Weapons In Warfare Research Articles

Development, Strategies, and Challenges for Tularemia Vaccine.

Francisella tularensis is a facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen that affects both humans and animals. It was developed into a biological warfare weapon as a result. In this article, the current status of tularemia vaccine development is presented. A live-attenuated vaccine that was designed over 50years ago using the less virulent F. tularensis subspecies holarctica is the only prophylactic currently available, but it has not been approved for use in humans or animals. Other promising live, killed, and subunit vaccine candidates have recently been developed and tested in animal models. This study will investigate some possible vaccines and the challenges they face during development.

United Nations’ Policy on Weapons of Warfare and the Implication on Global Peace and Security

Armed conflict is a part of evolution of man and international relations. It is a transitional era which must be conducted in such a manner that would not make a return to peace impossible. The earth’s environment is usually battered by the preparation, conduct and consequences of war. According to the World Charter on Nature of 1982, “nature shall be secured against degradation caused by warfare or other hostile activities, and that military activity damaging to nature shall be avoided”. Armed warfare (international and non-international) are waged differently across the globe today with a resultant widespread impacts on the members of the society and the environment. Although, armed conflict is inevitable, dedicated sections of this study discussed the concept of warfare, typologies, causes of warfare, categories of weapons of warfare, its effect on the environment and the implication of United Nations’ restriction policy on global peace and security. The study probed into existing literatures and consider the related Treaties, Conventions and Protocols set-forth to restrict and prohibit the exploitation of violence and diverse methods of warfare in all armed conflict whether domestic or international. The study have observed that the activities of combating parties have had negative impact on the environment, civilian objects and animals. Their engagement has led to loss of lives, destruction of public properties, basic social amenities and superfluous injury and unnecessary suffering on non-combatant. Despite United Nation establishing ‘rules of engagement’ to mitigate the suffering caused by warfare, it is pitiful to note that nations around the world have continued to engage in the deployment of prohibited weapons in warfare. Hence, the study concluded and feature recommendations for all levels of weapon policy apparatus as well as solutions to ensure global peace and stability.

The perception of the Tiktok platform as China’s sharp power instrument in US politics

Public diplomacy can be defined as managing a country’s foreign policy objectives and protecting its national interests by establishing direct social relations and communication with the citizen or government of another country. Public diplomacy, which we know that each country has its own strategy, is handled from a different perspective in China as well. China, which has been identified with the concept of sharp power is confronted with the claims of the new rival of the USA. Recently, claims from the United States that China-based social media platform TikTok has been carrying out sharp power activities have come to the fore. TikTok is considered to be a major force for China as it has over one billion active users. However, there are debates as to whether China manipulates the peoples of other countries through this practice. Censorship and manipulation, the two main concepts of sharp power, are used in TikTok or does TikTok exist independently? The purpose of this article is to explore whether the TikTok platform, one of China's important public diplomacy tools, is perceived as a threat by American politicians. For this purpose, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s US Congress testimony were analyzed by content analysis method. As a result, it has been confirmed that American politicians perceive TikTok as a sharp power instrument of the Chinese Communist Party. It has been observed that concerns have been expressed about the concepts of censorship, manipulation, propaganda, control, and influence, which are the five elements of sharp power. It has been found that the TikTok platform is perceived as a propaganda device, a psychological warfare weapon, and not a public diplomacy tool or soft power element.

The Process of Virtual Social Media Warfare and the Mechanism of Divergence from the Truth

Disinformation, a longstanding weapon in warfare, skilfully employs technological tools to deceive adversaries and secure strategic advantages. In today’s digital age, social media wields unprecedented power, overshadowing traditional media in access and technology, consequently fuelling the alarming surge in disinformation. The personalization of media content perpetuates echo chambers, stifling exposure to diverse perspectives. This insidious synergy between feedback loops and disinformation perpetuates a self-sustaining cycle, distancing us from the truth and cementing ideological divides. Social media users find themselves ensnared in this disinformation warfare, with evolving technology continually heightening the challenges we face.

