Threat Situation Research Articles

The role of attachment avoidance and defensive fight in aggression

Attachment insecurity (i.e., levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance) is associated with interpersonal violence and aggression. However, evidence suggests that the associations are more consistent for attachment anxiety than for attachment avoidance. This raises questions as to whether there are particular moderators that may help to explain the lack of consistency in findings for attachment avoidance. In this article, we focus on a novel moderator regarding the association between attachment avoidance and aggression. Drawing on attachment theory, the aggression literature, and research into systems of threat detection, we suggest that the association between attachment avoidance and aggression may reflect a defensive fight (DF) response in situations of high relationship threat. Across two studies (Study 1, a self-report cross-sectional design; N = 128; Study 2, a cross-sectional experimental design, N = 126), we tested the extent that DF moderated the association between attachment avoidance and aggression under perceived relationship threat. In line with our suggestion, a three-way interaction was found across both studies between attachment avoidance, relationship threat, and DF. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the study of interpersonal aggression from an attachment theory perspective.

The Jewish Economic Elite: Making Modern Europe by Cornelia Aust

Reviewed by: The Jewish Economic Elite: Making Modern Europe by Cornelia Aust Verena Kasper-Marienberg Cornelia Aust. The Jewish Economic Elite: Making Modern Europe. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017. 218 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009419000199 Two narratives circulate about the central role that Jewish elites played in the structural change of Europe's economies from feudal to modern capitalist systems. [End Page 216] One tells of court Jews who turned international bankers and draws a direct line between the Jewish economic elites of the eighteenth century and those of the nineteenth century. Another, competing, narrative is about a newly emerging Ashkenazic middle class, rising to wealth from the ashes of European ghettos in the early nineteenth century after a decline in the influence of the old Jewish elites in the mid-eighteenth century. Both narratives obscure our profound lack of data on how Jewish economic elites were affected by the multitude of European conflicts (the Seven Years, Russo-Turkish, Revolutionary, and Napoleonic Wars) during the second half of the eighteenth century, the decline of economic centers like Amsterdam and Leipzig, and the dissolution of long-standing political entities like the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Cornelia Aust chose case studies of Ashkenazic economic elites from this transitional period, which ranges from the mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century. Contrasting five European cities and regions and three Jewish mercantile families, her work casts a wide geographical and multigenerational net to trace continuities and changes in the profile of these representative members of the Jewish economic elite. Her core methodologies are a transregional perspective from western to eastern Europe and a focus on family networks rather than individual biographies. The book centers around three urban case studies: Amsterdam (chap. 1), Frankfurt an der Oder (chap. 2), and Warsaw (chap. 5). The inclusion of the shifting borderlands between Prussia and Poland (chap. 4), as well as Praga, a smaller settlement then still outside Warsaw (chap. 5), are important addenda, since they widen the perspective to less-urban and suburban spaces of Jewish life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The first chapter traces the family network of the Ashkenazic Symons family in mid-eighteenth-century Amsterdam, their marriage patterns across Europe (especially towards Frankfurt an der Oder), and their strategic use of family networks for credit and mercantile activity. As Aust explains, the key economic function of Amsterdam-based Ashkenazic merchants was to connect their colleagues or family members in central and eastern Europe to Amsterdam's credit market, via jointly liable and repeatedly endorsable bills of exchange. Without them, this credit market was hardly accessible to eastern European Jewish mercantile elites who were still navigating cash-based economies. At the same time, the Symons, like other merchants from Amsterdam, deliberately expanded their family network eastwards in order to access the booming textile trade in eastern Europe. In chapter 2, the Schlesinger family in Frankfurt an der Oder serves Aust as an example of the central position of Jewish economic elites in communal hierarchies. Using the pinkas, a type of communal record book, Aust shows that Jewish merchants with the largest assets were also leaders within their communities, confirming the plutocratic nature of Jewish communal leadership in Ashkenaz. Their credit potential through networks via Hamburg to Amsterdam was put into use for communal purposes as well, serving their communities in situations of financial threat. Aust further argues that the Seven Years War and the partitions of Poland set in motion an eastward migration of Jewish mercantile elites from [End Page 217] Frankfurt an der Oder and the borderlands between Prussia and Poland. She describes the challenges, but also the opportunities that arose for Jewish merchants from the repeated changes in political authority, including the opportunity to supply several armies during wartime. Following the traces of these Jewish elites' migration to the East, the third case study (chaps. 4 and 5) is set in Praga and Warsaw. It follows the Jakubowicz family, which rose from being all-round merchants to army suppliers, leaseholders, and finally bankers. While family founder Szmul represented yet another group of immigrants from Polish villages who were drawn to urban spaces like Warsaw...

