Compensation for economic and non-economic loss by extinguishment or impairment of native title: a critical and comparative analysis of developments in Australian case law

The recent developments in case law concerning compensation for extinguishment and impairment of native title do not adequately recognise its sui generis status as a right existing prior to the British colonisation of Australia. Both Australian legal principles and jurisprudence from other common law countries such as the US and Canada suggest that a restrictive view limiting native title rights and interests to those practised in antiquity should not be taken, and strict common law principles and limitations should not be applied by courts in compensating native title holders. The sui generis status of native title presents three propositions. The first is that inalienability should be irrelevant to economic compensation. The second proposition is that the economic value of native title should almost always be equal to the value of freehold title, unless specifically restricted by traditional laws or customs or by interference with title prior to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth). The last proposition arising from the sui generis nature of native title is that compensation for non-economic loss should include additional sums held in trust and invested for future generations

The Ethical Implications, Political Ramifications and Practical Limitations of Adopting Sustainable Development as National and International Policy

This paper is a revised version of a presentation given by Dr. Meyers at the International Conference on a Sustainable Society, Kobe, Japan (March 19-21, 1994)

The Ethical Implications, Political Ramifications and Practical Limitations of Adopting Sustainable Development as National and International Policy

This paper is a revised version of a presentation given by Dr. Meyers at the International Conference on a Sustainable Society, Kobe, Japan (March 19-21, 1994)

Implications of a GATT Agreement for World Commodity Markets, 1993-98: An Analysis of the Dunkel Text on Agriculture

The Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) received a request in mid-February to analyze the proposed changes to agriculture and agricultural trade made by Arthur Dunkel. These changes essentially fall into three areas. 1) Export Competition. Subsidies are subject to reduction in two ways. Expenditures are to be reduced by 36 percent and quantities exported with the benefit of subsidies are to be reduced by 24 percent from 1986-90 average levels. 2) Internal Support. Using a world reference price based on the 1986-88 average levels, internal supports as measured by an aggregate measure of support (AMS) are to be reduced by 20 percent from 1986 levels. Credit will be given for support reductions made since 1986. 3) Market Access. Import restrictions are to be converted to tariffs and reduced across the board by a simple average of 36 percent. Tariffs on individual commodities are to be reduced by at least 15 percent. Where import barriers are in place, either minimum access of 3 percent of domestic consumption in 1993, rising to 5 percent in 1999, or minimum access of 1986-88 average import levels is to be provided, whichever is greater

Differential Requirement for SLP-76 Domains in T Cell Development and Function

AbstractThe hematopoietic cell-specific adaptor protein, SLP-76, is critical for T cell development and mature T cell receptor (TCR) signaling; however, the structural requirements of SLP-76 for mediating thymopoiesis and mature T cell function remain largely unknown. In this study, transgenic mice were generated to examine the requirements for specific domains of SLP-76 in thymocytes and peripheral T cells in vivo. Examination of mice expressing various mutants of SLP-76 on the null background demonstrates a differential requirement for specific domains of SLP-76 in thymocytes and T cells and provides new insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying SLP-76 function

Financing Direct Democracy: Revisiting the Research on Campaign Spending and Citizen Initiatives

The conventional view in the direct democracy literature is that spending against a measure is more effective than spending in favor of a measure, but the empirical results underlying this conclusion have been questioned by recent research. We argue that the conventional finding is driven by the endogenous nature of campaign spending: initiative proponents spend more when their ballot measure is likely to fail. We address this endogeneity by using an instrumental variables approach to analyze a comprehensive dataset of ballot propositions in California from 1976 to 2004. We find that both support and opposition spending on citizen initiatives have strong, statistically significant, and countervailing effects. We confirm this finding by looking at time series data from early polling on a subset of these measures. Both analyses show that spending in favor of citizen initiatives substantially increases their chances of passage, just as opposition spending decreases this likelihood

Utilizing computed tomography volumetry for size matching prior to lung transplantation: A case series

BACKGROUND: Appropriate size matching between donor and recipient is critical for successful pulmonary transplantation. Although surrogate measurements such as height and gender are often utilized to approximate predicted lung volume, these methods provide only a gross estimation with wide variability and poor predictive value. CASE DESCRIPTION: A single center exploratory study was conducted in which four patients underwent lung transplantation (LT) with pre-operative computed tomography (CT) volumetry obtained in both the donor and recipient to facilitate decision making regarding organ size and suitability. In four cases in which CT volumetry was used, the lung volumes calculated using surrogate measurements significantly overestimated both donor and recipient lung volumes quantified by CT volumetric analysis. All recipients underwent successful LT without necessary graft downsizing. CONCLUSIONS: This is an initial report of prospectively utilizing CT volumetry as an adjunct to decision-making regarding suitability of donor lungs. In these cases, CT volumetry facilitated the confident acceptance of donor lungs that were initially predicted to be oversized based on other clinical measures