The 2012 Agreement on the Exploitation of Transboundary Hydrocarbon Resources in the Gulf of Mexico Confirmation of the Rule or Emergence of a New Practice?

This Article explores the international law applicable to the exploitation of hydrocarbon resources that straddle the boundaries between States (transboundary fields) and its applicability to the U.S. and Mexico maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico. After a detailed examination of the different sources of international law including treaties, customary norms, judicial decisions, and bilateral practice, the Article concludes that the United States and Mexico have deviated in some regards from the standard international legal practices that other States have adopted to exploit transboundary hydrocarbon resources. The two most notable deviations are in allowing either nation to unilaterally exploit the shared resource, if no unitization agreement can be achieved, and the absence of an effective third party dispute settlement mechanism under some circumstances. Concretely, the Article analyzes how the latest instrument signed by these two nations for the exploitation of these resources, the 2012 Agreement on the Exploitation of Transboundary Hydrocarbon Resources, modifies international practice in several aspects and has the potential of complicating the efficient exploitation of the resources for the benefit of both nations. In reaching its conclusion the Article reviews the ratification processes of the agreement, the legal implications on the way both States perceive the use of these resources, and the effects that the 2014 reform in the energy sector in Mexico has on the binational treaty regime

An analysis of HCPC fitness to practise hearings: Fit to Practise or Fit for Purpose?

All professions regulated by the HCPC have ‘protection of title’. This means that only those on its relevant register can legally work as or call themselves a social worker. As such, the HCPC’s Fitness to Practise panel wields a lot of power over individuals brought before it, effectively being able to prevent them from gaining employment as a social worker or imposing conditions on their practice. This article reports the findings from a study which examined publically available notes of HCPC fitness to practise hearings. The aim was to analyse what happens when an initial investigation finds that there is a case to answer, what factors influence the findings of the Fitness to Practise panel and how the outcome of the hearing then affects the social worker subject to the HCPC process. Using thematic analysis, our findings suggest that the seriousness of the alleged misconduct does not necessarily relate to the severity of sanction applied. It is the social worker’s engagement with the process, her insight into the issues and her credibility as a witness that appears to have the most significant bearing on the level of sanction applied

Dynamics of probability density functions for decaying passive scalars in periodic velocity fields

The probability density function (PDF) for a decaying passive scalar advected by a deterministic, periodic, incompressible fluid flow is numerically studied using a variety of random and coherent initial scalar fields. We establish the dynamic emergence at large Péclet num-bers of a broad-tailed PDF for the scalar initialized with a Gaussian random measure, and further explore a rich parameter space involv-ing scales of the initial scalar field and the geometry of the flow. We document that the dynamic transition of the PDF to a broad tailed distribution is similar for shear flows and time-varying non-sheared flows with positive Lyapunov exponent, thereby showing that chaos in the particle trajectories is not essential to observe intermittent scalar signals. The role of the initial scalar field is carefully explored. The long time PDF is sensitive to the scale of the initial data. For shear flows we show that heavy-tailed PDFs appear only when the initial field has sufficiently small-scale variation. We also connect geometric features of the scalar field with the shape of the PDFs. We docu-ment that the PDF is constructed by a subtle balance between spatial regions of strong and weak shear in conjunction with the presence of 1 To appear: Physics of Fluids small-scale scalar variation within the weak shear regions. For cellular flows we document a lack of self-similarity in the PDFs when periodic time dependence is present, in contrast to the self-similar decay for time independent flow. Finally we analyze the behavior of the PDFs for coherent initial fields and the parametric dependence of the vari-ance decay rate on the Péclet number and the initial wavenumber of the scalar field. 2

Adaptive immunity alters distinct host feeding pathways during nematode induced inflammation, a novel mechanism in parasite expulsion

Gastrointestinal infection is often associated with hypophagia and weight loss; however, the precise mechanisms governing these responses remain poorly defined. Furthermore, the possibility that alterations in feeding during infection may be beneficial to the host requires further study. We used the nematode Trichinella spiralis, which transiently inhabits the small intestine before migrating to skeletal muscle, as a biphasic model of infection to determine the cellular and molecular pathways controlling feeding during enteric and peripheral inflammation. Through the infection of genetically modified mice lacking cholecystokinin, Tumor necrosis factor α receptors and T and B-cells, we observed a biphasic hypophagic response to infection resulting from two separate immune-driven mechanisms. The enteroendocrine I-cell derived hormone cholecystokinin is an essential mediator of initial hypophagia and is induced by CD4+ T-cells during enteritis. In contrast, the second hypophagic response is extra-intestinal and due to the anorectic effects of TNFα during peripheral infection of the muscle. Moreover, via maintaining naive levels of the adipose secreted hormone leptin throughout infection we demonstrate a novel feedback loop in the immunoendocrine axis. Immune driven I-cell hyperplasia and resultant weight loss leads to a reduction in the inflammatory adipokine leptin, which in turn heightens protective immunity during infection. These results characterize specific immune mediated mechanisms which reduce feeding during intestinal or peripheral inflammation. Importantly, the molecular mediators of each phase are entirely separate. The data also introduce the first evidence that I-cell hyperplasia is an adaptively driven immune response that directly impinges on the outcome to infection