State-Feedback Control Design for the Cannon Stability System

Abstract— Tanks have an important role in protecting a region in the event of a battle. The tank's cannon is a very reliable weapon in warfare. However, the cannon's precision while aiming and firing targets is a concern. A control system must be created to increase the cannon's stability and precision. The state feedback control technique with a full-state observer is the control system that can manage cannon disturbances. The control system is built around three DC motors, each of which operates the cannon’s x, y, and z axes. Then performed tests for each axis at an angle of 90 degrees, The state feedback control with a full state observer can produce outstanding performance, with the time required for the cannon to reach the target angle was 0.51 seconds, and the cannon system had 0% overshoot.

Perception of Fifth Generation Warfare Among Social Media Users: A Case of Punjab University Students

Due to its colonial past, the public of Pakistan is conscious about their country’s security and sovereignty. The communication tools are now being used as a weapon in warfare. Pakistan has seen significant exposure to 5GW during the past ten years; it needs to reassess and modify its national security plan, warfare strategies, and military orientations. Conventional, irregular, combatants, civilians, cyber warfare, nanotechnology, indirect political approaches and even Artificial Intelligence (AI) are being used in 5GW. This study aims to know the perception of young educated social media users about fifth generation warfare itself and interference of international institutes/countries in 5GW. Using the survey technique, 292 responses from different departments of University of the Punjab were gathered and analyzed descriptively on SPSS in the light of Agenda setting theory. The results approved the hypothesis that university students are acquainted in some way with the notion of 5GW as well as conventional and non-conventional forms of warfare. Moreover, they also believed that powerful countries and institutes are influencing the 5GW in Pakistan.

Penggunaan Cyber Warfare dalam Konflik Bersenjata Internasional Antara Rusia-Ukraina Menurut Hukum Humaniter Internasional

Today's the advancements of technology have an impact on many aspects of life, including health, education, transportation, business, information communication, and government administration. Nonetheless, given the strong relationship between technology and the military, technology advancements could lead to a war. The sheer proliferation of technologies implemented in military operations spawned technology-based warfare called cyber warfare. Cyber warfare refers to wars carried out through the virtual world and is coordinated with conventional warfare. In cyber warfare, opposing countries perform cyber operations through cyberspace as the latest weapon of warfare launched to destabilize the national security and stability of the target state. The current cyber warfare is in the international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This article analyses the deployment of cyber warfare in international armed conflict from the international humanitarian law perspective, and it also investigates Russia's use of cyber warfare against Ukraine. The purpose of this article is to understand how international humanitarian law rules the use of cyber warfare in international armed conflicts, in addition to the way Russia employs cyber warfare against Ukraine. This article is normative law research which uses the statute approach with juridical-normative research method. The findings found that cyber warfare carried out within the framework of international armed conflict is subject to international humanitarian law and that its use is also restricted by the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. The research also found that Russia's cyber warfare against Ukraine in an international armed conflict is against the principles of differentiation and proportionality.

우크라이나 전쟁에 대한 영국의 대러시아 ‘법률전쟁(Lawfare)’

The purpose of this article is to examine the UK’s response to on-going Ukrainian War through the frame of ‘lawfare’. The term lawfare is a compound word with law and warfare describing certain circumstances or cases where the law is used as a means for achieving strategic objectives like weapons in warfare. Given that both Russia’s justification for invasion as well as international community’s responses to Russia are based on various principles of international law, such an analysis will provide another insightful perspective to understand these complicated legal actions and discourses. To that end, this article first explores the concept of lawfare in international law and the notion of instrumentalising the law for justifying certain actions. Based on this understanding this paper will apply the frame of lawfare to the UK’s responses to Russia’s violation of international law. Here, the UK’s bilateral and multilateral conducts of lawfare will be addressed. Then, an appraisal and some reflections on the concept of lawfare will be followed.

