Anything New Since the End of the Cold War? or International Law Goes Domestic: International Electoral Standards and Their Legitimacy

Abstract: After the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, democratic Zeitgeist swept the globe. International law seemed no longer indifferent to how domestic regimes were formed. Part of this post-1989 development was a considerable increase in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the right to political participation as well as a proliferation of election observation missions by the OSCE/ODIHR. Both developed and implemented international standards for domestic electoral processes with increasing effectiveness. The dynamism inherent in this phenomenon of «international law going domes- tic in electoral matters» raises legitimacy questions insofar as the original state consent –the main source of legitimacy in traditional international law– appears to be an insufficient basis for the broad exercise of the international institutions’authority. Accordingly, this paper proposes a wider approach to examining the phenomenon. Through source, procedure, and result-oriented elements of legitimacy, it assesses and compares the development and implementation of international electoral standards in the regional context of Europe

El Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos y el Derecho de los Tratados, ¿Fragmentación o Unidad?

Este artículo analiza cómo el Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos asume y aplica las normas de derecho internacional «clásicas», en concreto, el derecho de los tratados. La recepción y aplicación por el TEDH del derecho internacional general tiene un especial interés dadas las características específicas del Convenio Europeo de Derechos Humanos que como todo convenio de derechos humanos confiere derechos a los individuos y esto difiere del derecho internacional clásico de las relaciones interestatales basado en la reciprocidad. En concreto, se analiza si desde un enfoque general del derecho de los tratados, el TEDH ofrece una protección efectiva de acuerdo con el objeto y el fin del mismo. Este análisis se inscribe en el contexto doctrinal de la fragmentación y la unidad del derecho internacional. Arroja como resultado que la recepción por parte del TEDH del derecho de los tratados difiere del enfoque clásico del Convenio de Viena sobre el derecho de los tratados. Se justifica, no obstante, por la especificidad de los derechos humanos. En definitiva, esta aplicación fomenta más que debilita el sistema general del derecho internacional.The contribution examines how the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) deals with general/ «classic» international law and, more particularly, the law of treaties. How is the law of treaties received and applied by the ECtHR? This seems of particular interest given the specific characteristics of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which, as a «typical human rights treaty», confers rights to individuals and thus differs from the «classic» international law of interstate relations based on reciprocity. More particularly, the contribution assesses whether the object and purpose of human rights treaties/the ECHR –effective human rights protection– requires a specific approach to general international law/the law of treaties. It thus inscribes itself in the fragmentation debate and possible challenges to the unity of international law through regime specific approaches. It is shown respectively that the ECtHR’s reception of the law of treaties differs from the classic international law approach of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Still, this seems justified by the specific features of human rights treaties. In sum, it is argued that the ECtHR’s reception of general international law/the law of treaties furthers rather than weakens the overall system of international law.

Liberty "versus" security? A human rights perspective in times of terrorism

Sumario: 1. Introduction. 2. A general human rights perspective on liberty versus security. 3. Liberty versus security? – The framework of the European Convention on Human Rights. 4. Liberty versus security? – The European Court of Human Rights and the move towards the domestic sphere. 5. Concluding evaluation

Insights from Classifying Visual Concepts with Multiple Kernel Learning

Combining information from various image features has become a standard technique in concept recognition tasks. However, the optimal way of fusing the resulting kernel functions is usually unknown in practical applications. Multiple kernel learning (MKL) techniques allow to determine an optimal linear combination of such similarity matrices. Classical approaches to MKL promote sparse mixtures. Unfortunately, so-called 1-norm MKL variants are often observed to be outperformed by an unweighted sum kernel. The contribution of this paper is twofold: We apply a recently developed non-sparse MKL variant to state-of-the-art concept recognition tasks within computer vision. We provide insights on benefits and limits of non-sparse MKL and compare it against its direct competitors, the sum kernel SVM and the sparse MKL. We report empirical results for the PASCAL VOC 2009 Classification and ImageCLEF2010 Photo Annotation challenge data sets. About to be submitted to PLoS ONE.Comment: 18 pages, 8 tables, 4 figures, format deviating from plos one submission format requirements for aesthetic reason

