Digital Commons Network^™

The Future In Fragments: Three Critical Dystopian Works By Fernando Contreras Castro, Matthew Richey

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

In the prologue to the 2014 edition of Cantos de las Guerras Preventivas, Costa Rican author Fernando Contreras Castro states that the novel, originally published in 2006, originated as a response to the ambiguously-defined military campaigns that dominated the global geopolitical landscape during the first decade of the 21st century. Contreras Castro further explains that the novel is an attempt at imagining near-future worlds from a distinctly Latin American perspective, while avoiding the currents of cyberpunk and paranoid fiction that dominated late 20th century science fiction writing in the United States. The novel also marks a significant departure from …

Chapter 16 Cybersecurity, Shambhavi Roy, Clinton Daniel, Manish Agrawal

FUNDAMENTALS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Textbook – English

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), founded in 1901, is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce and supports the U.S. mission to promote today’s innovations and industrial competitiveness. This mission is accomplished by advancing measurements and standards in science and technologies that enhance economic security and quality of life. NIST, defines cybersecurity as:

Prevention of damage to, protection of, and restoration of computers, electronic communicationssystems,electroniccommunicationsservices,wirecommunication, and electronic communication, including information contained therein, to ensure its availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and nonrepudiation.

At the core of cybersecurity is the motivation to protect information and the systems that manage …

Russian Disinformation On Nato Expansion And The War In Ukraine, Cody Schuette

Journal of Strategic Security

Following years of grievances, Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022 and sparked the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Conversations between Soviet and Western leaders in the final days of the Cold War are at the center of the Kremlin’s justification for these actions. Russia claims the West exploited a weakened Russian state by rapidly expanding NATO in former Soviet and Warsaw Bloc nations, despite a promise not to expand. This research seeks to answer how Russia’s NATO-expansion justification for invading Ukraine is inconsistent with the historical record. Findings reveal that the West never provided assurances on …

Proposing Unique And Effective Policy Recommendations For Achieving A Lasting Two-State Solution, Charlotte G. Huck, Nicolle Martin, Eli Sperling

Journal of Strategic Security

The paper "Proposing Unique and Effective Policy Recommendations for Achieving a Lasting Two-State Solution" seeks to address the persistent hurdles in attaining peace in the Israel-Palestine conflict. The paper introduces a new policy proposal made up of initiatives focused on Economy and Sustainability, Education, and Regional Stability. It hypothesizes that achieving set targets in each of these areas would establish the circumstances on the ground necessary for achieving and sustaining a two-state solution. The proposal emphasizes strengthening an independent Palestinian national identity with an independent economy that can be created through economic ventures in tourism, agriculture, technology, and sustainable energy. …

Distinguishing Principled Beliefs From Causal Beliefs In American Foreign Policy, Leo Blanken, Justin Overbaugh

Journal of Strategic Security

We use the concepts of “principled beliefs” and “causal beliefs” to critically interrogate American foreign policy during the Post-Cold War era (1990-2016). This period was characterized by an American push to establish a globalized Liberal order that conflated principled beliefs (beliefs about what is normatively right and wrong) with causal beliefs (beliefs about the way the word objectively works) with pernicious consequences. We examine the sources of this conflation and offer recommendations to rectify this problem moving forward.

Taiwan’S Asymmetrical Defense: Policies And Alternatives, Shang-Su Wu

Journal of Strategic Security

In view of the increasingly serious threats by China’s rising military power, Taiwan has been compelled to adjust its strategy towards asymmetrical warfare owing to its inferior military capabilities. Taiwan does not have a better alternative to an asymmetrical strategy because it cannot return to a symmetrical strategy or move to a strategy centered on people’s war. Through its indigenous defense industry and an external arms supply by Washington, Taipei has built up considerable capabilities for sea denial against Beijing’s sophisticated platforms that are indispensable for thwarting invasion. These denial capabilities enhance the island’s defense, but Taiwan’s various conditions represent …

Creating Light At Tunnel’S End: Ukraine’S Post-War Urban Recovery, Russell W. Glenn

Journal of Strategic Security

The US response to Iraq’s recovery in the aftermath of 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom suffered from an initial conclusion that it was the country’s petroleum infrastructure rather than its electrical networks that were in greater need of recovery resources. The resulting misallocation of resources delayed power restoration to much of the country and frustrated those in affected regions.

