Search

Governments use a variety of tools to discourage, impede, or limit the ability of foreign adversaries to purse their ambitions. Some of these measures seek to constrain an opponent's capacity, while others seek to deter an opponent to take (or not) a particular action. We develop a theory to study how constraining and coercive threats interact strategically. Building on canonical models of deterrence, we first identify how coercive measures, in isolation, curb an aggressor's transgressions. We then identify when constraining measures and the threat of coercion (deterrence) are substitutes and when they are complements. In some cases, constraining measures make deterrence effective when it would otherwise fail (constraining to deter). Our results offer insights about measuring the effectiveness of various diplomatic tools. We highlight a series of novel empirical challenges stemming from the interaction of selection effects and ecological features of a sample of country dyads, and discuss potential solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To avoid restrictive institutional funding policies, Palestinian organisations are turning to online crowdfunding. However, this source of funds also has limitations and places power in the hands of corporations and individual donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, 'emergency politics' has become a quasi-permanent feature of the European Union (EU). According to some, this has reinforced the trend towards a greater role for the European Council (EUCO) in EU agenda-setting, to the detriment of the European Commission (Commission). In this article, this claim is critically assessed by analysing two major crises: the 2015-2016 migration crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. By systematically tracing the various agenda-setting roles played by EU actors in these crises, two claims are made. First, using a more fine-grained typology of agenda-setting roles, the relationship between EUCO and the Commission is shown to be more nuanced than is often suggested. Second, EUCO and the Commission cannot be considered monolithic players. Instead, actors within these institutions operate outside of formal channels to purse their own policy goals. This puts in doubt the usefulness of focussing on the EUCO-Commission relationship in a purely inter-institutional sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Euthynnus alletteratus, a crucial commercial resource for West African states in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean (ATNE), is of high research priority in the Atlantic Ocean, but its stock assessment is limited. This study aimed to explore the implications of integrating length, catch and abundance indices on the status of ATNE stock using the LIME model. We innovatively developed time series of abundance indices using tuna purse seine catches and efforts obtained from separate ICCAT datasets, alongside length-frequencies. The scenarios (S) S1 (length-only), S2 (length + catch + abundance), S3 (length + catch), and S4 (length + abundance) were considered. We observed that S1–S3 did not converge in LIME, except for S4. The stock's spawning potential ratio and mean length were below the target (SPR< 40%) and 95% maturity length (M95), respectively. By implication, the lack of convergence in S1–S3 portrayed data conflicts, which were mitigated by the abundance index in S4. A mean length above M95 is recommended when evaluating the stock using the length-only option in LIME. The stock was unsustainable, requiring management measures. Integrating the abundance index with length improved the performance of LIME for the stock, which estimate could be replicated for other species' assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The story of Moses and Khidr has been told and conveyed many times, with partial differences, by writers and poets in different centuries and different geographies. The short poem of 58 couplets recorded in the name of Kerim in the Süleymaniye Library Bagdatlı Vehbi Efendi Collection number 1616-002, which constitutes the main subject of the article, can also be considered as a variant of this story. The poem begins with Moses wanting to know "justice that looks like cruelty". Thereupon, Moses witnesses some events that happened to three people in a fountain: A horseman comes to the fountain and forgets his purse there. A child comes and takes the purse home. When the horseman returns, he sees a blind man and asks for his purse. They argue, the cavalry kills the blind man. With the revelation, the following is understood: The child's father worked for a while with the cavalry and died before receiving his money. The purse contains the child's father's salary. The blind man killed the horseman's father before he became blind. A cavalryman killing a blind person means retaliation. The story gives the following messages: The servant cannot always understand God's justice with reason and comparison, many things that appear to be cruelty are actually God's just judgment. Kerim states that he took this story, which is similar to the story of Moses- Khidr(?) with its fictional structure and the messages it carries, from Câmî's Subhatu'l-Ebrar. However, it has been seen that the story was also mentioned in Jewish holy texts before this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unmanned surface vehicle (USV) with a fish attraction lamp was developed to assist in the nighttime operations of a Japanese purse seine fishery. The USV weighs about 15 kg, is equipped with a 200 W underwater light-emitting diode (LED), and can be radio-controlled to move on the sea surface. The purse seiner shoots a net to surround the lighting boat to catch fish gathered by fish attraction lamps. The USV was deployed on the sea surface from the purse seiner during the net-hauling operation and replaced the lighting boat to continue fish attraction after shooting the net. The time required for each operation using the USV and conventional lighting boat operations was compared, and it was found that the time required for the lighting boat for fish attraction after shooting the net was reduced by about 10 min per haul when the USV was used. On the other hand, the time required by the purse seiner to shoot and haul the net and the catch amount did not change. The USV can contribute to time savings in operation and safety improvements in the purse seine fishery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This opinion explores what constitutes a trademark parody in an artistic context and when it crosses the line of trademark infringement in dilution cases which occur beyond the traditional trademark protection from the likelihood of confusion. This