bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Crafting the International Economic Order: The Public Function of Investment Treaty Arbitration and Its Significance for the Role of the Arbitrator
Authors: SCHILL STEPHAN W. 
Published: April 2010

AbstractInvestment treaty arbitration, unlike commercial arbitration, is not a purely private dispute settlement mechanism that is entirely subject to party autonomy and limited in its effects to the parties to the proceedings. Rather, it fulfils a public function in influencing the behaviour of foreign investors, states, and civil society more generally by crafting and concretizing international standards of investment protection. Investment treaty arbitration thus implements and operates as part of a public system of investment protection. Arbitrators, as a result, incur obligations not only towards the parties to the proceedings, but vis-à-vis the whole system of investment protection. These obligations can be conceptualized as part of the public law implications of investment treaty arbitration and affect,inter alia, the role and status of arbitrators in investment treaty disputes, the procedural maxims that such arbitrations should follow, and the way arbitral awards should be crafted.
The relationship between hand preference, hand performance, and general cognitive ability
Authors: NICHOLLS MICHAEL E.R. , CHAPMAN HEIDI L. , LOETSCHER TOBIAS , GRIMSHAW GINA M. 
Published: April 2010

AbstractThe idea that handedness indicates something about a person’s cognitive ability and personality is a perennial issue. A variety of models have been put forward to explain this relationship and predict a range of outcomes from higher levels of cognitive ability in left-handers or moderate right-handers to lower levels of achievement in left- or mixed-handers. We tested these models using a sample (n = 895) drawn from the BRAINnet database (www.brainnet.net). Participants completed a general cognitive ability (GCA) scale and a test of hand preference/performance. Moderate right-handers, as indexed by their performance measures, had higher GCA scores compared with strong left- or right-handers. The performance measure also showed lower levels of GCA for left-handers compared with right-handers. The hand preference data showed little or no association with cognitive ability—perhaps because this measure clusters individuals toward the extremes of the handedness distribution. While adding support to Annett’s heterozygous advantage model, which predicts a cognitive disadvantage for strong left- or right-handers, the data also confirm recent research showing a GCA disadvantage for left-handers. Although this study demonstrates that handedness is related to cognitive ability, the effects are subtle and might only be identified in large-scale studies with sensitive measures of hand performance. (JINS, 2010, 16, 585–592.)
Casting light on the legal black hole: International law and detentions abroad in the “war on terror”
Authors: Borelli Silvia 
Published: April 2010

AbstractThousands of individuals have been detained abroad in the context of the “war on terror”, both during the armed conflicts in Afghanistan and in Iraq and as a result of transnational law-enforcement operations. This paper argues that, notwithstanding contrary positions expounded by some States, the protections of international humanitarian law and/or international human rights law remain applicable to these individuals, wherever detained, and examines recent decisions of domestic courts and international bodies which appear to reveal a reassertion of international standards.
Asymmetrical warfare from the perspective of humanitarian law and humanitarian action
Authors: Pfanner Toni 
Published: April 2010

AbstractWarring parties are increasingly unequal and the principle of equality of arms does not apply to them. This asymmetry in warfare has many ramifications. The militarily weaker party is tempted to have recourse to unlawful methods of warfare in order to overcome the adversaries' strength. The expectation of reciprocity as a fundamental motivation for respecting the law is often illusory and replaced instead with perfidious behaviour; covert operations substitute for open battles, “special rules” are made for “special situations”. The fight against international terrorism seems to constitute the epitome of this kind of warfare. “Elementary considerations of humanity” as enshrined in article 3 common to the 1949 Geneva Conventions however constitute universally binding rules for all — even unequal and asymmetrical — parties to any situation of armed violence. Furthermore, attacks on humanitarian organizations have showed that humanitarian relief may be contrary to belligerents' interests, or, even worse, that attacks on humanitarian workers may be part of their agenda. Humanitarian actors must be aware of these facts and adapt their working methods so as to be able to continue to provide impartial assistance, based solely on the needs of the victims of armed violence.
Religion, violence and “holy wars”
Authors: Küng Hans 
Published: April 2010

