THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE-NEW RIGHTS AND A MEANS TO ENFORCE THEM

The Uniform Code of Military Justice, designed to govern the entire military establishment of the United States, was enacted May 5, 1950, replacing the three separate systems of law theretofore applied to the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Pressure for a uniform code was a reflection of the great surge toward unification of the Armed Services which followed World War II. The new Code, however, is not just a revision and consolidation of the prior systems of military law. World War II, with its great increase in the size of the Armed Services and in the percentage of the population under the jurisdiction of military law, exposed many of the inadequacies of the old system to heavy public criticism. Consequently the new Code represents not only unification. but also substantial reform in the system of military law

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-EMINENT DOMAIN-GOVERNMENT SEIZURE OF BUSINESS PROPERTY TO AVERT STRIKE AS A TAKING UNDER FIFTH AMENDMENT-AMOUNT OF WAGE INCREASE AS MEASURE OF JUST COMPENSATION

In 1943, in an attempt to end a strike of the United Mine Workers which threatened the national war effort, the Government, acting under an executive order directing the Secretary of the Interior to take possession of the mines where necessary, seized most of the nation\u27s coal mines. Although mine officials were required to agree to conduct operations as agents of the Government, to keep separate books for the period of government operation, to fly the American Flag over the mines, and to post notices that the mines were United States Property, they were instructed to carry on the mining business as before. Title to assets, profits or losses, and substantial control of the ordinary business functions remained in the individual companies. The business was carried on without hindrance by the Government except in one respect: on a merely advisory recommendation by the War Labor Board, the Secretary of the Interior ordered modification of the wage agreement under which the mines had been operating before the strike, by authorizing an increased vacation payment and the refund of certain occupational charges. Plaintiff coal company complied with the order, but brought an action in the Court of Claims to recover all operating losses incurred during the period of government operation. The Court of Claims allowed recovery only for losses incurred through the wage increase; on appeal to the Supreme Court by the Government, held, affirmed. Such government intervention constitutes a taking within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment, and just compensation for the taking is the amount of the wage increase granted during the period of government operation. Justice Black delivered the judgment of the Court and an opinion in which Justices Frankfurter, Douglas, and Jackson concurred. Justice Reed wrote a concurring opinion; and Justice Burton, joined by Chief Justice Vinson and Justices Clark and Minton, dissented. United States v. Pewee Coal Co., 341 U.S. 114, 71 S.Ct. 670 (1951)

Real-time estimation of dominant motion in underwater video images for dynamic positionning

International audienceIn this paper, we propose a 2D visual motion estimation method which can be exploited to achieve a dynamic positioning (eg. by gaze control) with respect to a sea-bottom area of interest of a video camera mounted on a subsea vehicle. It mainly involves a dominant 2D motion robust estimation step from underwater video sequences. Optimizations carried out on the motion estimation code have made possible the use of our algorithm in ``application-related real-time'' for scientific exploration or inspection tasks. We have developed a friendly and efficient interface to perform this algorithm in an operational context. Experiments dealing with complex real underwater scenes are reported and validate the approach

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-EMINENT DOMAIN-DESTRUCTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY TO PREVENT ENEMY CAPTURE

Respondent oil companies owned terminal facilities in Manila at the time of the Japanese attack on the Philippines. The terminals were destroyed by the United States Army as the Japanese entered the city. Although the Army had requisitioned oil from the terminals prior to their destruction, respondents were bound by the decision of the court of claims to the effect that prior to December 27, 1941, when respondents were notified that the terminals themselves were requisitioned for the purpose of destruction, there had been no taking within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment. The court of claims allowed recovery on the theory that destruction of property for the common defense was a taking for public use and required just compensation. On appeal the United States Supreme Court held, the Fifth Amendment does not require compensation for the destruction of private property in war time where the purpose is to hinder or impede the enemy. United States v. Caltex (Philippines), Inc., (U.S. 1952) 73 S.Ct. 200

