Who Are Protected by the Fundamental Guarantees under International Humanitarian Law? Part 2: Breaking with the Control Requirement in Light of the icc Case Law

International humanitarian law provides for fundamental guarantees, the content of which is similar irrespective of the nature of the armed conflict and which apply to individuals even if they do not fall into the categories of specifically protected persons under the Geneva Conventions. Those guarantees, all of which derive from the general requirement of human treatment, include prohibitions of specific conduct against persons, such as murder, cruel treatment, torture, sexual violence, or against property, such as pillaging. However, it is traditionally held that the entitlement to those guarantees depends upon two requirements: the ‘status requirement’, which basically means that the concerned persons must not or no longer take a direct part in hostilities, and the ‘control requirement’, which basically means that the concerned persons or properties must be under the control of a party to the armed conflict. This study argues in favour of breaking with these two requirements in light of the existing icc case law. That study is divided into two parts, with each part devoted to one requirement and made the object of a specific paper. The two papers follow the same structure. They start with general observations on the requirement concerned, examine the relevant icc case law and put forward several arguments in favour of an extensive approach to the personal scope of the fundamental guarantees. The first paper, which was published in the previous issue of this journal, dealt with the status requirement. It especially delved into the icc decisions in the Ntaganda case with respect to the issue of protection against intra-party violence. It advocated the applicability of the fundamental guarantees in such a context by rejecting the requirement of a legal status, on the basis of several arguments. Those arguments relied on ihl provisions protecting specific persons as well as on the potential for humanizing ihl on the matter and also on the approach making the status requirement relevant only when the fundamental guarantees apply in the conduct of hostilities. The second paper, which is published here, deals with the control requirement. It examines several icc cases in detail, including the Katanga and Ntaganda cases, in relation to the issue of the applicability of the fundamental guarantees in the conduct of hostilities. It is argued that the entitlement to those guarantees is not dependent upon any general control requirement, and that, as a result, some of these guarantees may apply in the conduct of hostilities. This concerns mainly those guarantees whose application or constitutive elements do not imply any physical control over the concerned persons or properties.

Who Are Protected by the Fundamental Guarantees under International Humanitarian Law? Part 1: Breaking with the Status Requirement in Light of the icc Case Law

International humanitarian law provides for fundamental guarantees, the content of which is similar irrespective of the nature of the armed conflict, and which are applicable to individuals even if they do not fall into the categories of specifically protected persons under the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Those guarantees, all of which derive from the general requirement of human treatment, include prohibitions of specific types of conduct against persons, such as murder, cruel treatment, torture and sexual violence, or against property, such as pillaging. However, it is traditionally held that entitlement to those guarantees depends upon two requirements: the ‘status requirement’, which basically means that the concerned persons must not or must no longer take a direct part in hostilities, and the ‘control requirement’, which basically means that the concerned persons or properties must be under the control of a party to the armed conflict. This study argues in favour of breaking with these two requirements, in light of the existing ICC case law. The study is divided into two parts, with each part devoted to one requirement and made the object of a specific paper. The two papers follow the same structure. They start with general observations on the requirement concerned, examine the relevant ICC case law and put forward several arguments in favour of an extensive approach to the personal scope of the fundamental guarantees. The first paper, which is published in this issue, deals with the status requirement. It especially delves into the ICC decisions in the Ntaganda case with respect to the issue of protection against intra-party violence. It advocates for the applicability of the fundamental guarantees in such a context by rejecting the requirement of a legal status, on the basis of several arguments. Those arguments rely on IHL provisions protecting specific persons, on the potential for humanizing IHL on the matter and on the approach making the status requirement relevant only when the fundamental guarantees apply in the conduct of hostilities. The second paper, which will be published in a coming issue, deals with the control requirement. It examines several ICC cases in detail, including the Katanga and Ntaganda cases, in relation to the issue of the applicability of the fundamental guarantees in the conduct of hostilities. It is argued that the entitlement to those guarantees is not dependent upon any general control requirement, and that, as a result, some of these guarantees (mainly those whose application or constitutive elements do not imply any physical control over the concerned persons or properties) may apply in the conduct of hostilities.

Publishing, identifiers & metrics: Playing the numbers game

The number of scientific articles published each year is rapidly growing and so is the number of academic journals. This makes it impossible for an individual practitioner or researcher to keep track of all research published in their own field or sub-discipline. With the growing amount of publications, it is also becoming more difficult to distinguish between similar papers published on the same topic, in the same journal, or by the same researchers (or research team). This perspective paper could support students and novice researchers, outlines the difference between the unique identifier for: (1) you as the researcher, (2) a specific paper; and (3) a specific journal. This paper further outlines the various numerical identifiers associated with academic publishing to help demystify academic publishing.

How to Handle Co-authorship When Not Everyone’s Research Contributions Make It into the Paper

While much of the scholarly work on ethics relating to academic authorship examines the fair distribution of authorship credit, none has yet examined situations where a researcher contributes significantly to the project, but whose contributions do not make it into the final manuscript. Such a scenario is commonplace in collaborative research settings in many disciplines and may occur for a number of reasons, such as excluding research in order to provide the paper with a clearer focus, tell a particular story, or exclude negative results that do not fit the hypothesis. Our concern in this paper is less about the reasons for including or excluding data from a paper and more about distributing credit in this type of scenario. In particular, we argue that the notion ‘substantial contribution’, which is part of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship criteria, is ambiguous and that we should ask whether it concerns what ends up in the paper or what is a substantial contribution to the research process leading up to the paper. We then argue, based on the principles of fairness, due credit, and ensuring transparency and accountability in research, that the latter interpretation is more plausible from a research ethics point of view. We conclude that the ICMJE and other organizations interested in authorship and publication ethics should consider including guidance on authorship attribution in situations where researchers contribute significantly to the research process leading up to a specific paper, but where their contribution is finally omitted.

