Maritime Setting Research Articles

Stratigraphic and geomorphologic evidence of three MIS 2 glacial advances in the South Fork Hoh River valley, Olympic Mountains, Washington, USA

AbstractThe geomorphology and stratigraphy of the South Fork Hoh River (SF Hoh), Olympic Mountains, Washington, allow for greater understanding of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2) ice fluctuations, glacial dynamics, and sedimentation. Age control from optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon dating constrains deposited sediments associated with four Late Pleistocene ice-marginal positions that formed under reduced ice volume conditions compared with MIS 3–5 glaciers in the same drainage. The earliest MIS 2 ice margin extended into the main Hoh River valley (pre–SF 1, 28 ka to >23.0 ka). After retreat, the ice occupied three closely spaced ice-marginal positions (SF 1–3) that range in age from 22.0 ka to shortly after 18.7 ka. While the SF 1 and SF 3 positions were previously identified as the Twin Creeks I and II positions, the intermediate SF 2 position had not been recognized. Moraines are composed of poorly sorted, but stratified, sediment and few tills. Diamicton units show evidence of water reworking. This research documents a detailed record of MIS 2 glaciation in a maritime setting in western North America and provides evidence of rapid MIS 2 ice-marginal fluctuations that likely reflect responses to millennial-scale climatic fluctuations and may be relevant to understanding other complex MIS 2 moraine sequences.

Peatland formation, succession and carbon accumulation at a mid-elevation poor fen in Pacific Canada

We reconstructed peatland formation, succession and long-term rates of carbon (C) accumulation at a mid-elevation poor fen on Vancouver Island in coastal British Columbia, Canada. Multi-proxy paleoecological analyses including bulk chemistry, peat composition, macrofossils, pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs show terrestrialization starting from a small oligotrophic lake 14,000 cal BP. Peat accumulation began by 11,600 cal BP with the transition to an emergent Nuphar-dominated shallow-water marsh. Terrestrialization in the center of the peatland was more or less complete by 10,400 cal BP with the development of a Sphagnum-dominated poor fen that continues to the present. Outward expansion by paludification appears to have brought the peatland close to its modern lateral extent by 10,000 cal BP, suggesting that terrestrialization and paludification played important concurrent roles in the early development of this poor fen. Mean long-term rates of C accumulation (13 g C/m2/yr) are lower than at most Northern Hemisphere peatlands including nearby lowland bogs. Maximum rates of 43 g C/m2/yr occurred in the early Holocene during accumulation of Nuphar peat and the transition to Sphagnum peat and coincided with high summer temperatures and increased seasonality, which promote growing season productivity and reduce winter decomposition. Early Holocene increases in C accumulation rates occurred at two nearby lowland bogs during similar wetland stages. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that climate and autogenic succession, including changes in relative water table depth and plant functional groups, interacted to drive Holocene peatland dynamics and C accumulation rates in the maritime setting of coastal British Columbia.

The Belt and Road Initiative: Exploring Beijing’s Motivations and Challenges for its New Silk Road

This article argues that Beijing’s ambitious ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) is driven by the convergence of Innenpolitik and Aussenpolitik motivations including a desire: to counterbalance perceived American predominance; to ensure economic growth to underpin the CCP’s legitimacy; and to present China as a viable alternate global leader to the United States. Due to challenges posed by Xinjiang and China’s geopolitically ‘hybridity’, the most likely effect of the BRI will be the division of the Indo-Pacific into a sphere of Chinese predominance in its Eurasian continental setting and the maintenance of American predominance in its maritime setting.

Indigenous travelers and knowledge production in the Pacific: The case of Kadu and Ludwig Choris

AbstractStudies of early modern knowledge production have recently shifted the focus away from Europe as a singular center of intellectual power and Europeans as the sole contributors to Enlightenment thought. In the late 18th century, the Pacific Ocean became a vast and diverse arena of scientific and cultural exploration, a waterscape in which European and American expeditions encountered indigenous groups as well as new sites for the study of nature and humanity. The Russian expedition of the Rurik (1815–1818) demonstrates many aspects of knowledge production in a Pacific maritime setting, including the stunning visual representation of indigenous communities by the artist Ludwig Choris, the active collaboration of an indigenous Marshall Islander named Kadu, and the researches of two naturalists on board the Rurik. For an expedition that failed in its stated mission to discover the Northeast Passage, the work of these individuals reveal the process and surprising outcome of intelligence gathering in an ocean world far from Europe.

