Victims Of Attacks Research Articles

New Trends in Terrorism-Related Injury Mechanisms: Is There a Difference in Injury Severity?

The latest wave of terrorism worldwide has seen significant use by terrorists of mundane, "low-technology" weapons, such as utility knives and civilian vehicles. How do the injuries they produce compare with that of more conventional terrorism mechanisms, such as use of firearms and explosives? We compare injury patterns of the most frequent terrorism-related injury mechanisms in an Israeli data set. This was a retrospective study of 1,858 patients hospitalized because of terrorism events, which were recorded in the Israeli National Trauma Registry between January 1997 and December 2016. The events were divided into 4 groups based on weapon used: explosions, shootings, stabbings, and vehicular attacks. The groups were compared in terms of injuries sustained, use of hospital resources, and clinical outcomes. Explosion-related and vehicular terrorism resulted in a higher proportion of multiple injuries, whereas stabbings and shootings mostly led to isolated injuries. Victims of vehicular attacks had a high proportion of severe head injuries, whereas stabbing victims had a high volume of vascular injuries. All mechanisms involved significant damage to extremities; however, among stabbing victims injury was mainly to the upper extremities, whereas among vehicular attack victims it was mostly to the lower extremities. The overall injury severity of the compared groups was similar, leading to comparable levels of intensive care use and inhospital mortality. Certain similarities in victims' characteristics were observed between the shootings and stabbings and between explosions and vehicular attacks. Despite differences between various terrorist attack mechanisms, the resulting injury severity and inhospital mortality are very similar, with stabbings and vehicular attacks causing injuries as serious as those caused by conventional weapons.

The victory image: Imaging Israeli warfighting from Lebanon to Gaza

This article interrogates the concept of the ‘victory image’ in Israel as a militarized visual economy. What began as a visual illustration of warfighting became an integral part of operational considerations. My own contribution as an embedded photographer to that economy is used as a prism for larger changes in visual politics. These changes relate to the proliferation of an actuarial gaze as the overarching ordering principle of imaging in the subsequent Gaza Wars. Instead of celebratory images of military achievements, Israeli officials opted for information visualizations to convey a sense of achievement, allowing for the continuation of the ‘visual economy,’ but with Palestinian victims of indiscriminate attacks ignored.

Risks Mitigation of Defacement Attack Vectors on Educational Institution Websites by Using OWASP and Risk IT Frameworks

According to an article published by The Hacker News in 2006 [1] 21.549 websites defaced by Turkish hacker team, Iskorpitx. It was the largest defacement in web history. Zone-h, the largest defaced website archives [2] listing 11.107.846 websites became the victims of defacement attack. So how about educational institution websites? Are they become the target of defacement attack? In point of fact, University of Maryland, North Dakota University, Butler University, Indiana University and Arkansas State University became the victims of data breach by malicious attacker, the data breach was larger than data breach attack on Sony [3]. After analysing the data filtered from Zone-h archives, we retrieved that the defaced websites belong to educational institution in ASEAN countries; Indonesia (11.615 websites), Malaysia (3.512 websites), Singapore (312 websites), Vietnam (3.294 websites), Thailand (9.860 websites), Brunei Darussalam (30 websites), Cambodia (65 websites), LAO PDR (9 websites), Myanmar (6 websites), Philippines (978 websites) have been efaced in 2015. This paper will analyse the motive, attack methods, risks, impacts and mitigations of defacement attack in educational institutions. MECEES, OWASP and Risk IT will be used as framework. Hacked educational institutions will lead to critical risks .

Frameup: An incriminatory attack on Storj: A peer to peer blockchain enabled distributed storage system

In this work we present a primary account of frameup, an incriminatory attack made possible because of existing implementations in distributed peer to peer storage. The frameup attack shows that an adversary has the ability to store unencrypted data on the hard drives of people renting out their hard drive space. This is important to forensic examiners as it opens the door for possibly framing an innocent victim. Our work employs Storj as an example technology, due to its popularity and market size. Storj is a blockchain enabled system that allows people to rent out their hard drive space to other users around the world by employing a cryptocurrency token that is used to pay for the services rendered. It uses blockchain features like a transaction ledger, public/private key encryption, and cryptographic hash functions – but this work is not centered around blockchain. Our work discusses two frameup attacks, a preliminary and an optimized attack, both of which take advantage of Storj's implementation. Results illustrate that Storj allows a potential adversary to store incriminating unencrypted files, or parts of files that are viewable on people's systems when renting out their unused hard drive space. We offer potential solutions to mitigate our discovered attacks, a developed tool to review if a person has been a victim of a frameup attack, and a mechanism for showing that the files were stored on a hard drive without the renter's knowledge. Our hope is that this work will inspire future security and forensics research directions in the exploration of distributed peer to peer storage systems that embrace blockchain and cryptocurrency tokens.

