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Sir Andrew Green: Blundering into war in Syria would be pure foolishness
Sir Andrew Green is Chairman of Migrationwatch UK. He was British Ambassador to Syria from 1991 to 1994.
The Syrian decision to permit an immediate inspection of the suburbs of Damascus allows a little more time for reflection. It is sorely needed.
The government has promised to consult Parliament before providing weapons to the Syrian opposition. It is therefore inevitable that they must consult before taking part in an armed attack on the Syrian state.
When they do so, there are three questions that should be pressed home.
First, is the government's real objective to remove the regime?
If so, they will not succeed. Syria is now in a state of civil war of great complexity. This is not about a brutal dictator oppressing a populace who seek nothing but their democratic rights. The opposition certainly contains democrats (who agree with each other on very little) but the heart of opposition in Syria has long been the Muslim Brotherhood, albeit viciously suppressed for 40 years.
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August 26, 2013 in Sir Andrew Green | Permalink
Sir Andrew Green: Immigration and control. The Public Administration Committee criticism of the Government is unfair.
Sir Andrew Green is Chairman of Migrationwatch UK
The furore caused by the Public Administration Select Committee's report on immigration statistics stems largely from the language they adopted. The facts of the matter have been known for some time and do not affect the thrust of government policies, nor the success that they are now delivering.
To describe the target of one of the government's most important and sensitive policies as "little more than guess work" was bound to be jumped on by the immigration industry and the left wing press. It got the headlines, but has not added to public understanding of a complex and sensitive issue.
The roots of this problem go back to the decision by the Conservative government in 1994 to abolish exit controls for travellers to the European Union. This was followed by a decision by Labour in 1998 to abolish exit checks to the rest of the world. As a result, for nearly twenty years, no British government has had any idea who is in the country.
The problem is a challenging one, since roughly 100 million people arrive in Britain every year of whom 60 million are British and the other 40 million are foreigners. To have an accurate record of their comings and goings would be a massive IT operation. Both the Labour and Conservative governments have been attempting this for a number of years. but have run into both practical difficulties and objections from the European Commission who believe that such efforts are a diminution of the right to free movement. Like most IT projects, its completion date is going backwards and its cost is going upwards.
It is important to recognise, however, that the census provides a cross check on the accuracy or otherwise of the annual immigration figures. They have not been too far out, although the most recent census revealed that the International Passenger Survey (IPS) had missed nearly half a million East Europeans between 2004 and 2011. This was partly because they had inadequate cover at the minor airports at which they arrived and partly because many might well have changed their intentions after their arrival. (They only count as migrants if they declare an intention to stay for more than a year).
It is statistically the case that, given the relatively small sample sizes, the margin of error is plus or minus 17 per cemt. When we enquired about increasing the sample size, we were told that the margin of error could be halved but at a cost of about £3 million a year. The Home Office apparently judged that, in the current financial climate, there were better ways of spending the money.
Whatever its limitations, the immigration target has proved to be extremely valuable. It has acted as a focus both for public opinion and for Government policy. The latter is especially important, as many government departments are inherently pro-immigration. The annual immigration numbers have also confirmed the direction of travel. If net migration has been brought down from even approximately 250,000 to 150,000 in three years, the government must be on the right course.
Indeed so. This is the first government in many decades to take a serious approach to controlling immigration and certainly the first to make any significant impact on it. It is unfortunate that the waters should have been mudded in this way.
July 29, 2013 in Sir Andrew Green | Permalink
Sir Andrew Green: What does immigration mean for public debt?
Today's report by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) has been presented by some as a boost for the immigration lobby. Substantial immigration does reduce the public debt / GDP ratio – but only for a period.
The more fundamental story, however, is that the OBR have found no definitive evidence of any particular economic benefit from immigration. They therefore had to assume that migrants have the same economic characteristics as natives.
Any benefit from higher immigration, therefore, derives primarily from the fact that they have a higher proportion of working age. This is what helps to reduce the ratio of debt to GDP. As the OBR recognised, however, migrants also get older and add to age-related expenditure. So higher migration only delays some of the fiscal challenges of an ageing population rather than resolving them permanently. If we go down this road ever higher levels of immigration will be required as the last lot grow older – a kind of giant Ponzi scheme which, in effect, passes the problem on to our grand children.
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Sir Andrew Green: There should not be an amnesty for illegal immigrants
The Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi has achieved some headlines today with his call for an amnesty for illegal immigrants. This he describes as a "siesmic shift" in immigration policy, designed to attract ethnic votes.
Two minutes thought should dispose of this idea. An amnesty would make a bad situation worse; it would not be especially attractive to existing migrants who would face competition from the newly legalised workers, and it would certainly enfranchise a large number who, for cultural rather than policy reasons, are strongly inclined to vote Labour.
Experience elsewhere is highly instructive for those prepared to examine it. Italy has conducted five amnesties in the last 20 years and Spain has granted six. On almost every occasion the number of applications increased. This surely suggests that amnesties actually increase illegal immigration and build problems for the future.
They are also very costly. A recent LSE report admitted that the longer-term costs of benefits could be £2 billion a year. Even this huge sum did not include post-retirement costs. Zahawi's solution of restricting access to benefits would, even if it was legally sustainable, undermine his main purpose.
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June 28, 2013 in Sir Andrew Green | Permalink
Sir Andrew Green of Migration Watch: The Government now has a chance of hitting its migration target. But it must act on in-work benefits.
Readers of Conservative Home should be greatly encouraged by this week's news that net migration is down by over a third. It now stands at 153,000 for the year ending September 2012. This gives the Government a fighting chance of getting close to their target of tens of thousands by the end of this Parliament.
Public opinion demands no less. The latest census reveals that four million immigrants arrived in a ten year period. This doubled our foreign-born population and leaves us with a massive task of integration. Looking ahead, the official population projections show that if the inflow is allowed to continue at its present average rate of 200,000 a year, the population of the UK will be driven up from 63 million to 70 million in 14 years. Five million of that total would be the result of immigration. That would be the equivalent of the cities of Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bradford, Leeds, Glasgow and Bristol. Where on earth will we find the money to pay for that?
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May 25, 2013 in Sir Andrew Green | Permalink
Sir Andrew Green: Immigration control should not impede economic growth
Sir Andrew Green is Chairman of Migrationwatch UK.
Does the government's political imperative to get immigration down to acceptable levels conflict with their economic imperative to stimulate economic growth?
For business generally, the answer is a resounding "no". There are no limits on the transfer of international staff, vital to so many companies based here. Only half of the available work permits (about 20,000 a year) have, so far, been taken up. Special visas for entrepreneurs and investors are unlimited but the take up has been very limited – only 360 entrepreneurs and 300 investors had taken advantage of these routes by last Autumn. Meanwhile, the arrival of 1.5 million business visitors every year suggests that Britain is indeed open for business.
Most of the complaints nowadays are about process, not limits. The process has, indeed, become absurdly bureaucratic. An attempt by Labour to make the issue of visas "transparent and objective" has utterly failed – for the obvious reason that the two million who apply for visas every year have circumstances so diverse that even 800 pages of regulations cannot prescribe the answers. It must be a major task for the new Minister of Immigration to restore to the system the human element sometimes known as common sense.
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September 15, 2012 in Sir Andrew Green | Permalink
Sir Andrew Green: There is little sign of progress towards the government's migration pledge
I would expect Conservatives to be very concerned about today's immigration figures while the immigration industry rejoices. Net migration fell last year from 252,000 to 216,000 but the drop is not statistically significant. There is thus very little progress to show nearly half way through the government's term.
The public are bound to ask whether the government's pledge to reduce net migration to tens of thousands by the end of this Parliament is achievable and, if so, what more needs to be done.
The reasons for the slow progress are clear. The immigration rules are so complex that they have taken two years to review and many of the changes have not yet taken effect – partly because the courts do not allow the government to change the rules on those already here. The numbers will come down in future years but nobody can be sure that they will be below 100,000 by the end of this Parliament.
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Sir Andrew Green: Net migration will fall, despite this week's figures. But will it fall enough for the Government to hit its target?
Sir Andew Green is Chairman of MigrationWatch UK.
Thursday's immigration figures were disappointing for the government but by no means disastrous. They covered the year to mid-2011, which almost coincides with the first year of the Coalition government.
The figures showed that net migration is still running at about 250,000 a year. This, of course, would have very serious consequences if it were allowed to continue but it is worth pointing out that only one of the Government's measures had come into effect in that period. This was the temporary limit of about 25,000 on work permits in the year to April 2011. Even that measure (and the subsequent cap of 20,700) had no effect because the recession and general administrative confusion held the total below those limits anyway.
In the year to the end of June 2011, British net emigration increased by 22,000 while EU net immigration increased by about 8,000. Non-EU net immigration increased by 30,000, mainly due to more students from the Indian Sub-Continent.
The Government have taken comfort from a subsequent small decline in visas issued in the second half of 2011 for workers and students. This allowed them to suggest that the net migration figure will improve in the coming months.
Some reduction seems likely by the time we have the full figures for calendar 2011 (next August) but the key number – net migration – is likely to remain high at about 200,000. This number will fall further as the government's measures take effect but there is a very long way to go. Pressure on the Government to fulfil their manifesto promise to get net migration down to tens of thousands is, to say the least, likely to intensify.
February 25, 2012 in Sir Andrew Green | Permalink
Sir Andrew Green: What do the public really think about immigration?
Sir Andrew Green is Chairman of MigrationWatch.
The immigration industry is in a corner. The government are proceeding with wide-ranging reform of the immigration system supported by very strong public opinion. Special interest groups are fighting rear guard actions, often based on misrepresentation of government policy. Otherwise, there is nobody arguing against the need to reduce net immigration. Even Labour's spokesman on immigration, Chris Bryant, was obliged to admit in Parliament that "yes of course we think that immigration has been too high and that it should be lower".
Perhaps that is why some on the left are seeking to suggest that public opinion is not what it seems to be. The IPPR, the Migrants' Rights Network and others, have latched onto a paper produced by the Migration Observatory entitled "Thinking behind the numbers – understanding public opinion on immigration in Britain". And guess what... the BBC News website lapped it up too.
This paper reported the results of an opinion poll which sought the public's views on various categories of migrant and whether they should be reduced (or increased).
They found, for example, that only about one third of the public wanted the number of students reduced – no doubt for the obvious reason that most of them go home after their courses. The picture on workers was more mixed; 59% wanted restaurant staff cut back but only 31% wanted the number of highly skilled workers reduced.
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January 07, 2012 in Sir Andrew Green | Permalink
Sir Andrew Green: David Cameron must now show that he is serious about reducing immigration
David Cameron has repeatedly committed his government to reducing net immigration from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands. This week the cabinet will decide how to go about it. These are long term decisions that are vital to the future of our country. This is not about money. Economic crises come and go. Demographic changes come and stay.
The key question is, in essence, very simple. Are the government serious about getting immigration down or will they fold in the face of special pleading from employers and academics together with Liberal Democrat opposition to any significant measures? Theresa May's first speech on the subject last Friday was encouraging. It set out, in broad outline, the measures that are needed but can she get it through cabinet?
The issue runs much wider than the cap on economic migration which recently has hogged the headlines and provided a convenient target for all those lawyers and employers who do very nicely out of present levels of immigration. Recently, they seem to have made all the running but, while the concerns of special interest groups must be addressed, wider considerations must also be brought to bear. The issue is about the whole future of our society. Labour's three million immigrants and the chaos in which they have left the immigration system have set in train an escalator for our population and for the immigrant element within it.
The previous government tried to brush aside the impact of immigration on population, claiming that official projections are not forecasts. Of course not. But to leave it at that would be just indolence. There are only three factors, birth, death and migration. The official assumptions on the first two are very cautious so, if immigration is allowed to continue at present levels, it is a racing certainty that our population will reach 70 million in 20 years time and 80 million in about 50 years.
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November 08, 2010 in Sir Andrew Green | Permalink | Comments (60)
Sir Andrew Green: The impact of recent immigration on our education system runs into tens of billions of pounds
In many parts of England children are now being turned away from the school of their parents choice as primary schools come under growing pressure of numbers. For both the children and their parents this can be hugely disruptive.
A report for London Councils predicts that the capital "faces reception place shortfalls of more than 18,300 in total by 2014". Birmingham, is estimated to have a shortfall of 3,000 places. Slough's birth rate has increased by 873 children a year over the last six years, equivalent to 29 reception classes. Bristol, Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham – the list of councils clamouring for extra funding for school places is growing. Overall, leaked Whitehall documents suggest an additional 350,000 primary places will be needed over the next four years.
Why has this happened? The i word – net immigration. Under Labour, immigration quadrupled. Many of those coming here were young people, hoping to do that most natural of things, to have children. Between 1998 and 2008, total births increased by 11%. Births to women born in the UK fell by 3% - while births to women and fathers born outside the UK more than doubled, increasing by 134% per cent. We now find that in 2009 one quarter of all births in England and Wales were to a mother born abroad. For London that figure was over 50%
The impact on our education system is now becoming clear. There are now more than 1,500 schools in England where more than half of pupils speak English as a second language – up from 866 in 1997. One in seven primary school pupils does not speak English as their first language. But these facts, disturbing enough for our social cohesion say nothing about the costs of all this.
New research by Migrationwatch has found that, so far, educating the children of immigrants who have arrived over the past twelve years has cost more than £15 billion. And the impact of this baby boom is set to be felt for years to come. Over the next five years, over half a million more school places will be needed for the children of recent immigrants – costing a further £39 billion. And, over the next ten years when public expenditure will be under intense pressure, we are likely to need one million extra school places. The cost of this will be of the order of £95 billion.
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October 14, 2010 in Sir Andrew Green | Permalink | Comments (42)
Sir Andrew Green: The cost of an amnesty for illegal immigrants would be astronomical
Nobody has given much thought to the implications of an amnesty for illegal immigrants in the UK. Both the "old parties" dismissed it out of hand - and rightly so. It was left to Boris Johnson to promote the idea for rather transparent reasons of political advantage.
Then up pops the new bright star of the political firmament pushing the Lib Dem proposal for "earned regularisation" after ten years illegal presence in Britain.
The idea is absurd but it is now worth listing why that conclusion is inescapable. Essentially, amnesties do not "work" and have been shown not to do so. Italy has had five amnesties in 25 years and Spain six. Here is the number of applications on each occasion;
It is, to put it mildly, self evident that amnesties encourage further illegal immigration. Ah! says Clegg but we will tighten up the borders. Quite how is not explained and, in any case, is irrelevant. Most illegals arrive here legally on visas and stay on to work illegally and send money home. With wage rates in Britain between 5 and 25 times those in sub-Saharan Africa that incentive is unlikely to change.
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May 01, 2010 in Sir Andrew Green | Permalink | Comments (62)
Sir Andrew Green: The Government's Points Based immigration system is a potential disaster
Sir Andrew Green is Chairman of MigrationwatchUK. He was formerly HM Ambassador to Syria and Saudi Arabia.
Ministers have perfected a patter when talking about immigration. "We're sorry – we've made mistakes, but we're now getting it under control with our new, tough, Australian-style Points Based System", they say. Last week, in his first speech on immigration in two years, Gordon Brown trumpeted the merits of the Points Based System (PBS) for immigration and citizenship. He claimed that "together they constitute a fundamental reform of a decade's old system - a reform founded on the British values of personal responsibility and civic duty."
Sadly, this "reform" fails entirely to address the central challenge we face: by 2029, official forecasts show that our population will hit – and then exceed – 70 million. 70% of this growth will be due to immigration. Put another way, in 25 years we will need to build seven cities the size of Birmingham to house new migrants. To avoid that, migration needs to be reduced dramatically – down from the 237,000 net migration in 2007, down also from the 150,000 net migration forecast for 2008, to around 50,000 – as the graph below shows (click it to enlarge). Bear in mind that even this cut would mean our population will rise by nearly 4 million.
The Points Based System fails completely to meet this challenge. Like a fake Rolex, look at it closely and it is fatally flawed. Its coverage is very limited, it is very complex, there is enormous scope for abuse and there is every risk that it will collapse in chaos. If it does, our ability to remove those who have fooled the system is pathetically weak. So, if our challenge is to stop the population hitting 70 million, the PBS is not fit for purpose.
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Heat butter over low-medium heat in a heavy bottomed pot and brown onions slowly, stirring until they turn golden brown.
Add garlic, ginger, ground cumin, ground coriander seed, red chillies, cloves, cinnamon and salt. Continue stirring for 5 minutes.
Add coconut milk to mixture. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes.
Place turkey roast in slow cooker. Cover with sauce and sprinkle turmeric over top.
Cook on low setting for a minimum of 6.5 hours then set slow cooker to warm. When finished, set slow cooker to warm.
Remove roast and cover with foil to keep warm.
Using a ladle or large spoon skim froth from the mixture and discard (approx. ¼ cup).
Place sauce in a blender and puree.