AbstractThe author analyzes the impact of religion in current conflicts throughout the world. The main focus lies on the monotheistic religions, i.e. Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all of which have recently been reproached for potentially fostering the temptation to resort to violence. The article focuses on this accusation and departs from an analysis of the concept of “holy war” in the three religions. The article concludes with setting out a pragmatism of peaceableness highlighting that wars in the twenty-first century can neither be regarded as just, nor holy, nor clean and that absolute pacifism will not only be politically impossible but might as a political principle even be irresponsible.
Procedural principles and safeguards for internment/administrative detention in armed conflict and other situations of violence
Authors: Pejic Jelena 
Published: April 2010

AbstractDeprivation of liberty for security reasons is an exceptional measure of control that may be taken in armed conflict, whether international or non-international. Administrative detention of persons believed to represent a threat to State security is also being more and more widely practised outside of armed conflict situations. This paper argues that both internment and administrative detention are insufficiently elaborated from the point of the view of the protection of the rights of the persons affected. Drawing on international humanitarian law and on human rights law and standards, the paper proposes a set of procedural principles and safeguards that should — as a matter of law and policy — be applied as a minimum to all cases of deprivation of liberty for security reasons.
Targeting the city: Debates and silences about the aerial bombing of World War II
Authors: Maier Charles S. 
Published: April 2010

AbstractThe article goes back to the early discussions of the morality of city bombing which took place before and during World War II and attempts to analyze both the moral argumentation and its historical context from the 1940s until today. The development of the doctrine of “collateral damage” which recognized that attacking enemy factories was permissible even if it cost the lives and homes of civilians was soon widened beyond its original notion. After the war, the dropping of the atomic bombs became an issue in its own right, to be considered separately from the earlier recourse to conventional bombing — even when conventional bombing achieved equally destructive results. Twin inhibitions have reigned in the issue of what force against civilians was justified: the reluctance of German commentators to seem apologetic for the Third Reich, and the difficulty in the U.S. of seeming to cast any aspersions on those who fought “the good war.”
The meaning of Moscow: “Non-lethal” weapons and international law in the early 21st century
Authors: Fidler David P. 
Published: April 2010

AbstractAt the intersection of new weapon technologies and international humanitarian law, so-called “non-lethal” weapons have become an area of particular interest. This article analyses the relationship between “non-lethal” weapons and international law in the early 21st century by focusing on the most seminal incident to date in the short history of the “non-lethal” weapons debate, the use of an incapacitating chemical to end a terrorist attack on a Moscow theatre in October 2002. This tragic incident has shown that rapid technological change will continue to stress international law on the development and use of weaponry but in ways more politically charged, legally complicated and ethically challenging than the application of international humanitarian law in the past.
Entrepreneurs of hate and entrepreneurs of solidarity: Social identity as a basis for mass communication
Authors: Reicher Stephen , Hopkins Nick , Levine Mark , Rath Rakshi 
Published: April 2010

AbstractThe authors draw upon the principles of the social identity tradition in order to elaborate a psychological model of mass communication. This centres on the way in which people construe their social identities and the meanings of events for these identities. They then go on to look at the ways in which these principles have been employed both to mobilize collective support for genocide and collective resistance to genocide. They conclude that it is critical to understand these principles and to apply them effectively in order to promote social harmony and the defence of vulnerable groups.
Media under fire: Fact and fiction in conditions of war
Authors: Eilders Christiane 
Published: April 2010

AbstractThe article reviews recentfindings on the quality of war reporting, the conditions under which it takes place, the information policies of the warring parties and their effects. Focusing on German media coverage of the 1991 Gulf war, the Kosovo war and the 2003 Iraq war, it discusses both typical shortcomings of reporting and recent improvements, highlights information control strategies and proposes standards for war reporting.
War and media: Constancy and convulsion
Authors: Mercier Arnaud 
Published: April 2010

AbstractTo consider the relationship between war and the media is to look at the way in which the media are involved in conflict, either as targets (war on the media) or as an auxiliary (war thanks to the media). On the basis of this distinction, four major developments may be cited that today combine to make war above all a media spectacle: photography, which opened the door to manipulation through stage-management; live technologies, which raise the question of journalists' critical distance vis-à-vis the material they broadcast and which can facilitate the process of using them; pressure on the media and media globalization, which have led to a change in the way the political and military authorities go about making propaganda; and, finally, the fact that censorship has increasingly come into disrepute, which has prompted the authorities to think of novel ways of controlling journalists.
Challenges in applying human rights law to armed conflict
Authors: Lubell Noam 
Published: April 2010

