Conflict between Russia and its Neighbors since 1992: The Cases of Belarus and Ukraine

Russia’s recent aggressions against Georgia and Ukraine have sparked intense discussions among journalists, scholars, and policymakers. However, these debates have not produced a universally accepted, theoretically grounded and empirically reliable explanation for the recurrence of conflict between Russia and its post-Soviet neighbors. While many studies have dealt with the causes of great power expansionism and the security policies of less powerful states, no theory has yet been developed to capture the intrinsically interactive nature underlying conflict behavior of unequal neighbors. To make a first step into this direction, this paper develops and tests two competing positions on variance in conflict between unequal neighbors: Autocratic Imperialism and Geopolitics. The paper develops these two positions by first conceptualizing unequal neighbors as a theoretically distinct form of state dyad, and, second, applying on unequal neighbors existing paradigms of international relations theory. The paper then derives hypotheses from these positions, which it then tests by using structured and focused comparison as well as congruence analysis on two cases of unequal neighbors: Russia and Belarus as well as Russia and Ukraine, both from 1992 to 2014. The paper finds that both positions fail these tests, albeit Autocratic Imperialism more so than Geopolitics. The concluding discussion of the conceptual and empirical problems that each position encountered yields some important hints towards the construction of a middle-range theory that would explain the conflict behavior of unequal neighbors in a more valid and reliable way

Improving Time-Scale Modification of Music Signals Using Harmonic-Percussive Separation

A major problem in time-scale modification (TSM) of music signals is that percussive transients are often perceptually degraded. To prevent this degradation, some TSM approaches try to explicitly identify transients in the input signal and to handle them in a special way. However, such approaches are problematic for two reasons. First, errors in the transient detection have an immediate influence on the final TSM result and, second, a perceptual transparent preservation of transients is by far not a trivial task. In this paper we present a TSM approach that handles transients implicitly by first separating the signal into a harmonic component as well as a percussive component which typically contains the transients. While the harmonic component is modified with a phase vocoder approach using a large frame size, the noise-like percussive component is modified with a simple time-domain overlap-add technique using a short frame size, which preserves the transients to a hig h degree without any explicit transient detection

Notentext-Informierte Quellentrennung für Musiksignale

codedemo: http://www.audiolabs-erlangen.de/resources/2013-ACMMM-AudioDecomp/codedemo: http://www.audiolabs-erlangen.de/resources/2013-ACMMM-AudioDecomp/codedemo: http://www.audiolabs-erlangen.de/resources/2013-ACMMM-AudioDecomp/codedemo: http://www.audiolabs-erlangen.de/resources/2013-ACMMM-AudioDecomp

Score-Informed Audio Decomposition and Applications

codedemo: http://www.audiolabs-erlangen.de/resources/2013-ACMMM-AudioDecomp/codedemo: http://www.audiolabs-erlangen.de/resources/2013-ACMMM-AudioDecomp/codedemo: http://www.audiolabs-erlangen.de/resources/2013-ACMMM-AudioDecomp/codedemo: http://www.audiolabs-erlangen.de/resources/2013-ACMMM-AudioDecomp

Plastic debris in the Laurentian Great Lakes: Classification, distribution and environmental drivers

Pollution by plastic debris is an increasing environmental concern in the Laurentian Great Lakes: it affects open-water, shoreline, and benthic environments. Many plastics degrade slowly in the environment and may have long-term adverse ecological and economic impacts, including the dispersal of persistent organic pollutants. Plans to combat and curtail plastic debris pollution in the Great Lakes will come at a significant economic cost, likely in excess of $400 million annually. Open-water surveys reveal that, in certain areas of the Great Lakes, surface water densities of plastics are as high as those reported for areas of litter accumulation within oceanic gyres. Data from volunteer beach cleanups show that typically more than 80% of anthropogenic litter along the shorelines of the Great Lakes is made of plastics and that in situ anthropogenic activity including shoreline and beach visitors is the primary source of litter. Other sources of plastic debris to the Great Lakes include microplastic beads from consumer products, pellets from the plastic manufacturing industry, and waste from shipping and fishing activities. This thesis reviews the current state of knowledge on plastic pollution in the Great Lakes and uses citizen science data to explore the classification, distribution, and environmental drivers of plastic debris on Canadian shorelines of the Great Lakes

