Question Of Definition Research Articles

Transport service of logistical city system with use the tram–automobile communication

Questions of possibility definition and potential of combination of a cargo tram with motor transport by transportation cargoes of an intracity origin are considered. The mathematical model and interaction parametres of a cargo tram work and the car in docking unit is offered

Moving Beyond the Hierarchical Approach to Legal Pluralism in the South Pacific

In countries of the South Pacific, societies are often discussed in terms of the dichotomy between ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’. Similarly, legal systems are often described by reference to the dichotomy between ‘customary’ or ‘traditional’ law and ‘state law’, and between ‘informal’ and ‘formal’ justice. In fact, these divisions are becoming a thing of the past, gradually blurred by changes in the pattern of society and by the interaction between different systems of law. Further, the approach taken to the accommodation of customary law, which has been to formally ‘recognise’ it in constitutions, has, at least in theory, put an end to its independent operation. In the search for a more effective approach to legal pluralism, the existing dichotomy may often obscure a more complex interplay between the interwoven spheres of ‘traditional law’ and ‘state law’ and a new sphere of ‘blended’ law. In each of these spheres there are uncertainties, including questions of definition and scope, which constitute a potentially destabilising factor and have significant rule of law implications.Commencing with an overview of the different sources and types of law within the ‘customary’ and ‘state’ law spheres in the South Pacific region, this paper discusses some of the uncertainties and tensions that arise from pluralism in practice. Examples drawn mainly from Solomon Islands are used to illustrate the various ways in which the lines between customary law and state law have been blurred. These include attempts to incorporate customary law in statutes. Two examples of statutes which provide for this are considered, and the case-law arising from them is discussed.Commencing with an overview of the different sources and types of law within the ߢcustomaryߣ and ߢstateߣ law spheres in the South Pacific region, this paper discusses some of the uncertainties and tensions that arise from pluralism in practice. Examples drawn mainly from Solomon Islands are used to illustrate the various ways in which the lines between customary law and state law have been blurred. These include attempts to incorporate customary law in statutes. Two examples of statutes which provide for this are considered, and the case-law arising from them is discussed

The effect of preschool dialogic reading on vocabulary among rural Bangladeshi children

The purpose of the study was to examine the efficacy of a 4-week dialogic reading intervention with rural Bangladeshi preschoolers with the intention of increasing their expressive vocabulary. Eighty preschoolers randomly selected from five preschools participated in the 4-week program. Their expressive vocabulary, measured in terms of definitions, was tested on 170 challenging words before and after the program and compared with that of control children who participated in the regular language program. Both groups were read in Bangla eight children's storybooks with illustrations, but the dialogic reading teacher was given a set of “wh” and definitional questions to enhance children's verbal participation. The mean vocabulary scores of dialogic program children increased from 26% to 54% whereas the control children remained at the same level. Results are discussed in terms of the successful application of dialogic reading to low-resource preschools.

