Military Bases Research Articles

The Transition to Adulthood: A Qualitative Study of Autism Spectrum Disorder From Military and Veteran Parents and Military-Dependent Young Adults.

Given the unique experiences of military service members and their families, military-dependent young adults (18-25 years old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their military or veteran families experience unique barriers to accessing quality mental health care during the transition to adulthood. In fact, developing services to address ASD challenges for military families is a burgeoning area of interest for the department of defense. However, there is a limited knowledge on the specific needs of military families as the young adult's transition outside of high school and lose supports. The present study conducted 3 focus groups with 16 military and veteran parents, and 3 focus groups with 10 military-dependent young adults to evaluate the needs of military-dependent young adults (17-25 years old) with ASD and military/veteran parents with a young adult with ASD. Parents reported several key topics, including barriers to services (e.g., permanent change of station, recently moving to a state and lacking awareness of the available resources), defining adulthood in terms working in a cohesive family structure, and therapy recommendations for parents and young adults with ASD transitioning to adulthood. Young adults provided key information, including describing experiences with having a parent in the military, difficulty accessing services during the transition to adulthood, and recommendations on therapy for military-dependent young adults with ASD. Military and veteran families with autistic dependents lack access to important mental-health resources. When developing programs for military families and military-dependent autistic young adults, mental health providers should consider the frequent relocations, lack of access to important transition resources, and common military values. The presence of advocates at military bases should be encouraged to help military families navigate autism services in their local community.

Dental education amid armed conflict in Sudan: Unveiling the impact on training.

The ongoing conflict in Sudan has severely disrupted the health professions education, notably in dentistry. This study aims to explore the impact of the armed conflict on dental education and training. A mixed-method cross-sectional study encompassed 29 dental schools in Khartoum, Darfur, Kordofan States, and Merowe City. Five key informants from the Sudanese Medical Specialization Board, the Human Resource Development Administration, and a university offering clinical dental master's programs were interviewed. Quantitative data on attacks against dental schools were collected through a structured Google form, and qualitative data on postgraduate training were obtained through semi-structured key informant interviews. Findings reveal that 79.3% of dental schools faced military assaults, with 73.9% experiencing looting and 60.9% repurposed as military bases. Notably, 44.8% of schools shifted to online education,3.4% collaborated with other universities, and 27.6% adopted a combined approach. Key informants' interviews unveiled disruptions in specialty training and housemanship, limiting access to crucial training facilities. The primary proposed solution was overseas training. Recurrently emphasized strategies to enhance the resilience of the training system included establishing dental centers in all states, collaborating with external training bodies, and anticipating and preparing for potential disasters. The adverse effects of the conflict on both undergraduate and postgraduate dental education are discernible, manifested through resource limitations, a shortage of dental materials and supplies within training facilities, and direct disruptions to clinical training due to attacks on healthcare institutions. The imperative need for urgent interventions is underscored to alleviate these consequences and safeguard the continuity of educational and training efforts.

As relações econômicas entre Costa do Marfim e França

he present article deals with the economic relations between Ivory Coast and France, analyzing the economic trajectory of the country under the presidency of Félix Houphouët Boigny (1960-1993). We seek to address the process of independence of the country, led by Boigny, dealing with the neocolonialist action of France through the use of the CFA Franc and the maintenance of military bases in the country, among others. In this context, we present a retrospective of Ivory Coast's economic policy, focused on agricultural production, mainly on the coffee-cocoa binomial. Much of the production continued to be exported to France after independence and, after a period of great export growth, in the 1980s the country entered a serious crisis, due to the maintenance of the economic structure of a colonial character. The crisis was marked by the fall in prices of the main export products, the external debt and its moratorium. Although there is a history of adoption of structural adjustment programs (SAP) in the 1980s, conducted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development - World Bank (IBRD), the general effects did not lead to overcoming the crisis.

Military Equipment Entity Extraction Based on Large Language Model

The technology of military equipment entity extraction, a crucial component in constructing military knowledge bases, holds significant research value and theoretical importance for guiding the development and improvement of equipment support forces. In the military domain, equipment entities exhibit a phenomenon of nesting, where one entity is contained within another, and abbreviations or codes are frequently used to represent these entities. To address this complexity, this paper proposes a method named CoTNER for extracting entities. Initially, a large-scale language model is used to perform data augmentation with chain-of-thought on the original dataset, providing additional semantic and contextual information. Subsequently, the augmented dataset is fine-tuned on a small-scale language model to adapt it to the task of military equipment entity extraction and to enhance its ability to learn complex rules specific to the domain of military equipment. Additionally, a high-quality data filtering strategy based on instruction-following difficulty scoring is proposed to address the catastrophic forgetting issue that may occur during the fine-tuning of large language models. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed military equipment entity extraction method outperforms mainstream traditional deep learning methods, validating the effectiveness of CoTNER.