Penetrating head & neck trauma – Epidemiology and injury characteristics in terror-related violence, interpersonal violence and deliberate self-harm at a level 1 trauma centre

IntroductionPenetrating trauma to the head and neck presents specific clinical challenges. Aetiologies include interpersonal violence, deliberate self-harm and terror-related violence. King's College Hospital is a Major Trauma Centre serving inner-city London boroughs with a high incidence of knife and gun crime. It also received victims of the terrorist attack at London Bridge in June 2017. MethodsData was collected prospectively on all patients presenting with penetrating trauma to the head and neck over a one-year period (August 2016–July 2017). ResultsOverall figures for penetrating trauma are the highest since comparable records began with 478 cases (2016/17) compared with 172 (2010/11). Most patients had injuries resulting from interpersonal violence (83%); a group consisting mostly in males (88%) under the age of 30 (69%). The sole fatality among all patients was a result of repeat deliberate self-harm. Terror-related violence victims were equally gender split and older; all patients in this group required surgical intervention and had longer lengths of stay (16.3 days) compared with interpersonal violence (6.3 days) and deliberate self-harm (3 days). ConclusionViolent crime is increasing. Overall penetrating injury has more than doubled in 6 years. The injury characteristics observed are distinct depending on the assailants and motives. Head and neck trauma requires a multidisciplinary approach, with an understanding of the care needs of patients. Interpersonal violence is the most common aetiology and as such efforts to tackle rising violent crime must involve police and the community. In addition, terror-related violence is evolving in the United Kingdom and globally, and as such healthcare professionals must understand differences in aetiologies to promote optimal patient care.

Blurring European and Islamic values or brightening the good – bad Muslim dichotomy? A critical analysis of French Muslim victims of Jihadi terror online on twitter and in Le Monde newspaper

ABSTRACT Victimhood remains under analysed in the Critical Terrorism Studies literature, including the abilities of Muslim victims of terror attacks to blurring social boundaries and possibly de-securitise Muslims in Europe. This is of specific importance in France, which has not only suffered the most terror incidents in Europe in the past five years but also is a country where Muslims have been securitised for decades. This paper uses a mixed methods approach to analyse twitter data for the #jesuisahmed hashtag used to commemorate the Muslim police officer killed in the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and the le monde online memorials created in the wake of the Paris and Nice terror attacks. This analysis demonstrates French Muslim victimhood attacks blur Muslim social boundaries, influences the way that terror events are constructed and also present opportunities for the de-securitisation of Muslims in France. Muslim victimhood does this through three key themes – Muslims being situated as defenders of European values on twitter, Muslim biographies demonstrating “banality” in the le monde online memories and visual nuances of group identity through victim photos included in the le monde memorial. However, these narratives also can re-enforce a problematic good/bad Muslim dichotomy.

Features of treatment of victims of the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg metro (03.4.2017) with severe explosive injuries

Relevance.The realities of modern life do not exclude the risks of terrorist attacks. During explosion, heterogeneous factors simultaneously affect the body, thus involving organs and systems in various combinations in the pathological process.Intention.To analyze results of the treatment of victims with severe explosive wounds resulted from the terrorist attack of April 3, 2017 in the train car of the St. Petersburg metro.Methodology.As a result of the terrorist attack, 10 passengers and the terrorist himself died on the spot, 102 people were recognized as victims. On April 4, 2017, 57 wounded were admitted to the city hospitals, of which four did not survive. Twenty five wounded in the terrorist attack in the St. Petersburg metro car were admitted to the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Emergency Medicine n.a. I.I. Dzhanelidze within the “golden hour”. In 15 of them, injuries were combined with surface thermal burns.Results and Discussion.Five cases with the most severe injuries are described. It was established that multifactorial, combined and multiple of injuries were typical for this pathology. Most victims had severe cranial-brain trauma, shrapnel wounds of soft tissues and gunshot bone fractures. Specialized medical care at the Level I Trauma Centers was characterized by simultaneous admission of several seriously injured, the need to organize several surgical teams, Damage control approach, multidisciplinary and a long-term, multi-stage and very expensive treatment with the participation of surgeons and doctors of various specialties.Conclusion.To achieve the best results, victims with severe explosive injuries should be sent as soon as possible to the Level I Trauma Centers, where up-to-date treatment and diagnostic technologies (spiral-computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, angiography, selective arterial embolization, computerized 3D modeling, etc.) and comprehensive rehabilitation measures are available.

