From elite consumption to popular opinion: framing of the US drone program in Pakistani newspapers

The United States has conducted armed drone strikes in Pakistan since 2004. While there has been some recent work on Pakistani public opinion about drones, there is very little research on how Pakistan’s media characterize the US drone program. This is an important gap in understanding the determinants of Pakistani popular perceptions of this program. Decades of research has shown that “news framing”, a process by which certain aspects of a complex concept are emphasized in political communications with others played down, influences individual cognition while forming political opinions. In this essay, we address this lacuna by assembling an unprecedented sample of editorials about the drone program from three English newspapers and one Urdu newspaper and analyzing the news frames within them. We next compare the trends in these news frames to public opinion data collected by Pew between the spring of 2009 and 2014. Initially, most Pakistanis were unaware of the drone program, media coverage of the program expanded as drone strikes increased in frequency. While Pakistanis became more cognizant of the US drone strikes, even by 2014 large minorities remained unaware. Pakistani public opinion strongly reflected the top media frames, particularly those that are negative. This is an important finding suggesting that newspaper editorials are a good barometer of Pakistani opinions despite the fact that only information elites rely upon newspapers for political information.     

基于计数器的处理器核性能分析与优化

随着处理器微体系结构日益复杂,性能分析在处理器研制过程中的作用越来越重要。常用的性能分析方法是建立性能模型,该方法主要用于研制初期的设计空间探索,如果用于微体系结构级的分析和优化,速度和精度都会成为限制因素。提出了一种基于计数器的性能分析方法,该方法以项目组已经完成的一款处理器核的硬件实现代码为基础,在处理器核外部添加一个专用性能监测单元,收集微体系结构分析和优化需要的各种事件,并通过结果分析器对统计的事件进行分析,得到微体系结构实现的性能受限因素。采用此方法,在FPGA原型系统上对SPEC CPU2000测试程序运行时的性能受限因素进行了分析,并根据分析结果采取了相应的优化措施,优化后的处理器核性能得到了明显提升。     

65纳米工艺双层三维静态存储器的软错误分析与评估

首先搭建了3D SRAM软错误分析平台,可以快速、自动分析多层die堆叠结构3D SRAM的软错误特性。此平台集成了多种层次模拟软件Geant4、TCAD、Nanosim,数据记录处理软件ROOT,版图处理软件Calibre,以及用于任务链接和结果分析的Perl和shell脚本。利用该平台,对以字线划分设计的3D SRAM和同等规模的2D SRAM分别进行软错误分析,并对分析结果进行了对比。对比分析表明2D 和3D SRAM的翻转截面几乎相同,但3D SRAM单个字中发生的软错误要比2D SRAM更严重,导致难以使用ECC技术对其进行加固。静态模式下2D SRAM和3D SRAM敏感节点均分布于存储阵列中,表明静态模式下逻辑电路不会引发软错误。     

基于改进粒子群算法的自动机性能评估

由于自行高炮自动机状态监测中缺乏行之有效的机构性能评估手段,引入了改进粒子群算法。建立了自动机动力学模型,对后坐过程进行了动力学仿真,确定了反映机构性能的浮动曲线特征量。针对粒子群算法收敛速度慢、精度低等缺陷,对其进行改进,并结合曲线特征量对自动机性能参数进行了评估。结果表明:改进后粒子群算法的算法收敛性和结果精度都有明显的改善,有效实现了自动机的性能参数评估。     

内埋式导弹武器安全分离地面试验关键技术

内埋式机载导弹武器在发射过程中需经历复杂发射控制过程,为验证内埋弹射发射安全分离技术,提供了一种地面验证试验方法,给出了试验设计方案,将试验划分为综合对接与地面分离验证两部分,设计了综合对接试验系统,给出了导弹模拟装置原理及组成;设计了地面分离验证系统,讨论了内埋武器舱遮挡导弹遥测信号问题解决办法及试验数据录取方法,设计了试验验证序号流程,为内埋弹射导弹武器发射过程地面验证提供一种技术手段。     