Multi-domain training enhances attentional control

Multi-domain cognitive training potentially increases the likelihood for an overlap in processing component with transfer tasks and everyday life, and hence is a promising training approach for older adults. To empirically test this, 84 healthy older adults aged 65 to 75 years were randomly assigned to one of three single-domain training conditions (inhibition, visuomotor function, spatial navigation) or to the simultaneous training of all three cognitive functions (multi-domain training condition). All participants trained on an iPad at home for 50 training sessions. Before and after the training, and at a six-month follow-up measurement, cognitive functioning and training transfer were assessed with a neuropsychological test battery including tests targeting the trained functions (near transfer) and transfer to executive functions (far transfer: attentional control, working memory, speed). Participants in all four training groups showed a linear increase in training performance over the 50 training sessions. Using a latent difference score model, the multi-domain training group, compared to the single-domain training groups, showed more improvement on the far transfer, executive attentional control composite. Individuals with initially lower baseline performance showed higher training-related improvements, indicating that training compensated for lower initial cognitive performance. At the six-month follow-up, performance on the cognitive test battery remained stable. This is one of the first studies that systematically investigated multi-domain training including comparable single-domain training conditions. Our findings suggest that multi-domain training enhances executive attentional control involved in handling several different tasks at the same time, an aspect in everyday life that is particularly challenging for older people

Hierarchical Structuring of NMC111-Cathode Materials in Lithium-Ion Batteries: An In-Depth Study on the Influence of Primary and Secondary Particle Sizes on Electrochemical Performance

Commercially used LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC111) in lithium-ion batteries mainly consists of a large-grained nonporous active material powder prepared by coprecipitation. However, nanomaterials are known to have extreme influence on gravimetric energy density and rate performance but are not used at the industrial scale because of their reactivity, low tap density, and diminished volumetric energy density. To overcome these problems, the build-up of hierarchically structured active materials and electrodes consisting of microsized secondary particles with a primary particle scale in the nanometer range is preferable. In this paper, the preparation and detailed characterization of porous hierarchically structured active materials with two different median secondary particle sizes, namely, 9 and 37 mu m, and primary particle sizes in the range 300-1200 nm are presented. Electrochemical investigations by means of rate performance tests show that hierarchically structured electrodes provide higher specific capacities than conventional NMC111, and the cell performance can be tuned by adjustment of processing parameters. In particular, electrodes of coarse granules sintered at 850 degrees C demonstrate more favorable transport parameters because of electrode build-up, that is, the morphology of the system of active material particles in the electrode, and demonstrate superior discharge capacity. Moreover, electrodes of fine granules show an optimal electrochemical performance using NMC powders sintered at 900 degrees C. For a better understanding of these results, that is, of process-structure-property relationships at both granule and electrode levels, 3D imaging is performed with a subsequent statistical image analysis. Doing so, geometrical microstructure characteristics such as constrictivity quantifying the strength of bottleneck effects and descriptors for the lengths of shortest transportation paths are computed, such as the mean number of particles, which have to be passed, when going from a particle through the active material to the aluminum foil. The latter one is at lowest for coarsegrained electrodes and seems to be a crucial quantity

Cluster of human Puumala orthohantavirus infections due to indoor exposure?—An interdisciplinary outbreak investigation

Puumala orthohantavirus (PUUV) is the most important hantavirus species in Europe, causing the majority of human hantavirus disease cases. In central and western Europe, the occurrence of human infections is mainly driven by bank vole population dynamics influenced by beech mast. In Germany, hantavirus epidemic years are observed in 2- to 5-year intervals. Many of the human infections are recorded in summer and early autumn, coinciding with peaks in bank vole populations. Here, we describe a molecular epidemiological investigation in a small company with eight employees of whom five contracted hantavirus infections in late 2017. Standardized interviews with employees were conducted to assess the circumstances under which the disease cluster occurred, how the employees were exposed and which counteractive measures were taken. Initially, two employees were admitted to hospital and serologically diagnosed with hantavirus infection. Subsequently, further investigations were conducted. By means of a self-administered questionnaire, three additional symptomatic cases could be identified. The hospital patients' sera were investigated and revealed in one patient a partial PUUV L segment sequence, which was identical to PUUV sequences from several bank voles collected in close proximity to company buildings. This investigation highlights the importance of a One Health approach that combines efforts from human and veterinary medicine, ecology and public health to reveal the origin of hantavirus disease clusters.Peer Reviewe

Применение микробиологических методов для повышения нефтеотдачи на примере нефтяного месторождения Мухто (Сахалинская область)

Подбор и применение микробиологического метода увеличения нефтеотдачи на месторождении РН-Сахалинморнефтегаз.Актуальность этого метода заключается в том, что этот метод позволяет извлекать трудноизвлекаемые запасы нефти, которые увеличиваются с каждым годом. В этой работе выбирается наиболее эффективный микробный агент, и рассчитывается рентабельность этого нововведения для компании.Selection and application of the microbiological method of increasing oil recovery at the RN-Sakhalinmorneftegaz.The relevance of this method lies in the fact that this method allows you to extract hard-to-recover oil reserves, which increase every year. In this paper, the most effective microbial agent is selected, and the profitability of this innovation for the company is calculated