Appendices for: Improper Signaling in Two-Path Relay Channels

This document contains the appendices for our work which is submitted to 2017 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) Workshop on Full-Duplex Communications for Future Wireless Networks, Paris, France

Context at the International Criminal Court

In this article, I propose a contextual approach to ICC jurisdiction normatively to be adopted by the Court’s Office of the Prosecutor and Pre-Trial Chamber in investigating and eventually prosecuting crimes under the Rome Statute. Under this contextual approach, I contend that both the Prosecutor and Pre-Trial Chamber are able to consider evidence outside the traditional notions of territorial and temporal jurisdiction to conceptualize a conflict in its entirety. The totality of cross-border and inter-temporal evidence should be considered when deciding whether to investigate attacks that the Prosecutor has a reasonable basis to believe fall within the Court’s jurisdiction. Procedurally, the multi-step jurisdictional framework, the “Funnel Approach,”—beginning with the preliminary examination of a situation and proceeding to issuing an arrest warrant—provides flexibility to admit extra-jurisdictional evidence. Textually, the open-ended ‘gravity’ threshold does not limit the Prosecutor in considering evidence within the Rome Statute’s territorial or temporal limitations

Risk perception of antimicrobial resistance by infection control specialists in Europe: a case-vignette study

Background Using case-vignettes, we assessed the perception of European infection control (IC) specialists regarding the individual and collective risk associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among inpatients. Methods In this study, sixteen case-vignettes were developed to simulate hospitalised patient scenarios in the field of AMR and IC. A total of 245 IC specialists working in different hospitals from 15 European countries were contacted, among which 149 agreed to participate in the study. Using an online database, each participant scored five randomly-assigned case-vignettes, regarding the perceived risk associated with six different multidrug resistant organisms (MDRO). The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), varying from 0 (poor) to 1 (perfect), was used to assess the agreement for the risk on a 7-point Likert scale. High risk and low/neutral risk scorers were compared regarding their national, organisational and individual characteristics. Results Between January and May 2017, 149 participants scored 655 case-vignettes. The perceptions of the individual (clinical outcome) and collective (spread) risks were consistently lower than other MDRO for extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae cases and higher for carbapenemase producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) cases. Regarding CPE cases, answers were influenced more by the resistance pattern (93%) than for other MDRO. The risk associated with vancomycin resistant Enterococci cases was considered higher for the collective impact than for the individual outcome (63% vs 40%). The intra-country agreement regarding the individual risk was globally poor varying from 0.00 (ICC: 0–0.25) to 0.51 (0.18–0.85). The overall agreement across countries was poor at 0.20 (0.07–0.33). IC specialists working in hospitals preserved from MDROs perceived a higher individual (local, p = 0.01; national, p < 0.01) and collective risk (local and national p < 0.01) than those frequently exposed to bacteraemia. Conversely, IC specialists working in hospitals with a high MDRO clinical burden had a decreased risk perception. Conclusions The perception of the risk associated with AMR varied greatly across IC specialists and countries, relying on contextual factors including the epidemiology. IC specialists working in high prevalence areas may underestimate both the individual and collective risks, and might further negatively promote the MDRO spread. These finding highlight the need to shape local and national control strategies according to risk perceptions and contextual factors

Transnational Perspectives on the Paris Climate Agreement Beyond Paris: Redressing American Defaults in Caring for Earth’s Biosphere

Anxiety about the fate of human civilization is rising. International Law has an essential role to play in sustaining community of nations. Without enhancing International Environmental Law, the biosphere that sustains all nations is imperiled. Laws in the United States can either impede or advance global environmental stewardship. What is entailed in such a choice? The biosphere is changing. At a time when extraordinary technological prowess allows governments the capacity to know how deeply they are altering Earth\u27s biosphere, nations experience a perverse inability to cooperate together. The Arctic is melting rapidly, with knock on effects for sea level rise and alterations in the hydro-logic cycle world-wide. As both the UN Global Environment Outlook (Geo-5) or the Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Global Warming 1.5° C” indicate, global environmental trends are destabilizing and can overwhelm societies on each continent. Governments do not respond effectively. Their tepid response to climate change, as embodied in the Paris Agreement of 2015, is the best evidence that States need to reassess their cooperation. Shallow considerations of realpolitik no longer suffice. Nor do otherwise conventional questions, born of once sound practices from the “business as usual” eras, about how governments might methodically shape new treaties or incrementally advance international law while Earth\u27s biosphere rapidly degrade. States will need to rediscover the benefits and burdens of international cooperation. The aspirational norms of the United Nations Charter are still in force, albeit too little encouraged. More than needing reaffirmation, they require progressive development. Collaborative principles of law can be framed to provide the shared vision that States will require as the Earth\u27s human population grows from 7.6 billion today toward 9.8 billion by 2050. This article suggests the contributions that international environmental law can made toward this objective

Human Inborn Errors of Immunity: 2019 Update of the IUIS Phenotypical Classification.

