Adverse Possession, Private-Zoning Waiver & Desuetude: Abandonment & Recapture of Property and Liberty Interests

Adverse-possession doctrine labors under a pair of disabilities: a hesitancy by theorists to embrace the abandonment-and-recapture principle that informs the doctrine, and a substantial unwillingness of governments to abandon an antiquated and outmoded maxim shielding them from the doctrine\u27s important work. Removing these disabilities will allow a series of positive outcomes. First, it will demonstrate that all would-be adverse possessors, not just those acting in good faith or with possessory intent, should enjoy the fruits of the doctrine. Second, it will provide valuable additional means by which the public may monitor the performance of government employees, and additional discipline to governments tempted to allow their aspirational commitments to outstrip their fiscal capacities. As an added benefit, it can achieve these ends without posing any threat to emergent environmental values, while serving as a positive support for effective government conservation efforts. Moreover, once adverse possession is recognized as a process of abandonment and recapture, and is applied to government entities as well as to private, opportunities arise to employ the doctrine expansively for the protection of property and liberty interests against aggressive overregulation and overcriminalization. The doctrine can become a tool for tempering and restraining burgeoning zoning and other property- and liberty-curtailing regulations by declaring regulations that have gone long unenforced in the face of broad, open public violation to be abandoned and unenforceable. Perhaps most intriguingly, it can provide a secure foundation in the American legal system for the doctrine of desuetude, by which long-violated and long-unenforced criminal prohibitions lose their restrictive capacity

Adverse Possession, Private-Zoning Waiver & Desuetude: Abandonment & Recapture of Property and Liberty Interests

Adverse-possession doctrine labors under a pair of disabilities: a hesitancy by theorists to embrace the abandonment-and-recapture principle that informs the doctrine, and a substantial unwillingness of governments to abandon an antiquated and outmoded maxim shielding them from the doctrine\u27s important work. Removing these disabilities will allow a series of positive outcomes. First, it will demonstrate that all would-be adverse possessors, not just those acting in good faith or with possessory intent, should enjoy the fruits of the doctrine. Second, it will provide valuable additional means by which the public may monitor the performance of government employees, and additional discipline to governments tempted to allow their aspirational commitments to outstrip their fiscal capacities. As an added benefit, it can achieve these ends without posing any threat to emergent environmental values, while serving as a positive support for effective government conservation efforts. Moreover, once adverse possession is recognized as a process of abandonment and recapture, and is applied to government entities as well as to private, opportunities arise to employ the doctrine expansively for the protection of property and liberty interests against aggressive overregulation and overcriminalization. The doctrine can become a tool for tempering and restraining burgeoning zoning and other property- and liberty-curtailing regulations by declaring regulations that have gone long unenforced in the face of broad, open public violation to be abandoned and unenforceable. Perhaps most intriguingly, it can provide a secure foundation in the American legal system for the doctrine of desuetude, by which long-violated and long-unenforced criminal prohibitions lose their restrictive capacity

Assessment of fish populations and habitat on Oculina Bank, a deep-sea coral marine protected area off eastern Florida

A portion of the Oculina Bank located off eastern Florida is a marine protected area (MPA) preserved for its dense populations of the ivory tree coral (Oculina varicosa), which provides important habitat for fish. Surveys of fish assemblages and benthic habitat were conducted inside and outside the MPA in 2003 and 2005 by using remotely operated vehicle video transects and digital still imagery. Fish species composition, biodiversity, and grouper densities were used to determine whether O. varicosa forms an essential habitat compared to other structure-forming habitats and to examine the effectiveness of the MPA. Multivariate analyses indicated no differences in fish assemblages or biodiversity among hardbottom habitat types and grouper densities were highest among the most complex habitats; however the higher densities were not exclusive to coral habitat. Therefore, we conclude that O. varicosa was functionally equivalent to other hardbottom habitats. Even though fish assemblages were not different among management areas, biodiversity and grouper densities were higher inside the MPA compared to outside. The percentage of intact coral was also higher inside the MPA. These results provide initial evidence demonstrating effectiveness of the MPA for restoring reef fish and their habitat. This is the first study to compare reef fish populations on O. varicosa with other structure-forming reef habitats and also the first to examine the effectiveness of the MPA for restoring fish populations and live reef cover

The Navigation Surface: A New Database Approach to Creating Multiple Products from High-density Surveys

High-resolution bathymetric surveys are revolutionising hydrographic surveying. ln addition to safety-of-navigation , there are a host of other uses for high-resolution bathymetry, including habitat mapping, hydrologic modelling, marine archaeology, and marine environmental protection. However, at present, there is no suitable method that can be used to produce multiple products that meet the needs of both navigation customers and other users . A research project conducted at the University of New Hampshire developed a model of the seafloor that is optimised for safety-of-navigation . This new technique bypasses the rather subjective, \u27selected soundings\u27 approach. Instead, a statistical model is created directly from the cleaned and processed data. The model - called a \u27navigation surface\u27 - consists of a high-resolution bathymetric grid with an uncertainty value assigned to each node on the grid. The model is then optimised to preserve the least depths over significant features . For each node an uncertainty value is computed which becomes an integral part of the model. The distribution of the points around the mean is combined with the predicted uncertainty of each measurement to form an overall uncertainty model. For low-density single-beam and lead-line surveys, the area between measurements is modelled based on a triangular irregular network (TIN). The uncertainty model then incorporates the distance from the measurement, as well as the uncertainty of the measurement itse lf

