Trends in Student Radicalization across University Campuses in Afghanistan

This study aims to examine the trends in student radicalization across eight university campuses in Afghanistan. We conclude from our survey of student and staff views and an analysis of the character of protests across campuses that the extent of student radicalization varies. In particular, we come to three noteworthy findings. First, most university students are more concerned over prospects of post-graduation follow-on careers than ideological ambition. Second, while we find that most students and lecturers denounce radical views and violence, a relatively more aggressive response to both the policies of the Afghan government and the armed international intervention exhibited by students from universities in Kabul, Qandahar and Nangarhar suggests differentiated patterns across university campuses, with these campuses suggestive of a stronger tendency toward radicalized views. Finally, as an institution, the university does not play a strong role in the radicalization of its students. Rather, a charged political climate and the readily available opportunity to mobilize quickly enable students to stand in protest rather easily. However, findings also suggest that it is this same easy access to mobilize in protest that seems to attract a number of external groups as evident by the black, white and green flags representative of al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the militant wing of Hezb-e- Islami Hekmatyar. Moreover, it is these protests that seem to encourage polarization and consequential division on campus which increasingly resemble the practice of takfir. Referring to the practice of excommunication wherein one Muslim declares that another Muslim has abandoned Islam, takfir is in direct competition with the more tolerant teachings common to the characteristically liberal curriculum of public universities. While protest in and of itself is a characteristic common to progressive democracies, evidence suggests that some student protests do call for division along sectarian lines or the suppression of women’s rights, both of which stand in contradiction to democratic principles and pose a threat to stability. With more than sixty-three percent of the Afghan population under the age of twenty-four, left unchecked such influence has the likelihood and potential to expand with substantial consequences for development and security in Afghanistan. As Afghanistan moves into a new phase of its era of state-building, a special focus on meeting the needs of its youth and in particular of Afghan university students is indispensable in meeting and maintaining lasting stability and prosperity. This study is the first part of an ongoing series of papers dedicated to examining the trends in radicalization across the various sectors throughout Afghanistan. Launched in late 2013, we plan follow-on studies to complement the series, including examinations of the trends in radicalization in madrassas across Afghanistan and within the Afghan security forces

Reflecting Zoroastrian Culture in Bapsi Sidhwa’s An American Brat

In the age of globalization when the language and culture of man, in uniformity, seems to be Westernized, at a deeper level, is maintained by local folk. These local folks, in the globalizing world, feared of losing their culture, language and identity grip it more tightly than ever before and struggle hard to ensure their presence through both the direct and indirect ways. The Parsis, a micro-minority community which now on the verge of extinction, is trying hard to maintain their presence in every possible-way. In this regard most of the Parsi writers concern themselves with their culture, tradition, and identity. Bapsi Sidhwa, a Pakistani-Parsi writer who now lives in Houston, Texas, America, is also concerned with the Parsi faith. Sidhwa has authored a number of novels, of which the most important, based on the community, are The Crow Eaters (1978), Ice Candy Man (1988), The Pakistani Bride (1990), and An American Brat (1993). For the paper, Sidhwa’s An American Brat has been chosen to analyse from the view point of its culture, identity, and language

A REPORT ABOUT BENZOXAZINONE MATERIAL

In this study, the objective was to investigate the Benzoxazinone material using the uncorrected and open capillary method for conducting and reporting the melting points. Laboratory grade and analytical grade reagents were used for conducting the synthesis and analytical studies based on with or without modification appropriately as and were required. Results showed that First of all the Synthesis of 2H-1, 4- benzoxazin-3(4H)-one was carried out by reacting 2- amino phenol with chloro acetyl chloride in dichloromethane in presence of triethylamine and then the bromo substitution was done by reacting with dibromoethane. Piperazine substituents were prepared in laboratory and then the title compounds were synthesized. One additional benzoyl substitution was also done. The entire synthesized compounds were primarily characterized by running T.L.C. and melting point analysis

Analysis of Simulated Electromyography (EMG) Signals Using Integrated Computer Muscle Model