Reframing the history of new religious movements

In this special issue of Nova Religio four historians of medieval and early modern Christianities offer perspectives on basic conceptual frameworks widely employed in new religions studies, including modernization and secularization, radicalism/violent radicalization, and diversity/diversification. Together with a response essay by J. Gordon Melton, these articles suggest strong possibilities for renewed and ongoing conversation between scholars of "old" and "new" religions. Unlike some early discussions, ours is not aimed simply at questioning the distinction between old and new religions itself. Rather, we think such conversation between scholarly fields holds the prospect of productive scholarly surprise and perspectival shifts, especially via the disciplinary practice of historiographical criticism

Measles, Moral Regulation and the Social Construction of Risk: Media Narratives of “Anti-Vaxxers” and the 2015 Disneyland Outbreak

This paper examines media coverage of the 2014-15 measles outbreak that began at Disneyland and spread throughout the United States and into Canada and Mexico. Specifically, it focuses on the construction of ‘anti-vaxxers’ as a central character in the outbreak’s unfolding narrative who came to represent a threat to public health and moral order. Although parents who hold strong anti-vaccine views are small in number, media representations of ‘anti-vaxxers’ as prominent figures fail to capture the broad range of views and behaviours that constitute what we today call ‘vaccine hesitancy’ and thus delimit our understanding of this increasingly complex health issue

Health Product Risk Communication: Is the message getting through?

Risk communication is an important component of improving the health and safety of Canadians. For numerous departments and agencies at all levels of government, as well as public and private organizations, effective risk communication can protect Canadians from preventable hazards. The Minister of Health, on behalf of Health Canada (the Sponsor), asked the Council of Canadian Academies (the Council) to provide an evidence-based and authoritative assessment of the state of knowledge on measurement and evaluation of health risk communication. This assessment focuses on identifying tools, evaluation methods, gaps in the literature, and barriers and facilitators to carrying out successful communication and evaluation activities. Specifically, this assessment examines the following questions: How can the effectiveness of health risk communications be measured and evaluated? • What types of instruments/tools are currently available for health risk communication? • What methodological best practices can be used to evaluate the reach, use and benefit of health risk communication? • What research could be done to inform the measurement of the effectiveness of risk communications? • What are the existing barriers to effective risk communications and what best practices exist to address these challenges? To address the charge, the Council assembled a multi-disciplinary panel of 11 experts (the Panel) from Canada and abroad. The Panel’s composition reflected a balance of expertise, experience, and demonstrated leadership in academic, clinical, and regulatory fields. Each member served as an informed individual, rather than as a representative of a particular discipline, patron, organization, or region

Mapping as a knowledge translation tool for Ontario Early Years Centres: views from data analysts and managers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Local Ontario Early Years Centres (OEYCs) collect timely and relevant local data, but knowledge translation is needed for the data to be useful. Maps represent an ideal tool to interpret local data. While geographic information system (GIS) technology is available, it is less clear what users require from this technology for evidence-informed program planning. We highlight initial challenges and opportunities encountered in implementing a mapping innovation (software and managerial decision-support) as a knowledge translation strategy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using focus groups, individual interviews and interactive software development events, we taped and transcribed verbatim our interactions with nine OEYCs in Ontario, Canada. Research participants were composed of data analysts and their managers. Deductive analysis of the data was based on the Ottawa Model of Research Use, focusing on the innovation (the mapping tool and maps), the potential adopters, and the environment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Challenges associated with the innovation included preconceived perceptions of a steep learning curve with GIS software. Challenges related to the potential adopters included conflicting ideas about tool integration into the organization and difficulty with map interpretation. Lack of funds, lack of availability of accurate data, and unrealistic reporting requirements represent environmental challenges.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Despite the clear need for mapping software and maps, there remain several challenges to their effective implementation. Some can be modified, while other challenges might require attention at the systemic level. Future research is needed to identify barriers and facilitators related to using mapping software and maps for decision-making by other users, and to subsequently develop mapping best practices guidelines to assist community-based agencies in circumventing some challenges, and support information equity across a region.</p