The Year's Work in Tolkien Studies 2006

The Year's Work in Tolkien Studies 2006 David Bratman In Tolkien studies, 2006 was the Year of the Encyclopedias. Each of the two volumes of Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond's J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide outweighs their already massive 2005 book, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion. The Companion & Guide, while a chronology and encyclopedia rather than a biography, instantly superseded Humphrey Carpenter's long-standard Tolkien: A Biography as the source of first reference for biographical data on the man. Together, these three compact volumes, filled with tiny print, dominate the field of Tolkien reference books. To nobody's surprise, the Companion & Guide received the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies in 2007, as the Reader's Companion had the previous year. As if that weren't enough to make the year memorable for encyclopedias, the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, edited by Michael D.C. Drout, also appeared on the shelves. A folio-sized volume with very large print, the Drout encyclopedia looks quite unlike Scull and Hammond, and it reads very differently as well. Its entries by many hands are full of individual character, which is the book's strength as well as its weakness. Two notable anthologies appeared in 2006. The Lord of the Rings, 1954-2004: Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder, edited by Hammond and Scull in that order (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2006), is the proceedings of a conference held at Marquette University, where Tolkien's Lord of the Rings papers are deposited, in 2004 in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the book's publication. The lucidity and insight of almost all the contributions make this a major anthology in Tolkien studies. This commentator intends no boastfulness, for it could be said even more strongly were he not among the contributors: the quality of this book comes simply from the fact that, if you invite the best Tolkien scholars to your conference, you will get the best papers. Tolkien and Modernity is a two-volume set edited by Frank Weinreich and Thomas Honegger (Zollikofen, Switzerland: Walking Tree Publishers, 2006). On volume 2 the editors' names are given in reverse order, apparently an attempt at impartiality by the publishers, but one which will only cause sighs of exasperation in library catalogers. The volumes are properly kept together, and all their contents will be cited as Weinreich and Honegger, with volume number, in this survey. The articles sometimes step on each others' toes, but largely avoid the definitional question of whether Tolkien was a modernist, whatever that means. Instead, most [End Page 315] discuss his approach to matters deemed typical of modern literature. Like the two encyclopedias, other publications of the year tended to cluster. There were two books in the previously untilled field of Tolkien and plants: Ents, Elves, and Eriador by Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans, primarily a study of Tolkien's environmental views with some material on secondary world horticulture, and The Plants of Middle-earth by Dinah Hazell, basically a botanist's guide to the sub-creation. In shorter papers, the subject of Tolkien as a modernist attracted Ralph C. Wood and John C. Hunter outside the Weinreich and Honegger anthology. Marjorie Burns and Jane Chance both wrote on class structure in Tolkien. Norman K. Swazo and Zak Cramer both wrote on Jewish cultural influences on Tolkien. Character studies of Aragorn and Tom Bombadil also each came in pairs. No fewer than four papers diligently pursued parallels to Beowulf in The Lord of the Rings. Studies of Tolkien's linguistic aesthetics came to the fore and swamped out the translation studies that had dominated Tolkienian philology for the previous couple of years. Journal publications of the year devoted to Tolkien included Volume 3 of this journal, Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review; Mallorn issue 44 from the Tolkien Society, dated August; Parma Eldalamberon 16 from the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship; and two double issues of Mythlore from the Mythopoeic Society: issue 93/94 (Vol. 24, no. 3/4, dated Winter/Spring), and issue 95/96 (Vol. 25, no. 1/2, dated Fall/Winter). Hither Shore, the yearbook of the Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft, for...

KRAS mutation status in colorectal cancer to predict response to EGFR targeted therapies: the need for a more precise definition

Sir, The KRAS mutations in colorectal cancer (CRC) are associated with clinical resistance to treatment with the epidermal growth factor receptor – targeted monoclonal antibodies. The clinical confirmation of these findings in independent retrospective reports as well as in a phase III trial has led the European Medicines Agency (August 2008) to license panitumumab and cetuximab only for patients with CRC without KRAS mutations (http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/Humans/EPAR/erbitux/erbitux.htm and http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/Humans/EPAR/vectibix/vectibix.htm). In the European Public Assessment Report, the natures of the KRAS mutations were described as ‘certain hot-spots (mainly codons 12 and 13)'. The most recent clinical studies report seven somatic mutations in these two codons 12–13 (Amado et al, 2008; Lievre et al, 2008). They use either direct sequencing (Lievre et al, 2008), which addresses few codons surrounding codons 12–13 or focus techniques like Scorpion-ARM (Amado et al, 2008), which detects only mutations on codons 12–13 with a high sensitivity. From March 2008, our genomic platform has tested 70 CRC patients for KRAS status. Using a pre-screening approach in codons 12–13 with high-resolution melting curve analysis (Simi et al, 2008) followed by sequencing, we found 35% cases with a mutation in codons 12–13, in agreement with the literature. However, we also report two cases presenting a mutation in codon 19 (c.57G>C, p.Leu19Phe), without mutations in codons 12–13. No polymorphism has been reported in this codon (dbSNP – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SNP/). In the two cases, the intensity of the mutated allele in the sequence electropherogram was under 30% of the normal allele. With a heterozygous polymorphism, the intensity between mutated and normal allele should have been similar. A functional study reported a similar mutation (c.57G>T, p.Leu19Phe) as an activating mutation with proliferative consequences (Akagi et al, 2007). In the large Netherlands Cohort Study (n=737 CRC), 37% mutations were found in codons 12–13 and 6.6% were found outside codons 12–13, in codons 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 19, 20 or 25 (Brink et al, 2003). A recent report in a Polish population stressed also the finding of mutations in codons 59, 61, 117 in 163 CRC (Wojcik et al, 2008). Those mutations cannot be detected with focus techniques. None of those mutations were quoted either in the recent clinical reports assessing the sensitivity to treatment (Amado et al, 2008; Lievre et al, 2008), or in the Scientific Discussion at the EMEA. Most clinical studies limited the test to KRAS codons 12–13, but additional KRAS-activating mutations could be considered in the choice of the treatment. In France, 36 000 new cases of CRC have been estimated each year, leading to potentially 800 patients harbouring false wild-type KRAS status and which would not respond to targeted treatments. Activating mutations in codons other than 12–13 raise the question of a precise definition of KRAS mutation status in a routine laboratory and clinical practice.

THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL ECONOMY: CONCEPT AND DIMENSIONS OF THE THIRD SECTOR

ABSTRACT**: In recent years a new context has emerged in Europe characterized by a larger growing Europe, the creation of a new European platform for social economy named ‘Social Economy Europe’ and an improvement in research, networks and initiatives in this area from certain European Institutions such as the European Social and Economic Committee. This paper focuses on recurrent, but needing clarification, topics such as the question of definitions, the national recognition of the concept of Social Economy and the size of this European third sector. It begins with a proposition of a conceptual delimitation of the Social Economy and of the different classes of company and organization that belong to it. Second, it identifies the different agents which, irrespective of their legal form, are part of the Social Economy in each of the member states of the European Union and to compare the different national definitions that are related to the Social Economy concept. Finally, it provides quantitative data on the European Social Economy.

Applying “Merger Guidelines” market definition to (de)regulatory policy: Pros and cons

Since initially presented in the 1982 Department of Justice Horizontal Merger Guidelines, market definition has been adopted nearly worldwide as a framework to see if a merger would substantially lessen competition. This framework is useful for addressing the similarly counterfactual question of whether forbearance from regulation would lead to an increase in prices. In this context, however, the usefulness of a merger-based market definition is limited. Because the alternative to forbearance is regulation, and since some regulated rates may be below competitive levels, finding that deregulation would lead to market power as defined for mergers need not justify continued regulation. Forbearance in telecommunications highlights market definition questions regarding gross vs. marginal substitutes, dynamic efficiencies, and service bundling. It also reveals ambiguities in the meaning of “geographic market.” Market definition also has limited applicability if regulation exists not to prevent high prices but the abuse of dominance through predatory pricing.

Peacebuilding and Corruption

The article argues that questions of definition relating to corruption are central to understanding its significance and its prominence in peacekeeping contexts. Definitional issues are discussed and a definition that combines certain universal features while acknowledging the importance of local norms and rules is offered. The definition revolves around actions, decisions and processes that subvert or distort the nature of public office and the political process. The challenge for peacebuilders is to develop and enforce standards for public office that have sufficient linkage with local norms and expectations to command some support, and to do so in a context that, by definition, lacks consensus on norms and principles of legitimacy for public office. The article explores some of the strategies open to those in post-conflict contexts and argues that corruption will frequently be a rational strategy for many, creating a vicious cycle that is hard to break. The article also questions how far corruption should be the major concern of peacekeeping forces, and how the concept might be disaggregated to allow a more targeted approach – one that recognizes that attacking corruption directly may not always be the best strategy, and that sees that corruption may not always be the major priority.

The Effect of Perineural Invasion on Overall Survival in Patients with Gastric Carcinoma

AimsThe availability of different treatment options for gastric carcinoma has reopened the question of correct definition of high-risk categories, which may help in identifying patients with high risk for poor prognosis who would benefit more from adjuvant therapy after operation. Perineural invasion (PNI) seems to provide useful information for management. Therefore, we examined the effect of PNI on overall survival (OS) in patients with gastric carcinoma and the association between PNI and other clinical and pathological factors. Patients and MethodsA total of 1,632 patients with gastric carcinoma from 2000 to 2005 were analyzed retrospectively. Paraffin sections of surgical specimens from all patients who underwent gastric resection were stained with laminin. If carcinoma cells infiltrated into the perineurium or neural fascicles, PNI was assessed as positive. Survival analysis was done in 1,372 patients with T1–T4 tumors who underwent curative resection. ResultPNI was positive in 518 of the 1,632 patients (31.7%). The size of tumors, T stage, differentiation of tumor, and clinical stage were significantly related to PNI positivity. The proportion of large tumors was significantly higher in PNI-positive patients than in PNI-negative patients (P < 0.01). As the depth of gastric mural invasion or clinical stage increased, the positive rate of PNI also increased. The OS of the PNI-positive patients was significantly shorter than that of the PNI-negative patients in the univariate analysis (P < 0.01). At multivariate Cox proportional hazards model of OS analysis, the positivity of PNI appeared to be an independent prognostic factor for OS (hazards ratio [HR] = 3.23, 95%CI = 2.6–8.11, P < 0.01), which was also influenced by tumor differentiation, T stage, and clinical stage (P < 0.01). ConclusionOur results suggested that the incidence of PNI was high in gastric carcinoma and that it corresponded to the progression of disease. It could provide additional information for identifying patients who are at high risk for poor prognosis. PNI can be a candidate for a new kind of prognostic parameters.

