Middle east Salafism's influence and the radicalization of Muslim communities in Europe

Salafism is first and foremost a method for the search of the religious truth; a desire to practice Islam exactly as it was revealed by the Prophet. It is a religious method whose influence has spread throughout the Arab world and also in Europe, thanks to the support received from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, which have helped expand this peculiar vision of Islam that is very close to Wahhabism. Its influence is on the rise and it has successfully impregnated several Islamist movements, including some sectors of the Muslim Brotherhoods. In Europe, it has become a powerful magnet for generations of young Muslims who suffer identity problems, reject European citizenship, and use their cultural alienation to justify the adoption of a form of universal Islam stripped of its heritage of traditions and adaptable to all societies. Although in principle Salafism is apolitical and opposes violence, it preaches an Islam that calls for cultural rupture with Europe. Moreover, its principles and textual references coincide with those of fighting Salafism and its followers have therefore become the preferred targets of jihadi recruiters. The fighting version of Salafism has also become the core ideology of the global jihadism sponsored by al-Qa'ida and the radical utopia of Abdallah Azzam. This ideology, aided by the proselytizing work of radical clerics, has led to the emergence in Europe of small groups with the capability to carry out independent terrorist strikes. Europe is no longer a mere logistics base for international jihadism, but a scenario for terrorist action. In the past, Islamist networks operating in Europe restricted their activities to providing logistical support for the cells that planned attacks in other parts of the world. The destruction of its operations base in Afghanistan has caused a transformation of the al-Qa'ida network, which is no longer an organized structure but a trademark or label conferring even greater impact on actions undertaken by local groups. Europe is facing a long term threat that will require not only measures to ensure appropriate integration of its Muslim communities, but also decisive action to confront an ideology that has declared a global war against the West

Securin Is Not Required for Chromosomal Stability in Human Cells

Abnormalities of chromosome number are frequently observed in cancers. The mechanisms regulating chromosome segregation in human cells are therefore of great interest. Recently it has been reported that human cells without an hSecurin gene lose chromosomes at a high frequency. Here we show that, after hSecurin knockout through homologous recombination, chromosome losses are only a short, transient effect. After a few passages hSecurin(−/−) cells became chromosomally stable and executed mitoses normally. This was unexpected, as the securin loss resulted in a persisting reduction of the sister-separating protease separase and inefficient cleavage of the cohesin subunit Scc1. Our data demonstrate that securin is dispensable for chromosomal stability in human cells. We propose that human cells possess efficient mechanisms to compensate for the loss of genes involved in chromosome segregation

Frustration of antiferromagnetism in the t-t'-Hubbard model at weak coupling

The perfect-nesting instability towards antiferromagnetism of the Hubbard model is suppressed by next-nearest neighbor hopping t'. The exact asymptotic behavior of the critical coupling U_c(t') at small t' is calculated in dimensions d=2,3 and infinity using Hartree theory, and the order of the transition is determined. A region of stability of a metallic antiferromagnetic phase in d=3 is identified.Comment: 5 pages revtex, 5 eps figures; typos corrected and a discussion about the applicability to two-dimensional organic superconductors adde

Time-Resolved Studies of a Rolled-Up Semiconductor Microtube Laser

We report on lasing in rolled-up microtube resonators. Time-resolved studies on these semiconductor lasers containing GaAs quantum wells as optical gain material reveal particularly fast turn-on-times and short pulse emissions above the threshold. We observe a strong red-shift of the laser mode during the pulse emission which is compared to the time evolution of the charge-carrier density calculated by rate equations

Enhanced Transmission in Rolled-up Hyperlenses utilizing Fabry-Pe\'rot Resonances

We experimentally demonstrate that the transmission though rolled-up metal/semiconductor hyperlenses can be enhanced at desired frequencies utilizing Fabry-P\'erot resonances. By means of finite difference time domain simulations we prove that hyperlensing occurs at frequencies of high transmission.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Contrasting distribution of aggregates >100 µm in the upper kilometre of the South-Eastern Pacific

International audienceLarge sinking particles transport organic and inorganic matter into the deeper layers of the oceans. From 70 to 90% of the superficial particulate material is disaggregated within the upper 1000 m. This decrease with depth indicates that remineralization processes are intense during sedimentation. Generally, the estimates of vertical flux rely on the sediment trap data but difficulties inherent in their design, limit the reliability of this information. During the BIOSOPE study in the southeastern Pacific, 76 vertical casts using the Underwater Video Profiler (UVP) and deployments of a limited number of drifting sediment traps provided an opportunity to fit the UVP data to sediment trap flux measurements. We applied than the calculated UVP flux in the upper 1000 m to the whole 8000 km BIOSOPE transect. Comparison between the large particulate material (LPM) abundance and the estimated fluxes from both UVP and sediment traps showed different patterns in different regions. On the western end of the BIOSOPE section the standing stock of particles in the superficial layer was high but the export between 150 and 250 m was low. Below this layer the flux values increased. High values of about 30% of the calculated UVP maximum superficial flux were observed below 900 m at the HNLC station. The South Pacific Gyre exported about 2 mg m-2 d-1. While off Chilean coast 95% of the superficial matter was remineralized or advected in the upper kilometer, 20% of the superficial flux was observed below 900 m near the Chilean coast. These results suggest that the export to deep waters is spatially heterogeneous and related to the different biotic and abiotic factors