Modeling Terrorist Radicalization

Recent high-profile terrorism arrests and litigation in New York, Colorado, and Detroit have brought public attention to the question of how the government should respond to the possibility of domestic-origin terrorism linked to al Qaeda. This symposium essay identifies and discussing one emerging approach in the United States and Europe which attends to the process of terrorist “radicalization.” States on both sides of the Atlantic are investing increasingly in developing an epistemology of terrorist violence. The results have implications for how policing resources are allocated, whether privacy rights are respected, and how religious liberty may be exercised. This essay traces the development of state discourses on “radicalization” in the United States and the United Kingdom. It argues that understanding this new “radicalization” discourse entails attention to interactions between nations and between the federal government and states as well as to the political economy of counter-terrorism

Recycling and the Environment: a Comparative Review Between Mineral-based Plastics and Bioplastics

Since their conception in the 1950s, mineral-based plastics have completely revolutionised our society with production reaching record highs year upon year. This cheap, and durable material has seen usage across a plethora of diverse industries and products, replacing traditional materials such as metals and wood. However, our reliance on mineral-based plastics has led to their improper disposal across the global, affecting our environments and ecosystems. As a response, different methods have been developed to help dispose of the large amounts of plastic waste produced, such as incineration or dumping in landfill sites, but these methods are not without their drawbacks including release of toxic substances into the air and leachate into the soil and waters respectively. Consequently, much interest is generated and channelled in recent years to the introduction of several types of biopolymers. These include plastics based on cellulosic esters, starch derivatives, polyhydroxybutyrate and polylactic acid. These biopolymers have been viewed as a suitable replacement for mineral-based plastics, and their production a good strategy towards sustainable development as they are mainly composed of biocompounds such as starch, cellulose and sugars. This short review article provides an overview as to whether biopolymers can rival mineral-based plastics considering properties such as mechanical strength, Young’s modulus and crystallinity and could they be regarded as a suitable material to reduce our reliance on mineral-based plastics, whilst simultaneously reducing non-renewable energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions

Integrating vocational training in culinary arts and Islamic studies at juvenile rehabilitation centres: Malaysian experience

The Juvenile Rehabilitation Centres (JRC) in Malaysia aims to provide shelter, counselling and skills training to juveniles specifically for those who wish to transform themselves from the regrettable misdeeds they have committed. At JRCs, an integrated Culinary Vocational Training and Islamic education forms part of their training curriculum. The skills acquired should enable trainees to secure jobs upon completion of training. However, there are some training institutions that lack systematic training structures resulting in trainees becoming less skilful in both vocational and Islamic education. The objective of this research is to identify the effectiveness of an integrated Culinary and Islamic Education curriculum implemented at JRCs in Malaysia. This is a descriptive survey and data was obtained using questionnaire and interview. Respondents comprised 92 trainees, four managers, four culinary trainers and four Islamic education teachers, all from four different JRCs. The findings show that the trainees are happy with their trainings that brought about positive effects for them. Some suggestions have been made to provide improvements in the implementation of the course among them the inclusion of prayers in the Islamic education syllabus

The effects of a linguistic tsunami on the languages of Aceh

The languages throughout the world are in crisis and it is estimated that 50% to 90% will have disappeared by the end of this century (Grenoble, 2012). Colonisation, nationalism, urbanisation and globalisation have resulted in a linguistic tsunami being unleashed, with a few major world languages swamping others. The rate of language loss today is unprecedented as this small number of dominant languages expands rapidly. Small minority languages are mainly in danger, but even large regional languages, such as Acehnese with millions of speakers, are unsafe. Similar to the case of a tsunami triggered by an earthquake, it is generally too late before speakers are aware of what is happening. In most cases language shift will have already progressed and irreversible before people realize it. This paper examines the early warning signs of impending language shift and what can be done for minority languages to have the best chance of survival. We draw on the local situation in Aceh, as well as other parts of the Austronesian speaking world and Australia, where the record of language loss is the worst in the world. Language shift in Australia is well-progressed; in Indonesia it is more recent. Lessons learned from places such as Australia and Taiwan have relevance for Indonesia today.Zulfadli A. Aziz, Robert Amer

Bow-Tie Microstrip Antenna Design

In this paper, the bow-tie microstrip antennas have been designed with two different angles of 40° and 80°. An investigaton on the effect of the angle to the return loss and radiation patterns had been carried out. The impedance matching network with the niicrostrip transmission line feeding was used in this study. Simulation and measurement results for the return loss and radiation patterns were presented

Benefits of visual management in construction: cases from the transportation sector in England

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the benefits of Visual Management (VM) systems in transportation construction projects in England. Design/methodology/approach: Following a comprehensive literature review, the benefits of VM were investigated through action and case study research executed within two construction projects in England. Findings: The main findings are; VM can contribute to (i) increased self-management, (ii) better team coordination, (iii) better promises or an increasing Plan Percent Complete (PPC), (iv) easier control for the management, and (v) improved workplace conditions in the transportation sector. It is important for the management to obtain the engagement of their workforce for VM through increased participation and demonstrating the actual benefits. However, managerial monitoring and control on the systems should not be underestimated. Originality/value: The transportation sector in England has been systematically deploying lean construction techniques in its operations for a while. One of those lean techniques is a close-range visual communication strategy called Visual Management (VM). The literature on the VM implementation in construction is scarce and generally limited to the building construction context. This paper documents the benefits of VM systems for the transportation sector by using data captured through both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The paper also identifies a set of recommendations for similar research efforts in the transportation context in the future

Monopolizing force?: police legitimacy and public attitudes towards the acceptability of violence

Why do people believe that violence is acceptable? In this paper we study people’s normative beliefs about the acceptability of violence to achieve social control (as a substitute for the police, for self-protection and the resolution of disputes) and social change (through violent protests and acts to achieve political goals). Addressing attitudes towards violence among young men from various ethnic minority communities in London, we find that procedural justice is strongly correlated with police legitimacy, and that positive judgments about police legitimacy are associated with more negative views about the use of violence. We conclude with the idea that police legitimacy has an additional, hitherto unrecognized, empirical property – by constituting the belief that the police monopolise rightful force in society, legitimacy has a ‘crowding out’ effect on positive views of private violence