Establishing a Joint Theater Trauma System During Phase Zero Operations.

Military personnel risk injury due to accidents, disasters, and military threats during Phase Zero "shaping" operations. Medical facilities must be poised to respond. The U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) Area of Responsibility (AOR) covers more than 50% of the earth's surface; relevant Clinical Practice Guidelines must include the maritime setting and extended evacuation periods. Military hospitals in the region are not connected by a defined Trauma System. There is variable adherence to trauma training requirements before assignment in this AOR. Demand for trauma care at any 1 location is low and trauma teams have little opportunity to maintain competency for high-risk/low-volume interventions. There is no documentation of total demand for trauma care in the AOR. Trauma care in PACOM is often deferred to civilian facilities. Core elements of a Joint Theater Trauma System (JTTS) as established during combat operations in U.S. Central Command are applicable during Phase Zero. A PACOM JTTS was established to address the region's readiness to respond to Phase Zero trauma as well as escalation of regional threats. Information technology coordination was a critical hurdle to overcome. PACOM lessons learned are applicable to other Geographic Combatant Commands developing a JTTS during Phase Zero operations.

Stinky Spike the Pirate Dog by Peter Meisel

Reviewed by: Stinky Spike the Pirate Dog by Peter Meisel Kate Quealy-Gainer Meisel, Peter Stinky Spike the Pirate Dog; illus. by Paul Meisel. Bloomsbury, 2017 [80p] (Stinky Spike) Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-61963-778-8 $9.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-61963-814-3 $7.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 1-3 Shipyard dog Spike prefers a cuisine that emits the “nastiest, ickiest, foulest” of stinks one could imagine, so you can probably guess how scrumptious he himself smells. Three short chapters follow Stinky Spike on his maritime travels, as he falls into the ocean, escapes sharks thanks to his foul odor (bad luck, though when his stench also turns away a helpful whale), and uses his super sniffing nose to help pirates find treasure—or at least what Spike would consider treasure. This easy reader is certainly successful in utility: There is lots of repetition and alliteration, sentences are concise and to the point, and the book’s structure effectively scaffolds the reading process as a whole. There’s little plot tension and some clunky transitions, though, and while the watercolor effects of the color illustrations match the maritime setting, the draftsmanship is stiff. Still, if Captain Underpants is any indication, stink sells, and Spike is an amiable and odoriferous crewmate for novice readers. [End Page 326] Copyright © 2017 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Recent retreat at a temperate Icelandic glacier in the context of the last ~80 years of climate change in the North Atlantic region

Over recent decades, glaciers outside of Greenland and Antarctica have displayed accelerating rates of mass loss and ice-frontal retreat, and this has been associated with unequivocal climatic and oceanic warming. Icelandic glaciers are particularly sensitive to climate variations on short-term timescales owing to their maritime setting, and have shown rapid rates of retreat and mass loss during the past decade. This study uses annual moraine spacing as a proxy for ice-frontal retreat to examine variability in glacier retreat at Skalafellsjokull, SE Iceland, over the last ~80 years. Two pronounced six-year periods (1936–1941 and 1951–1956) of ice-frontal retreat are recognised in the record for comparison with the most recent phase of retreat (2006–2011), and these three retreat phases are shown to be similar in style and magnitude. Analysis of climate data indicates that these periods of glacier retreat are associated with similar summer air temperature values, which is a key control on Icelandic terminus variations. This demonstrates that both the most recent phase of ice-frontal retreat at Skalafellsjokull and the recent warming of summer temperatures are not unusual in the context of the last ~80 years. These findings demonstrate the importance of placing observations of contemporary glacier change in a broader decadal- to centennial-scale context.

