Plurilingual Interpretation in WTO Panel and Appellate Body Reports

This article analyzes the extent to which the Appellate Body and WTO panels compare the authentic texts in their examination of the WTO Agreements and the extent to which the parties themselves do so in their arguments. The texts of the WTO Agreements are authentic in English, French and Spanish. Article 33 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties governs the interpretation of treaties authenticated in two or more languages. WTO practice diverges significantly from the rules set out in Article 33 and the travaux préparatoires of the International Law Commission. The terms of a plurilingual treaty are presumed to have the same meaning in each authentic text, which means that a treaty interpreter need not compare the authentic texts as a routine matter as a matter of law. Nevertheless, routine comparison of authentic texts would be good practice in the WTO context, since there are several discrepancies that could affect the interpretation of WTO provisions.

Radiologic interpretation of central venous catheter placement.

When used in veterinary medicine, central venous catheters are typically inserted through the external jugular vein, with their caudal extension within the cranial vena cava. Radiographic or fluoroscopic guidance is recommended to assist in correctly placing these catheters. This article provides radiologic examples of common central venous catheter malpositions and complications.

Seismic stratigraphy of the Blue Hole (Lighthouse Reef, Belize), a late Holocene climate and storm archive

Five seismic units may be identified in the similar to 8 m thick Holocene sediment package at the bottom of the Blue Hole, a 120 m deep sinkhole located in the atoll lagoon of Lighthouse Reef, Belize. These units may be correlated with the succession of an existing 5.85-m-long sediment core that reaches back to 1385 kyrs BP. The identification of seismic units is based on the fact that uniform, fine-grained background sediments show weak reflections while alternating background and coarser-grained event (storm) beds exhibit strong reflections in the seismic profiles. The main source of sediments is the marginal atoll reef and adjacent lagoon area to the east and north. Northeasterly winds and storms transport sediment into the Blue Hole, as seen in the eastward increase in sediment thickness, i.e., the eastward shallowing of the Blue Hole. Previous assumptions of much thicker Holocene sediment packages in the Blue Hole could not be confirmed. So far, close to 6-m-long cores were retrieved from the Blue Hole but the base of the sedimentary succession remains to be recovered. The nature of the basal sediments is unknown but mid-Holocene and possibly older, Pleistocene sinkhole deposits can be expected. The number of event beds identified in the Blue Hole (n = 37) during a 1.385 kyr-long period and the number of cyclones listed in historical databases suggest that only strong hurricanes (categories 4 and 5) left event beds in the Blue Hole sedimentary succession. Storm beds are numerous during 13-0.9 kyrs BP and 0.8-0.5 kyrs BP.

Seismic anisotropy in the Morcles nappe shear zone: Implications for seismic imaging of crustal scale shear zones

Microstructures and textures of calcite mylonites from the Morcles nappe large-scale shear zone in southwestern Switzerland develop principally as a function of 1) extrinsic physical parameters including temperature, stress, strain, strain rate and 2) intrinsic parameters, such as mineral composition. We collected rock samples at a single location from this shear zone, on which laboratory ultrasonic velocities, texture and microstructures were investigated and quantified. The samples had different concentration of secondary mineral phases (< 5 up to 40 vol.%). Measured seismic P wave anisotropy ranges from 6.5% for polyphase mylonites (~ 40 vol.%) to 18.4% in mylonites with < 5 vol.% secondary phases. Texture strength of calcite is the main factor governing the seismic P wave anisotropy. Measured S wave splitting is generally highest in the foliation plane, but its origin is more difficult to explain solely by calcite texture. Additional texture measurements were made on calcite mylonites with low concentration of secondary phases (≤ 10 vol.%) along the metamorphic gradient of the shear zone (15 km distance). A systematic increase in texture strength is observed moving from the frontal part of the shear zone (anchimetamorphism; 280 °C) to the higher temperature, basal part (greenschist facies; 350–400 °C). Calculated P wave velocities become increasingly anisotropic towards the high-strain part of the nappe, from an average of 5.8% in the frontal part to 13.2% in the root of the basal part. Secondary phases raise an additional complexity, and may act either to increase or decrease seismic anisotropy of shear zone mylonites. In light of our findings we reinterpret the origin of some seismically reflective layers in the Grône–Zweisimmen line in southwestern Switzerland (PNR20 Swiss National Research Program). We hypothesize that reflections originate in part from the lateral variation in textural and microstructural arrangement of calcite mylonites in shear zones.