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The Right to Dominate: How Old Ideas About Sovereignty Pose New Challenges for World Order
Roland Paris
Journal: International Organization / Volume 74 / Issue 3 / Summer 2020
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2020, pp. 453-489
Print publication: Summer 2020
A principal theme of international relations scholarship following the Cold War was the apparent erosion of state sovereignty caused by globalization's integrative effects and the proliferation of international institutions and networks. In recent years, however, scholars have noted a reverse trend: the reassertion of traditional, or Westphalian, state sovereignty. By contrast, I highlight another recent trend that has gone largely overlooked: the reaffirmation of older "extralegal" and "organic" versions of sovereignty by three of the world's most powerful states—Russia, China, and the United States. After tracing the genealogy of these older concepts, I consider how and why they have gained prominence in the official discourse of all three countries. I also explore the implications of this shift, which not only illustrates the importance of "norm retrieval" in international affairs, but also raises questions about the foundations of international order. Contrary to Westphalian sovereignty, which emphasizes the legal equality of states and the principle of noninterference in domestic affairs, the extralegal and organic versions offer few constraints on state action. If anything, they appear to license powerful states to dominate others.
Global Governance and Power Politics: Back to Basics
Journal: Ethics & International Affairs / Volume 29 / Issue 4 / Winter 2015
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015, pp. 407-418
Print publication: Winter 2015
View extract
For many students of global governance who explore the myriad institutions, rules, norms, and coordinating arrangements that transcend individual states and societies, what really marks the contemporary era is not the absence of such governance but its "astonishing diversity." In addition to "long-standing universal-membership bodies," such as the United Nations, writes Stewart Patrick, "there are various regional institutions, multilateral alliances and security groups, standing consultative mechanisms, self-selecting clubs, ad hoc coalitions, issue-specific arrangements, transnational professional networks, technical standard-setting bodies, global action networks, and more." The proliferation and diversification of governance mechanisms—yielding a jumble of formal and informal arrangements—has supplanted the simpler image of state representatives gathering at official assemblies. Many scholars believe this pluralism opens important new avenues for tackling a growing array of complex transnational problems, particularly at a time when the responsiveness of traditional multilateral institutions is being called into question.
Afghanistan: What Went Wrong?
Journal: Perspectives on Politics / Volume 11 / Issue 2 / June 2013
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 May 2013, pp. 538-548
Print publication: June 2013
The US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, which deposed the Taliban regime, was followed by a major international effort to stabilize that country. More than a decade later, this effort has yielded neither security nor political stability in Afghanistan. After having been ousted from power, the Taliban reestablished itself in the borderlands of Pakistan and began fighting an effective guerrilla war against international and Afghan government forces. Despite heavy losses in recent years, the insurgency shows no sign of giving up. Meanwhile, attempts to establish a credible and legitimate Afghan government have been similarly disappointing. President Hamid Karzai, once hailed as the country's democratic savior, came to be seen instead as the leader of one of the most corrupt regimes on the planet, a perception that has damaged his government's legitimacy both at home and abroad. Afghanistan's development and human rights indicators have improved, but it remains to be seen if these gains can be sustained as the international effort is scaled back. Finally, although the United States and its partners succeeded in weakening Al Qaeda in the region, both Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan appear to have become considerably less stable over the course of the mission, with untold consequences for the future.
Saving liberal peacebuilding
Journal: Review of International Studies / Volume 36 / Issue 2 / April 2010
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 April 2010, pp. 337-365
Print publication: April 2010
Liberal peacebuilding has become the target of considerable criticism. Although much of this criticism is warranted, a number of scholars and commentators have come to the opinion that liberal peacebuilding is either fundamentally destructive, or illegitimate, or both. On close analysis, however, many of these critiques appear to be exaggerated or misdirected. At a time when the future of peacebuilding is uncertain, it is important to distinguish between justified and unjustified criticisms, and to promote a more balanced debate on the meaning, shortcomings and prospects of liberal peacebuilding.
9 - The Limits of Wilsonianism: Understanding the Dangers
Roland Paris, University of Colorado, Boulder
Book: At War's End
Print publication: 24 May 2004, pp 151-178
Despite the many differences among the eleven peacebuilding operations launched between 1989 and 1998, these missions have pursued a broadly common strategy, seeking to transform war-shattered states into liberal market democracies on the assumption that doing so would help to consolidate a stable and lasting peace. As noted in Part I, this strategy rested on a proposition that liberal thinkers have propounded in one form or another since the eighteenth century, and which gained widespread acceptance among scholars and policymakers at the end of the Cold War: that liberal democracy and market-oriented economics offer the surest formula for peace, both in relations between states and within their borders. I labeled this the Wilsonian approach to conflict management and noted that this method of conflict management is still largely unproven, because questions such as whether the process of liberalization fosters peace, and whether democratization and marketization are reliable remedies for intrastate violence, remain largely unanswered. The case studies examined in the preceding chapters were conducted in the hope of gaining new insights into these questions.
Some missions were clear successes (Namibia and Croatia); others were obvious failures (Angola and Rwanda). The remaining operations fell in between these two extremes. In most of these eleven cases, the process of political liberalization, or economic liberalization, or both, produced destabilizing side effects that worked against the consolidation of peace. In some countries, liberalization exacerbated societal tensions, and in others it reproduced traditional sources of violence.
5 - Cambodia and Liberia: Democracy Diverted
Print publication: 24 May 2004, pp 79-96
In contrast to Angola and Rwanda, where the democratization process might well have served as a catalyst for renewed conflict and the collapse of peacebuilding efforts, the results of postconflict democratization efforts in Cambodia and Liberia were widely viewed as positive. Both countries held largely free and fair elections under international supervision, and in both cases peacebuilding agencies declared their efforts a "success" and terminated their operations shortly after the elections. At first glance, then, Cambodia and Liberia seem to corroborate the Wilsonian hypothesis thatliberalization fosters peace in war-shattered states. Closer examination, however, raises serious doubts about the pacifying effects of democratization in these two cases. Even though both countries experienced a period of relative political stability following the departure of international peacebuilders, the adoption of democracy itself cannot be credited because the newly elected governments of both countries immediately backed away from their commitments to democracy and reverted to more autocratic forms of rule; and one country, Liberia, ultimately slipped back into war.
The Wilsonian hypothesis holds that violent conflict can be transformed into peaceful political competition when groups are allowed to pursue their interests freely through democratic political institutions. While this may help to explain the initial success of elections in Cambodia and Liberia, it does not explain the ensuing period, during which there was little real freedom to challenge the policies of governing cliques, and the behavior of both countries' elected leaders – Hun Sen in Cambodia and Charles Taylor in Liberia – was moredespotic than democratic.
7 - Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala: Reproducing the Sources of Conflict
Central America has historically suffered from chronic civil violence, insurgencies, coups, and military dictatorships. During the latter stages of the Cold War, armed revolutionary movements sought to overthrow the governments of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In Nicaragua, a group of dissidents backed by the United States and known as Contras fought an insurgency campaign against the left-leaning Sandinista government in Managua throughout the 1980s. In El Salvador, the Farabundo Martí Liberation Front (FLMN) launched a guerrilla war against the government in 1981 that cost an estimated seventy-five thousand lives and displaced roughly one-quarter of the country's population. In Guatemala, when revolutionary movements challenged the military government in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Guatemalan regime responded with a brutal counterinsurgency effort that lasted into the early 1990s, mainly targeting indigenous Mayan communities in which many revolutionaries, including the major rebel group, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), were based.
Central American leaders met on several occasions during the 1980s to discuss possible solutions to these conflicts. At one such meeting – on August 7, 1987 in Esquipulas, Guatemala – the presidents of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica formally endorsed a peace plan presented by the Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, which called for a cease-fire, national reconciliation, amnesty, democratization, termination of external aid to insurgent movements, and free elections.
6 - Bosnia and Croatia: Reinforcing Ethnic Divisions
Print publication: 24 May 2004, pp 97-111
The territory of the former Yugoslavia has hosted several peacebuilding missions. The first major postconflict operation was deployed to Bosnia in 1995. Other missions were created for Croatia (1995) and Kosovo (1999). This chapter focuses on the Bosnia operation and concludes with an analysis of the much smaller Croatia operation. The subsequent mission to Kosovo will be examined in Chapter 11.
War in the former Yugoslavia broke out in June 1991, after two of the country's then-constituent republics – Slovenia and Croatia – declared their independence from the Yugoslav federation. Fighting between Slovenian nationalists and the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) lasted only ten days before the JNA withdrew from Slovenia. In Croatia, however, ethnic Serb residents formed paramilitary units (which were supplied and supported by the JNA) and waged a war against Croatian nationalist forces throughout the second half of 1991. A cease-fire came into effect at the end of the year, but only after Serb militias and the JNA had gained control of roughly one-quarter of the republic's territory. In February 1992, the UN Security Council created the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) to monitor the cease-fire in Croatia.
