Current And Future Issues In International Space Law

Space law is a relatively new area of law and is based mainly on a set of United Nations (U.N.) Treaties negotiated during the 1960s and 1970s

The Role of the Western Lawyer in East-West Transactions

This article identifies and analyzes the special areas which the Western lawyer must consider when advising a client regarding an East-West transaction. These areas, although interrelated, have been categorized for clarity and ease of analysis. Part I outlines approaches for dealing with the legal and economic environment in which business negotiations are conducted. It describes the practical knowledge that lawyers must possess in order to help clients gain access to non-market countries. It also explains the process of identifying and understanding the roles and duties of various parties in Eastern countries. Part II discusses the structuring of contract negotiations in light of Eastern decision-making criteria and procedures. It focuses on the various factors which the parties must consider during the negotiation process, including the Western party\u27s relationship to the Eastern negotiator. Finally, part III sets forth approaches to settling East-West commercial disputes

Bringing Space Law into the Commercial World: Property Rights without Sovereignty

International agreements declare that no government can claim outer space or celestial bodies in outer space as its own. Private firms seeking to invest in potential space enterprises frequently point to these provisions as a major barrier to the future commercial development of space. Such businesses contend that the absence of property rights prevent them from obtaining external financing, hinder the protection of their investments in space, and deprive them of the assurance that they can appropriate income from their investment. In short, the lack of sovereignty in space jeopardizes the ability to make profits from private investment. This article will critique those claims, arguing that most property rights exist in space and that the lack of sovereignty does not pose current or near-term problems for the types of business ventures likely to be developed in space. Furthermore, even in the case of future ventures, solutions based on terrestrial models would permit private companies to operate in space with reasonable reliance of the right to appropriate income from their investments. The most threatening current problem surrounding the issue of real property rights in space is in actuality not related to space entrepreneurship. It instead arises from shortsighted greed premised on misinterpretations of treaties and other applicable laws. For example, several companies have been selling land on the moon and issuing deeds to that land, behavior which unequivocally violates space law treaties. If the public perceives that this action is legal, as evidenced by a lack of government willingness in putting a halt to these activities, serious harm could result in the future. Regardless of this near-term problem, it is important to evaluate the true meaning of the lack of sovereignty in space in a commercial context. Following such analysis, this Article concludes that the lack of sovereignty will not deter future private space ventures to the extent commonly believed. Ownership problems raised by international agreements have solutions not requiring a major change in existing space law, but rather carefully drafted additions and amendments to the current legal regime

Bringing Space Law into the Commercial World: Property Rights without Sovereignty

International agreements declare that no government can claim outer space or celestial bodies in outer space as its own. Private firms seeking to invest in potential space enterprises frequently point to these provisions as a major barrier to the future commercial development of space. Such businesses contend that the absence of property rights prevent them from obtaining external financing, hinder the protection of their investments in space, and deprive them of the assurance that they can appropriate income from their investment. In short, the lack of sovereignty in space jeopardizes the ability to make profits from private investment. This article will critique those claims, arguing that most property rights exist in space and that the lack of sovereignty does not pose current or near-term problems for the types of business ventures likely to be developed in space. Furthermore, even in the case of future ventures, solutions based on terrestrial models would permit private companies to operate in space with reasonable reliance of the right to appropriate income from their investments. The most threatening current problem surrounding the issue of real property rights in space is in actuality not related to space entrepreneurship. It instead arises from shortsighted greed premised on misinterpretations of treaties and other applicable laws. For example, several companies have been selling land on the moon and issuing deeds to that land, behavior which unequivocally violates space law treaties. If the public perceives that this action is legal, as evidenced by a lack of government willingness in putting a halt to these activities, serious harm could result in the future. Regardless of this near-term problem, it is important to evaluate the true meaning of the lack of sovereignty in space in a commercial context. Following such analysis, this Article concludes that the lack of sovereignty will not deter future private space ventures to the extent commonly believed. Ownership problems raised by international agreements have solutions not requiring a major change in existing space law, but rather carefully drafted additions and amendments to the current legal regime

The economic impact of space weather – where do we stand?

