Identifying The Start of Conflict: Conflict Recognition, Operational Realities and Accountability in the Post-9/11 World

On December 19, 2008, the Convening Authority for the United States Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay referred charges against Abd al-Rahim Hussein Muhammed Abdu Al-Nashiri for his role in the October 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. The charge sheet alleged that al-Nashiri committed several acts—including murder in violation of the law of war, perfidy, destruction of property—”in the context of and associated with armed conflict” on or about October 12, 2000 in connection with the bombing. At the time of the attack, the statement that the United States was engaged in an armed conflict would have been a surprise to many. The Cole bombing was routinely called a “terrorist attack” and the U.S. response involved numerous parallel investigations into, inter alia: identifying and finding those responsible for the attack; reviewing the actions of the commanding officer and crew of the U.S.S. Cole; and examining the vulnerabilities of U.S. forces abroad. And yet, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the U.S. military response to those attacks, many— including the U.S. government before the military commissions—argued that the Cole bombing was “one of the opening salvos of the terrorist war on Americans”3 and therefore part of the U.S. conflict with al-Qaeda. A look at these differing approaches to characterizing the U.S.S. Cole bombing and where it falls along the timeline of U.S. counterterrorism operations and contemporary armed conflicts highlights a significant uncertainty in our current understanding of the U.S. conflict with al-Qaeda: the question of when the conflict started. Most Americans would not have answered “yes” if asked whether the United States was at war in 2000— but the rhetorical concept of a “war on terror” has created a different perspective for some who now view pre-9/11 terrorist attacks, including the Cole bombing and the 1998 Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, as part of a coherent conflict. Similarly, our perspective on 9/11 itself, looking back thirteen years hence, is not necessarily the same as it was on the day of the attacks regarding whether America is at war. Many people doubtlessly felt that America was at war upon hearing of and seeing the attacks, but not in the manner or degree that Americans feel, or have been told, that we are in the years since that day. Uncertainty reigns over when this conflict actually started: did it begin on 9/11? When the United States launched its response in October 2001? With the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole? The 1998 Embassy bombings? With Osama bin Laden’s 1996 declaration of war? Earlier than that? A complicated web of operational authority, prosecutorial decisions, and legal analysis has left this question unanswered and significantly murkier than might be expected

Ministers of Education 50 Years of Age or Older: Changing Titles, Positions and Responsibilities?

The traditional role of the Minister of Education in many Southern Baptist Churches appears to be changing. For those Ministers of Education who are 50 years of age or older, there is a need to understand what is taking place so that they can continue to use the skills, gifts, and experiences obtained in years of service. The purpose of this thesis is to study what is taking place across the Southern Baptist Convention and provide help for Ministers of Education who may be exploring vocational shifts in ministry. Also, this thesis hopes to provide help for churches in how to best use the experience of the Minister of Education 50 years of age or older

Thermochronological constraints on the timing and magnitude of Miocene and Pliocene extension in the central Wassuk Range, western Nevada

Apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He thermochronological data provide new constraints on the timing of faulting and exhumation of the Wassuk Range, western Nevada, where east dipping normal faults have accommodated large-magnitude ENE-WSW oriented extension. Extensional deformation has resulted in the exhumation of structurally coherent fault blocks that expose sections of preextensional mostly granitic upper crust in the Grey Hills and central Wassuk Range. These fault blocks display westward tilts of ∼60° and expose preextensional paleodepths of up to ∼8.5 km, based on the structural reconstruction of tilted preextensional Tertiary andesite flows that unconformably overlie Mesozoic basement rocks. Apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He thermochronological data from the fault blocks constrain the onset of rapid footwall exhumation at ∼15 Ma. Fission track modeling results indicate rapid fault block exhumation occurred between ∼15 and 12 Ma, which is in agreement with Miocene volcanic rocks that bracket the tilting history. In addition, fission track and (U-Th)/He data suggest reduced rates of cooling following major extension, as well as renewed cooling related to active, high-angle faulting along the present-day range front starting at ∼4 Ma. Thermochronological data from structurally restored fault blocks indicate a preextensional Miocene geothermal gradient of 27° ± 5°C/km. The thermochronological constraints on the timing of extensional faulting and the eruptive history in the Wassuk Range imply a model for extension where crustal heating and volcanism precede the onset of rapid large magnitude extension, and where synextensional magmatism is suppressed during the highest rates of extension

Personal Familiarity Influences the Processing of Upright and Inverted Faces in Infants

Infant face processing becomes more selective during the first year of life as a function of varying experience with distinct face categories defined by species, race, and age. Given that any individual face belongs to many such categories (e.g. A young Caucasian man's face) we asked how the neural selectivity for one aspect of facial appearance was affected by category membership along another dimension of variability. 6-month-old infants were shown upright and inverted pictures of either their own mother or a stranger while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. We found that the amplitude of the P400 (a face-sensitive ERP component) was only sensitive to the orientation of the mother's face, suggesting that “tuning” of the neural response to faces is realized jointly across multiple dimensions of face appearance

Perceived barriers to pediatrician and family practitioner participation in pediatric clinical trials: Findings from the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative.

