Ethnic Entrepreneurs and Collective Violence: Assessing Spatial Variations in Anti- Chinese Rioting within Jakarta during the May 1998 Riots

The concept of scapegoating is frequently used to explain how opportunistic elites attempt to deflect blame onto vulnerable ethnic minorities, particularly during times of social turmoil. However, the notion of scapegoating is undertheorized in the confliEthnic entrepreneurs, collective violence, scapegoating, micro-foundations of

Ethnic entrepreneurs and collective violence: Assessing spatial variations in anti-Chinese rioting within Jakarta during the May 1998 riots

The concept of scapegoating is frequently used to explain how opportunistic elites attempt to deflect blame onto vulnerable ethnic minorities, particularly during times of social turmoil. However, the notion of scapegoating is undertheorized in the conflict literature and the question of why elite scapegoating only sometimes leads to violence is seldom addressed. This paper seeks to redress the balance by interrogating spatial variations in violence against the economically dominant ethnic Chinese in Indonesia within the city of Jakarta in the late 1990s. By demonstrating different trajectories of violence within a 'broadly violent city', this study illustrates the importance of disaggregating the unit of analysis in conflict studies. The study argues that elite-orchestrated campaigns of scapegoating succeed only if specific attributes invoked in such campaigns resonate at the local level; violence is more likely when prevailing local conditions amplify the pointed nature of the elite rhetoric. This in turn magnifies the threat perceived by the local community, provides focal points for mobilization against the disliked 'other' and in turn makes certain Chinese communities more 'scapegoatable'. Typically, scapegoating of the Chinese entails invoking entrenched stereotypes of the group as non-Moslem, non-native, economically dominant outsiders. Local mechanisms which activate these stereotypes include higher visibility of non-Moslem sites of worship, heightened ethnic competition, and ostensible symbols of wealth associated with the Chinese

The Isolated Islamists: The Case of the Allied Democratic Forces in the Ugandan-Congolese Borderland

This study investigates the absence of substantive linkages between locally based Salafi Jihadist movements and their more transnational counterparts such as Al-Qaeda or ISIS. While studies have addressed the heterogeneity in Jihadi alliances, the question of why inter-Jihadi ties are completely absent or tenuous at times is under-theorized in the literature. Given ISIS’s recent inexorable advance through the Middle East and North Africa and its ever-growing ties with local Jihadists, it is timely to investigate under what conditions locally based militant Islamists are less likely to forge ties with global Jihadists. Using the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)—a militant Islamist group in the Ugandan-Congolese borderland—as an illustrative case study, the research sheds light on conditions under which inter-Jihadi ties are less likely. These include the extent of ideological divergence between local and global Jihadists, the degree of relevance to the local community, and the fear of attracting new enemies in the form of more stringent counter-terrorism operations

Global medication waste management practices: challenges and opportunities in developing countries

Medication waste is synonymous with pharmaceutical waste, unused or expired medicines. Improper disposal of medication waste leads to serious personal and environmental health hazards. There were no established medication waste management programmes in most of the developing countries including Asia. Presence of unique socioeconomic problems in these counties makes the establishment of successful medication waste management programme a challenge. We reviewed the literature pertaining to the disposal of medication waste in different countries in order to understand the current status. We found that the medication waste disposal via normal sewage systems was the main method practiced in most of the countries and that the situation was much worse in developing countries. Return of unused medicines to pharmacies, which is considered to be the best method, was successfully practiced in some developed countries with established systems. Lack of proper mechanism to handle medication waste seems to be the main reason behind substandard medication waste management in developing countries. We propose a simple model for the disposal of medication waste taking into consideration the unique challenges and infra-structure issues in developing countries. International level policy and funding support, national level policy and unbiased financial allocations, institutional level comprehensive programmes according to the local requirements and most importantly the public support will make medication waste management programme a success. Furthermore, developing countries should join the on-going international forum on medication waste management. This short communication will be an eye opener for the academic key opinion leaders in developing countries to initiate medical waste management programmes in their countries

Medication waste disposal practices among patients attending selected out patient departments in a tertiary care institution: a cross sectional survey

Background: Medication waste has major implications on human and animal health, environmental safety and the health economy. Low and middle income countries have paid less attention to proper medication waste disposal at household and community level. This is the first baseline assessment on medication waste disposal practices among the general public in Sri Lanka.Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional survey, conducted via face to face interviews using a structured questionnaire among selected outpatient clinics at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka. A non-probability sampling technique was used to achieve a representative sample from each clinic. The data collectors were trained prior to administering the questionnaire. Data was presented as descriptive statistics using percentages. Chi-square test was used to find associations.Results: From the total number of participants (n=200) majority were females 135 (67.5%). Majority of the participants (78%) stated that they have unused medicines at home. Among them, tablet form was the commonest (78%) followed by topical preparations (49%). Commonest reason for having unused medicines at home were self-discontinuation as illness resolved (57.5%). There was a significant difference between the knowledge and practices when disposing tablet form (<0.001), syrups (0.002), topical preparations (0.04) and sharps (<0.001). Majority (23%) discarded sharp to rubbish bins. Rubbish bin was the commonest mode of disposal for all dosage forms as well as devices.Conclusions: In this sample majority had unused medicines at home which was compatible with the pattern seen in other countries and need proper attention

Effect of a non-native bio filmed bio fertilizer for rice in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka

