Taming the Beast: How the International Legal Regime Creates and Contains Flags of Convenience

Centuries-old maritime jurisprudence continues to guide the law of the sea today. These baseline understandings are necessary to maintain order of the largest international commons, the sea. The seas’ central role in globalization, though, strains some of this established law. In particular, the question of jurisdiction has become increasingly complex as ships regularly ply every ocean and visit ports in dozens of countries. Many of these ships are actually subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of States with which they have no connection and which have limited incentives to regulate. This paper explores how this jurisdictional non sequitur arose, and when international law permits concurrent jurisdiction. Specifically, this paper emphasizes when U.S. courts can reach activities on the seas. The limits on regulating the maritime commons inherent in a Westphalian system of nation-States has long been resolved by assigning regulatory, criminal, and civil jurisdiction to a vessel’s State of Registration. In other words, the laws of the nation that charter the vessel – which corresponds to the flag the ship flies – govern most aspects of the ship’s operations as well as personal conduct onboard. This compromise is referred to as the “law of the flag.” Cite as: 19 Annl. Survey Int\u27l. Comp. L. 263 (2013)

Oxygen, sulfide and diffusion: Why thiobiotic meiofauna must be sulfide-insensitive first-order respirers

Thiobios (sulfide-dependent) meiofauna have an aerobic metabolism, are sulfide-insensitive and rarely contain symbiotic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Adaptations so far observed in thiobios are consistent with the overriding need to maximize the diffusive flux of oxygen and sulfide to optimize energy yield. Both accrue from the requirement that oxygen and sulfide uptake and metabolism be controlled by diffusion and first-order rate reactions. These adaptations include variation in shape, mitochondrial distribution and respiratory capacity. Meiofauna can substantially supplement a more inefficient anaerobic metabolism with aerobic metabolism at oxygen concentrations as low as 0.1 μM. Hence, an aerobic capacity is useful even in thiobios. Adaptation to low oxygen, by decreasing metabolic rate, is counterproductive unless oxygen consumption remains zero-order. Otherwise, aerobic metabolic capacity must be increased to maximize oxygen flux. Sulfide-insensitivity is necessary because a sulfide detoxification system running at physiologically reasonable rates cannot maintain internal sulfide concentration below toxic levels. Sulfide metabolism is probably energetically useful where it occurs. Few symbiotic relationships among meiofauna also reflect constraints imposed by diffusional gradients. Consideration of diffusive flux is necessary for interpreting physiological and biochemical data on oxygen and sulfide metabolism in diffusion-dominated animals such as most meiofauna

A model for death assemblage formation: Can sediment shelliness be explained?

A numerical model for carbonate (shell) accumulation in marine sediments is proposed. Sediment shelliness is controlled by carbonate addition, taphonomic loss, carbonate reorganizing processes, and sedimentation rate. Using representative rates of carbonate production, taphonomic loss, and sedimentary carbonate content, the model shows that insufficient carbonate is produced today in many environments to explain sedimentary carbonate content and that most produced carbonate must be preseIVed despite a generally high capacity for taphonomic loss. An anthropogenically-produced decrease in carbonate production over the last ∼100 yr may explain the former. Representative rates of burial and sedimentation, and a temporal and spatial offset between carbonate production and organic matter decomposition can permit most produced carbonate to be preserved in sediments where taphonomic capacity greatly exceeds the carbonate production rate. The requirement that most carbonate be preserved, despite the observation that most individuals are not, indicates that most adults are preserved and reinforces the finding that biomass is a valuable community attribute for paleoecologic analysis. The requirement that most carbonate be preserved indicates that taphonomic loss must be restricted to the nearsurface in most habitats rather than being distributed throughout the bioturbated zone. The distribution and concentration of carbonate in sediments are partially decoupled from preservational processes because many processes affecting carbonate distribution have little effect on preservation. The time scales of the two differ. Preservational processes usually occur on time scales too short to be recorded as variations in carbonate content with depth. Evidence of preservational processes probably resides solely in the taphonomic signature of shells, hence emphasizing the importance of taphofacies analysis

Terrorism Incident Response Education for Public-Safety Personnel in North Carolina and Tennessee: An Evaluation by Emergency Managers