동두천 정체성 리브랜딩 전략 방안

60% of the Dongducheon area is a military area, which has been stagnant for over 70 years due to many restrictions on industry and local economy. After the plan to relocate to Pyeongtaek, Korea, the U.S. military, which was in charge of the axis of the Dongducheon local economy, has been withdrawn, further stagnating the local economy and reducing the number of residents in the country. In this study, we propose to rebrand the Dongducheon area by actively utilizing the negative image of Dongducheon as a military area and base village after the relocation of the U.S. troops in Korea. To this end, we propose to re-establish the image of an underdeveloped city by rebranding the local identity of the sacrifice for security, respecting the human rights of women sacrificed in modern history, and revitalizing the birthplace of rock culture.

UZBEKISTAN -CHINA TRADE-ECONOMIC COOPERATION ANALYSIS

Uzbekistan's foreign policy has garnered attention from experts for its implementation of a balanced and equidistant stance towards global centers of power. This approach can be characterized by Uzbekistan's refusal to partake in military-political blocs, host foreign military bases on its soil, and engage in any armed conflicts outside of its borders. Recent discussions among Uzbekistan's experts and journalists have centered on the transformation of international relations and the global economy, likely prompted by the current state of turbulence in the global arena. The topic has garnered significant interest and attention in Uzbekistan' s academic community, and it is expected to continue being a subject of study and research in the upcoming future. Developing political and cultural relationships and expanding economic influence in neighboring countries has been a top priority for the People's Republic of China (PRC). The objective of this research is to analyze the essential and quantifiable factors that depic t the economic development of China in Uzbekistan. The study will mainly concentrate on trustworthy and insightful data sources. However, the study acknowledges that the existing data may not always be relevant, comprehensive, measurable, and reliable due to various objective and subjective factors. Therefore, it is imperative for further research to be conducted to obtain a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the economic expansion of the PRC in Uzbekista n. Therefore, this study underscores the need for further research and comprehensive data sources to better understand the economic expansion of the PRC in Uzbekistan.

Research on the Security and Defense Mechanism of Overseas Military Bases from the Dual Perspectives of “Hard Law and Soft Law”

Research on the Security and Defense Mechanism of Overseas Military Bases from the Dual Perspectives of “Hard Law and Soft Law”

Some Notes on Aeolian Neonteichos and Temnos

According to Herodotus, the Aeolians, who migrated to the coast of Western Anatolia in waves, established 12 cities in the region. Among these, Neonteichos and Temnos played key roles in terms of geostrategic importance, especially during the rule of the Pergamon Kingdom. These settlements later became strongholds during Persian attacks. However, Neonteichos, situated between the cities of Temnos and Larisa, did not have a significant presence in historical events and is therefore rarely mentioned in ancient sources. The fact that the raw material for the coins minted in Neonteichos was copper indicates the city's passive development, as it remained overshadowed by its neighboring cities. Neonteichos was initially founded as a military base to capture Larisa, which hindered its growth into a well-established urban center. In contrast, Temnos gained a well-deserved reputation as a garrison city frequently mentioned in historical geography. Its strategic position overlooking the Hermos River, the absence of powerful nearby cities, and its location on important routes from the coast to the interior positively influenced its economy. Additionally, the city was the center of worship for the cult of Apollo Kynneios, which elevated its status to a level that could rival the city of Gryneion, a key city of the Aeolian League. This article analyzes the developmental trajectories of Neonteichos and Temnos—cities for which there is little comprehensive information in historical sources and which have not been sufficiently studied in modern literature due to the lack of archaeological research—focusing on their socio-cultural, economic, and political dimensions.

The Israel-Hamas war and the IDF strategy framework

ABSTRACT Hamas’s invasion of Israel on 7 October 2023, with the attendant massacre of some 1,200 Israelis and the occupation of population centres and military bases – something that no Arab army has done since the 1948 war – posed unprecedented challenges to Israel’s socio-political and security establishments. Based on Chief-of-Staff Eisenkot’s 2018 doctrinal manifesto ‘The IDF’s Strategy’, this article assesses Israel’s national security principles and the doctrines for the use of force in an attempt to evaluate whether its political and military actions were aligned with these doctrines during the 2023–24 war with Hamas, and to determine the strategy’s value and possible gaps. It concludes that while the political and military responses appear consistent with the outlined principles, unexpected problems like hostage dilemmas and urban warfare complexities present unforeseen challenges not directly addressed by the manifesto.

