Structural influences on involvement in European homegrown jihadism: A case study

his article empirically assesses the applicability of structural-level hypotheses for involvement in terrorism within the context of European homegrown jihadism. It uses these hypotheses to study how structural factors influenced involvement in the Dutch “Hofstadgroup.” Structural factors enabled the group’s emergence and its participants’ adoption of extremist views. They also motivated involvement in political violence and a shift in some participants’ focus from joining Islamist insurgents overseas to committing terrorism in the Netherlands. Finally, structural factors precipitated an actual terrorist attack. No support is found for the frequently encountered argument that discrimination and exclusion drive involvement in European homegrown jihadism. Instead, geopolitical grievances were prime drivers of this process.Security and Global Affair

A critical experimental study of the classical tactile threshold theory

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The tactile sense is being used in a variety of applications involving tactile human-machine interfaces. In a significant number of publications the classical threshold concept plays a central role in modelling and explaining psychophysical experimental results such as in stochastic resonance (SR) phenomena. In SR, noise enhances detection of sub-threshold stimuli and the phenomenon is explained stating that the required amplitude to exceed the sensory threshold barrier can be reached by adding noise to a sub-threshold stimulus. We designed an experiment to test the validity of the classical vibrotactile threshold. Using a second choice experiment, we show that individuals can order sensorial events below the level known as the classical threshold. If the observer's sensorial system is not activated by stimuli below the threshold, then a second choice could not be above the chance level. Nevertheless, our experimental results are above that chance level contradicting the definition of the classical tactile threshold.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We performed a three alternative forced choice detection experiment on 6 subjects asking them first and second choices. In each trial, only one of the intervals contained a stimulus and the others contained only noise. According to the classical threshold assumptions, a correct second choice response corresponds to a guess attempt with a statistical frequency of 50%. Results show an average of 67.35% (STD = 1.41%) for the second choice response that is not explained by the classical threshold definition. Additionally, for low stimulus amplitudes, second choice correct detection is above chance level for any detectability level.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Using a second choice experiment, we show that individuals can order sensorial events below the level known as a classical threshold. If the observer's sensorial system is not activated by stimuli below the threshold, then a second choice could not be above the chance level. Nevertheless, our experimental results are above that chance level. Therefore, if detection exists below the classical threshold level, then the model to explain the SR phenomenon or any other tactile perception phenomena based on the psychophysical classical threshold is not valid. We conclude that a more suitable model of the tactile sensory system is needed.</p

A History of Universalism: Conceptions of the Internationality of Science from the Enlightenment to the Cold War

That science is fundamentally universal has been proclaimed innumerable times. But the precise geographical meaning of this universality has changed historically. This article examines conceptions of scientific internationalism from the Enlightenment to the Cold War, and their varying relations to cosmopolitanism, nationalism, socialism, and 'the West'. These views are confronted with recent tendencies to cast science as a uniquely European product

Detection Theory Applied to the Absolute Sensitivity of Sensory Systems

Mainly the skin senses touch and warmth have been investigated. It is shown that the decision model describes the experimental data better than the threshold model. The experiments lead to the assumption that an internal noise exists, which is a neural activity being undistinguishable from the neural activity caused by small stimuli and which adds to the neural activity caused by the stimulus. The probability distribution of this internal noise can be considered to be gaussian. The relation between stimulus and neural activity is alinear for the touch sense. The question of whether noise of a multiplicative nature must be assumed is discussed

New media communication skills for engineers and IT professionals: Trans-national and trans-cultural demands

The communication demands expected of todays engineers and information technology professionals immersed in multicultural global enterprises are unsurpassed. New Media Communication Skills for Engineers and IT Professionals: Trans-National and Trans-Cultural Demands provides new and experienced practitioners, academics, employers, researchers, and students with international examples of best practices in new, as well as traditional, communication skills in increasingly trans-cultural, digitalized, hypertext environments. This book will be a valuable addition to the existing literature and resources in communication skills in both organizational and higher educational settings, giving readers comprehensive insights into the proficient use of a broad range of communication critical for effective professional participation in the globalized and digitized communication environments that characterize current engineering and IT workplaces