Search

Soybean is a crucial source of food, protein, and oil worldwide that is facing challenges from biotic stresses. Infestation of Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) stands out as detrimentally affecting plant growth and grain production. Understanding soybean responses to T. urticae infestation is pivotal for unravelling the dynamics of mite–plant interactions. We evaluated the physiological and molecular responses of soybean plants to mite infestation after 5 and 21 days. We employed visual/microscopy observations of leaf damage, H2O2 accumulation, and lipid peroxidation. Additionally, the impact of mite infestation on shoot length/dry weight, chlorophyll concentration, and development stages was analysed. Proteomic analysis identified differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) after early (5 days) and late (21 days) infestation. Furthermore, GO, KEGG, and protein–protein interaction analyses were performed to understand effects on metabolic pathways. Throughout the analysed period, symptoms of leaf damage, H2O2 accumulation, and lipid peroxidation consistently increased. Mite infestation reduced shoot length/dry weight, chlorophyll concentration, and development stage duration. Proteomics revealed 185 and 266 DAPs after early and late mite infestation, respectively, indicating a complex remodelling of metabolic pathways. Photorespiration, chlorophyll synthesis, amino acid metabolism, and Krebs cycle/energy production were impacted after both early and late infestation. Additionally, specific metabolic pathways were modified only after early or late infestation. This study underscores the detrimental effects of mite infestation on soybean physiology and metabolism. DAPs offer potential in breeding programs for enhanced resistance. Overall, this research highlights the complex nature of soybean response to mite infestation, providing insights for intervention and breeding strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As NATO marks its 75th anniversary it is facing a future more uncertain than at any point since the end of the Cold War. The European security environment is changed and challenged by the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, while the Israel-Gaza war poses further challenges. Given this critical moment, this article offers a strategic intervention to highlight and reinforce the essential role of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda in defence and deterrence, including through the integration of a gender perspective, for NATO members and partners. It does so by bringing together former Chairs of the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives (NCGP) into conversation about the continued importance of NATO's oldest committee in ensuring NATO's future approach to WPS is fit for purpose. Drawing upon their reflections and insights, we recommend policy points to embed and advance WPS and the gender perspective in NATO's response to this new security environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper's purpose is to systematically analyse and understand the complexity of strategic-level stakeholder management within defence. Empirical data was collected via a rigorous systematic literature review of 10,369 manuscripts contained within the Web of Science, with 206 A1 studies constituting the final paper set. This was followed by bibliometric and maturity analysis leading to extraction, synthesis and integration of insights. In doing so, knowledge on defence stakeholders is consolidated beyond the traditional field of political science. The results illuminate aspects of stakeholder network complexity, including stakeholders that need to be better understood and holistic frameworks important for contextualising initiatives. Further, the need to move beyond bilaterally-focussed relationships towards the consideration of the larger ecosystem is emphasized. Finally, managers are encouraged to internalise engagement capabilities, able to continuously balance diverse stakeholder cultures and interests. Thereby, contributions are made towards the development of descriptive, instrumental and normative stakeholder theory within defence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Aussen- und Sicherheitspolitik is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Our research is a value sensitive based approach to designing autonomous systems in a military context. Value sensitive design is an iterative process of conceptual, empirical and technical considerations. We enhance value sensitive design with Participatory Value Evaluation. This allows us to mine values of a large unorganized stakeholder group relevant to our context of research, namely Australian citizens. We found that value prioritizations differ depending on the context of use and that no one value fits all autonomous systems. General ethical frameworks can serve as high level guiding principles, but when it comes to actual technologies, a more nuanced and granulated approach to selecting and incorporating values is needed. Our research contributes to a greater awareness of the importance of inclusion of values in autonomous systems design in the context of defence. We suggest relevant frameworks and methods for values-based autonomous military systems design in the context of Australia, which may serve as a blueprint for other countries. Finally, we provide suggestions on how to operationalise values in systems design, as this is underrepresented in the current literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the consistently positive rhetoric surrounding the Trans-Tasman alliance, this article identifies three trends contributing to a growing strategic divergence in the relationship that threaten its very viability. First, Australia's engagement with numerous new security groupings over the past decade has diminished the relative importance of its ties with New Zealand. Second, the ‘strategic personalities' of these antipodean allies are diverging, driven by a widening gap in their defence expenditures and increasingly distinct strategic relationships with the United States. Third, the article highlights how Canberra and New Zealand have embraced different visions for Asia’s strategic future, reflecting and exacerbating their divergence. The article concludes with policy recommendations aimed at understanding and addressing the deepening drift in Trans-Tasman strategic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of