Toxic landfills, survivor trees, and dust cloud memories: More-than-human ecologies of 9/11 memory

The symbolic power of grass, trees, flowers, stones, water, and other everyday objects to evoke more-than-human experiences is a cornerstone of memorial practice. As survivors of traumatic events, nonhuman elements have long been preserved in, even added to, memorial landscapes for their representational capacities to “say what cannot be said.” Beyond their mobilization as passive symbols, the plants themselves also exert a “creative presence” that equally shapes memorial sites, wherein ecologies of memory are negotiated and coconstituted through human and nonhuman lives. In foregrounding ecologies of “9/11” memory and memorialization, this essay draws on more-than-human approaches that emphasize how both human and nonhuman matter and memory emerge from and transform each other in and around lower Manhattan. At the World Trade Center, both human and nonhuman experiences of violence and violation are implicated in the “ecologies of memory” preserved and curated at the site. Focusing on ecologies of 9/11 commemoration, we argue that spatially fixed narratives of trauma obfuscate the environmentally diffuse human victims of the September 11th terror attacks, as well as how nonhuman actors coconstitute, contradict, and transform these memorial spaces. We argue that these memorial spaces employ the affective power of nonhuman actors to reproduce exclusionary narratives of cultural trauma, while obscuring very real environmentally diffuse human victims and ongoing harms, domestically and abroad. As a result of these negotiations, divergent forms of “slow violence” are rendered visible within the memorial landscape.

Sufficiency of Sri Lankan Cyber Crime Laws to Safeguard the It Professionals and Victims of Cyber Attacks

This study is based on Computer Crime Act1 of Sri Lanka. The article has analysed the Computer Crime Act of Sri Lanka on its capability and comprehensiveness on providing legal protection for the IT professionals and victims of cyber-crimes. The article has compared the Computer Crime Act of Sri Lanka with the cyber-crime directives of European Union and has analysed the pros and cons of the Computer Crime Act of Sri Lanka comparatively to the EU cyber-crime directives.

Distinction, Necessity, and Proportionality: Afghan Civilians’ Attitudes toward Wartime Harm

AbstractHow do civilians react to being harmed in war? Existing studies argue that civilian casualties are strategically costly because civilian populations punish a belligerent who kills civilians and support the latter's opponent. Relying on eighty-seven semi-structured interviews with victims of coalition attacks in Afghanistan, this article shows that moral principles inform civilians’ attitudes toward their own harming. Their attitudes may therefore vary with the perceived circumstances of an attack. Civilians’ perception of harm as unintended and necessary, in accordance with the moral principles of distinction and necessity, was associated with narratives that cast an attack as relatively more legitimate and with a partial or full release of the coalition from blame. The principle of proportionality, which requires that civilian casualties are caused in pursuit of a legitimate war aim, informed their abstract attitudes toward civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Two rules of international law, which accord with the moral principles of distinction and necessity, were reflected in the civilians’ attitudes. The legal rule of proportionality, which diverges from the namesake moral principle, failed to resonate with the civilians. The article explores whether compliance with the legal rules of distinction and necessity can contribute to mitigating the strategic costs of civilian casualties.

Public Concern about Terrorism: Fear, Worry, and Support for Anti-Muslim Policies

In the era of 9/11, terrorist attacks occur with sufficient frequency and lethality to constitute a realistic threat to the well-being of the American public. Sensing this concern, politicians emphasize the threat of violent attacks to advance a platform of making public safety a priority. In this context, the authors assess the extent, sources, and emotional impact of the public’s concern about terrorism. On the basis of a national survey of 1,000 Americans, the authors examine levels of fear of a terrorist attack and worry about terrorism relative to other potential harms. They also determine whether concern about terrorism translates into support for homeland security measures that target Muslims. Of the predictors in the authors’ models, gender, religiosity, and psychological distress were most consistently associated with fear of terrorism and worry about being a victim of a terrorist attack. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that terrorism-related fear and worry predict support for anti-Muslim policies.

