Libya under Qadhafi : a pattern of aggression

Caption title.

Political philosophy of aggression.

Mode of access: Internet.

Large size in an island-dwelling bird: intraspecific competition and the Dominance Hypothesis

Differences between island- and mainland-dwelling forms provide several classic ecological puzzles. Why, for instance, are island-dwelling passerine birds consistently larger than their mainland counterparts? We examine the 'Dominance hypothesis', based on intraspecific competition, which states that large size in island passerines evolves through selection for success in agonistic encounters. We use the Heron Island population of Capricorn silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus), a large-bodied island-dwelling race of white-eye (Zosteropidae), to test three assumptions of this hypothesis; that (i) large size is positively associated with high fitness, (ii) large size is associated with dominance, and (iii) the relationship between size and dominance is particularly pronounced under extreme intraspecific competition. Our results supported the first two of these assumptions, but provided mixed evidence on the third. On balance, we suggest that the Dominance Hypothesis is a plausible mechanism for the evolution of large size of island passerines, but urge further empirical tests on the role of intraspecific competition on oceanic islands versus that on mainlands.

“Suffragettes in Satin Shorts”? Gender and Competitive Boxing

This study is an empirical and theoretical contribution to the burgeoning literature on gender and competitive boxing. By using Connell's concepts of labor, power, cathexis, and representation and a combination of content and semiotic analysis, interviews, and observations, we argue that competitive boxing can be studied productively as a paradoxical gender regime that simultaneously enables and constrains how women do gender. On one hand, the sport encourages individual women to display physical aggression when such behavior traditionally has been deemed the antithesis of femininity. Some feminists argue that this form of physical feminism enables women to transcend essentialist discourses that restrict their corporeal power. On the other hand, women boxers in general also encounter resistance to their aspirations. For example, they are still positioned by essentialist discourses about both their bodies and capacity to develop the requisite form of controlled aggression. Strongly gendered links between bodily labor and bodily capital also mean that women have less access to resources than do men and, consequently, fewer opportunities to develop their pugilistic capital. We also maintain that competitive women boxers are implicated in a body project that tends to replicate sporting practices that some feminists and pro-feminists argue are damaging to both men and women.

Modeling the relationships between adult attachment patterns and borderline personality disorder: The role of impulsivity and aggressiveness

To obtain a better understanding of the associations among Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), adult attachment patterns, impulsivity, and aggressiveness, we tested four competing models of these relationships: a) BPD is associated with the personality traits of impulsivity and aggressiveness, but adult attachment patterns predict neither BPD nor impulsive/aggressive features; b) adult attachment patterns are significant predictors of BPD but not of impulsive/aggressive traits, although these traits correlate with BPD; c) adult attachment patterns are significant predictors of impulsive and aggressive traits, which in turn predict BPD; and d) adult attachment patterns significantly predict both BPD and impulsive/aggressive traits. We assessed 466 consecutively admitted outpatients using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders (V. 2.0), the Attachment Style Questionnaire, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11, and the Aggression Questionnaire. Maximum likelihood structural equation modeling of the covariance matrix showed that model (c) was the best fitting model (chi(2) (21) = 31.67, p >.05, RMSEA = .023, test of close fit p >.85). This result indicates that adult attachment patterns act indirectly as risk factors for BPD because of their relationships with aggressive/impulsive personality traits.

PRN Sedation-patterns of prescribing and administration in a child and adolescent mental health inpatient service

Objective: To identify utilisation rates of prn (pro re nata) sedation in children and adolescents receiving inpatient psychiatric treatment, and to compare correlates of prn prescribing and administration. Method A retrospective chart review examined 122 medical charts from a child and youth mental health inpatient service. Results 71.3% of patients were prescribed prn sedation and 50.8% were administered prn sedation. Patients received an average of 8.0 doses of prn sedation, with 9.8% receiving 10 or more doses. Chlorpromazine and diazepam were the most commonly utilised agents. Prescribing of prn sedation was only related to use of regular medications (p < 0.01), and non-parent carers (p < 0.01). In contrast, administration of prn sedation was associated with multiple diagnoses (p < 0.01), pervasive development disorder (p < 0.01), mental retardation (p < 0.01) ADHD (p < 0.01), longer hospital admission (p < 0.01), use of atypical antipsychotics (p < 0.01) and polypharmacy (p < 0.01). Conclusions Despite lack of data to inform practice, prn sedation is widely utilised, especially in complex patients. Future research in this area needs to incorporate nurses and examine whether patients benefit from prn sedation, which drugs and dosing patterns optimise safety and efficacy, and what is the role of prn sedation in the context of other medication.

