Militarized interstate disputes are united historical cases of conflict in which the threat, display or use of military force short of war by one member state is explicitly directed towards the government, oficial representatives, oficial forces, property, or territory of another state. Disputes are composed of incidents that range in intensity from threats to use force to actual combat short of war. The new dispute data set generated by the Correlates of War project contains information on over 2,000 such disputes found to have occurred in the period . As in the earlier version of the data set, the participants, start and end dates, fatality totals, and hostility levels for each dispute are identified, but the newer version disaggregatcs this information for each participant and provides additional information about the revisionist state(s), type(s) of revision sought, outcome, and method of settlement for each dispute. A preliminary analysis of the data shows some interesting empircal patterns. Contagion and a slight upward trend are found in the frequency of disputes at the system level. The duration of disputes appears to be positively associated with the level of hostility reached and the number of states involved, and disputes appear to have a feud-like character. The single most important factor found to increase the fatality level of a dispute is the number of states that join after its onset. However, most disputes begin and end as one-on-onc confrontations, and this tendency is stronger in the current period than in the past. An examination of dispute escalation reveals that many disputes begin with uses of force rather than less intense threats or displays of force and that states joining an ongoing dispute raise the likelihood that the dispute will reach higher levels of hostility. With respect to the settlement of disputes it was found that the longer a dispute continues, the higher the likelihood of some settlement, either negotiated or imposed, being achieved, althogh there is a discernable trend away from such settlements over the period studied. A related trend was found with respect to the outcome of disputes as stalemate has become a much more likely outcome in the present than in the past. 163

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This paper discusses the problem of assigning tasks to a variety of differently-configured aircraft -aircraft of different types and carrying very different weapon loads. A multi-objective optimization algorithm is proposed which takes into account all of the relevant properties of the aircraft and the available weapons. Specifically, it includes limitations due to the aircraft's speed, time on station and the number of weapons available. The algorithm also allows for the need to define different priorities for different targets and requirements for co-operative laser designation for certain targets. The paper also discusses the need for supplementary algorithms to validate the optimal solution proposed by the assignment algorithm.

<div>Abstract<p>Metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1), a component of the nuclear remodeling complex and the founding homologue of the MTA family, has been implicated in metastasis, but definitive causative evidence in an animal model system is currently lacking. Here, we show that MTA1 overexpression in transgenic mice is accompanied by a high incidence of spontaneous B cell lymphomas including diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL). Lymphocytes and lymphoma cells from MTA1-TG mice are hyperproliferative. Lymphomas were transplantable and of clonal origin and were characterized by down-regulation of p27Kip1 as well as up-regulation of Bcl2 and cyclin D1. The significance of these murine studies was established by evidence showing a widespread up-regulation of MTA1 in DLBCL from humans. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized role for the MTA1 pathway in the development of spontaneous B cell lymphomas, and offer a potential therapeutic target in B cell lymphomas. These observations suggest that MTA1-TG mice represent a new model of spontaneous DLBCL associated with high tumor incidence and could be used for therapeutic intervention studies. [Cancer Res 2007;67(15):7062–7]</p></div>

Supplementary Tables 1-4, Figures 1-4, Legends and Methods from Metastasis-Associated Protein 1 Transgenic Mice: A New Model of Spontaneous B-Cell Lymphomas