The "internal enemy" was a formal term heavily represented in the language of the State Security (a secret service of the Czechoslovak Republic and Czechoslovak Socialist Republic), denoting a specified category of opponents to the then regime. The State Security's task was to protect the socialist and social system by fighting the external and internal enemies, with the security forces having been the authorities deciding who met the criteria. The thesis entitled "The Internal Enemy Image in the Discourse of Security Forces" aims to find out how the discourse of the State Security defined the term "internal enemy". The thesis is divided into the theoretical and empirical parts. The empirical part applies the qualitative analysis of the discourse to search for the characteristic of the term "internal enemy". All of the texts analysed in the thesis come from the Security Services Archive, administering relevant files of the era, and date back to the 1950s-1980s.

The thesis deals with two images of the key "Others" in the Czech Republic in the second decade of its existence: communists and Romanies. It shows the characteristics that have been attributed to them, points out the attributes that were constructed as a threat, and informs about power relations into which they have been placed against the rest of society. The aim of the thesis is to show on what values society is constructed in discourses which create various forms of exclusion of these "Others". The introductory chapter summarizes the Czech relationship to the "Others": Germans, Russians, and Slovaks in the form of interpretative looks into key authors (especially Palacký, Kundera, and Pithart) Next chapter focuses on methodology and introduces the starting points of the analysis in the critical discourse analysis (especially Van Dijk, Wodak and Jäger) and in the foucaultian discourse analysis (especially Hansen). These starting points are combined with the concept of moral panic which is introduced in the third chapter which also discusses its problematic places. Analytical chapters are devoted to the election of president Václav Klaus and they also discuss the role of communists (February - June 2003) and society's reactions to ethnically contextualized violence in Šluknov Hook. They...

In this thesis the author explores the portrayal of immigrants in the USA, more specifically how immigrants were portrayed by the last three presidents; Donald J. Trump, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush. While the majority of the US society sees immigration as a strength, the attitudes towards immigration remain divided within the political blocks. By the means of a critical discourse analysis I explore in which way presidential rhetoric has portrayed immigrants, and what are the differences in how the selected presidents have led the debate on immigration. Through the concepts of the ‘Other’ and ‘enemy images, and with an application of social identity theory, the author of this thesis further discusses the processes of intergroup comparison and its effects on the relationship between immigrants and natives.

The growing number of victims as the result of increased terrorism has caused areal concern. Because many of the victims ends into mental disorders, the scholarships in this regard has increased. However, it is rare to find scholarships focusing on the attitudes held by the victims produced in line with the sufferings caused by terrorism. As usually in circumstances such as in post terrorist acts, the survivors produce negative attitudes due to the bad experiences triggered by the event which may thereby begin another cycle of violence directed towards the enemy. Therefore, to understand and to minimize the possible productions of such attitudes by the victims, actually serves the central aim of Peace and Conflict studies, which is to stop violence and promote peace. Thus, considering this issue, this research aims to understand how the survivors of terrorism perceive their attackers. In line with the aim, this study includes an interpretative case study to interview the survivors of terrorism and analyze the possible construction of enemy image in the lenses of theory enemy image. The study concluded that most of the participants consider the outgroups as different from the ingroup, especially based on religion and the outgroups are usually represented as ‘others’, the analyses confirms that participants create an enemy image, because there is not only one enemy in form of ethnic group therefore the construction of enemy image towards one group may vary in relation to the other group

Current agroecosystem management practices have a negative effect on natural enemies and their ability to control insect pests. Conservation biological control through the addition of flowering resources can manage food resources for natural enemies. These floral resources can also provide multiple ecosystem services. Study goals were to determine if perennial Thymus vulgaris L. was attractive to natural enemies and if so, could it be a dual use resource encouraging pest management and providing harvestable product. In 2018 plots in three locations were used to examine the effect of habitat throughout the growing season on the attractiveness of T. vulgaris. Large numbers of Thysanoptera and Hemiptera were collected in all locations, represented by phytophagous Aphididae and Thripidae, and predatory Anthocoridae. Location influenced other families to varying degrees. Seasonal specimen counts were influenced by vegetation density, floral phenology, and predator/prey relationships. In 2019 replicated plots of three treatments were used to examine if harvesting plant material affected the attractiveness of T. vulgaris to natural enemies. Total specimens in 2019 were not significantly different among treatments, indicating removal of blooms did not significantly affect the attractiveness of T. vulgaris. Significant numbers of Thysanoptera and Hemiptera were again collected in all treatments, represented by phytophagous Aphididae and Thripidae. Greater numbers of Diptera and Hymenoptera were also collected. Significant numbers of Thripidae, Aphididae, Mymaridae, and Platygastridae were found in the Family level analyses. Results from both years indicate T. vulgaris was attractive to natural enemy and phytophagous Families. Data from 2018 suggest natural enemy families were attracted to alternative prey and hosts utilizing the foliage rather than flowers but the use of nectar and pollen cannot be ruled out. Data from 2019 suggest the presence of flowers played an important role in the attractiveness of T. vulgaris to micro-hymenopteran parasitoids, Syrphidae, and native Apidae. In conclusion, Thymus vulgaris has the potential to be a dual use floral resource that benefits growers through supporting native enemy populations and pollination services, as well as provide income from the harvest of foliage. It could also be used as a beneficial, harvestable floral resource in urban gardens to encourage pollinator conservation and natural pest control.

