The Path Forward for the International Criminal Court: Questions Searching for Answers

In June 2018, the International Criminal Court (ICC) appeals chamber reversed what had been the court’s most significant verdict: a 2016 conviction of a former Congolese vice-president, Jean-Pierre Bemba, for crimes committed in the Central African Republic. This was significant because it was the court’s first conviction for crimes of sexual and gender-based violence and on the basis of command responsibility, and because Bemba was among the most senior-ranking officials to appear for trial at the court.2 An acquittal needs to be understood as a legitimate outcome to any justice process, but, in context, the decision touched off alarm bells about the health of the institution. (citations omitted

The Use of Force against Rogue States

The article focuses on use of force law which has evolved with respect to the kinds of threats posed by the two categories of rogue states

Foreword: Atrocity Prevention: The Role of International Law and Justice

The issue of atrocity prevention has taken something of a beating in the last few years, a victim perhaps of the transactional approach to security and other foreign policy issues that seem to be engulfing us. Yet this is an issue that cannot go away. Its staying power is a testament to its deep moral roots. The horrors of the Holocaust and the knowledge of the capacity of man for cruelty to his fellow man will haunt the world forever. The experience of our modern history– in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and elsewhere – leave no doubt that mankind has not yet fulfilled to pledge of “never again” to the kinds of horrors that one would have hoped had been relegated to the dust heap of history. Men and women of good conscience must not avert their attention

Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling optimization enabled by automated feedback

An automated, droplet-flow microfluidic system explores and optimizes Pd-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions. A smart optimal DoE-based algorithm is implemented to increase the turnover number and yield of the catalytic system considering both discrete variables—palladacycle and ligand—and continuous variables—temperature, time, and loading—simultaneously. The use of feedback allows for experiments to be run with catalysts and under conditions more likely to produce an optimum; consequently complex reaction optimizations are completed within 96 experiments. Response surfaces predicting reaction performance near the optima are generated and validated. From the screening results, shared attributes of successful precatalysts are identified, leading to improved understanding of the influence of ligand selection upon transmetalation and oxidative addition in the reaction mechanism. Dialkylbiarylphosphine, trialkylphosphine, and bidentate ligands are assessed.Novartis-MIT Center for Continuous ManufacturingNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Novartis-MIT Center for Continuous Manufacturing. Grants CHE-9808061 and DBI-9729592)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Postdoctoral Fellowship GM112218

Atom chips on direct bonded copper substrates

We present the use of direct bonded copper (DBC) for the straightforward fabrication of high power atom chips. Atom chips using DBC have several benefits: excellent copper/substrate adhesion, high purity, thick (> 100 microns) copper layers, high substrate thermal conductivity, high aspect ratio wires, the potential for rapid (< 8 hr) fabrication, and three dimensional atom chip structures. Two mask options for DBC atom chip fabrication are presented, as well as two methods for etching wire patterns into the copper layer. The wire aspect ratio that optimizes the magnetic field gradient as a function of power dissipation is determined to be 0.84:1 (height:width). The optimal wire thickness as a function of magnetic trapping height is also determined. A test chip, able to support 100 A of current for 2 s without failing, is used to determine the thermal impedance of the DBC. An assembly using two DBC atom chips to provide magnetic confinement is also shown.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Assessing the Psychometric Properties of the WHO-DAS 2.0 in an American Indian Community

American Indians and Alaska Natives report disability at rates higher than the general United States population. This disproportionate prevalence of disability warrants further investigation. We therefore administered the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) to 119 Akwesasne Mohawk adults over 50 years of age residing along the St. Lawrence River in New York. We used exploratory factor analysis to summarize the 36-items comprising the WHODAS 2.0. The 7 factors retained by the analyses correspond to the 6 summary domains of disability, suggesting that the data are sound and measure the intended constructs. Our assessment concludes that WHODAS 2.0 is a valid tool for assessing disability within this American Indian population

\u3ci\u3eTalking Foreign Policy\u3c/i\u3e: Responding to Rogue States

Talking Foreign Policy is a one-hour radio program, hosted by the Dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Michael Scharf, in which experts discuss important foreign policy issues.The purpose of the radio show is to cover some of the most salient foreign policy topics and discuss them in a way that can make it easier for listeners to grasp. Talking Foreign Policy is recorded in the WCPN 90.3 Ideastream studio, Cleveland\u27s NPR affiliate. Michael Scharf is joined each session with a few expert colleagues known for their ability to discuss complex topics in an easy-to-digest manner: The ambassador: Todd F. Buchwald, former Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice and Assistant Legal Adviser for U.N. Affairs, and current fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars The prosecutor: James Johnson, former Chief of Prosecutions of the Special Court of Sierra Leone and current the Director of the War Crimes Research Office at Case Western Reserve University The international law guru: Milena Sterio, Associate Dean at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law The negotiator: Paul R. Williams, president of the Public International Law and Policy Grou