Space w eather describes the way in which the Sun, and conditions in space more generally, impact human activity and technology both in space and on the ground. It is now well understood that space weather represents a significant threat to infrastructure resilien ce, and is a source of risk which is wide - ranging in its impact and the pathways by which this impact may occur. Although s pace weather is growing rapidly as a field, work rigorously assessing the overall economic cost of space weather appears to be in its infancy. Here we provide an initial literature review to gather and assess the quality of any published assessments of space weather impa cts and socio - economic studies. Generally speaking there is a good volume of scientific peer - reviewed literature detai ling the likelihood and statistics of different types of space weather phenomena. These phenomena all typically exhibit ‘power - law’ behaviour in their severity. The literature on documented impacts is not as extensive with many case studies, but few statis tical studies. The literature on the economic impacts of space weather is rather sparse and not as well developed when compared to the other sections , most probably due to the somewhat limited data that is available from end - users . The major risk is attach ed to power distribution systems and there is disagreement as to the severity of the technological footprint. This strongly controls the economic impact. Consequently, urgent work is required to better quantify the risk of future space weather events

Formyl peptide chemotaxis receptors on the rat neutrophil: Experimental evidence for negative cooperativity

To examine the existence of negative cooperativity among formyl peptide chemotaxis receptors, steady-state binding of f Met-Leu-[ 3 H]Phe to viable rat neutrophils and their purified plasma membranes was measured and the data were subjected to statistical analysis and to computer curve fitting using the NONLIN computer program. Curvilinear, concave upward Scatchard plots were obtained. NONLIN and statistical analyses of the binding data indicated that a two-saturable-sites model was preferable to a one-saturable-site model and statistically valid by the F-test (P < 0.1). In addition, Hill coefficients of 0.80 ± 0.02 were obtained. Kinetic dissociation experiments using purified plasma membranes showed evidence of site-site interactions of the destabilizing type (negative cooperativity). Thus, unlabeled f Met-Leu-Phe accelerated the dissociation of f Met-Leu-[ 3 H]Phe under conditions where no rebinding of radioligand occurred. The rate of dissociation of f Met-Leu-[ 3 H]Phe from the plasma membranes was dependent on the fold excess of unlabeled f Met-Leu-Phe used in the dilution medium; at the highest concentration tested (10,000-fold excess), the dissociation rate was more than double the dissociation rate seen with dilution alone, In addition, occupancy-dependent affinity was ascertained directly by studying the effect of increasing fractional receptor saturation with labeled ligand on the dissociation rate of the receptor-bound labeled ligand. These data showed that the f Met-Leu-[ 3 H]Phe dissociation rate was dependent on the degree of binding site occupancy over the entire biologically relevant range of formyl peptide concentrations. Furthermore, monitoring of the time course of dissociation of the receptor/f Met-Leu-[ 3 H]Phe complex as a function of receptor occupancy revealed that receptor affinity for f Met-Leu-Phe remained occupancy-dependent during the entire time of dissociation examined (up to 10 min). Finally, the average affinity profile of the equilibrium binding data demonstrated a 60% decrease in receptor affinity in changing from the high affinity to the low affinity conformation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/38446/1/240270406_ftp.pd

Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made

There was a time, not too long ago, when the typewriter and notebook ruled, and the computer as an everyday tool was simply a vision. Revolution in the Valley traces this vision back to its earliest roots: the hallways and backrooms of Apple, where the groundbreaking Macintosh computer was born. The book traces the development of the Macintosh, from its inception as an underground skunkworks project in 1979 to its triumphant introduction in 1984 and beyond. The stories in Revolution in the Valley come on extremely good authority. That's because author Andy Hertzfeld was a core member of th