Coping Styles and Aggregate Coping Styles: Responses of Older Adults to a Continuous Traumatic Situation

The current study examined the coping styles of older adults in a continuous traumatic situation. We explored subjective descriptions of coping behavior during wartime among three focus groups with 43 participants. The findings suggest that, when older adults face threat situations, they use a variety of coping styles simultaneously. Most of the participants used a combination of two coping styles. The use of multiple styles and the absence of a single dominant one are indicative of the flexibility of self in old age, and point to the potential of older persons as an important resource for the community and society at times of threat.

TECHNIQUE OF THE ANALYSIS OF RISKS AND THREATS OF ECONOMIC SECURITY OF THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM ON THE BASIS OF FACTORIAL MODEL

In article the main relations between the entities arising in the analysis of concrete situations of existence of threats and risks of economic security of society – from regional to the national level are considered. The steady relations are reflected in the corresponding technique of construction and use of factorial model for application as a part of tool providing the Federal risk management system in the sphere of economy at the federal level. The technique is a basis for development of the appropriate information technology. In it its novelty and originality as so far the task of the analysis of situations of risks and threats in the context of formation of information technology on the basis of factorial model and a type of the cognitive loaded count for use at the federal level was not considered consists. When forming factorial model it is recommended to use the risk analysis methodology constructed on vital approach to a research of subject systems. The maintenance of the main stages is opened and the structurally functional scheme of the analysis of concrete situations of threats and risks is submitted. Main components of a technique: fixing of threat, a risk event according to monitoring, the choice from bank of factorial models of model prototype, construction or correction of structure of factorial model, drawing up information model of threats, risk events and their sources, the choice of models of the description of factors and their interactions, the organization of involvement of experts and other sources for assessment of unknown values, addition of information model of threat, a risk event and a source, parameters and basic data of factorial model, carrying out modeling of risk about use of factorial model, identification of contours of "arousing" risk, identification of vulnerabilities, the analysis of a source (subject) of threats and risks, drawing up the report, loading of factorial model in bank of models. The technique uses conceptual model of sources of threats and risks. It assumes creative approach to the analysis and flexibility depending on conditions and the purposes of the analysis.

Research on Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Threat Assessment

The unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) plays an ever increasing and important role in the modern marine environment. In particular, the tasks of underwater reconnaissance and surveillance, underwater mine hunting and anti-submarine warfare, all poses a serious and dangerous threat to humans. UUV has become the fore-running technology to accomplish such missions. In this paper, a method based on dynamic Bayesian network modeling was proposed to evaluate the UUV in an underwater threat situation. We divided the UUV threats into three categories: environmental factors, platform factors, and mission factors. Through each of these categories, we carried out factor extraction and set up the priori probability according to the characteristics. Setting up the static Bayesian network involved the addition of state transition probability and establishment of the model for assessing the dynamic Bayesian threat situation. By comparing the results of the static and dynamic Bayesian simulation, it was shown that the dynamic Bayesian is superior. Moreover, by analyzing the sensitivity, we recognized the greatest current threat and in response, determined the appropriate UUV countermeasures. The results showed that the dynamic Bayesian method has great practical significance and value for threat assessment.

Psychological Distress and Attachment Insecurity of Stalked Mothers.