China combined with a growing "America First" approach to US foreign policy has generated a debate in Australia about the status of the alliance with the United States. This article contributes to this debate by exploring what a Plan B, for Australian security outside the alliance, might look like. It assesses existing scholarship on the subject, highlighting how recent arguments that Australia can "go it alone" are fundamentally flawed as they fail to address requirements to protect the economic and human security of Australians. The article goes on to examine why it is still necessary to consider a Plan B, and what Australia's core national interests are. It emphasises the importance of protecting the lives and livelihoods of Australians, as opposed to the pure focus on the territorial defence of Australia that has marked out much of the existing literature. This leads the article to conclude that, outside the US alliance, Australia would need to rely on a more holistic concept of security, and less on a military approach. It concludes by putting forward suggestions for how Australia could provide itself with security outside the US alliance, primarily through building resilience and adopting a form of neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual property law is a relatively new institution in Ukrainian law. As of today, the fundamental issues of intellectual property have remained debatable and in need of updating and improvement. The difficulties with the legal regulation of intellectual property are connected both with the constantly expanding range of objects and with the increase in the scope of rights and freedoms of participants in civil and economic turnover. No less important issues of effective regulation of the national intellectual property system have been related to the Association agreement between the European Union and its member states, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part. Also, in Ukraine, a whole series of problems of legal regulation of intellectual property is caused by a significant historical period during which intangible objects as an economic category did not exist, and therefore did not require protection. After the restoration of the independence of our State, the development of legislation on the defence of intellectual property began. Building an effective intellectual property system in Ukraine is an important stage and prerequisite for the integration of our country into the European community. After the restoration of Ukraine's independence, our legislation in the field of intellectual property underwent serious changes and reforms. The Constitution of Ukraine provided that citizens are guaranteed freedom of literary, artistic, scientific and technical creativity, protection of intellectual property, their copyrights, moral and material interests arising in connection with various types of intellectual activity. Every citizen has the right to the results of his intellectual and creative activity; no one can use or distribute them without his consent, with exceptions established by law. Intellectual property relations in Ukraine are regulated by both national legislation and international legal acts. The terms «protection» and «defence», which are often used interchangeably, are not identical. At the same time, the prospects for improving the legislation of Ukraine on the protection of intellectual property include its harmonization with the law of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European defence market can be described as a geoeconomically relevant sector that forms part of Europe's overall economy, not least in the way that it is a producer of military capabilities and technologies and a repository of scientific skills. Traditionally, European Union (EU)‐level steps to support and liberalise the sector have reflected a regulatory approach marked by soft law, but in recent years, the EU has also developed financial tools to incentivise defence co‐operation. Looking specifically at the European Defence Fund (EDF), this article views this transition as evidence of a 'geoeconomic turn' in European defence market policy that is a response to structural challenges related to technology control, security of supply and geopolitical competition. Employing relative gains theory and liberal intergovernmentalism, this article charts the transition from market liberalisation to industrial policy in EU defence market initiatives based on specific intra‐ and extra‐political dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the analysis of the criminal procedure legislation and generalisation of theoretical developments, the article identifies some peculiarities of legal regulation of the institute of special criminal proceedings (in absentia). The author identifies the categories of cases (types of criminal offences) and procedural grounds which are sufficient to initiate a pre-trial investigation in the form of special criminal proceedings. The need to exclude certain articles from the list of those listed in part 2 of Article 297-1 of the CPC of Ukraine in order to bring them in line with the provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is emphasised. The peculiarities of defence counsel’s participation in special pre-trial investigation and court proceedings are analysed. It is determined that a defence counsel in such cases benefits from all the rights guaranteed to a suspect or an accused person in criminal proceedings. In view of this, and in the context of ensuring such fundamental principles of criminal proceedings as the right to defence, adversarial proceedings, observance of human rights and freedoms, access to justice, etc., the author emphasises the need to amend the current criminal procedure legislation to ensure that the defence counsel can appeal against the investigating judge's decision to conduct a special pre-trial investigation The problematic issues of defence counsel's participation are characterised, and the inadmissibility of his/her formal participation in criminal proceedings is emphasised. It is determined that the active actions to be taken by the defence counsel involved include familiarisation with the case file, choosing the defence position, participation in the trial and examination of evidence, participation in the debates, etc. The author emphasises the need for further research on the development of the practice of active participation of defence counsel in special criminal proceedings.

