Israel and the Arab Uprisings: A Provisional Analsysis

How have the Arab uprisings changed Israel’s security environment? Amnon Aran explores the many ways in which changes brought about by the ongoing unrest in the region, and in particular Egypt’s new administration under Mohammed Morsi and the rise of political Islam, present not only a challenge but, if handled correctly, an opportunity for Israel’s long-term security prospects

Arbitrating the Israeli-Palestinian territorial dispute: A riposte

Breaking the current deadlock in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has thus far proved impossible. However, the suggestion that arbitration should replace negotiations is flawed

Containment and territorial transnational actors: Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas

Containment has been salient in intellectual and policy debates for 60 years. It informed US foreign policy towards the USSR and, later, the so-called rogue states. The endurance of containment beyond the Cold War suggests that it possesses the quality of transferability: the capacity of a grand strategy from the past to transcend the circumstances that gave rise to it, to suggest what should be emulated and what avoided in future policies. Drawing on the notion of transferability and on the method of structured, focused comparison, this article uses Israel’s foreign policy towards Hezbollah and Hamas to argue that containment is transferable from the state level to a state/territorial transnational actor (TNA) relationship, albeit with permutations. This argument is examined in relation to four issues: the circumstances under which containment arises; its applicability to territorial TNA; the objectives sought by implementing containment; and the role of legitimacy as a component of containment. In so doing the article seeks to make a contribution to the debate on containment. While there is a rich literature on state containment, research on containing territorial TNA is extremely limited

Variation of proton flux profiles with the observer's latitude in simulated gradual SEP events

We study the variation of the shape of the proton intensity-time profiles in simulated gradual Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events with the relative observer's position in space with respect to the main direction of propagation of an interplanetary (IP) shock. Using a three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code to simulate such a shock, we determine the evolution of the downstream-to-upstream ratios of the plasma variables at its front. Under the assumption of an existing relation between the normalized ratio in speed across the shock front and the injection rate of shock-accelerated particles, we model the transport of the particles and we obtain the proton flux profiles to be measured by a grid of 18 virtual observers located at 0.4 and 1.0 AU, with different latitudes and longitudes with respect to the shock nose. The differences among flux profiles are the result of the way each observer establishes a magnetic connection with the shock front, and we find that changes in the observer's latitude may result in intensity changes of up to one order of magnitude at both radial distances considered here. The peak intensity variation with the radial distance for the pair of observers located at the same angular position is also derived. This is the first time that the latitudinal dependence of the peak intensity with the observer's heliocentric radial distance has been quantified within the framework of gradual SEP event simulations.Comment: 20 pages, 6 Figures, 2 Table

Framing and Foreign Policy—Israel’s Response to the Arab Uprisings

The eruption of the 2010 Arab uprisings has generated a great deal of academic scholarship. However, the foreign policy of Israel, a key power in the Middle East, amid the Arab uprisings, has received limited attention. Furthermore, as we demonstrate, the conventional wisdom purported by the current debate, which is that Israel adopted a “defensive, non-idealist” realist foreign policy posture (Magen 2015, 114) in the wake of the Arab uprisings, is wrong. Rather, utilizing an innovative approach linking foreign policy analysis (FPA) and the literature on framing, we demonstrate that Israel adopted a foreign policy stance of entrenchment. This posture is predicated on peace for peace not territory, reinforcing Israel's military capabilities, and granting limited autonomy to the Palestinians under Israeli occupation. Thus, the article demonstrates how framing can usefully be operationalized to uncover how binary discourse does not merely reflect foreign policy but is, in fact, constitutive of it. We demonstrate that diagnostic and prognostic frames helped to create a direct connection between the images held by a leader, his/her worldview, ideas, perceptions and misperceptions, and foreign policy actions. These frames constituted action-oriented sets of beliefs and meaning that inspired and legitimated certain foreign policy options and instruments while restricting others

