Just war and military morale: a brief reflection on the correlation between the legality of war and the moral repercussions for members of US and UK forces arising from the questionable legality of the campaign Iraqi Freedom of March 2003

Does it matter to a member of the military whether the military campaign in which he is taking part is lawful or not? Despite the observation that the crime of aggression (post Kampala 2010) constitutes a ‘leadership crime par excellence,’ which limits any (future) criminal responsibility accordingly, the legality or illegality of any military action under international law can create moral implications for the common foot soldier and mid-level officer and also have a tangible impact on the national legal frameworks under which these forces operate. This short article uses the example of Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003) to discuss the repercussions of a—most likely—illegal military campaign for individual members of democratic armed forces before the background of the present discussion of NATO led action in Libya

Conformational Mechanics of Polymer Adsorption Transitions at Attractive Substrates

Conformational phases of a semiflexible off-lattice homopolymer model near an attractive substrate are investigated by means of multicanonical computer simulations. In our polymer-substrate model, nonbonded pairs of monomers as well as monomers and the substrate interact via attractive van der Waals forces. To characterize conformational phases of this hybrid system, we analyze thermal fluctuations of energetic and structural quantities, as well as adequate docking parameters. Introducing a solvent parameter related to the strength of the surface attraction, we construct and discuss the solubility-temperature phase diagram. Apart from the main phases of adsorbed and desorbed conformations, we identify several other phase transitions such as the freezing transition between energy-dominated crystalline low-temperature structures and globular entropy-dominated conformations.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figure

Quantum Monte Carlo Method for Attractive Coulomb Potentials

Starting from an exact lower bound on the imaginary-time propagator, we present a Path-Integral Quantum Monte Carlo method that can handle singular attractive potentials. We illustrate the basic ideas of this Quantum Monte Carlo algorithm by simulating the ground state of hydrogen and helium.Comment: 7 pages, 3 table

CIRCULAR DICHROISM OF LIGHT-HARVESTING COMPLEXES FROM PURPLE PHOTOSYNTHETIC BACTERIA

The CD spectra of a range of antenna complexes from several different species of purple photosynthetic bacteria were recorded in the wavelength range of 190 to 930 nm. Analysis of the far UV CD (190 to 250 nm) showed that in each case except for the B800-850 from Chr. vinosum the secondary structure of the light-harvesting complexes contains a large amount of α-helix (50%) and very little 0-pleated sheet. This confirms the predictions of the group of Zuber of a high a-helical content based upon consideration of the primary structures of several antenna apoproteins. The CD spectra from the carotenoids and the bacteriochlorophylls show considerable variations depending upon the type of antenna complex. The different amplitude ratios in the CD spectrum for the bacteriochlorophyll Qy, Qx and Soret bands indicate not only different degrees of exciton coupling, but also a strong and variable hyperchromism (Scherz and Parson, 1984a, b)

To relate surface properties and surface elemental composition - Application of XPS in soil science

Soil particles always are coated by thin layers (nm to µm) of predominantly organic compounds that form the interface between particle and pore space and govern soil functioning (e.g. liquid transport, sorption, respiration). Chemical modification of the surface layer can change surface properties such as wettability (quantified in terms of contact angle CA) with implications for e.g. liquid distribution and sorption capacity. This points to the importance to specifically analyze the coating's chemical composition in order to better understand soil functioning. The shallow analysis depth (max. 10 nm) indicates X ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as a suitable tool. Here, all elements with Z ≥ 3 will be identified by the binding energy of the photoelectrons emitted after irradiation of the surface by X rays. In sensu stricto only applicable to flat and smooth surfaces our results so far prove applicability of XPS as well to rough surfaces such as soil particles. For XPS no sample pre-treatment is needed, i.e. the surfaces analyzed are those governing e.g. CA and sorption. The relation between surface elemental composition and CA could be demonstrated within a soil chronosequence where the changes of surface element contents due to an increasing coating of the particles by organic compounds and microorganisms were correlated to increasing CA. The surface O/C ratio could be identified as a general parameter linking surface chemical composition and CA for a wide range of different materials including hydrophobized glass slides while the amount of non-polar C species was indicated to define CA. Artificially induced modifications of surface properties became visible by changes in the surface elemental composition. Gentle crushing of soil microaggregates (SMA) resulted in slightly increased N contents hinting on a preferred location of N compounds within SMA. Exposition to HCl gas to decrease soil pH or cleaning of quartz sand by HCl treatment resulted in addition of Cl and removal of Fe, respectively. However, due to its high surface sensitivity XPS measures the presence of C species on all surfaces exposed to the environment (adventitious carbon AC). AC was found to complicate the verification of sorption of small amounts of organic acids to montmorillonite, pointing on the necessity to estimate the influence of AC in certain cases. On the other hand, detection of AC indicates AC as a factor to be considered when discussing surface properties

Variational Approach to Hydrogen Atom in Uniform Magnetic Field of Arbitrary Strength

Extending the Feynman-Kleinert variational approach, we calculate the temperature-dependent effective classical potential governing the quantum statistics of a hydrogen atom in a uniform magnetic at all temperatures. The zero-temperature limit yields the binding energy of the electron which is quite accurate for all magnetic field strengths and exhibits, in particular, the correct logarithmic growth at large fields.Comment: Author Information under this http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/institution.html Latest update of paper also at this http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/30

Co-axial dual-core resonant leaky fibre for optical amplifiers

We present a co-axial dual-core resonant leaky optical fibre design, in which the outer core is made highly leaky. A suitable choice of parameters can enable us to resonantly couple power from the inner core to the outer core. In a large-core fibre, such a resonant coupling can considerably increase the differential leakage loss between the fundamental and the higher order modes and can result in effective single-mode operation. In a small-core single-mode fibre, such a coupling can lead to sharp increase in the wavelength dependent leakage loss near the resonant wavelength and can be utilized for the suppression of amplified spontaneous emission and thereby gain equalization of an optical amplifier. We study the propagation characteristics of the fibre using the transfer matrix method and present an example of each, the large-mode-area design for high power amplifiers and the wavelength tunable leakage loss design for inherent gain equalization of optical amplifiers.Comment: 6 page

Review of the Neotropical millipede genus Pycnotropis CARL, 1914 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Aphelidesmidae)

A review of Pycnotropis is presented, with the description of 14 new species: P. goeldii n.sp., P. madeira n.sp., P. sigma n.sp. and P. urucu n.sp., all from Brazil, P. carli n.sp. from Ecuador, P. curvata n.sp., P. falcata n.sp., P. jeekeli n.sp., P. pallidicornis n.sp., P. similis n.sp., P. subfalcata n. sp., P. unapi n.sp., P. torresi n.sp. and P. zumbii n.sp., all from Peru. P. acuticollis (ATTEMS, 1899), is redescribed upon the holotype from Brazil. Based on abundant strictly topotypic material, P. tida (CHAMBERLIN, l94l), is considered as a subjective senior synonym of P. epiclysmus HOFFMAN, 1995 (syn.n.). A key has been compiled to all 26 species of this diverse genus, with notes on its distribution