AbstractThe debates over the relationship between International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, have often focused on the question of whether human rights law continues to apply during armed conflict, and if so, on how these two bodies of law can complement each other. This article takes the continuing applicability of human rights law as an accepted and welcome starting point, and proceeds to lay out some of the challenges and obstacles encountered during the joint application of IHL and Human Rights Law, that still need to be addressed. These include extra-territorial applicability of human rights law; the mandate and expertise of human rights bodies; terminological and conceptual differences between the bodies of law; particular difficulties raised in non-international armed conflicts; and the question of economic, social and cultural rights during armed conflict.
Structural and stratigraphic relationships of the Palaeocene mounds of the Utsira High
Authors: Wild John , Briedis Nowell 
Published: April 2010

ABSTRACTThe Balder and Ringhorne Tertiary oilfields of the Utsira High are a cluster of prominent Palaeocene mounds, whose presence has confounded geologists since they were first observed on 2D seismic data back in the 1960s and 1970s. Until recently, the Balder Field geologic model consisted of distal, deep‐water Heimdal, Hermod and Balder Formation sandy‐debrite and turbidite sands, compensationally stacked along the flanks of the Utsira palaeo‐high, with intervening layers of hemipelagic shale. Remobilization of the sands by large‐scale fluidization accentuated the high‐relief mounds and sand injections linked reservoirs that were originally isolated. Reprocessed seismic data show strong primary reflectors that cannot be reconciled with this model; continuous sand bodies are observed to cross‐cut normal, biostratigraphically constrained sequence‐stratigraphic reflectors. The implication is that many, if not most, of the Hermod and Balder sands are not depositional, but were emplaced by injection. Furthermore, most of the Palaeocene mounds are associated with major ‘tears’ in the normally smooth Top Cretaceous chalk seismic reflector, and overlying chalk ‘rafts’. The chalk rafts were formerly thought to be detached glide‐blocks, shed from distant scarps to the east, but the improved data show that they are always positioned above matching depressions in the main Chalk, implying a local origin. Some of the rafts are immense, exceeding half a kilometre in width and millions of tonnes in mass. We believe the association of the chalk features with the mounds is more than a coincidence and suggest that they are genetically related. A number of driving mechanisms have been proposed for the formation of the Palaeocene mounds of the Utsira High, including normal post‐depositional compaction, fluidization by earthquakes, overpressuring due to gas migration and gravity‐sliding back into the Viking Graben. Our observations are, however, more consistent with the mounds resulting from episodic supra‐lithostatic pressure escape from beneath the Chalk.
Substrate Selectivity and a Novel Role in Inhibitor Discrimination by Residue 237 in the KPC-2 β-Lactamase
Authors: Papp-Wallace Krisztina M. , Taracila Magdalena , Hornick John M. , Hujer Andrea M. , Hujer Kristine M. , Distler Anne M. , Endimiani Andrea , Bonomo Robert A. 
Published: April 2010

ABSTRACT

β-Lactamase-mediated antibiotic resistance continues to challenge the contemporary treatment of serious bacterial infections. The KPC-2 β-lactamase, a rapidly emerging Gram-negative resistance determinant, hydrolyzes all commercially available β-lactams, including carbapenems and β-lactamase inhibitors; the amino acid sequence requirements responsible for this versatility are not yet known. To explore the bases of β-lactamase activity, we conducted site saturation mutagenesis at Ambler position 237. Only the T237S variant of the KPC-2 β-lactamase expressed in
Escherichia coli
DH10B maintained MICs equivalent to those of the wild type (WT) against all of the β-lactams tested, including carbapenems. In contrast, the T237A variant produced in
E. coli
DH10B exhibited elevated MICs for only ampicillin, piperacillin, and the β-lactam-β-lactamase inhibitor combinations. Residue 237 also plays a novel role in inhibitor discrimination, as 11 of 19 variants exhibit a clavulanate-resistant, sulfone-susceptible phenotype. We further showed that the T237S variant displayed substrate kinetics similar to those of the WT KPC-2 enzyme. Consistent with susceptibility testing, the T237A variant demonstrated a lower
k
cat
/

