Two studies were conducted to present two new theoretical constructs based on narcissistic personality and Daoist water-like personality research. Narcissistic group orientation (NGO) was developed to incorporate both the grandiose and vulnerable expressions of narcissism into a group-oriented social variable. NGO is pathological group orientation with two distinct expressions that share a common etiology in social identity monopolization. The conditions that promote social identity monopolization and ultimately increase the salience of the particular self-category, differ amongst the grandiose and vulnerable expressions of NGO. The grandiose expression increases salience of a particular self-category to facilitate opportunistic use for self-enhancement, while the vulnerable expression increases salience of a particular self-category to facilitate threat detection and avoidance. Water-like group orientation (WGO) was developed to provide a measure of secure in-group positivity which is in contrast to defensive in-group positivity. WGO is a prosocial group orientation that is based on the Daoist principle of wuwei (non-action) or underacting which is conceived here as a lack of desire for control. Study 1 aimed to provide support for the factor structure of the newly developed scales and provide evidence of validity. The results of confirmatory factor analyses in Study 1 and Study 2 supported a two-factor NGO model and a two-factor WGO model. The two-factor NGO model is made up of a grandiose narcissistic group orientation (GNGO) factor and a vulnerable narcissistic group orientation (VNGO) factor. WGO Factor 1 (WGOF1) is an in-group confidence and satisfaction factor, and WGO Factor 2 (WGOF2) is an out-group respect and altruism factor. Study 1 also gathered evidence of convergent validity for both the NGO and WGO constructs. Both GNGO and VNGO exhibited positive correlations with social dominance orientation and blind patriotism, and negligible correlations with constructive patriotism. WGOF1 exhibited positive correlations with social dominance orientation and blind patriotism, and a negligible correlation with constructive patriotism. WGOF2 exhibited negative correlations with social dominance orientation and blind patriotism, and a positive correlation with constructive patriotism. Study 2 sought to gather support for the factor structure of NGO and WGO once again and to examine the relationship between GNGO, VNGO, WGOF1, and WGOF2 with a multicomponent measure of in-group identification that includes solidarity, satisfaction, centrality, self-stereotyping, and in-group homogeneity. GNGO, VNGO, and WGOF1 were positively related to all five in-group identification components, while WGOF2 was unrelated to all five in-group identification components. The NGO and WGO scales may be used to study groups who are experiencing acute or ongoing intergroup conflict, intense scrutiny, or aggressive groups. These scales may be used to develop a greater understanding of group and environmental characteristics that lead to defensive in-group positivity.

In this theory testing case study the aim is to test which of the two competing theories, defensive and offensive realism, possess the greater explanatory power in regards to the Israeli action against Iran between 2007-2020, while subsequently assessing if either theory is applicable. Two competing analytical models, based around the seminal works of Kenneth Waltz, Stephen Walt, and John J. Mearsheimer, will be applied upon the Israeli actions against the Iranian nuclear program and the Israeli actions against Iran in Syria. The essay utilizes a wide array of sources, from news articles to academic papers, in order to provide a correct description of the events of study. This aim was conceptualized by posing a research question, followed by four competing hypotheses. These will, in conjunction with the analytical models, enable a comparison of the explanatory power the theories possess when applied upon the Israeli conduct against Iran. It is concluded in this paper that defensive realism possesses greater explanatory power when applied upon the Israeli conduct against Iran, compared with offensive realism.

Background: Although several neurophysiological models have been proposed for panic disorder with agoraphobia (PD/AG), there is limited evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on key neural networks in PD/AG. Fear conditioning has been proposed to represent a central pathway for the development and maintenance of this disorder; however, its neural substrates remain elusive. The present study aimed to investigate the neural correlates of fear conditioning in PD/AG patients. Method: The blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response was measured using fMRI during a fear conditioning task. Indicators of differential conditioning, simple conditioning and safety signal processing were investigated in 60 PD/AG patients and 60 matched healthy controls. Results: Differential conditioning was associated with enhanced activation of the bilateral dorsal inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) whereas simple conditioning and safety signal processing were related to increased midbrain activation in PD/AG patients versus controls. Anxiety sensitivity was associated positively with the magnitude of midbrain activation. Conclusions: The results suggest changes in top-down and bottom-up processes during fear conditioning in PD/AG that can be interpreted within a neural framework of defensive reactions mediating threat through distal (forebrain) versus proximal (midbrain) brain structures. Evidence is accumulating that this network plays a key role in the aetiopathogenesis of panic disorder.

Abstract: Background: From Previous research, state-of-the-art deep neural networks have accomplished impressive results on many images classification tasks. However, adversarial attacks can easily fool these deep neural networks by adding little noise to the input images. This vulnerability causes a significant concern in deploying deep neural network-based systems in real-world security-sensitive situations. Therefore, research in attacking and the architectures with adversarial examples has drawn considerable attention. Here, we use the technique for image classification called Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), which is known for determining favorable results in image classification. Objectives: This thesis reviews all types of adversarial attacks and CNN architectures in the present scientific literature. Experiment to build a CNN architecture to classify the handwritten digits in the MNIST dataset. And they are experimenting with adversarial attacks on the images to evaluate the accuracy fluctuations in categorizing images. This study also includes an experiment using the defensive distillation technique to improve the architecture's performance under adversarial attacks.  Methods: This thesis includes two methods; the systematic literature review method involved finding the best performing CNN architectures and best performing adversarial attack techniques. The experimentation method consists in building a CNN model based on modified LeNet architecture with two convolutional layers, one max-pooling layer, and two dropouts. The model is trained and tested with the MNIST dataset. Then applying adversarial attacks FGSM, IFGSM, MIFGSM on the input images to evaluate the model's performance. Later this model will be modified a little by defensive distillation technique and then tested towards adversarial attacks to evaluate the architecture's performance. Results: An experiment is conducted to evaluate the robustness of the CNN architecture in classifying the handwritten digits. The graphs show the accuracy before and after implementing adversarial attacks on the test dataset. The defensive distillation mechanism is applied to avoid adversarial attacks and achieve robust architecture. Conclusions: The results showed that FGSM, I-FGSM, MI-FGSM attacks reduce the test accuracy from 95% to around 35%. These three attacks to the proposed network successfully reduced ~70% of the test accuracy in all three cases for maximum epsilon 0.3. By the defensive distillation mechanism, the test accuracy reduces from 90% to 88% for max epsilon 0.3. The proposed defensive distillation process is successful in defending the adversarial attacks.

