Land Rights of African Indigenous Groups: International Instruments and Main Issues

For indigenous peoples, land is more than an economic commodity, it has guided their way of life for generations. This notion is particularly prevalent in Africa, where many diverse indigenous communities exist, from desert regions to vast forests. However, without the recognition of international laws and standards that seek to preserve and uphold their land rights, the indigenous peoples of Africa continue to face socio-environmental and political issues. This research paper seeks to understand what actors, documents, and mechanisms exist to protect and promote the land rights of indigenous peoples in Africa and assess their effectiveness. This research question was answered by collecting information about the instruments within the African Commission, International Labor Organization (ILO), and United Nations (UN) and by reading reports, press releases, and documents from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and news outlets that have published information on the current issues indigenous peoples in Africa are enduring. This research has found an apparent discrepancy between the land rights of African indigenous peoples guaranteed and monitored by the international instruments and the alarming reality of the situations these peoples are facing, including food and water insecurity, environmental pressures, limited national recognition, and conflict. These results illustrate a need for more effective implementation of international law, monitoring and enforcement by international bodies, and creation of national policies that address the needs of indigenous African populations

Stable Generalized Finite Element Method (SGFEM)

The Generalized Finite Element Method (GFEM) is a Partition of Unity Method (PUM), where the trial space of standard Finite Element Method (FEM) is augmented with non-polynomial shape functions with compact support. These shape functions, which are also known as the enrichments, mimic the local behavior of the unknown solution of the underlying variational problem. GFEM has been successfully used to solve a variety of problems with complicated features and microstructure. However, the stiffness matrix of GFEM is badly conditioned (much worse compared to the standard FEM) and there could be a severe loss of accuracy in the computed solution of the associated linear system. In this paper, we address this issue and propose a modification of the GFEM, referred to as the Stable GFEM (SGFEM). We show that the conditioning of the stiffness matrix of SGFEM is not worse than that of the standard FEM. Moreover, SGFEM is very robust with respect to the parameters of the enrichments. We show these features of SGFEM on several examples.Comment: 51 pages, 4 figure

Emerging Risks in the Marine Transportation System (MTS), 2001- 2021

How has maritime security evolved since 2001, and what challenges exist moving forward? This report provides an overview of the current state of maritime security with an emphasis on port security. It examines new risks that have arisen over the last twenty years, the different types of security challenges these risks pose, and how practitioners can better navigate these challenges. Building on interviews with 37 individuals immersed in maritime security protocols, we identify five major challenges in the modern maritime security environment: (1) new domains for exploitation, (2) big data and information processing, (3) attribution challenges, (4) technological innovations, and (5) globalization. We explore how these challenges increase the risk of small-scale, high-probability incidents against an increasingly vulnerable Marine Transportation System (MTS). We conclude by summarizing several measures that can improve resilience-building and mitigate these risks

The effect of distance on long-range chromatin interactions.

We have used gene competition to distinguish between possible mechanisms of transcriptional activation of the genes of the human beta-globin locus. The insertion of a second beta-globin gene at different points in the locus shows that the more proximal beta gene competes more effectively for activation by the locus control region (LCR). Reducing the relative distance between the genes and the LCR reduces the competitive advantage of the proximal gene, a result that supports activation by direct interaction between the LCR and the genes. Visualization of the primary transcripts shows that the level of transcription is proportional to the frequency of transcriptional periods and that such periods last approximately 8 min in vivo. We also find that the position of the beta-globin gene in the locus is important for correct developmental regulation

Multifluid flows with weak and strong discontinuous interfaces using an elemental enriched space

In a previous paper, the authors presented an elemental enriched space to be used in a finite-element framework (EFEM) capable of reproducing kinks and jumps in an unknown function using a fixed mesh in which the jumps and kinks do not coincide with the interelement boundaries. In this previous publication, only scalar transport problems were solved (thermal problems). In the present work, these ideas are generalized to vectorial unknowns, in particular, the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for multifluid flows presenting internal moving interfaces. The advantage of the EFEM compared with global enrichment is the significant reduction in computing time when the internal interface is moving. In the EFEM, the matrix to be solved at each time step has not only the same amount of degrees of freedom (DOFs) but also the same connectivity between the DOFs. This frozen matrix graph enormously improves the efficiency of the solver. Another characteristic of the elemental enriched space presented here is that it allows a linear variation of the jump, thus improving the convergence rate, compared with other enriched spaces that have a constant variation of the jump. Furthermore, the implementation in any existing finite-element code is extremely easy with the version presented here because the new shape functions are based on the usual finite-element method shape functions for triangles or tetrahedrals, and once the internal DOFs are statically condensed, the resulting elements have exactly the same number of unknowns as the nonenriched finite elements.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Predicting Domestic Extremism and Targeted Violence: A Machine Learning Approach

