Humanitarian Intervention Under Contemporary International Law: A Policy-Oriented Approach

The last decade has been marked by a revival of interest in the contemporary applicability of traditional international law doctrines of humanitarian intervention. During the period between the two world wars, a significant number of state elites adhered to a strict construction of the theory that under international law each nation is completely sovereign and independent . Hence, since international law deals solely with external relations between states, and since what occurs within the state between the sovereign and his subjects has, by definition, no effect on external inter-state relations, intervention for humanitarian purposes by another state on behalf of the subjects of a foreign :\u27sovereign lay outside the scope of international law. Under this theory it was lawful for a foreign state to criticize Hitler\u27s treatment of Polish Jews, but Hitler\u27s persecution of German Jews was entirely his affair. Writing in 1956, summarizing the experience of the thirties, the Thomases were able to conclude that Not even the most revolting violations of the common laws of decency and humanity committed by a government against its own subjects was sufficient grounds for other states to criticize officially the political organization which made such outrages possible. Humanitarian intervention in the twentieth century, therefore, retains but little vigor

The Coastal Environment of New England

From the introduction: This view of the New England coastal environment focuses on three subjects: the shape of the coastline, the coastal waters, and the coastal sediments. It covers the nonliving aspects of the environment to set the scene within which and with which man and other organisms interact. Includes several illustrations and bibliographical references (pages 37-47)

Space Station Furnace Facility Management Information System (SSFF-MIS) Development

This report summarizes the chronology, results, and lessons learned from the development of the SSFF-MIS. This system has been nearly two years in development and has yielded some valuable insights into specialized MIS development. General: In December of 1994, the Camber Corporation and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) were contracted to design, develop, and implement a MIS for Marshall Space Flight Center's Space Station Furnace Facility Project. The system was to be accessible from both EBM-Compatible PC and Macintosh platforms. The system was required to contain data manually entered into the MIS as well as data imported from other MSFC sources. Electronic interfaces were established for each data source and retrieval was to be performed at prescribed time intervals. The SOW requirement that predominantly drove the development software selection was the dual-platform (IBM-PC and Macintosh) requirement. The requirement that the system would be maintained by Government personnel influenced the selection of Commercial Off-the-shelf software because of its inherent stability and readily available documentation and support. Microsoft FoxPro Professional 2.6 for Windows and Macintosh was selected as the development tool. This is a software development tool that has been in use for many years. It is stable and powerful. Microsoft has since released the replacement for this product, Microsoft Visual FoxPro, but at the time of this development, it was only available on the Windows platform. The initial contract included included the requirement for capabilities relating to the Work- and Organizational Breakdown Structures, cost (plan and actuals), workforce (plan and actuals), critical path scheduling, trend analysis, procurements and contracts, interface to manufacturing, Safety and Mission Assurance, risk analysis, and technical performance indicators. It also required full documentation of the system and training of users. During the course of the contract, the requirements for Safety and Mission Assurance interface, risk analysis, and technical performance indicators were deleted. Additional capabilities were added as reflected in the Contract Chronology below. Modification 4 added the requirement for Support Contractor manpower data, the ability to manually input data not imported from non-nal sources, a general 'health' indicator screen, and remote usage. Mod 6 included the ability to change the level of planning of Civil Service Manpower at any time and the ability to manually enter Op Codes in the manufacturing data where such codes were not provided by the EMPACS database. Modification 9 included a number of changes to report contents and formats. Modification 11 required the preparation of a detailed System Design Document

Income Taxation of Distributions Made by Alaska Native Corporations: An Ambiguity in Need of Clarification

In 1971, Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act ( ANCSA ) to provide compensation for extinguishing Native land claims in Alaska. ANCSA created a system of village corporations that received money and land as compensation, and are to distribute the compensation to shareholders. The Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ), despite legislative history to the contrary, is now asserting that corporate tax principles apply to the distributions because of ambiguous language contained in ANCSA. This assertion makes distributions to shareholders taxable as dividends to the extent of the corporations\u27 accumulated and current earnings and profits. The IRS stance will result in excessive taxation of the shareholders due to the unique manner in which ANCSA is set up, and due to poorer economic values of the Natives\u27 land bases. The authors argue that Congress should amend ANCSA to relieve the corporations and shareholders of the unintended taxation. They examine ANCSA and its legislative history, and contrast the IRS\u27s letter rulings to show how the IRS interpretation is contrary to the legislative intent. Finally, the authors propose two alternative amendments that would clarify the otherwise coherent ANCSA policy against imposing an income tax on compensation for extinguishing aboriginal land claims, and assure that individual Natives receive the full measure of compensation that Congress intended to convey