Rice is the staple food crop of Sri Lanka and the eastern province alone contributes to more than 21% of the total production of the country. Excessive amounts of chemical fertilizers are used to obtain a higher yield which has been noted to contribute to deteriorate soil microbial community. This leads to poor quality soil resulting in poor crop growth. Use of microbial biofertilizers for rice has gained momentum as a measure of replenishing the depleted soil microbiome, and to restore the beneficial processes. Amongst microbial biofertilizers, biofilmed biofertilizers (BFBFs) have been found to act as microbial ameliorators in deteriorated soil, contributing to better plant growth and higher yield. A field trial using a BFBF (comprising of non-native microorganisms) and rice variety BG 357 was conducted in 2011 Yala season (May — August) at Sammanthurai Agriculture Research Station to assess the potential of the BFBF for rice in the Eastern province. The use of BFBF increased seed germination by ca. 16% (P<0.005) and heading by 8.34%. However, there was no observable effect on yield although the same BFBF showed significant plant growth promoting effect and yield potential at the field trials conducted at Rice Research and Development Institute, Batalagoda (the location of the strains of the BFBF) in 2010 Yala season. Poor plant growth and no heading in BFBF alone indicate the poor competitive ability of the strains of BFBF which are non-native to the region. A BFBF developed from strains native to the region may be effective. Further research is needed in this regar

High-resolution mapping of two large-scale transpressional fault zones in the California Continental Borderland: Santa Cruz-Catalina Ridge and Ferrelo faults

New mapping of two active transpressional fault zones in the California Continental Borderland, the Santa Cruz-Catalina Ridge fault and the Ferrelo fault, was carried out to characterize their geometries, using over 4500 line-km of new multibeam bathymetry data collected in 2010 combined with existing data. Faults identified from seafloor morphology were verified in the subsurface using existing seismic reflection data including single-channel and multichannel seismic profiles compiled over the past three decades. The two fault systems are parallel and are capable of large lateral offsets and reverse slip during earthquakes. The geometry of the fault systems shows evidence of multiple segments that could experience throughgoing rupture over distances exceeding 100 km. Published earthquake hypocenters from regional seismicity studies further define the lateral and depth extent of the historic fault ruptures. Historical and recent focal mechanisms obtained from first-motion and moment tensor studies confirm regional strain partitioning dominated by right slip on major throughgoing faults with reverse-oblique mechanisms on adjacent structures. Transpression on west and northwest trending structures persists as far as 270 km south of the Transverse Ranges; extension persists in the southern Borderland. A logjam model describes the tectonic evolution of crustal blocks bounded by strike-slip and reverse faults which are restrained from northwest displacement by the Transverse Ranges and the southern San Andreas fault big bend. Because of their potential for dip-slip rupture, the faults may also be capable of generating local tsunamis that would impact Southern California coastlines, including populated regions in the Channel Islands

Lithospheric structure across the California Continental Borderland from receiver functions

Due to its complex history of deformation, the California Continental Borderland provides an interesting geological setting for studying how the oceanic and continental lithosphere responds to deformation. We map variations in present-day lithospheric structure across the region using Ps and Sp receiver functions at permanent stations of the Southern California Seismic Network as well as ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) data gathered by the Asthenospheric and Lithospheric Broadband Architecture from the California Offshore Region Experiment (ALBACORE), which enhances coverage of the borderland and provides first direct constraints on the structure of the Pacific plate west of the Patton Escarpment. Noisiness of OBS data makes strict handpicking and bandpass filtering necessary in order to obtain interpretable receiver functions. Using H-κ and common-conversion point stacking, we find pronounced lithospheric differences across structural blocks, which we interpret as indicating that the Outer Borderland has been translated with little to no internal deformation, while the Inner Borderland underwent significant lithospheric thinning, most likely related to accommodating the 90° clockwise rotation of the Western Transverse Range block. West of the Patton Escarpment, we find that the transition to typical oceanic crustal thickness takes place over a lateral distance of ∼ 50 km. We detect an oceanic seismic lithosphere-asthenosphere transition at 58 km depth west of the Patton Escarpment, consistent with only weak age-dependence of the depth to the seismic lithosphere-asthenosphere transition. Sp common-conversion point stacks confirm wholesale lithospheric thinning of the Inner Borderland and suggest the presence of a slab fragment beneath the Outer Borderland

The 11 March 2011 Tohoku tsunami wavefront mapping across offshore Southern California

The 11 March 2011 (M_w = 9.0) Tohoku tsunami was recorded by a temporary array of seafloor pressure gauges deployed off the coast of Southern California, demonstrating how dense array data can illustrate and empirically validate predictions of linear tsunami wave propagation characteristics. A noise cross-correlation method was used to first correct for the pressure gauge instrument phase response. Phase and group travel times were then measured for the first arrival in the pressure gauge tsunami waveforms filtered in narrow bands around 30 periods between 200 and 3000 s. For each period, phase velocities were estimated across the pressure gauge array based on the phase travel time gradient using eikonal tomography. Clear correlation was observed between the phase velocity and long-wavelength bathymetry variations where fast and slow velocities occurred for deep and shallow water regions, respectively. In particular, velocity gradients are pronounced at the Patton Escarpment and near island plateaus due to the abrupt bathymetry change. In the deep open ocean area, clear phase velocity dispersion is observed. Comparison with numerically calculated tsunami waveforms validates the approach and provides an independent measure of the finite-frequency effect on phase velocities at long periods