Introduction Electromyography (EMG) is a technique used to study the activity of muscle through detection and analysis of the electrical signals generated during muscular contractions. Electromyographic activity is recorded from skeletal muscles to obtain information about their anatomy and physiology. Electromyography, in interplay with various anatomical techniques, provides the present knowledge of the structural organization and the nervous control of muscle. EMG is the prime source of information about the status of the neuromuscular system, and EMG has developed into a diagnostic tool that allows the clinician to follow changes in nerve and muscle caused by neuromuscular diseases. EMG provides both invasive and noninvasive means for the study of muscular functions [1, 2]. It is also useful in interpreting pathologic states of musculoskeletal or neuromuscular systems [3, 4]. In particular, EMG offers valuable information concerning the timing of muscular activity and its relative intensity [5, 6]. Standard EMG is typically recorded from fine wire or two surface electrodes placed at discrete sites over a muscle or muscle belly. Currently surface grid electrode EMG is widely used. The cell bodies of these neurons reside in the brainstem and spinal cord. The interfacing fiber between motor neuron and muscle is called axon. At the distal end, an axon divides 1 into many terminal branches. Each terminal branch innervates a group of muscle fibers. When a nerve signal approaches the end of an axon, it spreads out over all its terminal branches and stimulates all the muscle fibers supplied by them. So, all the excited muscle fibers contract almost simultaneously. Since they behave as a single functional unit, one nerve fiber and all the muscle fibers innervated by it are called a motor unit (MU) [7, 8]. Generally, the muscle fibers of a motor unit are distributed throughout muscle rather than being clustered together. The fine control of the muscle force is performed through the intricate mechanism and interaction of the brain and muscle. During contraction, these motor units are recruited systematically and the recruited motor units discharge in a train of pulses in a complex manner [9, 10]. The recorded EMG is the temporal summation of all the recruited motor unit action potential trains. Because movement is controlled by motor unit activity, an understanding of motor unit physiology can have a significant impact on the evaluation and treatment of movement disorders. The neuromuscular system is an intricate physiological organization of brain, nerve and muscle. These neural control properties are not well understood mostly because of the experimental difficulties in quantifying the neural input to the muscle. Moreover, the muscle itself is a complex system. It is necessary to address these complexities as accurately as possible. Understanding of these complex systems facilitates the understanding of EMG generation, which is a highly complex signal by itself

Design of an adaptive cable equalizer using 0.5 [mu]m [i.e. micrometer] CMOS process

Data transmitted over a long length of cable at high rates must be equalized in order to compensate for the loss and phase dispersion of the cable. The more the cable length, the more the loss is in it. As the data transfer rate is increasing, more bandwidth is needed and the data communication industries are demanding an equalizer system with more bandwidth. A pole-zero model for the coax cable- equalizer is developed which shows that the poles and zeros of the cable transfer function decrease linearly with the increase of the cable length. Thus an adaptive equalizer system has been designed where the length of the cable will be estimated through the peak detector circuitry and the equalizer filter will be tuned automatically according to the estimated cable length using this linearity. All the circuits of the system have been designed using AMI 0.5µm CMOS technology and simulated on Cadence\u27s Spectre tools

Meta analysis for special education leadership in Malaysia

The leadership of the headmaster as the school's chief administrator is crucial in determining the school's direction of success. Practiced leadership also reflects school culture and teachers' performance. This will help to ensure the success of the students. School leadership is synonymous with a variety of styles such as autocratic, democratic, Laissez Faire, transformational, distributive, instructional and many other styles of leadership. All of these leadership styles also occur in the community of schools with special education programs and special needs students. This meta-analysis was conducted to explore previous studies on special education leadership in Malaysia from 2011 to 2020. Although there are many studies on special education leadership abroad, there are still few studies in Malaysia. Based on the search, there are only seven studies published on special education leadership in Malaysia. The analysis conducted for these seven studies found that there are certain elements in explaining special education leadership in Malaysia. These studies also found that special education teachers in primary and secondary schools involved. In addition, this study also focused on the main findings of each study conducted. This study also examines the methodology of the study used. The findings of this study are intended to help future researchers conduct research on special education leadership in Malaysia. In addition, this analysis also suggests some ideas for further research

PPS-ADS: A Framework for Privacy-Preserved and Secured Distributed System Architecture for Handling Big Data

The exponential expansion of Big Data in 7V’s (velocity, variety, veracity, value, variability and visualization) brings forth new challenges to security, reliability, availability and privacy of these data sets. Traditional security techniques and algorithms fail to complement this gigantic big data. This paper aims to improve the recently proposed Atrain Distributed System (ADS) by incorporating new features which will cater to the end-to-end availability and security aspects of the big data in the distributed system. The paper also integrates the concept of Software Defined Networking (SDN) in ADS to effectively control and manage the routing of the data item in the ADS. The storage of data items in the ADS is done on the basis of the type of data (structured or unstructured), the capacity of the distributed system (or coach) and the distance of coach from the pilot computer (PC). In order to maintain the consistency of data and to eradicate the possible loss of data, the concept of “forward positive” and “backward positive” acknowledgment is proposed. Furthermore, we have incorporated “Twofish” cryptographic technique to encrypt the big data in the ADS. Issues like “data ownership”, “data security, “data privacy” and data reliability” are pivotal while handling the big data. The current paper presents a framework for a privacy-preserved architecture for handling the big data in an effective manner