There is a lack of research about intimate partner stalking when victim and stalker have children together. The aim of the current study was to provide knowledge about the mental health status and attachment patterns of mothers stalked by the father of one or more of their children. One hundred ninety six Danish women, recruited via a closed social network for stalked mothers, completed an anonymous online questionnaire concerning their experiences of violence during and after the relationship with the stalker, relationship characteristics, attachment patterns, and psychological distress. Results indicated high exposure to psychological maltreatment during the victim-stalker relationship, harassing and violent stalking behaviors after relationship termination, and high levels of functional disabilities, PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder), other trauma-related, affective, and somatization symptoms. Furthermore, the women retrospectively reported an increase in attachment insecurity from the time before their relationship with the stalker to the time of study participation (after they experienced relationship violence and/or stalking). Stalking behaviors uniquely contributed to the explanation of the mothers' psychological distress above the effects of relationship violence. Moreover, attachment insecurity appeared to be the strongest predictor of psychological distress. Having children together with their stalker captures women in an ongoing situation of threat and interpersonal traumatization that differs from other forms of stalking in many respects. The present study is the first drawing attention to the experiences and suffering of stalked mothers, a particularly vulnerable group of stalking victims.

Features of Effective Crisis Communication Based on Public Relations Profession Research.

Abstract The way of conducting communication during the image crisis is a special type of challenge for the company. Lack of preparation of the company for proper communication management may be crucial in averting and/or reducing the effects of crises. The paper presents the results of research conducted among experts from the PR industry and representatives of the largest Polish enterprises from the 500 List compiled by “Rzeczpospolita” daily newspaper. The vast majority of Polish enterprises show an open-minded approach to crisis communication. Companies from oppressive industries, where crises occur more often, are better prepared for crisis communication. The determinants of effective communication in the situation of image threats are, according to the leaders of public relations agencies, anti-crisis preparation, presence of procedures, openness and honesty in communication processes as well as quick response time.

Modeling and Predicting Cyber Hacking Breaches

Analyzing cyber incident data sets is an important method for deepening our understanding of the evolution of the threat situation. This is a relatively new research topic, and many studies remain to be done. In this paper, we report a statistical analysis of a breach incident data set corresponding to 12 years (2005–2017) of cyber hacking activities that include malware attacks. We show that, in contrast to the findings reported in the literature, both hacking breach incident inter-arrival times and breach sizes should be modeled by stochastic processes, rather than by distributions because they exhibit autocorrelations. Then, we propose particular stochastic process models to, respectively, fit the inter-arrival times and the breach sizes. We also show that these models can predict the inter-arrival times and the breach sizes. In order to get deeper insights into the evolution of hacking breach incidents, we conduct both qualitative and quantitative trend analyses on the data set. We draw a set of cybersecurity insights, including that the threat of cyber hacks is indeed getting worse in terms of their frequency, but not in terms of the magnitude of their damage.

The man’s courage and valour in the biblical and contemporary times

The article attempts to analyse and interpret the man’s behaviour (actions) in different situations of threat and in different historical epochs. These are behaviours which can be described as heroic, courageous, valorous and dauntless, aimed at defending other people and bringing help at the risk of endangering one’s own life and health. The analysis covered the helpful behaviour of the Good Samaritan and David’s defensive combat from the Biblical period and, from the contemporary times, a certain priest’s behaviour during the black smallpox epidemic in Wrocław and Antoni Zdrojewski’s defensive combat during the Second World War

Identification of unknown operating system type of Internet of Things terminal device based on RIPPER

Due to the vast popularity of sensors, cloud computing, mobile computing, and intelligent devices, the Internet of Things has seen tremendous growth in recent years. Operating system type recognition is the core technology of network security assessment. Due to inherit security problems of Internet of Things such as the situation of risk and threat of information, the operating system recognition seeks research attention for Internet of Things network security. In view of the current identification method of active operating system, it is prone to be detected by intrusion detection system. The operating system identification technology based on transmission control protocol/Internet protocol fingerprint library is more complicated than to distinguish the operating system types of unknown fingerprints. In this work, a passive operating system identification method based on RIPPER model is proposed. Also, it is compared with the existing support vector machine and C45 decision tree classification algorithms. Experiments reveal that RIPPER-based algorithm has better recognition accuracy and recognition efficiency.

