Terrorism and Globalization: An International Perspective

Terrorism has little or nothing to do with globalization, just as it has little or nothing to do with Islam. Most of the many varieties of terrorism that afflict and have long afflicted the world are responses not to global phenomena, but to intensely local ones. Examples include particularly ethnic, nationalist, and religious fault lines such as violence by Catholics and Protestants in Ireland; Basques in Spain; the Hindu Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka; Kashmiris, Sikhs, and Hindu nationalists in India; the Aum cult in Japan; and Uighurs in Xinjiang, China. The terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center on September 11 were also not making a statement against globalization, unlike the anti-globalization activist who leads French farmers in trashing McDonald\u27s outlets there.\u27 Rather, as far as can be discerned from the propaganda of the hijackers\u27 assumed leader, Osama bin Laden, they were making a statement against, variously, the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, its insistence on continued bombing of and economic sanctions against Iraq, and its support of Israel against the Palestinians. In my experience, and from what I read, these same resentments are felt by most Muslims everywhere, who nonetheless condemn terrorism and recognize it to be counter to the teachings of Islam. On October 10, the sixty countries which belong to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), unambiguously declared of the September 11 attacks that such deplorable terrorist acts\u27 run counter to Islam\u27s tolerant heavenly message of peace, harmony, tolerance, and respect among people .... Islam values human life and denounces the killing of innocent people

U.S. Trade Policy Toward the New NICs of Southeast Asia

As export and economic growth in Korea and Taiwan has slowed since 1988, it has increased dramatically in several countries of Southeast Asia. Thailand, for one, is chalking up a second year of eleven percent real GDP growth in 1989 to become the fastest-growing economy in the world. Malaysia and even the Philippines are not far behind, with growth predicted to reach the six to eight percent range for the second or third year in a row. Even Indonesia\u27s growth is rising above five percent for the first time since the oil price slump of the early 1980s. Manufactures now account for over half, in some cases well over half, of merchandise exports in all four of these ASEAN countries. This has caused them to be referred to by the international business press, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, as the next newly industrializing countries [ NICs ] - the next Koreas and Taiwans, only bigger (with the exception of Malaysia)

An investigation of two behavioural economic approaches to evaluating reinforcer value

This study compares two approaches for comparing the value of two different reinforcers. The own-price demand method compares the changes in consumption of the reinforcers resulting from increases in the number of responses required to gain access to the reinforcers. Experiment 1 assessed own-price demand for two reinforcers. Six hens responded under increasing fixed-ratio schedules when either wheat or puffed wheat was delivered for key-pecking. The quantity consumed (measured as either numbers of reinforcers obtained or weight of food consumed) was plotted against the FR size on log-log coordinates to give the own-price demand functions. Three functions were fitted to the data and all described the data well. The parameter values from Hursh’s (1988) and Hursh and Winger’s (1995) equations were generally consistent with wheat being the preferred reinforcer data when derived from the weight of food consumed. Those derived from number of reinforcers were inconsistent. The essential value, α, from the equation proposed by Hursh and Silberberg (2008), when k was fixed at 6.5, were smaller when weight was used and were weight was used and were larger when number of reinforcers was used as the consumption measures and so suggested the essential value changed. These data show that the outcome is affected by how the consumption is measured. It seems that that the above models were similar. The cross-price demand method examines the divergence of the cross-point of two demand functions. In Experiment 2 assessed the cross-point using the same six hens responding under concurrent fixed-ratio fixed-ratio schedules over nine pairs of schedules: FR1/FR256, FR8/FR32, FR128/FR2, FR4/FR64, FR256/FR1, FR32/FR8, FR2/FR128, FR16/FR16 and FR64/FR4. In Condition 1 both schedules gave access to wheat, in Condition 2 both gave puffed wheat, and in Condition 3 one gave wheat and the other puffed wheat. The numbers of each reinforcer obtained and weight of each food consumed were plotted as functions of the left fixed-ratio values to give the cross-price demand functions. When the two reinforcers were identical the cross point tended to be around the ratio used for the equal schedules session (16) with both number of reinforcers and weight of food.. When the two reinforcers differed the cross point for most hens moved to higher ratio when weight of food consumed was used, suggesting that wheat was more valued than puffed wheat for these hens. This was not so for number of reinforcers. Both experiments show that how the consumption was assessed affected the conclusions from that method. Overall the cross-price demand analysis appeared to be the easier to interpret

The application of diastereoselective free radical reactions in carbohydrate chemistry