EXECUTIVE AGREEMENTS AND THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS TO THE TREATY POWER

The advent of the present administration has brought into full bloom a hardy perennial among the annual crop of proposed constitutional amendments. The emergence of the United States from World War II as the leader of the free nations of the world and distrust of the rapid expansion of executive power under the Roosevelt Administration have given impetus to a movement to check any further expansion of the presidential power to conduct our foreign relations. In addition, many people are alarmed by the possibility that this country might become a party to international agreements which would operate to alter or destroy rights guaranteed to our citizens by the Constitution. The result has been the re-introduction in the Senate this year of two proposals to amend the Constitution in order to limit the power of the executive in making treaties and executive agreements. One of these is the Bricker amendment, sponsored by Senator Bricker of Ohio and some sixty-three other Senators. The other is the briefer but more drastic proposal authored by the American Bar Association. Both of these amendments, if adopted, would effect a substantial change in the present power to make treaties and executive agreements and would shift the balance of power in the conduct of foreign relations from the executive to the legislative branch of government. It is proposed in this comment to discuss only the effect of the amendments on agreements other than treaties, but inasmuch as both amendments provide that executive agreements shall be subject to the same limitations as are imposed on treaties, it is necessary before focusing on the executive agreement aspect of the amendments to give some consideration to their effect on the executive\u27s foreign relations power as a whole

CIVIL PROCEDURE-JURISDICTION-AMOUNT IN CONTROVERSY IN INFERIOR COURT WHERE CAUSE OF ACTION IS SPLIT

Plaintiff, a manufacturer\u27s agent, sued his employer in the Municipal Court, Civil Division, Washington, D. C. in two separate actions to recover commissions on his contract of employment. The two actions were consolidated for trial. At the trial defendant moved to dismiss for want of jurisdiction on the ground that this was but one cause of action and, while neither of the claims individually exceeded the jurisdictional maximum, the total claimed in both suits did exceed it. The motion to dismiss was denied, and after trial, judgments were entered for plaintiff in both actions. Defendant appealed. The Municipal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held, this was but a single cause of action and therefore the total amount in controversy exceeded the jurisdictional limit. The motion to dismiss should be granted. Le John Mfg. Co. v. Webb, (Mun. Ct. App. D.C. 1952) 91 A. (2d) 332

Balanced cholinergic modulation of spinal locomotor circuits via M2 and M3 muscarinic receptors

Neuromodulation ensures that neural circuits produce output that is fexible whilst remaining within an optimal operational range. The neuromodulator acetylcholine is released during locomotion to regulate spinal motor circuits. However, the range of receptors and downstream mechanisms by which acetylcholine acts have yet to be fully elucidated. We therefore investigated metabotropic acetylcholine receptor-mediated modulation by using isolated spinal cord preparations from neonatal mice in which locomotor-related output can be induced pharmacologically. We report that M2 receptor blockade decreases the frequency and amplitude of locomotor-related activity, whilst reducing its variability. In contrast, M3 receptor blockade destabilizes locomotor-related bursting. Motoneuron recordings from spinal cord slices revealed that activation of M2 receptors induces an outward current, decreases rheobase, reduces the medium afterhyperpolarization, shortens spike duration and decreases synaptic inputs. In contrast, M3 receptor activation elicits an inward current, increases rheobase, extends action potential duration and increases synaptic inputs. Analysis of miniature postsynaptic currents support that M2 and M3 receptors modulate synaptic transmission via diferent mechanisms. In summary, we demonstrate that M2 and M3 receptors have opposing modulatory actions on locomotor circuit output, likely refecting contrasting cellular mechanisms of action. Thus, intraspinal cholinergic systems mediate balanced, multimodal control of spinal motor output

Valse Aerienne

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/3473/thumbnail.jp

Guanosine Quadruplexes in Solution: A Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering Analysis of Temperature Effects on Self-Assembling of Deoxyguanosine Monophosphate

We investigated quadruplex formation in aqueous solutions of 2′-deoxyriboguanosine 5′-monophosphate, d(pG), which takes place in the absence of the covalent axial backbone. A series of in-solution small angle X-ray scattering experiments on d(pG) have been performed as a function of temperature in the absence of excess salt, at a concentration just above the critical one at which self-assembling occurs. A global fit approach has been used to derive composition and size distribution of the scattering particles as a function of temperature. The obtained results give thermodynamical justification for the observed phase-behavior, indicating that octamer formation is essential for quadruplex elongation. Our investigation shows that d(pG) quadruplexes are very suitable to assess the potential of G-quadruplex formation and to study the self-assembling thermodynamics