Radio Frequency Signal-Based Drone Classification with Frequency Domain Gramian Angular Field and Convolutional Neural Network

Over the past few years, drones have been utilized in a wide range of applications. However, the illegal operation of drones may pose a series of security risks to sensitive areas such as airports and military bases. Hence, it is vital to develop an effective method of identifying drones to address the above issues. Existing drone classification methods based on radio frequency (RF) signals have low accuracy or a high computational cost. In this paper, we propose a novel RF signal image representation scheme that incorporates a convolutional neural network (CNN), named the frequency domain Gramian Angular Field with a CNN (FDGAF-CNN), to perform drone classification. Specifically, we first compute the time–frequency spectrum of raw RF signals based on short-time Fourier transform (STFT). Then, the 1D frequency spectrum series is encoded as 2D images using a modified GAF transform. Moreover, to further improve the recognition performance, the images obtained from different channels are fused to serve as the input of a CNN classifier. Finally, numerous experiments were conducted on the two available open-source DroneRF and DroneRFa datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed FDGAF-CNN can achieve a relatively high classification accuracy of 98.72% and 98.67% on the above two datasets, respectively, confirming the effectiveness and generalization ability of the proposed method.

What is the dietary intake and nutritional status of defence members: a systematic literature review.

Optimal diet and nutrition is vital for military readiness, performance and recovery. Previous research on military diets has primarily focused on the nutritional composition of field/combat rations and dietary intake during deployment. There is accumulating research exploring the usual free-living dietary intake and nutritional status of defence members in garrison (i.e. military bases on which personnel are stationed). However, no comprehensive review has been conducted to assess the overall dietary quality of defence members internationally. Therefore, this review assessed the diets of military populations against national nutritional guidelines and Military Dietary Reference Intakes (MDRI). A systematic literature review of original research was conducted. CINAHL, Medline (EBSCO), Scopus (Elsevier), PubMed and AMED databases were searched up to the 20/02/2023. A total of thirty-six studies met the inclusion criteria. The overall quality of included studies was high, with a low risk of bias. The diet quality scores indicate poor to fair diet quality among defence members. Defence members display low intakes of fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, seafood, plant protein and nuts and high intakes of added sugars, trans fat and processed meat. Results also indicated suboptimal intake of fibre, essential fatty acids, vitamin A, vitamin E, folate, Mg, Zn and iodine. This may lead to reduced performance, increased risk of chronic diseases and mental health disorders. More research is needed to assess the long-term consequences of poor diet quality in defence members. These results require the attention of policymakers to ensure that military education and food environment is supportive of healthy eating.

Nationalism, Internationalism, and Interventionism: How Overseas Military Service Influences Foreign Policy Attitudes

Abstracts How does military experience change individual foreign policy preferences? Prior research on military service focuses on the effects of combat experience on political participation and policy preferences, but combat is not the only military experience that influences attitudes. Living overseas is a common military experience with the potential to shape foreign policy preferences. Using observational data from a sample of military elites and original survey data from a sample of military veterans, I leverage semi-random and non-voluntary assignments to overseas military bases to investigate the relationship between overseas exposure and foreign policy preferences. The data provides evidence that overseas military service increases the likelihood of calling for international engagement, decreases nationalist attitudes, and increases the willingness of military members to assist individual allies. The ability to shape the preferences of military members has important implications for the development of foreign policy and the stability of international engagement.

