The United States Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, June 30, 1946

https://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_ebooks/1000/thumbnail.jp

Neutral Military Observers Group (NMOG) Activities in Rwanda

NMOG was led by Nigerian General Ekundayo B. Opaleye. The international peacekeeping force was set up to enforce a ceasefire agreement between the Rwanda gov and RPF. This report specifies the needs of NMOG and future recommendations.https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/rawson_rwanda/1200/thumbnail.jp

Development and…What? New Perspective for the Disarmament and Development Debate

SUMMARY Two and a half decades of attempts to link disarmament to development have largely failed. This article analyses the reasons for this failure and the implications for the Third World of the collapse of the consensus which previously underpinned East?West arms control negotiations. In addition, the accumulation of armaments in the Third World poses more problems than it answers. In the interests of both development and security, the concept of disarmament should be redefined. In place of the idea that a percentage of military expenditure from the North should be directed into a development fund for the South, and variations on this theme, the authors argue that a movement towards alternative defence structures linked to a broader alternative security regime would provide better prospects for positive change. SOMMAIRE Développement et… Quoi? Une nouvelle perspective pour le débat sur le désarmement et le développement Deux décennies et demie de tentatives pour la liaison du désarmement au développement ont grandement échoué. Cet article analyse les raisons de cet échec et les conséquences pour le Tiers Monde de l'écroulement du consensus qui auparavant étayait les négociations du contrôle de l'armement entre l'Est et l'Ouest. En outre, l'accumulation d'armes dans les pays du Tiers Monde pose plus de problèmes qu'elle n'en résout. Dans l'intérêt du développement et de la sécurité, le concept du désarmement devrait être redéfini. Au lieu d'une idée qu'un pourcentage des dépenses militaires du Nord devrait être dirigé vers un fond de développement pour le Sud, et des variations sur ce thème, les auteurs prouvent qu'un mouvement vers d'autres structures de défence lié à un régime de sécurité à vue large fournirait de meilleures perspectives pour un changement positif. RESUMEN Desarrollo y…qué? Una nueva perspectiva para el debate sobre desarme y desarrollo Este artículo analiza las razones por las cuales el intento por vincular el desarme con el desarrollo durante dos décadas y media ha fracasado. También examina las implicaciones que para el Tercer Mundo tiene el colapso del consenso previamente subyacente a las negociaciones para el control de armas entre Este y Oeste. Además, la acumulación de armamentos en el Tercer Mundo crea más problemas que los que resuelve. El concepto de desarme ha de ser redefinido tanto en interés del desarrollo como en el de la seguridad. En vez de proponer un fondo de desarrollo para el sur basado en un porcentaje de los gastos militares del Norte (o variaciones sobre lo mismo), los autores afirman que un movimiento hacia estructuras alternativas de defensa, ligadas a un régimen de seguridad alternativa más amplio, proporcionaría mejores posibilidades para un cambio positivo

Predicting the cost of the consequences of a large nuclear accident in the UK

Nuclear accidents have the potential to lead to significant off-site effects that require actions to minimise the radiological impacts on people. Such countermeasures may include sheltering, evacuation, restrictions on the sale of locally-grown food, and long-term relocation of the population amongst others. Countries with nuclear facilities draw up emergency preparedness plans, and put in place such provisions as distributing instructions and iodine prophylaxis to the local population. Their plans are applied in simulated exercises on a regular basis. The costs associated with emergency preparedness and the safety provisions to reduce the likelihood of an accident, and/or mitigate the consequences, are justified on the basis of the health risks and accident costs averted. There is, of course, only limited actual experience to indicate the likely costs so that much of the costing of accidents is based on calculations. This paper reviews the methodologies used, in particular the approach that has been developed in the UK, to appraise the costs of a hypothetical nuclear accident. Results of analysing a hypothetical nuclear accident at a fictitious reactor site within the United Kingdom are discussed in relation to the accidents at Three Mile Island 2, Chernobyl and Fukushima Dai-ichi

Security: Collective good or commodity?

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2008 Sage.The state monopoly on the legitimate use of violence in Europe and North America has been central to the development of security as a collective good. Not only has it institutionalized the state as the prime national and international security provider, it has helped to reduce the threat from other actors by either prohibiting or limiting their use of violence. The recent growth of the private security industry appears to undermine this view. Not only are private security firms proliferating at the national level; private military companies are also taking over an increasing range of military functions in both national defence and international interventions. This article seeks to provide an examination of the theoretical and practical implications of the shift from states to markets in the provision of security. Specifically, it discusses how the conceptualization of security as a commodity rather than a collective good affects the meaning and implementation of security in Western democracies.ESR

Relinquishing and Governing the Volatile: The Many Afghanistans and Critical Research Agendas of NATO's Governance

