilians. A closer look at O’Brien’s war stories reveals that he indeed touches upon almost all issues the American GIs encountered during this war; nevertheless, not all online literary analysis websites and peer-reviewed authors can identify or call them all out. To assist middle and high school readers in understanding the meaning behind Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam War stories, the war details in Going After Cacciato and its historical perspective are discussed in this article. The war-related issues that O’Brien touched upon in this novel are: lack of purpose, the lower standards of the American troops (McNamara’s morons), desertion, lack of courage, friendly fire, fragging their own officers, and contemptuous attitude toward the Vietnamese, the very people they came to help and protect.

Friendly foes under friendly fire: a risk-based approach to benefit society failures in West Kent, 1860–1885

ABSTRACTMuch of the extensive historiography of nineteenth-century English friendly societies has focused on their capacity to create social capital and their predisposition towards insolvency, although more recently historians have argued that the ability of affiliated orders to raise levies made them financially stronger than previously supposed. However, given that societies still failed regularly, in what circumstances was it impossible to mount such rescues, and why? This article answers this question through a case study of three small ‘local’ societies in West Kent. Using the perspective of risk and risk transfer, it suggests they all suffered from a serious combination of membership and competitor risk which, when mishandled, also caused significant reputational damage to both societies and their managers. A further major tension was that many local opinion formers were starting to demand higher standards of accountability, including from friendly society trustees. The article also looks at the survival strategies of individual managers and members, arguing that – during financial crises – self-interest exerted powerful forces on those societies. In each case, the evidence reveals that often longstanding local relationships, based on mutual trust and shared values, were fractured so completely that raising levies or other bailouts to keep them afloat proved impossible.

Drill-Specific Head Impacts in Collegiate Football Practice: Implications for Reducing “Friendly Fire” Exposure

This study investigated drill-specific head impact biomechanics in a Division 1 collegiate football team using the Head Impact Telemetry System (HITS). A total of 32,083 impacts were recorded across 2years of practices. Precise tracking of instrumented athletes, head impacts, and drill participation allowed quantification of hits sustained per person per minute (H/P/M) for each specific drill. We found significant H/P/M variability between 14 drills and player position, ranging from 0.02 to 0.41 H/P/M for Linemen and 0.01 to 0.15 H/P/M for Non-Linemen. Impact magnitude data are also reported for practice term (Spring, Training Camp, In-Season) and dress-type (Helmets Only, Spyders, Shells, Full Pads). Recommendations for shortening high-risk drills, based on H/P/M drill impact frequencies, suggest possible "friendly fire" reductions of 1000 impacts for Linemen and 300 impacts for Non-Linemen over their collegiate career. Over 80% of potentially avoidable head impacts were attributable to just three drills-"Team Run," "Move the Field," and "Team." Recommending drill-specific modifications based on practical considerations (the drill's impact frequency, dress-types when performing the drill, and duration) could improve acceptance from coaches and efficiently reduce head impact exposure without drastically altering overall practice structure.

Earl R. Anderson, Friendly Fire in the Literature of War

Earl R. Anderson, Friendly Fire in the Literature of War

Molecular (Me)micry?

Molecular mimicry between humans and the microbiota is more common than appreciated. As presented by Martin Kriegel and colleagues (Greiling etal., 2018), this mimicry may mislead the immune system and trigger a friendly fire on our own tissues, as in the case of microbial-Ro60 and the autoimmune disease lupus.

Is 'friendly fire' in the brain provoking Alzheimer's disease?

Scientists want to combat dementia and neurodegeneration by keeping the brain’s immune system from going rogue. Scientists want to combat dementia and neurodegeneration by keeping the brain’s immune system from going rogue.

Group Analysis in the Land of Milk and Honey by Robi Friedman and Yael Doron (review)

