The principles of international humanitarian law (III)

The word "neuter” comes from the Latin ne-uter, which means, neither the one, nor the other. Neutrality is an essentially neutral notion. It qualifies above all the abstention of someone who remains outside a conflict who does not openly express an opinion of either side. In international law, neutrality is the opposite of belligerency. It is the position adopted, in relation to two Powers at war, by a State not taking part in the struggle. The status of neutrality regulated by juridical rules and in particular by the Hague Conventions involves rights and duties. In short, it implies refraining from taking part officially, either directly or indirectly, in hostilities. In the first place, therefore, it is a concept of an essentially military character. However, as a result of a recent evolution in events and thought, some people tend to think that neutrality should also have effect in the economic sphere, in view of its importance today in the war potential of countrie

The principles of international humanitarian law (II)

Alongside the rules which constitute the enacting clauses of the international Conventions and which, in precise terms, set forth the contractual obligations of States, there exist principles from which these rules derive. "Certain ideas formulated with deliberate imprecision occupy a privileged position in treaties which describe them as being creative elements of law

The principles of international humanitarian law

For some years it has been customary to call "humanitarian law” that considerable portion of international law which owes its inspiration to a feeling for humanity and which is centred on the protection of the individual. This expression of humanitarian law appears to combine two ideas of a different character, the one legal and the other moral. Now, the provisions which are the subject under study are, as will be seen later, precisely a transposition in international law of considerations of a moral order, and more especially humanitarian. This then would seem to be a satisfactory designatio

A new assemblage of ray-finned fishes (Teleostei) from the Lower Oligocene “Schistes à Meletta” from the Glières plateau, Bornes Massif, eastern France

A recently discovered fish assemblage from the “Schistes à Meletta” facies (Lower Oligocene) of the Glières Plateau, Bornes Massif, Haute–Savoie, eastern France is described. The assemblage, comprising specimens ranging from fully-articulated skeletons to isolated scattered ossifications, is composed of Anenchelum cf. glarisianum, Pristigenys sp., Fistularia sp., Caranx cf. glarisianus alongside indeterminate teleosts. This new assemblage greatly increases the fish diversity previously known from the “Schistes à Meletta” of this area. The fauna shows biogeographic affinities with assemblages from the Peritethys domain, in particular from the Helvetic molassic basin and from the Paratethys. The genera identified at the Glières locality are represented today by species living in tropical nearshore environments together with species from the open sea. A possible explanation is that the environment of deposition was rather deep, and that shallow-water fishes were brought in by turbidity currents

How to Measure Scope Variables when no Metrics Exist : Application to Landscape Quality Measurement and Hedonic Price Evaluation

Landscape is an example of a non-market good where no metrics exist to measure its quality. The paper proposes an original methodology to nevertheless estimate scope variables in those circumstances, allowing then to better test if people's willingnesstopay for such good is sensitive to the scope. The methodology is based on techniques developed in the context of multicriteria decision analysis. It is applied to assess the quality of the landscape of several Swiss alpine resorts. This assessment is then used as an explanatory variable in a hedonic price function to explain the rent of apartments and to derive an implicit price of the landscape quality

La transition vers les soins palliatifs: un défi pour les infirmières des unités de soins intensifs : travail de Bachelor

Dans le cadre de notre Bachelor en Sciences Infirmiers, nous avons décidé de faire une revue de la littérature. L’objectif de notre travail est d’explorer les soins palliatifs en unité de soins intensifs. En effet, chaque année environ 180 à 300 personnes décèdent dans les unités de soins intensifs des Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève, cela représente trois à six décès par semaine. Il nous a semblé pertinent d’explorer les stratégies mises en œuvre par les infirmières et les infirmiers lorsque les approches curatives arrivent à échéance et qu’il est recommandé de passer aux soins palliatifs. Nous avons appliqué les méthodes d’analyse de la littérature enseignée à la Haute Ecole de Santé de Genève, soit l’analyse selon les grilles d’évaluation de Fortin. Nous avons ainsi analysé et retenu 22 articles correspondant à notre sujet. L’encrage théorique de notre thèse est celui de la théorie de la transition d’Afaf Ibrahim Meleis. Les résultats ont montré qu’il y a plusieurs facteurs qui influencent la prise de décision et cela engendre, des infirmières et des infirmiers, des compétences d’adaptation et de gestion des émotions. En effet, après discussion en équipe pluridisciplinaire, le médecin est celui qui définit les directives à appliquer et l’équipe soignante peut parfois être victime de choix qui vont à l’encontre de leurs valeurs personnelles et/ou professionnelles. Dès lors, nous avons découvert qu’il est fréquent de rencontrer des conflits interprofessionnels allant parfois jusqu’au burnout. Cependant, il n’en est pas le cas pour tous, il arrive aussi que la transition des soins curatifs aux soins palliatifs dans les unités de soins intensifs se déroule dans une atmosphère correcte

Growth and Coagulation in a Herding Model

We discuss various existing models which mimic the herding effect in financial markets and introduce a new model of herding which incorporates both growth and coagulation. In this model, at each time step either (i) with probability p the system grows through the introduction of a new agent or (ii) with probability q=1-p two groups are selected at random and coagulate. We show that the size distribution of these groups has a power law tail with an exponential cut-off. A variant of our basic model is also discussed where rates are proportional to the size of a grou

Wired warfare 3.0: protecting the civilian population during cyber operations

As a general matter, international humanitarian law is up to the task of providing the legal framework for cyber operations during an armed conflict. However, two debates persist in this regard, the resolution of which will determine the precise degree of protection the civilian population will enjoy during cyber operations. The first revolves around the meaning of the term “attack” in various conduct of hostilities rules, while the second addresses the issue of whether data may be considered an object such that operations destroying or altering it are subject to the prohibition on attacking civilian objects and that such effects need be considered when considering proportionality and the taking of precautions in attack. Even if these debates were to be resolved, the civilian population would still face risks from the unique capabilities of cyber operations. This article proposes two policies which parties to a conflict should consider adopting in order to ameliorate such risks. They are both based on the premise that military operations must reflect a balance between military concerns and the interest of States in prevailing in the conflict

Spurious signals in DQF spectroscopy: two-shot stimulated echoes

The most widely used technique for double-quantum filtered (DQF) single-voxel spectroscopy (SVS) is based on a symmetric PRESS sequence with two additional spatially unselective π/2 pulses, one of which is usually frequency selective. The actual filtering, rejecting signals from all uncoupled resonances, can be done by suitable phase cycling of the rf pulses in successive shots, but in practice gradient filtering is always used. Under usual conditions the sequence repetition time is comparable to the spin-lattice relaxation time, and a stimulated echo is formed by five out of the ten rf pulses in two consecutive shots. This echo is not filtered out by the gradients, and additional phase cycling is needed to eliminate it. Its spatial origin is the full transverse slice selected by the last pulse of the PRESS sequence. The SVS shimming procedure may create an important field variation in this slice (outside the volume of interest VOI). Water singlet signals therefore appear in a band of frequencies other than 4.7 ppm, and remain unaffected by water suppression pulses. In practice phase-alternation schemes can reduce these spurious signals by several orders of magnitude, but even then they may mask the weak metabolite signals of interest. We describe a strategy to minimize these spurious signals and propose a 16-step phase cycling scheme that attenuates the stimulated echo in every two-step subcycl