Whether the cause is war or a catastrophe sparked by Mother Nature, accurately identifying and correctly prioritizing post-disaster requirements is fundamental to an effective and efficient response. Ukraine has demonstrated a commendable ability to repair war damage even as conflict continues, but …

The Information Technology Army Of Ukraine And Cyber Warfare Doctrine, William D. Done

Journal of Strategic Security

The IT Army of Ukraine’s cyber operations in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has provided a novel approach to cyber warfare – that of a crowdsourced, volunteer, offensive cyber auxiliary force. Being the first group of its kind to be deployed in wartime, this article analyzes the operations conducted by the organization, its targeting, contributions to the group by non-state actors and entities, and the methods in which targets are attacked. This analysis was conducted using a comprehensive publicly available dataset documenting cyberattacks and provides insight into the organization’s operational effectiveness, showing that the IT Army has both been successful in its …

Decision Advantage: Intelligence In International Politics From The Spanish Armada To Cyberwar. By Jennifer E. Sims. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022., Adam D.M. Svendsen

Journal of Strategic Security

This article provides an annotated review essay of Jennifer E. Sims’ book, Decision Advantage (2022). She communicates several valuable insights into how intelligence manifests in international affairs. Qualities are accomplished through Sims’ development of the concept and theory of ‘decision advantage’ in a variety of intelligence contexts, articulated via a series of different historical case studies ranging chronologically from the Spanish Armada to Cyberwar. Alongside acknowledging intelligence systems and engineering, notions of ‘intelligence power’ and ‘intelligence advantage(s)’ emerge as central, together with ideas of agility and adaptability amongst exponents. While undeniably forming a useful start, what Sims’ work ultimately discloses …

Cyber Rollback: Popular Resistance In The Cyber Age, Matthew J. Flynn

Journal of Strategic Security

“Cyber Rollback” presents a portion of the effort of civilians to seize a warzone in cyberspace and make it free of violence even when facing the risk of violence. That need stems from governments seeking to control or restrict online connectivity. In the continued civilian push back in the face of state oppression, lofty sensibilities of the right of expression online meet the reality of the consequence of such a mandate, the prospect of violence surfacing as an outgrowth of online freedoms clashing with the physical consequences of such activism. In setting cyber events that surface in Ukraine, Africa, China, …

Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine: Implications For The Central Region, Arman Mahmoudian, Tad Schnaufer Ii

GNSI Conference Reports

6th Great Power Competition Conference

December 8, 2022

University of South Florida

An Anthropology With Human Waste Management: Non-Humans, The State, And Matters Of Care On The Placencia Peninsula, Belize, William Alex Webb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The management of human waste is a seldom studied phenomenon in anthropology. Yet across the globe, in countries both rich and poor, it presents pervasive and difficult to tame problems. This dissertation draws on complimentary theories of management and entanglements to explore the practices and processes of organizing human waste on the Placencia Peninsula, Belize. The results illustrate how problems are conditioned and defined by messy relations between institutions, people, technologies, materials, and ecological life.

Fieldwork and analysis for this work was a culmination of years of interdisciplinary collaboration between other anthropologists and engineers at the University of South Florida. …

American Horse Power During The Great War, Hanna K. Lipsey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation charts the significant, if understudied, history of American horses during the era of World War I, from roughly 1914 to 1919. Its chapters trace how the US Army acquired, used, cared for, and ultimately demobilized horses over the course of that conflict. Beginning with their acquisition, via either an Army Horse Breeding Program or a complicated buying process, horses faced a complex introduction into military service. Life for these animals did not get any easier once they reached the European front. Although the US military was beginning to replace horses with motor trucks and tractors, horses remained central …

Round Table (Part 5): What’S Raphaël Lemkin Got To Do With Genocide Studies?, Douglas Irvin-Erickson

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Round Table (Part 2): Reflections & Questions, Sarah Federman

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Full Issue 16.2

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Round Table (Full Symposium): What’S Raphaël Lemkin Got To Do With Genocide Studies? A Conversation On Gender, Culture, Economics, Categorical Violence, And Colonization With Professors Sarah Federman, Dirk Moses, Max Pensky, And Scott Straus, A. Dirk Moses, Sarah Federman, Scott Straus, Max Pensky, Douglas Irvin-Erickson

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Armed Violence In The Llanos Orientales Region Following The Signing Of The Peace Agreement With The Farc-Ep In Colombia, David Gómez Triana, Jerónimo Ríos

Journal of Strategic Security

A fundamental aspect in the study of the Colombian armed conflict is related to the violence produced in the country after the signing of the Peace Agreement with the FARC-EP guerrillas in November 2016. To this end, we attempt to analyze the transformation of the relationship between the perpetrators of violence and their territory, taking as a case study a region particularly affected by the conflict, as is Llanos Orientales (known in English as the Eastern Plains). Starting with a preliminary characterization of the most relevant armed groups – post-paramilitary groups, FARC-EP dissidents and ELN guerrillas – we attempt to …

Digital Influence Warfare In The Age Of Social Media. By James J. F. Forest. Santa Barbara, Ca: Praeger, An Imprint Of Abc-Clio, 2021., James J. Torrence

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

We Are Bellingcat: Global Crime, Online Sleuths, And The Bold Future Of News. By Elliot Higgins, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021., John P. Sullivan, Ph.D.