One month later, in March 1992, a referendum on independence was held in neighboring Bosnia, which at the time was still part of Yugoslavia. The vote divided Bosnia along ethnic lines.
Print publication: 24 May 2004, pp viii-viii
Print publication: 24 May 2004, pp vii-vii
PART II - THE PEACEBUILDING RECORD
10 - Toward More Effective Peacebuilding: Institutionalization Before Liberalization
Might another approach to peacebuilding be better suited to creating stable and lasting peace in war-shattered states? I shall begin by considering two sweeping alternatives to Wilsonianism. The first is to abandon liberalization as a core element of peacebuilding in favor of establishing authoritarian regimes with international military and financial backing. The other is the strategy of partition, or the physical separation of warring communities and perhaps the creation of new states. I conclude that neither of these strategies offers a sound basis for peacebuilding, although there are limited circumstances in which they might be warranted.
Second, I shall propose a more feasible and prudent approach to peacebuilding: a modified form of Wilsonianism. Peacebuilders should continue to seek to transform war-shattered states into liberal market democracies, but with a different technique – by constructing the foundations of effective political and economic institutions before the introduction of electoral democracy and market-oriented adjustment policies, a strategy that I call Institutionalization Before Liberalization (IBL). This approach rests, I believe, on a more realistic understanding than that which has guided the practice of peacebuilding to date. Rather than assuming that liberalization will foster peace in countries just emerging from civil wars, we should start from the assumption that liberalization is an inherently tumultuous and conflict-inducing process that is capable of undermining a fragile peace. The chapter concludes by considering three possible criticisms of the IBL strategy.
At War's End
Building Peace after Civil Conflict
Print publication: 24 May 2004
Buy the print book
All fourteen major peacebuilding missions launched between 1989 and 1999 shared a common strategy for consolidating peace after internal conflicts: immediate democratization and marketization. Transforming war-shattered states into market democracies is basically sound, but pushing this process too quickly can have damaging and destabilizing effects. The process of liberalization is inherently tumultuous, and can undermine the prospects for stable peace. A more sensible approach to post-conflict peacebuilding would seek, first, to establish a system of domestic institutions that are capable of managing the destabilizing effects of democratization and marketization within peaceful bounds and only then phase in political and economic reforms slowly, as conditions warrant. Peacebuilders should establish the foundations of effective governmental institutions prior to launching wholesale liberalization programs. Avoiding the problems that marred many peacebuilding operations in the 1990s will require longer-lasting and, ultimately, more intrusive forms of intervention in the domestic affairs of these states. This book was first published in 2004.
PART III - PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
3 - Introduction to the Case Studies
Has the Wilsonian assumption of peacebuilding – that rapid liberalization would foster a stable and lasting peace in countries that are just emerging from civil wars – been borne out in practice? How should we go about answering this question? This chapter sets out the investigative framework for the case studies that follow. Specifically, I shall address three issues: First, what are the specific causal hypotheses that will be evaluated against the record of peacebuilding? Second, how will the case studies of peacebuilding missions be structured in order to evaluate these hypotheses? Third, which particular peacebuilding missions will be studied?
Most studies of peacebuilding outcomes begin by establishing a standard of effectiveness or success and then proceed to evaluate the record of one or more operations against this standard. My aim is slightly different: to examine whether the strategy of peace-through-liberalization, in particular, has enhanced the prospects for stable and lasting peace in countries that have hosted peacebuilding missions. Put differently, the "independent variable" that I am interested in studying is political liberalization (including the establishment of political and civil freedoms, and preparations for and the holding of elections) and economic liberalization (including the movement toward market-oriented economic policies and practices), while the "dependent variable" is the likelihood of stable and lasting peace within the host country.
Print publication: 24 May 2004, pp 1-10
In the early 1990s, a new threat to global security and human welfare caught the attention of political analysts and policymakers around the world, a threat that few observers had anticipated: pervasive and pernicious internal violence. They were right to be concerned. Civil wars (which take place primarily within the borders of a single state and among belligerents who normally reside in that state) accounted for 94 percent of all armed conflicts fought in the 1990s. From Africa to Central Asia, internecine violence and collapsing states became an unfortunate but familiar feature of the post–Cold War political landscape.
The nature of the threat posed by these conflicts was both humanitarian and strategic. From a humanitarian standpoint, this violence inflicted appalling losses on civilian noncombatants. At the beginning of the twentieth century, approximately 90 percent of war victims were soldiers; during the 1990s, by contrast, an estimated 90 percent of those killed in armed conflicts were civilians. Attacks and atrocities against noncombatants became widely employed as deliberate strategies of warfare – including such tactics as systematic rape, mass executions, ethnic cleansing, and even genocide – prompting some commentators to lament the revival of "premodern" forms of fighting that dispensed with customary constraints on the waging of war. Internal conflicts were also the principal source of mass refugee movements in the 1990s, which often gave rise to further humanitarian emergencies.
8 - Namibia and Mozambique: Success Stories in Southern Africa?
In the wake of peacebuilding missions in Namibia and Mozambique, the danger of resurgent conflict in both countries appears remote. Namibia has enjoyed more than a decade of domestic peace with little internal unrest, and at the time of this writing, there are no signs of renewed insurgency or intergroup violence. Although the durability of peace in Mozambique seems less secure than in Namibia, Mozambique has enjoyed the longest period of peace and stability in its history since its conflict came to an end in 1994. Yet the apparent success of Wilsonian peacebuilding policies in these two countries is not without qualification: Like Croatia, both countries offered unusually propitious conditions for postconflict liberalization, not least because major parties to their conflicts were external parties who effectively withdrew from the countries when the wars ended, thereby reducing the risks of rapid liberalization exacerbating tensions among formerly warring parties within these states. Indeed, neither the conflict in Mozambique nor that in Namibia was primarily indigenous or "homegrown" because both wars were instigated and sustained by external actors, and when outsiders abandoned the conflicts, there was little "demand" for continued fighting.
South West Africa, as Namibia was previously known, was colonized by Germany in 1884, and it remained a German possession until World War I, when South African troops seized control of the territory and imposed military rule for the duration of the war.
PART I - FOUNDATIONS
Print publication: 24 May 2004, pp ix-xii
This book examines every major peacebuilding mission launched between 1989 and 1999. There were fourteen in total; all were deployed to countries in which a civil war had just ended. Despite many differences, these missions shared a common strategy for consolidating peace after internal conflicts: immediate democratization and marketization. What can we learn from the peacebuilding record about the effectiveness of this strategy as a means of preventing the recurrence of fighting in postconflict situations? This volume argues that the idea of transforming war-shattered states into stable market democracies is basically sound, but that pushing this process too quickly can have damaging and destabilizing effects. Market democracy is not the miracle cure for internal conflict. On the contrary, the process of political and economic liberalization is inherently tumultuous: It can exacerbate social tensions and undermine the prospects for stable peace in the fragile conditions that typically exist in countries just emerging from civil war.
A more sensible approach to postconflict peacebuilding would seek, first, to establish a system of domestic institutions that are capable of managing the destabilizing effects of democratization and marketization within peaceful bounds and, second, to phase in political and economic reforms slowly over time, as conditions warrant. To do this effectively, international peacebuilders will have to abandon the notion that war-shattered states can be hurriedly rehabilitated. One set of elections, without creating stable political and economic institutions, does not produce durable peace in most cases.
1 - The Origins of Peacebuilding
As the Cold War was coming to a close in 1989, the United Nations launched its first major peacebuilding mission in Namibia, following the negotiation of a peace settlement in that country's decades-long civil war. At that time, few observers predicted that postconflict peacebuilding would become an international growth industry, but over the next decade, operations were deployed to no fewer than thirteen other territories that were just emerging from internal conflicts.
Ostensibly, these missions provided "technical assistance" to local actors in war-torn countries – assistance aimed at preventing the recurrence of violence and establishing a stable and lasting peace. In practice, however, these operations were more than merely technical (or ideologically neutral) exercises in conflict management. As we shall see, they all promoted a particular model of political and economic organization: liberal market democracy. Why did peacebuilders embrace democratization and marketization as strategies for preventing renewed violence? And why did this brand of peacebuilding proliferate so rapidly in the 1990s? Answers to both of these questions can be found in the peculiar political and ideological conditions that prevailed at the end of the Cold War, when peacebuilding came into being.
The Cold War's End and the Rise of Peacebuilding
During the Cold War, the UN's main security activity was "peacekeeping," which typically involved the deployment of a lightly armed military force to monitor a cease-fire or patrol neutral buffer zones between former combatants.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
Marc Emili Lèpid (en llatí Marcus Aemilius Mamercus F. M. N. Lepidus) va ser un magistrat romà, possiblement germà de Mamerc Emili Lèpid Livià (Mamercus Aemilius Mamercus F. M. N. Lepidus Livianus) si bé aquest darrer era adoptat. Formava part de la gens Emília i era de la família dels Lèpid.