On the contribution of defense innovation to China’s economic growth

As the most knowledge-intensive industrial sectors, China’s defense industries are developing very fast. The present paper will explore the contribution of China’s defense innovation to its economic growth. Cobb–Douglas production function, integrating defense and non-defense stock in knowledge, is applied during the course. In addition, an input–output analysis of defense equipment procurement was done. Positive effect of China’s defense innovation on economic growth has been revealed by comparing the results from the two methods. And some suggestions are made to strengthen the effect.     

Fencing the bear? Explaining US foreign policy towards Russian interventions

Despite the burgeoning literature on Russia’s renewed power politics, little attention has been paid to the fact that US reactions towards Russia’s military interventions were all but coherent. The USA has chosen weak measures in Georgia in 2008 (shaming) compared to its assertive response in Ukraine in 2014 (sanctions, hard deterrence). This article assesses the explanatory power of neorealist, liberal and constructivist theories for the variation in US reactions towards Russian interventions in Georgia and Ukraine. Our argument is that the constructivist perspective explains the cases best as it highlights the power and communality of normative assessments. The Ukraine crisis was perceived by the USA as a violation of core international norms, especially the non-use of force and the principle of territorial integrity. Relevant international norm carriers shared this assessment of the conflict. In contrast, the perception of the Georgian war centred on the issue of democracy promotion. While democracy is an important aim of US foreign policy, it does not summon the same normative importance as general principles of international law. Furthermore, the perception of the Georgian war remained contested among Western allies, which decreased the communality of the normative assessment.     

The making of the EU Global Strategy

This article traces the evolution of the EU strategic reflection which culminated in the publication of the EU Global Strategy (EUGS) in June 2016. It explains the choices made by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini over this time period—including both the initial strategic assessment and the final EUGS. It provides a behind the scenes view on the players, the organization and the methods of work used to produce a strategic vision for the EU’s role in the world.     

Hiding Death: Contextualizing the Dover Ban

Following the terrorist attacks against the US in 2001, the Bush administration reaffirmed the Dover ban, the policy that prohibited press coverage of military coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base from conflicts abroad. Conventional wisdom holds that the Bush administration enforced the ban in the hope of maintaining public support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This understanding, though, is incomplete. If the Dover ban were enforced only in response to eroding public opinion, then other coalition states would have responded likewise to this shared incentive. I argue instead that maintaining public support is only one factor among many that led the US to uphold this policy. In addition to considering the influence of factors such as perceived media bias and casualty aversion, I focus on necropolitics and the related impetus for governments to regulate the observation of death. Through this interpretation, part of the American response to the involuntary loss of sovereignty on 9/11 was to exercise control over the observation of death by enforcing the Dover ban. Through comparing the press policies of the US, the UK, and Canada, I show that the necropolitical blow to sovereignty that only the US experienced triggered a repressive policy that only the US was able to maintain.     

Disaster management in case of CBRNe events: an innovative methodology to improve the safety knowledge of advisors and first responders

Nowadays, Chemical-Biological-Radiological-Nuclear-explosive (CBRNe) risks are one of the world's main safety concerns. The radiological disasters of Fukushima and Chernobyl, the chemical events of Seveso or the release of Sarin in the Tokyo Subway, the biological emergencies such as the H1N1 flu or the recent Ebola outbreak, and recent news about the availability of non-conventional weapons acquired by fundamentalist organisations represent evidence of potential future threats. CBRNe risks are a real and global threat. The University of Rome, Tor Vergata, in collaboration with the most important Italian and international bodies working in the field of CBRNe safety and security, and supported by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, organises International Masters Courses on the Protection against CBRNe events. Within this framework, a Table-Top Exercise was planned, in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defence. The scenario, the logistic organisation, on-going adjustments during the exercise and the outcomes are presented here and analysed.