Since 2013, the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) expert committee (EC) on Inborn Errors of Immunity (IEI) has published an updated phenotypic classification of IEI, which accompanies and complements their genotypic classification into ten tables. This phenotypic classification is user-friendly and serves as a resource for clinicians at the bedside. There are now 430 single-gene IEI underlying phenotypes as diverse as infection, malignancy, allergy, autoimmunity, and autoinflammation. We herein report the 2019 phenotypic classification, including the 65 new conditions. The diagnostic algorithms are based on clinical and laboratory phenotypes for each of the ten broad categories of IEI

Study on 3GPP Rural Macrocell Path Loss Models for Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications

Little research has been done to reliably model millimeter wave (mmWave) path loss in rural macrocell settings, yet, models have been hastily adopted without substantial empirical evidence. This paper studies past rural macrocell (RMa) path loss models and exposes concerns with the current 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) TR 38.900 (Release 14) RMa path loss models adopted from the International Telecommunications Union - Radiocommunications (ITU-R) Sector. This paper shows how the 3GPP RMa large-scale path loss models were derived for frequencies below 6 GHz, yet they are being asserted for use up to 30 GHz, even though there has not been sufficient work or published data to support their validity at frequencies above 6 GHz or in the mmWave bands. We present the background of the 3GPP RMa path loss models and their use of odd correction factors not suitable for rural scenarios, and show that the multi-frequency close-in free space reference distance (CI) path loss model is more accurate and reliable than current 3GPP and ITU-R RMa models. Using field data and simulations, we introduce a new close-in free space reference distance with height dependent path loss exponent model (CIH), that predicts rural macrocell path loss using an effective path loss exponent that is a function of base station antenna height. This work shows the CI and CIH models can be used from 500 MHz to 100 GHz for rural mmWave coverage and interference analysis, without any discontinuity at 6 GHz as exists in today's 3GPP and ITU-R RMa models.Comment: To be published in 2017 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Paris, France, May 201

The STROBE extensions: protocol for a qualitative assessment of content and a survey of endorsement

Introduction The STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement was developed in response to inadequate reporting of observational studies. In recent years, several extensions to STROBE have been created to provide more nuanced field-specific guidance for authors. The content and the prevalence of extension endorsement have not yet been assessed. Accordingly, there are two aims: (1) to classify changes made in the extensions to identify strengths and weaknesses of the original STROBE checklist and (2) to determine the prevalence and typology of endorsement by journals in fields related to extensions. Methods and analysis Two independent researchers will assess additions in each extension. Additions will be coded as â field specific' (FS) or â not field specific' (NFS). FS is defined as particularly relevant information for a single field and guidance provided generally cannot be extrapolated beyond that field. NFS is defined as information that reflects epidemiological or methodological tenets and can be generalised to most, if not all, types of observational research studies. Intraclass correlation will be calculated to measure reviewers' concordance. On disagreement, consensus will be sought. Individual additions will be grouped by STROBE checklist items to identify the frequency and distribution of changes. Journals in fields related to extensions will be identified through National Library of Medicine PubMed Broad Subject Terms, screened for eligibility and further distilled via Ovid MEDLINE® search strategies for observational studies. Text describing endorsement will be extracted from each journal's website. A classification scheme will be created for endorsement types and the prevalence of endorsement will be estimated. Analyses will use NVivo V.11 and SAS University Edition. Ethics and dissemination This study does not require ethical approval as it does not involve human participants. This study has been preregistered on Open Science Framework.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Cognitive Connectivity Resilience in Multi-layer Remotely Deployed Mobile Internet of Things

Enabling the Internet of things in remote areas without traditional communication infrastructure requires a multi-layer network architecture. The devices in the overlay network are required to provide coverage to the underlay devices as well as to remain connected to other overlay devices. The coordination, planning, and design of such two-layer heterogeneous networks is an important problem to address. Moreover, the mobility of the nodes and their vulnerability to adversaries pose new challenges to the connectivity. For instance, the connectivity of devices can be affected by changes in the network, e.g., the mobility of the underlay devices or the unavailability of overlay devices due to failure or adversarial attacks. To this end, this work proposes a feedback based adaptive, self-configurable, and resilient framework for the overlay network that cognitively adapts to the changes in the network to provide reliable connectivity between spatially dispersed smart devices. Our results show that if sufficient overlay devices are available, the framework leads to a connected configuration that ensures a high coverage of the mobile underlay network. Moreover, the framework can actively reconfigure itself in the event of varying levels of device failure.Comment: To appear in IEEE Global Communications Conference (Globecom 2017