Defence diplomacy: is the game worth the candle?

Few defence topics have been as prominent or invested with as much optimism in recent years as defence diplomacy. This paper has been created to explore the issue and help guide policymakers. Foreword Few Defence topics have been as prominent or invested with as much optimism in recent years as defence diplomacy (also called military diplomacy or defence engagement). In response to the growing security challenges of Asia, scholars, policymakers and practitioners have looked for ways to build confidence, decrease the risk and impact of accidents and encourage peaceful dispute resolution. Defence diplomacy, namely the practice of military and defence officials engaging their overseas counterparts, is increasingly regarded as a vital way to achieve these aims. Given the importance of this topic, a special Centre of Gravity paper has been created to explore the issue and help guide policymakers. This edition features six short papers, each with a different take and policy recommendation. The authors were asked the same question ‘Is the game worth the candle?’ and while their answers focus largely on Australia there are lessons and implications from their findings for the entire region. Brendan Taylor, the head of the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre begins the special edition calling for a stocktake of current efforts, in a bid to understand what has worked and what resources it requires. He is joined by two colleagues, John Blaxland who argues strongly in favour of an expanded defence diplomacy program and Hugh White who urges caution about the strategic influence of the practice. To complement these views, Nick Bisley, Executive Director La Trobe Asia, highlights the need for realistic ambitions. Lieutenant General (Ret.) Peter Leahy draws on his distinguished career in the ADF to detail how defence diplomacy occurs in practice and why it matters. Finally, See Seng Tan, Deputy Director of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore provides a regional perspective on Australia’s defence diplomacy. The authors of these papers don’t agree with each other, and that was precisely why they were invited to contribute. But some common themes are clear. Such as the need for a clear —and public — strategy along with integrating defence diplomacy into the efforts of other parts of government. Together these six papers provide insight into the practice and potential of defence diplomacy. This special edition also marks a re-launch of the Centre of Gravity Series. While some of the design may change, the focus remains the same: inviting some of the best analysts from Australia and around the world to provide short, accessible papers on the key questions facing Australian strategic affairs

2005, UMaine News Press Releases

This is a catalog of press releases put out by the University of Maine Division of Marketing and Communications between January 19. 2005 and December 29. 2005

1998, UMaine News Press Releases

This is an incomplete catalog of press releases posted by the University of Maine Division of Marketing and Communications online from September 15 to December 4, 1998

2001, UMaine News Press Releases

This is a catalog of press releases put out by the University of Maine Division of Marketing and Communications between January to December 2001. Incomplete

2004, UMaine News Press Releases

This is a catalog of press releases put out by the University of Maine Division of Marketing and Communications between January 12, 2004 and December 21, 2004

Automation, algorithms, and politics| bots and political influence: a sociotechnical investigation of social network capital

This study explains how bots interact with human users and influence conversational networks on Twitter. We analyze a high-stakes political environment, the UK general election of May 2015, asking human volunteers to tweet from purpose-made Twitter accounts—half of which had bots attached—during three events: the last Prime Minister’s Question Time before Parliament was dissolved (#PMQs), the first leadership interviews of the campaign (#BattleForNumber10), and the BBC Question Time broadcast of the same evening (#BBCQT). Based on previous work, our expectation was that our intervention would make a significant difference to the evolving network, but we found that the bots we used had very little effect on the conversation network at all. There are economic, social, and temporal factors that impact how a user of bots can influence political conversations. Future research needs to account for these forms of capital when assessing the impact of bots on political discussions

2003, UMaine News Press Releases

This is a catalog of press releases put out by the University of Maine Division of Marketing and Communications between January 21, 2003 and September 15, 2003

Basal topographic controls on rapid retreat of Humboldt Glacier, northern Greenland