Sweet Communion: Trajectories of Spirituality from the Middle Ages through the Further Reformation (review)

Reviewed by: Sweet Communion: Trajectories of Spirituality from the Middle Ages through the Further Reformation Tom Schwanda (bio) Sweet Communion: Trajectories of Spirituality from the Middle Ages through the Further Reformation. By Arie de Reuver. Translated by James A. DeJong. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007. 303pp. $29.99 Sweetness is a word that abounds in our culture today. While its contemporary coinage is more likely to be found among conversations of teenagers and twenty-somethings, the deeper theological meaning is not that dissimilar. Readers of medieval or Reformation texts, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, will be familiar with this important spiritual term of delight. More specifically, the terminology "sweet communion" was employed in the Netherlands in an eighteenth-century Psalm versification. The author recognizes the anachronistic nature of this but chooses to employ it because it accurately captures "the interchange between God and humanity that is called 'hidden' or 'sweet' because it takes place in heart-to-heart intimacy. This fellowship is also called 'hidden' because of its mysterious quality that never fully relinquishes it secrets" (15). Thus begins the brief but helpful orienting introduction to this valuable resource. The Nadere Reformatie a seventeenth century spiritual movement in Netherlands frames this research. While in the past it has often been translated as the Second Reformation, a more nuanced rendering is the Further Reformation. The theological architects of this movement of the heart recognized that the efforts of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century had not included the critical need for reforming devotional [End Page 108] intimacy with God. Therefore, the Nadere Reformatie or Dutch Pietism reflected many of the same themes as the parallel seventeenth-century movements of Pietism in Germany, and to an even greater extent Puritanism in England. De Reuver who teaches systematic and historical theology at the University of Utrecht establishes his agenda by inquiring about the degree of continuity and discontinuity between the spirituality of the Dutch Further Reformation and the late medieval church (19). Before launching into his study the author first considers the important methodological question of definition and grapples with the meaning of mysticism. Readers of this journal would readily agree with his assessment that this "term is both diffuse and loaded" (20). After examining the etymological background of mysticism, de Reuver rejects the understanding of mysticism as a blurring of the distinctive nature between humanity and God. Instead he posits that mysticism "is the faith-knowledge that comes over a person by the Word and the Spirit and includes an intimate communion with God himself" (22). Therefore he rejects the previous misguided Protestant critiques of mysticism by Ritschl, Barth, and Brunner. More significantly he contends that the Reformed leaders of the sixteenth century did not totally reject mysticism outright but only those expressions that dissolved the boundary between God and humanity, restricted it to meritorious approach that ignored grace, and elevated the monastic setting to the marginalization of all of God's people (22). He concludes this section by asserting, "Whoever emphasizes the idea of mystery in the term 'mysticism' in any case, is in step with an honorable tradition" (23). The first two chapters are devoted to Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas à Kempis respectively. Each chapter begins with a biographical sketch that situates the individual within his context. Rather than create a fixed template that requires the themes of each writer to conform to a common structure de Reuver wisely allows the organic nature of these spiritual writings to shape each chapter. For Bernard those topics include his monastic context, the influence of his writings, and a very helpful summary of his treatment of God's love, meditation on Christ, bridal mysticism, and union with God. For à Kempis the obvious focus is upon the Imitation of Christ, which further is divided into an examination of discipleship, cross-bearing, humility, the inner life, loving God, and heavenly matters. The reader immediately notices that this is a highly researched and carefully written document. The pages are brimming with footnotes that both validate sources as well as broaden the scope of this expansive research. For example, when the influence of Bernard's writings is discussed it is generously traced through both Calvin and...

A Question of Definition – The Concept of Internal Armed Conflict in the Swedish Aliens Act

AbstractFleeing the horrors of an internal armed conflict constitutes a ground for subsidiary protection under the Qualification Directive and in the Swedish Aliens Act. However, what is to be defined as such a conflict is disputed. This is obvious within the European context from the inconsistent interpretations of for example the situation in Iraq amongst Member States. In Sweden, the Migration Court of Appeal established the situation in Iraq as severe, but as not amounting to an armed conflict. In France and Great Britain however, Iraq is regarded as such a conflict. The argument of this article is that the concept of internal armed conflict in the Swedish Aliens Law is incoherent and inadequate. This is due to the fact that the Swedish interpretation is based upon international humanitarian law, a law which provides an unclear and anachronistic concept of internal armed conflict.

El ministerio en las Pastorales: El evangelio de la gloria del Dios feliz que se me confió (1Tm 1,11)

The study of the ministery in the pastorals letters takes us to the reflexion over four definitive questions: the existence of the didaskalia, the institution of bishops, presbiteroi, and deacons, the question of womans deacons, and the imposition of hands joined to the prophecy. Today returns the voice of these letters to enrich and to swing the arms in the theology of the ministeres in the Church.

Phonetics and word definition in Ahtna Athabascan

This article investigates the question of word definition in a polysynthetic language, Ahtna Athabascan. Syntactic models of polysynthetic languages cannot explain why some syntactic strings constitute sentences and others words, since they represent both in the same component. In the most articulated of such theories, e.g., Rice (2000) and Hale (2001) for Athabascan languages, it is explicit that words are formed based on prosodic principles. It follows that there should be unambiguous cues to the left and right edge of the word. Two possibilities for these cues are explored: acoustic evidence for consonant fortition and phonological evidence from lexicon search. Consonant fortition does not mark edges of Ahtna words, but stem-initial consonants undergo fortition, and there may be fortition of the first conjunct prefix following the disjunct boundary. Other cues include stress, consonant cluster patterns in prefix strings, and stem-final laryngeal neutralizations. In addition, while stress and syllabification patterns can help a listener shape words in Ahtna, lexical knowledge is also required. Morphological designations such as prefix and suffix are still essential. Given these requirements, a substantial role for morphology is indicated in addition to syntax and prosody.

La tropa de burgarii a la luz de CTh. VII, 14,1 : estado de una cucstión de complicada definición en la organización militar de Hispania

José Luis Cañizar Palacios, The burgarii from CTh. VII, 14, 1 : a complicated question of definition about the military organization of Hispania, DHA 34/2, 2008, 95-113. Abstract : In this article are addressed some questions about late Antiquity Hispania. We take into account the information given by the imperial Constitution of the Theodosian Code CTh. VII, 1, which focuses the attention on the troops called burgarii. We want to complement their definition using the information the Code gives, and draw some parallels with other dependents of the Roman Empire like those working in the textile manufactures or in the cursus publicus.

Who is a Terrorist - Drawing the Line between Criminal Defendants and Military Enemies

This paper confronts and answers the difficult definitional questions raised by the threat of Al Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations. Are terrorists analogous to other kinds of organized, dangerous criminals who should be prosecuted and punished using the federal criminal law? Or are they equivalent to enemy soldiers engaged in warfare against the United States? There are problems with either analogy because the threat posed by Al Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations has substantial differences from both paradigmatic criminal activity and paradigmatic military conflict. Thus, it is far from clear whether alleged terrorists should be treated as criminal defendants or military enemies. The paper first approaches these questions through a direct comparison between the alternative models of U.S. federal criminal law and the international laws of war. The criminal model presents one framework for defining the threat of terrorism, primarily focused on the prosecution and punishment of individual alleged terrorists for their activities. The military model offers another framework, emphasizing the dangers posed by an organized armed force engaged in planning and carrying out acts of war. Examining each model on its own terms reveals that, in their current forms, neither model is adequate for fully addressing the nature of the threat. The paper then argues that the solution is to combine the criminal and military models into a new, integrated model for defining the threat of Al Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations. The integrated model uses the insights of each model to compensate for their respective shortcomings. In doing so, it accounts for the particular dangers which exist because Al Qaeda is a form of organized armed force, and the substantial implications that holds for the nature of the terrorist threat. At the same time, it balances the importance of personal conduct and group affiliation by reserving the most substantial consequences for activities dependent on direct, personal involvement. The integrated model concludes that most individuals involved in terrorism should be treated as criminal defendants, and only the most dangerous direct participants should be deemed military enemies. Through this integrated analysis, the new model resolves the problems with the existing criminal and military models and fully addresses the threat posed by Al Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations.