In the dynamic landscape of global security, NATO's strategic framework places a great emphasis on resilience as an important element of deterrence and defence. This paper delves into the multifaceted nature of resilience within the NATO context, exploring its integration as both a principle and a practical commitment across the Alliance. Resilience, defined for the purposes of this article as the ability of societies to resist and rapidly recover from major shocks, extends beyond mere disaster response, encompassing a sophisticated blend of civil preparedness and military capacity. This approach is not only critical for NATO's collective security but also reflects the shared responsibility and commitment of member states to bolster individual and collective capabilities against a broad spectrum of threats. In addressing the role of resilience in NATO's deterrence and defence posture, the paper examines key aspects, including the reliance on civilian resources for military logistics, the impact of NATO operations on national critical infrastructure, and the need for efficient coordination to prevent systemic failures. This is illustrated through various analytical tools such as the Ishikawa Diagram and SWOT analysis, which provide insights into the interconnected elements of resilience and the strategic challenges faced by NATO.

Documents of a classified nature may be of a contentious nature, the paper focusing on those concerning the service relationships of active officers. In the event of a dispute arising, the question arises as to the extent to which a plaintiff is able to mount an effective defence if he cannot know their content and whether he can be granted guarantees equivalent to respect for the right to a fair trial. Restricting the lawyer's access to important documents in a case affects to a large extent the represented party. In the European countries, the situation regarding conditional access to classified documents from the point of view of lawyers and parties against whom such documents are issued is similar, in that it is recognised that the principle of adversarial proceedings and the rights of the defence must be limited because of the need to protect national security. From a procedural point of view, it is important that the general principles of adversarial proceedings, equality, orality, non-disclosure and publicity are respected in every dispute. In this context, noting the difficulties that arise in the work of the court due to restricted access to classified documents, I have tried to identify guarantees equivalent to respect for the right to a fair trial in the cases referred to in the title of the paper, analysing national case law, that provided by the ECtHR and studies of doctrine. In accordance with these, I have developed equivalent guarantees compatible with Romanian law: the possibility of challenging the classification of the document, the request for declassification of classified information, the right of the interested party to be assisted by an ORNISS-certified lawyer and the possibility for the accused to participate in proceedings which reveal the content of classified documents.

The relevance of this study is conditioned by the accession of Sweden and Finland to the North Atlantic Al- liance, which has changed the European security system. The purpose of this study was to analyse the consequences of Finland and Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance for the European Union’s security system. The study used the methods of analysis and synthesis, comparison, and the abstract logical method. The study found that the reasons for the analysed countries’ accession to the Alliance were geopolitical, historical, and military-strategic. The key reasons for Sweden and Finland’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance include Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, their proximity and shared borders with Russia, a strategy of neutrality that was losing its effectiveness, and the merger of the countries’ military-industrial complexes. This accession radically changed the security system of Europe. It was found that the ac- cession of Finland and Sweden to the North Atlantic Alliance had both positive and negative consequences for the overall security system of European countries. On the one hand, the accession of these countries to the North Atlantic Alliance and the integration of their military forces into the Alliance helped to improve military capabilities, especially in the Baltic region, where the Allies did not have sufficient military power. On the other hand, the accession of new countries to the Alliance has also had negative consequences, such as complicating the defence decision-making process and increasing the confrontation between the Alliance countries in northern Europe and Russia. The findings of this study are of practical importance, as they present a holistic picture of changes in the European security system and can be used in practice by the legislative bodies of Ukraine in developing and implementing the country’s foreign policy