International legal, technical and financial challenges for implementing the concept of space traffic management

Focuses on the concept of Space Traffic Management (STM), the matter which has been of high interest for many space actors in the last three decades. With the emergence of the NewSpace era, and flourishment of commercial and economic incentives for space activities, this topic has gained the attention of many space actors in the preceding decades, thus turning into a separate agenda item in the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. However, establishing and implementing such regulations is a challenging task, especially for new space actors. This article aims to assess the existing challenges of STM and provide solutions to overcome them. Firstly, this article provides the necessity of establishing such a regulation: it is evaluated and discussed while describing the requirements for achieving this goal. Secondly, the paper studies definitions provided by governmental and non-governmental entities regarding this concept and the measures taken towards its realising. Finally, the research discusses the challenges that space actors face regarding implementing this concept, both legal and practical. In conclusion, the authors highlight the importance of promoting endeavours and coordination among all current and potential space actors with due considerations for their relevancy.

Retroperitoneal Liposarcoma Presenting as Bilateral Inguinal Hernias

Liposarcoma is one of the most common soft tissue sarcomas and has multiple subtypes, including atypical, well-differentiated, and dedifferentiated liposarcoma1. These tumors most commonly occur in the extremities and the retroperitoneum2, and account for 20% of all retroperitoneal tumors3. Retroperitoneal liposarcoma is very rare overall, occurring in 2.5 per one million people4. Patients will present from symptoms of mass effect due to the uncontrolled growth in the large potential space of the retroperitoneum, with its median size being around 30 cm5. The mainstay of treatment for this type of tumor is resection to a negative margin6. This is a case report describing a retroperitoneal liposarcoma presenting with bilateral inguinal hernias containing intraperitoneal fat from mass effect.

Between Dog and Wolf

This paper examines the role of absence in Sasha Sokolov’s second novel, Between Dog and Wolf. It argues that the gap is as essential to the constitution of Sokolov’s text as the duality that captures it. Through the interplay between the negative and the positive, the absent and the double, the text transforms the gap into a potential space. In this space, disintegration becomes aesthetic play, and an unintegrated existential experience, ungraspable by cognition, finds an articulation and a form. (For a plot synopsis of Between Dog and Wolf, please consult the introduction to this issue of CASS.)

Gestational Potential Space Hypothesis: Evolutionary Explanation of Human Females Body Fat Redistribution

Homo sapiens, as well as other primates, developed the evolutionary advantage of storing excess energy as body fat, primarily in the readily accessible visceral fat compartment when food is plentiful for use during scarcity. However, uniquely to female humans, a second transient dimorphic phenotypic change begins at menarche and is reversed by menopause. It is the diversion of visceral fat stores from the abdominal cavity to the gluteofemoral region. The evolutionary purpose for this remains unclear. The author proposes the gestational potential space (GPS) hypothesis: that such fat diversion is for the reproductive purpose of increasing the potential abdominal space available for gestation and reducing the intraabdominal pressure. This hypothesis is supported by the basic laws of physics and increased rates of maternal and fetal complications experienced by those with visceral adiposity. It is important that the GPS hypothesis and alternative hypotheses are tested by comparing the health (particularly reproductive) outcomes of women with varying fat distributions and their offspring. Lay summary The author proposes that fat shifting from the abdominal cavity to the hips and thighs in women, during the childbearing period, is for beneficial for reducing the intraabdominal contents consequently increasing pregnancy potential space. Secondarily, it prevents intraabdominal pressure elevation and reduces maternal and fetal complications associated with visceral fat in pregnancy.

Design Space Cards

The potential space of game designs is astronomically large. This paper shows how game design theories can be translated into a simple, tangible card deck that can assist in the exploration of new game designs within a broader "design space." By translating elements of game design theory into a physical card deck, we enable users to randomly sample a design space in order to synthesize new game design variations for a new play platform ("Lumies"). In a series of iterative design and testing rounds with various user groups, the deck has been optimized to merge relevant game theory elements into a concise card deck with limited categories and clear descriptions. In a small, controlled experiment involving groups of design students, we compare the effects of brainstorming with the card deck or the "Directed Brainstorming" method. We show that the deck does not increase ideation speed but is preferred by participants. We further show that our target audience, children, were able to use the card deck to develop dozens of new game ideas. We conclude that design space cards are a promising way to help adults and children to generate new game ideas by making it easier to explore the game design space.

“The Quickening Virtue”: Reiterating the Work of the Literary Text

This article pursues the reiteration of reading as a practice that circumscribes the work of the literary text. In doing so, it responds to particular assertions made in Kate Highman’s “Close(d) Reading and the ‘Potential Space’ of the Literature Classroom.” More pertinently, though, it seeks to reposition the value of reading as a vital attribute in engaging with the humanities and emphasizes that analyzing and the interpreting of the text is the practice indisputably central to the humanistic endeavor. The discussion reiterates that any ways in and through the text are available only by reading, making it necessary to encourage and inculcate it as a central objective so that the work of the text, in accordance with Attridge’s qualification of it, remains productive. Finally, it argues that situating this critical practice as a deliberate objective within the teaching of literature must be reprioritized as a matter of urgency.