Ultraviolet spectrometer and polarimeter (UVSP) software development and hardware tests for the solar maximum mission

The Ultraviolet Spectrometer/Polarimeter Instrument (UVSP) for the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) was based on the re-use of the engineering model of the high resolution ultraviolet spectrometer developed for the OSO-8 mission. Lockheed assumed four distinct responsibilities in the UVSP program: technical evaluation of the OSO-8 engineering model; technical consulting on the electronic, optical, and mechanical modifications to the OSO-8 engineering model hardware; design and development of the UVSP software system; and scientific participation in the operations and analysis phase of the mission. Lockheed also provided technical consulting and assistance with instrument hardware performance anomalies encountered during the post launch operation of the SMM observatory. An index to the quarterly reports delivered under the contract are contained, and serves as a useful capsule history of the program activity

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: Endogenous Property Rights in a Game of Conflict

This paper derives the conditions under which property rights can arise in an anarchy equilibrium. The creation of property rights requires that players devote part of their endowment to the public good of property rights protection. In the Nash equilibrium, players contribute zero to the protection of property rights. In contrast, a king who provides property rights protection paid for by a tax on endowments can completely eliminate conflict, but such a king has an incentive to take the surplus for himself. Thus players have an incentive to find a solution that keeps power in their own hands. In a social contract, players first credibly commit part of their endowments to providing property rights and then allocate the balance of their endowments between production and conflict. While property rights can arise under a social contract if the productivity of resources relative to the size of the population is sufficiently high, these property rights may be less than perfectly secure. Nevertheless, for sufficiently high productivity of resources relative to the size of the population, the social contract welfare dominates autocracy. Key Words:

Can Foreign Aid Buy Investment? Appropriation Through Conflict

The failure of foreign aid to promote growth in the developing world has received significant attention as evidence suggests that foreign aid does not translate into investment. This research has demonstrated that poor institutions in these developing economies (particularly with respect to property rights) results in an inability to fully appropriate the return to one’s investment, thereby serving as a prominent disincentive to investment. This paper presents an experimental test of a a 2-player, one-shot game of conflict in which we vary the strength of property rights. Our results suggest that stronger property rights reduce conflict and increase investment. In addition, we test the conventional wisdom that technological progress can increase the effectiveness of aid in stimulating investment. Contrary to intuition, we find technological progress has practically no effect on investment and that this failure to stimulate investment is largely due to deficiencies in property right institutions. Key Words: Property Rights; Conflict; Investment; Foreign Aid; Experiments

Very high resolution UV and X-ray spectroscopy and imagery of solar active regions

A scientific investigation of the physics of the solar atmosphere, which uses the techniques of high resolution soft X-ray spectroscopy and high resolution UV imagery, is described. The experiments were conducted during a series of three sounding rocket flights. All three flights yielded excellent images in the UV range, showing unprecedented spatial resolution. The second flight recorded the X-ray spectrum of a solar flare, and the third that of an active region. A normal incidence multi-layer mirror was used during the third flight to make the first astronomical X-ray observations using this new technique

Authorized Investigation: A Temperate Alternative to Cyber Insecurity

This Note aims to show that legal structures created to protect the Internet in its original form are completely insufficient to protect what the Internet has become. This antiquated legal framework is exacerbating the problem. The breadth of activity that the current law restricts severely limits the remedies that cyberattack victims can pursue, and it must be updated. While full hack-back may prove necessary in the long run, I argue for a more temperate initial response to the problem—I call this response “authorized investigation.” Specifically, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act should be amended to allow victims access to their attackers’ computers for purposes of investigation without incurring criminal and civil liability