Characteristics of recessional moraines at a temperate glacier in SE Iceland: Insights into patterns, rates and drivers of glacier retreat

Icelandic glaciers are sensitive to climate variability on short-term timescales owing to their North Atlantic maritime setting, and have been undergoing ice-marginal retreat since the mid-1990s. Recent patterns, rates and drivers of ice-frontal retreat at Skálafellsjökull, SE Iceland, are examined using small-scale recessional moraines as a geomorphological proxy. These small-scale recessional moraines exhibit distinctive sawtooth planform geometries, and are constructed by a range of genetic processes associated with minor ice-margin re-advance, including (i) combined push/squeeze mechanisms, (ii) bulldozing of pre-existing proglacial material, and (iii) submarginal freeze-on. Remote-sensing investigations and lichenometric dating highlight sequences of annually-formed recessional moraines on the northern and central parts of the foreland. Conversely, moraines are forming on a sub-annual timescale at the southeastern Skálafellsjökull margin. Using annual moraine spacing as a proxy for annual ice-margin retreat rates (IMRRs), we demonstrate that prominent periods of glacier retreat at Skálafellsjökull are coincident with those at other Icelandic outlet glaciers, as well as those identified at Greenlandic outlet glaciers. Analysis of IMRRs and climate data suggests summer air temperature, sea surface temperature and the North Atlantic Oscillation have an influence on IMRRs at Skálafellsjökull, with the glacier appearing to be most sensitive to summer air temperature. On the basis of further climate data analyses, we hypothesise that sea surface temperature may drive air temperature changes in the North Atlantic region, which in turn forces IMRRs. The increase in sea surface temperature over recent decades may link to atmospheric-driven variations in North Atlantic subpolar gyre dynamics.

Geomorphologic and paleoclimatic evidence of Holocene glaciation on Mount Olympus, Greece

This study investigates the possibility of Holocene glaciation on Mount Olympus (Greece) with a respective local temperature–precipitation equilibrium line altitude (TP-ELA) at c. 2200 m a.s.l., based on geomorphologic and paleoclimatic evidence. At present, the local TP-ELA is situated above the mountain’s summit ( c. 2918 m a.s.l.), but permanent snowfields and ice bodies survive within Megala Kazania cirque between c. 2400 and c. 2300 m a.s.l., because of the cirque’s maritime setting that results from its close proximity ( c. 18 km) to the Aegean Sea and of the local topographical controls. The snow and ice bodies occupied a considerably larger area and attained a stabilization phase between AD 1960 and 1980, also manifested from aerial photographs, a period characterized by increased winter precipitation ( Pw) with subsequent TP-ELA depression to c. 2410 m a.s.l. Mid- to late-20th-century Pw and TP-ELA variations exhibit negative correlations with the winter North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAOw) at annual and multidecadal (30 years) timescales. Late Holocene (AD 1680–1860) reconstructed summer mean temperatures were lower by Ts < 1.1°C in relation to the reference period between AD 1960 and 1980 and were also superimposed to negative NAOw phases, thus bracketing this time interval as a favorable one to glacial formation and/or advance. Millennial-scale annual precipitation reconstructions at the hypothesized TP-ELA ( c. 2200 m a.s.l.) point the period between 8 and 4 kyr BP as another glacier-friendly candidate. The mid-Holocene rather simplistic sequence of potential glacial advance phase was disturbed by short-lived cold climatic deteriorations, well-documented over the northern Aegean region that may partly explain the multicrested shape of the highest ( c. 2200 m a.s.l.) morainic complex of Megala Kazania cirque.

Quantifying the degradation of TNT and RDX in a saline environment with and without UV-exposure

Terrorist attacks in a maritime setting, such as the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, or the detection of underwater mines, require the development of proper protocols to collect and analyse explosive material from a marine environment. In addition to proper analysis of the explosive material, protocols must also consider the exposure of the material to potentially deleterious elements, such as UV light and salinity, time spent in the environment, and time between storage and analysis. To understand how traditional explosives would be affected by such conditions, saline solutions of explosives were exposed to natural and artificial sunlight. Degradation of the explosives over time was then quantified using negative chemical ionization gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/NCI-MS). Two explosives, trinitrotoluene (TNT) and cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), were exposed to different aqueous environments and light exposures with salinities ranging from freshwater to twice the salinity of ocean water. Solutions were then aged for up to 6 months to simulate different conditions the explosives may be recovered from. Salinity was found to have a negligible impact on the degradation of both RDX and TNT. RDX was stable in solutions of all salinities while TNT solutions degraded regardless of salinity. Solutions of varying salinities were also exposed to UV light, where accelerated degradation was seen for both explosives. Potential degradation products of TNT were identified using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and correspond to proposed degradation products discussed in previously published works [1].