K
m

for imipenem, cephalothin, and cefotaxime; interestingly, the most dramatic reduction was with cefotaxime. The decreases in catalytic efficiency were driven by both elevated

K
m

values and decreased
k
cat
values compared to those of the WT enzyme. Moreover, the T237A variant manifested increased

K
i

s for clavulanic acid, sulbactam, and tazobactam, while the T237S variant displayed

K
i

s similar to those of the WT. To explain these findings, a molecular model of T237A was constructed and this model suggested that (i) the hydroxyl side chain of T237 plays an important role in defining the substrate profile of the KPC-2 β-lactamase and (ii) hydrogen bonding between the hydroxyl side chain of T237 and the

sp
2

-hybridized carboxylate of imipenem may not readily occur in the T237A variant. This stringent requirement for selected cephalosporinase and carbapenemase activity and the important role of T237 in inhibitor discrimination in KPC-2 are central considerations in the future design of β-lactam antibiotics and inhibitors.
Rapid Assessment of Antibacterial Activity against
Mycobacterium ulcerans
by Using Recombinant Luminescent Strains
Authors: Zhang Tianyu , Bishai William R. , Grosset Jacques H. , Nuermberger Eric L. 
Published: April 2010

ABSTRACT

Mycobacterium ulcerans
causes Buruli ulcer, an emerging infectious disease for which antimicrobial therapy has only recently proven to be beneficial. The discovery and development of new drugs against
M. ulcerans
are severely impeded by its very slow growth. Recombinant bioluminescent strains have proven useful in drug development for other mycobacterial infections, but the ability of such strains to discriminate bacteriostatic from bactericidal activity has not been well demonstrated. We engineered recombinant
M. ulcerans
strains to express
luxAB
from
Vibrio harveyi
. In drug susceptibility tests employing a wide range of antimicrobial agents and concentrations, the relative light unit (RLU) count measured in real time was a reliable surrogate marker for CFU counts available 3 months later, indicating utility for the rapid determination of drug susceptibility and discrimination of bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects. A second important finding of this study is that the addition of subinhibitory concentrations of the ATP-binding cassette transporter inhibitor reserpine increases the susceptibility of
M. ulcerans
to tetracycline and erythromycin, indicating that drug efflux may explain at least part of the intrinsic resistance of
M. ulcerans
to these agents.
Daptomycin Is Effective for Treatment of Experimental Endocarditis Due to Methicillin-Resistant and Glycopeptide-Intermediate
Staphylococcus epidermidis
Authors: García-de-la-Mària C. , Marco F. , Armero Y. , Soy D. , Moreno A. , del Río A. , Almela M. , Cervera C. , Ninot S. , Falces C. , Mestres C. A. , Gatell J. M. , Jiménez de Anta M. T. , Miró J. M. 
Published: April 2010

