BG Group and “Conditions” to Arbitral Jurisdiction

Although the Supreme Court has over the last decade generated a robust body of arbitration caselaw, its first decision in the area of investment arbitration under a Bilateral Investment Treaty was only handed down in 2014. BG Group v. Argentina was widely anticipated and has attracted much notice, and general approval, on the part of the arbitration community. In this paper we assess the Court’s decision from two different perspectives—the first attempts to situate it in the discourse of the American law of commercial arbitration; the second considers it in light of the expectations of the international community surrounding the proper construction of Conventions between states. Our initial goal had been to write jointly, with the hope that we could bridge our differences to find, if not common, at least neighboring, ground. On some points we did so, but ultimately our divergent appreciations of the proper way to interpret the condition precedent in the investment treaty in BG Group overcame the idealism with which we commenced the project. Nonetheless we have decided to present the two papers together to emphasize the dichotomous approaches to treaty interpretation that two moderately sensible people, who inhabit overlapping but non-congruent interpretive communities, can have.The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Busines

Panel No. 1: Arbitration and Legal Traditions

Do common law and civil law countries respond differently to arbitration? Are geopolitical factors critical? In particular, Latin American legal systems tend to politicize their evaluation of arbitration. The panelists will assess arbitration from a general Latin American perspective and from the vantage point of specific countries, like Brazil. What role do Brazilian judges play in the enforcement of arbitral awards? Is the Brazilian judiciary deficient in its approach to arbitration

Panel No. 1: Arbitration and Legal Traditions

Do common law and civil law countries respond differently to arbitration? Are geopolitical factors critical? In particular, Latin American legal systems tend to politicize their evaluation of arbitration. The panelists will assess arbitration from a general Latin American perspective and from the vantage point of specific countries, like Brazil. What role do Brazilian judges play in the enforcement of arbitral awards? Is the Brazilian judiciary deficient in its approach to arbitration

Experimental Characterization and Modelling of Energy Efficient Fluid Supply Systems

In applications such as in agriculture, construction, and aerospace applications, high pressure hydraulics is the preferred technology to transmit mechanical power. As a consequence, the energy efficiency of the hydraulic system used to perform the mechanical actuations is of primary concern to reduce the energy consumptions in the abovementioned applications. In an hydraulic system, the primary component determining the energy efficiency is the hydraulic pump. This work focuses on the study of a particular pump design, also referred as external gear pump, particularly used in applications in which the cost of the hydraulic system has to be minimized. The large use of this type of pump calls for research towards more efficient designs solutions. In particular, new designs for external gear pumps have been developed by Dr. Andrea Vacca’s research group at Purdue using a detailed pump model. This study is intended to gain detailed understanding about the fluid dynamic part of this model by performing detailed comparisons between the simulation results obtained by a different simulation tool, based on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach to simulate the entire pump operation (including the primary displacing action and the internal leakages). After the comparison is made for a commercial geometry, the study will focus on a innovative prototype design, developed to reduce the noise generation while increasing energy efficiency. The results from the CFD approach were validated against the experimentally-backed lumped parameter approach result. The differences between the modeling methods produced differences in the results which were analyzed for both the unit efficiency and flow ripple production

International Commercial Dispute Resolution

A recent Court of Appeals decision has made it more difficult for judges in the United States to second-guess arbitrators in international cases. To understand the significance of the recent decision, one must remember that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) has been interpreted to permit vacatur of awards in an international arbitration on the same grounds available in domestic cases. Thus, a litigant who is unhappy with an arbitrator\u27s decision gets a chance to re-argue the case by alleging manifest disregard of the law, a ground for judicial review created fifty years ago by Supreme Court dictum

Intraguild predation and competition impacts on a subordinate predator

Intraguild (IG) predation and interspecific competition may affect the settlement and success of species in their habitats. Using data on forest-dwelling hawks from Finland, we addressed the impact of an IG predator, the northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis (goshawk), on the breeding of an IG prey, the common buzzard Buteo buteo. We hypothesized that the subordinate common buzzard avoids breeding in the proximity of goshawks and that interspecific competitors, mainly Strix owls, may also disturb common buzzards by competing for nests and food. Our results show that common buzzards more frequently occupied territories with a low IG predation threat and with no interspecific competitors. We also observed that common buzzards avoided territories with high levels of grouse, the main food of goshawks, possibly due to a risk of IG predation since abundant grouse can attract goshawks. High levels of small rodents attracted interspecific competitors to common buzzard territories and created a situation where there was not only an abundance of food but also an abundance of competitors for the food. These results suggest interplay between top-down and bottom-up processes which influence the interactions between avian predator species. We conclude that the common buzzard needs to balance the risks of IG predation and interference competition with the availability of its own resources. The presence of other predators associated with high food levels may impede a subordinate predator taking full advantage of the available food. Based on our results, it appears that interspecific interactions with dominant predators have the potential to influence the distribution pattern of subordinate predators.Peer reviewe

Perspectives croisées sur la coopération transatlantique

This book gathers contributions by European and Canadian specialists in law, economics, international relations and political science and offers a rich overview of the many facets of Euro-Canadian relations

Direct visualisation of internalization of the adenosine A3 receptor and localization with arrestin3 using a fluorescent agonist

Fluorescence based probes provide a novel way to study the dynamic internalization process of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Recent advances in the rational design of fluorescent ligands for GPCRs have been used here to generate new fluorescent agonists containing tripeptide linkers for the adenosine A3 receptor. The fluorescent agonist BY630-X-(D)-A-(D)-A-G-ABEA was found to be a highly potent agonist at the adenosine A3 receptor in both reporter gene (pEC50 = 8.48 ± 0.09) and internalization assays (pEC50 = 7.47 ± 0.11). Confocal imaging studies showed that BY630-X-(D)-A-(D)-A-G-ABEA was internalized with A3 linked to yellow fluorescent protein, which was blocked by the competitive antagonist MRS1220. Internalization of untagged adenosine A3 could also be visualized with BY630-X-(D)-A-(D)-A-G-ABEA treatment. Further, BY630-X-(D)-A-(D)-A-G-ABEA stimulated the formation of receptor–arrestin3 complexes and was found to localize with these intracellular complexes. This highly potent agonist with excellent imaging properties should be a valuable tool to study receptor internalization