Natural extracts and biostimulants have recently been used to enhance growth and productivity of stressed plants. A pots trial was performed to verify the impacts of maize grain (MgE, 60 g L−1) ...and/or propolis (PrmE, 40 g L−1) extract foliar application (three times) on growth, physio-biochemical attributes, and productivity of faba bean plants exposed to drought (40% of soil capacity), salinity (150 mM NaCl), or cadmium (2.0 mM Cd2+) stress versus absence of stress as a control. Alterations in the antioxidant system and its relationship with stress tolerance were also examined. The results indicated that each stress caused a significant decrease in yield traits, photosynthetic efficiency, pigment contents, gas exchange, relative water content, membrane stability index, and osmolyte contents compared to non-stressed plants. Otherwise, MgE and/or PrmE enhanced the plant's stress tolerance and increased the aforementioned attributes under normal or stress conditions. Moreover, MgE and/or PrmE increased enzymatic activities (SOD, CAT, POX, and APX) and antioxidant levels (proline, glutathione, ascorbate, and α-tocopherol) under the studied stresses compared to untreated controls. The combined MgE+PrmE was the most efficient treatment. Salinity considerably increased Na+ content, whereas, MgE+PrmE treatment reduced Na content by 39.6, 16.7, or 37.0% under salinity, drought, or Cd2+ stress, respectively. Under Cd2+ stress, the best treatment (MgE+PrmE) reduced root and leaf Cd2+ contents by 74.1 and 78.6%, respectively compared to untreated plants. Our findings indicated that foliarly-applied MgE+PrmE was highly effective in enhancing the antioxidant machinery, thus reducing ROS, Na+, and Cd2+ levels resulting in increased plant productivity under salinity, drought, or Cd2+ stress.
Though the UN Charter regulates the starting point of lawful self-defence, neither it nor customary law determines its lawful end. This article tries to draw the contours of such lawfulness based on ...the ad bellum necessity rule. Under the prevailing law, the aggressor may gain control over ending the lawful war. Usually, whenever it stops its aggression and is willing to retreat, the assumption is that this brings the emergency situation to an end and negates the victim's temporary and exceptional right to fight. Contrarily, this article suggests that the keys to ending a war should mainly be left to the victim, who must present a convincing case that it has ended its self-defence at the first reasonable opportunity, according to its geostrategic considerations.
Measures aimed at general deterrence are often thought to be problematic on the basis that they violate the Kantian prohibition against sacrificing the interests of some as a means of securing a ...greater good. But even if this looks like a weak objection because deterrence can be justified as a form of societal self-defence, such measures may be regarded as problematic for another reason: Harming in self-defence is only justified when it’s necessary, i.e., when there are no relatively harmless alternatives. While there are few harmless ways to remove the threat posed by dangerous individuals, there are many relatively harmless methods for preventing crime. We can bracket off our preventative failings when we think of present threats, but we cannot do so when contemplating alternative preventative measures.
This article offers a normative analysis of some of the most controversial incidents involving police—what I call police-generated killings. In these cases, bad police tactics create a situation ...where deadly force becomes necessary, becomes perceived as necessary, or occurs unintentionally. Police deserve blame for such killings because they choose tactics that unnecessarily raise the risk of deadly force, thus violating their obligation to prioritize the protection of life. Since current law in the United States fails to ban many bad tactics, police-generated killings often are treated as “lawful but awful.” To address these killings, some call on changes to departmental policies or voluntary reparations by local governments, yet such measures leave in place a troubling gap between ethics and law. I argue that police-generated killings merit legal sanctions by appealing to a relevant analogy: self-generated self-defense, where the person who engages in self-defense started the trouble. The persistent lack of accountability for police-generated killings threatens life, police legitimacy, and trust in democratic institutions. The article closes by identifying tools in law and policy to address this challenge.
In 'When Should a Lawful War of Self-Defence End?', Yishai Beer zooms in on the scenario where a state engaged in an act of aggression subsequently retreats from the victim state's territory. In ...particular, Beer challenges the idea that such behaviour terminates the victim state's right of self-defence since the key to ending a war should not be left to the aggressor. While the article is a welcome and thought-provoking addition to the debate, this reply questions the wisdom of abandoning the default 'halt-and-repel' approach to the termination of self-defence.
Self-defense classes are offered across the nation as a strategy for reducing women’s vulnerability to sexual assault. Yet there has been little systematic research assessing the effectiveness of ...these classes. In this article, I use data from a mixed methods study of a 10-week, university-based, feminist self-defense class to examine the effectiveness of self-defense training over a 1-year follow-up period. My analyses indicate that women who participate in self-defense training are less likely to experience sexual assault and are more confident in their ability to effectively resist assault than similar women who have not taken such a class.