Early Decompressive Craniectomy in Subdural Hematoma and Good Outcome – Case Report

A 20-year-old man presented to our Hospital with severe brain trauma, hit by a car while he was riding a bike. On the arrival at the emergency room (ER) his Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was 4 (eyes 1; verbal 1 and motor 2) with fixed midriatic pupils and submitted to mechanical ventilation. A CT scan was performed and revealed a subdural hematoma, midline shift greater than 5mm and a swelling, Marshall V (surgically evacuated). The patient was submitted to a decompressive craniectomy and hematoma evacuation two hours after the accident and sent to ICU with ICP monitoring. About 48 hours after surgery a new CT scan was performed and revealed a good outcome with regression of the edema, no midline shift and then we suspended the sedation and 7 days after the trauma the patient woke up without neurological deficits. Some authors did not see benefits in early surgery although the average time of surgical approach was 5 hours after the accident and in many cases the worse patients that underwent to early surgery had a poor outcome. We did not find a specific paper describing the outcome in patients with a very poor GCS ( less than 5 ) and fixed pupils, although the pupils abnormalities remains a critical feature for surgical indication. We believe that even in patient with severe brain trauma, poor GCS and non-reactive pupils, early surgery especially if it is performed before 4 hours can probable improves the outcome, considering other clinical features such as blood pressure and oxygen saturation

Hidradenitis Suppurativa Influences Tattooing Practice in Women

Background: The reasons or the motivations that compel people to get a tattoo or a body piercing (BP) are plentiful and personal. Patients with chronic cutaneous or systemic conditions may be interested in getting tattooed or pierced. Objective: To determine the frequency of body art practices in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and to evaluate the possible impact of HS in the decision-making process. Methods: An anonymous specific paper-based questionnaire was prospectively offered to patients (≥18 years) consecutively managed for HS from September 2016 to March 2017 in a French specialized center. Results: In total, 209 patients participated in the study, of whom 77 (37%) and 50 (24%) had tattoos and BP, respectively. These proportions were higher than those reported in the French population. HS prevented the decision to get a BP or a tattoo in 2 and 5%, respectively (fear of infection or healing difficulties). Fifteen patients (7%) got tattooed to hide a surgical HS scar (n = 5, 2%), to regain control over the pain or their bodies (n = 9, 4%), or to turn others’ eyes away from HS lesions or scars (n = 1, 0.5%). HS severity influenced a proportion of patients who intended to get a new tattoo. Conclusion: HS is associated with a significant increase in body art practices.

Declining of Sensing Errors in Cognitive Radio by Threshold Determination of Energy Spotting Method

The conventional Cognitive Radio Network is anticipates the fundamental solution to problem of spectrum scarcity in the forthcoming wireless and cellular communication networks, furthermore CR networking senses vacant spectrum bands in opportunistic method, and though, increases the effectiveness of spectrum usage. The CRN (Cognitive radio Network) provides the wireless connectivity and integration through the medium of dynamic spectrum access approaches and heterogeneous wireless designs and architectures. The enabling techniques and utilities of the CRNs have received the dynamic research and the industry interest. In this specific paper, we proposed an solution to decrease the error rate by enhancing the performance of detection which occur in time of spectrum sensing mechanism.

Evaluation of radiochemical purities of routinely used radiopharmaceuticals: Three years’ experience of a single institute

Introduction: Radiochemical purity (RCP) is a routine quality control test carried out at nuclear medicine to determine the concentration of various chemical species present in the radiopharmaceuticals (RPs). The present work describes three years of experience in a single institute for the measurement of these impurities in the RPs preparations. Methods: The RCP of different cold kit preparations were performed by chromatographic methods. Specifically, a small drop of the aliquot was spotted on the specific paper acting as the stationary phase and then developed in different solvents as mobile phases. The developed chromatograms were then quantified for various chemical species by Mini TLC scanner or well type counter. Results: The retention factor (Rf) values for the different chemical species in the labeling of RP were measured by using single, double or triple solvent systems. It was observed that 2.70% of the kits had RCP less than the acceptable limit whereas 97.30% kits were found within the permissible levels. Conclusion: Chromatographic techniques used for the assessment of RCP offer sufficiently good results for identification and separation of different chemical impurities.

On the contributions and the validation of an agent-based simulation model of innovation diffusion

Purpose This paper provides an overview of agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) and evaluates the questions that have been raised regarding the “assumptions and mechanisms used” by a well-cited paper that has used this methodology. Design/methodology/approach This work provides a review of agent-based simulation modeling and its capabilities to advance and test theory. The commentary then evaluates and addresses the raised questions and reservations. Findings Agent-based modeling offers unique capabilities that can be used to explore complex phenomena in business and marketing. Some of the raised reservations may be considered as directions for future research. However, the criticisms are for most part unsupported by existing research and do not undermine the contributions of the paper that is being discussed. Practical implications Given its relative novelty, reservations regarding agent-based simulation modeling are quite natural. Discussions like this one would bring together different points of view and lead to a better understanding of how using ABMS can benefit academia and industry. Originality/value This commentary is part of an intellectual dialogue that seeks to provide different points of view about agent-based simulation modeling using a specific paper as an example.