Toward a constructivist model of radicalization and deradicalization: a conceptual and methodological proposal.

© 2019 Feixas and Winter.This article identifies common features of existing models of radicalization and deradicalization, such as the transition from uncertainty to certainty, before integrating these in a model based upon personal construct theory. It is proposed that the personal construct concepts of validation and invalidation are particularly relevant to processes of identity change such as radicalization and deradicalization. Thus, it is argued that radicalization occurs when major invalidation of an individual’s construing is followed by the development of a new radicalized view of the world that provides a turning point in his or her sense of identity and a more structured and certain view of the world. There is likely to be seeking out of validation for this view in interactions with others who share similar views or by extorting evidence for the individual’s radical constructions. These constructions are likely to involve extreme negative views of another group, by contrast to members of which, and possibly by taking extreme action against this group, the individual’s new self-construction may become further defined. These same processes can be seen to operate in deradicalization, and it will therefore be argued that the model has implications for the development of deradicalization programs. A further advantage of the model is that it has an associated personal construct methodology, particularly repertory grid technique, that may be used to investigate processes of radicalization and deradicalization. As illustrations of such investigations, results will be summarized from a repertory grid study of Salafist Muslims in Tunisia, some of whom had returned from fighting in Syria, and an analysis of the writings of the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik. The findings of these investigations are argued to be consistent with the personal construct model of radicalization and deradicalization.Peer reviewe

The Caddisfly Collective: Methods of assessing Trichoptera diversity on a continental scale with community scientists

Amidst a global biodiversity crisis, collecting data at large spatial scales can illuminate patterns. Community science can be an avenue to reduce costs, broaden the scope of sampling, and, most importantly, connect with members of the public who are interested in and impacted by long-term ecological change. In 2021, we formulated a community science project – The Caddisfly Collective. Our goal was to study the regional influences on the responses of stream caddisfly (Trichoptera) communities to urbanization in the United States and Canada. Community scientists helped us achieve this goal by collecting caddisflies across a wider geographic scale than we could have reached on our own. To build The Caddisfly Collective, we recruited participants through social media and other online forums. We mailed collecting kits with a USB-powered ultraviolet LED light, a collecting container, bottles of preservative, data sheets, and collection labels to each participant; participants mailed back specimens and completed data sheets. There was a 79.7% rate of follow-through from sign-up to collection. During the project, 63 participants set up light-traps near urban and non-urban streams in seven different North American geographic regions, collecting adult caddisflies at 141 sites across the United States and Canada. Most sites were in the Midwest region, while the fewest sites were in the Far North region. Urban areas, classified by land cover data, comprised ~29% of total sites. We hope the details of our project can help other interested scientists implement similar projects in the future, especially focused on ecologically important caddisfly communities

The Power of 3 Collaborative creation of an Irish online, open access, digital humanities research resource to support professional training in archives management.

This poster describes a 3U Partnership Humanities collaboration involving the Department of History at Maynooth University and the libraries in each of the three partner institutions. the aim was to build upon on a joint archives digitisation project that incorporated significant interpretation of the archival content. It involved a sharing of expertise in digitisation, system building, academic connections and a broader humanities project than any institution could achieve alone

Geomagnetically Induced Currents in the Irish Power Network during Geomagnetic Storms

Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) are a well-known terrestrial space weather hazard. They occur in power transmission networks and are known to have adverse effects in both high and mid-latitude countries. Here, we study GICs in the Irish power transmission network (geomagnetic latitude 54.7--58.5$^{\circ}$ N) during five geomagnetic storms (06-07 March 2016, 20-21 December 2015, 17-18 March 2015, 29-31 October 2003 and 13-14 March 1989). We simulate electric fields using a plane wave method together with two ground resistivity models, one of which is derived from magnetotelluric measurements (MT model). We then calculate GICs in the 220, 275 and 400~kV transmission network. During the largest of the storm periods studied, the peak electric field was calculated to be as large as 3.8~V~km\textsuperscript{-1}, with associated GICs of up to 23~A using our MT model. Using our homogenous resistivity model, those peak values were 1.46~V~km\textsuperscript{-1} and 25.8~A. We find that three 400 and 275~kV substations are the most likely locations for the Irish transformers to experience large GICs.Comment: 14 pages, 11 Figures, 4 Table

