Customary International Law: An Instrument Choice Perspective

Contemporary international lawmaking is characterized by a rapid growth of “soft law” instruments. Interdisciplinary studies have followed suit, purporting to frame the key question states face as a choice between soft and “hard” law. But this literature focuses on only one form of hard law—treaties—and cooperation through formal institutions. Customary international law (CIL) is barely mentioned. Other scholars dismiss CIL as increasingly irrelevant or even obsolete. Entirely missing from these debates is any consideration of whether and when states might prefer custom over treaties or soft law

Surface reactivity of amphibole asbestos. A comparison between crocidolite and tremolite

Among asbestos minerals, fibrous riebeckite (crocidolite) and tremolite share the amphibole structure but largely differ in terms of their iron content and oxidation state. In asbestos toxicology, iron-generated free radicals are largely held as one of the causes of asbestos malignant effect. With the aim of clarifying i) the relationship between Fe occurrence and asbestos surface reactivity, and ii) how free-radical generation is modulated by surface modifications of the minerals, UICC crocidolite and fibrous tremolite from Maryland were leached from 1 day to 1 month in an oxidative medium buffered at pH 7.4 to induce redox alterations and surface rearrangements that may occur in body fluids. Structural and chemical modifications and free radical generation were monitored by HR-TEM/EDS and spin trapping/EPR spectroscopy, respectively. Free radical yield resulted to be dependent on few specific Fe2+ and Fe3+ surface sites rather than total Fe content. The evolution of reactivity with time highlighted that low-coordinated Fe ions primarily contribute to the overall reactivity of the fibre. Current findings contribute to explain the causes of the severe asbestosinduced oxidative stress at molecular level also for iron-poor amphiboles, and demonstrate that asbestos have a sustained surface radical activity even when highly altered by oxidative leaching

Errors in pronunciation of consonants by Indonesian, Gayo and Acehnese learners of English as a foreign language

This thesis reports on research into consonantal phoneme pronunciation errors in the English of EFL learners from three different first language groups in the province of Aceh, northern Sumatra, Indonesia. It is a qualitative study, describing the errors found for each first language group. Error data was collected from each participant in the language laboratory using an aural discrimination test, a word repetition test and a reading passage test, and also from interviews with each participant which were recorded on audio cassettes. Analysis and explanation of the error data then followed. There were eight participants from each of the three first language groups, with equal numbers of male and female participants in each group. All were students at the State Islamic Institute or other universities in Banda Aceh, either in the English teacher training department or taking English as a compulsory subject in their degree program. At the time of the research they were aged between 19 and 25, and had all taken EFL as a subject for six years in high school. Where it was not their first language, the national language, Indonesian, was their second language. All had studied Arable. The findings indicate errors are largely limited to final stops and sibilants, and initial and final affricates and interdentals

Introduction

Comparative constitutional law is today an exciting and increasingly diverse field of academic inquiry in US and Canadian law schools, as the excellent papers for this Symposium illustrate. Looking back, the 1990s were also a dynamic period for comparative constitutional law, with a predictable emphasis on constitution drafting in Eastern Europe and South Africa. As law and economics and empirical work became popular tools of legal analysis, comparative constitutional law initially drifted instead toward a focus on constitutional courts and on positive and negative liberties. Moreover, once the focus shifted away from active constitution drafting projects, questions re-surfaced about why we should compare constitutions and, in turn, about how they should be compared. Today, the field appears to have put this existential anxiety aside. Recent work is methodologically diverse with a strong focus on empirical analysis. The empirical focus is complemented by sophisticated work on informal or unwritten norms, a theme that runs through the contributions to this Symposium. Geographic diversity is becoming somewhat less challenging—at least superficially—due in part to a growth of resources available in English. The field is also diversifying in term

Nursing during World War II: Finnmark County, Northern Norway

Introduction. This study is part the project ‘‘Nursing in Borderland Finnmark 19391950’’ within nursing history that sheds light on nursing and health care during World War II in Finnmark County, Northern Norway. The study focuses on challenges in nursing care that arose during the war because of war activities in the Barents area. This article focuses on challenges caused by shortage of supplies. The aim of the project is to widen the understanding of development within health care and living conditions in the area. Study design. This is a historical study using narratives, government documents and literature. Methods. Interviews with nurses and persons active in health care during World War II constitute the main data of the research. Thematic issues that arise from interviews are analysed. Primary and secondary written sources are used in analysing the topics. Because of war activities, deportation and burning of the county, archives were partly destroyed. Central archives can contribute with annual reports, whereas local archives are fragmentary. There are a number of reports written soon after the War, as well as a number of biographical books of newer date. Results. Challenges caused by war, which appear in the interviews, are: 1) shortage of supplies, 2) increased workload, 3) multicultural society, 4) ethical dilemmas, 5) deportation of the population. In this paper, focus is on challenges caused by shortage of supplies. Conclusions. Both institutions, personnel and patients were marked by the war. This has to be taken in consideration in health care today