Contribution of Holter ECG in the etiologic diagnosis of the ischemic stroke in Brazzaville (Congo)

To determine the prevalence of the rhythmic disorders during ischemic stroke, and to identify the predictive factors of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). It was about a cross-sectional study, descriptive and analytical, conducted to Brazzaville between January 2012 and December 2016. It is related to a consecutive series of 267 patients victims of a transient ischemic attack ( n = 17) or ischemic stroke ( n = 250), documented by cerebral tomodensitometry or brain MRI. All these patients profited from a recording 24 h Holter ECG, carried out within the framework of etiologic research. The principal recorded rhythmic anomalies were indexed, and the logistic regression allowed the identification of the predictive factors of PAF. They were 164 men (61.4%) and 103 women (38.6%), old on average of 60.2 ± 12.1 years. The main cardiovascular risk factors were hypertension (80.1%), diabetes (13.5%), and tobacco use (6.7%). The 24 h Holter ECG, normal in 216 cases (81%), was pathological in 51 cases (19%). The principal recorded anomalies consisted into ventricular ectopic beats ( n = 32), PAF ( n = 7), supraventricular ectopic beats ( n = 5), non-sustained ventricular tachycardia ( n = 4), sustained ventricular tachycardia ( n = 2), and type 2 atrioventricular block ( n = 1). The frequency of PAF was 2.6%. In bivariate analysis, it was not noted correlation between PAF and sex ( P = 0.55), hypertension ( P = 0.42), diabetes ( P = 0.64), and tobacco use ( P = 0.61). In multivariate analysis, only the age was the predictive factor of PAF during ischemic stroke ( P = 0.0134). It comes out from this preliminary study that the emboligenous arrhythmias are relatively rare during ischemic stroke in Brazzaville. PAF, though little attends, remains primarily correlated at the age. Its systematic research at the old subjects contributes to improve the assumption of responsibility.

Tele-saga jako narzędzie współtworzenia medialnych narracji: poprawa wizerunku homoseksualnych mężczyzn na przykładzie bohatera "M jak miłość"

In the second half of the first decade of the 21st century, affirmative images of homosexual men began to appear in both Polish cinema and drama series. Several factors contributed to this, including the “influence of the West” after Poland had joined the European Union. Driven by socio-political changes, the improvement of gay men’s media image can be observed on the example of the male character of the Polish soap opera M jak miłość (L for Love) – Grzegorz. In episodes produced in 2003, Grzegorz is an secondary, definitely negative character and represents a serious threat to the heteronormative social structure. Two years later, in 2005, Grzegorz appears in M jak miłość again, this time equipped with positive features: generosity, unselfishness, patience, sensitivity. He implements the “gay best friend” stereotype – is a friend of one of the female protagonists, also becomes a victim of a homophobic attack. However, same like the negative image of homosexual men, the positive image constructed in opposition to it is a sign of a social problem.

End-Point Information Security in the Healthcare Industry: A Critical Review

The ability of the healthcare industry to keep abreast with the evolving trends in endpoint information security depends on combinations of measures. In the current literature, some of these measures include the development of analytics capable of spotting intruders on time, embracing quick reactions to potential or detected intrusions, and the decision to employ robust system defenses. In this paper, the main aim was to review the current literature regarding the subject of endpoint information security, with critical insights gained from the case of the healthcare industry. Findings suggest that the healthcare industry forms one of the most attractive arenas for security attackers. Some of the healthcare organizations that have been victims of recent security attacks include the Californian Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center that experienced a data breach in February 2016 and MedStar Health Inc. (in the same month). In the following month, San Diego’s Alvaro Hospital Medical Center was also targeted for cyber attack. Hence, some algorithms have been proposed to counter these attacks; including the use of SOA-based EHRs, the implementation of the RBAC model, the use of k-anonymity, k-unlinkability, and the SQL searching mechanisms that target the patients’ encrypted data. Also, some strategies have been proposed as best practices in endpoint information security. These strategies include the management of identity lifecycles, the establishment of risk-aware cultures, the management of third-party security compliance, and securing healthcare firms’ devices in terms of design. Overall, it is evident that the complexity of endpoint information security in the healthcare industry (due to the evolution of applications such as virtualization and cloud computing) implies that the ability to survive from future security attacks will depend on the firms’ ability to keep abreast with industry demands.

