Climate Change and International Law. Exploring the Linkages Between Human Rights, Environment, Trade and Investment

Mapping the relevant principles and norms of international law, the paper discusses scientific evidence and identifies current legal foundations of climate change mitigation adaptation and communication in international environmental law, human rights protection and international trade regulation in WTO law. It briefly discusses the evolution and architecture of relevant multilateral environmental agreements, in particular the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It discusses the potential role of human rights in identifying pertinent goals and values of mitigation and adaptation and eventually turns to principles and rules of international trade regulation and investment protection which are likely to be of crucial importance should the advent of a new multilateral agreement fail to materialize. The economic and legal relevance of rules on tariffs, border tax adjustment and subsidies, services and intellectual property and investment law are discussed in relation to the production, supply and use of energy. Moreover, lessons from trade negotiations may be drawn for negotiations of future environmental instruments. The paper offers a survey of the main interacting areas of public international law and discusses the intricate interaction of all these components informing climate change mitigation, adaptation and communication in international law in light of an emerging doctrine of multilayered governance. It seeks to contribute to greater coherence of what today is highly fragmented and rarely discussed in an overall context. The paper argues that trade regulation will be of critical importance in assessing domestic policies and potential trade remedies offer powerful incentives for all nations alike to participate in a multilateral framework defining appropriate goals and principles.

Arterio-venous gradients of free energy change for assessment of systemic and splanchnic perfusion in cardiac surgery patients

OBJECTIVE: Adequacy of organ perfusion depends on sufficient oxygen supply in relation to the metabolic needs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between gradients of free energy change, and the more commonly used parameter for the evaluation of the adequacy of organ perfusion, such as oxygen-extraction in patients undergoing valve replacement surgery using normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). METHODS: In 43 cardiac patients, arterial, mixed venous, and hepato-venous blood samples were taken synchronously after induction of anaesthesia (preCPB), during CPB, and 2 and 7 h after admission to the intensive care unit (ICU+2, ICU+7). Blood gas analysis, cardiac output, and hepato-splanchnic blood flow were measured. Free energy change gradients between mixed venous and arterial (-deltadeltaG(v - a)) and hepato-venous and arterial (-deltadeltaG(hv - a)) compartments were calculated. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Cardiac index (CI) increased from 1.9 (0.7) to 2.8 (1.3) L/min/m (median, inter-quartile range) (p = 0.001), and hepato-splanchnic blood flow index (HBFI) from 0.6 (0.22) to 0.8 (0.53) L/min/m (p = 0.001). Despite increasing flow, systemic oxygen extraction increased after CPB from 24 (10)% to 35 (10)% at ICU+2 (p = 0.002), and splanchnic oxygen extraction increased during CPB from 37 (19)% to 52 (14)% (p = 0.001), and remained high thereafter. After CPB, high splanchnic and systemic gradients of free energy change gradients were associated with high splanchnic and systemic oxygen extraction, respectively (p = 0.001, 0.033, respectively). CONCLUSION: Gradients of free energy change may be helpful in characterising adequacy of perfusion in cardiac surgery patients independently from measurements or calculations of data from oxygen transport.

Comparing the validity and output of the GT1M and GT3X accelerometer in 5- to 9-year-old children

The purpose of this study was to compare the validity and output of the biaxial ActiGraph GT1M and the triaxial GT3X (ActiGraph, LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA)accelerometer in 5- to 9-year-old children. Thirty-two children wore the two monitors while their energy expenditure was measured with indirect calorimetry. They performed four locomotor and four play activities in an exercise laboratory and were further measured during 12 minutes of a sports lesson. Validity evidence in relation to indirect calorimetry was examined with linear regression equations applied to the laboratory data. During the sports lessons predicted energy expenditure according to the regression equations was compared to measured energy expenditure with the Wilcoxon-signed rank test and the Spearman correlation. To compare the output, agreement between counts of the two monitors during the laboratory activities was assessed with Bland-Altman plots. The evidence of validity was similar for both monitors. Agreement between the output of the two monitors was good for vertical counts (mean bias = −14 ± 22 counts) but not for horizontal counts (−17 ± 32 counts). The current results indicate that the two accelerometer models are able to estimate energy expenditure of a range of physical activities equally well in young children. However, they show output differences for movement in the horizontal direction.