The Image of the US Army in American movies: The Soft Power of American Cinema

The formation of the army's image has acquired newfound significance in our time. Paradoxically, alongside the spread of humanist ideology, the number of violent conflicts worldwide is increasing. These stimulates the need for propaganda aimed at shaping the image of the army and enhancing the attractiveness of service. As one of the world's largest military forces, the US army has engaged in a diverse array of conflicts with over 750 military bases in approximately 80 countries (Kohli 2020). A diverse range of tools is employed to shape the image of the US army, including media, recruitment campaigns, social media, public events, etc. Among these tools, movies have their specific role. While traditionally intended for entertainment, movies have been used for over a century as a means to shape public opinion. This article delves into the main attributes of the US Army as a social institution, analyzing its four fundamental characteristics: the Militia Tradition, Mobilization Miracles, Man-Mindedness, Maritime Influence, the weapon and the enemy as distinctive attributes. Additionally, it features the seven core values of the US Army: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. The article provides a detailed analysis of how various components of movie production tools communicate the attributes and core values of the US Army and contribute to shaping its image, examining a high-viewership movie “Interceptor” (2022). The goal of the study was to find out the image of the US Army that “Interceptor” projects and to identify the verbal and visual communicative means it uses for this purpose. The content analysis made it possible to distinguish verbal and visual elements of the movie, encompassing human voice, mise-en-scène, as well as film editing techniques, to identify and highlight the messages and ideas conveyed about the attributes of the US Army.

Financial Readiness, Combat Readiness: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach On Saving Habits Among Malaysian Military Personnel

Saving money benefits individuals and the economy. This research examines the factors affecting Malaysian military personnel's saving habits. The study focuses on the impact of financial literacy, financial inclusions, financial stress, peer influence, military culture, and self-discipline on saving habits. The positivist study design was based on a survey questionnaire of 1000 Malaysian Armed Forces military personnel. Data from the pilot and main survey were analysed using SPSS 29.0 and SmartPLS4, respectively. The study randomly selected respondents from a population of approximately 120,000 actively serving military personnel. The respondents include officers and other ranks deployed at various military bases and camps in Malaysia. Except for self-control, financial stress, and financial inclusions, the remaining three variables have strong connections with the savings habit. The findings support life cycle and planned behaviour theories. This study sheds light on military personnel and the necessity of savings strategies for financial readiness.

HEALTH ASSESSMENT OF SPOTTED (CLEMMYS GUTTATA) AND PAINTED (CHRYSEMYS PICTA) TURTLES IN CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A, WITH DETECTION OF A NOVEL ADENOVIRUS.

Freshwater turtles face numerous anthropogenic threats worldwide. Health assessments are a key component of chelonian population assessment and monitoring but are under reported in many species. The purpose of this study was to characterize the health of spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata; n = 30) and painted turtles (Chrysemys picta; n = 24) at Camp Edwards, a military base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, using physical examinations, hematology, plasma heavy metal analyses, and pathogen surveillance via PCR. Spotted turtles had a high prevalence of carapace (n = 27, 90%) and plastron (n = 14, 46.7%) lesions, and a previously undescribed adenovirus was detected in three animals (proposed as Clemmys adenovirus-1). Female painted turtles had lower plasma copper (p = 0.012) and higher strontium (p = 0.0003) than males, and appeared to be in a similar plane of health to previous reports. This initial health assessment effort provides useful baseline data for future comparison in these species. Conservation efforts on Camp Edwards should incorporate continued health surveillance of these populations to identify intervention opportunities and determine the conservation threats, if any, of the novel adenovirus.

Creolization and Gender: Island Imaginings in Ananda Devi's Pagli and Its Sequel

Abstract: This essay opens the study of "Archipelagic Asias" to the southwest Indian Ocean archipelagos to explore representations of Indic cultures in the literature of the creolized islands of Mauritius. By combining archipelagic and feminist epistemologies, I examine one of the most successful novels of Ananda Devi, Pagli (2001), in which an Indo-Mauritian woman has an affair with a Creole fisherman, and its little-known short story sequel, "Agalega" (2021). Published in Maudrigosa!, a volume celebrating the Mauritian archipelago, the short story denounces the construction of an Indian military base on the Mauritius Outer Island of Agalega. I argue that literary representations of Mauritius's geographic space form different island imaginings that express Mauritius's affective relation to its creolized culture and the impact it has on women's corporeal and sexual freedom.

China’s Security Presence and BRI in African Countries

China’s security presence has been growing steadily in proportion to the progress of the Belt and Road Initiative, reflected in a larger military footprint in Africa in the form of logistical and resupply bases. The BRI/military nexus has allowed Beijing to play a larger role in African affairs more recently, raising alarms in the United States and the European Union. Despite growing speculation and skepticism in some quarters, African societies still welcome Beijing’s increasing investment and deeper involvement in regional security matters. After Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea is the most likely nation to host the next Chinese military base. But at the same time, the West’s scrutiny of Beijing’s rising profile and deeper security involvement in Africa will also grow as China continues to chip away at the West’s influence on the continent. A steadier security footing for China would change great power dynamics in the region even as competition between Beijing on the one hand and Washington and Brussels on the other will still be limited to the economic and financial domains.

