R2P in the UN Security Council: Darfur, Libya and beyond

It has been argued that consensus on the responsibility to protect (R2P) was lost in the UN Security Council as a result of the NATO-led intervention in Libya in 2011. This argument assumes that there was more agreement on R2P before the Libyan intervention than there was afterwards. Yet a close examination of the Security Council’s use of language on R2P shows the opposite: R2P was highly contentious within the Security Council prior to the Libyan intervention, and less so afterwards. Not only has the Council used R2P language more frequently since 2011, but also negotiating this language has become quicker and easier. To demonstrate this I compare negotiations on Darfur with deliberations during and after the Arab Spring. Resolution 1706 on Darfur was the first time the Security Council referred to R2P in a country-specific resolution – and indeed it was the only country-specific resolution to refer to R2P before 2011 – making it an apt point of comparison. Via focused analysis on how the language used in Security Council resolution evolves over time, this article demonstrates that the Council has found ‘agreed language’ on R2P that is acceptable to members, both for thematic resolutions and country-specific resolutions. Language on R2P in Security Council resolutions has shifted from contentious to commonplace

Social Media, Research Ethics and Your Research

Social media platforms (like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) represent incredible potential for researchers to conduct research and recruit survey participants. However the old rules still apply, along with some new rules too. This presentation looks at current and emerging issues in conducting research on social media and recruiting participants using social media channels. It also covers guidelines that apply to your activities, examples and some best practices

Dopamine containing neurons in the ventral tegmental area : a potential site of action for benzodiazepine anxiolytics

Footshock is a strong aversive environmental stimulus often used as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) in Pavlovian fear conditioning experiments. In the present study, the relationship between VTA dopamine (DA) neurons, y­ Aminobutyric acidA (GABAA) and benzodiazepine receptors in governing the fear-arousing properties of footshock was evaluated. Using the shock sensitisation of acoustic startle amplitudes as a behavioral indicator of fear, the present study demonstrates that intraVTA infusion of the somatodendri tic D 2 receptor agonist quinpirole ( 0. 7 5, 1. 5 and 3,0 µg) dose dependently blocked fear arousal, presumably due to inhibition of DA neural activity. Similarly, intraVTA infusion of the GABAA receptor agonist muscimol (0.5 and 1.0 µg) and the full benzodiazepine receptor agonist flurazepam (60.0 and 120.0 µg) suppressed footshock-induced emotional responding. None of the drugs infused directly into the VTA depressed baseline acoustic startle amplitudes or diminished the perceived aversive effects of footshock as measured by shock reactivity. The present results further refine the known neural dynamics of the fear motivational properties of VTA DA neurons. It was hypothesised that the VTA, through its connections to forebrain regions implicated in emotionality, may be an important site for the action of benzodiazepine anxiolytics

Characteristics of professional development research in Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood education sector: A systematic literature review

Teachers’ professional learning and development (PLD) is an essential component in the provision of quality education. Through objective 3.6 in the Early Learning Action Plan 2019-2029 (Ministry of Education, 2019a) the Ministry of Education has signalled a need for a managed, coherent system of PLD to support the professional learning needs of early childhood teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand. Over time, research has sought to enhance understanding of PLD in ways that can contribute to more effective PLD programmes. Yet, gaps remain between PLD research, policy and practice. Synthesising extant research is important to identify existing and cumulative knowledge, and reveal research-to-practice gaps. This article reports the results of a systematic literature review, conducted to identify characteristics of PLD research within Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood education sector. Fifty-six research articles and reports were systematically reviewed. Findings identify that the predominantly descriptive body of research is characterised by a convergence of researchers’ and teachers’ roles, largely positive outcomes, and a broad content focus with less attention paid to PLD processes

The responsibility to protect and the question of attribution

This article explores the problem of attribution in the context of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) intervention through an analysis of the Syrian chemical weapons attack of 2013. We argue that R2P advocates can be confronted by a crisis dynamic where the political momentum for military intervention runs ahead of independent verification and attribution of mass atrocity crimes. We contrast the political momentum for intervention with the technical process of independent attribution and show that the sort of independent evidence that would ideally legitimize an R2P intervention was unavailable when there was political momentum for action. Conversely, the information that was available (which inevitably informed the political momentum for action) was largely produced by state intelligence organizations - or a potentially briefed media - and shaped by the interests and priorities of its end users. While understandable in the face of the 'extreme', we suggest that the mobilization of political momentum by R2P advocates entails significant dangers: first, it risks undermining the integrity of R2P if evidence is later discredited and second, it risks amplifying the perception that states sometimes exploit humanitarian pretexts in pursuit of other strategic ends

Microstructural simulation of dynamic recrystallization

A Monte Carlo model for dynamic recrystallization has been developed from earlier models used to simulate static recrystallization and grain growth. The model simulates dynamic recrystallization by adding recrystallization nuclei and stored energy continuously with time. The simulations reproduce many of the essential features of dynamic recrystallization. The stored energy of the system, which may be interpreted as a measure of the flow stress, goes through a maximum and then decays, monotonically under some conditions and in an oscillatory manner under others. The principle parameters that were studied were the rate of adding stored energy, [Delta]H, and the rate of adding nuclei, [Delta]N. As [Delta]H increases, for fixed [Delta]N, the oscillations decay more rapidly and the asymptotic energy rises. As [Delta]N increases again the oscillations decay more rapidly but the asymptotic stored energy decreases. The mean grain size of' the system also oscillates in a similar manner to the stored energy but out of phase by 90[deg]. The flow stress oscillations occurred for conditions which lead to both coarsening and refinement of the initial grain size. Necklacing of the prior grain structure by new grains were observed for low [Delta]H and high [Delta]N; it is, however, not an invariable feature of grain refinement. The initial grain size has a profound influence on the microstructure that evolves during the first cycle of recrystallization but at long times, a mean grain size is established which depends on the values of [Delta]H and [Delta]N alone. Comparison of the relationships between the energy storage rate, maximum and asymptotic stored energy and the grain size suggest that in physical systems the energy storage rate and the nucleation rate are coupled. Comparison of the simulation results with experimental trends suggests that the dependence of nucleation rate on storage should be positive but weak. All of these results were obtained without the addition of special parameters to the model.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/30270/1/0000671.pd