<p>Rust fungi (Pucciniales) are plant pathogens that cause diseases on economically important crops worldwide and threaten native plants with extinction. Fungicides and disease-resistant plant varieties are the two primary options to control rust diseases. However, more aggressive rust races are emerging, and the current control methods are not as efficient at managing disease as they have been in the past. Thus, we must find other alternatives to keep rust fungi at low population levels to prevent high-yield losses and preserve our natural ecosystems. Biological control (BC) is one promising alternative to the current control methods. BC uses natural enemies (NEs), such as insects and microorganisms, to control pests and plant diseases. However, because the NEs of rust fungi are scarcely documented and not well characterized, using BC for rust diseases is not feasible with the current state of knowledge. Characterization studies of NEs of rust fungi are essential to select or discard potential biological control agents. How do NEs infect or feed the rust? Are NEs specific to rust species or genera? How diverse are they? and how adapted are they to different geographic regions? These are a few of the unresolved questions needed to answer to tap the potential of NEs in applied research for the biological control of rust diseases. This dissertation thesis had three aims: 1) to catalog the NEs of rust fungi from the Arthur Fungarium (PUR) rust collections emphasizing specimens from the Americas and providing barcoding sequences, photographs, and morphological descriptions. This was accomplished by thoroughly screening ca. 50% of the accepted rust genera collected over 200 years from across the globe and from 166 host plant families; 2) to describe new fungal species associated with rust fungi; and 3) to characterize the two most common NEs of rust fungi in aspects related to species diversity, host preference, geographic distribution, and antagonistic interactions. Of the 5,618 randomly screened rust specimens, we found 543 specimens with fungal NEs or hyperparasites. These belonged to the fungal genera <em>Helicobasidium</em>, <em>Ramularia</em>, <em>Sphaerellopsis</em>, <em>Simplicillium</em>, and <em>Trochila</em>. In addition to fungal antagonists, we found larvae of the gall midge <em>Mycodiplosis</em>, whose larval stage feeds rust spores, present in 287 specimens. Among these NEs, the fungal genus <em>Sphaerellopsis</em> and the fly larvae <em>Mycodiplosis</em> were the most commonly associated with rust fungi samples. Therefore, we focused on members of these two genera to determine their host-specificity, geographic distribution and describe early antagonistic interaction events. Our results suggest that members of <em>Sphaerellopsis</em> and <em>Mycodiplosis</em> do not prefer specific rust species or genera. Thus, further studies on non-target species are needed to determine how broad their host range is. In addition, we found that both NEs have a cosmopolitan distribution. However, the fly larvae of <em>Mycodiplosis</em> show distribution patterns, suggesting that some of these species are regionally restricted, especially in the Americas. This result is an exciting finding for conservation biological control where native NEs could be stimulated to increase their populations and control targeted pests. Thus, <em>Mycodiplosis</em> larvae may be a good candidate for local use to control rust diseases without introducing non-native invasive species to new environments. Lastly, we describe the antagonistic interaction events between <em>Sphaerellopsis macroconidialis</em> and the urediniospores of southern corn rust, <em>Puccinia polysora</em>. Although <em>S. macroconidialis </em>was reported as a NE of rust fungi, the nature of the interaction had not been previously described. Herein, we observed how the hyphae of <em>S. macroconidialis</em> grew along the urediniospores germinative tube and tightly coiled around this structure. We also observed a turgor loss of the germinative tube a few days after interacting with the NE. Overall, these results contribute significantly to the characterization of the NEs of rust fungi for further studies in biological control and to develop sustainable agronomical practices in controlling rust diseases.</p>

The dear enemy effect is a widespread behavioral phenomenon that promotes selective pacifism in order to minimize costs of territorial defense. The dear enemy hypothesis predicts heightened aggression towards unfamiliar conspecifics compared to familiar neighbors where territorial boundaries are established. The purpose of this study was to test the dear enemy hypothesis in Neolamprologus multifasciatus, a social cichlid fish endemic to the shell beds of Lake Tanganyika. They establish breeding groups that control distinct territories, each governed by a dominant male. Territories can be very densely spaced, and conspecific border intrusions generally trigger aggressive responses from the focal group. The dominant males are responsible for the majority of territory defense. In this field experiment, 27 breeding groups were each given two treatments, each consisting of artificial introduction of an out-of-group dominant male. One male originated from an immediately neighboring group, the other from a distant group.  A downward-facing camera recorded group members’ aggressivity exhibited towards the experimentally presented male. The behavior was manually scored according to a behavior ethogram and analyzed with either linear mixed effects models or generalized linear mixed effects models. No clear dear enemy effect was detected within Neolamprologus multifasciatus. Several reasons are proposed for this result. Firstly, a contingent “ceiling effect” in terms of aggressive behavior imaginably deterred efforts of dear enemy detection. Conversely, perhaps negligible necessity of stranger-neighbor recognition within Neolamprologus multifasciatus has resulted in discriminatory behavior being absent. In conclusion, no dear enemy effect was detected and future research will address possible alternative explanations.

Can Americans who join terrorist organizations and fight against United States troops be charged with treason? Does the January 6th riot in Washington D.C. constitute “levying war”? Despite ongoing acts of levying war, and providing aid and comfort to enemies, the United States has not had a treason conviction since the 1950's. Courts and prosecutors actively avoid the charge, leading to a substantial lack of case law and legal guidance. Today, legal scholars disagree on how the Treason Clause should be applied. In this thesis, I discuss the disappearance of treason, and analyze opposing views on how the treason charge should be utilized in the twenty-first century. Specifically, I argue that treason holds significant constitutional importance, and should return as a viable charge in criminal law.

No description available.

No description available.