Fundamental Rights in the European Community Legal Order

The role of the courts in the protection of human rights in any legal system is a constitutionally sensitive one. The observance and protection of such rights articulate with many aspects of the exercise of governmental and legislative power. The value nature of human rights accentuates these sensibilities. Some have viewed sovereign law as an essential ingredient in the make-up of national identity, a perception which tends to confirm a presumption that legal systems, while responsive to new pressures, are nonetheless holistic, coherent, and state-bound. National law is a rampart against outside corruption of the national ethos. Inevitably all of this poses particular challenges for a supranational court with jurisdiction to pass judgment on human rights compliance, directly or indirectly, by states that are justly proud of their own legal democratic traditions. The exercise by the European Court of Justice (“Court of Justice” or “Court”) of jurisdiction to protect the individual from breaches of their fundamental rights is a constitutional role which trammels not only the exercise of political power by the institutions of the European Community (the “Community”) but indirectly (and often directly) the use of governmental and legislative power at a national level. This constitutional role, exercised in the context of the doctrines of primacy and direct effect, challenges the ideology of a state\u27s legal autonomy and the associated sense of self-determination. Not surprisingly, the Court of Justice at the early stages showed a marked reluctance to be drawn into this area

The outlook for changes in federal taxation

Tax reform ; Taxation

Fiscal policy for a period of transition

Fiscal policy

Ten Micron Photometry of 25 Stars from B8 To M7

A photometer employing a liquid hydrogen-cooled mercury-doped germanium photoconductor whose spectral response is limited to the 8 - 14 µ region by a low pass interference filter and a BaF_2 window coupled with the cell's threshold wavelength has been placed at the east arm Cassegrain focus of the 200 inch Hale telescope. Twenty-five stars have been measured. The earliest star for which two measurements have been obtained is the B8Ia star β Orionis. The latest star is the M7e star X Cygni. The brightest star, L37 X 10^(-14) watts/cm^2, is α Orionis. The carbon star DS Peg was also measured. In a two-color diagram formed with B and V there is an intrinsic increase in dispersion going to later type stars and a systematic trend away from the blackbody relation. The ratios of the stellar fluxes to those expected from blackbodies at the published stellar effective-temperatures and angular diameters are not far from one. A systematic trend exhibited may not be real because of the assumptions involved in inteferometric diameter determinations. DS Peg does not appear overly peculiar in the two-color plots, but X,Cygni falls on the opposite side of the blackbody curve ("blue excess") compared with most of the late type stars. The fluxes presented here have not been corrected for presently uncertain telescope transmission losses which may be important

Using digital pens to expedite the marking procedure

This is the Post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 Inderscience PublishersDigital pens have been introduced over the last six years and have demonstrated that they can be used effectively for collecting, processing and storing data. These properties make them ideal for use in education, particularly in the marking procedure of multiple-choice questions (MCQ). In this report, we present a system that was designed to expedite the marking procedure of MCQ, for use at any educational level. The main element of the system is a digital pen, i.e. given to the students prior to the examination. On return of the pen, the system immediately recognises the students' answers and produces their results. In this specific research, four groups of students were studied and a variety of data were collected, concerning issues, such as accuracy, time gained by the use of the system and the impressions of the students. The pedagogic value of the use of the system is also presented

Analysis of a Model Biological Switch

A model mechanism proposed by Murray [Phil. Traps. Roy. Soc. London B, 295 (1981), pp. 473–496] for generating wing patterns and eyespots on butterflies and moths is based on a morphogen (S) activated biological switch for a gene product (g). We analyse one of the resulting partial differential equation systems, namely S_t = DΔS - kS, g_t = k_tS + αg (g-k_2) (g_c-g ), where D,k,k_1 ,k_2 ,g_c > k_2 and α are positive constants. We determine analytically the size of the spatial domain where g → g_c as t → ∞ after an influx of S at the origin. This gives the size of the eyespot in terms of the mechanism parameters. The analytical problem is a nontrivial singular perturbation expansion which we discuss in detail

Coupling convectively driven atmospheric circulation to surface rotation: Evidence for active methane weather in the observed spin rate drift of Titan

A large drift in the rotation rate of Titan observed by Cassini provided the first evidence of a subsurface ocean isolating the massive core from the icy crust. Seasonal exchange of angular momentum between the surface and atmosphere accounts for the magnitude of the effect, but observations lag the expected signal by a few years. We argue that this time lag is due to the presence of an active methane weather cycle in the atmosphere. An analytic model of the seasonal cycle of atmospheric angular momentum is developed and compared with time-dependent simulations of Titan's atmosphere with and without methane thermodynamics. The disappearance of clouds at the summer pole suggests the drift rate has already switched direction, signaling the change in season from solstice to equinox.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, published in Ap

Temporal introduction patterns of invasive alien plant species to Australia

We examined temporal introduction patterns of 132 invasive alien plant species (IAPS) to Australia since European colonisation in 1770. Introductions of IAPS were high during 1810–1820 (10 species), 1840– 1880 (51 species, 38 of these between 1840 and 1860) and 1930–1940 (9 species). Conspicuously few introductions occurred during 10-year periods directly preceding each introduction peak. Peaks during early European settlement (1810–1820) and human range expansion across the continent (1840-1860) both coincided with considerable growth in Australia’s human population. We suggest that population growth during these times increased the likelihood of introduced plant species becoming invasive as a result of increased colonization and propagule pressure. Deliberate introductions of IAPS (104 species) far outnumbered accidental introductions (28 species) and were particularly prominent during early settlement. Cosmopolitan IAPS (25 species) and those native solely to South America (53 species), Africa (27 species) and Asia (19 species) have been introduced deliberately and accidentally to Australia across a broad period of time. A small number of IAPS, native solely to Europe (5 species) and North America (2 species), were all introduced to Australia prior to 1880. These contrasting findings for native range suggest some role for habitat matching, with similar environmental conditions in Australia potentially driving the proliferation of IAPS native to southern-hemisphere regions. Shrub, tree and vine species dominated IAPS introduced prior to 1840, with no grasses or forbs introduced during early colonisation. Since 1840, all five growth forms have been introduced deliberately and accidentally in relatively large numbers across a broad period of time. In particular, a large number of grass and forb IAPS were deliberately introduced between 1840 and 1860, most likely a direct result of the introduction of legislation promoting intensive agriculture across large areas of the continent. Since the 1980s, only three IAPS have been introduced (all deliberately introduced forbs). The decline in IAPS introductions is most likely a reflection of both increased surveillance and biosecurity efforts and the likelihood that many potential IAPS are still within a pre-expansion lag period