Resource partitioning in sympatric delphinids: Space use and habitat preferences of Australian snubfin and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins

1. Many species of delphinids co-occur in space and time. However, little is known of their ecological interactions and the underlying mechanisms that mediate their coexistence. 2. Snubfin Orcaella heinsohni, and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins Sousa chinensis, live in sympatry throughout most of their range in Australian waters. I conducted boat-based surveys in Cleveland Bay, north-east Queensland, to collect data on the space and habitat use of both species. Using Geographic Information Systems, kernel methods and Euclidean distances I investigated interspecific differences in their space use patterns, behaviour and habitat preferences. 3. Core areas of use (50% kernel range) for both species were located close to river mouths and modified habitat such as dredged channels and breakwaters close to the Port of Townsville. Foraging and travelling activities were the dominant behavioural activities of snubfin and humpback dolphins within and outside their core areas. 4. Their representative ranges (95% kernel range) overlapped considerably, with shared areas showing strong concordance in the space use by both species. Nevertheless, snubfin dolphins preferred slightly shallower (1-2 m) waters than humpback dolphins (2-5 m). Additionally, shallow areas with seagrass ranked high in the habitat preferences of snubfin dolphins, whereas humpback dolphins favoured dredged channels. 5. Slight differences in habitat preferences appear to be one of the principal factors maintaining the coexistence of snubfin and humpback dolphins. I suggest diet partitioning and interspecific aggression as the major forces determining habitat selection in these sympatric species.

Hostile sexism and rape proclivity amongst men

In the current study, we examined the influence of victim type and hostile sexism on men's judgments about an acquaintance rape victim and their self-reported acquaintance rape proclivity. It was predicted that hostile sexism would predict self-reported rape proclivity, but that this relationship would be moderated by victim type. Specifically, it was predicted that participants would report greater proclivity in relation to a victim who appeared not to adhere to traditional gender stereotypes than to a victim who appeared to adhere to such stereotypes. Further, in line with D. Abrams, G. T. Viki, B. Masser, and G. Bohner (2003), it was predicted that the relationship between hostile sexism and rape proclivity would be mediated by perceptions of token resistance by the victim. Results partially supported the hypotheses. Hostile sexism was positively related to rape proclivity, but victim type was not found to moderate the relationship. In addition, perceptions of token resistance were found to mediate the hostile sexism and rape proclivity relationship. The results suggest that, at least in terms of rape proclivity, hostile sexists may not differentiate in their targets for sexual aggression.

Interactions between behaviour and plasma steroids within the scramble mating system of the promiscuous green turtle, Chelonia mydas

We measured plasma androgen (combined testosterone and 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone) (A) and corticosterone (B) in the promiscuous green turtle (Chelonia mydas) during courtship in the southern Great Barrier Reef. This study examined if reproductive behaviors and intermale aggression induced behavioral androgen and adrenocortical responses in reproductively active male and female green turtles. Associations between reproductive behavior and plasma steroids were investigated in green turtles across the population and within individuals. Levels across a range of both asocial and social behaviors were compared including (a) free swimming behavior; (b) initial courtship interactions; (c) mounted behavior (male and female turtles involved in copulatory activities); (d) intermale aggression (rival males that physically competed with another male turtle or mounted males recipient to these aggressive interactions); and (e) extensive courtship damage (male turtles that had accumulated excessive courtship damage from rival males). Behavioral androgen responses were detected in male turtles, in that plasma A was observed to increase with both attendant and mounted behavior. Male turtles who had been subjected to intermale aggression or who had accumulated severe courtship damage exhibited significantly lower plasma A than their respective controls. No pronounced adrenocortical response was observed after either intermale aggression or accumulation of extensive courtship damage. Female turtles exhibited a significant increase in plasma B during swimming versus mounted behavior, but no change in plasma A. We discuss our results in terms of how scramble polygamy might influence behavioral androgen interactions differently from more typical combative and territorial forms Of male polygamy. (C) 1999 Academic Press.