Critical association of ncRNA with introns

It has been widely acknowledged that non-coding RNAs are master-regulators of genomic functions. However, the significance of the presence of ncRNA within introns has not received proper attention. ncRNA within introns are commonly produced through the post-splicing process and are specific signals of gene transcription events, impacting many other genes and modulating their expression. This study, along with the following discussion, details the association of thousands of ncRNAs—snoRNA, miRNA, siRNA, piRNA and long ncRNA—within human introns. We propose that such an association between human introns and ncRNAs has a pronounced synergistic effect with important implications for fine-tuning gene expression patterns across the entire genome

Economic Impact of Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Goods and Services and Integration Into Restoration Decision-Making

Sustainability of natural resources requires balancing exploitation and conservation, enabled by management based on the best available scientific and economic information. Valuation of ecosystem goods and services is an important tool for prioritizing restoration efforts, recognizing the economic importance of conserving natural capital, and raising public awareness about the contribution of healthy ecosystems to social welfare, now and for future generations. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) in 2010 was a Gulf of Mexico ecological and economic disaster adding to decades-long degradation of the region’s coastal and marine environment. In 2010, revenues from provisioning ecosystem goods and services generated by the five U.S. states bordering the Gulf of Mexico contributed over $2 trillion per year to the nation’s gross domestic product, including$660 billion from the coastal county revenues and $110 billion from ocean revenues. Mexico and Cuba contribute at least another$40 billion per year from their Gulf coastal and ocean economies. Total economic value of Gulf ecosystem goods and services also requires valuation of nonmarket regulating, cultural, and supporting services, which are far more difficult to assess, but add billions more dollars per year. In light of this total economic value and trends in ecosystem stressors, new investment is necessary to ensure completeness, accuracy, and availability of Gulf economic impact data. Civil and criminal settlements related to the DHOS provide unprecedented opportunities for improving integration of ecosystem goods and services into decisions that affect Gulf restoration and sustainability. This paper highlights the economic contributions of Gulf ecosystem goods and services to the nation’s welfare, and recommends actions and investments required to ensure that they are valued, and integrated into decision-making

Exploiting mid-range DNA patterns for sequence classification: binary abstraction Markov models

Messenger RNA sequences possess specific nucleotide patterns distinguishing them from non-coding genomic sequences. In this study, we explore the utilization of modified Markov models to analyze sequences up to 44 bp, far beyond the 8-bp limit of conventional Markov models, for exon/intron discrimination. In order to analyze nucleotide sequences of this length, their information content is first reduced by conversion into shorter binary patterns via the application of numerous abstraction schemes. After the conversion of genomic sequences to binary strings, homogenous Markov models trained on the binary sequences are used to discriminate between exons and introns. We term this approach the Binary Abstraction Markov Model (BAMM). High-quality abstraction schemes for exon/intron discrimination are selected using optimization algorithms on supercomputers. The best MM classifiers are then combined using support vector machines into a single classifier. With this approach, over 95% classification accuracy is achieved without taking reading frame into account. With further development, the BAMM approach can be applied to sequences lacking the genetic code such as ncRNAs and 5′-untranslated regions

Can Physicians Identify Inappropriate Nuclear Stress Tests? An Examination of Inter-Rater Reliability for the 2009 Appropriate Use Criteria for Radionuclide Imaging

Background—We sought to determine inter-rater reliability of the 2009 Appropriate Use Criteria for radionuclide imaging and whether physicians at various levels of training can effectively identify nuclear stress tests with inappropriate indications. Methods and Results—Four hundred patients were randomly selected from a consecutive cohort of patients undergoing nuclear stress testing at an academic medical center. Raters with different levels of training (including cardiology attending physicians, cardiology fellows, internal medicine hospitalists, and internal medicine interns) classified individual nuclear stress tests using the 2009 Appropriate Use Criteria. Consensus classification by 2 cardiologists was considered the operational gold standard, and sensitivity and specificity of individual raters for identifying inappropriate tests were calculated. Inter-rater reliability of the Appropriate Use Criteria was assessed using Cohen κ statistics for pairs of different raters. The mean age of patients was 61.5 years; 214 (54%) were female. The cardiologists rated 256 (64%) of 400 nuclear stress tests as appropriate, 68 (18%) as uncertain, 55 (14%) as inappropriate; 21 (5%) tests were unable to be classified. Inter-rater reliability for noncardiologist raters was modest (unweighted Cohen κ, 0.51, 95% confidence interval, 0.45–0.55). Sensitivity of individual raters for identifying inappropriate tests ranged from 47% to 82%, while specificity ranged from 85% to 97%. Conclusions—Inter-rater reliability for the 2009 Appropriate Use Criteria for radionuclide imaging is modest, and there is considerable variation in the ability of raters at different levels of training to identify inappropriate tests