Catalog of 93 Nova Light Curves: Classification and Properties

We present a catalog of 93 very-well-observed nova light curves. The light curves were constructed from 229,796 individual measured magnitudes, with the median coverage extending to 8.0 mag below peak and 26% of the light curves following the eruption all the way to quiescence. Our time-binned light curves are presented in figures and as complete tabulations. We also calculate and tabulate many properties about the light curves, including peak magnitudes and dates, times to decline by 2, 3, 6, and 9 magnitudes from maximum, the time until the brightness returns to quiescence, the quiescent magnitude, power law indices of the decline rates throughout the eruption, the break times in this decline, plus many more properties specific to each nova class. We present a classification system for nova light curves based on the shape and the time to decline by 3 magnitudes from peak (t3). The designations are S for smooth light curves (38% of the novae), P for plateaus (21%), D for dust dips (18%), C for cusp-shaped secondary maxima (1%), O for quasi-sinusoidal oscillations superposed on an otherwise smooth decline (4%), F for flat-topped light curves (2%), and J for jitters or flares superposed on the decline (16%). Our classification consists of this single letter followed by the t3 value in parentheses; so for example V1500 Cyg is S(4), GK Per is O(13), DQ Her is D(100), and U Sco is P(3).Comment: Astronomical Journal, in press, 19 figures, 73 page

Postmortomics:The potential of untargeted metabolomics to highlight markers for time since death

The success of forensic investigations involving fatalities very often depends on the establishment of the correct timeline of events. Currently used methods for estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) are mostly dependent on the professional and tacit experience of the investigator, and often with poor reliability in the absence of robust biological markers. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of metabolomic approaches to highlight molecular markers for PMI. Rat and human muscle tissues, collected at various times postmortem, were analyzed using an untargeted metabolomics approach. Levels of certain metabolites (skatole, xanthine, n-acetylneuraminate, 1-methylnicotinamide, choline phosphate, and uracil) as well as most proteinogenic amino acids increased steadily postmortem. Threonine, tyrosine, and lysine show the most predictable evolution over the postmortem period, and may thus have potential for possible PMI markers in the future. This study demonstrates how a biomarker discovery approach can be extended to forensic investigations using untargeted metabolomics

Residents\u27 Perceptions of Community and Environmental Impacts From Development of Natural Gas in the Marcellus Shale: A Comparison of Pennsylvania and New York Cases

Communities experiencing rapid growth due to energy development (‘boomtowns’) have reported positive and negative impacts on community and individual well-being. The perceptions of impacts vary according to stage of energy development as well as experience with extractive industries. Development of the Marcellus Shale provides an opportunity to examine these impacts over time and across geographic and historical contexts. This paper describes case study research in Pennsylvania and New York to document preliminary impacts of development occurring there. Cases vary by level of development and previous extractive history. The study finds that, in areas with low population density, higher levels of development lead to a broader awareness of natural gas impacts, both positive and negative. Participants draw from the regional history of extraction to express environmental concern despite direct, local experience. Our findings suggest the need to track these perceptions during development, and as individuals and communities react and adapt to the impacts

Deterioration of perennial sea ice in the Beaufort Gyre from 2003 to 2012 and its impact on the oceanic freshwater cycle

© The Author(s), 2014. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 119 (2014): 1271-1305, doi:10.1002/2013JC008999.Time series of ice draft from 2003 to 2012 from moored sonar data are used to investigate variability and describe the reduction of the perennial sea ice cover in the Beaufort Gyre (BG), culminating in the extreme minimum in 2012. Negative trends in median ice drafts and most ice fractions are observed, while open water and thinnest ice fractions (<0.3 m) have increased, attesting to the ablation or removal of the older sea ice from the BG over the 9 year period. Monthly anomalies indicate a shift occurred toward thinner ice after 2007, in which the thicker ice evident at the northern stations was reduced. Differences in the ice characteristics between all of the stations also diminished, so that the ice cover throughout the region became statistically homogenous. The moored data are used in a relationship with satellite radiometer data to estimate ice volume changes throughout the BG. Summer solid fresh water content decreased drastically in consecutive years from 730 km3 in 2006 to 570 km3 in 2007, and to 240 km3 in 2008. After a short rebound, solid fresh water fell below 220 km3 in 2012. Meanwhile, hydrographic data indicate that liquid fresh water in the BG in summer increased 5410 km3 from 2003 to 2010 and decreased at least 210 km3 by 2012. The reduction of both solid and liquid fresh water components indicates a net export of approximately 320 km3 of fresh water from the region occurred between 2010 and 2012, suggesting that the anticyclonic atmosphere-ocean circulation has weakened.Support for Krishfield, Proshutinsky, and Timmermans, partial financial support of logistics, hydrographic observations on the board of Canadian icebreaker, and full financial coverage of all mooring instrumentation was provided by the National Science Foundation (under grants OPP-0230184, OPP-0424864, ARC-0722694, ARC-0806306, ARC- 0856531, ARC-1107277, and ARC- 1203720), and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution internal funding. Funding for Tateyama was provided by the International Arctic Research Center – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (IJIS) Arctic project, and for Williams, Carmack, and McLaughlin by Fisheries and Oceans Canada