Terms of abuse as expression and reinforcement of cultures

In this study terms of abuse are investigated in 11 different cultures. Spontaneous verbal aggression is to a certain extent reminiscent of the values of a certain culture. Almost 3000 subjects from Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Croatia, Poland, Great Britain, USA, Norway, Greece, and The Netherlands were asked to write down terms of abuse that they would use given a certain stimulus situation, and in addition, to give their rating of the offensive character of those terms. A total set of 12,000 expressions was collected. The frequencies of the expressions were established, and the total list of expressions was reduced to 16 categories. Results point to some etic taboos, like sexuality and lack of intelligence. On the other hand clear differences across cultures were found, which cannot easily be explained by existing classifications of national cultures. Explanations are provided in terms of dimensions on which the 11 cultures differ.

Intellectual alienation in a fragmented society and universe, as illustrated in the work of Wolfgang Koeppen (1906- )

This text is concerned with the intellectual and social alienation experienced by a twentieth century German writer (1906 - ).·the alienation begins in the context of German society, but this context is later globalised. The thesis first discusses the social and· intellectual origins and the salient features of this alienated stance, before proceeding to a detailed analysis of its recurring symptoms and later intensification in each of the author's main works, chronologically surveyed, supported by reference to minor writings. From the novels of the thirties' showing the burgher-artist conflict, and its symbolic dichotomies, the renunciation of traditional German values, and the ambiguous confrontation with new disruptive socio-political forces, we move to the post-war trilogy (1951-54), with its roots in the German social and political experience of the thirties' onwards. The latter, however, is merely a background for the presentation of a much more comprehensive view of the human condition:- a pessimistic vision of the repetitiveness and incorrigibility of this condition, the possibility of the apocalypse, the bankruptcy and ineffectiveness of European religion and culture, the 'absurd' meaninglessness of history, the intellectual artist's position and role(s) in mass-culture and an abstract, technologised mass-society, the central theme of fragmentation - of the structure of reality, society and personality, the artist's relation to this fragmentation, intensified in the twentieth,century. Style and language are consonant with this world-picture. Many of these features recur in the travel-books (1958-61); diachronic as well as synchronic approaches characterise the presentation of various modes of contemporary society in America, Russia, France and other European countries. Important features of intellectual alienation are:- the changelessness of historical motifs (e.g. tyranny, aggression), the conventions of burgher society, both old and new forms, the qualitative depreciation and standardisation of living, industrialisation and technology in complex, vulnerable and concemtrated urban societies, ambiguities of fragmented pluralism. Reference is made .to other travel-writers.

Childhood abuse is associated with structural impairment in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and aggressiveness in patients with borderline personality disorder

Volume reduction and functional impairment in areas of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) have been found in borderline personality disorder (BPD), particularly in patients with a history of childhood abuse. These abnormalities may contribute to the expression of emotion dysregulation and aggressiveness. In this study we investigated whether the volume of the PFC is reduced in BPD patients and whether a history of childhood abuse would be associated with greater PFC structural changes. Structural MRI data were obtained from 18 BPD patients and 19 healthy individuals matched for age, sex, handedness, and education and were analyzed using voxel based morphometry. The Child Abuse Scale was used to elicit a past history of abuse; aggression was evaluated using the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI). The volume of the right ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC) was significantly reduced in BPD subjects with a history of childhood abuse compared to those without this risk factor. Additionally, right VLPFC gray matter volume significantly correlated with the BDHI total score and with BDHI irritability and negativism subscale scores in patients with a history of childhood abuse. Our results suggest that a history of childhood abuse may lead to increased aggression mediated by an impairment of the right VLPFC. © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Feelings of vulnerability and effects on driving behaviour:a qualitative study

