"Viewers should not try this at home". Die Verfassungsgerichte Bosnien-Herzegowinas und Kosovos in deren Rolle als Schlichtungsinstanzen in ethnopolitischen Konflikten = The constitutional courts of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo in their role as arbitration bodies in ethno-political conflicts. EDAP 1/2014

The article analyzes the role of constitutional courts in Bosnia and Kosovo, both characterized by their partly internationalized membership, in the adjudication of cases that are highly controversial between the different ethno-political factions. The main focus is on the Constitutional Court of Bosnia, which presents one of the richest and most interesting examples of “lawfare” in divided societies. The concept of lawfare has been adapted to refer to the continuation of political battles by ethno-political actors through legal means, in this case, constitutional adjudication. In Kosovo, the Constitutional Court has been an important defender of diversity, albeit its primary focus and merit are to have contributed to the establishment of a concept of democracy close to the people of Kosovo. The article concludes that constitutional courts represent important institutions of internal conflict resolution in divided societies, which have been instrumental in shaping multiculturalism in these post-conflict societies divided by deep ethnic cleavages

Using local defect correction for laminar flame simulation

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The mechanism and regulation of rRNA methylation by the Box C/D sRNP enzyme in solution

The biogenesis of the ribosome requires a series of essential modifications of ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and their precursor pre-rRNAs. The most abundant of such modifications is the methylation of the ribose 2 ́-OH, which occurs at over 100 rRNA sites in humans. rRNA methylation is known to increase the stability of the ribosome and to be required for accurate and efficient protein translation. While 2’-O methylation sites are known to cluster around the functional centres of the ribosome, the abundance of methylation at each site is known to vary, which may provide a mechanism to fine tune ribosomal function, creating specialized ribosome populations. In eukaryotes and archaea, rRNA 2’-O methylation is mediated by Box C/D ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs). These particles, referred to as small nucleolar RNPs (snoRNPs) in eukaryotes and small RNPs (sRNPs) in archaea, use a guide RNA in order to direct the methylation of a specific nucleotide on the substrate rRNA. In archaea, each small guide RNA (sRNA) is responsible for the methylation of two rRNA sites using two different separate guide regions. Despite several structures of archaeal Box C/D sRNPs being available, the molecular basis for the regulation of the enzyme and the consequent generation of varying methylation abundances across different rRNA sites remains elusive. In order to understand the mechanism and regulation of the enzyme, I investigated the biochemical properties of archaeal Box C/D sRNPs reconstituted in vitro . Through a combination of biochemical and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based assays, I could show that archaeal RNPs catalyse the methylation of different substrate rRNA sites with varying degrees of efficiency and cooperativity. Furthermore, using low-resolution small angle scattering (SAS) techniques, I could show that addition of substrate RNAs onto some sRNPs is correlated with the complex undergoing a transition between different oligomeric and/or conformational states, thereby contextualising the multiple sRNP structures observed in previous studies. In the second part of my work, I used a combination of distance restraints derived from NMR and low-resolution information from SAS to obtain the structures of an archaeal sRNP bound to either of its two substrate RNAs by an integrative structural biology approach. As this particle contains flexible regions, the work required the development of a novel algorithm capable of dealing with NMR/SAS signals arising from ensembles, rather than single conformers. Using this tool, I could derive the populations of conformers within ensembles of RNPs bound to different substrate RNAs, which provide a structural basis for the varying methylation efficiency of the enzyme. Ultimately, the work presented here provides a model for understanding one of the mechanism through which specialised ribosome populations are generated in vivo and contributes to the development of novel techniques for integrative structure modelling of flexible systems

Implementation of a Sustainable Project Management Methodology for Cal Poly SAE Baja

A lack of project organization manifested through unclear team goals, rush deliveries of materials, lost tools and materials, half days of effort due to improper planning, wasted design time, missed submission dates, lack of clear job positions at competition, and low competition scores. A process was created to properly manage the team and it was implemented through the use of various templates, examples, and calculation programs. Each deliverable received feedback from this project’s stakeholders and changes were reflected in the final process. The results were as follows: Table 1: Summary of Results Implement a sustainable project management methodology Each step of the process tested on 2012-2013 Cal Poly SAE Baja team Complete Milestones on or before their due dates On time: Competition Registration Cost Report Design Report (On Schedule) Go/No Go date 2 weeks early Reduce current year’s waste by 50% over last year No rushed shipments No half days Cost report decreased from $16,500 to$15,000 Create the opportunity to increase current year’s points by at least 25% over last year’s overall point score Competition Score Estimation: 800 points Previous year’s score: 517.15 54.7% increas

The European Court of Justice at Work: Comparative Law on Stage and Behind the Scenes

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has often been hailed as an engine of European integration. Entrusted with the task of securing the uniform interpretation of the law of the European Union—among other functions—the ECJ makes use of comparative law for a variety of purposes. The very composition of the Court and its peculiar linguistic regime make the Court a major comparative law laboratory. Under the Treaties, the Court is explicitly authorised to resort to comparative law as a method of judicial interpretation with regard to certain aspects of European law. But comparative law is an essential tool for the Court in several other contexts as well. This article is the occasion to take a closer look at the role that comparative law plays in the development of the jurisprudence of the Court, and to showcase some salient applications of it. Quite often, the Court limits references to comparative law arguments to a few lines in its judgments. Nonetheless, comparisons that go far beyond the merely technical aspects of the law are part and parcel of the everyday business of the Court. Even when the language of comparative law is not overtly spoken, those comparisons define the ethos of the European Union, and show how the Union sets out to challenge, and change, the laws of the Member States