Discharge from marine-terminating outlet glaciers accounts for up to half the recent mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet, yet the causal factors are not fully understood. Here we assess the factors controlling the behaviour of Humboldt Glacier (HG), allowing us to evaluate the influence of basal topography on outlet glacier response to external forcing since part of HG’s terminus occupies a large overdeepening. HG’s retreat accelerated dramatically after 1999, coinciding with summer atmospheric warming of up to 0.19°C a–1 and sea-ice decline. Retreat was an order of magnitude greater in the northern section of the terminus, underlain by a major basal trough, than in the southern section, where the bedrock is comparatively shallow. Velocity change following retreat was spatially non-uniform, potentially due to a pinning point near HG’s northern lateral margin. Consistent with observations, numerical modelling demonstrates an order-of-magnitude greater sensitivity to sea-ice buttressing and crevasse depth (used as a proxy for atmospheric warming) in the northern section. The trough extends up to 72 km inland, so it is likely to facilitate sustained retreat and ice loss from HG during the 21st century

Identifying and reversing ecological barriers to successful farmland revegetation specific to tubestock planting and direct seeding in northern New South Wales

Revegetation in agricultural regions across the globe has intensified over past decades in an effort to reverse widespread land degradation and conserve natural ecosystems and the biodiversity they contain. Biodiversity is essential for the physical, economic, social and cultural dimensions of human well-being, but agricultural intensification has resulted in the loss of millions of hectares of forests and natural vegetation globally. In Australia, a brief, but intense history of land clearing has resulted in the loss of 50% of forest ecosystems, with over 80% of eucalypt-dominated woodlands and forests having been altered by human endeavour. The situation on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales reflects land clearing practices throughout the country with an estimated loss of tree cover of 50% to date. Although land clearing has eased in the past decade, tree decline continues due to recurrent episodes of rural dieback. To address this problem, substantial efforts have been made by revegetation organisations, practitioners and landholders to re-establish native trees in the region, but plantings often fail. This research was conducted to identify and reverse ecological barriers preventing the success of revegetation in temperate upland pastures. The work focused on tubestock plantings and direct seeding. The first study was conducted to determine if existing native shelterbelts can be evaluated in terms of survival and growth to identify the environmental stresses influencing planted eucalypt establishment and growth on the Northern Tablelands. Most ‘on-ground’ revegetation is designed and implemented with no thought given to follow-up scientific monitoring. Monitoring is important not only to justify the large amounts of public funding directed into revegetation activities, but also because it demonstrates whether targets have been achieved, and provides opportunities to learn from and improve upon past failures. Six-year old shelterbelt plantings consisting of Eucalyptus nitens, E. pauciflora and E. viminalis were examined to identify potential biotic and abiotic stresses influencing tree performance. Topographic position, altitude, slope, temperature, soil type, soil moisture and weed control were measured and modelled in relation to tree survival and growth (height). The information theoretic approach was used to select the best-fitting model from a set of competing models. Poor weed control and subzero temperatures were identified as the predominant stresses affecting eucalypt survival during the monitoring period. Subzero temperatures also significantly influenced tree growth. Given these results, the second study compared the performance of five native tree and shrub species grown in tall Corflute® tree guards and milk cartons at three landscape positions (lower slope, mid slope and upper slope) in an open temperate pasture. Seedlings in tall guards survived better than seedlings in milk cartons at mid and upper-slope landscape positions. Height was also greater for seedlings in tall guards than milk cartons at all landscape positions. Eucalypts in particular benefited from tall guards, with height growth up to three times greater than in milk cartons. Tall guards increased the temperature surrounding seedlings inside the guards, extending the growing period. Next, the efficacy of direct seeding as a revegetation technique was investigated. Prior to conducting this investigation, three trial sites were established and monitored for 3–6 months at Bingara, Ben Lomond and Invergowrie. Recruitment and subsequent establishment was so poor that the trials were considered a failure. This study compared the effects of three sowing methods (KB seeder, modified Chatfield planter and hand sowing) and three bulking materials (rice, chicken crumble and smoked vermiculite) on the recruitment of direct-seeded acacias and eucalypts. Recruitment was highest with the KB seeder followed by the Chatfield seeder and hand-sown methods. There were no significant differences in recruitment among bulking materials. Eucalypt recruitment was low compared to the recruitment of acacias. Recruitment peaked in mid May (8 weeks post-sowing) for acacias and in early July (15 weeks post-sowing) for eucalypts, but declined markedly for both genera during the reminder of the study. Some seedling losses were incurred following the first heavy frost, but most were attributed to an invasion of rat’s tail fescue (Vulpia myuros) in late winter, and waterlogging in the lower areas of the site due to above-average rainfall between May and August. Based on the results of the previous study two subsequent investigations were designed and implemented. To address the problem of weed invasion in direct-seeded revegetation, the effect of eight herbicide oversprays on the survival of 11 native tree and shrub species was examined. Seedling survival was assessed at 1, 2, 7 and 8 weeks post-spraying. Survival was greatest in seedlings treated with imazethapyr and isoxaflutole, and least in seedlings treated with diflufenican and glyphosate. There were also significant differences in survival between species, with Dodonaea viscosa, Acacia pendula and Senna artemisioides exhibiting the highest tolerance to the greatest range of herbicides, and Atriplex nummularia, Casuarina cristata and Einadia nutans exhibiting the lowest tolerance. Species varied in their tolerance of different herbicides, due to the selective nature of the different modes of action of the active ingredients and their differential uptake, translocation and metabolism between species. To address the problem of poor eucalypt recruitment, the effects of three seed-coating treatments (coated seed, seed coated with MycoApply® and uncoated seed), four watering regimes (30 mL per day, 30 mL per 3 days, 30 mL per 5 days and no water), and two seed-sowing methods (surface-sown vs buried beneath a 5-mm vermiculite layer) on eucalypt germination and early establishment were examined. Coating the seed with microbial inoculants as well as daily watering significantly increased germination. The interaction between sowing method nested within coating treatment and watering regime was significant. Soil moisture was essential for eucalypt germination and MycoApply® appeared to enhance water capture during the critical early post-germination phase when desiccation was most likely. When soil moisture was limited, seed burial beneath vermiculite was important because it increased seed-soil contact, providing better access to soil moisture, but only in seed coated with microbial inoculants. Seed-coating treatments did not benefit seedling growth (height) because soil moisture was not limiting. The final study examined the effects of four weed-control treatments (scalping, glyphosate, sugar and glyphosate, and sawdust and glyphosate) on the recruitment of native grasses and weed suppression. Recruitment of native grass was significantly higher in scalped plots compared to other treatments. The most effective weed- control treatments were scalping and the combinations of sugar and sawdust with glyphosate. Scalping and carbon (sugar and sawdust) addition controlled weeds by depleting weed seed banks, and alleviating soil nutrient enrichment. In combination with glyphosate application, which removed above-ground biomass, these techniques were effective strategies for combatting competitive invasive weeds. A summary of the main findings, study limitations and recommendations for future research were presented in the final chapter