Va ser elegit cònsol l'any 66 aC junt amb Luci Volcaci Tul·le, el mateix any que Ciceró era pretor. Ciceró l'esmenta repetidament però mai va ser un personatge de massa rellevància. Era membre del partit aristocràtic i en esclatar la guerra civil l'any 49 aC es va retirar a la seva vil·la de Formiae per veure que passava i des d'on va mantenir una correspondència gairebé diària amb Ciceró, on es plantejava reconèixer Cèsar, ja que semblava que guanyaria a Pompeu. Va tornar aviat a Roma i ja no va participar més en política.

Referències

Cònsols romans de la dècada del 60 aC
Lepid, Marc Emili Consol 66 Ac

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


A UPS aircraft malfunction causes north runway closure at Sky Harbor International Airport.
A mechanical problem on a UPS aircraft closed the north runway at Sky Harbor International Airport on Sunday.
The UPS aircraft landed without incident close to 6 p.m. but could not move from the runway on its own power. Fire crews anticipated it could have difficulty upon landing and were waiting for the plane.
First responders could be heard on scanners addressing a small fire as the plane sat on the runway after landing.
The plane had to be towed off the runway, airport spokesman Gregory Roybal said.
There were no flight delays and the runway closure did not impact any operations, he said.
Roybal did not respond to questions regarding the nature of the aircraft's problem.


