At the Water’s Hedge: International Insider-Trading Enforcement After Morrison

From copy rooms to boardrooms, many Americans have succumbed to the siren song of insider trading. As U.S. companies have gone international, so too have corporate secrets ripe for exploitation. With the growth of overseas derivatives based on U.S. stock, foreigners are able to engage in insider trading to a similar extent as Americans. But in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, the Supreme Court limited the reach of the statutory insider-trading prohibition to transactions taking place in U.S. territory or transactions in securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Neither condition applies to overseas insider trading using derivatives. However, courts have reasoned that when the trader’s broker hedges by buying stock on a U.S. exchange, that transaction can be attributed to the trader, thus bringing the scheme within Morrison. This hedging theory depends on the acts of third parties—the brokers—to create insider-trading liability, thus giving arbitrary windfalls to blameworthy traders and creating both evidentiary and legal hurdles for U.S. enforcement. Because Morrison has backed courts into this unworkable corner, it should not govern in insider-trading cases. There is a fix: the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act abrogated Morrison for enforcement actions, albeit imperfectly. By abandoning the theory in favor of Dodd-Frank’s pragmatic standard, courts can more nimbly and forcefully protect U.S. markets from foreign fraud

Alessandro Valignano and the Restructuring of the Jesuit Mission in Japan, 1579-1582

When Alessandro Valignano arrived in Japan in 1579, the Society of Jesus had been working in the country for thirty years. However, despite impressive numbers and considerable influence with the feudal lords, the mission was struggling. The few Jesuit workers were exhausted and growing increasingly frustrated by the leadership of Francisco Cabral, who refused to cater to Japanese sensibilities or respect the Japanese people. When Valignano arrived, he saw the harm Cabral was doing and forcibly changed the direction of the mission, pursuing policies of Jesuit accommodation to Japanese culture and respect for the Japanese converts who were training to become priests. These policies were based in respect for Japan’s culture and love for its people. Under three years of Valignano’s leadership the fortunes of the Jesuit mission changed and the Society’s work in Japan began to flourish once again. Indeed, Valignano set the course for the next thirty years of the Japanese mission

Plain Reading, Subtle Meaning: Rethinking the IOIA and the Immunity of International Organizations

Immunity is freedom from liability, and as such, it can quite literally provide a “get out of jail free” card. In the United States, international organizations face uncertainty about the scope of their immunity, which is provided by the International Organizations Immunities Act (IOIA). The D.C. Circuit has found that international organizations enjoy absolute immunity under the IOIA. Conversely, the Third Circuit recently held that international organizations are only entitled to restrictive immunity, which limits immunity to claims involving an organization’s public acts and does not exempt them from suits based on their commercial or private conduct. This Note contends that a plain reading of the IOIA, combined with a full understanding of the history and legislative purpose behind the immunity of international organizations, presents a third interpretation. It concludes that the IOIA requires judicial deference to immunity determinations by the executive branch, which provides the flexibility necessary to allow international organizations to operate without undue interference

Long-term Solar Irradiance Variability: 1984-1989 Observations

Long-term variability in the total solar irradiance has been observed in the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) solar monitor measurements. The monitors have been used to measure the irradiance from the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA-9 and NOAA-10 spacecraft platforms since October 25, 1984, January 23, 1985, and October 22, 1986, respectively. Before September 1986, the ERBS irradiance values were found to be decreasing -0.03 percent per year. This period was marked by decreasing solar magnetic activity. Between September 1986 and mid-1989, the irradiance values increased approximately 0.1 percent. The latter period was marked by increasing solar activity which was associated with the initiations of the sunspot cycle number 22 and of a new 22-year Hale solar magnetic cycle. Therefore, long-term solar-irradiance variability appears to be correlated directly with solar activity. The maximum smoothed sunspot number occurred during September 1989, according to the Sunspot Index Data Center. Therefore, the recent irradiance increasing trend should disappear during early 1990 and change into a decreasing trend if the observed irradiance variability is correlated more so with the 11-year sunspot cycle than the 22-year Hale cycle. The ERBE irradiance values are presented and compared with sunspot activity for the 1984 to 1989 period. The ERBE values are compared with those available from the Nimbus-7 and Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft experiments

Qualitative comparison of calculated turbulence responses with wind-tunnel measurements for a DC-10 derivative wing with an active control system

Comparisons are presented analytically predicted and experimental turbulence responses of a wind tunnel model of a DC-10 derivative wing equipped with an active control system. The active control system was designed for the purpose of flutter suppression, but it had additional benefit of alleviating gust loads (wing bending moment) by about 25%. Comparisions of various wing responses are presented for variations in active control system parameters and tunnel speed. The analytical turbulence responses were obtained using DYLOFLEX, a computer program for dynamic loads analyses of flexible airplanes with active controls. In general, the analytical predictions agreed reasonably well with the experimental data

Fast Fourier Transform algorithm design and tradeoffs

The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is a mainstay of certain numerical techniques for solving fluid dynamics problems. The Connection Machine CM-2 is the target for an investigation into the design of multidimensional Single Instruction Stream/Multiple Data (SIMD) parallel FFT algorithms for high performance. Critical algorithm design issues are discussed, necessary machine performance measurements are identified and made, and the performance of the developed FFT programs are measured. Fast Fourier Transform programs are compared to the currently best Cray-2 FFT program