Demokratie auf dem Rückzug? Zur Konfrontation zwischen amerikanischem Präsidenten und Kongress über einen Truppenabzug aus dem Irak

Im US-Präsidentschaftswahlkampf 2008 ist der Irakkrieg eines der wichtigsten Themen. Die Amerikaner sind allmählich kriegsmüde und die Mehrheit befürwortet einen Truppenrückzug aus dem Irak. Das brachten bereits der Ausgang der Kongresswahlen im Jahr 2006 sowie regelmäßige Meinungsumfragen zum Ausdruck. Es ist nun anzunehmen, dass in der ältesten Demokratie der Welt Volkes Wille direkten Einfluss auf die Politik haben müsste. Doch dies ist nur bedingt der Fall. Besonders Präsident George W. Bush hat wiederholt klargestellt, dass die Stimmung in der Bevölkerung für ihn in der Irakfrage nicht maßgebend sei. Für ihn zähle vielmehr, wie die Generäle vor Ort die aktuelle Sicherheitslage und die Fortschritte einschätzen. Dagegen versucht der seit Ende 2006 von Demokraten dominierte Kongress immer wieder, Rückzugspläne mit festen Fristen zu etablieren. Bislang ist sein Erfolg jedoch bescheiden. Vor allem die fehlende Unterstützung der Republikaner im Kongress und die Blockadepolitik des Präsidenten waren dafür verantwortlich. Hinter der Konfrontation steht eine tiefergehende Auseinandersetzung über die Kompetenzverteilung zwischen Präsident und Kongress bei Kriegsentscheidungen, die in der US-Verfassung in einer Grauzone bleibt. Stephanie Sohnius verknüpft vor diesem verfassungsrechtlichen Hintergrund die Aufarbeitung der aktuell wichtigsten USaußenpolitischen Debatte mit der Frage, ob sich die Demokratie in den USA in der Ära des „Krieges gegen den Terrorismus“ (weiterhin) auf dem Rückzug befindet

Ten-Year Minimum Follow-up Study of First Metatarsophalangeal Joint Fusion in Young vs Old Patients

BACKGROUND Painful degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the first metatarsophalangeal joint (MTP I), or hallux rigidus, mainly occurs in later stages of life. For end-stage hallux rigidus, MTP I arthrodesis is considered the gold standard. As young and active patients are affected considerably less frequently, it currently remains unclear, whether they benefit to the same extent. We hypothesized that MTP I arthrodesis in younger patients would lead to an inferior outcome with decreased rates of overall with lower rates of patient postoperative pain and function compared to an older cohort. METHODS All patients aged 60 years. Minimum follow-up was 10 years. Outcome measures were Tegner activity score (TAS), a "Virtual Tegner activity score" (VTAS), the visual analog scale (VAS), and the Foot Function index (FFI). RESULTS Sixty-one MTP I fusions (n = 28 young, n = 33 old) in 46 patients were included in our study at an average of 14 years after surgery. Younger patients experienced significantly more pain relief as reflected by changes in VAS and FFI Pain subscale scores. No difference in functional outcomes was found with change in the FFI function subscale or in the ability to have desired functional outcomes using the ratio of TAS to VTAS. Revision rate did not differ between the two groups apart from hardware removal, which was significantly more likely in the younger group. CONCLUSION In patients below the age of 50 years with end-stage DJD of the first metatarsal joint, MTP I arthrodesis not only yielded highly satisfactory postoperative results at least equal outcome compared to an older cohort of patients aged >60 years at an average 14 years' follow-up. Based on these findings, we consider first metatarsal joint fusion even for young patients is a valid option to treat end-stage hallux rigidus. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Level III, a case-control study

Magnetism of CoPd self-organized alloy clusters on Au(111)

Magnetic properties of gold-encapsulated CoxPd1-x self-organized nano-clusters on Au(111) are analyzed by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism for x = 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0. The clusters are superparamagnetic with a blocking temperature decreasing with increasing Pd concentration, due to a reduction of the out-of-plane anisotropy strength. No magnetic moment is detected on Pd in these clusters, within the detection limit, contrary to thick CoPd films. Both reduction of anisotropy and vanishing Pd moment are attributed to strain. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC

DEIMOS: A beamline dedicated to dichroism measurements in the 350-2500 eV energy range:

The DEIMOS (Dichroism Experimental Installation for Magneto-Optical Spectroscopy) beamline was part of the second phase of the beamline development at French Synchrotron SOLEIL (Source Optimisee de Lumiere a Energie Intermediaire du LURE) and opened to users in March 2011. It delivers polarized soft x-rays to perform x-ray absorption spectroscopy, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, and x-ray linear dichroism in the energy range 350-2500 eV. The beamline has been optimized for stability and reproducibility in terms of photon flux and photon energy. The main end-station consists in a cryo-magnet with 2 split coils providing a 7 T magnetic field along the beam or 2 T perpendicular to the beam with a controllable temperature on the sample from 370 K down to 1.5 K. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC

Robust spin crossover and memristance across a single molecule

A nanoscale molecular switch can be used to store information in a single molecule. Although the switching process can be detected electrically in the form of a change in the molecule's conductance, adding spin functionality to molecular switches is a key concept for realizing molecular spintronic devices. Here we show that iron-based spin-crossover molecules can be individually and reproducibly switched between a combined high-spin, high-conduction state and a low-spin, low-conduction state, provided the individual molecule is decoupled from a metallic substrate by a thin insulating layer. These results represent a step to achieving combined spin and conduction switching functionality on the level of individual molecules

First glimpse of the soft x-ray induced excited spin-state trapping effect dynamics on spin cross-over molecules

The dynamics of the soft x-ray induced excited spin state trapping (SOXIESST) effect of Fe(phen)(2)(NCS)(2) (Fe-phen) powder have been investigated by x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) using the total electron yield method, in a wide temperature range. The low-spin (LS) state is excited into the metastable high-spin (HS) state at a rate that depends on the intensity of the x-ray illumination it receives, and both the temperature and the intensity of the x-ray illumination will affect the maximum HS proportion that is reached. We find that the SOXIESST HS spin state transforms back to the LS state at a rate that is similar to that found for the light induced excited spin state trapping (LIESST) effect. We show that it is possible to use the SOXIESST effect in combination with the LIESST effect to investigate the influence of cooperative behavior on the dynamics of both effects. To investigate the impact of molecular cooperativity, we compare our results on Fe-phen with those obtained for Fe[Me(2)Pyrz](3)BH(2) (Fe-pyrz) powder, which exhibits a similar thermal transition temperature but with a hysteresis. We find that, while the time constant of the dynamic is identical for both molecules, the SOXIESST effect is less efficient at exciting the HS state in Fe-pyrz than in Fe-phen. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe

Combined searches for the production of supersymmetric top quark partners in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A combination of searches for top squark pair production using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment, is presented. Signatures with at least 2 jets and large missing transverse momentum are categorized into events with 0, 1, or 2 leptons. New results for regions of parameter space where the kinematical properties of top squark pair production and top quark pair production are very similar are presented. Depending on themodel, the combined result excludes a top squarkmass up to 1325 GeV for amassless neutralino, and a neutralinomass up to 700 GeV for a top squarkmass of 1150 GeV. Top squarks with masses from 145 to 295 GeV, for neutralino masses from 0 to 100 GeV, with a mass difference between the top squark and the neutralino in a window of 30 GeV around the mass of the top quark, are excluded for the first time with CMS data. The results of theses searches are also interpreted in an alternative signal model of dark matter production via a spin-0 mediator in association with a top quark pair. Upper limits are set on the cross section for mediator particle masses of up to 420 GeV

Measurement of the top quark forward-backward production asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric and chromomagnetic moments in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract The parton-level top quark (t) forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric (d̂ t) and chromomagnetic (μ̂ t) moments have been measured using LHC pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in the CMS detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The linearized variable AFB(1) is used to approximate the asymmetry. Candidate t t ¯ events decaying to a muon or electron and jets in final states with low and high Lorentz boosts are selected and reconstructed using a fit of the kinematic distributions of the decay products to those expected for t t ¯ final states. The values found for the parameters are AFB(1)=0.048−0.087+0.095(stat)−0.029+0.020(syst),μ̂t=−0.024−0.009+0.013(stat)−0.011+0.016(syst), and a limit is placed on the magnitude of | d̂ t| < 0.03 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

MUSiC : a model-unspecific search for new physics in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

Results of the Model Unspecific Search in CMS (MUSiC), using proton-proton collision data recorded at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), are presented. The MUSiC analysis searches for anomalies that could be signatures of physics beyond the standard model. The analysis is based on the comparison of observed data with the standard model prediction, as determined from simulation, in several hundred final states and multiple kinematic distributions. Events containing at least one electron or muon are classified based on their final state topology, and an automated search algorithm surveys the observed data for deviations from the prediction. The sensitivity of the search is validated using multiple methods. No significant deviations from the predictions have been observed. For a wide range of final state topologies, agreement is found between the data and the standard model simulation. This analysis complements dedicated search analyses by significantly expanding the range of final states covered using a model independent approach with the largest data set to date to probe phase space regions beyond the reach of previous general searches.Peer reviewe