Three-Dimensional Collision Avoidance Control for UAVs using Kinematic-based Collision Threat Situation Modeling Approach

Three-Dimensional Collision Avoidance Control for UAVs using Kinematic-based Collision Threat Situation Modeling Approach

Ewaluacja ryzyka w zarządzaniu kryzysowym

<p>W artykule przedstawiono koncepcję metodologicznych podstaw ewaluacji ryzyka w sytuacjach zagrożeń bezpieczeństwa systemu. Przedstawiono ogólny model decyzyjny w warunkach niepewności i ryzyka oraz statystyczne miary ryzyka na potrzeby zarządzania przedsięwzięciami. Omówiono proces ewaluacji ryzyka w systemie zarządzania kryzysowego. W artykule zamieszczono przykłady modeli matematycznych ewaluacji ryzyka.</p>

Bumblebees Express Consistent, but Flexible, Speed-Accuracy Tactics Under Different Levels of Predation Threat.

A speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) in behavioural decisions is known to occur in a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate taxa. Accurate decisions often take longer for a given condition, while fast decisions can be inaccurate in some tasks. Speed-accuracy tactics are known to vary consistently among individuals, and show a degree of flexibility during colour discrimination tasks in bees. Such individual flexibility in speed-accuracy tactics is likely to be advantageous for animals exposed to fluctuating environments, such as changes in predation threat. We therefore test whether individual speed-accuracy tactics are fixed or flexible under different levels of predation threat in a model invertebrate, the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. The flexibility of speed-accuracy tactics in a foraging context was tested in the laboratory using a “meadow” of artificial flowers harbouring “robotic” crab spider predators. We found that while the ranking of bees along the speed and accuracy continuums was consistent across two levels of predation threat, there was some flexibility in the tactics used by individual bees – most bees became less accurate at colour discrimination when exposed to predation threat when flower types were rewarding. The relationship between decision speed and accuracy was influenced by predator detectability and the risk associated with making incorrect choices during the colour discrimination task. Predator crypsis resulted in a breakdown in the relationship between speed and accuracy, especially when making an incorrect floral choice incurred a distasteful quinine punishment. No single speed-accuracy tactic was found to be optimal in terms of foraging efficiency under either predation threat situation. However, bees that made faster decisions achieved higher nectar collection rates in predator free situations, while accurate bees achieved higher foraging rates under predation threat. Our findings show that while individual bees remain relatively consistent in terms of whether they place greater emphasis on speed or accuracy under predation threat, they can respond flexibly to the additional time costs of detecting predators.

Observational threat conditioning is induced by circa-strike activity burst but not freezing and requires visual attention

Social transmission refers to a process in which an observer (OB) acquires new information about the environment including threat situations, through the action of familiar conspecifics. Recently, a number of studies employing observational threat conditioning (OTC) in which OB mice expressed defensive responses following indirect exposure to pair-housed partner mice (demonstrator: DE) which were receiving repeated footshocks, have produced interesting insights into the social mechanisms of emotional transfer. However, the nature of the transmitted information or the critical cognitive processes involved in OTC is not clear. In a series of experiments, we investigated the key elements involves in triggering socially-induced defensive responses. In Exp.1, we compared the effectiveness in conveying a threat of two different types of defensive reactions of DEs: the circa-strike activity burst (CSAB) vs. freezing. The results show that the CSAB is more effective than freezing in inducing defensive freezing in an OB. In Exp. 2, we investigated different types of the OBs’ defensive responses by measuring their change in head orientation or their “gazing” at the DEs, and their temporal synchrony with the DEs’ defensive reactions in the form of their CSAB. The results show that OBs’ gazing was significantly correlated with the DEs’ CSAB, especially the DEs’ jumping behavior, but not with the freezing of the DEs, indicating that jumping is a more effective trigger stimulus in inducing attentional capture in conspecific partner animals. In Exp. 3, the role of visual information was tested. The result shows that the OBs’ level of freezing was significantly reduced when visual information was blocked by an opaque partition. In Exp. 4, to confirm the critical role of visual attention, we introduced distracting flashing lights, which were switched on and off at random intervals during the conditioning process. With all other conditions being maintained unaltered, the OBs in the distractor condition displayed a significantly decreased level of freezing, indicating that the visual attention paid to the DEs by the OBs during the conditioning process was critical for the social transmission of threat. Taken together, the results of the current study strongly suggest that socially transmitted defensive behavior is dependent on the specific behavioral elements of a DE’s defensive behavior, and moreover, that a visual attentional process is required during the OTC.

