Defining US Southeast Asia Strategy: A Strategic Analysis of US Foreign Policy under Obama Administration

Studi ini mengkaji strategi Amerika Serikat (AS) di Asia Tenggara (Asteng). Penulis secara khusus dan empiris mengambil fokus kepentingan-kepentingan vital AS apa yang sesungguhnya terancam di kawasan Asteng, bagaimana berbagai strategi AS dan sumber daya yang dimilikinya melindungi dan memajukan kepentingan tersebut. Berbeda dengan studi lainnya, penulis mempertimbangkan apakah kebijakan poros strategis AS di Asia semata berfungsi untuk menjaga kohesivitas keamanan antarkawasan yang berada di bawah payung AS sejak Perang Dunia II. Kebijakan demikian dapat membelah persatuan ASEAN, menimbulkan ketegangan dengan Tiongkok, dan juga pada akhirnya dapat melemahkan keamanan antarkawasan. Sebagai tambahan, penulis mempertimbangkan apakah fokus baru AS di Asteng benar-benar format baru atau sekedar perubahan fokus strategi dengan substansi yang sama. Dengan menggunakan analisa studi kasus tunggal dari politik luar negeri AS di bawah Pemerintahan Presiden Obama di Asteng dari tahun 2009-2012, penulis menemukan bukti bahwa asosiasi antara fokus baru AS di Asteng dengan kepentingan nasional AS di bidang ipoleksosbudhankam yang bersifat memaksa sebagai bagian politik luar negerinya yang digunakan untuk memperbaiki keadaan dalam negerinya. Selain itu, penulis menunjukkan bahwa politik luar negeri AS di Asteng tetap dilanjutkan fokusnya pada perang melawan terorisme, menahan kebangkitan Tiongkok, dan memastikan bahwa kawasan Asteng tidak didominasi oleh entitas kekuatan yang berpotensi memusuhi AS.Kata kunci: Amerika Serikat, kebijakan luar negeri, Asia Tenggara, strategis

Do Crude Oil Price Changes Affect Economic Welfare? Empirical Evidence from Ghana

Abstract This paper sought to explore the impact of crude oil price changes on economic welfare in Ghana. The paper employed the Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) estimation technique on an annual time series data spanning 1983 – 2017. The findings revealed that crude oil price changes have a negative and significant impact on economic welfare in the short and long run, albeit marginal. In terms of covariates, the findings revealed that trade openness and gross fixed capital formation have positive and significant impact whilst interest rate have negative impact on economic welfare in both the short and long run. Foreign direct investment had a positive effect, albeit insignificant. The paper recommends among others, the hedging of prices with respect to imported crude oil so as to manage the risks associated with crude oil price changes on economic welfare.   Keywords: Economic Welfare; Crude Oil Prices Changes; Autoregressive Distributed Lag; Ghan

Językowa definicja sytuacji zawarta w tekście obrzędów sakramentu małżeństwa w perspektywie goffmanowskiej.

The article is to describe the definition of the situation formed by the language of “Rituals of the Holy Matrimony Adjusted to the Customs of Polish Dioceses”. The main question is hence: “What definition of the situation is created by the text of the holy matrimony rituals in the Roman Catholic Church”. The analysis are conducted from a sociological perspective created by E. Goffman and called ”dramaturgical perspective”. According to this perspective interactions between people are seen as a performance given by a performer or a team of performers to make an impression on other people (the public). The research question is answered with a help of the theory of conceptual metaphors, the speech acts theory and the theory of conversational implicature. After recognizing main impressions, means of persuasion which were used for creating them are identified and described. The last part describes so-called impression management in analysed rituals.The article is to describe the definition of the situation formed by the language of “Rituals of the Holy Matrimony Adjusted to the Customs of Polish Dioceses”. The main question is hence: “What definition of the situation is created by the text of the holy matrimony rituals in the Roman Catholic Church”. The analysis are conducted from a sociological perspective created by E. Goffman and called ”dramaturgical perspective”. According to this perspective interactions between people are seen as a performance given by a performer or a team of performers to make an impression on other people (the public). The research question is answered with a help of the theory of conceptual metaphors, the speech acts theory and the theory of conversational implicature. After recognizing main impressions, means of persuasion which were used for creating them are identified and described. The last part describes so-called impression management in analysed rituals.

Wagner or Keynes for Ghana? Government Expenditure and Economic Growth Dynamics. A ‘VAR’ Approach

This paper analysed empirically the causal relationship between government expenditure growth and GDP growth in Ghana from 1980 - 2010. The study employed vector autoregressive (VAR)/Granger causality analysis developed by Sims (1980) and Granger (1969). The cointegration results provided evidence of a unique cointegrating vector. Granger causality test conducted revealed that causality exist only from GDP growth to government expenditure growth and not the vice versa. This implication supports Wagner's law of expanding state activities for Ghana. This result means that in estimating government expenditure, GDP growth must be taken into account so as to avoid the problem of misspecification and biasness of estimates generated. The findings also suggest that government must focus on policies that would create the enabling environment for growth to thrive rather than increasing its expenditure with the aim of increasing GDP growth

Fryzjer czy fryzjerka? Rodzaj gramatyczny nazwy zawodu jako nośnik statusu społecznego

This article is a report of the results of qualitative research related to the influence of gender of a profession name on the social status of women who use this name. The subject is analyzed in two ways ? firstly quantitatively to show the connections between social status related to gender of professions names and different variables, and then qualitatively ? to show the character descriptions associated with women, who use profession names in different gender and types of attitudes observed between the respondents. This article is a report of the results of qualitative research related to the influence of gender of a profession name on the social status of women who use this name. The subject is analyzed in two ways ? firstly quantitatively to show the connections between social status related to gender of professions names and different variables, and then qualitatively ? to show the character descriptions associated with women, who use profession names in different gender and types of attitudes observed between the respondents.

