Introduction - Reading Modern Law: Critical Methodologies and Sovereign Formations

Reading Modern Law identifies and elaborates upon key critical methodologies for reading and writing about law in modernity. The force of law rests on determinate and localizable authorizations, as well as an expansive capacity to encompass what has not been pre-figured by an order of rules. The key question this dynamic of law raises is how legal forms might be deployed to confront and disrupt injustice. The urgency of this question must not eclipse the care its complexity demands. This book offers a critical methodology for addressing the many challenges thrown up by that question, whilst testifying to its complexity. The essays in this volume - engagements direct or oblique, with the work of Peter Fitzpatrick - chart a mode of resisting the proliferation of social scientific methods, as much as geo-political empire. The authors elaborate a critical and interdisciplinary treatment of law and modernity, and outline the pivotal role of sovereignty in contemporary formations of power, both national and international. From various overlapping vantage points, therefore, Reading Modern Law interrogates law\u27s relationship to power, as well as its relationship to the critical work of reading and writing about law in modernity

Introduction - Reading Modern Law: Critical Methodologies and Sovereign Formations

Reading Modern Law identifies and elaborates upon key critical methodologies for reading and writing about law in modernity. The force of law rests on determinate and localizable authorizations, as well as an expansive capacity to encompass what has not been pre-figured by an order of rules. The key question this dynamic of law raises is how legal forms might be deployed to confront and disrupt injustice. The urgency of this question must not eclipse the care its complexity demands. This book offers a critical methodology for addressing the many challenges thrown up by that question, whilst testifying to its complexity. The essays in this volume - engagements direct or oblique, with the work of Peter Fitzpatrick - chart a mode of resisting the proliferation of social scientific methods, as much as geo-political empire. The authors elaborate a critical and interdisciplinary treatment of law and modernity, and outline the pivotal role of sovereignty in contemporary formations of power, both national and international. From various overlapping vantage points, therefore, Reading Modern Law interrogates law\u27s relationship to power, as well as its relationship to the critical work of reading and writing about law in modernity

Automated workflow for validation of ground motion simulations using conventional and complex intensity measures

This is an open-source software project that provides engineering seismologists and structural/geotechnical earthquake engineers with an easy-to-use IM calculation and plotting capability, seen as a critical toolchain necessary to progress the comprehensive validation of ground motion simulation methods from the perspective of developers as well as users

Source modelling insights from ground motion simulation validation of moderate magnitude active shallow crustal earthquakes in New Zealand

Hybrid broadband ground motion simulation validation has been an ongoing effort in NZ with recent studies focussed on active shallow crustal earthquakes of large magnitude (Mw>7.0) and small magnitude (3.5<Mw≤5.0). Lessons from these studies have led to provisional modifications to the Graves and Pitarka (2010, 2015) simulation method and velocity modelling, both crustal and shallow, in the NZ context. Naturally the next step is to consider moderate Mw earthquakes (5.0<Mw≤7.0) which bridge the gap between previous studies. Moderate Mw earthquakes, relative to small Mw earthquakes, introduce additional complexities in the simulations, due to their finite rupture size, that are important in the prediction of ground motions, which may have been previously obscured by the simplistic source modelling of small Mw earthquakes. This validation study considers 75 moderate Mw active shallow crustal earthquakes across NZ with 2042 ground motion records at 220 stations. The earthquake fault ruptures are kinematically modelled as single-plane finite faults given there are no detailed source inversion studies for these events (with few exceptions). The effect of fault dimension assumptions, kinematic slip generator, and choice of centroid moment tensor nodal plane on the simulated ground motions are examined. Comparisons with observed records through engineering intensity measures quantify the predictive capability of the simulations and examination of residuals highlight biases which are present in the prediction

Cybershake NZ v17.9: New Zealand simulation-based probabilistic seismic hazard analysis

