Communication in civil-military cooperation

Since the end of the Cold War, Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) units have become more frequently involved in peace support operations (PSOs). Moreover, they have become more deeply engaged with peoples of different national and organizational cultures. These multicultural peacekeeping environments are rife with communication difficulties. Coordination and cooperation between numerous actors present in the field such as International Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, media, local authorities, tribal leaders and other individuals, has proved to be very challenging. Moreover, considering the nature of contemporary international interventions, any CIMIC staff is required to adapt to a wide range of new, non-military skills which would constitute a necessary "toolbox." Culturally sensitive communications such as negotiation and media interactions are vital to effective coordination and cooperation in modern peacekeeping. Thus, CIMIC officers must know how to deal with the media; how, despite enormous cultural diversity, to successfully conduct their jobs; how to work efficiently with interpreters; and finally, how to resolve local conflicts using negotiations. Besides defining these new phenomena influencing CIMIC activities in PSOs, this thesis provides suggestions or basic universal guidelines for soldiers, especially for those acting at the tactical level. At the same time, the thesis should draw the attention of those people responsible for creating and executing the entire pre-deployment training for CIMIC soldiers who are going to be working abroad. The suggestions presented in this thesis will meet current needs for training.http://archive.org/details/communicationinc109453636Polish Army author.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Reduced Cancer Incidence in Huntington's Disease: Analysis in the Registry Study

Background: People with Huntington's disease (HD) have been observed to have lower rates of cancers. Objective: To investigate the relationship between age of onset of HD, CAG repeat length, and cancer diagnosis. Methods: Data were obtained from the European Huntington's disease network REGISTRY study for 6540 subjects. Population cancer incidence was ascertained from the GLOBOCAN database to obtain standardised incidence ratios of cancers in the REGISTRY subjects. Results: 173/6528 HD REGISTRY subjects had had a cancer diagnosis. The age-standardised incidence rate of all cancers in the REGISTRY HD population was 0.26 (CI 0.22-0.30). Individual cancers showed a lower age-standardised incidence rate compared with the control population with prostate and colorectal cancers showing the lowest rates. There was no effect of CAG length on the likelihood of cancer, but a cancer diagnosis within the last year was associated with a greatly increased rate of HD onset (Hazard Ratio 18.94, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Cancer is less common than expected in the HD population, confirming previous reports. However, this does not appear to be related to CAG length in HTT. A recent diagnosis of cancer increases the risk of HD onset at any age, likely due to increased investigation following a cancer diagnosis