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the appropriateness and sufficiency of an existing course jointly created by the United States Department of Justice, the National Fire Academy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency entitled Emergency Response to Terrorism: Basic Concepts. The survey groups chosen for this evaluation included the 194 emergency managers for the two states of North Carolina and Tennessee. The return rate for the descriptive survey study was 53.6 percent (n=104). This return rate was accomplished via two mailings and telephone interviews. Overall, the respondents felt that the five main course topics (Understanding and Recognizing Terrorism, Implementing Self-Protective Measures, Scene Control, Tactical Considerations, and Incident Management Overview) were appropriate and important, although appropriateness scores were not as strong as those for importance. It was found that the majority of the respondents were utilizing the course as an entrylevel course to better enable their first responders to respond to terrorism incidents. When asked about the preferred method of course delivery, the majority of the respondents indicated that they thought the traditional classroom course was better than the computer-based instruction version. The main reason mentioned for the choice was the collective experience of all learners when they came together in a group to share past experiences and submit ideas. Some relationships between size of county population and threat of terrorism as well as population size and public safety personnel seeking out courses to better enable them to respond to terrorism incidents. The study was limited to the states of North Carolina and Tennessee and would need to be replicated to generalize findings beyond these states

Utilización de buques comerciales para aumentar la información de campañas de evaluación: la distribucción de frecuencias de tallas

The trend towards use of commercial vessels to enhance survey data requires assessment of the advantages and limitations of various options for their use. One application is to augment information on size-frequency distributions obtained in multispecies trawl surveys where stratum boundaries and sampling density are not optimal for all species. Analysis focused on ten recreationally and commercially important species: bluefish, butterfish, Loligo squid, weakfish, summer flounder, winter flounder, silver hake (whiting), black sea bass, striped bass, and scup (porgy). The commercial vessel took 59 tows in the sampled domain south of Long Island, New York and the survey vessel 18. Black sea bass, Loligo squid, and summer flounder demonstrated an onshore-offshore gradient such that smaller fish were caught disproportionately inshore and larger fish offshore. Butterfish, silver hake, and weakfish were characterized by a southwest-northeast gradient such that larger fish were caught disproportionately northeast of the southwestern-most sector. All sizes of scup, striped bass, and bluefish were caught predominately inshore. Winter flounder were caught predominately offshore. The commercial vessel was characterized by an increased frequency of large catches for most species. Consequently, patchiness was assayed to be higher by the commercial vessel in nearly all cases. The size-frequency distribution obtained by the survey vessel for six of the ten species, bluefish, butterfish, Loligo squid, summer flounder, weakfish, and silver hake, could not be obtained by chance from the size-frequency distribution obtained by the commercial vessel. The difference in sample density did not significantly influence the size-frequency distribution. Of the six species characterized by significant differences in size-frequency distribution between boats, all but one was patchy at the population level and all had one or more size classes so characterized. Although the variance-to-mean ratio was typically higher for the commercial vessel, five of the six cases that were otherwise were among the species for which the size-frequency distribution differed between the two vessels. Thus, the origin of the significant differences observed between vessels would appear to lie in the spatial pattern of the species as it interacts with the tendency for one vessel to obtain large catches more frequently for some size classes. One consequence of differential distribution and catchability is that more large fish were present in the commercial vessel catches than in the survey vessel catches in cases where the two vessels obtained different size-frequency distributions. Application of commercial vessels to the evaluation of size frequency hinges on understanding how to interpret differences among boats, gear, and sampling design. Here we show that key ingredients to this understanding are the degree of nonlinearity in catchability across a range of size classes, the interaction of varying spatial arrangements among size classes and the sampling design, and the interaction of varying spatial arrangements with differential catchability.La tendencia hacia la utilización de buques comerciales para incrementar y optimizar los datos de campañas de evaluación requiere la valoración de las ventajas y limitaciones de las distintas opciones para su uso. Una aplicación consiste en aumentar la información referente a distribuciones de frecuencias de tallas obtenidas en campañas de evaluación de pesquerías de arrastre multiespecíficas, en las que los límites de los estratos y la densidad del muestreo no son óptimas para todas las especies. El presente análisis se centró en diez especies importantes, tanto desde el punto de vista recreacional como comercial: Pomatomus saltatrix, Peprilus triacanthus, Loligo pealei, Cynoscion regalis, Paralichthys dentatus, Pleuronectes americanus, Merluccius bilinearis, Centropristis striata, Morone saxatilis y Stenotomus chrysops. El buque comercial realizó 59 lances en la zona muestreada al sur de Long Island, Nueva York, y el buque de investigación, 18. C. striata, L. pealei y P. dentatus presentaron un gradiente desde la costa hacia mar abierto tal que los individuos de menor talla fueron capturados desproporcionadamente en aguas costeras y los ejemplares de mayor talla a mayor distancia de la costa. P. triacanthus, M. bilinearis y C. regalis se caracterizaron por un gradiente sudoeste-nordeste tal que los ejemplares de mayor talla se capturaron desproporcionadamente al nordeste del sector más sudoccidental. Todas las tallas de S. chrysops, M. saxatilis y P. saltatrix fueron capturadas predominantemente en aguas costeras. P. americanus se capturó predominantemente en aguas alejadas de la costa. El buque comercial se caracterizó por una mayor frecuencia de grandes capturas para la mayoría de especies. En consecuencia, la agregación en áreas de alta densidad se mostró superior en el buque comercial en casi todos los casos. La distribución de frecuencias de tallas obtenida por el buque de investigación para seis de las diez especies (P. saltatrix, P. triacanthus, L. pealei, P. dentatus, C. regalis y M. bilinearis no pudo ser obtenida por azar a partir de la distribución de frecuencias de tallas obtenida por el buque comercial. La diferencia en densidad del muestreo no influenció significativamente la distribución de frecuencias de tallas. De las seis especies caracterizadas por diferencias significativas en la distribución de frecuencias de tallas entre buques, todas menos una mostraron agregaciones en áreas de alta densidad a nivel poblacional y todas presentaron una o más clases de talla caracterizadas de esta manera. Aunque la relación varianza-media fue típicamente superior para el buque comercial, cinco de los seis casos en que no fue así se dieron entre las especies en las que la distribución de frecuencias de tallas fue distinta entre los dos buques. Así, el origen de las diferencias significativas observadas entre buques radicaría en la pauta espacial de las especies al interaccionar con la tendencia de un buque a obtener grandes capturas con más frecuencia para algunas tallas. Una consecuencia de la distribución diferencial y capturabilidad es que más individuos de gran tamaño estuvieron presentes en las capturas del buque comercial que en las capturas del buque de investigación en casos en los que los dos buques obtuvieron distintas distribuciones de frecuencias de tallas. La utilización de buques comerciales para la evaluación de frecuencias de tallas depende de la comprensión sobre cómo interpretar las diferencias entre buques, artes de muestreo y diseño de muestreo. Mostramos aquí que ingredientes clave para esta comprensión son el grado de no-linearidad en la capturabilidad a lo largo de un rango de clases de talla, la interacción de distribuciones espaciales distintas entre clases de talla y el diseño de muestreo, así como la interacción de distintas distribuciones espaciales con la capturabilidad diferencial.  