is shown by analysing the latest two decisions regarding trademark parody handed down by the German Frankfurt am Main Regional Court in a case in which Hermès has suffered a setback in its attempt to prevent a fashion label from using its iconic Birkin handbag at the Berlin fashion show in 2023. While parody is considered a protected form of speech or artistic expression, no clear-cut legal rule separates a legitimate parody from an infringing use, in particular in cases of so-called mixed expressions where the reference to the protected trademark is not closely tied to commercial use but still happens outside of a purely artistic context. Compared to the statutory copyright's flexible fair use defence, there is simply too little case law available to draw on in trademark dilution law. The few rigid defences German courts have cobbled together in trademark cases illustrate that trademark could benefit from a clearer identification of use categories. The following analysis of these decisions aims at highlighting that urgent trademark reforms are necessary in the area of art-related fair use defences. Furthermore, the following analysis will illustrate how big corporations like Hermès can fail when attempting to use trademark rights to control the meaning not only of wealth and exclusivity but also of conspicuous consumption and the equally conspicuous display of wealth, status and power in male-dominated domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the tuna purse seine fishery, seiners spend a considerable amount of time detecting objects such as seabirds, for which radar is a very efficient method. In this study, we present a radar image seabird identification method that can calculate the number of clusters, the area of seabird clusters, and the activity level of seabird clusters. We used a fishing vessel's radar to collect information on seabird groups within 29,632 km of the vessel and calculated a spatial clustering of the seabird-echoes. Generalized additive mixed models (GAMM) were used to investigate the relationship between drifting fish aggregating devices (FADs) and seabird dynamics in the Republic of Kiribati. The findings indicate that FAD variables affected seabird behavior. The random effects on cluster number, cluster area, and cluster ability were 3.27, 17.41, and −0.17, respectively. Then, we compared the radar image information that was calculated. The bird cluster around drifting FADs was found to be more concentrated and denser than in areas without FADs, with a lower level of activity observed. The longitude of 165°E had the highest number of bird clusters and the greatest area inhabited by birds, but these decreased to the east. However, model 3 showed that the minimum value of seabird cluster activity level occurred around 165°E and increased to the east. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Atlantic Ocean's little tunny is a priority for research by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Limited studies exist on Northeast Atlantic Ocean stock dynamics, and conventional catch and abundance assessments are lacking. This study assesses the impacts of tuna purse seiner fish aggregating device (FAD) and free-swimming school (FSC) fishing and proposes models for assessment using ICCAT data aggregated into different time blocks. Applying JABBA (Just Another Bayesian Biomass Assessment) and CMSY++, model diagnostics indicate that the 2011–2021 time series arrangement offers more reliable stock status estimates. Both models show overfished status (biomass/biomass max sustainable yield [B/BMSY] < 0.5) from overfishing (fishing mortality/fishing mortality max sustainable yield [F/FMSY] > 1.5) by the FAD and FSC techniques. FAD catches have leveled with the stock's average surplus production (ASP), while FSC catches are closer to ASP. JABBA projections suggest BMSY for the stock in 2023–2024, with FSC and FAD catch limits of 3000–4000 tonnes. By implication, the stock may collapse from tuna purse seiner's FAD and FSC fishing unless catch limits are implemented. JABBA is most effective for little tunny with shorter catch and catch per unit effort (CPUE) data, while CMSY++ indicates overfished stock status with and without abundance indices. Both applied models are suitable for little tunny stock status prediction, but considering the abundance indices used in this study, management advice should be applied cautiously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germination variability enables weedy species to colonise disturbed habitats and is expected to evolve in response to changing selection pressures. The paucity of information about germination variability in weeds prompted a detailed study of this topic with two agricultural and two non‐agricultural populations of Capsella bursa‐pastoris (Shepherd's purse). Variance in germination time was partitioned amongst and within populations, and amongst racemes and silicles within individual plant, and broad‐sense heritability (H2) was estimated. Agricultural populations exhibited a shorter and more uniform germination timing than non‐agricultural populations. However, differences amongst populations explained 7%–12% of the total variance, while differences amongst individuals and racemes accounted for approximately 40–54% and 10% of the total variance for germination time. For germination time, H2 = 0.4 when averaged across all time points, peaking at H2 = 0.7 at a time coinciding with the exponential phase of the germination curve. Maintaining predominantly intrapopulation variability in germination timing appears to be important for long‐term fitness in this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses a hoard of Late Bosporan staters found in the sixth-century fire layer in Phanagoria. A purse with 82 coins was hidden in the neck of a Pontic Opaiţ B–1b amphora. The hoard contains staters of Thothorses, Rhadamsades, and Rhescuporis VI, as well as a Panticapaean tetrachalkos of Asander's time. The conflagration layer is associated with the report of Procopius of Caesarea (Procop. Caes. De bell. VIII.5.28) on the destruction of Phanagoria and Kepoi. The date of the disaster in Phanagoria and the concealment of the hoard is determined by two main circumstances. The first one is the discovery of Justinian I's solidus of the 545–565 Group together with Late Bosporan staters in a nearby building which met its end in the same fire. The second circumstance is the date of Procopius' completing Book VIII of his 'History of the Wars', i.e. 554 AD. Therefore, Phanagoria and Kepoi were destroyed neither before 545, nor after 554 AD. Accordingly, the hoard's concealment dates between 545 and 554 AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]