Current Apathy for Coming Anarchy: Building the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Part I of this Article examines the chronology of the decade-long conflict in Sierra Leone. It provides an illuminating backdrop against which the Special Court may be assessed and highlights particular features that the institutional design of the Special Court would have to accommodate. Part II explores the precedents for the Special Court. Specifically, it considers the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ( ICTY ) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ( ICTR ), and the impetus behind the International Criminal Court, developments that parallel in time the unfolding of Sierra Leone\u27s conflict. Part III subjects particular features of the Special Court to critical assessment, namely its institutional design, the lack of power and resources committed thereto, and the context in which it will operate. It argues that these features represent fundamental flaws and significant hurdles that need to be overcome if the Special Court is to operate effectively or efficiently

Current Apathy for Coming Anarchy: Building the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Part I of this Article examines the chronology of the decade-long conflict in Sierra Leone. It provides an illuminating backdrop against which the Special Court may be assessed and highlights particular features that the institutional design of the Special Court would have to accommodate. Part II explores the precedents for the Special Court. Specifically, it considers the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ( ICTY ) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ( ICTR ), and the impetus behind the International Criminal Court, developments that parallel in time the unfolding of Sierra Leone\u27s conflict. Part III subjects particular features of the Special Court to critical assessment, namely its institutional design, the lack of power and resources committed thereto, and the context in which it will operate. It argues that these features represent fundamental flaws and significant hurdles that need to be overcome if the Special Court is to operate effectively or efficiently

Police stress, depression, and substance use among police officers: a general strain perspective.

This dissertation examines the utility of general strain theory in explaining substance use as a form of coping among a sample of police officers in a Midwestern, metropolitan city. The dissertation is comprised of five chapters, including the introduction, literature review, method, results, and discussion. Chapter one describes the stressful nature of a career in law enforcement, concentrating on the adverse consequences of prolonged stress, including depression and substance use. Chapter one also examines strain, depression, and substance use among police officers using a general strain perspective, highlighting the limitations of existing empirical studies. Chapter two details the theoretical premise in relation to strain, depression, and substance use and also presents empirical evidence for general strain theory. Chapter three describes the data, sample, measures, and analytic strategy that will be used. In particular, participants were surveyed regarding their demographic characteristics, levels of strain, symptoms of depression, and frequency of substance use as a form of coping. Structural equation modeling will be used to analyze multiple research hypotheses among the latent measures of strain, depression, and substance use as a form of coping simultaneously. Chapter four describes the results of the data analyses. Chapter five discusses the anticipated findings within the context of the theoretical premise; provides policy implications; and highlights study limitations and directions for future research

Finite Element Modeling and Analysis Applications in Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Understanding the biomechanics of bones in persons with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a key component to further understanding the disease, optimizing treatment and quality of life, as well as injury prevention. However, it is not feasible to study bone biomechanics in vivo. Thus, modeling may play a key role in understanding how OI bones respond to the loading experienced during various activities, especially ambulation. Biomechanical modeling can provide insight into bone fracture risks, such as type and location, from single applied loads or repetitive loading. One method for obtaining this information is via a finite element analysis (FEA). FEA is a general technique for mathematically approximating solutions to boundary-value problems.1 It is a powerful computational tool with numerous applications. These numerical methods are used to obtain an output from a system of differential equations in response to boundary condition inputs in many scenarios. FEA allows for the discretization of a structure into numerous subparts (elements) for analysis. Elements represent regular strait-side geometric 2-D or 3-D shapes that enclose a finite area or volume.2 Field output variables (stress, strain, etc.) are explicitly calculated at each vertex (node) of every element.3 These outputs provide information that corresponds to bone strength and, therefore, location and risk for potential fractures

Attachment Style, Early Sexual Intercourse, and Dating Aggression Victimization

The present study examined relations between attachment style, age at first sexual intercourse, and dating aggression (DA) victimization. In all, 137 heterosexual female undergraduate students 18 to 25 years of age (M = 20.76, SD = 1.87) completed an online questionnaire that included questions regarding sexual history, attachment style (Experiences in Close Relationships Scale), and DA (Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory). Initial bivariate correlations revealed that women reported higher rates of DA victimization if they were more anxiously attached (r = .30, p = .000), had an earlier age at vaginal sexual debut (r = −.19, p = .015), and had an earlier age at oral sexual debut (r = −.15, p = .046); however, when entered into a predictive multivariate model, neither the addition of anxious attachment nor an early age at sexual debut accounted for a significant amount of variance above and beyond control variables. Although we were unable to affirm anxious attachment and an early age at first intercourse as risk factors for DA victimization, posthoc analyses emphasized the need to control for social desirability when gathering information on sensitive topics in clinical and research settings