Care and Handling of Historic Sound Recordings

Manual on the care and handling, and cleaning of historic sound recordings as practiced at the Belfer Audio Archive. Covers cylinders and discs (78s, LPs, ...). Document contains links to videos demonstrating these techniques

A series of helical α-synuclein fibril polymorphs are populated in the presence of lipid vesicles

α-Synuclein (αS) deposition is a defining characteristic of Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathology, and other synucleinopathies. αS aggregates in disease, leading to the generation of neuronal inclusions known as Lewy bodies. These accumulate in the cytoplasmic space of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta region of the brain, causing cell death, resulting in decreased dopamine levels, and ultimately PD symptoms. To date, a significant proportion of structural information has arisen from in vitro studies using recombinantly purified forms of the protein, often failing to acknowledge that αS is natively located in the presence of phospholipids, where it likely plays a direct role in regulating synaptic vesicle function and neurotransmission. Here we present a series of macromolecular αS assemblies not previously described that form in the presence of lipid vesicles. These fibrillar structures are striking in both their large size relative to those previously reported and by their varying helical content, from ribbons to wave-like helices of long pitch shortening to those more compact and bulkier. These studies provide the foundation for more detailed structural analysis, and may offer new possibilities to further define disease-relevant versions of the protein that are accessible to pharmacological intervention.</p

Anionic lipid vesicles have differential effects on the aggregation of early onset-associated α-synuclein missense mutants

α-synuclein (αS) is the key component of synucleinopathies such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies, and multiple system atrophy. αS was first linked to PD through the identification of point mutations in the SNCA gene, causing single amino acid substitutions within αS and familial autosomal dominant forms of PD that profoundly accelerated disease onset by up to several decades. At least eight single-point mutations linked to familial PD (A30G/P, E46K, H50Q, G51D, and A53T/E/V) are located in proximity of the region preceding the non-β amyloid component (preNAC) region, strongly implicating its pathogenic role in αS-mediated cytotoxicity. Furthermore, lipids are known to be important for native αS function, where they play a key role in the regulation of synaptic vesicle docking to presynaptic membranes and dopamine transmission. However, the role of lipids in the function of mutant αS is unclear. Here, we studied αS aggregation properties of WT αS and five of the most predominant single-point missense mutants associated with early onset PD in the presence of anionic 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-l-serine lipid vesicles. Our results highlight significant differences between aggregation rates, the number of aggregates produced, and overall fibril morphologies of WT αS and the A30P, E46K, H50Q, G51D, and A53T missense mutants in the presence of lipid vesicles. These findings have important implications regarding the interplay between the lipids required for αS function and the individual point mutations known to accelerate PD and related diseases

The Library Derived 4554W Peptide Inhibits Primary Nucleation of α-Synuclein

Aggregation of alpha-Synuclein (aS) is widely regarded as a key factor in neuronal cell death, leading to a wide range of synucleinopathies that includes Parkinson’s Disease. Development of therapeutics has therefore focused on inhibiting aggregation of aS into toxic forms. One such inhibitor, based on the preNAC region aS45-54 (4554W), was identified using an intracellular peptide library screen, and subsequently shown to both inhibit formation of aS aggregates while simultaneously lowering toxicity. Subsequent efforts have sought to determine the mode of 4554W action. In particular, and consistent with the fact that both target and peptide are co-produced during library screening, we find that the peptide inhibits primary nucleation of aS, but does not modulate downstream secondary nucleation or elongation events. These findings hold significant promise towards mechanistic understanding and development of molecules that can module the first steps in aS aggregation towards novel treatments for Parkinson’s disease and related synucleinopathies