To Cite: Ghamari S, Alavian S M, Rizzetto M, Olivero A, Smedile A, et al. Prevalence of Hepatitis Delta Virus (HDV) Infection in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients with Unusual Clinical Pictures, Hepat Mon. 2013 ; 13(8):e6731. doi: 10.5812/hepatmon.6731.
Background: Probably 5% of the HBV carriers have HDV super infection. The risk of fulminant hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma is higher in superinfection than the settings when HBV is alone.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of HDV in Iranian HBV isolates and to compare their clinical and virological pictures as well as their HDV genetic variations with other worldwide isolates.
Patients and Methods: 81 carriers with positive results for HBsAg with upper limit ranges of ALT and low or undetectable levels of HBV viral load who did not respond to HBV therapy were selected. After RT amplification of HDV Delta antigen, direct sequencing and phylogenetic study were performed to explore the genotype(s) and nucleotide/amino acid variations.
Results: 12 (14.8%) patients had positive results for both HDV RNA and anti-HDV. The mean ALT level was higher in HDV positive patients (75.9 U/ML) than HBV-mono-infected individuals; however, the mean HBV viral load was lower in coinfected patients than HBV-mono-infected patients. Phylogenetically, genotype I was the only detected genotype, and the most closely related isolates were of Turkish, Italian and Mongolian origin. Within the delta Ag, there were 326 nucleotide mutations, of which 111 and 215 were silent and missense, respectively. The total number of amino acid substitution was 148; most were located in known functional/epitopic domains. There was no correlation between the numbers of amino acid mutations, with clinical, virological status of the patients.
Conclusions: HDV should be suspected in HBV carriers with unusual clinical and virological pictures. Relatedness of Iranian HDV isolates to Italian and Turkish sequences proposed a common Caucasian origin for the distribution of HDV genotype I in this ethnic group.
Up to 5% of the world's population have been infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), of whom probably 5% of the HBV carriers have hepatitis D virus (HDV) superinfection. It is estimated that 18 million people are infected with HDV world wild. Hepatitis D virus (HDV) is a defective single-stranded RNA virus which requires the HBsAg of HBV to establish infection in humans. The antigenomic strand of HDV encodes the only protein, hepatitis delta antigen (HDAg), in two molecular-weight forms. The large form carries an extra 19-amino-acid (aa) extension at the C terminus which plays a key role in the packaging of HDV and suppresses viral replication in a trans-dominant-negative manner, while the small HDAg plays an essential role in transactivating the replication of the HDV RNA (1). The disease spectrum of HDV infection varies greatly from fulminant hepatitis, rapidly progressive disease, to a subclinical course. Persistent replication of HDV associated with continuous hepatic inflammation and elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels is a characteristic of chronic active hepatitis D (2).
There are two modes of the HDV infection: coinfection, results from acute infection with both hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HDV, whereas superinfection results from HDV infection of patients with underlying chronic hepatitis B infection. Super infection with HDV increases higher risk of chronic HBV infection leads to progressive disease and cirrhosis in approximately 80% of cases than coinfection with HBV and HDV (3).
Based on phylogenic analysis, HDV isolates collected worldwide have been classified into 8 groups, HDV-1 (former genotype I), HDV-2 (former genotype IIa), HDV-3 (former genotype III), HDV-4 (former genotype IIb), and HDV-5 to HDV-8 (4). These HDV types show different geographic distribution and are associated with different disease patterns. Genotype 1 has been distributed worldwide, whereas other HDV genotypes circulate unevenly. The prevalence of HDV in Iranian hepatitis B infected individuals reported to be between 2.5% and 5.8% (5-7), and the major genotype was genotype I (8, 9).
The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of HDV in Iranian HBV isolates and to compare their clinical and virological pictures as well as their HDV genetic variations with other worldwide isolates.
81 patients with HBV infection, who were admitted to the Tehran Hepatitis Center (THC), Iran, for more than two years and who agreed to enter the investigation included in the study. Patients were chosen by the following criteria: positive results for HBs Ag, HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis confirmed by histological and clinical evaluation, zero to low levels of HBV DNA, raised levels (5- 50 fold) of aspartate amino transferase (AST) and alanine amino transferase (ALT), no evidence of HIV or HCV coinfection, and no evidence of alcohol intake or exposure to hepatotoxic drugs. All patients had received IFN for two years. Informed consents were taken from patients.
Total RNA was extracted using acid guanidine phenol-chloroform method. In brief, 50µl of serum patient was mixed with lyses buffer (Qiagen), Proteinase K (Qiagen) RNA Carrier (Invitrogen) was incubated overnight. In aqueous phase, RNA was extracted by chloroform, and then the RNA was precipitated with isopropanol and washed twice with ethanol, dissolved in 200 µl of water, and stored at -80˚C until used.
9 µl of RT mixture, dNTP (10 mmol) (Roche), DTT (Roche, Germany), RT Enzyme (Invitrogen, Germany) and RNase (Promega, Germany) were transferred to 1.5 µl extracted RNA. Transcription was set up on ice and was performed as following thermal cycling: 25 ˚c for 5 minutes, 50 ˚c for 35 minutes, and 95 ˚c for 2 minutes. Subsequently, 10.5 µl of final cDNA solution was obtained from this reaction.
Qualitative detection of HDV-RNA in serum was performed by single nested PCR amplification of a highly conserved region of HDV genome as described previously ( 10 ). For standard PCR, the region 1 (nucleotides 886 to 1288) corresponded to the C-terminal portion of the hepatitis delta Ag (HD Ag) coding region and included the RNA editing site and the poly adenylation signal (Smedile, et al. unpublished). The primers were designed according to an Italian HDV-infected genotype I (Table 1). Both single and nested PCR were performed by hot star Taq (Qiagen, Germany). The conditions of single PCR using primers EAB235 and EAB 237 set were: denaturation at 94˚C for 30 seconds, annealing at 64˚C for 1 min, and extension at 72˚C for 1 min for 40 cycles. The firs denaturation was performed at 94˚C for 2 min, and the last extension was performed at 72˚C for 10 min.
Serum HBV-DNA levels were determined by a commercial quantitative PCR assay (Amplicor HBV monitor test, Roche Diagnostics, GmbH Mannheim, Germany) with a sensitivity threshold of 2500 copies/ml (78UI/ml). HBV genotypes were determined based on reverse hybridization line probe assay.
ALT, AST, alpha-fetoprotein, direct and total bilirubin, albumin, and prothrombin time were assessed by standard methods. Serologic markers of HBV, HAV and HCV were tested by commercial enzyme immunoassays (Abbot Laboratories, North Chicago, IL; Sorin Biomedica, Saluggia, Italy). Competitive enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) kit (DIA.PRO, Milano, Italy) was used for the detection of antibodies to hepatitis delta.
Amplified PCR products were purified by EXOSAP (USB Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA) and obtained samples were directly sequenced by an automated sequencer (BMR-GENOMICS, Padova, Italy), using internal primers EAB 236 and EAB 238.
Sequencing chromatograms were analyzed by Chromas (Chromas, version 2.3, Technelysium Pty Ltd, Tewantin, Australia) and Bioedit (5.0.9-tom Hall, Department of Microbiology, North Carolina state university) software. The alignment of HDAg amino acid sequences were performed by Clustal W (version 1.8-ftp.ebi.ac.uk). Final edited sequences were subjected for phylogenic analysis by applying Mega4 (version 4.1).
Indirect immunofluorescent assay was used on slides of mouse tissue (kidney, liver, stomach) to evaluate the main antibodies: ANA (anti-nuclear antibodies), ASMA (anti-smooth muscle antibodies), LKM (liver-kidney microsomes antibodies), ARA (anti-reticulin antibodies), AMA (anti-mitochondrial antibodies), anti-ribosomal antibodies, APCA (anti-parietal cell antibodies), and ABBA (anti-brush border antibodies). Serum samples were diluted 1:40 in PBS. A polyclonal rabbit anti-human IgA, IgG, IgM, Kappa, Lambda/FITC was used as fluorescent conjugate. On each slide tested, a negative control (IFA System Negative Control, NOVA Lite ANA KSL, INOVA Diagnostics), and a positive internal control (ANA homogenous pattern) were also tested in each essay.
Of 81 individuals studied, 21 patients were female (25.9%) and 60 patients were male (74.1%), the mean age was 42. All of patients were of Iranian origin with different ethnic groups. Of the 81 serum samples tested with positive results for HBs-Ag, 12 (14.8%) patients had positive findings for both anti-HDV and HDV RNA (Table 2), of whom 5 and 7 were male and female, respectively. All had positive results for anti-HDV IgG as evidence of past infection, whereas, 8 had positive findings for anti-HDV IgM, suggestive of recent infection. The results revealed that all 12 isolates contained HBV genotype D and subgenotype D1. The details of patients with positive results for HDV-RNA are summarized in Table 2. All patients were HBs-Ag positive HBeAg negative with mean ALT and AST levels of 38.44 (IU/L) and 30.79 (IU/L), respectively. However, in patients who had positive results for HDV, the mean values for ALT level were 88.30 (IU/L) (kurtosis = 1.33) and 74.8 for AST (IU/L) (kurtosis = 1.33). All patients had a very low to moderate HBV DNA levels (results not shown); however, all HDV-positive samples showed very low levels (negative to 15 copy/ml) of HBV DNA (Table 2).