Cyclists' experiences in urban longitudinal traffic scenarios and their requirements for designing interactions with highly automated vehicles

As cycling becomes more popular and automated driving is on the rise, it can be assumed that in the city of the future highly automated vehicles (HA Vs) and cyclists will share the same roads. Yet only little is known about how cyclists announce their maneuvers to motorized vehicles or how they communicate and interact with them. Knowledge on these aspects is currently missing to guide the design of cyclist-HA V interactions. Situations where a cyclist rides upfront a vehicle, will be especially challenging for HA Vs, such as when a cyclist (A) avoids an obstacle on the road section ahead, (B) merges onto the road from an ending cycling path, or (C) leaves the road turning into a driveway {see Figure 1) [1 ]. Based on the cyclist's intention, the HA V will have to pass or keep following with only limited options to communicate to the cyclist ahead. Design solutions derived from the well-studied field of pedestrian-HA V interactions cannot simply be transferred to the here considered cyclist-HA V interactions, since in past research successful design concepts for pedestrians were not beneficial for cyclists [2]. Hence, it is vital to investigate the behavior and experiences of cyclists in more detail and to explore possible design solutions for HA V interaction behavior in these situations. With this study we aim to get more insights into the subjective experience of cyclists travelling in longitudinal traffic, especially during cyclist-vehicle interactions, as well as to derive cyclists' requirements to design safe and desirable cyclist-HA V interactions

Einfluss reduzierter Bodenbearbeitung auf Ertragsbildung, Unkrautdynamik und Regenwurmpopulationen im Ökologischen Landbau

Problemstellung und Ziele Reduzierte Bodenbearbeitung wirkt in vielfältiger Weise positiv auf Bodenstruktur, Humusgehalt und Bodenleben und bietet darüber hinaus Vorteile in ökonomischer und arbeitswirtschaftlicher Hinsicht. Im konventionellen Landbau wird seit mehreren Jahrzehnten reduzierte Bodenbearbeitung betrieben. Im Ökologischen Landbau stellt sich die Frage, inwiefern eine Reduktion der Bodenbearbeitungsintensität und –tiefe praktikabel ist. Arbeitshypothesen Ein Verzicht auf wendende Grundbodenbearbeitung ist im Ökologischen Landbau nicht durchgängig möglich, da es zu einer starken Zunahme von Unkräutern kommt, insbesondere mit perennierenden Unkräutern. Eine flache Pflugfuche oder der Zweischichtenpflug stellen günstige Verfahren dar, die sowohl die Vorteile der konventionellen Arbeitsweise als auch der reduzierten Bodenbearbeitung vereinen. Methoden Auf der Versuchsstation für Ökologischen Landbau Kleinhohenheim der Universität Hohenheim wurde 1999 ein Feldversuch angelegt, bei dem vier Verfahren der Grundbodenbearbeitung getestet werden: Pflug tief, Zweischichtenpflug, Pflug flach, Grubber. In diesem wurden in den Vegetationsperioden 1999/2000, 2000/2001 und 2001/2002 Erhebungen zu Ertragsbildung und Verunkrautung sowie im letzten Jahr zum Bodensamenvorrat und den Regenwurmpopulationen durchgeführt. Ergebnisse Die Daten zeigen, dass eine Unterlassung der wendenden Grundbodenbearbeitung gravierende Folgen für die Ertragsbildung und die Unkrautpopulationen besitzt. In der Variante mit nichtwendender Grundbodenbearbeitung (Grubber) waren deutlich mehr Unkräuter festzustellen als in den drei Varianten mit wendender Grundboden-bearbeitung. Allerdings zeigten sich auch in den Varianten ‚Pflug flach‘ und ‚Zweischichtenpflug‘ höhere Unkrautpopulationen und tendentiell niedrigere Erträge als in der Variante mit Pflugbearbeitung auf 25 cm Tiefe (Pflug tief). Die Regenwürmer wurden durch die Bodenbearbeitungsmassnahmen nicht eindeutig beeinflusst. Die vorliegenden Daten legen damit nahe, dass eine Reduktion von Bodenbearbeitungsintensität und –tiefe unter den Produktionsbedingungen des Ökologischen Landbaus pflanzenbauliche Nachteile mit sich bringt, die durch damit verbundene Vorteile vermutlich nicht ausgeglichen werden