This thesis focuses essentially on the application of diastereoselective radical reactions to the preparation of O- and C-glycosidic linkages. As such, the introduction surveys both the general area of glycoside synthesis and diastereoselective radical reactions and in particular, their use in carbohydrate chemistry. Methyl [Phenyl 4,5,7-tri-O-benzyl-3-deoxy-2-sulphonyl-β-D-arabino-2-heptulopyranoside]onate (sulphone ester) was prepared from tri-O-benzyl-D-glucal according to a method previously developed in the laboratory. The highly diastereoselective preparation of 6-C-glycosides was achieved by reductive desulphonylation of the sulphone ester with lithium naphthalenide followed by quenching with an alkyl halide and ultimately by Barton reductive decarboxylation. Diastereoselectivities in excess of 95:5 were routinely observed. Thermal elimination of phenylsulphinic acid from the sulphone ester gave the corresponding 1-carbomethoxy glycal. cw-Hydroxylation with osmium tetroxide gave exclusively the gluco-isomer. Acetonation, saponification and reductive decarboxylation gave l,2-O-isopropylidene-3,4,6-tri-O-benzyl-β-D-gluco-pyranose as a single anomer and the first example of a 1,2-trans-isopropylidene derivative of a pyranose sugar. Other β-O-gluco-pyranosides were prepared as single anomers by related process. The extension of the methodology to the preparation of β-O-manno-pyranosides was investigated. The extrapolation of the method to the preparation of furanosidic linkages was investigated. 2,3:4,6-Di-O-isopropylidene-2-keto-L-gulonic acid was chosen as starting material and methods were developed for its selective deprotection and protection. The stereoselectivity of the radical decarboxylation step was investigated. Finally, in the context of the C-glycoside synthesis, 6-trimethylsilylethoxymethyl chloride (SEM-Cl) was developed as a practical equivalent to formaldehyde in low temperature, non-aqueous aldol type reactions

Book Review: The Evolution of Capitalism, China Style

Book review of How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, Straits Times, Jan 15, 2017. By Linda Lim.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136098/1/ST Review by Linda Lim.pd

A competency development approach to learning for employment

[EN] Higher Education Institutions are increasingly aware of industry expectations regarding work-ready graduates. Work Integrated learning and co-operative education initiatives are widely acknowledged for improving professional skills and work readiness, however, graduates often lack the ‘soft’ skills (communication, collaboration, problem solving) deemed essential for enhanced productivity and innovation in the workplace, i.e. employability skills (Jackson, 2010). Anecdotal evidence from the Professional and Community Engagement (PACE) program at Macquarie University identified the difficulties that students experience in self-assessing employability skills. One research study highlighted the inflated self-perceptions and an overall lack of humility often associated with recent graduates (Papadopoulos 2010, cited in Jackson 2015). This paper discusses the theoretical and practical development of a competency development approach to learning for employment using an Assessment Centre process model currently embedded in the curriculum of one PACE unit. Developed and coordinated by post-graduate psychology students, the model provides a set of behavioural criteria by which to assess student employability skills. While there is little evidence in the literature of the use of AC's for enhancing undergraduate employability, (see Keele et al, 2010), preliminary research and evaluation findings from this project, suggest that the AC process can have a positive influence on the development of the ‘soft’ skills of employabilityMclachlan, K.; Yeomans, L.; Lim, K. (2017). A competency development approach to learning for employment. En Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 793-800. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD17.2017.542179380

Laparoscopic Assisted Fusion of the Lumbosacral Spine: A Biomechanical and Histologic Analysis of the Open Versus Laparoscopic Technique in an Animal Model

Study Design. An animal model for laparoscopic lumbosacral fusion. Objectives. To compare the biomechanical and histologic results of open to laparoscopic lumbosacral discectomy and fusion in an animal model. Background Data. Early clinical reports of laparoscopic lumbosacral fusions are encouraging, but animal experiments have not been reported. Methods. Ten pigs (50-80 kg) were divided into two groups. Group 1 underwent an open anterior lumbosacral discectomy and fusion at L7-S1 using autologous bone graft and a titanium MOSS (DePuy Motech) cage. Group 2 was identical to Group 1 except that a laparoscopic technique was used. The animals were killed at 3 months, and the lumbosacral spines were harvested for biomechanical and histologic testing. Results. Estimated blood loss and average length of operation, respectively, for the two groups were: Group 1, 50 mL, 2 hours 50 minutes; and Group 2, 40 mL, 3 hours 40 minutes. There were no perioperative or postoperative complications in either group. Motion analysis results showed less motion in lateral bending, flexion, and extension than in the intact specimen in both groups. Tensile testing showed that the stiffness was significantly greater in the open group than in the laparoscopic group (P \u3c 0.004). Histologic examination showed a less extensive discectomy and less bone growth in the implant in the laparoscopic group. Inadequate decortication of end-plates occurred in two animals who underwent laparoscopy. Conclusions. Although lumbosacral discectomy and implant insertion can be performed using the laparoscopic technique, the construct may not have the same biomechanical strength as that attained with the open procedure. Laparoscopic-assisted lumbosacral fusion surgery requires additional investigation before it is widely used in clinical situations

Dual Roles of Transcription Factor Zic3 in Regulating Embryonic Stem Cell Pluripotency and Differentiation

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH