Digital Commons Network^™

Civilian Social Media Activists In The Arab Spring And Beyond: Can They Ever Lose Their Civilian Protections?, David Heitner

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Humanitarian Intervention Post-Syria: Legitimate Or Legal?, Milena Sterio

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

The Icty Appellate Chamber's Acquittal Of Momcilo Perisic: The Specific Direction Element Of Aiding And Abetting Should Be Rejected Or Modified To Explicitly Include A "Reasonable Person" Due Diligence Standard, Jennifer Trahan, Erin K. Lovall

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Picturesque Violence: Tourism, The Film Industry, And The Heritagization Of ‘Bandoleros’ In Spain, 1905–1936, Eugenia Afinoguénova, Eduardo Rodríguez Merchán

Spanish Languages and Literatures Research and Publications

This article examines the debates about the Andalusian ‘bandoleros’ (bandits) in the context of early tourism as a state-guided policy in Spain. As we argue, the development of tourism made Spanish intellectuals reconsider the real armed activity in Andalucía as part of Spanish national heritage and a tourist attraction. Consistent with the stereotypical image of Spain coined by the Romantic travelers, such an early heritagization of brigandry reveals the role of the élites in recasting exotic imagery into modern tourism-shaped identities: in the hands of early century writers, bandits were reshaped as part of the ‘modern picturesque’. Furthermore, the role …

Improving Password Cybersecurity Through Inexpensive And Minimally Invasive Means: Detecting And Deterring Password Reuse Through Keystroke-Dynamics Monitoring And Just-In-Time Fear Appeals, Jeffrey L. Jenkins, Mark Grimes, Jeffrey Gainer Proudfoot, Paul Benjamin Lowry

Faculty Publications

Password reuse – using the same password for multiple accounts – is a prevalent phenomenon that can make even the most secure systems vulnerable. When passwords are reused across multiple systems, hackers may compromise accounts by stealing passwords from lowsecurity sites to access sites with higher security. Password reuse can be particularly threatening to users in developing countries in which cybersecurity training is limited, law enforcement of cybersecurity is non-existent, or in which programs to secure cyberspace are limited. This article proposes a two-pronged solution for reducing password reuse through detection and mitigation. First, based on the theories of routine, …

The Utilization Of Adventure Based Programming To Foster Posttraumatic Growth Within A Veteran Population: A Mixed Methods Study, Joseph A. Wassif

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

There is a lack of research exploring interventions that promote posttraumatic growth with veterans. The current project represents a first attempt to explore posttraumatic growth among veterans who participate in a strength-based program specifically designed for the healthy reintegration and socialization of returning members of the armed services. Through the use of a mixed methods approach, I hoped to show that veterans would report increases in posttraumatic growth following participation in an Outward Bound Veterans Program. Veterans that completed the program were compared to a waitlist control, which consisted of other military personnel that had signed up for, but had …

Friends In Asia-West Pacific, Gerard Guiton

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

The American Way: The Influence Of Race On The Treatment Of Prisoners Of War During World War Two, Adam Rock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When examining the Second World War, it is impossible to overlook the influence race had in both creating the conflict and determining the intensity with which it was fought. While this factor existed in the European theater, it pales in comparison to how race influenced the fighting in the Pacific. John Dower produced a comprehensive study that examined the racial aspects of the Pacific theater in his book War Without Mercy. Dower concluded that Americans viewed themselves as racially superior to the Asian "other" and this influenced the ferocity of the Pacific war. While Dower's work focused on this relationship …

The Effects Of State Leader Psychology On Civil War Lethality, Brandon Kelley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Does a state leader's psychology influence lethality in civil wars? This thesis analyzes the aforementioned question during post-1945 civil wars. This particular subject, paying close attention to individual psychology at the state level, is gaining traction amongst scholars, though limited scholarly attention has addressed whether leader psychology is an indicator of conflict severity in terms of lethality. The psychology of the state leader in this thesis is assessed from leadership traits and operational code indices, specifically direction of strategy (I1) and interpretation of the nature of the political universe (P1). The data and cases used are pulled from datasets by …

Revolutionary Manifestos And Fidel Castro's Road To Power, Luis Plazas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The historiography of the Cuban Revolution includes numerous accounts which detail the responses to Batista's coup. The fact that anti-Batista sentiments were very popular in Cuba, and that several revolutionary groups existed has also been highly documented. Nonetheless, the most highly recognized insurrectional organization remains Castro's M-26-7. The goal of my thesis is to explain the steps which Castro took in order to remove all competition, allowing him to remain the only figure left in power. The process in which Castro came to power will be analyzed in order to gain a better understanding of how he orchestrated the removal …

Fire In A Distant Heaven: The Boxer Uprising As A Domestic Crisis In The United States, Daniel Fandino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the Boxer Uprising which took place in China around the turn of the twentieth century as a domestic crisis in the United States and the means through which different factions within America shaped the popular perception of the event. It argues that American and Chinese interest groups successfully managed the crisis by developing a narrative that served to further their own interests. These efforts were geared towards convincing an uncertain American public of the necessity and righteousness of particular ways to respond to the crisis. The primary factor in this narrative was a malleable ideal of civilization …

Deadly Premonition: Does Terrorist-Leader Psychology Influence Violence Lethality?, Clayton Besaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to address a theoretical and empirical gap within terrorism studies, and more specially the study of terrorist-group lethality. This research updates a model of terrorist-group lethality by including terrorist-leader psychology as an individual-level variable in predicting terrorist-group lethality. Terrorist-leader statements were analyzed by using two novel coding schemes called Operational Code and Leadership Trait Analysis to create quantified measurements of leader cognitive beliefs and personality traits. The empirical portion of this study utilizes pooled cross-sectional time-series data within the framework of fixed effects and multi-level estimation models. The results find that terrorist-leader psychology, and more specifically Instrumental …

Rethinking And Theorizing Regional Integration In Southern Africa, Luwam G. Dirar

Emory International Law Review

Regional integration studies is characterized by, and normally understood as, a combination of inquiries from various disciplines. Conventionally, integration requires the amalgamation of political and economic policies. Yet, integration projects transcend political and economic cooperation and might even require harmonization of laws and principles. Scholars from legal, economic, and political sciences have studied and engaged in intra-disciplinary conceptualization of integration. Some of the theories that developed in relation to integration schemes in the developed North reflect socio-economic, political and historical factors of the North, casting doubt on the applicability, value, and consistency of those theories to integration schemes in southern …

Reclaiming Indigenous Narratives Through Critical Discourses And The Autonomy Of The Trickster, Robert D. Hunter

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

How do prevailing narratives about Native Americans, particularly in the medium of film, conspire to promote the perspective of the dominant culture? What makes the appropriation of Indigenous images so metaphorically popular? In the past hundred years, little has changed in the forms of representation favored by Hollywood. The introductory chapter elucidates the problem and outlines the scope of this study. As each subsequent chapter makes clear, the problem is as relevant today as it has been throughout the entire course of filmic history.

Chapter Two analyzes representational trends and defines each decade according to its favorite stereotype. The binary …

Global And Local Perspectives In Spanish And New World Performances Of Calderon's Four Parts Of The World, Beth K. Aracena

Religion in the Age of Enlightenment

The first published collection of Pedro Calderon de la Barca's autos sacramentales(sacred dramas) dates from 1677, during Calderon's lifetime (1600-1681), and includes an explanation of the works penned by this great Spanish dramaturge. In his preface, recognizing that readers may be annoyed at similarities in the printed repertoire of more than seventy autos, Calderon justifies the collection: "The autos were performed but once [sic] a year, and this volume contains works which were produced at intervals over a period of more than twenty years. They were not written to be printed together and read one after another:" Calderon also …

Autonomous Weapons Systems: Taking The Human Out Of International Humanitarian Law, James Foy

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

Once confined to science fiction, killer robots will soon be a reality. Both the USA and the UK are currently developing weapons systems that may be capable of autonomously targeting and killing enemy combatants within the next 25 years. According to Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention and customary international law, weapons systems must be capable of operating within the principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). This paper will demonstrate that without significant restrictions on the use of autonomous weapons systems (AWS) or the creation of a new legal framework, the use of AWS is problematic. First, there are …

Bond V. United States: Concurring In The Judgment, Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Bond v. United States presented the deep constitutional question of whether a treaty can increase the legislative power of Congress. Unfortunately, a majority of the Court managed to sidestep the constitutional issue by dodgy statutory interpretation. But the other three Justices—Scalia, Thomas, and Alito—all wrote important concurrences in the judgment, grappling with the constitutional issues presented. In particular, Justice Scalia’s opinion (joined by Justice Thomas), is a masterpiece, eloquently demonstrating that Missouri v. Holland is wrong and should be overruled: a treaty cannot increase the legislative power of Congress.