Review: Venice from the Water: Architecture and Myth in an Early Modern City, by Daniel Savoy

Daniel Savoy Venice from the Water: Architecture and Myth in an Early Modern City New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2012, 143 pp., 50 color and 140 b/w illus. $65.00, ISBN 9780300167979 The city of Venice is defined by a tenuous pact with the sea. Nature and architecture coexist in a balance unprecedented in urban history. No political, cultural, ecological, or architectural examination of Venice can approach the topic without some consideration of the city’s maritime setting. In recent publications, scholars have explored the rich architectural heritage of Venice through a variety of critical stances, yet none has analyzed the urban morphology and aesthetics of this miraculous “floating” city from the perspective of the aquatic milieu as the physical and metaphorical generator of architectural form. In Venice from the Water: Architecture and Myth in an Early Modern City , Daniel Savoy combines scrupulous archival research with extensive voyages through the waterways of Venice to formulate a theory based on a calculated process of water-oriented Venetian urbanism during the medieval and early modern periods. Despite reference to early modernity in the book’s title, Savoy’s investigation starts in the early thirteenth century, at which time, he proposes, “the Venetians shrewdly recognized potential in their aqueous site for spectacular architectural exhibitionism and then realized that prospect through inventive urban design” (111). He argues that architects and patrons throughout the period under examination sought to perpetuate the “myth of Venice” as a divinely established civic entity through dreamlike architectonic compositions for the express purpose of enchanting and astounding visitors to the island city. Savoy further contends that the Venetian waterways were “integral components of a unified land and aquatic-based spatial network” (4), as important to Venetian civic life as land-based streets and squares. Building on Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan’s history of the concerted efforts of the Venetians to shape a landmass out of their watery surroundings, Savoy proposes a parallel collaboration among architects, planners, and patrons in developing a water-inspired architectural aesthetic.1 Citing Dominion of the Eye …

Foehn warming distributions in nonlinear and linear flow regimes: a focus on the Antarctic Peninsula

The structure of lee‐side warming during foehn events is investigated as a function of cross‐barrier flow regime linearity. Two contrasting cases of westerly flow over the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) are considered – one highly nonlinear, the other relatively linear. Westerly flow impinging on the AP provides one of the best natural laboratories in the world for the study of foehn, owing to its maritime setting and the Larsen C Ice Shelf (LCIS) providing an expansive, homogeneous and smooth surface on its east side. Numerical simulations with the Met Office Unified Model (at 1.5 km grid size) and aircraft observations are utilized. In case A, relatively weak southwesterly cross‐Peninsula flow and an elevated upwind inversion dictate a highly nonlinear foehn event, with mountain wave breaking observed. The consequent strongly accelerated downslope flow leads to high‐amplitude warming and ice‐shelf melt in the immediate lee of the AP. However this foehn warming diminishes rapidly downwind due to upward ascent of the foehn flow via a hydraulic jump. In case C, strong northwesterly winds dictate a relatively linear flow regime. There is no hydraulic jump and strong foehn winds are able to flow at low levels across the entire ice shelf, mechanically mixing the near‐surface flow, preventing the development of a strong surface inversion and delivering large fluxes of sensible heat to the ice shelf. Consequently, in case C ice‐melt rates are considerably greater over the LCIS as a whole than in case A. Our results imply that although nonlinear foehn events cause intense warming in the immediate lee of mountains, linear foehn events will commonly cause more extensive lee‐side warming and, over an ice surface, higher melt rates. This has major implications for the AP, where recent east‐coast warming has led to the collapse of two ice shelves immediately north of the LCIS.

Vibration on board and health effects.

There is only limited knowledge of the exposure to vibrations of ships' crews and their risk of vibration-induced health effects. Exposure to hand-arm vibrations from the use of vibrating tools at sea does not differ from that in the land-based trades. However, in contrast to most other work places, seafarers are also exposed to vibrations to the feet when standing on vibrating surfaces on board. Anecdotal reports have related the development of "white feet" to local exposure to vibration, e.g. in mining, but this connection has not been investigated in the maritime setting. As known from studies of the health consequences of whole body vibrations in land-transportation, such exposure at sea may affect ships' passengers and crews. While the relation of back disorders to high levels of whole body vibration has been demonstrated among e.g. tractor drivers, there are no reported epidemiological evidence for such relation among seafarers except for fishermen, who, however, are also exposed to additional recognised physical risk factors at work. The assessment and reduction of vibrations by naval architects relates to technical implications of this impact for the ships' construction, but has limited value for the estimation of health risks because they express the vibration intensity differently that it is done in a medical context.