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Chemical Investigation And Drug Discovery Potential Of Terpenoid Secondary Metabolites From Three Deep-Sea Irish Soft Corals, Joshua Thomas Welsch

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Secondary metabolites produced primarily by terrestrial plants and animals have provided the basis for treatments and cures of human diseases as far back as historians have been able to probe. However, recent technological advances including the self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, and even further remotely operated vehicles, have allowed researchers a unique opportunity for targeted collection of marine organisms at depths previously thought to possess conditions unsustainable for life as was understood. This has afforded a glimpse into the potential for not only life, but the potential for new biochemical adaptations developed over billions of years that have been evolutionarily developed …

“Good War” On The Cool Medium: The Cold War's Influence On The Portrayal Of World War Ii On American Television, Michael A. Losasso

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a cultural history of the Cold War’s influence on the portrayal of World War II on American television. In it, I chronicle the production, reception, and presentation of the war of three prominent American-produced documentary series from three periods of the Cold War – Victory at Sea (1952-1953), The Twentieth Century (1957-1966), and The Unknown War (1978). The dissertation posits that from the 1940s-1960s, the television portrayal of World War II was an embodiment of the values- that the United Sates was “fighting” for through a “triumphalist” narrative of a “just war” which recast the role of …

Advanced Analytical Method Development: From Highly-Enrolled Classroom To Data-Intensive Proteomics, Laxmi Sinduri Vuppala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In analytical chemistry, method development is key to identifying, separating, and quantifying chemical components of interest systems. The chemical aspects are fundamental to understanding the subject of any analytical system, whether in academic research, industry, or government. These methodologies serve as a bridge between the classroom, where students are taught to be curious and enlightened, and research, where one strives to contribute. The Ph.D. dissertation integrates advanced methodologies in basic and applied research and advanced instrumentation, but the core criteria for validation remain the same. As part of chemical education curriculum development, a large cohort of undergraduates performed two gas …

Full Issue 16.1

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Mass Violence, Environmental Harm, And The Limits Of Transitional Justice, Rachel Killean, Lauren Dempster

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The relationship between the environment and mass violence is complex and multi-faceted. The effects of environmental degradation can destabilize societies and cause conflict. Attacks on the environment can harm targeted groups, and both mass violence and subsequent transitions can have harmful environmental legacies. Given this backdrop, it is notable that the field of transitional justice has paid relatively little attention to the intersections between mass violence and environmental degradation. This article interrogates this inattention and explores the limitations and possibilities of transitional justice as a means of addressing the environmental harms associated with mass violence. The article makes four key …

Strategy In An Uncertain Domain: Threat And Response In Cyberspace, Joe Devanny, Luiz Rogerio Franco Goldoni, Breno Pauli Medeiros

Journal of Strategic Security

Over the last decade, "cyber power" has become an increasingly prominent concept and instrument of national strategy. This article explores the nature of contemporary cyber power, focusing on how states should respond to "cyber uncertainty." Cases of cyber operations against Estonia, Georgia, and Ukraine, as well as cyber operations conducted (and suffered) by the United States, highlight the evolving role of cyber operations as an instrument of statecraft. Given the complexity of cyber forensics and the polluted information environment of the global public sphere, the public diplomacy of coordinated attribution statements cannot be expected to cut through conclusively or uniformly. …

Drug Wars And Covert Netherworlds: The Transformation Of Mexico’S Narco Cartels. By James H. Creechan. Tucson: The University Of Arizona Press, 2021., Sabrina S. Laroussi

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Defensive Industrial Policy: Cybersecurity Interventions To Reduce Intellectual Property Theft, Dr. Chad Dacus, Dr. Carl (Cj) Horn

Military Cyber Affairs

Through cyber-enabled industrial espionage, China has appropriated what Keith Alexander, the former Director of the National Security Agency, dubbed “the largest transfer of wealth in history.” Although China disavows intellectual property (IP) theft by its citizens and has set self-sustained research and development as an important goal, it is unrealistic to believe IP theft will slow down meaningfully without changing China’s decision calculus. China and the United States have twice agreed, in principle, to respect one another’s IP rights. However, these agreements have lacked any real enforcement mechanism, so the United States must do more to ensure its IP is …

Offensive Cyber Operations And Future Littoral Operating Concepts, Jd Work

Military Cyber Affairs

Introduction of new ground-launch cruise missile options to hold adversary naval targets at risk in order to support conventional deterrence objectives through sea control and sea denial missions is the centerpiece of proposed reorganization of Marine Littoral forces, as part of new “Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations,” and “Littoral Operations in Contested Environments” concepts. Effective distributed sea control fires against pacing threat maritime formations requires defeat of integrated air defense systems. Offensive cyber operations capabilities may be considered as a means of altering the calculus of attrition in missile fires exchanges, but due to various sensitivities it has been difficult to …

Enter The Battleverse: China's Metaverse War, Josh Baughman

Military Cyber Affairs

No abstract provided.