The Enduring Ambivalence of Corporate Law

Prevailing theories of corporate law tend to rely heavily on strong claims regarding the corporate governance primacy and legitimacy of either the board or the shareholders, as the case may be. In this article I challenge the descriptive power of these theories as applied to widely held public corporations and advance an alternative, arguing that corporate law is, and will remain, deeply ambivalent - both doctrinally and morally - with respect to three fundamental and related issues: the locus of ultimate corporate governance authority, the intended beneficiaries of corporate production, and the relationship between corporate law and theachievement of the social good. Part I begins with a brief discussion of our long-standing misgivings regarding the status of the corporation as an entity, arguing that concerns regarding the potential negative consequences of permitting human beings to act behind the veil of a distinct legal person are as old as the corporate form itself. I then turn to an examination of prevailing theories of corporate governance in part II, arguing that they exhibit substantial shortcomings as descriptive theories due to their inability to account for fundamental elements of corporatelaw as it actually exists. Based upon a re-examination of the roles and powers of shareholders and directors in the public corporation across various doctrinal contexts, I conclude in part III that corporate law is, and will remain, deeply ambivalent. In so doing I draw upon utilitarianism - corporate law\u27s implicit moral theory - to describe more clearly the nature and degree of corporate law\u27s commitment to shareholder wealth maximization. Corporate law\u27s weak utilitarian commitment to shareholder wealth maximization, I argue, reflects real but incomplete confidence in the consistency of shareholders\u27 incentives and interests with those of the larger public - an uncertainty reinforced by the corporate form\u27s lack of legitimacy or practical ability to articulate an authoritative conception of the social good. I then turn to the rise of institutional shareholders in part IV, assessing their effects on the issues discussed in the article, and in part V offer some brief reflections on the implications of my analysis for an important doctrinal debate cutting to the heart of corporate governance: the scope of the shareholders\u27 authority to enact bylaws affecting the business and affairs of the corporation. Ultimately it is suggested that corporate law\u27s fundamental ambivalence represents a keen awareness of the limitations and pitfalls inevitably attendant upon this mode of human organization, and that awareness of this core characteristic ought to be brought to bear upon the corporate governance debate

Shareholder Bylaws and the Delaware Corporation

Much like hostile tender offers in the 1980s and 1990s, shareholder bylaws purporting to limit board authority in key areas of corporate governance are, once again, forcing Delaware\u27s courts to grapple with the fundamental nature of the corporate form. In this (short) essay written for a roundtable discussion at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools, I discuss CA, Inc. v. AFSCME Employees Pension Plan - the 2008 opinion in which the Delaware Supreme Court began to define the nature and scope of the shareholders\u27 bylaw authority. In CA, Inc. the court held that a proposed bylaw requiring reimbursement of shareholders\u27 proxy expenses under specified circumstances was a proper subject for shareholder action under the Delaware General Corporation Law, but that such a mandatory bylaw would nevertheless violate Delaware common law by forcing the board to breach its fiduciary duties if the board concluded that reimbursement would not promote the company\u27s interests. Commentators have criticized the court\u27s fiduciary duty-based analysis as excessively vague and indeterminate. I argue here that the court\u27s reliance on fiduciary duties in this context reflects not a failed attempt at clarity so much as a decided effort to maintain ambiguity. Just like in hostile takeover cases, which forced the court to address the scope of the shareholders\u27 unilateral power to sell the company, one cannot meaningfully analyze the scope of the shareholders\u27 unilateral power to write the rules of corporate governance without defining the nature and purpose of the corporation itself. However, given the lack of statutory guidance on the core questions of corporate power and purpose, Delaware judges have consistently - and understandably - remained reluctant to grapple with these issues in a clear and decisive way. Absent legislative intervention, we can expect a bylaw jurisprudence exhibiting a theoretical obscurity and hands-off posture reminiscent of Delaware\u27s takeover jurisprudence - a trend already evidenced by the holding in CA, Inc

The Changing Face of Money

In this essay I argue that widespread failure to comprehend the intrinsic nature of modern money loomed large in the recent crisis, and that broader comprehension of its meaning is a precondition for effective post-crisis reforms. First, I provide a brief history of money, emphasizing its gradual divergence from inherent value. I then consider the value of today’s dollar in economic, legal and psychological terms, arguing that each perspective conveys a single over-arching lesson—that better comprehending our money requires better comprehending ourselves. The introspection that this exercise demands reveals with unique clarity some of the critical lessons of the crisis and its aftermat

The Relationships Between College and Career Readiness Assessments

This study explored the effects of taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses on college and career readiness in a rural school district in the southeastern United States. I examined student performance data using American College Test (ACT) scores, Ready to Work (R2W) examination scores, and AP examination scores. The results of the study show that taking a single AP course leads to significant improvement on the ACT exam over a student who has not taken an AP courses and the optimal number of courses a student should take. The results of the study also show that taking an AP course leads to similar improvements on the R2W exam. The findings from this study will help educators and education policy makers by providing information about the efficacy of AP programs in schools and determining whether enrolling in AP courses adequately prepares students for college-level work or the workforce after high school or if school resources would be better utilized in other ways to prepare students for post-secondary life instead of investing heavily in expanding AP curriculum

The New Building

A description of the funding of Trickett Hall, as well as a description of the building under construction at the time the article was written. Originally published in Volume 21 of the Dickinson Law Review, 1917. [21 Dick. L. Rev. 293 (1917)]