The spatiality of a military base as urban geographical entity: the case of ‘The Pikkud’ in Beersheba, Israel

Urban studies have increasingly engaged in understanding the role of the military in co-producing the city. Yet, the spatial role of an individual military base within a particular city has largely been overlooked. This deficiency is particularly acute as, due to contradictory governance regimes, a military base constitutes a contradictory non-democratic interface with a liberal urban civil space. This deficiency is due primarily to failure to view a military base as a concrete ‘geographical entity’ with a geographical agency. The Lefebvrian spatial trialectic (perceived conceived and lived spaces) is employed here as a framework for analyzing the relationships between the base and the city. We bind it theoretically and analytically with the concept of a geographical entity carrying a geographical agency. Based primarily on a qualitative methodology, we studied the spatiality of an urban military base in Beersheba, Israel, analyzing the three facets of spaces. The analysis reveals that neoliberal concepts held by urban planning professionals regarding urban space as conditioned by the presence of the military base (conceived space) are not necessarily congruent with those of the public which routinely lives and experiences (lived space) the concrete materiality of the base (perceived space). Thus, as a geographical entity within the city, a military base exists apart yet concurrently there are overlapping relations and entanglements with community life, suggesting a spatiality that extends beyond its physical territory. With these conceptual and methodological approaches and insights this study adds to the recently growing field of urban military geographies which hitherto overlooked these spatial perspectives of the military.

Substances use and risk of hypertension before midlife in military young adults: CHIEF cohort study, 2014–2020

BackgroundThe use of substances, e.g., tobacco and betel nut, are prevalent among military personnel in Taiwan, whereas some specific substances such as alcohol use are forbidden in military base. There were inconsistent findings for the incidence of hypertension with habitual substances use in diverse populations, while no studies were carried out in the military. MethodsA total of 2419 Taiwanese military personnel, aged 18–39 years, who were not taking any antihypertensive agents and did not have a baseline systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥130 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥80 mmHg were followed for incidence of hypertension from baseline (2014) through the end of 2020. Alcohol, tobacco and betel nut use status (active vs. former/never) were self-reported by each participant at baseline. New-onset hypertension of each participant was defined by an average of two resting BP measurements in the annual health examinations (2015–2020). Multivariable Cox regression analysis with adjustments for baseline BP and other potential covariates were performed to determine the risk of incident hypertension with each substance use. Five-year absolute changes in BP level with specific substance use were compared using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). ResultsThere were 867 active smokers (35.8 %), 237 active betel nut chewers (9.8 %) and 961 active alcohol consumers (39.7 %) at baseline. During a median follow-up of 5.8 years, 911 new-onset hypertension events (37.7 %) were observed. While compared to those without any substances use, merely active holiday alcohol users had a significantly lower risk of incident hypertension [hazard ratio (HR) and 95 % confidence interval: 0.72 (0.58–0.89)]. The 5-year diastolic BP increase (mmHg) was borderline significantly lower in active alcohol users on holidays as compared to former/never alcohol users (4.02 (standard deviation =9.01) and 4.76 (9.42), p = 0.07). The risk of incident hypertension was not significant in active smokers and active betel nut users, while the 5-year BP increase level was significantly greater in active smokers than former/never smokers (5.60 (9.96) vs. 4.42 (9.22), p = 0.03). ConclusionOur findings suggest that military young personnel consuming alcohol only allowed on holidays had a lower incidence of new-onset hypertension. On the contrary, the 5-year BP change may increase greater with habitual smoking, though the risk of new-onset hypertension was not affected.

They Have Always Been Military: On So-Called Militarized Policing in Canada

Over the last few years there has been growing attention to and discussion of the so-called militarization of policing. Unfortunately, much of this discussion poses the militarization of policing as a recent phenomenon. This paper examines policing in Canada within the context of an ongoing military practice. It shows that policing was founded on a military basis and continues to be carried out on a military basis as exemplified in the more recent developments that have raised alarm about militarization. It raises the need for a retheorization of policing within the context of capitalist social struggles and highlights some instructive recent theoretical developments toward that end. Properly understanding the police in Canada can help to contextualize and challenge current responses that are limited to reforms for police (de-militarization, de-escalation, improved training, non-lethal weaponry, etc.) or which even allow for the expansion of policing (community policing, drones, etc.). [Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2024 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.] KEYWORDS: Canada, Colonialism, Militarization, Policing, Protest, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Settler States, War.