The United States, the West and the Rest of the World

Excerpt The world will never be the same again after the terrible attack on the economic U.S., the military U.S., the foreign policy U.S., and on human beings like all of us. We embrace the victims of the violence, of all violence, in deep grief, and express our hope that perpetrators will be brought to justice. Violence at this level can only be explained by a very high level of dehumanisation of the victims in the minds of the aggressors, often due to a very deep level of unresolved, basic conflict. The word “terrorism” may describe the tactics, but like “state terrorism” only portrays the perpetrator as evil, satanic, and does not go to the roots of the conflict

Les formes alternatives de défense : l’exemple européen

The time has come to discuss military doctrine. We have, for much too long now, been discussing separate weapon Systems, sometimes singly, sometimes combined, and not the underlying rational. This article spells out alternative security policies in the fields of military and foreign policies. The reader will find a layman's guide to military doctrine, beginning with a basic distinction made between offensive and defensive postures, a distinction based on capability and not on intention. We will show that the division into military and political motivations is far from sharp, and needs to be better understood in order to discuss and assess the implications of alternative doctrines for Europe

Violence, peace and peace research

En su trayectoria como campo científico, la Peace Research o Investigación para la Paz reconoce que definir “paz” es, de hecho, una parte fundamental de una estrategia científica. En ese contexto, se ha dedicado a conceptualizar paz de forma amplia, dialógica y compleja, tal como diverso y complejo es el mundo. Del mismo modo, definir violencia se convierte en una labor igualmente compleja, una vez que más importante que llegar a una definición o a tipologías, -pues hay, evidentemente, muchos tipos de violencia- indicar dimensiones teóricamente significativas de violencia es efectivamente lo fundamental, una vez que nos puede llevar a pensar, investigar y, potencialmente, actuar ante los problemas más graves de la humanidad. Si la peace action debe ser considerada porque es una acción contra la violencia, el mismo concepto de violencia debe ser lo suficientemente amplio para incluir las variedades más significativas y, además, también debe ser lo suficientemente específico para servir de base para una acción concreta. En esa perspectiva, este artículo pretende presentar una reflexión teórico conceptual sobre paz y violencia en el contexto de la perspectiva crítica de los Estudios para la Paz (Peace Studies).  In its trajectory as a scientific field, the peace research recognizes that defining “peace” is, in fact, an important part of the scientific strategy. Thus, the field has been dedicated to conceptualizing peace in a broad, dialogic, and complex manner, as complex and diverse as the world is. Likewise, conceptualizing violence is an intricate task since, more important than reaching a definition or typologies – as there is, obviously, many types of violence –, indicating theoretically significant dimensions of violence is essential, as it leads us to thinking, researching, and potentially acting on the most serious problems of Mankind. If the peace action must be considered because it is an action against violence, then the concept of violence must be broad enough to cover the most significant varieties and, in addition, must be specific enough to serve as a basis for concrete action. Given this perspective, this article aims at presenting a theoretical-conceptual reflection about peace and violence in the context of the critical perspective of peace studies.  Em sua trajetória como campo científico, a peace research ou “pesquisa para a paz” reconhece que definir “paz” é, de fato, uma parte importante de uma estratégia científica. Dessa forma, tem se dedicado a conceituar paz de forma ampla, dialógica e complexa, tal como diverso e complexo é o mundo. Do mesmo modo, conceituar a violência se torna tarefa igualmente complexa, uma vez que, mais importante do que chegar a uma definição ou a tipologias – pois há, obviamente, muitos tipos de violência –, indicar dimensões teoricamente significativas de violência é, efetivamente, fundamental, posto que pode nos levar a pensar, pesquisar e, potencialmente, agir diante dos problemas mais graves da humanidade. Se a peace action deve ser considerada porque é uma ação contra a violência, então o conceito de violência deve ser amplo o suficiente para incluir as variedades mais significativas e, além disso, deve ser específico o bastante para servir de base para uma ação concreta. Nessa perspectiva, este artigo pretende apresentar uma reflexão teórico-conceitual sobre paz e violência no contexto da perspectiva crítica dos estudos para a paz (peace studies). &nbsp

Errors in Survey Based Quality Evaluation Variables in Efficiency Models of Primary Care Physicians

Efficiency analyses in the health care sector are often criticised for not incorporating quality variables. The definition of quality of primary health care has many aspects, and it is inevitably also a question of the patients’ perception of the services received. This paper uses variables derived from patient evaluation surveys as measures of the quality of the production of health care services. It uses statistical tests to judge if such measures have a significant impact on the use of resources in various Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models. As the use of survey data implies that the quality variables are measured with error, the assumptions underlying a DEA model are not strictly fulfilled. This paper focuses on ways of correcting for biases that might result from the violation of selected assumptions. Firstly, any selection bias in the patient mix of each physician is controlled for by regressing the patient evaluation responses on the patient characteristics. The corrected quality evaluation variables are entered as outputs in the DEA model, and model specification tests indicate that out of 25 different quality variables, only waiting time has a systematic impact on the efficiency results. Secondly, the effect on the efficiency estimates of the remaining sampling error in the patient sample for each physician is accounted for by constructing confidence intervals based on resampling. Finally, as an alternative approach to including the quality variables in the DEA model, a regression model finds different variables significant, but not always with a trade-of between quality and quantity.DEA; Health economics; Quality; Patient evaluation; Efficiency; Errors in variables; Resampling; Bootstrap; Selection bias; Sampling error

A numerical study of variational discretizations of the Camassa-Holm equation

We present two semidiscretizations of the Camassa-Holm equation in periodic domains based on variational formulations and energy conservation. The first is a periodic version of an existing conservative multipeakon method on the real line, for which we propose efficient computation algorithms inspired by works of Camassa and collaborators. The second method, and of primary interest, is the periodic counterpart of a novel discretization of a two-component Camassa-Holm system based on variational principles in Lagrangian variables. Applying explicit ODE solvers to integrate in time, we compare the variational discretizations to existing methods over several numerical examples.Comment: 45 pages, 14 figure