Fluxes and fluences of SEP events derived from SOLPENCO

International audienceWe have developed aran04 a tool for rapid predictions of proton flux and fluence profiles observed during gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events and upstream of the associated traveling interplanetary shocks. This code, named SOLPENCO (for SOLar Particle ENgineering COde), contains a data base with a large set of interplanetary scenarios under which SEP events develop. These scenarios are basically defined by the solar longitude of the parent solar activity, ranging from E75 to W90, and by the position of the observer, located at 0.4 AU or at 1.0 AU, from the Sun. We are now analyzing the performance and reliability of SOLPENCO. We address here two features of SEP events especially relevant to space weather purposes: the peak flux and the fluence. We analyze how the peak flux and the fluence of the synthetic profiles generated by SOLPENCO vary as a function of the strength of the CME-driven shock, the heliolongitude of the solar parent activity and the particle energy considered. In particular, we comment on the dependence of the fluence on the radial distance of the observer (which does not follow an inverse square law), and we draw conclusions about the influence of the shock as a particle accelerator in terms of its evolving strength and the heliolongitude of the solar site where the SEP event originated

PREDICATION AND COMPREHENSION OF RESERVOIR PARAMETERS OF WELL TESTING USING PAN SYSTEM SIMULATOR FOR INDIVIDUAL AND MULTIPLE WELLS

There are many softwares used to perform well test analysis, among which is Pan System. Many simulations have also been done to predicate reservoir parameters using well test analysis. This study aims to shed some light on the PREDICATION AND COMPREHENSION OF RESERVOIR PARAMETERS OF WELL TESTING USING PAN SYSTEM SIMULATOR FOR INDIVIDUAL AND MULTIPLE WELLS This study is a software simulation research which objective is to correlate pressure and time as a dependant variable in a well test analysis. This simulation will be using the Pan System Simulator which has been developed by Weatherford. The outcome of this simulation would be to demonstrate how well test analysis can be used to predicate reservoir parameters. Also, this study will demonstrate how a computer based well test analysis can be used to overcome the restrictions found on a manual well test analysis. The predicated parameters would then be used to study the effects of interfering wells on predicated parameters and also to classify and characterize the reservoir further. This document is a dissertation report which encompasses a background of the study, a problem statement, the objectives and scope of study, the relevancy and feasibility of study within the scope and time frame, the outline of the research methodology, the equipment involved, a Gantt chart depicting the study planning, the results obtained, discussion, conclusion and recommendation. The experiment was conducted on 7 individual wells where traditional and simulated well testing methods were conducted and also on 6 different cases of multiple well testing. Here, the results have helped comprehend the type of reservoir we are dealing with and what the parameters show. The reservoir dealt with follows a dual porosity flow regime reservoir and mostly parallel and single faulted boundaries. The criteria's of this reservoir together with the predicated parameters have aided in the understanding of the reservoir

High impact weather and cyclones simultaneity in Catalonia

International audienceThe Western Mediterranean in general and Catalonia in particular are usually affected by high impact weather (HIW) events, mainly heavy rain (HR) and strong wind (SW). The improvement in the understanding and the accurate forecast of such events are major concerns for the meteorologists of the region. In the present study, HR and SW events in Catalonia are cross-referenced with an objective cyclone database for a 9-year period (from June 1995 to May 2004). Results show that in most of the HR events a cyclone is located close to Catalonia, in such a way that the feeding of a moist flow to the affected region was favoured. These cyclones can be either shallow and weak or deep and intense. A simultaneous cyclone also appears to be connected with many SW events. However, other SW events seem to be related to meso-scale circulations and, as a result, not always well captured in the cyclone database. Finally, coincident HR and SW events are analysed. In almost all of such events a deep cyclone is located in the vicinity of Catalonia

Degeneration and Reorganization of Vestibular Epithelia after Local Aminoglycoside Application in the Mammalian Inner Ear

The development of degeneration of vestibular end organs and their possible reorganization have been observed over a 2 year period after local application of sisomicin in the inner ear using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Degeneration of stereocilia took place as early as 5 days after the treatment in the utricule, the saccule and the cristae. At 10 days, almost the entire surface of these sensory epithelia presented a smooth aspect without specific structure. However, after 15 days, an epithelial reorganization developed with clear limits between cells. At 25 days, systematic kinociliary structures were observed at the apical surface of the cells. Five months after the treatment, the new kinocilium was still present and sometimes stereociliary-like structures appeared in the three types of vestibular organs. Two years after treatment, the kinocilium persisted and the embryonic-like ciliary tufts had disappeared. These SEM observations suggest that in mammals some vestibular epithelial regeneration is possible but stops at a stage which could correspond to an early developmental level