This article invites academics and policy analysts to examine the mechanisms and legacy of NATO's security and development governance of Afghan social spaces by using critical theory concepts. It argues that such scholarly endeavors are growing in importance as the United States and NATO gradually pull their troops out of Afghanistan. Thus, the article suggests a broad twofold research agenda. First, it points out that researching social spaces such as towns, villages, marketplaces, and neighborhoods beyond the realm of intergovernmental politics can lead to thick descriptions of how such places have been governed from within by agents external to them. Second, the study argues for a multifaceted examination of instruments, strategies, and institutions of security governance, its conduct and social effects by deploying critical and Foucauldian concepts such as the rationality and apparatuses of power relations. Thereby, it proposes an inquiry into Provincial Reconstruction Teams and Afghan National Security Forces as spatially and temporally specific apparatuses of surveillance and security

The Dark Side of Transfer Pricing: Its Role in Tax Avoidance and Wealth Retentiveness

In conventional accounting literature, ?transfer pricing? is portrayed as a technique for optimal allocation of costs and revenues amongst divisions, subsidiaries and joint ventures within a group of related entities. Such representations of transfer pricing simultaneously acknowledge and occlude how it is deeply implicated in processes of wealth retentiveness that enable companies to avoid taxes and facilitate the flight of capital. A purely technical conception of transfer pricing calculations abstracts them from the politico-economic contexts of their development and use. The context is the modern corporation in an era of globalized trade and its relationship to state tax authorities, shareholders and other possible stakeholders. Transfer pricing practices are responsive to opportunities for determining values in ways that are consequential for enhancing private gains, and thereby contributing to relative social impoverishment, by avoiding the payment of public taxes. Evidence is provided by examining some of the transfer prices practices used by corporations to avoid taxes in developing and developed economies

Variation in beliefs about 'fracking' between the UK and US

In decision-making on the politically-contentious issue of unconventional gas development, the UK Government and European Commission are attempting to learn from the US experience. Although economic, environmental, and health impacts and regulatory contexts have been compared cross-nationally, public perceptions and their antecedents have not. We conducted similar online panel surveys of national samples of UK and US residents simultaneously in September 2014 to compare public perceptions and beliefs affecting such perceptions. The US sample was more likely to associate positive impacts with development (i.e., production of clean energy, cheap energy, and advancing national energy security). The UK sample was more likely to associate negative impacts (i.e., water contamination, higher carbon emissions, and earthquakes). Multivariate analyses reveal divergence cross-nationally in the relationship between beliefs about impacts and support/opposition – especially for beliefs about energy security. People who associated shale gas development with increased energy security in the UK were over three times more likely to support development than people in the US with this same belief. We conclude with implications for policy and communication, discussing communication approaches that could be successful cross-nationally and policy foci to which the UK might need to afford more attention in its continually evolving regulatory environment

The effectiveness of the stabilization/solidification process on the leachability and toxicity of the tannery sludge chromium

[EN] A stabilization/solidification (S/S) process by using cement was applied to tannery sludge in order to find a safer way of landfilling this waste. The effects of three parameters on the process effectiveness were analysed in terms of leachate toxicity and chromium retention (%). The parameters studied were the relative amount of added water (30e50 wt.%), cement (10e60 wt.% in the solid components), and the use of three different types of cement (clinker with additions of limestone, with additions of limestone and fly ashes, and with additions of pozzolans). Statistical analysis performed by variance analysis and categorical multifactorial tests reveals that all the studied parameters significantly influence the effectiveness of the process. Results showed that chromium retention decreases as the relative amount of cement and water increases, probably due to additional chromium provided by cement and increased in the porosity of the mixtures. Leachate toxicity showed the same minimum value for mixtures with 30% or 40% cement, depending on the type of cement, showing that clinker is the main material responsible for the process effectiveness, and additives (pozzolans or fly ashes) do not improve it. The volume increase is lower as less sludge is replaced by cement and the relative amount of water decreases, and for the cement without additions of fly ashes or pozzolans. Therefore, the latter seems to be the most appropriate cement in spite of being more expensive. This is due to the fact that the minimum toxicity value is achieved with a lower amount of cement; and moreover, the volume increase in the mixtures is lower, minimizing the disposal cost to a landfill.The authors wish to express their gratitude to the tannery facility INCUSA, S.A., to the cement facility CEMEX ESPAÑA, S.A. and to Carles Martínez for his translation assistance.Montañés Sanjuan, MT.; Sánchez Tovar, R.; Roux, MSB. (2014). The effectiveness of the stabilization/solidification process on the leachability and toxicity of the tannery sludge chromium. Journal of Environmental Management. 143:71-79. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.04.026S717914