The report applies machine learning (ML) techniques to forecast where domestic extremist groups and active shooter incidents are most likely to occur in the United States. Identifying high-risk areas for these emerging threats is important for effective counterterrorism and conflict prevention, but complicated by the fact that policymakers often need to detect these threats at a stage when there might not be overt warning signs of violence. This report addresses this gap and directly supports Strategic Goals 1.1 and 1.2 in the June 2021 National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism by providing “data-driven guidance on how to recognize potential indicators of mobilization to domestic terrorism.”1 We develop and test two prototype machine learning models based on existing research about the causes of radicalization, ideologically-motivated violent extremism (IMVE), and targeted violence. First, we input information about these potential risk indicators as well as data about extremist actors and violent incidents to map patterns between 2017-2020. We then use this information to forecast which areas are at highest risk for extremism and active shooter incidents. As an extension, we also identify which areas in the 1 “National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism.” White House. June 2021. p. 17. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/ uploads/2021/06/National-Strategy-for-Countering-Domestic-Terrorism.pdf 2 “Homeland Threat Assessment.” Department of Homeland Security. October 2020. p. 18. https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2020_10_06_homeland-threat-assessment.pdf maritime domain are most likely to experience active shooter incidents. The model’s high level of accuracy suggests that these risk indicators are highly predictive of extremist operations and incidents. Overall, these models provide guidance for practitioners about where extremist actors and violent incidents are most likely to emerge moving forward

Emerging Risks in the Marine Transportation System Post-9/11: NCITE Research Snapshot

In the wake of 9/11, the central challenge to protecting the marine transportation system (MTS) is that the complexity of the threat environment is outpacing maritime defense and response capabilities. Sophisticated and versatile threats challenge the conventional counterterrorism framework, generating a new set of security challenges. Unlike the threat environment immediately following 9/11, emerging risks to the MTS are driven by small-scale, high-probability threats. Interconnected network systems, globalization, and big data create the potential for cascading effects. Because the maritime sector is a “system of systems,” an attack in one system has a second-order effect on other, connected systems. Thus, a small-scale attack can turn into a major one with little warning

Vademecum-based GFEM (V-GFEM): optimal enrichment for transient problems

This is the accepted version of the following article: [Canales, D., Leygue, A., Chinesta, F., González, D., Cueto, E., Feulvarch, E., Bergheau, J. -M., and Huerta, A. (2016) Vademecum-based GFEM (V-GFEM): optimal enrichment for transient problems. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng, 108: 971–989. doi: 10.1002/nme.5240.], which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nme.5240/fullThis paper proposes a generalized finite element method based on the use of parametric solutions as enrichment functions. These parametric solutions are precomputed off-line and stored in memory in the form of a computational vademecum so that they can be used on-line with negligible cost. This renders a more efficient computational method than traditional finite element methods at performing simulations of processes. One key issue of the proposed method is the efficient computation of the parametric enrichments. These are computed and efficiently stored in memory by employing proper generalized decompositions. Although the presented method can be broadly applied, it is particularly well suited in manufacturing processes involving localized physics that depend on many parameters, such as welding. After introducing the vademecum-generalized finite element method formulation, we present some numerical examples related to the simulation of thermal models encountered in welding processes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Optimal use of tandem biotin and V5 tags in ChIP assays

Background: Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays coupled to genome arrays (Chip-on-chip) or massive parallel sequencing (ChIP-seq) lead to the genome wide identification of binding sites of chromatin associated proteins. However, the highly variable quality of antibodies and the availability of epitopes in crosslinked chromatin can compromise genomic ChIP outcomes. Epitope tags have often been used as more reliable alternatives. In addition, we have employed protein in vivo biotinylation tagging as a very high affinity alternative to antibodies. In this paper we describe the optimization of biotinylation tagging for ChIP and its coupling to a known epitope tag in providing a reliable and efficient alternative to antibodies. Results: Using the biotin tagged erythroid transcription factor GATA-1 as example, we describe several optimization steps for the application of the high affinity biotin streptavidin system in ChIP. We find that the omission of SDS during sonication, the use of fish skin gelatin as blocking agent and choice of streptavidin beads can lead to significantly improved ChIP enrichments and lower background compared to antibodies. We also show that the V5 epitope tag performs equally well under the conditions worked out for streptavidin ChIP and that it may suffer less from the effects of formaldehyde crosslinking. Conclusion: The combined use of the very high affinity biotin tag with the less sensitive to crosslinking V5 tag provides for a flexible ChIP platform with potential implications in ChIP sequencing outcomes