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Victims of the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack: Twenty Years Later

Introduction: Previous studies found that about 10–30% of terrorist attack survivors suffer mental disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which persist up to 10 years. However, little is known about whether the effects of terrorism on mental health could last for a longer period or whether physical symptoms and secondary victimization are associated with the persistence of mental disorders. Method: A questionnaire survey was conducted with the victims of the Tokyo subway sarin attack in March 1995 (N = 299). Victims’ physical and ophthalmic symptoms, secondary victimization, and posttraumatic stress symptoms were surveyed. For comparison, those who have experienced a stressful event were surveyed with the same instruments as of victims’ survey except secondary victimization. Results: Results indicated that 21.3% of the male and 36.1% of the female victims were in the high-risk group for posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), which did not differ from those of the comparison group. However, victims had physical and ophthalmic symptoms of greater severity than the comparison group. Moreover, we found that PTSS was strongly associated with physical symptoms and secondary victimization. Discussion: There is a need to develop a support system that would be helpful in reducing mental health suffering of terrorist victims. Providing regular physical checkups and building support for those who experience life changes caused by victimization are suggested.

Penetrating Maxillofacial Trauma – epidemiology and injury characteristics in terror-related violence, interpersonal violence and deliberate self-harm at a Level 1 Trauma Centre

Introduction: Penetrating trauma to the head and neck presents specific diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Aetiologies includes interpersonal violence (IPV), deliberate self-harm (DSH) and terror-related violence (TRV). Data from a Major Trauma Centre which straddles the two boroughs with the highest incidence of violent knife crime in the country will be presented, including data of victims of a major terrorist attack in 2017.

L’expertise médicopsychologique en psychotraumatologie (suite) VIII – l’évaluation du déficit fonctionnel grâce au barème du code des pensions militaires et des victimes de la guerre, et du barème applicable au titre de la législation concernant le handicap

Functional incapacity is assessed with a percentage based on an indicative or mandatory definition and assessment, with reference to a scale that differs according to the legal code. We have discussed in a previous article the scales applicable in civil law, which we feel are inaccurate clinical descriptions and underestimates of the percentages in the field of psychiatry. In this new work, we approach two little-known scales: the scale applicable under the Code of Military Pensions and Victims of War and Attacks (CPMIVG), and the scale applicable under the disability legislation. In the field of psychotraumatology, these two texts seem to us at the moment the most precise and the most coherent in terms of sequential description and evaluation of the disability.

من الثكنة إلى المجتمع: دور الخدمة الاجتماعية في تأهيل أبطال الحشد الشعبي (نحو إستراتيجية وطنية)