Fused human paraoxonase 1 as a prophylactic agent against organophosphate poisoning

Organophosphates (OPs) are highly neurotoxic compounds and certain OP-compounds are also exploited as a weapon of mass destruction and chemical warfare in terrorist attacks. Available prophylactic and post-exposure treatments are less effective and also have serious side-effects. Thus, there is a dire need to develop effective and safe prophylactic agent(s) against OP-poisoning. Human Paraoxonase 1 (hPON1) can hydrolyze a wide range of OP molecules and can be developed as an effective and safe prophylactic agent. Thus, there is a dire need in the art to develop variant(s) of rhPON1 that not only possess ‘good’ OP-hydrolyzing activity but also have improved pharmacokinetic properties. In this report, we describe the characterization of the fused hPON1 (FHP) variant that not only exhibit enhanced in vivo pharmacokinetic properties but also delay / prevent the symptoms of OP-poisoning and prevents OP-induced mortality in rats.

Introduction to Call for Papers on Ethics of War

Introduction to Call for Papers on Ethics of War

EVOLUTIONARY MODEL OF ARTISTIC WAR REPORTING

The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that the media today are an active participant in confrontation in military conflicts, representing a weapon of information warfare and shaping the discourse of perception of the conflict both at the front and in the rear, as well as at the level of the world community. The purpose of the article is to trace the evolution of artistic (fiction) war reporting within the framework of military journalism, starting from the First World War and ending with today's war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The methodological basis of the article was made up of both general scientific and historical-comparative research methods, which made it possible to identify synchronic and diachronic patterns of military journalism. The study revealed the role of the media in covering armed conflicts and found that in the process of media representation and mediatization of armed conflicts, a certain public opinion is formed. The media, independently or under the influence of politicians and the military, create a mediatized image of a conflict situation and armed confrontation for the mass audience. In particular, the propaganda function of such reports is noted ‑ namely journalists strengthen morale at the front and in the rear, at the same time, however, broadcasting the attitudes of the perception of the conflict. The need to understand the specifics of the participation of journalists writing in the genre of artistic war reporting in military-political communication is emphasized, as well as the feasibility of further research aimed at determining the degree of participation of journalism in the formation and consolidation of the final image of the war in the public consciousness and culture at the national and international levels.

Az onkokardiológia kialakulása

In our days, the worldwide leading cause of mortality is cardiovascular, and the second place is held by cancer diseases. Actually, we achieved a significant breakthrough in cancer treatment through multi-disciplinary cooperation but parallel there were emerging cardiac side effects. Several hundred years earlier all cancer patients were considered uncurable, and they were labelled this way through many centuries. Some people are thinking the same way even in our days. The first therapeutic initiatives were surgical operations aiming to remove cancer tissues. These therapeutic approach flourished in the surgeons’ century by spreading of general anaesthesia. At the end of the 19th century, a new diagnostic and therapeutic approach used the X-ray technique which spread fast throughout the world. In the middle of the 20th century, scientist started to investigate the chemical weapons of warfare and discovered, that these lessened the progression of some cancer types. Thanks to these discoveries, there was introduced the first anti-cancer drug aminoptein that opened the era of chemotherapy. However, after a few years, it was realized that some patients treated by pharmaceuticals of the antraciklin groups developed heart failure. This phenomenon instigated more scientists to investigate heart-related side effects. Later, there were observed similar side effects as developing high blood pressure and ECG anomalies in patients treated with further chemicals such as HER-2 blocking herceptin and multi-kinase inhibitors. These researcher outcomes were more and more noticed in the practical cardiology in patients treated previously by chemotherapy. Finally, in 2016 the European Society of Cardiology issued the first guideline about the side effects of cancer chemotherapy patients, which started the era of on-cardiology. Since 2016, the once-cardiology become a new medical discipline that concerns the prevention of complications, and the recognition and treatment of heart-related side effects. In the same year was founded the Hungarian Onko-cardiology Society which is translating, spreading and exposing the actual guidelines and holds annual conferences for postgraduate training.

The War Feed: Digital War in Plain Sight

Today’s Russian war against Ukraine is unique in its unfolding through a prism of personalized realities, made and remade for individuals, in what we call the “war feed.” This is a new disruptor of war fought in plain sight, revolutionizing both war and media, in and through a frenzy of participation in immediate yet continuous, personalized yet global, digital feeds. The war feed renders the war in and against Ukraine up close and personal. Never have so many images and videos of human suffering and death in war been so quickly available, streaming from the battlefield. A digital multitude posting, liking, sharing, and applauding each individual image or short form video, are all participants in a fractalized psychological war. In this article we propose that the war feed transforms the way war today is perceived, participated in, and fought over, but also how it will be remembered and forgotten. We focus on the messaging app Telegram as a rapidly evolving weapon of psychological warfare, which utterly disrupts the relationship between the showing, hiding, and the seeing of modern war. There seems little point in raging against ineffectual moderation and regulation of social media platforms, whilst the world burns on Telegram.

A Study of Online Database Servers: The Case of SQL - Injection, How Evil that could be?

SQL injection attack is one of the most serious security vulnerabilities in many Databases Managements systems. Most of these vulnerabilities are caused by lack of input validation and SQL parameters used particularity at this time of technology revolution. The results of a SQL injection attack (SQLIA) are unpleasant because the attacker could wipe the entire contents of the victim's database or shut it down. As such, SQLIA can be used as important weapons in cyber warfare. As an attempt of breaching of number of application data bases systems two SQL injection techniques were used to successful locating vulnerable points during this research which are Blind Text Injection Differential and Error based Exploitation. The motivations behind were to find out where the databases systems are most likely to face an attack and proactively shore up those weaknesses before exploitation by hackers. The success of both techniques is a result of poor web server (online database server) design especially in the selection of error messages (or answers) they display to website users if something goes wrong. The approach through examination of error messages (error codes) did enable to precisely know the backend Database Management System (DBMS) type and version and what exactly are parameters (variables) which can allow “illegally” injecting codes (a SQL query). Additionally, the paper presents SQLIA cases and their impact in Tanzania cyber space as well as it suggests the possible mitigation ways while reflecting the collected data with what currently existing in cyberworld as far as SQL injection attack is concern to present the reality.

NUCLEAR DETERRENCE AND NUCLEAR INTIMIDATION IN RUSSIA’S POLICY

Nuclear weapons play a key role in Russia’s security thinking. Concepts of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons by the Russian Federation include both doctrinally defined nuclear deterrence and doctrinally indefinite nuclear intimidation. The latter has become a central element of the hybrid war waged by Russia. The failure to achieve the initial goals of Russian large-scale military aggression against Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022, has affected Russia’s nuclear policy. The criteria for the use of nuclear weapons in conventional warfare and the forms of nuclear intimidation have changed.
 The effectiveness of Russia’s nuclear policy depends on the degree of compliance of its components with established international norms, formed within the framework of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. These norms can be defined as the global nuclear order. Russia’s policy of nuclear intimidation falls out of this order and creates a “nuclear disorder”. Currently, it is losing effectiveness for the Russian leadership, since it is increasingly seen as a “nuclear bluff”. Russia is trying to hide its nuclear intimidation behind the doctrinal provisions of nuclear deterrence, which generally remains effective.
 In the war against Ukraine, Russia is actively trying to artificially create criteria for the use of nuclear weapons that would formally correspond to the global nuclear order, while leaving room for nuclear intimidation. In particular, this may explain accusations against Ukraine of developing weapons of mass destruction and Russia’s attempts to annex the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories as soon as possible.
 The creation of a postwar architecture of international security will require bringing Russian nuclear policy to the norms of the global nuclear order.

A Study on Success Rate of Different Management Options for Traumatic Peripheral Vascular Injury

Introduction: Traumatic vascular injury is caused by explosions and projectiles which may affect arteries and veins of the limbs, and is common in wartime and RTA, triggering bleeding and ischemia. The increasing use of high-energy weapons in modern warfare is associated with severe vascular injuries. The peripheral arteries and veins of the extremities are among the most commonly injured vessels in both civilian and military vascular trauma. Vascular injuries are classified as contusion, intimal disruption, puncture, lateral disruption, transections with hemorrhage or occlusion, arteriovenous fistula, spasm, and pseudoaneurysms. Any kind of bleeding whether inside or outside of the body is a sign of vascular trauma. Symptoms of vascular trauma include bleeding, swelling and/or pain, bruising, and a lump beneath the skin (haematoma). Patients with emergency peripheral vascular injury are usually diagnosed clinically. Non-invasive tests may confirm the diagnosis and are useful in-patient follow-up. Invasive tests can document the lesion and extent of disease if angiogram, angioplasty, local fibrinolytic therapy, or surgical bypass is contemplated. With the change of time background, the treatment of vascular injury is also changing. Nowadays advanced medical equipment provides benefits to patients with vascular injuries. Meanwhile, traditional treatments are still playing an important role. If vascular trauma has not been treated in time, it may cause disability or even death, especially for limb vascular injury. There are several management options for traumatic peripheral vascular injury including some interventional and non-interventional therapies. The study aimed to analyze the Success Rate of different management options for traumatic peripheral vascular injury. Methods: This retrospective study was carried out among fifty cases who attended in the vascular surgery department at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (NICVD) and casualty block, .....

Immunoinformatic analysis of the whole proteome for vaccine design: An application to Clostridium perfringens.

Clostridium perfringens is a dangerous bacterium and known biological warfare weapon associated with several diseases, whose lethal toxins can produce necrosis in humans. However, there is no safe and fully effective vaccine against C. perfringens for humans yet. To address this problem, we computationally screened its whole proteome, identifying highly immunogenic proteins, domains, and epitopes. First, we identified that the proteins with the highest epitope density are Collagenase A, Exo-alpha-sialidase, alpha n-acetylglucosaminidase and hyaluronoglucosaminidase, representing potential recombinant vaccine candidates. Second, we further explored the toxins, finding that the non-toxic domain of Perfringolysin O is enriched in CTL and HTL epitopes. This domain could be used as a potential sub-unit vaccine to combat gas gangrene. And third, we designed a multi-epitope protein containing 24 HTL-epitopes and 34 CTL-epitopes from extracellular regions of transmembrane proteins. Also, we analyzed the structural properties of this novel protein using molecular dynamics. Altogether, we are presenting a thorough immunoinformatic exploration of the whole proteome of C. perfringens, as well as promising whole-protein, domain-based and multi-epitope vaccine candidates. These can be evaluated in preclinical trials to assess their immunogenicity and protection against C. perfringens infection.

Assessment of The Impact of Tiv Spiritual Weapons of Warfare on Countering Insecurity in Nigeria

This study considers the impact of Tiv spiritual weapons of warfare on countering insecurity in Nigeria. The study sampled 382 out of the population of 75,000. The snowball sampling technique was used in selecting the subjects for the study. Mean and standard deviation statistics was used in answering the research questions. The study found that there are different types of insecurities rampaging in Nigeria such as herdsmen terrorism and violence against Christian women and children, Boko Haram insurgency, armed robbery and kidnapping among others. This is due to the fact that there is failure of security agencies in the country in the intelligence services to contain the recurring security breaches and the judiciary’s compromise of cases that concern insecurity, among other factors. It is therefore, recommended that the security agents should adapt the use of Tiv spiritual weapons of warfare such as Ikyombo í Amazar (nocturnal atomic bomb), Ivyaan í Mbatugh(nocturnal arrow), Kper ú Mbatugh(nocturnal cast net), Iyou í Mbatugh(nocturnal bees), Gberkpugh ú Mbatugh(nocturnal bullet and cut proof) and Gberkpugh ú Tan(diurnal bullet and cut proof) for countering insecurity in Nigeria.