Geomagnetic conditions in Ireland During the St. Patrick's Day 2015 Storm

<p>Poster at UK National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno, Wales on July 5-9, 2015 (www.nam2015.org)</p> <p>Abstract:</p> <p>Two coronal mass ejections were launched in quick succession from the Sun on March 15, 2015. They impacted the Earth's magnetosphere two days later on St. Patrick's Day (March 17), resulting in a geomagnetic storm with a planetary K-Index of 8.</p> <p>Magnetic variations were measured across a recently deployed magnetometer network in Ireland and geoelectric fields were measured at a site in Co. Leitrim (magnetic latitude 57.08°). A local K-index maximum of 7 was calculated at Birr, Co. Offaly (magnetic latitude 55.97), while the aurora</p> <p>borealis accompanying the geomagnetic storm was visible as far south as Co. Waterford (magnetic latitude 55.13°).</p> <p>The British Geological Survey thin-sheet surface electric field model was used together with our magnetometer measurements to calculate electric fields and geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in the Irish power grid.</p> <p>Although it was one of the most magnetically disturbed days in a decade, with dB/dt reaching ~50 nT/min, the peak GIC level estimated in the Irish power grid was ~10 Amps. Note, no adverse effects were reported in the Irish power grid demonstrating its resilience to geomagnetic storms of this magnitude.</p

Second-Order Eikonal Corrections for A(e,e'p)

The first-order eikonal approximation is frequently adopted in interpreting the results of $A(e,e'p)$ measurements. Glauber calculations, for example, typically adopt the first-order eikonal approximation. We present an extension of the relativistic eikonal approach to $A(e,e'p)$ which accounts for second-order eikonal corrections. The numerical calculations are performed within the relativistic optical model eikonal approximation. The nuclear transparency results indicate that the effect of the second-order eikonal corrections is rather modest, even at $Q^{2} \approx 0.2$ (GeV/c)$^2$. The same applies to polarization observables, left-right asymmetries, and differential cross sections at low missing momenta. At high missing momenta, however, the second-order eikonal corrections are significant and bring the calculations in closer agreement with the data and/or the exact results from models adopting partial-wave expansions.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Transferring Complex Scientific Knowledge to Useable Products for Society: The Role of the Global Integrated Ocean Assessment and Challenges in the Effective Delivery of Ocean Knowledge

The ocean provides essential services to human wellbeing through climate regulation, provision of food, energy and livelihoods, protection of communities and nurturing of social and cultural values. Yet despite the ocean’s key role for all life, it is failing as a result of unsustainable human practices. The first global integrated assessment of the marine environment, produced by the United Nations under The Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects (the World Ocean Assessment), identified an overall decline in ocean health. The second assessment, launched in April 2021, although recognising some bright spots and improvements, stresses ongoing decline in the ocean as a result of many unabated anthropogenic stressors on the ocean. This highlights that society, as a whole, does not fully recognise or value the importance of the ocean to their lives and impacts on the ocean caused by human activities. Further, recognition of the need for immediate and effective solutions for mitigating impacts and enabling ecosystem recovery, and the associated societal changes required is lacking. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021–2030 both recognize that sustainability is both a desired and essential pathway for ensuring the ocean can continue to provide the services society depends on. The World Ocean Assessment has an important role to play in increasing awareness of the ocean, the changes occurring in the ocean, the human activities causing those changes and the progress being made in reducing and mitigating the impacts of human activities on the marine environment. This paper outlines the knowledge brokering role that the Regular Process provides on ocean issues to all aspects of society from policy makers, ocean managers, ocean users to the public. It identifies the challenges faced by the Regular Process in successfully carrying out that role and lessons learned in achieving widespread uptake and recognition. Within the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, solutions in the form of instructions or guidelines for the use of the assessment can be developed and implemented.Versión del edito

Laboratory-induced cue reactivity among individuals with prescription opioid dependence