Analytical chemistry plays a crucial role in studies on chemical ecology and only the development of sophisticated methods enables the detection of biologically active compounds that are usually present in minute quantities and often in very complex mixtures. My thesis is dedicated to the application of modern analytical techniques and instrumentation to unravel the identity, chemical diversity and function of semiochemicals and defensive compounds used by various species of termites. The first section of this thesis aims at the identity of chemicals used in communication, the pheromones. I studied the chemistry of the trail-following communication in three selected species of termites. Besides the identification of (3Z,6Z,8E)-dodeca-3,6,8-trien-1-ol, the most frequent termite trail-following pheromone, as the trail-following pheromone in Psammotermes hybostoma (Rhinotermitidae), I participated in the description of two new structures, (10Z,13Z)-nonadeca-10,13-dien-2-one in Glossotermes oculatus (Serritermitidae) and syn-4,6-dimethylundecan-1-ol in Hodotermopsis sjoestedti (Archotermopsidae). We identified (3Z,6Z,8E)-dodeca-3,6,8-trien-1-ol to be the female sex pheromone in Psammotermes hybostoma, and syn-4,6-dimethylundecanal to be the male sex pheromone in Hodotermopsis sjoestedti. I also...

The South China Sea has been already for several centuries the root of a dispute among states neighbouring along its borders, namely the People's Republic of China (China), Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, and Malaysia. Since the Sea is very geopolitically and geostrategically important, China attempts to claim itself to be a sovereign. However, its activities face the demands of other states, especially Vietnam and the Philippines, which are also interested in gaining control over the islands in the South China Sea. For that reason, the dispute still persists, and the continuous activities of all concerned countries have created an endless spiral of events in which it is difficult to distinguish between the action and the reaction of individual actors in the dispute. My diploma thesis therefore focuses on the analysis of actions of the three selected countries, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines, from the perspective of structural realism that is split into two contradictory streams, defensive and offensive. Their different views on the world help me to clarify whether the behaviour of the chosen actors is defensive of offensive. For the analysis, the period from 2011 to 2018 was chosen. During that time, several major incidents have appeared between selected countries, especially...

This thesis analyzes Russia’s geopolitical objectives in Southeast Europe by focusing on natural gas pipelines and energy security. Natural gas is a crucial soft power asset that Russia utilizes to maintain its sphere of influence in the region. When defining Southeast Europe, this thesis focuses on the following countries of the region: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, and Serbia. The empirically driven research explores Russia’s role as the main natural gas supplier in Southeast Europe and the geostrategic implications of the region’s potential to become a vital entry point into Europe for Russian natural gas. This thesis applies the theory of defensive realism to the study of gas-infrastructure developments and to the impact of new pipelines on Russia’s dominant energy role within the region. Further on, Russia faces various challenges to its control of the regional gas market, including European Union’s energy policies, LNG from the United States, natural gas from Azerbaijan, and other complex factors that play into the regional geopolitical and energy arena.   With the analysis of the empirical data, this thesis assesses how each of the Southeast European countries respond to new gas-infrastructure projects and to Russia’s effort to leverage its gas assets. These developments, including Russia’s gas projects, could provide opportunities for positive, regional cooperation, while creating commercial value by transforming this region into an important natural gas hub.

Research has shown that individuals' willingness to believe a disclosure of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is related to just-world beliefs, ambivalent sexism, and defensive attribution. However, researchers do not know whether these variables relate to posts made in response to online articles describing CSA. Negative or disbelieving posts may impact not only the author, but also readers who view these comments via hindrance of disclosures, increased self-blame, and avoidance of help seeking. In this quantitative study, just-world, ambivalent sexism, and defensive attribution theories provided the theoretical basis used to determine whether just-world beliefs, ambivalent sexism, and defensive attribution influenced comments made in response to an online article about CSA disclosure. Eight-hundred twenty participants read the article where the author discloses she was sexually abused as a child. Response comments were coded negative, neutral, or positive. Participants also completed demographic questions, the Global Belief in a Just World Scale, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, and questions regarding their similarity to the offender and victim. Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed relationships between negative posts and hostile sexism, perceived similarity to the perpetrator, frequent involvement in online discourse, and, to a lesser extent, belief in a just world. Parenthood and perceived similarity to the author increased one's odds of posting positively. Responses of CSA survivors resulted in unexpected findings. Study findings may be used to challenge stereotypes and vitriol often used to silence survivors in public discourse, for thought challenging in psychotherapeutic settings, and for future public education and research to increase support for CSA survivors.

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