An octree solution to conservation laws over arbitrary regions (OSCAR)

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76239/1/AIAA-1997-198-271.pd

Steroid induced osteonecrosis: An analysis of steroid dosing risk.

Osteonecrosis is a serious condition involving bone destruction that frequently requires surgical treatment to rebuild the joint. While there is an abundance of literature documenting corticosteroid related osteonecrosis, there is no consensus as to the relative risk of osteonecrosis after administration of steroids via parenteral, oral, topical, inhaled and other routes. This risk is an important prognostic indicator because identification and conservative intervention can potentially reduce morbidity associated with aggressive surgical treatment of osteonecrosis. This paper provides insight into establishing guidelines related to the risk of developing osteonecrosis as a result of corticosteroid use. Case studies, retrospective studies and prospective studies in humans on different corticosteroids and varied dosages were assessed. Most cases of osteonecrosis are secondary to systemically administered corticosteroids and/or high dose daily therapy, particularly in patients with underlying comorbidities including connective tissue diseases, hyperlipidemia, or previous trauma. Previous case reports of osteonecrosis related to inhaled or topical use of steroids are complicated by the fact that in the great majority of cases, the patients are also treated with systemic steroids prior to the development of osteonecrosis. Based on the literature, a set of recommendations regarding the risk of osteonecrosis in patients on steroids was formulated

An assessment of scup (Stenotomus chrysops) and black sea bass (Centropristas striata) discards in the directed otter trawl fisheries in the Mid-Atlantic Bight

This study was undertaken to re-assess the level of scup (Stenotomus chrysops) discards by weight and to evaluate the effect of various codend mesh sizes on the level of scup discards in the winter-trawl scup fishery. Scup discards were high in directed scup tows regardless of codend mesh — typically one to five times the weight of landings. The weight of scup discards in the present study did not differ significantly from that recorded in scup-targeted tows in the NMFS observer database. Most discards were required as such by the 22.86 cm TL (total length) fish-size limit for catches. Mesh sizes ≤12.7 cm, including the current legal mesh size (11.43 cm) did not adequately filter out scup smaller than 22.86 cm. The median length of scup discards was about 19.83 cm TL. Lowering the legal size for scup from 22.86 to 19.83 cm TL would greatly reduce discard mortality. Scup discards were a small fraction (0.4%) of black sea bass (Centropristis striata) landings in blacksea-bass−targeted tows. The black sea bass fishery is currently regulated under the small-mesh fishery gearrestricted area plan in which fishing is prohibited in some areas to reduce scup mortality. Our study found no evidence to support the efficacy of this management approach. The expectations that discarding would increase disproportionately as the trip limit (limit [in kilograms] on catch for a species) was reached towards the end of the trip and that discards would increase when the trip limit was reduced from 4536 kg to 454 kg at the end of the directed fishing season were not supported. Trip limits did not significantly affect discard mortality