Case Study: Agile Systems Engineering at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Integrated Fighter Group

The Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Integrated Fighter Group (IFG), in Fort Worth, Texas, was motivated to move to an agile system engineering (SE) development methodology by the need to meet urgent defense needs for faster‐changing threat situations. IFG has and is tailoring a baseline Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) systems engineering process for a portfolio of mixed hardware/software aircraft weapon system extensions, involving some 1,200 people in the process from executives, through managers, to developers. Process analysis in October 2015 reviewed two years of transformation experience, updated in this article to 2017 status. Notably, the SE process is facilitated by a transformation to an Open System Architecture aircraft‐system infrastructure, enabling reusable cross platform component technologies and facilitating faster response to new system needs. The process synchronizes internal tempo‐based development intervals with an external mixture of agile/waterfall subcontractor development processes. This article emphasizes the manifestation of agility as the purpose and outcome of an embedded system of innovation, and introduces concepts of information debt, process instrumentation, and a preliminary systems integration lab for early customer demonstrations and discovery of potential difficulties.

Ravens adjust their antipredatory responses to con‐ and hetero‐specific alarms to the perceived threat

AbstractHeterospecific alarm calls are typically found in situations where multiple species have a common predator. In birds, they are particularly common in mixed mixed‐species flocks. In species with highly developed social and cognitive abilities like corvids, there is the potential for differential responses to heterospecific vs. conspecific calls according to the riskiness of the habitat. We tested the responses of free‐ranging ravens (Corvus corax) to conspecific alarm calls and compared them to heterospecific alarm calls of jackdaws (Corvus monedula). We observed the proportion of ravens leaving the feeding site after the con‐ or hetero‐specific playback was presented in a situation of low threat (wild boar—Sus scrofa enclosure) and high threat of predation (wolf—Canis lupus enclosure). We show that ravens responded to conspecific calls more intensively at the wolves than at the wild boar, but the response to conspecific calls was in both enclosures stronger than to the control (great tit—Parus major song). The response to the heterospecific alarm was also stronger in the wolves’ enclosure, but it did not differ from control in the wild boar enclosure. These findings suggest that ravens are aware of the meaning of the jackdaw alarm calls, but they respond to it only in a situation of high predatory threat (wolves are present). In the wild boar enclosure, the ravens probably consider jackdaws warning against some other predator, very probably harmless to ravens. This interpretation requires further testing, as both enclosures differ also in respect to other parameters like food quality and shelter availability.

The communicative life of a social carnivore: acoustic repertoire of the ring-tailed coati (Nasua nasua)

The coati is a highly social mammal that features sophisticated cognitive and social abilities. We hypothesized that the ring-tailed coati, Nasua nasua, uses an extensive acoustic repertoire that correlates to their diverse range of social interactions. We tested this hypothesis by observing and recording a free-ranging managed population of N. nasua in Tietê Ecological Park (PET), in the municipality of São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Of 404 h of sampling, 47 h of coati vocalizations were recorded over 3 years. Additional records were obtained opportunistically on other free-living populations at PET by using passive acoustic monitoring. We describe here an acoustic repertoire composed of 15 calls (12 basic calls, 2 rhythmic calls and the non-random complex calls composed of three or four different units). This diverse repertoire of signals was used in contact/cohesion regulation, foraging activities, alert or potential threat situations, playing and fighting interactions and during social isolation and acute distress. The contact call (chirp) is produced through biphonation, and other non-linear phenomena are present. Our study found a complex vocal repertoire that encourages further studies to describe the evolution of the cognitive characteristics and social abilities of ring-tailed coatis.