12 HDV-positive samples were studied by indirect immunoflurescent on mouse tissue for different main autoantibodies. All samples but one (sample No 9) had positive results for at least one autoantibody with different concentration and distribution patterns (Figure 1 and Table 2). Seven samples had positive results for ANA, and samples 8 and 13 had positive results for two autoantibodies for each (Figure 1 and Table 2).
Figure 1. Staining of Antinuclear Antibody (ANA), ABBA (anti-brush border antibody) and Smooth Muscle Antibody (ASMA) in Different Tissues of Patients With Positive Results for HDV Visualized by Indirect Immunofluorescence. The Concentration Cut off for Positivity of Antibodies as Well as the Magnification of Individual Samples Is Included.
A 405- bp fragment of delta antigen taken from each of 12 patients with positive results for HDV-RNA was used for molecular study. The fragments were compared to the 29 reference gene sequences of HDV genotype 1 to 8 available in GenBank database (Figure 2). Genotype Ι was the only detected genotype. 10 of 12 isolates were branched into two separate clusters, and only two isolates (8 and 16) were grouped together with other genotype I sequences (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Neighbor Joining Phylogenetic Trees of 12 Samples Along With Reference Sequences of HDV Belonging to Different Clades (1 to 8) Derived From GenBank, Indicated by Their Accession Numbers and Country of Origin. The Sequences Determined in the Study Are Given by the Isolate Code.
Note: The bootstrap consensus tree inferred from 1000 replicates is taken to represent the evolutionary history of the taxa analyzed.
A genotype I isolate from Albania (Accession number AF008309) was chosen for sequencing alignment, due to the less average variations compared to other genotype I in the database sequences. There were 326 nucleotide mutations, of which 111 and 215 were silent and missense, respectively (results not shown). The ratio between silent and missense nucleotide mutations was 0.52. The total number of amino acid substitution was 148 (Figure 3). Within the region known for RNA binding domain (97-146), 18 amino acid mutations were occurred (Figure 3). Within virus assembly domain (195-204), four sequences contained stop codon mutations in position 195, on the other hand eight contained tryptophan (W), indicating expression of large delta antigens in the latter. Within the 19 C-terminus region of Delta Ag, seven point mutations were found (Figure 3). No mutation was found in PKR (Protein Kinase R) phosphorylation site (Figure 3).
72 mutations were distributed within four known different immune epitopes, of which 52 (72.2%) were occurred as a hotspot domain between amino acid residues 174 and 195 (Figure 3).
Note: The genotypic, functional, immune epitope domains are depicted in blue rectangle, open bars and orange cylinders, respectively. Variations along the partial small/large delta Ags were shown by letters in comparison to the reference sequence from a genotype I obtained from GenBank (accession number AF008309) from Albania. Dot indicates identity to the reference sequence.
Overall, the mean ALT level was higher in patients with positive results for HDV (75.9 U/ML) than HBV-mono-infected individuals (results not shown). On the other hand, all HDV-positive cases but one showed a gradient decrease in the median HBV DNA load (from zero to 15 copy ml) compared to HBV mono-infected patients. However, there was no association between the grade of hepatic injury and HDV viral load. In mutational analysis, there were no significant correlations between the number and distribution of mutations and clinical, serological and virological details of patients (Table 2).
In the present study, we evaluated the clinical and virological courses of HDV infection in a group of chronic HBV patients who showed a mild to moderate grades of hepatic injury, low to undetectable levels of HBV DNA, and a mild increase in the levels of liver enzymes. Biopsy-proven cases of cirrhosis and HCC also included in the patients-studied. While all the studied patients contained different low levels of HBV DNA, all HDV-positive cases but one showed a gradient decrease in the median HBV DNA load (from zero to 15 copy ml). This finding confirms the previous results (11) highlighting the suppression effect of HDV on HBV replication in these patients (12, 13). On the other hand, we could not find any association between HDV RNA load and the severity of liver disease including cirrhosis and HCC, the finding that was reported previously from Pakistan with the same distribution of HBV genotype D like Iran (14).
All samples but one (sample No 9) had positive results for at least one autoantibody with different concentration and distribution patterns. There are some reports in the literatures that HDV infection has been associated with autoimmune phenomenon (15, 16). However, the data that support this hypothesis is based on similar findings. The mechanisms and the significance of such autoantibody production have not been completely understood. Our result together with other results from Iranian studies showed that all HDV-positive cases had genotype I (9). Unpublished data from our lab indicated that all available Iranian HDV isolates have been closely related to European sequences. All these ethnic groups contained HBV genotype D dominantly, and all are of Caucasian origin. The distribution of HDV genotype I in Caucasian suggested that this ethnic group might have infected by the same HBV genotype (type D), then acquired HDV infection with the same genotype (type I) during colonization. Subsequently, due to intermixing between infected people and due to the random genetic drift, each virus undergone multiple variations. Previous finding might confirm this issue as data obtained from Turkey (17, 18), Lebanon (19), Russia (20), Mediterranean Basin and Europe (10, 21, 22), Mongolia (23, 24) and Tajikistan (25) which have shown the predominance of genotype I in genotype D infected HBV patients. The latter hypothesis is based on the finding of amino acid substitutions in residues involved in either immune epitopes and/or functional domains which are variants and not mutations. These positions also contained signature sequences regions specific for genotyping assignment (21, 26).
Patients with HBV/ HDV coinfection may have a more severe acute disease and in approximately 80% of these individuals the chronic HDV infection progresses to cirrhosis within 5-10 years (27). This observation is also noted in our HBV/HDV coinfection patients, as cases of HCC and cirrhosis were seen dominantly in HBV/HDV confection individuals as compared to HBV mono-infection cases. Worldwide, HDV genotype I has been associated with a highly pathogenic potential (28). This issue as well as the impact of HDV on the progression of liver disease in chronic HBV patients underscores the significance of diagnosis and genotyping of HDV in these patients to avoid such complications.
The ratio between silent and missense nucleotide mutations was 0.52, indicating a positive selection pressure exerted on these antigens. Among the four known B cell epitope residues (29) (Figure 3), 174-195 contained a hot spot motif for variation, as our results showed that it was covariated in all patients. Other epitopes showed only a few mutations in isolates. Due to the divergent structure of C-terminus domain of delta Ag (30), these variants seem to be the consequence of selection pressure imposed by host HLA during a long term process, which is different between versatile ethnic groups (31).
In the present study, the number of mutations in C-terminus part of Large-DAg (amino acid 195-214) was low (7 out of 148, 0.04%). Not surprising, as there are three conserved functional domains including nuclear exporting signal, clathrin heavy chain interacting domain and the isoprenylation signal in this short peptide region (32). Furthermore, several regions of RNA-binding sites and sequences in the glycine-prolyne rich segment (160-169, 175-179 and 183-187) are highly conserved among the HDV genotypes (17, 33). We found only two residues (179 and 187) in these domains which contained several mutations. Overall, of 10 residues which were contained mutations, all were contained in regions specific for genotypic classification and immune epitope function and replication (4, 34).
In conclusion, despite a high prevalence of 14.8% of HDV positive cases among chronic HBV carriers in our study, the limited number of samples evaluated and the cross-sectional study design prevented us to draw definitive conclusions. However, the initial suspension based on a florid HBsAg positivity and lack of HBV replicative markers underscore the importance of HDV diagnosis as an underlying disease which could accelerate progression of liver injury in these patients.
We are grateful to Dr Farida Behzadian for her helpful advice on molecular analysis.
Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education: Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) when superimposed on hepatitis B virus, as either coinfection or superinfection, accelerates the progression of liver disease to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Hence, diagnosis and management of HDV are important issues especially in endemic area. The current diagnosis is based on serology and PCR, however, there are some serodiscordant features of this infection misleading clinicians. This article highlights some points on unusual clinical pictures of chronic HBV carriers with HDV superinfection as well as different aspects of molecular, phylogenetic and immune fluorescent pictures of patients who harbored these two viruses.
Authors' Contribution: For preparing this manuscript, all authors contributed equally.
Financial Disclosure: Upon completion of the study, all authors had no conflict of interest.
Funding/Support: This study was supported by Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Baqiyatallah Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver Disease, Tehran, Iran.