Despite legislation to stimulate pediatric drug development through clinical trials, enrolling children in trials continues to be challenging. Non-investigator (those who have never served as a clinical trial investigator) providers are essential to recruitment of pediatric patients, but little is known regarding the specific barriers that limit pediatric providers from participating in and referring their patients to clinical trials. We conducted an online survey of pediatric providers from a wide variety of practice types across the United States to evaluate their attitudes and awareness of pediatric clinical trials. Using a 4-point Likert scale, providers described their perception of potential barriers to their practice serving as a site for pediatric clinical trials. Of the 136 providers surveyed, 52/136 (38%) had previously referred a pediatric patient to a trial, and only 17/136 (12%) had ever been an investigator for a pediatric trial. Lack of awareness of existing pediatric trials was a major barrier to patient referral by providers, in addition to consideration of trial risks, distance to the site, and time needed to discuss trial participation with parents. Overall, providers perceived greater challenges related to parental concerns and parent or child logistical barriers than study implementation and ethics or regulatory barriers as barriers to their practice serving as a trial site. Providers who had previously been an investigator for a pediatric trial were less likely to be concerned with potential barriers than non-investigators. Understanding the barriers that limit pediatric providers from collaboration or inhibit their participation is key to designing effective interventions to optimize pediatric trial participation

RHBDF2-regulated growth factor signaling in a rare human disease tylosis with esophageal cancer: What can we learn from murine models?

Tylosis with esophageal cancer syndrome (TOC) is a rare autosomal dominant proliferative skin disease caused by missense mutations in the rhomboid 5 homolog 2 (RHBDF2) gene. TOC is characterized by thickening of the skin in the palms and feet and is strongly linked with the development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Murine models of human diseases have been valuable tools for investigating the underlying genetic and molecular mechanisms of a broad range of diseases. Although current mouse models do not fully recapitulate all aspects of human TOC, and the molecular mechanisms underlying TOC are still emerging, the available mouse models exhibit several key aspects of the disease, including a proliferative skin phenotype, a rapid wound healing phenotype, susceptibility to epithelial cancer, and aberrant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling. Furthermore, we and other investigators have used these models to generate new insights into the causes and progression of TOC, including findings suggesting a tissue-specific role of the RHBDF2-EGFR pathway, rather than a role of the immune system, in mediating TOC; and indicating that amphiregulin, an EGFR ligand, is a functional driver of the disease. This review highlights the mouse models of TOC available to researchers for use in investigating the disease mechanisms and possible therapies, and the significance of genetic modifiers of the disease identified in these models in delineating the underlying molecular mechanisms

Amphitheater-headed canyons formed by megaflooding at Malad Gorge, Idaho

Many bedrock canyons on Earth and Mars were eroded by upstream propagating headwalls, and a prominent goal in geomorphology and planetary science is to determine formation processes from canyon morphology. A diagnostic link between process and form remains highly controversial, however, and field investigations that isolate controls on canyon morphology are needed. Here we investigate the origin of Malad Gorge, Idaho, a canyon system cut into basalt with three remarkably distinct heads: two with amphitheater headwalls and the third housing the active Wood River and ending in a 7% grade knickzone. Scoured rims of the headwalls, relict plunge pools, sediment-transport constraints, and cosmogenic (^3He) exposure ages indicate formation of the amphitheater-headed canyons by large-scale flooding ∼46 ka, coeval with formation of Box Canyon 18 km to the south as well as the eruption of McKinney Butte Basalt, suggesting widespread canyon formation following lava-flow diversion of the paleo-Wood River. Exposure ages within the knickzone-headed canyon indicate progressive upstream younging of strath terraces and a knickzone propagation rate of 2.5 cm/y over at least the past 33 ka. Results point to a potential diagnostic link between vertical amphitheater headwalls in basalt and rapid erosion during megaflooding due to the onset of block toppling, rather than previous interpretations of seepage erosion, with implications for quantifying the early hydrosphere of Mars

Risk Factors for Pediatric Invasive Group A Streptococcal Disease

Invasive group A Streptococcus (GAS) infections can be fatal and can occur in healthy children. A case-control study identified factors associated with pediatric disease. Case-patients were identified when Streptococcus pyogenes was isolated from a normally sterile site, and matched controls (≥2) were identified by using sequential-digit dialing. All participants were noninstitutionalized surveillance-area residents <18 years of age. Conditional regression identified factors associated with invasive disease: other children living in the home (odds ratio [OR] = 16.85, p = 0.0002) and new use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (OR = 10.64, p = 0.005) were associated with increased risk. More rooms in the home (OR = 0.67, p = 0.03) and household member(s) with runny nose (OR = 0.09, p = 0.002) were associated with decreased risk. Among children, household-level characteristics that influence exposure to GAS most affect development of invasive disease