Definition Sentences Recognition Based on Definition Centroid

This paper is concerned with the problem of recognizing definition sentences. Given a definition question like "Who is the person X?", we are to retrieve the definition sentences which capture descriptive information correspond variously to a person's age, occupation, of some role a person played in an event from the collection of news articles. In order to retrieve as many relevant sentences for the definition question as possible, we adopt a centroid based statistical approach which has been applied in summarization of multiple documents. To improve the precision and recall performance, the weight measure of centroid words is supplemented by using external knowledge resource such as Wikipedia and redundant candidate sentences are removed from candidate definitions. We see some improvements obtained by our approach over the baseline for 20 IT persons who have high document frequency.

Debating disability

This paper responds to the reviews by Edwards, Holm, Koch, Thomas and Vehmas of Disability Rights and Wrongs (2006). After summarising the recent history of disability studies as a discipline,...

Teaching teachers to just say “know”: Reflections on drug education

Psychoactive substance use by students is common in many countries, obliging schools to deliver drug education. However, some jurisdictions do not prepare teachers for engaging their students in honest, knowledge-based education. This article looks at the history and queries the purposes of contemporary drug education. It compares current approaches to drug education with those of other “vice” issues addressed in the history of public schools, such as sex education and temperance education. It critically challenges the question of knowledge definition and production related to psychoactive substances. Finally, some of the theoretical groundings on which to base teacher education for drug education are considered.

Effects of Test Expectation on Multiple-Choice Performance and Subjective Ratings

Undergraduates studied the definitions of 16 psychology terms, expecting either a multiple-choice ( n = 132) or short-answer ( n = 122) test. All students then received the same multiple-choice test, requiring them to recognize the definitions as well as novel examples of the terms. Compared to students expecting a multiple-choice test, those expecting a short-answer test performed similarly on example questions but significantly better on definition questions. Students in these 2 test-expectation conditions also differed in several subjective ratings of their study and test taking. The results suggest that students do not typically study in an optimal way for multiple-choice tests.

Who Is A 'Terrorist'? Drawing the Line Between Criminal Defendants and Military Enemies

This paper confronts and answers the difficult definitional questions raised by the threat of Al Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations. Are terrorists analogous to other kinds of organized, dangerous criminals who should be prosecuted and punished using the federal criminal law? Or are they equivalent to enemy soldiers engaged in warfare against the United States? There are problems with either analogy because the threat posed by Al Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations has substantial differences from both paradigmatic criminal activity and paradigmatic military conflict. Thus, it is far from clear whether alleged terrorists should be treated as criminal defendants or military enemies. The paper first approaches these questions through a direct comparison between the alternative models of U.S. federal criminal law and the international laws of war. The criminal model presents one framework for defining the threat of terrorism, primarily focused on the prosecution and punishment of individual alleged terrorists for their activities. The military model offers another framework, emphasizing the dangers posed by an organized armed force engaged in planning and carrying out acts of war. Examining each model on its own terms reveals that, in their current forms, neither model is adequate for fully addressing the nature of the threat. The paper then argues that the solution is to combine the criminal and military models into a new, integrated model for defining the threat of Al Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations. The integrated model uses the insights of each model to compensate for their respective shortcomings. In doing so, it accounts for the particular dangers which exist because Al Qaeda is a form of organized armed force, and the substantial implications that holds for the nature of the terrorist threat. At the same time, it balances the importance of personal conduct and group affiliation by reserving the most substantial consequences for activities dependent on direct, personal involvement. The integrated model concludes that most individuals involved in terrorism should be treated as criminal defendants, and only the most dangerous direct participants should be deemed military enemies. Through this integrated analysis, the new model resolves the problems with the existing criminal and military models and fully addresses the threat posed by Al Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations.