Information and communications technologies, strategic asymmetry and national security

In the history of warfare, there are a number of examples of strategic uses of asymmetric technologies. Consistent with history and theory, individuals, organizations and nations have spotted opportunities to employ information and communications technologies to gain and exploit asymmetric advantages and to counter asymmetric weaknesses. This article discusses various asymmetries associated with institutions, nations and organizations that influence the ICT-national security nexus. Regulative, normative and cognitive institutions in a country provide various mechanisms that affect the nature of positive and negative asymmetries. Nations and organizations also differ in terms of their capability to assimilate ICT tools to gain positive asymmetries and deal with vulnerabilities of negative asymmetries. Integrative approaches that combine policy and technological measures at various levels are likely to make the world more secure.     

Psychophysiological Reactivity in Child Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse has physiological and emotional implications. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the neurobiological sequels of childhood sexual trauma by monitoring physiological variables among sexually abused girls and women compared to controls. We assessed posttrauma and traumatic life events of 35 females sexually abused in their childhood (age range 7–51 years) and 25 control females (age range 7–54 years). Electroencephalography, frontalis electromyography, electrodermal activity, and heart rate parameters were recorded while watching sets of pictures representing neutral and trauma-suggestive stimuli. A minority of participants met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. Abused females displayed significant elevations in heart rate, electromyography, and electroencephalography while viewing allusive stimuli and elevated heart rate while viewing neutral stimuli. The dysfunctional regulation of the physiological stress system associated with child sexual abuse may endanger the victims with various stress and anxiety disorders.     

Alterations in IGF-I affect elderly: role of physical activity

The growth hormone–insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) axis is an important physiological regulator muscle for development. Although there is evidence that aging muscle retains the ability to synthesize IGF-I, there is also evidence that aging may be associated with attenuation of the ability of exercise to induce an isoform of IGF-I that promotes satellite cell proliferation. However, it is clear that overexpression of IGF-I in the muscle can protect against age-related sarcopenia. Strength training appears to be the intervention of choice for the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia. IGF-I has been implicated in the loss of the muscle with age, and IGF-I expression levels change as a consequence of strength training in older adults. However, it seems that advancing age, rather than declining serum levels of IGF-I, appears to be a major determinant of life-time changes in body composition in women and men. We concluded that resistive exercise is a significant determinant of muscle mass and function. Elevated levels of IGF-I have been found in physically active compared to sedentary individuals. Recent work suggests that IGF-I as a mediator plays an important role in muscle hypertrophy and angiogenesis, both of which characterize the anabolic adaptation of muscles to exercise.     

Internal Migration of Ethno‐national Minorities: The Case of Arabs in Israel

Recent scholarship emphasizes differences among ethnic groups' internal migration patterns. Yet, with few exceptions, research has focused on the Anglo‐American world, neglecting experiences from other regions. This paper is part of a larger research project that studies mobility among the Arab minority in Israel and its driving forces. In this paper we examine patterns of internal migration by analysing the propensity to migrate as well as migrants' individual and social characteristics. First, we survey the theoretical backdrop that is suggested by recent geographic literature on internal migration among ethnic and racial minorities, including native groups. Second, we contextualize the group studied, providing necessary background information on the political, socio‐economic and demographic conditions of Arabs in Israel. We briefly discuss attributes that are – or have been – potential hindering factors to Arab mobility in the Jewish state. Finally, we analyse 1995 national census data at the micro scale and provide a basis for future explanations of the phenomenon. We conclude by outlying some future directions in the study of internal migration of minorities in Israel.     

The variability of rainfall acidity

Two years of rainfall acidity data for the eastern United States were analyzed. The data consist of rainfall-event pH measurements from a nine station monitoring network. A spatio-temporal stochastic model, including deterministic components for seasonal variation and rainfall washout, and stochastic components for spatial, temporal, and measurement variation, was fitted to the data. The fitted autocorrelation structure from this model was used, in the process known as Kriging, to obtain BLUE contour maps of seasonal and rainfall adjusted yearly average pH over the monitoring region.     

Academicals

Abstract

Category/continuum thinking is measured and the effects of dissonance between thought styles and response formats on the ability to predict behavior from measured attitude are investigated. Dissonance is found to have a substantial effect which is attributable primarily to distortions produced when females who tend toward continuum thinking are forced to respond in categories. Contrary to usual practice, continuum formats are found to be generally more adequate than category formats. The implications of the conclusions for theory and research are discussed.     

Studying-Up and Studying-Across: At-Home Research of Governmental Violence Organizations

Studying the military and other security organizations is challenging for both methodological and ethical reasons. Studying these domains “at home,” literally in the researcher’s own country, complicates things even further. This article discusses these intricacies by proposing a dynamic conceptualization of the subject-object relationship in the study of the military and security in Israel. This conceptualization illuminates the effects of the dynamic positioning of the researcher in four social fields: the academic, the military-security, gender, and the ethno-national. The actual influence of these fields and their interrelations changes throughout the phases of research. We argue that when researchers and their respondents have similar ethno-national affiliation and military experiences, the dichotomous relations between them break down and give way to a dense web of expectations. This brings the researcher to maneuver between two, ostensibly contradictory, research strategies: studying-up and studying-across. The paper unpacks the complexities encapsulated in these strategies by discussing methodological and ethical dilemmas in two field studies on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict conducted by the authors.     

Optimal health and function among the elderly: lessening severity of ADL disability

Despite mounting evidence implicating sedentary behavior as a significant risk factor among the elderly, there is a limited amount of information on the type and amount of activity needed to promote optimal health and function in older people. Overall muscle strength and mass decline 30–50% between the ages of 30 and 80. The loss of muscle mass accounts for most of the observed loss of strength. The loss of muscle tissue is due to a decrease in the number of muscle fibers and to atrophy of the type II muscle fibers. The declining strength reduces the capacity to carry out basic activities of daily life and puts people at risk for falls and dependence on others. The objective of the present review is to examine the role of exercise training as a primary tool for increasing cardiopulmonary and muscular fitness in order to lessen the severity of disability in activities of daily living and to attain optimal health and functioning among the elderly.