Energy harvesting through arterial wall deformation: design considerations for a magneto-hydrodynamic generator

As the complexity of active medical implants increases, the task of embedding a life-long power supply at the time of implantation becomes more challenging. A periodic renewal of the energy source is often required. Human energy harvesting is, therefore, seen as a possible remedy. In this paper, we present a novel idea to harvest energy from the pressure-driven deformation of an artery by the principle of magneto-hydrodynamics. The generator relies on a highly electrically conductive fluid accelerated perpendicularly to a magnetic field by means of an efficient lever arm mechanism. An artery with 10 mm inner diameter is chosen as a potential implantation site and its ability to drive the generator is established. Three analytical models are proposed to investigate the relevant design parameters and to determine the existence of an optimal configuration. The predicted output power reaches 65 μW according to the first two models and 135 μW according to the third model. It is found that the generator, designed as a circular structure encompassing the artery, should not exceed a total volume of 3 cm3.

Energy harvesting through arterial wall deformation: A FEM approach to fluid–structure interactions and magneto-hydrodynamics

Engineers are confronted with the energy demand of active medical implants in patients with increasing life expectancy. Scavenging energy from the patient’s body is envisioned as an alternative to conventional power sources. Joining in this effort towards human-powered implants, we propose an innovative concept that combines the deformation of an artery resulting from the arterial pressure pulse with a transduction mechanism based on magneto-hydrodynamics. To overcome certain limitations of a preliminary analytical study on this topic, we demonstrate here a more accurate model of our generator by implementing a three-dimensional multiphysics finite element method (FEM) simulation combining solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, electric and magnetic fields as well as the corresponding couplings. This simulation is used to optimize the generator with respect to several design parameters. A first validation is obtained by comparing the results of the FEM simulation with those of the analytical approach adopted in our previous study. With an expected overall conversion efficiency of 20% and an average output power of 30 μW, our generator outperforms previous devices based on arterial wall deformation by more than two orders of magnitude. Most importantly, our generator provides sufficient power to supply a cardiac pacemaker.

Performance analysis of a miniature turbine generator for intracorporeal energy harvesting

Replacement intervals of implantable medical devices are commonly dictated by battery life. Therefore, intracorporeal energy harvesting has the potential to reduce the number of surgical interventions by extending the life cycle of active devices. Given the accumulated experience with intravascular devices such as stents, heart valves, and cardiac assist devices, the idea to harvest a small fraction of the hydraulic energy available in the cardiovascular circulation is revisited. The aim of this article is to explore the technical feasibility of harvesting 1 mW electric power using a miniature hydrodynamic turbine powered by about 1% of the cardiac output flow in a peripheral artery. To this end, numerical modelling of the fluid mechanics and experimental verification of the overall performance of a 1:1 scale friction turbine are performed in vitro. The numerical flow model is validated for a range of turbine configurations and flow conditions (up to 250 mL/min) in terms of hydromechanic efficiency; up to 15% could be achieved with the nonoptimized configurations of the study. Although this article does not entail the clinical feasibility of intravascular turbines in terms of hemocompatibility and impact on the circulatory system, the numerical model does provide first estimates of the mechanical shear forces relevant to blood trauma and platelet activation. It is concluded that the time-integrated shear stress exposure is significantly lower than in cardiac assist devices due to lower flow velocities and predominantly laminar flow.

Border tax adjustments: Can energy and carbon taxes be adjusted at the border?

Will die Schweiz mit unilateralen energie- und klimapolitischen Massnahmen ambitionierte Ziele verfolgen, dann erfahren energieintensive Sektoren Nachteile im internationalen Wett- bewerb. Produktionsverlagerungen und „carbon leakage“ sind die Folgen, was nicht im Sinne der Schweizer Wirtschaft und der globalen Klimaziele ist. Mit Grenzausgleichsmassnahmen (BAM) kann die Schweiz ihre energieintensiven Betriebe nicht vor internationalen Wettbe- werbsnachteilen schützen. Weiter kommt hinzu, dass die Einführung von BAM aus rechtli- cher Sicht „riskant“ ist und bei einem Schweizer Alleingang mit hohen Vollzugshürden ge- rechnet werden muss. Für die Schweiz macht eine Einführung von BAM nur im Rahmen ei- ner grösseren Klimakoalition Sinn (bspw. zusammen mit der EU). Alternativen zu BAM sind die einfacher und autonom umsetzbaren Ausnahmeregelungen für energieintensive Betriebe oder Output-based-allocation-Systeme.