ان الخدمة الاجتماعية هي عمل مجتمعي، وجهود مشتركة، وخدمات إنسانية يقدمها مختصون أكاديميون (أخصائيون اجتماعيون) بطرقٍ وأساليب علمية وجهود ومنظمة، لتقديم الأدوار العلاجية، والوقائية، والإنمائية بما يخدم حاجات المجتمع الإنساني ومتطلباته سواء على مستوى الفرد أو الجماعة، أو المجتمع ككل، وغالباً ما تقدم تلك الجهود من خلال مؤسسات اجتماعية خاصة، أو عن طريق إدارة وتوجيه عدة مؤسسات بطريقة تشاركيه. وكما يقال فأن المجتمعات تنهض برأسمالها المادي وبما تملكه من ثروات وإمكانيات، وبرأسمالها البشري وما يملكه من خبرات ومؤهلات، لذلك نحن نركز في هذه الدراسة على الاستثمار في المجال البشري (تأهيل قوات الحشد الشعبي) فأن الاستثمار فيهم، يُعدْ جهداً تنموياً ضرورياً لمستقبلهم، ورعاية أفكارهم وبناء شخصياتهم وتنمية مجتمعهم. غير أن مقاتلي الحشد واجهوا أوقاتاً عصيبة، فقد كانوا حطب الحروب وضحايا الاعتداءات والهجمات من ما يسمى تنظيم داعش الإرهابي، فضلاً عما دمرت صعوبات الحياة من: البطالة، والفقر، والتهميش، والتهجير القسري...الخ ، حياة الآلاف منهم وعوائلهم.
 في هذه الدراسة الموجزة نحاول ان نراجع جانباً مهماً من الجهود المبذولة في العراق لبناء قاعدة بيانات موضوعية واسعة، يمكن أن تستثمر لوضع إستراتيجية (عراقية) وطنية، بصورة مباشرة من الجهات ذات العلاقة. أن هدفاً كهذا يتميز بأهمية استثنائية، لاسيما وان العراق مقبل – بأذن الله- على مرحلة تنمية، وبناء وأعمار يحتاج فيها لكل موارده البشرية والمادية وفي مقدمة من يحتاجهم ويعول عليهم هم شريحة الشباب للاستفادة منها في وضع الرؤى ورسم ملامح الخطط المستقبلية، بما في ذلك رعاية (مقاتلي الحشد الشعبي) عبر التعرف على حاجاتهم ومتطلباتهم وصولاً لتنمية قدراتهم وتأهيلهم وبناء شخصياتهم.
 إلا إن ظروفاً معينة قد تحول دون تحقيق تلك المطالب المشروعة، لاسيما حين تكون الحرب قد نالت منهم وأربكت حياتهم، ولم يجدوا من يمد يد العون لهم لانتشالهم من واقع الحرب والعسكرة التي ذاقوا ويلاتها. أن وضع إستراتيجية وطنية مستقبلية سوف تخدم وترعى أفكار الشباب المقاتلين وتوجههم بما يفيد في بناء شخصياتهم وتقويم رؤاهم المستقبلية، فهي أذن مطلب حضاري يقوم على قاعدة التوازن بين الأجيال ويأخذ في الاعتبار ثقافة المجتمع، و وقيمه، وعاداته، وتقاليده لتوجيه أفكار أولئك المقاتلين بما يخدم وطنهم، دون إهمال لقيم الحداثة والاهتمام بالتحديث لمتطلبات التطور الاجتماعي. في هذه الدراسة : سنراجع بعض الجهود العلمية التي من الممكن ان تشكل منطلقات أساسية للإستراتيجية المطلوبة. فضلاّ عن بعض المقترحات حول الإستراتيجية الوطنية المستقبلية لخدمة (عناصر الحشد الشعبي) ودعم شخصياتهم وتوجيه رؤاهم المستقبلية نحو الأفضل والأحسن.
 أن صياغة هذه الإستراتيجية الوطنية المستقبلية تتطلب من متخذي القرار ما يأتي:-
 
 تحديد الفئات العمرية التي ينبغي التركيز عليها في مرحلة زمنية معينة.
 تحديد الموضوعات التي يجب التركيز عليها لتخدم وتوجه الواقع الفعلي لبناء تلك الإستراتيجية.
 ما هي الوسائل الملائمة لتحقي ذلك الهدف بطريقةٍ موضوعية.
 تحدي الآليات التي يتعين وضعها لإنجاز هذا المشروع الوطني لخدمة العراق وبناء مستقبله وتنمية المجتمع تنمية مستدامة.
 من جانب آخر حرصنا في ثنايا هذه الدراسة على أن نُقدم مقترحات وآراء للخروج من الأزمة –الحرب والإرهاب- من خلال التعرف على عواملها وتضميد الجراحات التي نجمت عنها، وتفعيل دور المؤسسات الحكومية والمنظمات المجتمعية الداعمة.
 