A Lagrangian investigation of hot and cold temperature extremes in Europe

Since temperature extremes have a strong impact on environment and society, it is crucial to understand their underlying mechanisms. While their relationship to the large‐scale atmospheric circulation has been comprehensively investigated, the role of physical processes in the formation of air masses with extreme temperatures is less well understood. This study presents a Lagrangian analysis of the 0.1% most extreme six‐hourly hot and cold events in three European regions (UK, Central Europe, Balkans) for the time period 1989–2009. The results provide insight into typical transport patterns and physical processes (adiabatic compression, radiation, surface heat fluxes) occurring along the trajectories of extreme temperature air masses. Cold events in Europe are most frequently induced by advection of cold air masses from the Arctic and Russia. The transport to the target region is characterized by a temperature increase caused by adiabatic compression and, in the maritime setting of the UK, also by diabatic heating due to surface sensible heat fluxes. Despite the warming along the trajectories, the extremeness of the associated 2 m temperature increases, due to the dislocation of the air mass to regions with a milder climate. Hot events are generally associated with weaker horizontal transport, but strong adiabatic warming and local temperature increase caused by enhanced radiation and surface heat fluxes. This in situ warming is particularly strong in Central Europe. Evaluating the temperature evolution along the trajectories reveals that hot and cold extremes develop on a similar time‐scale of 2–3 days. This time‐scale is mostly set by physical processes for hot extremes and controlled by advective transport for cold extremes. The diagnostics applied in this study lead to an improved process understanding that can provide a basis for more accurate predictions of temperature extremes.

MIRPLib – A library of maritime inventory routing problem instances: Survey, core model, and benchmark results

This paper presents a detailed description of a particular class of deterministic single product Maritime Inventory Routing Problems (MIRPs), which we call deep-sea MIRPs with inventory tracking at every port. This class involves vessel travel times between ports that are significantly longer than the time spent in port and require inventory levels at all ports to be monitored throughout the planning horizon. After providing a comprehensive literature survey of this class, we introduce a core model for it cast as a mixed-integer linear program. This formulation is quite general and incorporates assumptions and families of constraints that are most prevalent in practice. We also discuss other modeling features commonly found in the literature and how they can be incorporated into the core model. We then offer a unified discussion of some of the most common advanced techniques used for improving the bounds of these problems. Finally, we present a library, called MIRPLib, of publicly available test problem instances for MIRPs with inventory tracking at every port. Despite a growing interest in combined routing and inventory management problems in a maritime setting, no data sets are publicly available, which represents a significant “barrier to entry” for those interested in related research. Our main goal for MIRPLib is to help maritime inventory routing gain maturity as an important and interesting class of planning problems. As a means to this end, we (1) make available benchmark instances for this particular class of MIRPs; (2) provide the mixed-integer linear programming community with a set of optimization problem instances from the maritime transportation domain in LP and MPS format; and (3) provide a template for other researchers when specifying characteristics of MIRPs arising in other settings. Best known computational results are reported for each instance.

Preliminary ecotoxicity assessment of new generation alternative fuels in seawater

The United States Navy (USN) is currently demonstrating the viability of environmentally sustainable alternative fuels to power its fleet comprised of aircraft and ships. As with any fuel used in a maritime setting, there is potential for introduction into the environment through transport, storage, and spills. However, while alternative fuels are often presumed to be eco-friendly relative to conventional petroleum-based fuels, their environmental fate and effects on marine environments are essentially unknown. Here, standard laboratory-based toxicity experiments were conducted for two alternative fuels, jet fuel derived from Camelina sativa (wild flax) seeds (HRJ5) and diesel fuel derived from algae (HRD76), and two conventional counterparts, jet fuel (JP5) and ship diesel (F76). Initial toxicity tests performed on water-accommodated fractions (WAF) from neat fuels partitioned into seawater, using four standard marine species in acute and chronic/sublethal tests, indicate that the alternative fuels are significantly less toxic to marine organisms.

Health promotion in the Danish maritime setting: challenges and possibilities for changing lifestyle behavior and health among seafarers.

