UNDERSTANDING THE RESILIENCE OF VIOLENT JIHADI MOVEMENTS: THE SOURCES OF MILITANT DURABILITY

What explains the resilience and expansion of Jihadism since 9/11? Two primary factors associated with its accelerated growth are poor governance in the Muslim world and U.S. foreign policy failures. The social and political conditions within Muslim-majority governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the role of U.S. policy under such conditions may have accelerated the growth of Jihadism despite the concerted military, intelligence, and allied efforts to defeat this movement and its underlying ideology. The domestic determinants, as represented by the World Bank’s governance indicators, were observed within five MENA countries, and their performance on those indicators was compared to the levels of violence associated with each of the countries both domestically and abroad. To better understand anti-American sentiment from U.S. foreign policy failures that have contributed to the growth and resilience of violent Jihadi movements, this thesis also observed U.S. foreign policy interactions within a MENA region landscape littered with non-representative and poor governance. The U.S. government may need to reassess its approach toward violent extremists and develop a nuanced and sustainable approach against Islamic fundamentalism.Major, United States ArmyApproved for public release. distribution is unlimite

Visibility Trends in Baghdad City During the Period 2005-2014

Trends in horizontal visibility for Baghdad city, haziness for the period between 2005 and 2014 were assessed in view of information for daily horizontal visibility. The average (means) of annual visibility were determined for Baghdad as a whole, the results show that the average annual visibility ranged between 8592 m and 6429 m at years 2006 and 2009 respectively. However, the monthly visibility flocculate between 10385 m in November 2006 and 4216 m in May 2012. Analysis in term of linear regression was utilized for describing long-term annual trends in these variables. For the last ten years, there was a significant decreasing in horizontal visibility (-2.1 km/decade from 2005 to 2014). According to rapid increase in energy consumption, the consistent temporal and spatial variations of visibility and haze support the speculation that increased aerosol loadings were responsible for the observed decreases in horizontal visibility over Baghdad city. Keywords: Visibility; Annual mean; percentile annua

Global attitudes in the management of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 pandemic: ACIE Appy Study

Background: Surgical strategies are being adapted to face the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations on the management of acute appendicitis have been based on expert opinion, but very little evidence is available. This study addressed that dearth with a snapshot of worldwide approaches to appendicitis. Methods: The Association of Italian Surgeons in Europe designed an online survey to assess the current attitude of surgeons globally regarding the management of patients with acute appendicitis during the pandemic. Questions were divided into baseline information, hospital organization and screening, personal protective equipment, management and surgical approach, and patient presentation before versus during the pandemic. Results: Of 744 answers, 709 (from 66 countries) were complete and were included in the analysis. Most hospitals were treating both patients with and those without COVID. There was variation in screening indications and modality used, with chest X-ray plus molecular testing (PCR) being the commonest (19\ub78 per cent). Conservative management of complicated and uncomplicated appendicitis was used by 6\ub76 and 2\ub74 per cent respectively before, but 23\ub77 and 5\ub73 per cent, during the pandemic (both P < 0\ub7001). One-third changed their approach from laparoscopic to open surgery owing to the popular (but evidence-lacking) advice from expert groups during the initial phase of the pandemic. No agreement on how to filter surgical smoke plume during laparoscopy was identified. There was an overall reduction in the number of patients admitted with appendicitis and one-third felt that patients who did present had more severe appendicitis than they usually observe. Conclusion: Conservative management of mild appendicitis has been possible during the pandemic. The fact that some surgeons switched to open appendicectomy may reflect the poor guidelines that emanated in the early phase of SARS-CoV-2