Prescription opioid (PO) dependence is a critical health problem. Although examination of drug cue reactivity paradigms has advanced the understanding of risk factors for relapse for a variety of substances (e.g., cocaine, alcohol, nicotine), no PO specific drug cue paradigm has been developed. The current study addressed this gap in the literature and evaluated the ability of a newly developed PO drug cue paradigm to elicit subjective, physiological, and neuroendocrine changes among PO-dependent participants (n = 20) as compared to controls (n = 17). The drug cue paradigm included an induction script, viewing and handling paraphernalia (e.g., bottle of oxycontin pills, pill crusher) and watching a video depicting people using POs as well as places related to POs (e.g., pharmacies). Consistent with hypotheses, the PO group demonstrated significant pre- to post-cue increases on subjective ratings of craving, difficulty resisting POs, stress, and anger. The control group did not demonstrate significant changes on any of the subjective measures. Both the PO group and the control group evidenced significant pre- to post-cue increases in physiological responses (e.g., blood pressure, skin conductance), as expected given the arousing nature of the drug cue stimuli. The PO group, but not the control group, evidenced a significant pre- to post-cue increase in heart rate and salivary cortisol levels. The development and validation of a drug cue paradigm for POs may help inform future research and treatment development efforts for patients with PO dependence

Across-ecoregion analysis suggests a hierarchy of ecological filters that regulate recruitment of a globally invasive fish

Aim -- Even successful invaders are abundant only in a fraction of locales they inhabit. One of the main challenges in invasion ecology is explaining processes that drive these patterns. We investigated recruitment of a globally invasive fish, common carp (Cyprinus carpio), across three ecoregions to determine the role of environmental characteristics, predatory communities and propagule pressure on the invasion process at coarse and fine spatial scales. Location -- Lakes across Northern Forest, Temperate Forest and Great Plains ecoregions of North America. Methods -- We used data from 567 lakes to model presence or absence of carp recruitment using environmental conditions (lake clarity, area, maximum depth), native predatory fishes (micropredators, mesopredators, large predators) and propagule pressure (abundance of adult carp). We formed a set of alternative models and evaluated their support using an information theoretic approach. Once most supported models were identified, we used classification tree to determine how variables included in these models interacted to affect carp recruitment. Finally, we conducted a field experiment to test the predictions of the classification tree analysis. Results -- Carp recruitment was strongly regulated by processes associated with water clarity, which appeared to function as a broad-scale ecological filter. Carp were unlikely to recruit in clear, oligotrophic lakes (Secchi depth \u3e 2 m) despite the presence of adults in many such systems. Recruitment was more likely to occur in regions with turbid lakes, but abundant micropredators could inhibit it there. Main conclusions -- Carp recruitment and invasions across large geographic areas are attributable to a two-layer ecological filter with lake clarity/productivity acting as a coarse-scale filter and micropredators acting as a fine-scale filter. This two-layer filter might explain the complex patterns of carp invasions among and within different ecoregions. Ecological filters may also explain the success of other aquatic invaders that show similarly patchy spatial distribution patterns

A Simultaneous Dual-site Technosignature Search Using International LOFAR Stations

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence aims to find evidence of technosignatures, which can point toward the possible existence of technologically advanced extraterrestrial life. Radio signals similar to those engineered on Earth may be transmitted by other civilizations, motivating technosignature searches across the entire radio spectrum. In this endeavor, the low-frequency radio band has remained largely unexplored; with prior radio searches primarily above 1 GHz. In this survey at 110-190 MHz, observations of 1,631,198 targets from TESS and Gaia are reported. Observations took place simultaneously with two international stations (noninterferometric) of the Low Frequency Array in Ireland and Sweden. We can reject the presence of any Doppler drifting narrowband transmissions in the barycentric frame of reference, with equivalent isotropic radiated power of 10 17 W, for 0.4 million (or 1.3 million) stellar systems at 110 (or 190) MHz. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of using multisite simultaneous observations for rejecting anthropogenic signals in the search for technosignatures.Comment: 15 Pages, 16 Figures, 2 Machine Readable Table