This paper presents the computational workflow and preliminary results of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) in New Zealand based on physics-based ground motion simulations (‘Cybershake NZ’). In the current work completed to date, the Graves and Pitarka (2010, 2015) hybrid broadband ground motion simulation approach is utilized considering a transition frequency of 0.25 Hz, a detailed crustal model with a grid spacing of 0.4 km, and an empirically-calibrated local site response model. Variation in hypocentre location and slip distribution are considered to partially account for the variability in ground motion characteristics. Ruptures from the distributed seismicity model are considered in the total hazard via empirical ground motion models. Intensity measures for sample scenario ruptures and subsequently generated hazard curves are presented here. Treatment of uncertainty in the context of simulation-based PSHA is discussed. Lastly, improvements for future versions of the ongoing effort are outlined

Coupling ground motion simulation with regional modelling for rapid impact assessment

QuakeCoRE undertakes ground motion simulations as part of its computational workflow. Impact assessment is one of the subsequent downstream outcomes, and allows QuakeCoRE to assess estimated impacts for earthquakes – both recent ruptures and potential future earthquake scenarios. When coupled with near-real-time (NRT) ground motion modelling, these tools also provide NRT assessment. Following this, the susceptibility of a location or region to the earthquake-induced geotechnical and geologic hazards can be assessed. The three impact assessment types are currently considered: macro impact (via PAGER), liquefaction and landside. In this poster attention is given to the first two of these models which have been operationalised, while landslide model implementation is currently on going

Sensitivity of fluvial sediment source apportionment to mixing model assumptions: A Bayesian model comparison

Mixing models have become increasingly common tools for apportioning fluvial sediment load to various sediment sources across catchments using a wide variety of Bayesian and frequentist modeling approaches. In this study, we demonstrate how different model setups can impact upon resulting source apportionment estimates in a Bayesian framework via a one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) sensitivity analysis. We formulate 13 versions of a mixing model, each with different error assumptions and model structural choices, and apply them to sediment geochemistry data from the River Blackwater, Norfolk, UK, to apportion suspended particulate matter (SPM) contributions from three sources (arable topsoils, road verges, and subsurface material) under base flow conditions between August 2012 and August 2013. Whilst all 13 models estimate subsurface sources to be the largest contributor of SPM (median ∼76%), comparison of apportionment estimates reveal varying degrees of sensitivity to changing priors, inclusion of covariance terms, incorporation of time-variant distributions, and methods of proportion characterization. We also demonstrate differences in apportionment results between a full and an empirical Bayesian setup, and between a Bayesian and a frequentist optimization approach. This OFAT sensitivity analysis reveals that mixing model structural choices and error assumptions can significantly impact upon sediment source apportionment results, with estimated median contributions in this study varying by up to 21% between model versions. Users of mixing models are therefore strongly advised to carefully consider and justify their choice of model structure prior to conducting sediment source apportionment investigations

The extraordinary evolutionary history of the reticuloendotheliosis viruses

The reticuloendotheliosis viruses (REVs) comprise several closely related amphotropic retroviruses isolated from birds. These viruses exhibit several highly unusual characteristics that have not so far been adequately explained, including their extremely close relationship to mammalian retroviruses, and their presence as endogenous sequences within the genomes of certain large DNA viruses. We present evidence for an iatrogenic origin of REVs that accounts for these phenomena. Firstly, we identify endogenous retroviral fossils in mammalian genomes that share a unique recombinant structure with REVs—unequivocally demonstrating that REVs derive directly from mammalian retroviruses. Secondly, through sequencing of archived REV isolates, we confirm that contaminated Plasmodium lophurae stocks have been the source of multiple REV outbreaks in experimentally infected birds. Finally, we show that both phylogenetic and historical evidence support a scenario wherein REVs originated as mammalian retroviruses that were accidentally introduced into avian hosts in the late 1930s, during experimental studies of P. lophurae, and subsequently integrated into the fowlpox virus (FWPV) and gallid herpesvirus type 2 (GHV-2) genomes, generating recombinant DNA viruses that now circulate in wild birds and poultry. Our findings provide a novel perspective on the origin and evolution of REV, and indicate that horizontal gene transfer between virus families can expand the impact of iatrogenic transmission events