Sosa, Customary International Law, and the Continuing Relevance of Erie

Ten years ago, the conventional wisdom among international law academics was that customary international law (CIL) had the status of self-executing federal common law to be applied by courts without any need for political branch authorization. This modern position came under attack by so-called revisionist critics who argued that CIL had the status of federal common law only in the relatively rare situations in which the Constitution or political branches authorized courts to treat it as such. Modern position proponents are now claiming that the Supreme Court\u27s 2004 decision in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain confirms that CIL has the status of self-executing federal common law. As this Article explains, the decision in Sosa did not in fact embrace the modern position, and, indeed, is best read as rejecting it. Commentators who construe Sosa as embracing the modern position have confounded the automatic incorporation of CIL as domestic federal law in the absence of political branch authorization (i.e., the modern position) with the entirely different issue of whether and to what extent a particular statute, the Alien Tort Statute ( ATS ), authorizes courts to apply CIL as domestic federal law. The Article also explains how CIL continues to be relevant to domestic federal common law despite Sosa\u27s rejection of the modern position. The fundamental flaw of the modern position is that it ignores the justifications for, and limitations on, post-Erie federal common law. As the Article shows, however, there are a number of contexts in addition to the ATS in which it is appropriate for courts to develop federal common law by reference to CIL, including certain jurisdictional contexts not amenable to state regulation (namely admiralty and interstate disputes), and gap-filling and interpretation of foreign affairs statutes and treaties. The Article concludes by considering several areas of likely debate during the next decade concerning the domestic status of CIL: corporate aiding and abetting liability under the ATS; application of CIL to the war on terrorism; and the use of foreign and international materials in constitutional interpretation

Optical Spectra of p-Doped PEDOT Nano-Aggregates Provide Insight into the Material Disorder

Highly doped Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) or PEDOT is a conductive polymer with a wide range of applications in energy conversion due to its ease of processing, optical properties and high conductivity. The latter is influenced by processing conditions, including formulation, annealing, and solvent treatment of the polymer, which also affects the polymer arrangement. Here we show that the analysis of the optical spectra of PEDOT domains reveals the nature and magnitude of the structural disorder in the material. In particular, the optical spectra of objects on individual domains can be used for the elucidation of the molecular disorder in oligomer arrangement which is a key factor affecting the conductivity

Vascular calcification: A stiff challenge for the nephrologist Does preventing bone disease cause arterial disease

Vascular calcification: A stiff challenge for the nephrologists—Does preventing bone disease cause arterial disease? There has been an explosion of interest in vascular calcification in the last 5 years. Four key “germinal” findings have fallen onto very fertile soil. First, on the background of an increasing cardiovascular disease burden it has been found that at least cross-sectionally, and in a limited fashion prospectively, achieved dialysis plasma phosphate levels are linked to all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Second, there are increasing reports of calcific uremic arteriolopathy in Australia and the United States. Third, we know know that the mechanical properties of the carotid artery, and the aorta, have a profound influence on survival for dialysis patients. Vascular calcification itself (as assessed by x-ray films and ultrasound) has been linked to aortic stiffness. Fourth, increasing numbers of studies are showing extremely extensive coronary artery calcification (CAC) in dialysis patients, even at a young age. From these apparently unlinked observations the following assertion has been posited—that in the widespread (over) use of calcium-containing oral phosphate binders (OPB) to prevent uremic osteodystrophy in our dialysis population we have unwittingly accelerated widespread uremic vasculopathy and thereby contributed to premature cardiovascular mortality.It is the purpose of this article to discuss vascular calcification (and particularly CAC) in dialysis patients as we understand it today. We will review the published series, with special reference to the Sevelamer Treat to Goal trial and also discuss the new Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative (K-DOQI) guidelines on the use of phosphate binders in chronic kidney disease

Monthly Planet, 1982, November

https://cedar.wwu.edu/planet/1113/thumbnail.jp

Analysis of the effect of hemodialysis on peripheral and central arterial pressure waveforms

Analysis of the effect of hemodialysis on peripheral and central arterial pressure waveforms.BackgroundArterial stiffening is very pronounced in renal patients. Carotid artery stiffening is a powerful predictor of future cardiovascular mortality, and measures of arterial compliance correlate much better with left ventricular mass (LVM) in dialysis patients than does brachial artery blood pressure (BP). The aim of our study was to describe the influence of a hemodialysis (HD) session on arterial cushioning function and to correlate the potential different types of behavior with echocardiographic derived parameters.MethodsRadial artery pressure waveforms were measured and recorded noninvasively by applanation tonometry in 51 healthy patients on regular three times weekly HD. The data were then converted into aortic pressure waveforms using a regression equation (SphymoCor™ apparatus). Measurements were done pre- and post-HD in order to ascertain the effect of a single HD session on arterial hemodynamics. The augmentation index (AGI; the difference between early and late pressure peaks divided by the pulse pressure amplitude) was used as an index for vascular compliance. Reproducibility was assessed in 20 young healthy subjects by determining the aortic pulse wave augmentation index twice from radial artery BP measurements one minute apart. Intraobserver error was 2.4%. For 10 dialysis patients similarly studied, the intraobserver error was 1.6%.ResultsAGI was correlated with subjects' height (r = -0.37, P = 0.009), weight (r = -0.41, P = 0.002), and BP levels: radial systolic BP (r = 0.33, P = 0.018), radial diastolic BP (r = 0.29, P = 0.036), and central systolic BP (r = 0.51, P < 0.001). Comparing the pre- with the post-HD AGI values, four patterns of evolution became apparent: (1) The AGI was negative before the HD session and became even more negative afterward (N = 3 out of 51). (2) The AGI was positive before the HD session but became negative after dialysis (N = 19 out of 51). (3) The AGI was positive before the HD session and, although diminished afterward, remained positive (N = 23 out of 51). (4) The AGI was positive before the HD session and increased afterward (N = 6 out of 51). We also found that in some patients, AGI remained at lower than predialysis levels for at least 24 hours. Significant relationships between echocardiographic parameters and pulse wave contour (PWC) variables included pre-HD AGI and LVM (r = 0.47, P < 0.001). There was better correlation between LVM and derived predialysis aortic systolic BP (r = 0.56, P < 0.001) than measured brachial (peripheral) systolic BP (r = 0.35, P = 0.04). Patients whose waveform remained abnormal (AGI remained positive) after HD had a more dilated LV (LV-EDD = 52.07 ± 3.48 mm) than did those patients for whom HD restored “normal” arterial hemodynamics (LV-EDD 46.86 ± 4.06 mm, P < 0.05).ConclusionsA standard HD session profoundly affected aortic BP waveform characteristics, with a reduction in wave reflection in 88% of patients. However, restoration by HD of a normal aortic waveform was unusual. Patients whose waveform remained abnormal after HD had larger more dilated LV chambers than did those patients for whom HD restored “normal” arterial hemodynamics

Monthly Planet, 1983, March

https://cedar.wwu.edu/planet/1116/thumbnail.jp