NASA SBIR abstracts of 1990 phase 1 projects

The research objectives of the 280 projects placed under contract in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 1990 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 program are described. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses in response to NASA's 1990 SBIR Phase 1 Program Solicitation. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 280, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. The document also includes Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference in the 1990 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA field center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number

The role of visual adaptation in cichlid fish speciation

D. Shane Wright (1) , Ole Seehausen (2), Ton G.G. Groothuis (1), Martine E. Maan (1) (1) University of Groningen; GELIFES; EGDB(2) Department of Fish Ecology & Evolution, EAWAG Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry, Kastanienbaum AND Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Aquatic Ecology, University of Bern.In less than 15,000 years, Lake Victoria cichlid fishes have radiated into as many as 500 different species. Ecological and sexual sel ection are thought to contribute to this ongoing speciation process, but genetic differentiation remains low. However, recent work in visual pigment genes, opsins, has shown more diversity. Unlike neighboring Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika, Lake Victoria is highly turbid, resulting in a long wavelength shift in the light spectrum with increasing depth, providing an environmental gradient for exploring divergent coevolution in sensory systems and colour signals via sensory drive. Pundamilia pundamila and Pundamilia nyererei are two sympatric species found at rocky islands across southern portions of Lake Victoria, differing in male colouration and the depth they reside. Previous work has shown species differentiation in colour discrimination, corresponding to divergent female preferences for conspecific male colouration. A mechanistic link between colour vision and preference would provide a rapid route to reproductive isolation between divergently adapting populations. This link is tested by experimental manip ulation of colour vision - raising both species and their hybrids under light conditions mimicking shallow and deep habitats. We quantify the expression of retinal opsins and test behaviours important for speciation: mate choice, habitat preference, and fo raging performance

Faith/less? Market integrity and the enforcement of Australia’s continuous disclosure provisions

The very idea of ‘continuous disclosure’ and all it carries with it – corporate transparency, equal access to information, a level playing field amongst market participants for trade in an entity’s securities – is of serious value to the effective and efficient functioning of the Australian market for capital. The extent to which the structures supporting faith in this ideal are actually effecting it in reality is therefore an important issue for consideration. To what extent then do enforcement efforts surrounding the regime justify any faith placed in the integrity of the market by lay investors? Put differently, should investors feel confident that the immediate release of material information relevant to their trading decisions is well policed, with the effect that there are likely to be few deviations from this ideal standard, and that the market can be trusted to provide information necessary to maintain a level playing field? An important question on par with this preliminary is whether there is anything that might be learnt from enforcement activity of various kinds to improve the type of corporate reporting which has been subjected to it. Inquiry into these questions will serve to temper corporate and investor expectations as to just what the practical requirements and limits of a system of continuous disclosure might be. The purpose of this dissertation is to offer a deeper understanding of the enforcement of Australia’s continuous disclosure regime, from high profile court cases and the imposition of administrative sanctions to ‘everyday’ enforcement activity through ASX price queries and aware letters, and offer an analysis of what might be learnt from them with a view to improving the daily function of continuous disclosure in Australian markets. Such an understanding might at the very least ensure the development of a realistic set of expectations around this interesting, if unusual, set of rules

Faith/less? Market integrity and the enforcement of Australia’s continuous disclosure provisions

The very idea of ‘continuous disclosure’ and all it carries with it – corporate transparency, equal access to information, a level playing field amongst market participants for trade in an entity’s securities – is of serious value to the effective and efficient functioning of the Australian market for capital. The extent to which the structures supporting faith in this ideal are actually effecting it in reality is therefore an important issue for consideration. To what extent then do enforcement efforts surrounding the regime justify any faith placed in the integrity of the market by lay investors? Put differently, should investors feel confident that the immediate release of material information relevant to their trading decisions is well policed, with the effect that there are likely to be few deviations from this ideal standard, and that the market can be trusted to provide information necessary to maintain a level playing field? An important question on par with this preliminary is whether there is anything that might be learnt from enforcement activity of various kinds to improve the type of corporate reporting which has been subjected to it. Inquiry into these questions will serve to temper corporate and investor expectations as to just what the practical requirements and limits of a system of continuous disclosure might be. The purpose of this dissertation is to offer a deeper understanding of the enforcement of Australia’s continuous disclosure regime, from high profile court cases and the imposition of administrative sanctions to ‘everyday’ enforcement activity through ASX price queries and aware letters, and offer an analysis of what might be learnt from them with a view to improving the daily function of continuous disclosure in Australian markets. Such an understanding might at the very least ensure the development of a realistic set of expectations around this interesting, if unusual, set of rules