issn 0362-4021 © 2018 Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society group, Vol. 42, No. 1, Spring 2018 69 1 Correspondence should be addressed to Stephanie Lemor, PsyD, 113 University Place, Suite 1014, New York, NY 10003. E-mail: DrStephanieLemor@gmail.com. Book Review Group Analysis in the Land of Milk and Honey. Edited by Robi Friedman and Yael Doron. London: Karnac Books, 2017, 315 pp. Reviewed by Stephanie Lemor1 In Group Analysis in the Land of Milk and Honey, editors Robi Friedman and Yael Doron cull 20 essays to illustrate the richness of group analysis in Israel. This book highlights key dynamics in group therapy as they pertain to diversity, immigration, trauma, and social identity in Israel, a country fraught with a history of both loss and hope. Overall, the book is highly informative and succeeds in drawing a thorough and clear picture of group therapy in Israel. The book is divided into three sections: Theory, Practice, and Applications of Group Analysis. These sections are put together with the goal of taking the reader from the broad to the specific. In the introduction, the editors introduce the work of S. H. Foulkes by way of a brief review of the background of group analysis. Foulkes’s theory of group therapy includes psychoanalytic concepts of play, transactional exchanges, mirroring, and the role of the conductor/holder of the group. This summary is helpful as a refresher for current group leaders, while also providing a solid background for a novice therapist or reader outside the field. The editors depict the impact that the trauma of the individual has on the group and that the group has on the individual; these processes are tightly woven into the personal and relational matrix of the Israeli people. For me as a reader, the first section—Theory—stood out as the richest of the three sections of the book by way of context and case illustration. The first two essays focus on concepts of values and ethics. The authors posit that the group, both therapeutic and societal, becomes a therapeutic agent and aims to maintain the value of mutuality by way of open affiliations rather than an exclusive, us-versus-them perspective. They go on to suggest that this is in parallel to Israel’s history, which has 70 lemor been marked more by division than by unity. The third essay introduces Foulkes’s concept of the foundational matrix, which author Biran posits to mean aspects of an individual’s biology, culture, religion, and economy that unconsciously influence his or her role in the group context. This essay explores the way this foundational matrix of Israeli culture—built on the traumatic history of the Jewish people and collective memories of trauma—can affect a therapeutic group. The editors of the volume wrote the fifth and sixth essays of the book. In the fifth essay, editor Friedman talks about the biblical story of Isaac’s binding as the origin of the concept of scapegoating and sacrifice. These concepts are well known within the group therapy literature. Drawing a connection to the biblical establishes a unique perspective. This essay also highlighted shame and guilt in the group. The leader has an important role in minimizing the fear of annihilation (as Isaac had felt), instead helping groups to relate to each other innately. In the sixth essay, Doron describes the process of introducing into an already established group a new member who had been a victim of friendly fire when serving in the military a few years prior. This new group member, who had suffered both physical loss of his arm and mental and emotional loss, became subject to a new round of “friendly fire” by the other group members. Doron points out that group ended up “re-enacting in the here and now” the intolerable experience of a “‘friendly fire’ attack” (p. 81). She explores her own “blindness” as the leader and highlights for all members of the group, who inevitably either served in or had friends or family in the army, both the new member’s past injury and his current injury connected to the group in the here and now as they turned on the new member and...

A Case Study of the NCRP 156 Wound Model of Embedded DU Using Data From Urine Uranium Concentrations of Wounded Veterans.

Depleted uranium (DU) munitions were initially used by the United States (U.S.) military during the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 in order to penetrate heavily armored vehicles. However, as a result of friendly fire, several U.S. military personnel received intakes from DU munitions. One of the ongoing concerns for these wounded veterans is the potential long-term exposure received from DU embedded fragments. The United States Army Institute of Public Health (AIPH) is the first laboratory that analyzes the urine bioassays from Army Soldiers that are injured with DU fragments. The United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine also evaluates bioassays from DU injuries. The urine bioassay data collected by AIPH was evaluated using the NCRP 156 wound model coefficients for the DU-Wafer, Fragment, and Particle models. The maximum likelihood method was used in the Integrated Modules for Bioassay Analysis (IMBA-PPAE) to calculate the estimates of intake and tissue doses. Evaluating the three models for wound retention, the DU-Wafer and Fragment model yielded a credible fit to the bioassay data. Comparing the two models, the DU-Wafer model fits the data better than the Fragment model when comparing their autocorrelation coefficient and chi-squared values of (P 1.73 × 10, c 4.83 × 10), (P 2.01 × 10, c 1.09), respectively. This evaluation supports the validity of both the DU-wafer model as well as the default fragmentation model proposed by NCRP 156.

Downed by Friendly Fire: Black Girls, White Girls, and Suburban Schooling

Downed by Friendly Fire: Black Girls, White Girls, and Suburban Schooling

Peritonitis as a risk factor for long-term cardiovascular mortality in peritoneal dialysis patients: The case of a friendly fire?

Since the impact of peritonitis on long-term non-infectious mortality has not been investigated until the present, the aim of this study was to analyze the impact of peritonitis on long-term cardiovascular (CV) mortality in a large peritoneal dialysis (PD) cohort. The analysis was based on BRAZPD II, a national prospective cohort study that recruited patients in Brazilian centres from December 2004 to January 2011. Incident adult PD patients with at least 90days on treatment were included in the analysis. Cardiovascular death occurring after a minimum of 30days after a peritonitis episode was considered the primary endpoint. Cox regression analysis for time-dependent variables was used for the adjustments. There were 2405 episodes of peritonitis in 5707 patients (48% males, 44% diabetes, 73% hypertensive). Patients with one episode of peritonitis presented a 22% increase in the hazard ratio of late CV mortality compared to those who never experienced peritonitis (HR1.22; CI95%1.01-1.47). Adjusted hazard for CV mortality showed a stepwise negative effect on survival for each additional peritonitis episode of infection: two episodes (HR1.78; CI95%1.31-2.42), three episodes (HR2.81; CI95%1.83-4.32) and four episodes (HR3.84; CI95%2.01-7.32). Peritonitis was an independent predictor of CV mortality and the frequency of peritonitis was strongly associated with an increase in this risk. This is the first study to demonstrate the impact of peritonitis on late cardiovascular mortality of PD patients, suggesting a link between acute inflammation and cardiovascular outcomes.

Does CSF1R Blockade Turn into Friendly Fire?

