Hatretorikk: den intolerante språkbruken

The manifesto of the Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik is based on the “Eurabia” conspiracy theory. This theory is a key starting point for hate speech amongst many right-wing extremists in Europe, but also has ramifications beyond these environments. In brief, proponents of the Eurabia theory claim that Muslims are occupying Europe and destroying Western culture, with the assistance of the EU and European governments. By contrast, members of Al-Qaeda and other extreme Islamists promote the conspiracy theory “the Crusade” in their hate speech directed against the West. Proponents of the latter theory argue that the West is leading a crusade to eradicate Islam and Muslims, a crusade that is similarly facilitated by their governments. This article presents analyses of texts written by right-wing extremists and Muslim extremists in an effort to shed light on how hate speech promulgates conspiracy theories in order to spread hatred and intolerance. The aim of the article is to contribute to a more thorough understanding of hate speech’s nature by applying rhetorical analysis. Rhetorical analysis is chosen because it offers a means of understanding the persuasive power of speech. It is thus a suitable tool to describe how hate speech works to convince and persuade. The concepts from rhetorical theory used in this article are ethos, logos and pathos. The concept of ethos is used to pinpoint factors that contributed to Osama bin Laden's impact, namely factors that lent credibility to his promotion of the conspiracy theory of the Crusade. In particular, Bin Laden projected common sense, good morals and good will towards his audience. He seemed to have coherent and relevant arguments; he appeared to possess moral credibility; and his use of language demonstrated that he wanted the best for his audience. The concept of pathos is used to define hate speech, since hate speech targets its audience's emotions. In hate speech it is the emotions that prevail, rather than reason. Sensational and dramatic claims are used to exploit existing feelings of anger, irritation and fear. The speech is aimed at those who may be persuaded of its negative content, and who may spread the message further. A distinct feature is its absence of logos: argumentation aimed at listeners' reason. To the extent logos is used in hate speech it is for the most part only apparent logos. The speech is often based on falsehoods, exaggerations, stereotypes, over-generalisations, and startling formulations. Hate speech therefore requires an uncritical audience – an audience that is either unable to see through the fallacies, or unwilling to do so because the arguments and conclusions fit well with their worldview. The overall aim of the article is to contribute to a more thorough understanding of hate speech’s nature and its role in disseminating conspiracy theories. However, through analyses of text examples from al-Qaeda’s leader, Osama bin Laden, and right-wing European extremists the article also contributes to explaining the terror attack in Oslo in July 2011 and the terror attack on September 11, 2001, in New York and other similar acts of terror

Undersøkelse av støyplage ved norske flyplasser

-Det er gjennomført spørreundersøkelser om folks reaksjoner på støy ved fem norske flyplasser. Responsen er sammenlignet med tilsvarende undersøkelser internasjonalt. Resultatene viser at befolkningen i Norge gir uttrykk for å være mindre plaget enn gjennomsnittet internasjonalt. Resultatene indikerer at det ikke er noen grunn til å skjerpe grensene i Miljøverndepartementets retningslinje T-1442/2012 med hensyn på flystøy slik den reviderte utgaven av standarden ISO 1996 åpner for

Quantitative analysis of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in malignant breast lesions using different b value combinations

OBJECTIVES: To explore how apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) in malignant breast lesions are affected by selection of b values in the monoexponential model and to compare ADCs with diffusion coefficients (Ds) obtained from the biexponential model. METHODS: Twenty-four women (mean age 51.3 years) with locally advanced breast cancer were included in this study. Pre-treatment diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was performed using a 1.5-T system with b values of 0, 50, 100, 250 and 800 s/mm(2). Thirteen different b value combinations were used to derive individual monoexponential ADC maps. All b values were used in the biexponential model. RESULTS: Median ADC (including all b values) and D were 1.04 × 10(-3) mm(2)/s (range 0.82–1.61 × 10(-3) mm(2)/s) and 0.84 × 10(-3) mm(2)/s (range 0.17–1.56 × 10(-3) mm(2)/s), respectively. There was a strong positive correlation between ADCs and Ds. For clinically relevant b value combinations, maximum deviation between ADCs including and excluding low b values (<100 s/mm(2)) was 11.8 %. CONCLUSION: Selection of b values strongly affects ADCs of malignant breast lesions. However, by excluding low b values, ADCs approach biexponential Ds, demonstrating that microperfusion influences the diffusion signal. Thus, care should be taken when ADC calculation includes low b values. KEY POINTS: • Diffusion-weighted sequences are increasingly used in breast magnetic resonance imaging • Diffusion-weighting (b) values strongly influence apparent diffusion coefficients of malignant lesions • Exclusion of low b values reduces the apparent diffusion coefficient • Flow-insensitive monoexponential apparent diffusion coefficients approach biexponential diffusion coefficient

