Introduction

Efforts to work against the practice of impunity for major international crimes and violations of fundamental human rights and to develop international guidelines against the practice are discussed

International Crimes: Jus Cogens and Obligatio Erga Omnes

There are both gaps and weaknesses in the various sources of International Criminal Law in norms and enforcement modalities. A comprehensive international codification would solve these problems, but this is not forthcoming

Mise en perspective des contributions des DG et des DSI dans la dyna-mique de l’alignement stratégique des TIC sous le prisme de la culture individuelle

International audienc

Finite Volume Cumulant Expansion in QCD-Colorless Plasma

Due to the finite size effects, the localisation of the phase transition in finite systems and the determination of its order, become an extremely difficult task, even in the simplest known cases. In order to identify and locate the finite volume transition point $T_{0}(V)$ of the QCD deconfinement phase transition to a Colorless QGP, we have developed a new approach using the finite size cumulant expansion of the order parameter and the $L_{mn}$-method. The first six cumulants $C_{1,2,3,4,5,6}$ with the corresponding under-normalized ratios(skewness $\Sigma$, kurtosis $\kappa$ ,pentosis $\Pi_{\pm}$ and hexosis $\mathcal{H}_{1,2,3}$) and three unnormalized combinations of them ($\mathcal{O}={\mathcal{\sigma }^{2} \mathcal{\kappa } }{\mathbf{\Sigma }^{-1} }$, $\mathcal{U} ={\mathcal{\sigma }^{-2} \mathbf{\Sigma }^{-1} }$, $\mathcal{N} = \mathcal{\sigma }^{2} \mathcal{\kappa }$) are calculated and studied as functions of $(T,V)$. A new approach, unifying in a clear and consistent way the definitions of cumulant ratios, is proposed. A numerical FSS analysis of the obtained results has allowed us to locate accurately the finite volume transition point. The extracted transition temperature value $T_{0}(V)$ agrees with that expected $T_{0}^{N}(V)$ from the order parameter and the thermal susceptibility $\chi _{T}\left( T,V\right)$, according to the standard procedure of localization to within about $2\%$. In addition to this, a very good correlation factor is obtained proving the validity of our cumulants method. The agreement of our results with those obtained by means of other models is remarkable.Comment: 19 pages,14 figues, figures 4,5,6 figures are oversized, therefore, can be obtained directly from [email protected],Accepted for publication in EPJ

Full Scale Proton Beam Impact Testing of new CERN Collimators and Validation of a Numerical Approach for Future Operation

New collimators are being produced at CERN in the framework of a large particle accelerator upgrade project to protect beam lines against stray particles. Their movable jaws hold low density absorbers with tight geometric requirements, while being able to withstand direct proton beam impacts. Such events induce considerable thermo-mechanical loads, leading to complex structural responses, which make the numerical analysis challenging. Hence, an experiment has been developed to validate the jaw design under representative conditions and to acquire online results to enhance the numerical models. Two jaws have been impacted by high-intensity proton beams in a dedicated facility at CERN and have recreated the worst possible scenario in future operation. The analysis of online results coupled to post-irradiation examinations have demonstrated that the jaw response remains in the elastic domain. However, they have also highlighted how sensitive the jaw geometry is to its mounting support inside the collimator. Proton beam impacts, as well as handling activities, may alter the jaw flatness tolerance value by $\pm$ 70 ${\mu}$m, whereas the flatness tolerance requirement is 200 ${\mu}$m. In spite of having validated the jaw design for this application, the study points out numerical limitations caused by the difficulties in describing complex geometries and boundary conditions with such unprecedented requirements.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Prepared for submission to JINS

Experimental Validation of Contact Dynamics for In-Hand Manipulation

This paper evaluates state-of-the-art contact models at predicting the motions and forces involved in simple in-hand robotic manipulations. In particular it focuses on three primitive actions --linear sliding, pivoting, and rolling-- that involve contacts between a gripper, a rigid object, and their environment. The evaluation is done through thousands of controlled experiments designed to capture the motion of object and gripper, and all contact forces and torques at 250Hz. We demonstrate that a contact modeling approach based on Coulomb's friction law and maximum energy principle is effective at reasoning about interaction to first order, but limited for making accurate predictions. We attribute the major limitations to 1) the non-uniqueness of force resolution inherent to grasps with multiple hard contacts of complex geometries, 2) unmodeled dynamics due to contact compliance, and 3) unmodeled geometries dueto manufacturing defects.Comment: International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, ISER 2016, Tokyo, Japa

Gamma-D crystallin gene (CRYGD) mutation causes autosomal dominant congenital cerulean cataracts

Congenital cataracts are a major cause of bilateral visual impairment in childhood. We mapped the gene responsible for autosomal congenital cerulean cataracts to chromosome 2q33-35 in a four generation family of Moroccan descent. The maximum lod score (7.19 at recombination fraction theta=0) was obtained for marker D2S2208 near the g-crystallin gene (CRYG) cluster. Sequencing of the coding regions of the CRYGA, B, C, and D genes showed the presence of a heterozygous C>A transversion in exon 2 of CRYGD that is associated with cataracts in this family. This mutation resulted in a proline to threonine substitution at amino acid 23 of the protein in the first of the four Greek key motifs that characterise this protein. We show that although the x ray crystallography modelling does not indicate any change of the backbone conformation, the mutation affects a region of the Greek key motif that is important for determining the topology of this protein fold. Our data suggest strongly that the proline to threonine substitution may alter the protein folding or decrease the thermodynamic stability or solubility of the protein. Furthermore, this is the first report of a mutation in this gene resulting in autosomal dominant congenital cerulean cataracts