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MP3DirectCut provides you with the equipment you need to get rid of chapters of a video clip and then reattach the other sections to create an item that is smooth is finished. The interface that is intuitive the app's features accessible to all users, as well as the quick processing makes doing a task an overall experience that is pleasant.
Nice screen: the equipment, as well as other settings for this operational system, are demonstrably arrayed around the window that is primary. There is a time that is big on the track that is audio, and three chapters of controls below let you access the different Navigation, Editing, and Audio Tools.
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Tricky installation: this method comes in the shape of a self-extracting ZIP file, but the extraction that is electronic work. Alternatively, you need truly to locate the file in your packages folder and draw out it manually. When you've done that, though, installation can proceed usually.
MP3DirectCut is a system that is free offers lots of functionality in a convenient and package that is intuitive. Here is a system that is a good try if you often have to remove parts of MP3 files or combine others.


text:
Your Cancer Centre
Radiotherapy Unit
Sitting With Jane
Tadley Singers are on song for charity
The wonderful Tadley Singers were well and truly on song as they raised hundreds of pounds for Ark Cancer Centre Charity at their Summer Concert.
The community choir put on a splendid concert in support of the charity – the third time the Singers have performed a special show to help the £5million fundraising appeal.
The Tadley Singers were once again led by their acclaimed musical director Dai Ogborn, and Paul Wright provided brilliant support on the piano.
The generous support of the choir and audience resulted in £692.40 being raised for the charity – and this sum is set to be doubled as it will be channelled through Greenham Common Trust's match-funding 'findmeagrant' scheme, which is supporting the charity.
Mark Jones, director of fundraising and communications at Ark Cancer Centre Charity, gave the choir and audience an update on the progress of the £5m appeal and the cancer centre project. He said: "The charity is very grateful to the Tadley Singers and their audiences for their previous and ongoing support."When match-funding has been applied, the three concerts that the choir have put on have raised around £5,000 for the charity, which is a fantastic sum."
Mr Ogborn was given a standing ovation at the June 10 concert after it was announced that he had been awarded a British Empire Medal for services to community music in The Queen's 90th Birthday Honours.
Help us reach our goal
Tweets by @Ark_Charity
Ark Cancer Centre Charity. Registered Charity No. 1149758
Registered in England & Wales, Company Limited by Guarantee No. 8240913
Registered Office: Dinwoodie Drive, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG24 9NN
Trustees: Sandra Fell (Chairman), Myrddin Rees. Robert Finlayson, Michael Nicholls


F-Zero Central :: View topic - F-Zero Central in Playing with Super Power!
Index » FZC General Forum » F-Zero Central in Playing with Super Power!
Hey everyone, in case you didn't see it elsewhere, me and WMJ were recently interviewed for an official Nintendo licensed book by Prima Games called Playing with Super Power (there's also a collector's edition and an eGuide) that comes bundled with the new SNES Classic. They first just wanted to interview us about FZC; the history of the site, how its evolved over the years etc., as well as some general questions about the SNES itself, but then they also decided to interview us specifically about FZSNES, so we gave our answers for that as well, and in addition wrote them a basic guide for the game with some tips and strategies included. We hope it will be pretty good advertisement for the community as a whole.
I should probably also mention in case people are wondering that EdwardFourZERO6 was asked if he wanted to contribute for the FZSNES part specifically, but he declined doing so. He did help us though in making sure we didn't write anything incorrectly in our answers, which was very much appreciated since we only had a few days to give our answers to them, and neither me or WMJ are actively playing the game anymore.
The book is now out since a couple of weeks, and as a nice gesture by them they sent a free copy of the book to us contributors. I finally got my copy today, so thought I'd post some pictures of the sections we contributed to. For those interested in buying this book, I'd say that In general it seems pretty cool without having read it that extensively yet. There's quite a lot of speedrunning/Time Attack related content in it, which I find particularly interesting myself. So if you're into that, it may be worth a purchase. Also worth noting is that they sent me a collector's edition of the book. The pages are of pretty good quality, but that may or may not be the case with the normal edition.
Re: F-Zero Central in Playing with Super Power!
that looks like a pretty nice book. i might get one down the line when i have more money and if it's still available by then.
I'm probably gonna order this by the end of the month. This looks unreal to have those old FZC rankings printed in a book licenced by Nintendo!
Holy crap, I gotta get me one of those books.
i got the book but it has a different cover.
Yeah as I mentioned at the top there's a regular edition (the one that's linked to) as well as a collector's edition of the book, and (to my surprise) they sent out the collector's edition to us contributors.


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Fieldwire at Paris INTERMAT
We're happy to announce that Fieldwire has been invited to take part in INTERMAT, the international exhibition for construction and infrastructure in Paris from April 23-28. We'll be joining 20 other innovative companies presenting solutions to challenges in the construction sector.
INTERMAT will feature over 1,500 exhibitors and 183,000 visitors looking to capitalize on the best civil engineering and structural building solutions available. It's the perfect place for Fieldwire to shine and bring efficiency to new European projects dealing with complexity or scaling issues. We've already fostered tremendous success with similar endeavors, such as the 450M€ fiber optic network project with NGE in the Alsace region of France.
Eurovia, a subsidiary of France-based general contractor Vinci, sponsored Fieldwire to join its Start-Up Village at INTERMAT. While INTERMAT features 50 percent of the world's top 100 largest construction contractors, the Start-Up Village is meant to support entrepreneurship and innovation for those firms who operate in the field. So Fieldwire will be right at home.
"INTERMAT features many of the leaders in the construction sector, and we are pleased that Eurovia invited Fieldwire to participate," says Edouard Bidault, European Business Development Manager for Fieldwire. "As Fieldwire continues its expansion in Europe, we look forward to forging new relationships and sharing the expertise we are known for in the U.S."
Fieldwire will be featured in the Start-Up Village (Booth #6B23) at INTERMAT in Paris from April 23-28. If you'll be in Paris, come say hello!
To register for INTERMAT as a visitor, click here.


THE DELPHIC ORACLE, Its Responses and Operation, with a Catalogue of Responses.
Illustr, 9.5 x 6.25, blue cloth, 476 pp with index, covers rubbed, extremities bumped, hinges loose, contents a little used but still a nice copy in a rubbed dust jacket. Scarce in hardcover.


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Orange County Zoo...John "The Zookeeper" Mulligan.... Drag Racing Art
This is John "The Zookeeper" Mulligan as he screams down Orange County Raceway in the Beebe Bros. "Fighting Irish" Top Fueler, circa 1969.
One of Drag Racing's Top Fuel standouts in sixties was the late John Mulligan. Nicknamed the "Zookeeper." John had the capacity to coral the rest of the animals, like the "Snake and the "Mongoose." He most-certainly would have remained a major force in drag racing, had it not been for his early demise.
Seen here, in his heyday, this painting was inspired from a classic Leslie Lovett photo. It is a fitting tribute to great Driver and a great Photographer
Home / Collections / Drag Racing Art...Comp Elim. to Dragsters to Top Fuel / Orange County Zoo...John "The Zookeeper" Mulligan.... Drag Racing Art


For your convenience, we have compiled a list of frequently asked questions and their answers.
Where can I locate information regarding the following?
What is the Heard's photography policy?
Are the Heard's nature trails wheelchair and stroller accessible?
While our indoor exhibits are wheelchair and stroller accessible, the Heard nature trails are not currently wheelchair nor walker accessible. The trails are not paved and are only accessible to running strollers (strollers with larger than average stroller wheels). Call 972.562.5566 for details.
What should I do if have a wildlife conflict or emergency (such as an injured animal)?
Where can i find answers to some common animal questions?
Visit our list of commonly asked animal questions and wildlife concerns.
Have questions about a baby animal?
How can I make a secure on-line donation?
How can I contact the Collin County Hobby Bee Keepers Association?
How can I contact the Prairie & Timbers Audubon Society?
Can we bring our dogs to walk with us?
Because we are a wildlife sanctuary, for your pets' protection, please leave them at home. Large dogs and cats can harm the animals we exist to protect and little animals might make a good meal for a larger native Texas animal.
My child is under 5 years old. What could he/she do at the Heard?
Many of our visitors are under 5. Children of all ages love to see native animals, dig for fossils in the sand pit, and we begin offering preschool nature classes as early as age 3.
Is there a problem with mosquitoes?
Insects are a normal part of any nature experience. If you bring bug spray, we ask that you apply it outside as a courtesy to those with allergies.
We have 2 picnic areas. One is located on the Bluestem Trail and the other is next to our outdoor amphitheater. They are available on a first come, first serve basis. Please ask the front desk for directions. Please note that these are the only areas on the sanctuary where picnicking is allowed.
Can we explore the sanctuary acreage?
All visitors, including members, must check in at the front desk before entering the Heard Wildlife Sanctuary. Visitors must stay on the designated trails both for your safety and because we exist to protect all of the native plants and animals for the next generation.