In light of a nation-wide discussion about expanding self-defense laws, as well as an increased recognition of domestic violence, the phrases "stand your ground" and "retreat to the wall" have taken ...on entirely new meanings. In cases of domestic abuse, which happen largely inside the home, self-defense laws become more difficult to navigate when victims retaliate against their abusers. Generally, individuals using deadly force against their attackers cannot do so until they "retreat to the wall"—until they do everything possible to safely escape the attack and avoid taking a human life. It is then, and only then, that they are justified in using deadly force against their aggressor. However, an age-old doctrine called the Castle Doctrine, says that an individual does not have an affirmative duty to "retreat to the wall" if that individual is assaulted in her own home.1 Speaking more succinctly, a person can "stand her ground" in her own "castle" or home; she can use deadly force against an aggressor even if safe retreat is available to her. When it comes to violence between cohabitants, the applicability of the Castle Doctrine is neither clear nor consistent. Traditionally, courts have been reticent in applying this doctrine to cases where the victim and the offender share the same "castle." Some states still require individuals who are attacked in their own home by a cohabitant to "retreat to the wall," instead of "standing their ground" against their attacker. As such, some victims of domestic violence find themselves in a precarious situation, having to retreat farther than they would have to if they were being attacked by a stranger. This Comment analyzes and critiques the applicability of the Castle Doctrine to instances of domestic violence. It begins by analyzing the way the Castle Doctrine has evolved, from its introduction into American law to the modern day. It concludes that a number of courts still struggle in situations where the victim and the aggressor share the same "castle," often requiring victims of domestic violence to retreat further than they are able to. More so, a number of state legislatures have either not addressed this issue in their laws, or have explicitly identified cohabitant violence as an exception to the Castle Doctrine. This Comment critiques the errors and misconceptions that have led to this misapplication of the Castle Doctrine. Finally, the Comment offers some recommendations that take into account the precarious nature of domestic violence and suggest a more homogenous method for applying the Castle Doctrine to such cases.
Faced with an ever more contested security environment, Japan is shifting towards a forward-leaning denial strategy whereby it seeks 'primary responsibility' for disrupting and defeating invasions ...'much earlier and at a further distance' by 2032. In pursuing greater operational and war-fighting readiness, Japan is investing not only in capable air and missile defences, counter-strike missiles, and adequate air and land platforms, but also in appropriate strategic enablers and a broader defence-industrial and technological base. While Japan's ten-year defence plan looks promising, the country's traditional weaknesses and long-standing dependencies will not be easily overcome. In particular, the complexity of East Asia's precision-strike context will sustain, if not deepen, Japan's reliance on the United States for its C4ISR infrastructure and other strategic enablers, as well as for its defence-industrial and technological base. Somewhat paradoxically, therefore, an increasingly capable Japan is also increasingly bound to its US ally.
Nearly all research on the effects of women’s self-defense training examines college age or, less frequently, adolescent populations. This study broadens that focus by evaluating the effectiveness of ...self-defense training for an adult community population, ages 18–77 years, comparing students who completed a 9-hr community-based empowerment self-defense course to similar women who did not take the course. Participants who completed the empowerment self-defense course reported significantly less sexual assault at the 1-year follow-up as well as significantly greater self-defense self-efficacy, more accurate knowledge about sexual assault and the possibility of resistance, and less self-silencing than those who did not take the course. This research provides the first systematic evidence that empowerment self-defense training can be effective in preventing assault in adult populations outside of educational contexts. Empowerment self-defense training is therefore an important part of sexual assault prevention efforts. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684319897937
The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and its lingering aftermath, have put the fundamental and largely unsettled question of the jus ad bellum in the spotlight: when part of one state's territory is ...occupied by another state for a prolonged duration, can the former state have lawful recourse to military force to recover its land? Prior to the 2020 conflict, the Nagorno-Karabakh region was widely regarded as belonging de jure to Azerbaijan, but as being unlawfully occupied - for more than 25 years - by Armenia. Accordingly, was Azerbaijan entitled to claim self-defence to lawfully recover it, even though the pre-2020 territorial status quo in the region had existed for more than a quarter of a century? In addition, could Azerbaijan invoke self-defence again in the near or distant future to recover those remaining parts of territory that continue to be outside of its control now that a new ceasefire is being enforced in the region? The answers to these questions have ramifications that extend far beyond the Caucasus, being of relevance for a wide range of pending conflicts around the globe. Upon closer scrutiny, the present authors believe that a negative answer is in order
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