The Quantum Cosmological Wavefunction at Very Early Times for a Quadratic Gravity Theory

The quantum cosmological wavefunction for a quadratic gravity theory derived from the heterotic string effective action is obtained near the inflationary epoch and during the initial Planck era. Neglecting derivatives with respect to the scalar field, the wavefunction would satisfy a third-order differential equation near the inflationary epoch which has a solution that is singular in the scale factor limit $a(t)\to 0$. When scalar field derivatives are included, a sixth-order differential equation is obtained for the wavefunction and the solution by Mellin transform is regular in the $a\to 0$ limit. It follows that inclusion of the scalar field in the quadratic gravity action is necessary for consistency of the quantum cosmology of the theory at very early times.Comment: Tex, 13 page

Global constitutionalism and East Asian perspectives in the context of political economy

This chapter looks at the question of global constitutionalism and East Asia in a context of political economy. It raises the concern about the mutually reinforcing relationship between global constitutionalism and neoliberalism. This nexus is explained as lying in the insistence of the separation of the public and the private in both constitutionalism and neoliberalism. It is considered whether global constitutionalism’s predisposition towards neoliberalism (in the sense of a privileging of the separation of the state from the market and with that a separation of the political from the economy) would be strengthened and deepened through its extension to East Asia. Or, alternatively, could this new dialogue provide an opportunity for ‘decolonising’ global constitutionalism and its political economic bias

The 'ideal' victim of international criminal law

The role of victims is increasingly central to discussions in and practices of international criminal law. Greater attention is, I argue, leading to a visual and discursive specification of victimhood. Drawing on criminologist Nils Christie’s theorizing of victimhood, and identifying practices inside and outside the international criminal law courtroom, I discuss the social, political, and legal construction of an ‘ideal’ victim. The features of an ‘ideal’ victim of international crime are identified as being: (a) weakness and vulnerability, (b) dependency and (c) grotesqueness. The features coalesce into a feminized, infantilized, and racialized stereotype of victimhood. I argue that this problematic construction of the ‘ideal' victim is to be contextualized within the ‘attention economy’. The ‘attention economy’ views attention as a finite and highly in-demand resource which rewards the extreme and spectacular at the expense of the moderate and considered

Präparation und Charakterisierung von „LiPON“ Feststoffelektrolyt-Dünnschichten und deren Grenzflächen

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde der Lithiumionen-Feststoffelektrolyt „LiPON“ mittels Kathodenzerstäubung als Dünnschicht hergestellt und eingehend mit oberflächenphysikalischen Messmethoden, wie beispielsweise Röntgenphotoelektronenspektroskopie (XPS), charakterisiert. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt der Arbeit ist die Grenzflächenbildung des Elektrolyten zu den Elektrodenmaterialien LiCoO2 und Lithium. Hierzu wurden die jeweiligen Grenzflächen durch den Einsatz von in-situ XPS auf auftretende chemische Reaktionen und auf ihre elektronische Bandanpassung hin untersucht. Es konnte festgestellt werden, dass die chemische Struktur nahe der Grenzfläche in beiden Fällen gegenüber dem Volumen verändert ist. Des Weiteren wurden aufbauend auf der Halbzelle LiCoO2/LiPON Dünnschichtbatterien mit verschiedenen Anoden und Schutzschichten hergestellt und elektrochemisch mittels Lade-/Entladekurven, sowieso Zyklovoltammogrammen charakterisiert. Es wurde festgestellt, dass, für die Herstellung von funktionalen Zellen, die Verkapselung gegen die Atmosphäre essentiell ist. Außerdem wurden LiPON-Schichten mittels metallorganischer chemischer Gasphasenabscheidung hergestellt und charakterisiert

Review of Figuring victims in International Criminal Justice : the case of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal by Elander, M.

Review article of Maria Elander's book on 'Figuring Victims