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the daptomycin activity against two methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus epidermidis
(MRSE) clinical isolates with different vancomycin susceptibilities: MRSE-375, with a vancomycin MIC of 2 μg/ml, and NRS6, a glycopeptide-intermediate
S. epidermidis
(GISE) strain with a vancomycin MIC of 8 μg/ml. The
in vivo
activity of daptomycin at two different doses (standard dose [SD-daptomycin], 6 mg/kg of body weight/day intravenously [i.v.]; high dose [HD-daptomycin], 10 mg/kg/day i.v.) was evaluated in a rabbit model of infective endocarditis and compared with that of a standard dose of vancomycin (SD-vancomycin; 1 g i.v. every 12 h) for 2 days. For the MRSE-375 strain, high-dose vancomycin (HD-vancomycin; 1 g i.v. every 6 h) was also studied. For MRSE-375, SD- and HD-daptomycin therapy sterilized significantly more vegetations than SD-vancomycin therapy (9/15 [60%] and 11/15 [73%] vegetations, respectively, versus 3/16 [19%] vegetations;
P
= 0.02 and
P
= 0.002, respectively). HD-daptomycin sterilized more vegetations than HD-vancomycin (11/15 [73%] versus 5/15 [33%] vegetations;
P
= 0.03) and was more effective than SD- and HD-vancomycin in reducing the density of bacteria in valve vegetations (0 log
10
CFU/g vegetation [interquartile range {IQR}, 0 to 1 log
10
CFU/g vegetation] versus 2 log
10
CFU/g vegetation [IQR, 2 to 2 log
10
CFU/g vegetation] and 2 log
10
CFU/g vegetation [IQR, 0 to 2.8 log
10
CFU/g vegetation];
P
= 0.002 and
P
= 0.01, respectively). For the NRS6 strain, SD- and HD-daptomycin were significantly more effective than vancomycin in reducing the density of bacteria in valve vegetations (3.7 log
10
CFU/g vegetation [IQR, 2 to 6 log
10
CFU/g vegetation] versus 7.1 log
10
CFU/g vegetation [IQR, 5.2 to 8.5 log
10
CFU/g vegetation];
P
= 0.02). In all treatment arms, isolates recovered from vegetations remained susceptible to daptomycin and vancomycin and had the same MICs. In conclusion, daptomycin at doses of 6 mg/kg/day or 10 mg/kg/day is more effective than vancomycin for the treatment of experimental endocarditis due to MRSE and GISE.
Deamplification of
pfmdr1
-Containing Amplicon on Chromosome 5 in
Plasmodium falciparum
Is Associated with Reduced Resistance to Artelinic Acid
In Vitro
Authors: Chen Nanhua , Chavchich Marina , Peters Jennifer M. , Kyle Dennis E. , Gatton Michelle L. , Cheng Qin 
Published: April 2010

ABSTRACT

Amplification of the
Plasmodium falciparum
multidrug resistance 1 gene (
pfmdr1
) has been implicated in multidrug resistance, including
in vitro
resistance to artelinic acid (AL). The stability and fitness of having multiple copies of
pfmdr1
are important factors due to their potential effects on the resistance phenotype of parasites. These factors were investigated by using an AL-resistant line of
P. falciparum
(W2AL80) and clones originating from W2AL80. A rapid reduction in
pfmdr1
copy number (CN) was observed in the uncloned W2AL80 line; 63% of this population reverted to a CN of <3 without exposure to the drug. Deamplification of the
pfmdr1
amplicon was then determined in three clones, each initially containing three copies of
pfmdr1
. Interestingly, two outcomes were observed during 3 months without drug pressure. In one clone, parasites with fewer than 3 copies of
pfmdr1
emerged rapidly. In two other clones, the reversion was significantly delayed. In all subclones, the reduction in
pfmdr1
CN involved the deamplification of the entire amplicon (19 genes). Importantly, deamplification of the
pfmdr1
amplicon resulted in partial reversal of resistance to AL and increased susceptibility to mefloquine. These results demonstrate that multiple copies of the
pfmdr1
-containing amplicon in AL-resistant parasites are unstable when drug pressure is withdrawn and have practical implications for the maintenance and spread of parasites resistant to artemisinin derivatives.
Optimal CD8 T-Cell Response againstEncephalitozoon cuniculiIs Mediated by Toll-Like Receptor 4 Upregulation by Dendritic Cells
Authors: Lawlor Elizabeth M. , Moretto Magali M. , Khan Imtiaz A. 
Published: April 2010

ABSTRACTCD8+T-cell immunity has been shown to play an important role in the protective immune response againstEncephalitozoon cuniculi. Although earlier studies suggest that dendritic cells (DC) are important for the induction of this response, the factors responsible for initiation of the dendritic cell response against this pathogen have not been evaluated. In the current study, we demonstrate thatE. cuniculiinfection causes strong Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-dependent dendritic cell activation and a blockade of this molecule reduces the ability of DC to prime an antigen-specific CD8+T-cell response. Pretreatment of DC with anti-TLR4 antibody causes a defect in bothin vitroandin vivoCD8+T-cell priming. These findings, for the first time, emphasize the contribution of TLR4 in the induction of CD8+T-cell immunity againstE. cuniculiinfection.