The Study of Law at the University of the South Pacific

A number of developments of interest to the countries of the South Pacific took place at the University of the South Pacific in the 1990s. In this article, two lawyers who have had some involvement with those developments provide a brief report on what happened. The article first covers the background and history of the University, the development of law programmes in the University (including the introduction of the LLB degree in 1994), and future developments for the University's law programme on the horizon. This article also includes an appendix which includes the University of the South Pacific's LLB degree curriculum as at 1994

A quotient of the Lubin-Tate tower II

In this article we construct the quotient M_1/P(K) of the infinite-level Lubin-Tate space M_1 by the parabolic subgroup P(K) of GL(n,K) of block form (n-1,1) as a perfectoid space, generalizing results of one of the authors (JL) to arbitrary n and K/Q_p finite. For this we prove some perfectoidness results for certain Harris-Taylor Shimura varieties at infinite level. As an application of the quotient construction we show a vanishing theorem for Scholze's candidate for the mod p Jacquet-Langlands and the mod p local Langlands correspondence. An appendix by David Hansen gives a local proof of perfectoidness of M_1/P(K) when n = 2, and shows that M_1/Q(K) is not perfectoid for maximal parabolics Q not conjugate to P.Comment: with an appendix by David Hanse

Sensitivity to Ingroup and Outgroup Norms in the Association Between Commonality and Morality

Emerging research suggests that people infer that common behaviors are moral and vice versa. The studies presented here investigated the role of group membership in inferences regarding commonality and morality. In Study 1, participants expected a target character to infer that behaviors that were common among their ingroup were particularly moral. However, the extent to which behaviors were common among the target character’s outgroup did not influence expectations regarding perceptions of morality. Study 2 reversed this test, finding that participants expected a target character to infer that behaviors considered moral among their ingroup were particularly common, regardless of how moral their outgroup perceived those behaviors to be. While Studies 1-2 relied on fictitious behaviors performed by novel groups, Studies 3-4 generalized these results to health behaviors performed by members of different racial groups. When answering from another person’s perspective (Study 3) and from their own perspective (Study 4), participants reported that the more common behaviors were among their ingroup, the more moral those behaviors were. This effect was significantly weaker for perceptions regarding outgroup norms, although outgroup norms did exert some effect in this real-world context. Taken together, these results highlight the complex integration of ingroup and outgroup norms in socio-moral cognition

Dessins, their delta-matroids and partial duals

Given a map $\mathcal M$ on a connected and closed orientable surface, the delta-matroid of $\mathcal M$ is a combinatorial object associated to $\mathcal M$ which captures some topological information of the embedding. We explore how delta-matroids associated to dessins d'enfants behave under the action of the absolute Galois group. Twists of delta-matroids are considered as well; they correspond to the recently introduced operation of partial duality of maps. Furthermore, we prove that every map has a partial dual defined over its field of moduli. A relationship between dessins, partial duals and tropical curves arising from the cartography groups of dessins is observed as well.Comment: 34 pages, 20 figures. Accepted for publication in the SIGMAP14 Conference Proceeding

Shell structure underlying the evolution of quadrupole collectivity in S-38 and S-40 probed by transient-field g-factor measurements on fast radioactive beams

The shell structure underlying shape changes in neutron-rich nuclei between N=20 and N=28 has been investigated by a novel application of the transient field technique to measure the first-excited state g factors in S-38 and S-40 produced as fast radioactive beams. Details of the new methodology are presented. In both S-38 and S-40 there is a fine balance between the proton and neutron contributions to the magnetic moments. Shell model calculations which describe the level schemes and quadrupole properties of these nuclei also give a satisfactory explanation of the g factors. In S-38 the g factor is extremely sensitive to the occupation of the neutron p3/2 orbit above the N=28 shell gap as occupation of this orbit strongly affects the proton configuration. The g factor of deformed S-40 does not resemble that of a conventional collective nucleus because spin contributions are more important than usual.Comment: 10 pages, 36 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Further search for a neutral boson with a mass around 9 MeV/c2

Two dedicated experiments on internal pair conversion (IPC) of isoscalar M1 transitions were carried out in order to test a 9 MeV/c2 X-boson scenario. In the 7Li(p,e+e-)8Be reaction at 1.1 MeV proton energy to the predominantly T=0 level at 18.15 MeV, a significant deviation from IPC was observed at large pair correlation angles. In the 11B(d,n e+e-)12C reaction at 1.6 MeV, leading to the 12.71 MeV 1+ level with pure T=0 character, an anomaly was observed at 9 MeV/c2. The compatibility of the results with the scenario is discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

217 MECHANISMS OF ACTION OF ESE1, A NOVEL TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATOR OF CARTILAGE REMODELING, IN MMP-13 REGULATION

Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) limits myocardial infarct size through the activation of the PI3K-Akt signal cascade; however, little is known about the roles of individual PI3K isoforms in cardioprotection. We aimed, therefore, to elucidate the role of the PI3K alpha isoform in cardioprotection Pharmacological PI3K alpha inhibition was assessed in isolated-perfused mouse hearts subjected to ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI), either during the IPC procedure or at reperfusion. PI3K alpha inhibition abrogated the IPC-induced protective effect at reperfusion, but not when given only during the IPC protocol. These results were confirmed in an in vivo model. Moreover, pharmacological PI3K alpha activation by insulin at reperfusion was sufficient to confer cardioprotection against IRI. In addition, PI3K alpha was shown to be expressed and activated in mouse cardiomyocytes, mouse cardiac endothelial cells, as well as in mouse and human heart tissue. Furthermore, PI3K alpha was shown to mediate its effect though the inhibition of mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening. In conclusion, PI3K alpha activity is required during the early reperfusion phase to reduce myocardial infarct size. This suggests that strategies specifically enhancing the alpha isoform of PI3K at reperfusion promote tissue salvage and as such, and could provide a direct target for clinical treatment of IRI.Fundacion Rafael del Pino FONDECYT 3160298 British Heart Foundation Cancer Research UK C23338/A15965 UK NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centr