3,905 research outputs found
Good Faith in International Law
As a âgeneral principleâ, good faith forms part of the sources of international law. Still not widely examined in relation to rights and obligations, the aim here is to demonstrate the specific characteristics of the principle. In general, international law rules such as pacta sunt servanda, abuse of rights, estoppel and acquiescence and the negotiation of disputes are grounded, to some extent, in good faith. In treaty law, good faith has various manifestations from the time prior to signature through to interpretation. These are outlined here. The article argues that good faith acts to mediate the effects of Statesâ rights in international law, in order to achieve acceptable results when competing interests exist. Fundamentally, good faith is a limitation of State sovereignty, albeit one that is necessary, as it protects other States and their trust and reliance in international law
Risk of basal cell carcinoma after Hodgkin's disease
Background: Basal cell cancer is a common skin cancer, yet studies of second tumors after Hodgkin's disease tend to exclude basal cell cancers as second malignant tumors from analysis. Basal cell carcinomas (BCC) are possibly more common in immunosuppressed patients and were recently implicated as indicators of subsequent malignancies. Materials and Methods: Our database of 1,120 patients with Hodgkin's disease (derived from the tumor registry) was investigated for the occurrence of later BCCs. Kaplan-Meier curves were calculated. Results: A total of 9 cases of BCC were observed 0-20 years after the diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease, One case relapsed after excision. The probability of second BCC was 2.1% after 15 years of follow-up and 7.1% after 20 years. Statistically, the risk for second BCC was increased only in younger patients and with prolonged follow-up, but not in the total group of patients with Hodgkin's disease. Conclusion: BCC is not a major threat: for the survivors of Hodgkin's disease, but continued follow-up is necessary
Transition from spot to faculae domination -- An alternate explanation for the dearth of intermediate \textit{Kepler} rotation periods
The study of stellar activity cycles is crucial to understand the underlying
dynamo and how it causes activity signatures such as dark spots and bright
faculae. We study the appearance of activity signatures in contemporaneous
photometric and chromospheric time series. Lomb-Scargle periodograms are used
to search for cycle periods present in both time series. To emphasize the
signature of the activity cycle we account for rotation-induced scatter in both
data sets by fitting a quasi-periodic Gaussian process model to each observing
season. After subtracting the rotational variability, cycle amplitudes and the
phase difference between the two time series are obtained by fitting both time
series simultaneously using the same cycle period. We find cycle periods in 27
of the 30 stars in our sample. The phase difference between the two time series
reveals that the variability in fast rotating active stars is usually in
anti-phase, while the variability of slowly rotating inactive stars is in
phase. The photometric cycle amplitudes are on average six times larger for the
active stars. The phase and amplitude information demonstrates that active
stars are dominated by dark spots, whereas less active stars are dominated by
bright faculae. We find the transition from spot to faculae domination at the
Vaughan-Preston gap, and around a Rossby number equal to one. We conclude that
faculae are the dominant ingredient of stellar activity cycles at ages >2.55
Gyr. The data further suggest that the Vaughan-Preston gap can not explain the
previously detected dearth of Kepler rotation periods between 15-25 days.
Nevertheless, our results led us to propose an explanation for the rotation
period dearth to be due to the non-detection of periodicity caused by the
cancellation of dark spots and bright faculae at 800 Myr.Comment: 12+15 pages, 10+2 figures, accepted for publication in A&
PMT Test Facility at MPIK Heidelberg and Double Chooz Super Vertical Slice
Proceedings supplement for conference poster at Neutrino 2010, Athens,
Greece
Strong Limit on a Variable Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio from Molecules in the Distant Universe
The Standard Model of particle physics assumes that the so-called fundamental
constants are universal and unchanging. Absorption lines arising in molecular
clouds along quasar sightlines offer a precise test for variations in the
proton-to-electron mass ratio, mu, over cosmological time and distance scales.
The inversion transitions of ammonia are particularly sensitive to mu compared
to molecular rotational transitions. Comparing the available ammonia spectra
observed towards the quasar B0218+357 with new, high-quality rotational
spectra, we present the first detailed measurement of mu with this technique,
limiting relative deviations from the laboratory value to |dmu/mu| <
1.8x10^{-6} (95% confidence level) at approximately half the Universe's current
age - the strongest astrophysical constraint to date. Higher-quality ammonia
observations will reduce both the statistical and systematic uncertainties in
these measurements.Comment: Science, 20th June 2008. 22 pages, 5 figures (12 EPS files), 2
tables, including Supporting Online Material; v2: Corrected reference for
laboratory mu-variation bound
Voltage-biased quantum wire with impurities
The bosonization technique to describe correlated electrons in a
one-dimensional quantum wire containing impurities is extended to include an
applied voltage source. The external reservoirs are shown to lead to a boundary
condition for the boson phase fields. We use the formalism to investigate the
channel conductance, electroneutrality, and charging effects.Comment: 4 pages REVTeX, incl one figure, to appear in Phys.Rev.Let
Cyberbullying in Germany â an exploration of prevalence, overlapping with real life bullying and coping strategies
A new phenomenon of violence among pupils has been spreading over Europe in the last few years: Cyberbullying, the repeated and intended hurting of weaker schoolmates via modern communication technologies. This study shows (based on a sample of 1987 pupils), that cyberbullying exists in Germany, although the number of incidents is still rather small. It could also be shown, that the pupils who act as cyberbullies are the same as those who bully others in real life. The same overlap was found to be true for the victims. Cyberbullying can therefore be considered a subcategory of ordinary bullying instead of being considered a whole new phenomenon. The exploration of coping strategies showed, that a common factor structure underlies physical, verbal and cyberbullying. Considering the fact that the findings of the study are based on an online questionnaire with restricted representativeness, the results should however be interpreted carefully
A Tableaux Calculus for Reducing Proof Size
A tableau calculus is proposed, based on a compressed representation of
clauses, where literals sharing a similar shape may be merged. The inferences
applied on these literals are fused when possible, which reduces the size of
the proof. It is shown that the obtained proof procedure is sound,
refutationally complete and allows to reduce the size of the tableau by an
exponential factor. The approach is compatible with all usual refinements of
tableaux.Comment: Technical Repor
Geregelter MeĂplatz fĂŒr Sensoren zur invasiven Blutdruckmessung
Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugĂ€nglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Der im vorliegenden Artikel vorgestellte neuartige Simulator ist ein kompletter MeĂplatz fĂŒr die PrĂŒfung der gesamten BlutdruckmeĂkette entsprechend den AAMI-Spezifikationen fĂŒr alle gĂ€ngigen medizinischen Drucksensoren. Mit Hilfe einer mikrocontrollergesteuerten Einheit werden gespeicherte technische Solldruckkurven einstellbarer Amplitude und Frequenz sowie physiologische DruckverlĂ€ufe erzeugt und die Erfassung der MeĂdaten vorgenommen. Ăber eine serielle Schnittstelle können darĂŒber hinaus beliebige Solldruckkurven von und MeĂdaten zu einem Personalcomputer ĂŒbertragen und dort ausgewertet werden. FĂŒr möglichst realitĂ€tsnahe Messungen wurden zusĂ€tzlich ein SpĂŒlsystem sowie eine FluĂsimulation implementiert
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