Basal topographic controls on rapid retreat of Humboldt Glacier, northern Greenland

This is the final version of the article. Available from CUP via the DOI in this record.Discharge from marine-terminating outlet glaciers accounts for up to half the recent mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet, yet the causal factors are not fully understood. Here we assess the factors controlling the behaviour of Humboldt Glacier (HG), allowing us to evaluate the influence of basal topography on outlet glacier response to external forcing since part of HG’s terminus occupies a large overdeepening. HG’s retreat accelerated dramatically after 1999, coinciding with summer atmospheric warming of up to 0.19°C a–1 and sea-ice decline. Retreat was an order of magnitude greater in the northern section of the terminus, underlain by a major basal trough, than in the southern section, where the bedrock is comparatively shallow. Velocity change following retreat was spatially non-uniform, potentially due to a pinning point near HG’s northern lateral margin. Consistent with observations, numerical modelling demonstrates an order-of-magnitude greater sensitivity to sea-ice buttressing and crevasse depth (used as a proxy for atmospheric warming) in the northern section. The trough extends up to 72 km inland, so it is likely to facilitate sustained retreat and ice loss from HG during the 21st century.Funding for this work was provided by a Durham Doctoral Studentship to J.R.C. Radio-echo sounding data were acquired and processed through UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant NE/H020667 to J.A.D. and P.C. and a G. Unger Vetlesen grant to the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG). GrOGG laser altimetry was supported by NNXAD33G to D.D.B. This paper is UTIG contribution No. 2733. S.S.R.J. was supported by UK NERC fellowship NE/J018333/1