Onshore–Offshore Trends in the Size-Frequency Distribution of Death Assemblages: Northwestern Gulf of Mexico

The size-frequency distributions of death assemblages were compared at three sites on the inner continental shelf of Texas by means of three descriptor variables, numerical abundance, paleoproduction (biomass at death), and paleoingestion (lifetime ingestion, a measure of energy flow). These death assemblages were then compared with six other death assemblages covering a transect from the estuary (Copano Bay, TX) to the continental slope. Typically, size-frequency distributions are based on abundance and size classes are set proportional to the largest individual in the collection. Restriction to this one analysis would have identified few of the important trends observed in this study. The evaluation of size frequency on the basis of species\u27 maximum size as well as assemblage maximum size and the comparison of a suite of assemblages on the basis of the largest maximum size provide important new inferences into community dynamics. The distribution of measures of energy flow across the size-frequency spectrum provided an additional, valuable source of information on community structure and habitat optimality. Within-habitat variability was consistently less than between-habitat variability. The autochthonous continental slope assemblages were the most diverse in their size-frequency spectra. Comparison between habitats showed that the continental slope assemblages had the largest proportion of adult individuals. The continental shelf assemblages were dominated by juveniles. The chemoautotrophic and heterotrophic assemblages in Copano Bay and on the continental slope were similar in most respects despite substantial differences in their trophic structure. Similarity existed in the proportion of adults, in the tendency toward bimodality, and in the degree to which species reached maximum size. The shapes of the size-frequency spectra were controlled in large measure by (a) the relative loss of juveniles through taphonomy, (b) the degree of survivorship to adulthood, probably predominately determined by predation, (c) the food and space resources present that control species size, and (d) the optimality of the habitat that allowed animals to approach maximum size. The habitats on the continental slope had the highest proportion of individuals near maximum size. The Copano Bay assemblages were also characterized by a large proportion of adult individuals; however, these normally did not reach sizes above 70% of species\u27 maximum size. The largest individuals were found at the petroleum seeps and in the heterotrophic assemblages from Copano Bay. Continental slope habitats should be temporally most stable, and our information supports that expectation. Food supply should be greatest in estuaries and in cold seeps where chemosynthetic processes dominate. Our data support this expectation

Why Oyster Restoration Goals In The Chesapeake Bay Are Not And Probably Cannot Be Achieved

Efforts to restore the native oyster in the Chesapeake Bay enjoy enormous public support and have consumed and continue to consume vast, some would argue unreasonable and unjustifiable, amounts of funding. Despite this support the stated goals of restoration efforts are poorly defined and consequently provide no realistic measures of success in terms of time, space, or biomass. Quantitative approaches used successfully in management of and rebuilding plans for other marine and estuarine species have not been appropriately applied. Basic information in oyster population dynamics and ecology has been inadequately appreciated in defining the quantitative problem. Given these limitations it is not surprising that little success has been achieved despite the massive investment. We note a lack of ability to predict recruitment, and limit the ingress and impact of disease. Without control of both of these functions, populations cannot be managed in a self-sustaining rebuilding mode within the footprint that they either currently occupy or formerly occupied. Sustained expansion of that footprint through substrate provision is prohibitively expensive, beyond the limits set by availability of substrate material, and futile in the presence of disease and susceptible oysters. Without attaining a substantially increased and rebuilding population, ecological services will be limited. Water quality impacts will, in reality, be modest, local and seasonal, and still subject to being overwhelmed by periodic storm events. Coherent and rational evaluation of biological limitations will lead to more realistic, and indeed very modest goals for ecological restoration. We must accept the fact that efforts to date to restore native oyster populations have failed and the prognosis for improvement of this situation is continued failure. The argument is proffered that stabilizing the present bed footprint with a realistic and sustainable population and the promotion of aquaculture to increase commercial yield is a more predictable and stable economic investment. Each of these options is consistent with the most realistic ecological outcome and should take priority in future efforts