BackgroundSeafaring is a risky occupation when compared to land-based industries as incidence rates of mortality and morbidity are higher. This trend is partly due to a higher number of accidents but also higher incidence of lifestyle-related diseases like cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. In Denmark, the proportion of smokers as well as of overweight and obese persons is higher among seafarers compared to the general population. This high burden of risk indicates that this occupational group might be a growing challenge at sea in regard to safety and health issues and there is a need to further our understanding of the health promotion approaches that work.MethodsA single-group pre-post design was conducted in 2008–2009 in order to identify changes in lifestyle related behaviors and health risk factors among seafarers (N: 606) in two Danish shipping companies after implementing two structural health promotion interventions (healthy cooking courses for ship cooks and improvement of fitness facilities) as well as health education interventions (smoking cessation courses, individual exercise guidance and extra health check-ups) at the maritime workplace. Baseline and follow-up data were collected with a self-administrated standardized questionnaire and individual health profiling assessing parameters such as physical health and physical fitness. In addition, qualitative interviews with participants and non-participants were conducted in order to gain in-depth information on experiences with the intervention processes.ResultsSignificant changes were identified for levels of fitness, daily sugar intake and metabolic syndrome. However, these results were not associated with participating in the health educational interventions. One possible explanation for the improved fitness rate could be the upgrading of fitness equipment onboard the ships provided by the management level. The decrease in daily sugar intake and prevalence of seafarers with metabolic syndrome might be associated with the cooking course intervention which aimed at providing healthier daily meals on board.ConclusionThe findings suggest that a multicomponent health promotion intervention program has the potential to achieve change in seafarers’ health behavior and health parameters. In the future, studies with more rigorous designs, separately testing the contribution of different types of interventions are needed.

Upward defiance in organizations: management lessons from the Battle of Blair Mountain

PurposeBased upon an analysis of 30 historic narrative accounts of mutinies, Coye, Murphy, and Spencer recently extended voice theory to clarify the ontological status of the concept of upward defiance. The purpose of this article is to extend the framework of Coye et al. and illustrate the process of escalation towards hostility to offer practicing managers guidance on appropriate steps to interrupt the extreme escalation of member resistance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examined the significant historical insurrection within the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain. With the case of the Blair Mountain War, the historical record provides ample narrative data for a textual, interpretive, pseudo‐ethnographical analysis.FindingsThe examination of the Battle of Blair Mountain provides additional support for the upward organizational defiance framework proposed by Coye, Murphy, and Spencer. In addition, the authors have extended the theoretical upward defiance framework to account for the escalation of constructive to destructive forms of voice towards mutiny to reveal managerial actions and attitudes to mitigate follower defiance.Research limitations/implicationsThe common limitation to any historic case study is one of generalizability, although it often useful to accept the trade‐off between limited generalizability and the potential discernment associated with the methodology.Originality/valueThe paper investigates a mutiny outside of a maritime setting to offer support for Coye et al.’s conceptual framework, extend that framework in a manner more consistent with organizational practice, and offer guidance to practitioners.

Occult Hypoperfusion – Should the Military Surgeon Care?

The treatment of traumatic shock has changed unrecognizably over the past decade as the combination of targeted research and lessons learnt from conflict have combined with a common goal. The term damage control resuscitation has emerged as the most likely strategy to treat the underlying cause, restore normal physiology and ultimately return to normal function. However, there is still a great deal that we do not understand as to the underlying mechanisms which control the traumatic shock process. Military surgeons have an integral part to play at every step of this process. Their role does not end once the initial damage control surgery is complete and indeed the decisions that are made during the initial resuscitation will have an effect on all future stages of care. The patient's physiology is delicately balanced with the possibility that a wrong treatment decision may be a fatal one. It is essential that the surgeon has an understanding of these underlying processes so that an informed decision can be made at the right time.

Private Security and Armed Military Guards

Since the relaxation of the attitude of many states with regards to merchant vessels carrying armed guards, the number of private companies offering these services has grown at an alarming rate. Whilst some countries have elected to draft interim, or indeed statutory, measures to allow and govern the use of privately contracted armed security personnel aboard vessels bearing their flag, others have chosen to utilise their own military personnel. R Graham Caldwell examines the pitfalls of using serving military personnel, and investigates why governments should think long and hard about private security in the maritime setting.