In this issue of Cancer Cell, Kumar etal. describe how CSF1R blockade induces not only an expected deprivation of tumor-associated macrophages, but also an accumulation of tumor-infiltrating polymorphonuclear mononuclear cells caused by Cxcl-1 released from cancer-associated fibroblasts.

Review of Downed by friendly fire: Black girls, White girls, and suburban schooling

Review of Downed by friendly fire: Black girls, White girls, and suburban schooling

'Nurse believed in me and helped me piece my life back together'.

While serving in the Royal Anglian Regiment in Afghanistan in 2007, I was seriously injured by friendly fire. I was left with significant physical and psychological injuries from the blast.

Dramatic outcome of a “friendly fire”

Dramatic outcome of a “friendly fire”

Religious Liberty in the Military: The First Amendment Under 'Friendly Fire'

This article examines specific restrictions promulgated and practiced during the Persian Gulf War, provides a brief historical analysis of how the United States and other nations have traditionally accommodated the religious activities of their military personnel, and addresses the question of how far we can constitutionally limit the free-exercise rights of the people in the military in light of current Supreme Court jurisprudence.

Damage limitation after friendly fire

Damage limitation after friendly fire

Can biological motion research provide insight on how to reduce friendly fire incidents?

The ability to accurately detect, perceive, and recognize biological motion can be associated with a fundamental drive for survival, and it is a significant interest for perception researchers. This field examines various perceptual features of motion and has been assessed and applied in several real-world contexts (e.g., biometric, sport). Unexplored applications still exist however, including the military issue of friendly fire. There are many causes and processes leading to friendly fire and specific challenges that are associated with visual information extraction during engagement, such as brief glimpses, low acuity, camouflage, and uniform deception. Furthermore, visual information must often be processed under highly stressful (potentially threatening), time-constrained conditions that present a significant problem for soldiers. Biological motion research and anecdotal evidence from experienced combatants suggests that intentions, emotions, identities of human motion can be identified and discriminated, even when visual display is degraded or limited. Furthermore, research suggests that perceptual discriminatory capability of movement under visually constrained conditions is trainable. Therefore, given the limited military research linked to biological motion and friendly fire, an opportunity for cross-disciplinary investigations exists. The focus of this paper is twofold: first, to provide evidence for the possible link between biological motion factors and friendly fire, and second, to propose conceptual and methodological considerations and recommendations for perceptual-cognitive training within current military programs.

Intact Immunotaxis Comprises an Intricate Spatiotemporal Hierarchy of Distinct Chemotactic Processes - A New Paradigm

A close look at cytokine-directed chemotaxis reveals an intriguing mechanistic dilemma. If cytokine gradients provided the only directional cue for chemotaxing immune cells, these cells would ultimately target the cytokine-producing cells of their own host. Such friendly fire may well be an inherent part of an indiscriminate mop-up duty of immune cells in the inflammatory response. However, it would preclude these cells from partaking in any pathogen-specific defenses requiring pre-contact recognition of invaders. Evidently, effective immune-cell recruitment requires additional directional guidance via chemical signals that emanate from the surfaces of microbes rather than host cells. To detect minuscule amounts of chemoattractant produced at the surfaces of bacteria, fungi, and surrogate particles, we have developed a single-cell, pure-chemotaxis assay that employs human neutrophils as ultrasensitive biodetectors. We use micropipette manipulation and/or optical tweezers to maneuver target particles into the proximity of non-adherent, initially quiescent neutrophils. Microscopic inspection of the resulting neutrophil morphology provides a clear readout of the chemotactic activity of the cells. In all cases where neutrophils extended chemotactic protrusions toward nearby targets, this cell response required serum. For bacterial targets such as Salmonella Typhimurium and Escherichia coli, and for zymosan particles as well as fungal particles of Coccidioides posadasii and Candida albicans, this type of microbe-guided chemotaxis was predominantly mediated by complement, in particular the anaphylatoxin C5a. The pre-contact neutrophil response to these targets was generally vigorous but short range, consistent with our analytical solution of a theoretical diffusion-reaction problem that takes into account the deactivation of anaphylatoxins by carboxypeptidases. Together, these findings establish complement-mediated chemotaxis as a universal homing mechanism by which chemotaxing immune cells implement a last-minute course correction toward bacterial, fungal, and model pathogens.

The Effect of Fire Retardants on the Fire Resistance of Unsaturated Polyester Resin Coating

Unsaturated polyester resins (UPRs) are most commonly used coating materials on steel among thermosetting polymers because of their low cost, easy application and good performance properties. However, UPRs show insufficient fire-resistance in respect of relatively high flammability accompanied by smoke production upon burning due to aromatic groups in the structure. Consequently, improving the fire retardancy of UPRs for extending their application becomes pivotal. Fire retardants (FRs) are widely used in polymers because they prolong the time to ignition, slow down the rate of flame spread, and generate less heat and smoke or toxic fume compared with the unmodified polymers. It has been a challenge to develop a cost effective, environmentally friendly fire retardant system which minimizes the negative effect on performance properties of the polymers [1 - 4].