End-tidal CO2 pressure: an important parameter for a correct interpretation of changes in cerebral hemodynamics and oxygenation measured with functional near infrared spectrophotometry (fNIRS)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of different speech tasks (recitation of prose (PR), alliteration (AR) and hexameter (HR) verses) and a control task (mental arithmetic (MA) with voicing of the result) on endtidal CO2 (ET-CO2), cerebral hemodynamics; i.e. total hemoglobin (tHb) and tissue oxygen saturation (StO2). tHb and StO2 were measured with a frequency domain near infrared spectrophotometer (ISS Inc., USA) and ET-CO2 with a gas analyzer (Nellcor N1000). Measurements were performed in 24 adult volunteers (11 female, 13 male; age range 22 to 64 years) during task performance in a randomized order on 4 different days to avoid potential carry over effects. Statistical analysis was applied to test differences between baseline, 2 recitation and 5 recovery periods. The two brain hemispheres and 4 tasks were tested separately. Data analysis revealed that during the recitation tasks (PR, AR and HR) StO2 decreased statistically significant (p < 0.05) during PR and AR in the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) and during AR and HR in the left PFC. tHb showed a significant decrease during HR in the right PFC and during PR, AR and HR in the left PFC. During the MA task, StO2 increased significantly. A significant decrease in ET-CO2 was found during all 4 tasks with the smallest decrease during the MA task. In conclusion, we hypothesize that the observed changes in tHb and StO2 are mainly caused by an altered breathing during the tasks that led a lowering of the CO2 content in the blood provoked a cerebral CO2 reaction, i.e. a vasoconstriction of blood vessels due to decreased CO2 pressure and thereby decrease in cerebral blood volume. Therefore, breathing changes should be monitored during brain studies involving speech when using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to ensure a correct interpretation of changes in hemodynamics and oxygenation.

Stratigraphic Variation Within Polar Firn Caused by Differential Accumulation and Ice Flow: Interpretation of a 400 Mhz Short-Pulse Radar Profile from West Antarctica

We investigate causes of the stratigraphic variation revealed in a 177 km, 400 MHz short-pulse radar profile of firn from West Antarctica. The profile covers 56 m depth, and its direction was close to those of the ice flow and mean wind. The average, near-surface accumulation rates calculated from the time delays of one radar horizon consistently show minima on leeward slopes and maxima on windward slopes, confirming an earlier study based on stake observations. The stratigraphic variation includes up to 30 m depth variation in individual horizons over tens of km, fold limbs that become progressively steeper with depth, and fold-hinge loci that change direction or propagate down-ice with depth over distances far less than predicted by the ice speeds. We use an accumulation rate model to show how local rate anomalies and the effect of ice speed upon a periodic variation in accumulation rate cause these phenomena, and we reproduce two key features seen in the stratigraphic variations. We conclude that the model provides an explanation of changes in spatial stratigraphy and local measures of accumulation history given the constraints of surface topography, ice and wind velocities, and a general accumulation rate for an area.

Dating the Siple Dome (Antarctica) Ice Core By Manual and Computer Interpretation of Annual Layering

The Holocene portion of the Siple Dome (Antarctica) ice core was dated by interpreting the electrical, visual and chemical properties of the core. The data were interpreted manually and with a computer algorithm. The algorithm interpretation was adjusted to be consistent with atmospheric methane stratigraphic ties to the GISP2 (Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2) ice core, (BE)-B-10 stratigraphic ties to the dendrochronology C-14 record and the dated volcanic stratigraphy. The algorithm interpretation is more consistent and better quantified than the tedious and subjective manual interpretation.

Topographic Control of Regional Accumulation Rate Variability at South Pole and Implications for Ice-Core Interpretation

Snow-accumulation rates are known to be sensitive to local changes in ice-sheet surface slope because of the effect of katabatic winds. These topographic effects can be preserved in ice cores that are collected at non-ice-divide locations. The trajectory of an ice-core site at South Pole is reconstructed using measurements of ice-sheet motion to show that snow was probably deposited at places of different surface slope during the past 1000 years. Recent accumulation rates, derived from shallow firn cores, vary along this trajectory according to surface topography, so that on a relatively steep flank mean annual accumulation is similar to 18% smaller than on a nearby topographic depression. These modern accumulation rates are used to reinterpret the cause of accumulation rate variability with time in the long ice-core record as an ice-dynamics effect and not a climate-change signal. The results highlight the importance of conducting ancillary ice-dynamics measurements as part of ice-coring programs so that topographic effects can be deconvolved from potential climate signals.