Assessment of the benefits of user involvement in health research from the Warwick Diabetes Care Research User Group : a qualitative case study

Objective  To assess the benefits of involving health-care users in diabetes research. Design and participants  For this qualitative case study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with researchers who had worked extensively with the group. During regular meetings of the Research User Group, members discussed their views of the group's effectiveness as part of the meeting's agenda. Interviews and discussions were transcribed, coded using N-Vivo software and analysed using constant comparative methods. Results  Involvement of users in research was generally seen as contributing to effective and meaningful research. However, the group should not be considered to be representative of the patient population or participants of future trials. An important contributor to the group's success was its longstanding nature, enabling users to gain more insight into research and form constructive working relationships with researchers. The user-led nature of the group asserted itself, especially, in the language used during group meetings. A partial shift of power from researchers to users was generally acknowledged. Users' main contribution was their practical expertise in living with diabetes, but their involvement also helped researchers to remain connected to the `real world' in which research would be applied. While the group's work fulfilled established principles of consumer involvement in research, important contributions relying on personal interaction between users and researchers were hard to evaluate by process measures alone. Conclusions  We demonstrated the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of this longstanding, experienced, lay-led research advisory group. Its impact on research stems from the continuing interaction between researchers and users, and the general ethos of learning from each other in an on-going process. Both process measures and qualitative interviews with stakeholders are needed to evaluate the contributions of service users to health research

Fragmentation cross sections of relativistic ^(84)_(36)Kr and ^(109)_(47)Ag nuclei in targets from hydrogen to lead

With the addition of krypton and silver projectiles we have extended our previous studies of the fragmentation of heavy relativistic nuclei in targets ranging in mass from hydrogen to lead. These projectiles were studied at a number of discrete energies between 450 and 1500A MeV. The total and partial charge-changing cross sections were determined for each energy, target, and projectile, and the values compared with previous predictions. A new parametrization of the dependence of the total charge-changing cross sections on the target and projectile is introduced, based on nuclear charge radii derived from electron scattering. We have also parametrized the energy dependence of the total cross sections over the range of energies studied. New parameters were found for a previous representation of the partial charge-changing cross sections in hydrogen and a new parametrization has been introduced for the nonhydrogen targets. The evidence that limiting fragmentation has been attained for these relatively light projectile nuclei at Bevalac energies is shown to be inconclusive, and further measurements at higher energies will be needed to address this question

Undersøkelse av støyplage ved norske flyplasser

-Det er gjennomført spørreundersøkelser om folks reaksjoner på støy ved fem norske flyplasser. Responsen er sammenlignet med tilsvarende undersøkelser internasjonalt. Resultatene viser at befolkningen i Norge gir uttrykk for å være mindre plaget enn gjennomsnittet internasjonalt. Resultatene indikerer at det ikke er noen grunn til å skjerpe grensene i Miljøverndepartementets retningslinje T-1442/2012 med hensyn på flystøy slik den reviderte utgaven av standarden ISO 1996 åpner for

Using Ordinary Digital Cameras in Place of Near-Infrared Sensors to Derive Vegetation Indices for Phenology Studies of High Arctic Vegetation

We thank Mark Gillespie, Nanna Baggesen, and Anne Marit Vik for field assistance. The University in Svalbard (UNIS) provided logistical support. This work was funded by the Norwegian Research Council through the ‘SnoEco’ project (project No. 230970) and Arctic Field Grant (No. 246110/E10). It was supported by the ESA Prodex project ‘Sentinel-2 for High North Vegetation Phenology’ (contract No. 4000110654), the EC FP7 collaborative project ‘Sentinels Synergy Framework’ (SenSyF), funding from The Fram Centre Terrestrial Flagship, also from the EEA Norway Grants (WICLAP project, ID 198571), and from the GRENE Arctic Climate Change Research Project, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan.Peer reviewedPublisher PD