Complex study of H-induced structural rearrangements in FeZr glasses

Microstructural changes and relaxation processes were examined in Fe-Zr based rapidly solidified samples. These phenomena occur far below crystallization temperature in the course of heat treatment, or even at room temperature, induced by absorbed hydrogen

Kejahatan Kerah Putih, Kontraterorisme Dan Perlindungan Hak Konstitusi Warga Negara Dalam Bidang Ekonomi

This article reviews the relationship between white-collar crimes, terrorism, and Indonesia's counterterrorism policy. Indonesia's counterterrorism policy yet include white-collar crimes, especially in economy, monetary, and banking, as a form of terrorism. This is because two things: the ignorance of the law enforcements on the white-collar crimes' modus operandi and its reality that growing fast due to the development in science and technology. As a result, although white-collar crimes are so destructive and growing rapidly but Indonesia's legal instruments to date did not have an integrated codification of law to eradicate it. Furthermore, Indonesia's counterterrorism policy looks lopsided because it focused on street crimes or blue-collar crimes, the crimes committed by the lower class strata in such vulgar, unsophisticated, and violent natures. That is in contrast with the white- collar crimes which are so corrupt, destructive, and wicked because it conducted in a sophisticated, fraudulent, and systematic way. Thus, if the definition of terrorism only focuses in the type of street crimes then the corrupt practices, fraud, and deception in the white-collar crimes will be difficult to unfold and it seemed even strengthened, protected, and ultimately have a great potential in undermining the national stability

Relationship Between Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Severe Dengue in a Brazilian Population

Dengue virus has become one of the most important arboviral diseases of today. With nearly half of the global population at risk, this infectious disease carries great significance. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between 18 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and severe dengue in a population from Recife, Brazil. The SNPs of interest are as follows: TLR8 rs17256081, IFNG rs2069718, IFNG rs2069727, IRF1 rs2070729, OAS2 rs2072137, OAS2 rs2072138, OAS3 rs2240188, MX1 rs3737399, VEPH1 rs3911403, IRAK4 rs4251580, CLEC4C rs17199006, PLCE1 rs3740360, MRC1 rs606231248, MRC1 rs2296414, RNASEL rs486907, OASL rs3213545, MX1 rs7277299, and MICB rs3132468. A total of 450 DNA samples were pulled from two studies—a cohort study of dengue patients and a yellow fever vaccine cohort. Sample concentrations were tested using the Nanodrop 1000 Spectrometer. The concentrations of all samples were between 10-100 ng/uL, per the laboratory technician’s request. Samples were transported to the University of Pittsburgh’s Genomic Core Research Laboratory for genotyping using the iPlex MassARRAY system and results were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and R statistical software. Of the 18 SNPs, statistically significant results were observed for OAS2 rs2072137, OAS3 rs2240188, PLCE1 rs3740360, and MX1 rs7277299. For OAS2 rs2072137, the CC genotype was shown to be significantly associated with severe dengue (OR=2.10, P=0.01). The CC genotype associated with OAS3 rs2240188 also appears to influence disease severity (OR=1.96, P=0.02). For PLCE1 rs3740360, calculations reveal a significant association between the AA genotype and severe dengue (OR=2.28, P=0.03). The last notable result was found in MX1 rs7277299 (OR=5.33, P=0.02) where the CC genotype was also significantly associated with severe disease. Though this is one of the largest dengue-related gene association studies, further research is necessary to validate the findings. The increasing burden of dengue disease signifies the public health importance of this research—to contribute to the advancement of dengue research, vaccine development, therapeutic strategies, and diagnostic tools

Verbal aggression in the Internet comments

The steadily growing popularity of the Internet leads to many new social phenomena including verbal aggression on the Internet called cyberbulling or flaming. This study aims to describe verbal aggression in the comments on the polish Internet. Such comments on various subjects and from websites with different levels of anonymity were analysed. The data showed among others, that the percentage of aggressive comments is proportional to the level of anonymity provided on specific websites and thatusers prefer to express aggression by using offensive, but not vulgar, language.The steadily growing popularity of the Internet leads to many new social phenomena including verbal aggression on the Internet called cyberbulling or flaming. This study aims to describe verbal aggression in the comments on the polish Internet. Such comments on various subjects and from websites with different levels of anonymity were analysed. The data showed among others, that the percentage of aggressive comments is proportional to the level of anonymity provided on specific websites and thatusers prefer to express aggression by using offensive, but not vulgar, language

Language of Weblogs in the Light of Polish Language Norms

This article presents results of exploratory study concerning the relation between Polish language norms and texts published on weblogs. Six weblogs were analyzed in order to find all differences between the forms used on the blogs and those suggested by norms. Those differences were then classified as either justified innovation or mistakes. The classification on found mistakes based on the literature was also conducted.This article presents results of exploratory study concerning the relation between Polish language norms and texts published on weblogs. Six weblogs were analyzed in order to find all differences between the forms used on the blogs and those suggested by norms. Those differences were then classified as either justified innovation or mistakes. The classification on found mistakes based on the literature was also conducted