Is it useful/productive to draw a distinction between "active" things with "computational force" (procedure-like) and "passive" things without such force (collection-like)? Does this distinction have a well-established name? Is adopting a perspective with these notions, even temporarily, just sloppiness?
As a programmer studying mathematics and logic informally, it seems natural to divide up mathematical objects into "objects that do things" and "objects that are basically just bags of data, possibly very large bags". When thinking about a program or explaining it to someone else, it is often useful to adopt a distinction between code and data, even if the language you are working in does not have a crisp code-data distinction.
I'm not saying that some objects are inherently "active" and others are inherently "passive", just that it frequently seems natural to adopt a perspective in which some things are active and others are not.
I'm not sure exactly how to formalize the distinction I'm trying to draw but maybe an example will help.
A mathematical function can be thought of "procedurally" as an opaque process that takes inputs and transforms them into outputs. The main "payoff" of this metaphor is that alarm bells immediately go off in your head when you think about whether two functions are equal. What does it even mean for two processes to be equal if you can't inspect their contents?
For another example, take classical first order logic with no function symbols.
In one perspective, individual elements of the domain can be thought of as lifeless data and predicates can be thought of peering inside elements of the domain to classify them.
In another perspective, the quantifiers ∀ and ∃ and the logical connectives (∧, ∨, ¬) are the active things and predicates are just collections of elements in the domain.
Take your last example seriously. Are the 'static' things the predicates? Or are they the statements, and are the axioms that permit proof the 'active' things? Or are the sets of things that are proven equivalent just furniture, and the premises that allow them to apply to models the active things? Maybe existing proofs are all static objects and the tools that combine them into potential future proofs are the only dynamic objects. Each of those perspectives is taken by different domains within mathematical logic: basic semantics, predicate calculus, model theory, and proof theory.
This is the problem with this perspective. Active behavior layers upon itself, and to proceed, one generally abstracts what was previously the active layer into something passive, and focusses on another layer of active processes. Metaphorically, you often trade time for space, making what was your previous 'active' temporal dimension into another 'passive' spatial one.
So this is always a useful perspective, but it is also generally a temporary one, that will evolve. There is not really a place for it to extend all the way across mathematics in a uniform fashion. It would get in the way.
The overall notion is captured in Category Theory, where a 'category' is a collection of 'objects' connected by 'morphisms'. But then there are categories that have the morphisms of an existing category as its objects, or that have whole categories of a given form as objects, or the morphisms between types of categories as objects, or build from there.
I'm not sure whether this answers your question or not, but it is common in the philosophy of language to distinguish 'sense' and 'reference'. At least one common theory of meaning has it that predicate terms, names, and even sentences, have a meaning that can be divided up between the sense and the reference, and that it is the sense that determines the reference. The reference is often taken to be purely extensional, i.e. it is a thing, or a class of things, while the sense is intensional and serves as a function that identifies the referent within a given context. So, for example, the expression "the tallest person in the world" is a definite description with a referent, i.e. whoever that is in our world, and a sense, which might be a function that enables us to pick out this individual. A name, such as "Albert Einstein", has a referent, albeit deceased, and a sense, which is how we identify this individual and distinguish him from others. A property, such as "is blue", has a referent, the class of all blue things, and a sense, which is how we identify blueness. A sentence, according to Frege, has a sense, which is the proposition it expresses, and a reference, which is its truth value.
All of the details of this kind of account are subject to many arguments and disagreements. Frege, Russell, Kripke, Davidson, and David Lewis, in particular, all had rather different views of the matter.
The mathematical analog might be that the sense of a mathematical expression is a procedure or algorithm, while its referent is the mathematical object or class that the procedure determines. For example, we might think of the Fibonacci series as being both an algorithm that determines a sequence of numbers, and as the sequence so determined.
I don't think you are correct to suppose that logical constants are active, while predicate terms are just collections. It is true that mathematicians typically dispense with intensionality and treat coextensive properties as identical: the square of 2 is identical with the positive square root of 16, and the class of equilateral triangles is identical with the class of equiangular triangles. But out in the real world, a thing or a property can be identified in many different ways and these have different meanings. A person may have several names. Maybe Alice knows that George Orwell wrote 1984, but Alice does not know that Eric Blair wrote 1984. The fact that both names have the same referent is not sufficient for them to have the same meaning. Likewise, two predicate terms may be coextensive while having different meanings, e.g. Quine's example of 'cordate' meaning 'has a heart' and 'renate' meaning 'has kidneys'. All and only those animals that have hearts have kidneys, but the terms clearly have a different meaning. So, outside of mathematics at least, it is not correct to identify a predicate with its extension.
How can certain predicates be proven to not have sets as their extension?


There is tons of information on the USAID website, so if you're considering a career with them, spend a good amount of time learning about the agency.
Posted by Willy Franzen on December 29, 2010. Jobs updated daily.
Displaying 1-10 of 349 results.
During my vacation I've been reading a number of books including President Bush's Decision Points . I've enjoyed it so far, and the chapter on Afghanistan reminded me to take a look at the U.S. Agency for International Development (better known as USAID), which a reader recommended I write about a few months ago. They are "the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms." Right now they're playing a huge role in moderating the impact of the war in Afghanistan on civilians, while they're also heavily focused on helping those in Pakistan who have been affected by the earthquake. While USAID's budget is less than one half of one percent of the federal budget, their impact feels much greater.
The U.S. Agency for International Development advanced U.S. policy objectives in three areas: economic growth, agriculture and trade; global health; and democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance. They work all over the world with the goal of "expanding democracy and free markets while improving the lives of the citizens of the developing world." USAID's work is obviously extensive, so summarizing it isn't very easy. Your best bet is to read about all of their programs here. There is an unbelievable amount of information on the USAID website, so if you're considering a career with them, you should really spend a good amount of time learning about the ins and outs of the the agency. Then you can head over to their Careers page. There are so many different kinds of opportunities at USAID that it can get kind of confusing, but you'll probably want to look at their Development Leadership Initiative page and their Fellows Program page. There are way too many different kinds of opportunities to list, but you should be able to find all kinds of cool options with USAID in a variety of locations. While you browse through them, I'll be reading on the beach.


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Q: C CryptUnprotectData crashes Program Hi im trying to write a C Program that decrypts the Key that Chrome uses to encrypt saved Passwords. The Key is encrypted with CryptProtectData and then encoded with Base64, i have sucessfully decoded the Key and now i want to decrypt it with CryptUnprotectData but when i try to use this function my Program just crashes, i had a similar Problem once when I got the size of the byte* holding the encrypted data wrong. Does anyone know what i did wrong?
#include <stdio.h>
#include <base64.h>
#include <wincrypt.h>

void main()
{
  //RFBBUEk = DPAPI
  char B64[] = "BAAAA0Iyd3wEV0RGMegDAT8KX6wEAAAAYUduGi5FwQr1+XlafMqBZAAAAAAIAAAAAABBmAAAAAQAAIAAAALIvW98pXJMaQ0aJPpr40c12oSSRDg59tr+zaF+podlvAAAAAA6AAAAAAgAAIAAAAD2z5W4nMDHLOxthH8nXyxl+1hpRdY2BGHStxaDvgjSiMAAAAIKrcLbXw5WZCPjqyPtO/3QahMa0yMRC/CoMS/OoDw5j7fcZ8N31sIildXpN82egDEAAAAAvzHS7+Zf2IR05cggu1XHfNGknq3TKRHW37CVEktIHHu6yo1K0Q0r5YevYDUUNdhzlpJ+ynQUTBAS2Fa3PRR4V";
  int len = sizeof(B64);
  int * flen;
  char * ergebnis;
  ergebnis = unbase64(B64,len,flen);
  DATA_BLOB Input,Output;
  Input.pbData = (byte*)ergebnis;
  Input.cbData = *flen;
  CryptUnprotectData(&Input,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,0,&Output);
  printf("%s",(char*)Output.pbData);
  getchar();
}

A:   printf("%s",(char*)Output.pbData);

First, you don't check if CryptUnprotectData succeeds. If it fails, you're passing a pointer to garbage to printf.
Second, how are you expecting printf to know how many bytes to print? You need to do something with Output.cbData.
Lastly, flen is never assigned a value. You pass whatever nonsense, uninitialized value it has to unbase64 and then try to use that value.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: Preserve #pragma indentations in C/C++ VSCode I am using the Google format setting for auto format my C/C++ code
 "C_Cpp.clang_format_fallbackStyle": "{ BasedOnStyle: Google,
 IndentWidth: 4, ColumnLimit: 0}"

However the autoformat changes my indentation from this:
#pragma omp task            \
firstprivate(i,x,y,board)   \
shared(n, a)                \
private(m,n)

into this:
#pragma omp task                  \
    firstprivate(i, x, y, board) \
        shared(n, a) private(m, n)

I want to preserve the indentation, how can I achieve this ?