What Would Zero Look Like? A Treaty For The Abolition Of Nuclear Weapons, David A. Koplow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Nuclear disarmament-the comprehensive, universal, and permanent abolition of all nuclear weapons, pursuant to a verifiable, legally binding international agreement-has long been one of the most ambitious, controversial, and urgent items on the agenda for arms control. To date, however, most of the discussion of "getting to zero" has highlighted the political, military, technical and diplomatic dimensions of this complex problem, and there has been relatively little attention to the legal requirements for drafting such a novel treaty.

This Article fills that gap by offering two proposed agreements. The first, a non-legally-bindingfr amework accord, would be designedf or signature relatively soon …

Nuclear Kellogg-Briand Pact: Proposing A Treaty For The Renunciation Of Nuclear Wars As An Instrument Of National Policy, David A. Koplow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article performs three functions. First, it offers a revisionist interpretation of the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, the much-maligned treaty through which the key powers of the era, led by the United States, undertook to “outlaw” war, renouncing it as a tool of national policy and committing themselves to resort exclusively to pacific means for the resolution of their international disputes. Because of Kellogg-Briand’s inability to prevent the outbreak of World War II, the treaty has been derided for decades as a futile, utopian illusion, but this article argues that it was, in fact, a tremendous success in altering states’ attitudes …

A Comparative Analysis Of The National Cyber Security Strategies Of Leading Nations, Bilge Karabacak, Unal Tatar, Orhan Calik, Minhac Celik

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The rapid pace of technological developments in the area of information and communications technologies caused nations and peoples to be more reliant on cyber infrastructure to survive. Besides opportunities, the widespread use of information technology introduces new threats as well. Risks related to cyber security have started to threaten critical infrastructures, which are defined as assets that are essential for the functioning of a society and its economy. Cyber security has become one of the most serious national security concerns. In 2003 the United States was the first nation to prepare and publish a national cyber security strategy In the …

Statement On Massive Open Online Courses (Moocs), Felmon Davis, Dylan E. Wittkower

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Statement prepared by Felmon Davis and D. E. Wittkower in consultation with the American Philosophical Association’s committee on philosophy and computers.

Svm-Based Volitional Artificial Leg Control Via Ubiquitous Small And Low Power Architectures, Robert Hernandez

Open Access Dissertations

Presented within this dissertation is the evolution of the research leading to the selection of small, low power architectural solutions to the University of Rhode Island’s (URI) Neural Machine Interface (NMI) algorithm. The NMI is designed to provide volitional control of an artificial limb for transfemoral amputees. The NMI algorithm is based on neuromuscular–mechanical fusion, gait phase dependent, nonlinear support vector machine (SVM) classification. URI’s NMI algorithm utilizes electromyography to detect direct commands from the human brain to the residual thigh muscles in conjunction with mechanical signals derived from loadcell to determine the user’s intended locomotion mode.

Of utmost importance …

Why Female Suicide Bombers? A Closer Look At The Liberation Tigers Of Tamil Eelam And Chechen Separatists, Latisha T. Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

The central hypothesis of this study is that terrorist organizations choose to use females as suicide bombers not only as tactical innovation but also to “signal” or send a message to various audiences. In order to meet the research objectives of this study, two terrorist organizations—the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Chechen Separatists or those individuals associated with the Chechen Resistance—are examined in detail from their inception through 2013 using a structured focused comparison methodology.