Feelings of vulnerability in driving can be considered an emotional response to risk perception and the coping strategies adopted could have implications for continued mobility. In a series of focus groups with 48 licensed drivers aged 18-75 years, expressions of vulnerability in driver coping behaviours were examined. Despite feelings of vulnerability appearing low, qualitative thematic analysis revealed a complex array of coping strategies in everyday driving including planning, use of 'co-pilots', self-regulation, avoidance and confrontive coping, i.e. intentional aggression toward other road users. The findings inform future intervention studies to enable appropriate coping strategy selection and prolong independent mobility in older adults. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Examining the process of regime change in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization: The divide between rhetoric and reality

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a product of the Cold War through which its members organized their military forces for the purpose of collective defense against the common threat of Soviet-backed aggression. Employing the terminology of regime theory, the creation of NATO can be viewed as the introduction of an international security regime. Throughout the Cold War, NATO member states preserved their commitment to mutual defense while increasingly engaging in activities aimed at overcoming the division of Europe and promoting regional stability. The end of the Cold War has served as the catalyst for a new period of regime change as the Alliance introduced elements of a collective security regime by expanding its mandate to address new security challenges and reorganizing both its political and military organizational structures. ^ This research involves an interpretive analysis of NATO's evolution applying ideal theoretical constructs associated with distinct approaches to regime analysis. The process of regime change is investigated over several periods throughout the history of the Alliance in an effort to understand the Alliance's changing commitment to collective security. This research involves a review of regime theory literature, consisting of an examination of primary source documentation, including official documents and treaties, as well as a review of numerous secondary sources. This review is organized around a typology of power-based, organization-based, and norm-based approaches to regime analysis. This dissertation argues that the process of regime change within NATO is best understood by examining factors associated with multiple theoretical constructs. Relevant factors provide insights into the practice of collective security among NATO member states within Europe, while accounting for the inability of the NATO allies to build on the experience gained within Europe to play a more central role in operations outside of this region. This research contributes to a greater understanding of the nature of international regimes and the process of regime change, while offering recommendations aimed at increasing NATO's viability as a source of greater security and more meaningful international cooperation.^

Soviet and Western bloc competition in the less developed world and the collapse of Détente

The purpose of my dissertation was to examine the competition between the U.S.-led Western bloc and the Soviet bloc in the less developed world during Détente. I assessed whether or not the Soviet bloc pushed for strategic gains in the less developed world in the middle-to-late 1970's and whether this contributed to the U.S. decision to abandon Détente in 1979. I made the attempt to test the international relations theory of balance of threat realism (Walt, 1992). I accomplished the test in two ways. First, I measured the foreign aid allocations (military and economic) made by each respective bloc towards the Third World by using a quantitative approach. Second, I examined U.S. archives using the process-tracing/historical method. The U.S. archives gave me the ability to evaluate how U.S. decision-makers and U.S. intelligence agencies interpreted the actions of the Soviet bloc. They also gave me the chance to examine the U.S. response as we evaluated the policies that were pushed by key U.S. decision-makers and intelligence agencies. On the question of whether or not the Soviet bloc was aggressive, the quantitative evidence suggested that it was not. Instead, the evidence found the Western-bloc to have been more aggressive in the less developed world. The U.S. archives also showed Soviet actions to have been defensive. Key U.S. decision-makers and intelligence agencies attested to this. Finally, the archives show that U.S. officials pushed for aggressive actions against the Third World during the final years of Détente. Thus, balance of threat realism produced an incorrect assessment that U.S. aggression in the late 1970's was a response to Soviet aggression during Détente. The evidence suggests structural Marxism and domestic politics can better explain U.S./Western actions. The aggressive foreign aid allocations of the West, coupled with evidence of U.S. decision-makers/agencies vehemently concerned about the long-term prospects of the West, strengthened structural Marxism. Domestic politics can also claim to explain the actions of U.S. decision-makers. I found extensive archival evidence of bureaucratic inter-agency conflict between the State Department and other intelligence agencies in areas of strategic concern to the U.S.