 في المجتمعات المأزومة، حيث الحروب، والنزاعات، والكوارث الإنسانية، وحيث الكراهية وانهيار الضوابط والمنظومات الأخلاقية، وحيث البحث عن أمل في خضم ركام الانهيارات، والمشكلات الاجتماعية وفشل محاولات استعادة الوضع الطبيعي، يكون البشر في العادة حطب الأزمات، وأولى ضحاياها فهم غالباً، الجنود الذين يدفع بهم إلى ميادين الحرب والصراع الملتهبة، وهم أيضاً الذين تستغل طاقاتهم واندفاعاتهم وعواطفهم الجياشة لخوض مأساة ما بعد الحرب. فحين تضع الحروب أوزارها... وتقف دوامة العنف، ويستعيد الناس وعيهم، تبدأ معاناة أخرى للمقاتلين المشتركين في الدفاع عن الوطن، فإذا بهم يكونا ضحايا مرة أخرى لمفرزات الحرب من: الفقر والبطالة، والتهميش والإحباط وغالباً ما تتأخر المؤسسات الرسمية في الاستماع لمعاناتهم وتشخيص مشكلاتهم، ولذلك تزداد مشاعر الألم في نفوسهم. في هذه الدراسة البحثية سنتناول موضوعاً مهماً وهو بناء إستراتيجية لتحسين أحوال مجتمعنا فنحن ومنذ سنوات تراكمت آثارها في أزماتٍ متواصلةٍ يدفع شبابنا الجزء الأكبر من ثمنها قتلاً، ومرضاً، وإحباطاً، وبطالة وفقراً ، فما هو الأثر الذي يمكن لنا ان نقدمه كخطوات عمليه لتحقيق الخلاص في ذلك المسعى.
 من مذكرات جندي أدمن الحرب والعسكرة... فهو يحتاج إلى تأهيل(*)... في الواقع أنَّ الحروب والصراعات كانت إحدى السمات البارزة التي أتّسمت بها حياتي العملية!!! فثمة أحداث مدفونة في ذاكرتي، وليس من السهل استحضارها... تعلمت في مرحلةٍ مُبكرة أنَّ الحرب تولّد ثقافة خاصة بها. إنَّ لظروف المعركة جاذبية ولهذه الجاذبية فترة إدمان، ذلك لأن الحرب كالعِقار المُخدَّر، وقد تجرّعتُ هذا العِقار لسنوات كثيرة. وصانعو الأساطير هم الذين يُروّجون لهذا المُخّدر سواء كانوا كُتاباً مؤرخين أو مراسلين عسكريين أو مُخرجي أفلام أو روائيين، والدولة نفسها بطبيعة الحال...كل هؤلاء يضفون على "الحرب" صفات كثيراً ما تكون في محلها، مثل: الإثارة، ظروف غير مألوفة، الشعور بالقوة، توفير الفرصة للفرد لتحسين وضعه المعيشي أو الاجتماعي. إنَّ ظروف الحرب تقيم عالماً عجيباً غريباً!! جميلاً ومظلماً في آن... فهي -الحرب- تُهيمن على الثقافة وتحتويها.. وتشوّه الذاكرة.. وتُفسد اللغة.. وتُصيب بالعدوى كل شيء تلامسه.. وتطال حتى الفكاهات فتُصيرها روايات مريضة تدور حول الموت والأحداث القذرة...
 
 *) ) كرس هدجر، الحرب: حقيقتها وآثارها، تعريب: أيمن الارمنازي، الحوار الثقافي، ط1، لبنان، 2005.

Detecting Cross-Site Scripting in Web Applications Using Fuzzy Inference System

With improvement in computing and technological advancements, web-based applications are now ubiquitous on the Internet. However, these web applications are becoming prone to vulnerabilities which have led to theft of confidential information, data loss, and denial of data access in the course of information transmission. Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a form of web security attack which involves the injection of malicious codes into web applications from untrusted sources. Interestingly, recent research studies on the web application security centre focus on attack prevention and mechanisms for secure coding; recent methods for those attacks do not only generate high false positives but also have little considerations for the users who oftentimes are the victims of malicious attacks. Motivated by this problem, this paper describes an “intelligent” tool for detecting cross-site scripting flaws in web applications. This paper describes the method implemented based on fuzzy logic to detect classic XSS weaknesses and to provide some results on experimentations. Our detection framework recorded 15% improvement in accuracy and 0.01% reduction in the false-positive rate which is considerably lower than that found in the existing work by Koli et al. Our approach also serves as a decision-making tool for the users.

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) as a confirmatory and rapid DNA detection method for grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) predation on harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)

An increasing number of harbour porpoises along the coastlines of northern Europe are victims of attacks by preying grey seals. To confirm grey seal attacks at a molecular level, a fast loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method was developed, based on the amplification of the cytochrome b target gene. With this method, saliva residues within bite marks, presumably originating from grey seal attacks, can be detected on-site, using a swab-based method in combination with a portable real-time fluorometer (Genie® II). The developed LAMP assay included an internal amplification control and was validated for the sensitivity, specificity, limit of detection and a spiking experiment was performed with saliva samples from two grey seals. Finally, three stranded harbour porpoises, with injury patterns presumably originating from grey seal attacks, were analysed. Grey seal DNA was successfully determined in a bite mark of one harbour porpoise with the LAMP method. For direct on-site molecular biological investigations without the opportunity to perform more time-consuming and equipment intensive PCR investigations, the developed rapid LAMP assay offers the possibility to confirm that injuries, probably caused by a grey seal, indeed resulted from a grey seal attack.