Bone spearheads from the Late Prehispanic Period of Sierras of Cordoba (Argentina)

AbstractThe archaeological record of the Late Prehispanic Period of Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina (~1220–330 cal BP) has revealed a rich and highly developed bone industry. The worked bones are purported to include various types of hunting or warfare weapons such as arrowheads, knives and daggers, or bleeders. However, most of the latter two tools can now be interpreted as spear or spear‐thrower dart heads based on ethnographic and macro‐wear studies. Thus, the aim of this article is to present the techno‐typological and functional analysis carried out on the bone spearheads collected at the San Roque archaeological locality (Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina). Spearheads are defined as massive and strong pointed tools that are suitable for hafting to a shaft about 15 mm or more in diameter, which corresponds to ethnographic spears or darts. The tools were assigned to the Late Prehispanic Period based on their similarity with those recovered in neighboring sites and regions during the last 1,500 years. The study supports the contention that Late Prehispanic people developed a variable and highly sophisticated set of weapons suitable for taking any animal resource when encountered, minimizing the cost of failure in the capture of the prey they depended on. However, warfare and the use of spears in raids against other groups need to be taken into account because evidence of physical interpersonal violence increases in the Late Prehispanic Period. Finally, it is proposed that museum collections can provide valuable data for archaeologists, mostly when artifacts with low frequency in modern excavations are the focus of the analysis.

Chemical Agent Use in Terrorist Events: A Gathering Storm Requiring Enhanced Civilian Preparedness.

The use of chemical weapons in terrorist attacks, though rare, remains a significant challenge and concern due to their ability to inflict mass casualties. Chemical attacks remain a topic of interest for Disaster Medicine (DM) and Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM) specialists and are clearly an area in need of enhanced preparedness. This study aims to provide an epidemiological description of all terrorism-related attacks using chemical agents as a primary weapon, sustained from 1970 - 2019. These data will be useful in the development of education programs in CTM and provide an insight into how best to prepare for potential attacks in the future. Data collection was performed using a retrospective database search through the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). The GTD was searched using the internal database search functions for all events using chemical weapons as a primary attack method from January 1, 1970 - December 31, 2019. Years 2020 and 2021 were not yet available at the time of the study. The GTD also details the specific chemical used, when known, in the summary of incidents. Results were exported into an Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Corp.; Redmond, Washington USA) for analysis. A total of 292 terrorist attacks involving chemical agents as a primary attack method were recorded from 1970 - 2019, registering 284 deaths and 13,267 injuries. Acid (52) was the most commonly used chemical agent, followed by "unspecified poison" (43), "unknown chemical agents" (29), "unspecified gas" (27), tear gas (27), chlorine gas (24), cyanide (21), mercury (9), pepper spray or mace (9), mustard gas (8), insecticide or 1080 (8), diphenylamine chloroarsine (7), phosphate or phosphorous (3), sodium hydroxide or corrosive liquid (3), sarin (2), "unspecified drugs" (2), VX nerve gas and other nerve gas (2), pesticides (2), cleaning chemicals/paint thinner (2), ammonia (2), anesthesia agent (1), arsenic (1), chlorine and mustard gas mix (1), phenarsazine chloride (1), rat poison (1), unknown irritative gas (1), hydrochloric acid and sodium cyanide mix (1), unknown white powder (1), antiseptic dye (1), and chlorine gas and white phosphorous mix (1). The use of chemical weapons in warfare, though prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), remains a rare but concerning terrorist attack methodology. In recent years, there have been more instances where potentially deadly chemicals have been used in civilian settings. Dual use industrial chemicals, in particular, pose a significant concern. Acid was the most commonly used chemical weapon in 52 attacks. Tear gas, chlorine, and cyanide were each used in over 20 attacks. Both DM and CTM specialists advocate for better preparedness and response training for intentional events in civilian settings.