Potential of hyperspectral imaging to detect and identify the impact of chemical warfare compounds on plant tissue

Abstract The OPCW Member states cover 98% of the global population and landmass. Regrettably, unanticipated chemical warfare agent assaults are reported during the last decades. In addition to the frequent threat situation, the sampling of bio-medical samples from these areas is critical and mainly depends on investigation opportunities of victims. Non-contact sensor technologies are desirable to enable a fast and secure estimation of a situation. Plants react on pollution because of their direct interaction with gases and it is assumed that chemical warfare agents influence plants, respectively. This impact can be analyzed for the detection and characterization of chemical warfare assaults. Nowadays technological progress in digital technologies provides new innovations in detectors, data analysis approaches and software availability which could improve the screening, monitoring and analysis of chemical warfare. Within this context hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is a promising method. Different applications from remote to close range sensing in medicine, food production, military, geography and agriculture do exist already. During the last years HSI showed high potential to determine and assess different plant parameters, e.g. abiotic and biotic stresses by recording the spectral reflectance of plants. Within the present manuscript, the basics principle of HSI as an innovative technique, aspects of recording and analyzing HSI data is presented using wild growing apple leaves which are treated with sulfuric acid, fire or heat. Resulting spectral signatures showed significant changes among the treatments. Especially the shortwave infrared was sensitive to changes due to the different treatments. Furthermore, the calculation of common spectral indices revealed differences due to the treatments which are not visible to the human eye. The results support HSI applications for the detection of chemical warfare agents and elucidate the impact of chemical warfare on plants.

ORGANIZATIONAL AND LEGAL PRINCIPLES OF INVESTIGATION OF AVIATION DISASTERS

Objective: to determine the legal models for aviation accident investigation. To propose effective mechanisms of observing the rights and freedoms of a citizen and the interests of the state and legal entities in the investigation of aviation disasters. To offer author’s models of organizational support for the investigation of aviation disasters. Methods: the study was conducted using classical methods of scientific knowledge. With the help of the analysis method, the system elements of the legal mechanism for ensuring the rule of law in the investigation of aviation disasters are disclosed. With the help of the method of synthesis, variants of occurrence of situations of threats and dangers of a civilian aircraft during the flight task are considered. Results: according to the results of the study, mechanisms for effective law enforcement of aviation accident investigation were proposed. Identified and disclosed components of organizational support for the process of investigation of aviation disasters.

Effects of testosterone administration on threat and escape anticipation in the orbitofrontal cortex

Recent evidence suggests that the steroid hormone testosterone can decrease the functional coupling between orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and amygdala. Theoretically this decoupling has been linked to a testosterone-driven increase of goal-directed behaviour in case of threat, but this has never been studied directly. Therefore, we placed twenty-two women in dynamically changing situations of escapable and inescapable threat after a within-subject placebo controlled testosterone administration. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we provide evidence that testosterone activates the left lateral OFC (LOFC) in preparation of active goal-directed escape and decouples this OFC area from a subcortical threat system including the central-medial amygdala, hypothalamus and periaqueductal gray. This LOFC decoupling was specific to threatening situations, a point that was further emphasized by an absence of such decoupling in a second experiment focused on resting-state connectivity. These results not only confirm that testosterone administration decouples the LOFC from the subcortical threat system, but also show that this is specifically the case in response to acute threat, and ultimately leads to an increase in LOFC activity when the participant prepares a goal-directed action to escape. Together these results for the first time provide a detailed understanding of functional brain alterations induced by testosterone under threat conditions, and corroborate and extend the view that testosterone prepares the brain for goal-directed action in case of threat.