How to identify customary international law? – On the final outcome of the work of the international law commission (2018)

How to identify customary international law is an important question of international law. The International Law Commission has in 2018 adopted a set of sixteen conclusions, together with commentaries, on this topic. The paper consists of three parts: First, the reasons are discussed why the Commission came to work on the topic “Identification of customary international law”. Then, some of its conclusions are highlighted. Finally, the outcome of the work of the Commission is placed in a general context, before concluding

The Ohio Drainage Laws Petition Procedure

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The application of spatial models in the analysis of bilateral trade flows: An alternative to the Armington approach for the world sugar market

This paper suggests spatial models as an alternative to the Armington approach to model bilateral trade. While the use of spatial models has been accepted for decades, they are rarely chosen for such analyses. However, problems inherent in the application of the Armington approach can be overcome through the use of spatial models. To demonstrate, a simple spatial model of the world sugar market is built and used to simulate a multilateral liberalization scenario. Additionally, an identical model is constructed, applying the Armington approach. The results of the spatial model of the sugar market are found to be more plausible than those generated by the Armington-based model.bilateral trade, trade preferences, partial equilibrium models, Armington approach, sugar, International Relations/Trade, F11, F15, C69,

Macht und Machthierarchien in den internationalen Beziehungen: Ein Analysekonzept für die Forschung über regionale Führungsmächte

Much of recent international relations literature argues conflicts to achieve or to frustrate regional dominance will become more virulent in the future. In this context we examine different approaches in international relations theory regarding the role and importance which they attribute to regional powers. We discuss diverse concepts of power and theoretical approaches that address the topics of power relations and power hierarchies in international politics. Marking differences as well as common grounds with the more traditional concept of "middle powers", we sketch an analytical concept of regional powers adequate for contemporary international relations research. The paper concludes with reflections on the relationship between regional powers and regional integration and a short discussion of the analytical value of the concept of cooperative hegemony for the study of regional powers.International Relations, Power, Power Transition, Regional Powers, Middle Powers, Cooperative Hegemony

Jarzynski equation for a simple quantum system: Comparing two definitions of work

The validity of the Jarzynski equation for a very simple, exactly solvable quantum system is analyzed. The implications of two different definitions of work proposed in the literature are investigated. The first one derives from measurements of the system energy at the beginning and at the end of the process under consideration making the work a classical stochastic variable with transition probabilities derived from quantum mechanics. In the second definition an operator of work is introduced and the average in the Jarzynski equation is a quantum expectation value. For the first definition a general quantum mechanical version of the Jarzynski equation is known to hold. For the second one the Jarzynski equation fails to yield the free energy difference at low temperature.Comment: 5 papes, 1 figure largly rewritten and slightly enlarged versio

THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD SUGAR MARKET--A SPATIAL PRICE EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS

A spatial price equilibrium (SPE) model of the world sugar market is programmed. The model covers more than hundred regions and contains sugar in as a sole product. It has a detailed coverage of policies and bilateral trade agreements. It is programmed as a mixed complementarity problem (MCP) in GAMS and uses the PATH solver. The SPE framework offers considerable advantages over other model approaches applied to the sugar market before. Four scenarios are simulated: A baseline scenario until 2015/16, accounting for implementation of the EU reform and market access commitments already decided upon. The liberalization scenarios include an implementation of the Falconer proposal for the current round of WTO negotiations, a full liberalization by the EU and a liberalization of all sugar policies world-wide. In the latter the world market price increases by around 30%. Results are discussed and related to special properties of the SPE approach. Strengths and weaknesses are identified and an outlook on the further refinement of the analysis is given.Sugar, Partial Equilibrium Model, Spatial Price Equilibrium Model, MCP, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Observing instantons directly on the lattice without cooling

Based on the study of the simple Abelian Higgs model in $1+1$ dimensions we will present a new method to identify and localize extended instantons. The idea is to measure the topological charge on regions somewhat larger than the extended instantons so as to average out the ultraviolet fluctuations but without losing the detailed topological information when going to the full space. The instanton size and probability density can be directly extracted from this analysis. Local dislocations, which can be avoided for fine enough lattices, can be reinterpreted as modified boundary conditions producing sectors with net topological charge.Comment: 15 pp., uuencoded compressed tar file of full pape

Variations in amenable mortality--trends in 16 high-income nations.

BACKGROUND: There has been growing interest in the comparison of health system performance within and between countries, using a range of different indicators. This study examines trends in amenable mortality, as one measure of health system performance, in sixteen high-income countries. METHODS: Amenable mortality was defined as premature death from causes that should not occur in the presence of timely and effective health care. We analysed age-standardised rates of amenable mortality under age 75 in 16 countries for 1997/1998 and 2006/2007. RESULTS: Amenable mortality remains an important contributor to premature mortality in 16 high-income countries, accounting for 24% of deaths under age 75. Between 1997/1998 and 2006/2007, amenable mortality fell by between 20.5% in the US and 42.1% in Ireland (average decline: 31%). In 2007, amenable mortality in the US was almost twice that in France, which had the lowest levels. CONCLUSIONS: Amenable mortality continues to fall across high-income nations although the USA is lagging increasingly behind other high income countries. Despite its many limitations, amenable mortality remains a useful indicator to monitor progress of nations