9,419 research outputs found
Just war and military morale: a brief reflection on the correlation between the legality of war and the moral repercussions for members of US and UK forces arising from the questionable legality of the campaign Iraqi Freedom of March 2003
Does it matter to a member of the military whether the military
campaign in which he is taking part is lawful or not? Despite the observation that
the crime of aggression (post Kampala 2010) constitutes a âleadership crime par
excellence,â which limits any (future) criminal responsibility accordingly, the
legality or illegality of any military action under international law can create moral
implications for the common foot soldier and mid-level officer and also have a
tangible impact on the national legal frameworks under which these forces operate.
This short article uses the example of Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003) to discuss the repercussions of aâmost likelyâillegal military campaign for individual members
of democratic armed forces before the background of the present discussion of NATO led action in Libya
Conformational Mechanics of Polymer Adsorption Transitions at Attractive Substrates
Conformational phases of a semiflexible off-lattice homopolymer model near an
attractive substrate are investigated by means of multicanonical computer
simulations. In our polymer-substrate model, nonbonded pairs of monomers as
well as monomers and the substrate interact via attractive van der Waals
forces. To characterize conformational phases of this hybrid system, we analyze
thermal fluctuations of energetic and structural quantities, as well as
adequate docking parameters. Introducing a solvent parameter related to the
strength of the surface attraction, we construct and discuss the
solubility-temperature phase diagram. Apart from the main phases of adsorbed
and desorbed conformations, we identify several other phase transitions such as
the freezing transition between energy-dominated crystalline low-temperature
structures and globular entropy-dominated conformations.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figure
What are children's trusts? Early findings from a national survey
<i>Background:</i> The Children Act 2004 and National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services require fuller integration of health, education and social services for children and young people in England and Wales. The UK government supported the establishment of 35 experimental children's trust pathfinders (henceforth called children's trusts) in England.
<i>Methods:</i> A questionnaire was completed by managers in all 35 children's trusts a year after their start. Children's trust documents were examined. Census and performance indicators were compared between children's trust areas and the rest of England.
<i>Results</i> Children's trust areas had demographic and social characteristics typical of England. All children's trusts aimed to improve health, education and social services by greater managerial and service integration. All had boards representing the three sectors; other agenciesâ representation varied. Two-thirds of children's trusts had moved towards pooling budgets in at least some service areas. At this stage in their development, some had prioritized joint procurement or provision of services, with formal managerial structures, while others favoured an informal strategic planning, co-ordination and information sharing approach. The commonest priorities for services development were for disabled children (16 children's trusts), followed by early intervention (11) and mental health services (8).
<i>Conclusions:</i> The diverse strategies adopted by these 35 children's trusts during their first year is due to their own characteristics and to the way government strategy developed during this period. Whilst some prioritized organizational development, joint financing and commissioning, and information sharing, others laid more emphasis on mechanisms for bringing front-line professionals closer together. Their experiences are of value to others deciding how best to integrate children's services
Quantum Monte Carlo Method for Attractive Coulomb Potentials
Starting from an exact lower bound on the imaginary-time propagator, we
present a Path-Integral Quantum Monte Carlo method that can handle singular
attractive potentials. We illustrate the basic ideas of this Quantum Monte
Carlo algorithm by simulating the ground state of hydrogen and helium.Comment: 7 pages, 3 table
Fluctuation Pressure of a Stack of Membranes
We calculate the universal pressure constants of a stack of N membranes
between walls by strong-coupling theory. The results are in very good agreement
with values from Monte-Carlo simulations.Comment: Author Information under
http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/institution.html Latest update of
paper also at http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/31
A simple quantum cosmology
A simple and surprisingly realistic model of the origin of the universe can
be developed using the Friedmann equation from general relativity, elementary
quantum mechanics, and the experimental values of h, c, G and the proton mass.
The model assumes there are N space dimensions (with N > 6) and the potential
constraining the radius r of the invisible N -3 compact dimensions varies as
r^4. In this model, the universe has zero total energy and is created from
nothing. There is no initial singularity. If space-time is eleven dimensional,
as required by M theory, the scalar field corresponding to the size of the
compact dimensions inflates the universe by about 26 orders of magnitude (60
e-folds). If the Hubble constant is 65 km/sec Mpc, the energy density of the
scalar field after inflation results in Omega-sub-Lambda = 0.68, in agreement
with recent astrophysical observations.Comment: To be published in General Relativity and Gravitation, August 200
Disordered quantum wires: microscopic origins of the DMPK theory and Ohm's law
We study the electronic transport properties of the Anderson model on a
strip, modeling a quasi one-dimensional disordered quantum wire. In the
literature, the standard description of such wires is via random matrix theory
(RMT). Our objective is to firmly relate this theory to a microscopic model. We
correct and extend previous work (arXiv:0912.1574) on the same topic. In
particular, we obtain through a physically motivated scaling limit an ensemble
of random matrices that is close to, but not identical to the standard transfer
matrix ensembles (sometimes called TOE, TUE), corresponding to the Dyson
symmetry classes \beta=1,2. In the \beta=2 class, the resulting conductance is
the same as the one from the ideal ensemble, i.e.\ from TUE. In the \beta=1
class, we find a deviation from TOE. It remains to be seen whether or not this
deviation vanishes in a thick-wire limit, which is the experimentally relevant
regime. For the ideal ensembles, we also prove Ohm's law for all symmetry
classes, making mathematically precise a moment expansion by Mello and Stone.
This proof bypasses the explicit but intricate solution methods that underlie
most previous results.Comment: Corrects and extends arXiv:0912.157
Variational Approach to Hydrogen Atom in Uniform Magnetic Field of Arbitrary Strength
Extending the Feynman-Kleinert variational approach, we calculate the
temperature-dependent effective classical potential governing the quantum
statistics of a hydrogen atom in a uniform magnetic at all temperatures. The
zero-temperature limit yields the binding energy of the electron which is quite
accurate for all magnetic field strengths and exhibits, in particular, the
correct logarithmic growth at large fields.Comment: Author Information under this
http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/institution.html Latest update of
paper also at this http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/30
Bankrupting terrorism: the role of US anti-terrorism litigation in the prevention of terrorism and other hybrid threats: a legal assessment and outlook
Global terrorist networks are dependent on receiving financial support from a variety of sources, including individuals, charities and corporations. Also known as terrorist financing, the potential of terrorism finance to resemble a global threat has been recognised and also its closeness to other international crimes such as money laundering and organized crime. As a result, possible responses have to constitute co-ordinated, multi-lateral and multi faceted actions under the umbrella of a wide range of international stakeholders such as the United Nations Security Council and the Financial Action Task Force. Combating terrorism requires a âholisticâ approach which allows for a mix of possible responses. Besides âkineticâ security operations (such as targeted killings) and the adoption of criminal prosecution measures another possible response could be the use of US styled transnational civil litigation by victims of terrorism against both, terrorist groups and their sponsors. Corporations, both profit and non profit, such as banks and other legal entities, as well as individuals, are often complicit in international terrorism in a role of aiders and abettors by providing financial assistance to the perpetrators (cf. UN Al-Qaida Sanctions List: The List established and maintained by the 1267 Committee with respect to individuals, groups, undertakings and other entities associated with Al-Qaida). Such collusion in acts of terrorism gains additional importance against the background of so called âHybrid Threatsâ, NATOâs new concept of identifying and countering new threats arising from multi-level threat scenarios. This article discusses the potential impact of US terrorism lawsuits for the global fight against terrorism
Electronic in-plane symmetry breaking at field-tuned quantum criticality in CeRhIn5
Electronic nematics are exotic states of matter where electronic interactions
break a rotational symmetry of the underlying lattice, in analogy to the
directional alignment without translational order in nematic liquid crystals.
Intriguingly such phases appear in the copper- and iron-based superconductors,
and their role in establishing high-temperature superconductivity remains an
open question. Nematicity may take an active part, cooperating or competing
with superconductivity, or may appear accidentally in such systems. Here we
present experimental evidence for a phase of nematic character in the heavy
fermion superconductor CeRhIn5. We observe a field-induced breaking of the
electronic tetragonal symmetry of in the vicinity of an antiferromagnetic (AFM)
quantum phase transition at Hc~50T. This phase appears in out-of-plane fields
of H*~28T and is characterized by substantial in-plane resistivity anisotropy.
The anisotropy can be aligned by a small in-plane field component, with no
apparent connection to the underlying crystal structure. Furthermore no
anomalies are observed in the magnetic torque, suggesting the absence of
metamagnetic transitions in this field range. These observations are indicative
of an electronic nematic character of the high field state in CeRhIn5. The
appearance of nematic behavior in a phenotypical heavy fermion superconductor
highlights the interrelation of nematicity and unconventional
superconductivity, suggesting nematicity to be a commonality in such materials
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