Evidence is found to support both of the studies’ main hypotheses. First, female suicide bombers are used by terrorist organizations because they are …

Salen Aluminum Compounds In The Dealkylation And Detection Of Organophosphates, Rahul R. Butala

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The focus of this dissertation is the use of aluminum Schiff base compounds, Salen(^tBu)AlBr (SAB), in the dealkylation and detection of organophosphates (OPs). Three SAB compounds, Salen(^tBu)AlBr (1), Salpen(^tBu)AlBr (2), and Salophen(^tBu)AlBr (3) were used to dealkylate a variety of trialkyl OPs. These reactions lead to unique organic-soluble aluminum phosphate compounds containing six-coordinate aluminum. Examples include [salen(^tBu)AlOP(O)(OCH₃)₂]_n (4), [salen(^tBu)AlOP(O)(OCH₂CH₃)₂]_n (5), [salen(^tBu)AlOP(O)(OPh)₂]_{n …}

Public Wars, Private Warriors: An Analysis Of Private Military Contractors In American Foreign And Domestic Policy, Phillip Andrew Roughton

Masters Theses

At the end of the Cold War, the global political arena was forever altered. One of the major changes was the introduction of private military contractors as legitimate actors of foreign policy. Despite this assertion made by scholars, private military contractors are an under studied political actor. This paper traces the historical, economic, and legal legacy of private military contractors in American history.

A (Re)Conception Of The City : Commercialization, Domestication, And Resistance In New York City From Melville To Mckay, James Baltrum

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation characterizes the historical changes that shaped nineteenth and twentieth century New York City by examining how Herman Melville, Stephen Crane, Edith Wharton, John Dos Passos, and Claude McKay expressed these changes in their literary works. I employ the ideological principles of scholars such as Henri Lefebvre, who viewed physical spaces including the modern city as socially constructed products, and the methodology of writers such as Michel Foucault, whose genealogical approach prompts an open-ended and multi-faceted analysis. Consequently, my argument shows how various economic, social, cultural, political, and technological developments worked with and against each other to shape (and …

The Games Men Play : How Community College Men Use Video Games To Construct Masculinity, Eric J. Niemi

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Employing a critical discourse analysis as a methodology, the study provides information into the intersection of male student development, video games, and two-year higher education institutions. Using a sample of 13 participants, this research study examines how male students at two year higher education instructions use video games to construct their masculinity. This study provides evidence that college men construct multiple definitions of masculinity by playing video games. Further, the benefits explored include academic and workplace strategies for success. Finally, opportunities for two year institutions to further engage this student population is included.

Poeisis As Political Educator : Aristotle And The Purpose Of Poeisis, Stephen Eugene Clouse

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This inquiry into Aristotle's thought focuses on the relationship between the poetic arts and moral education. Specifically, it looks at whether poetry can be used as a means for teaching moral virtue. Aristotle is clear that the arts, broadly speaking, are inferior to virtue. However, the political context of poetry as well as Aristotle's account of katharsis and the relationship between philosophy and poetry seem to indicate that the purpose of poetry may serve an educative function in the life of the city. I argue that while poetry is not moral education, it serves an educative role by facilitating an …

The Chimerae Of Their Age:Twelfth Century Cistercian Engagement Beyond Monastic Walls, Daniel J. Martin

Pomona Senior Theses

One of the great paradoxes of the medieval period is the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1225), in which monks of the Cistercian Order took an active and violent role in campaigning against the heretics of the Languedoc. Why, and how, did this order officially devoted to prayer and contemplation become one of the prime orchestrators of one of medieval Europe’s most gruesome affairs? This thesis seeks to answer that question, not by looking at the crusading Cistercians themselves, but at their predecessor Bernard of Clairvaux, who—I will argue—made the Albigensian Crusade possible by making it permissible for monks to intervene in the …

Much Ado About Cyber-Space: Cyber-Terrorism And The Reformation Of The Cyber-Security, Christian Pedersen

Pepperdine Policy Review

The threats residing in cyber-space are becoming well understood by policymakers and security experts alike. However, cyber-security defenses and strategies cannot solely be directed towards nation states, as non-governmental actors – such as transnational crime groups and terrorist organizations are becoming increasingly reliant upon internet technologies. Attacks on the digital components of the critical infrastructure, have the potential to unleash devastation on the United States. In a time when reliability and ethnicity of the National Security Administration, the Nation’s leading digital intelligence organization, are becoming increasingly questioned; defensive measures need to be improved to prevent future attacks and improve the …