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Zoning’s Centennial: A Complete Account of the Evolution of Zoning into a Robust System of Land Use Law—1916-2016 (Part III)
Get PDFIn land use, there are two things that Americans dislike: one is sprawl, the other is density. This catch-22 can be resolved by mitigating those aspects of urban living associated with density: congestion, bulky buildings, sameness, design incongruities, unsafe streets, inefficiency, and the sense that neighborhoods are not livable and pleasant. These characteristics of density cut against sustainability. They define places that people want to leave as soon as they can. To reduce vehicle miles travelled and carbon emissions, as well as to prevent sprawl, we must create places of enduring value, located next to transit in walkable and sustainable neighborhoods
Drug Side Effects Data Representation and Full Spectrum Inferencing using Knowledge Graphs in Intelligent Telehealth
No full textDrug adverse reaction data contains important constraints about side effects and conflict avoidance of component and compound drugs. We observe that many of these constraints are transitive in nature due to the relationship between drug and drug classes. Current drug side effects representations in XML does not have a proper knowledge representation mechanism to clearly specify all kinds of dependencies among the drug components and drugs. Even the recently introduced OWL based approach for medical drug side effects data representation still suffers from several shortcomings inherent to the OWL restrictions like using “is-a” relationship and usage of object property emulations. In this research, we propose a model Drug - Side Effects Representation And Inferencing (D -SERI) built using Knowledge Graph (KG) and enhanced PaceJena to represent multiple custom relationships allowing domain experts to capture the transitive nature of the relations in an inference friendly way. The research also developed a concept demonstrator for checking out prescriptions to avoid complications. The research outcome shows that the proposed model allows the doctors and caregivers to derive dynamic information about side-effects avoiding costly errors caused by human interpretation
Using a multi-user virtual simulation to promote science content: Mastery, scientific reasoning, and academic self-efficacy in fifth grade science
No full textThe purpose of this study was to examine the impact of using a role-playing game versus a more traditional text-based instructional method on a cohort of general education fifth grade students’ science content mastery, scientific reasoning abilities, and academic self-efficacy. This is an action research study that employs an embedded mixed methods design model, involving both quantitative and qualitative data. The study is guided by the critical design ethnography theoretical lens: an ethnographic process involving participatory design work aimed at transforming a local context while producing an instructional design that can be used in multiple contexts. The impact of an immersive 3D multi-user web-based educational simulation game on a cohort of fifth-grade students was examined on multiple levels of assessments—immediate, close, proximal and distal. A survey instrument was used to assess students’ self-efficacy in technology and scientific inquiry. Science content mastery was assessed at the immediate (participation in game play), close (engagement in-game reports) and proximal (understanding of targeted concepts) levels; scientific reasoning was assessed at the distal (domain general critical thinking test) level. This quasi-experimental study used a convenient sampling method. Seven regular fifth-grade classes participated in this study. Three of the classes were the control group and the other four were the intervention group. A cohort of 165 students participated in this study. The treatment group contained 38 boys and 52 girls, and the control group contained 36 boys and 39 girls. Two-tailed t-test, Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), and Pearson Correlation were used to analyze data. The data supported the rejection of the null hypothesis for the three research questions. The correlational analyses showed strong relationship among three of the four variables. There were no correlations between gender and the three dependent variables. The findings of this study support the hypothesis that the intervention group students will obtain dramatically larger gains on the three measures: Cornell Critical Thinking Test, Curriculum-Oriented Test, and the Self-Efficacy in Technology and Science (SETS) survey
Foreign Assistance Complicity
Get PDFWhen does a government’s provision of assistance to foreign armed groups cross the line from legitimate foreign policy to criminal aiding and abetting of those who use the aid to commit atrocities? The question presents one of the most difficult dilemmas in criminal justice, one that has deep normative implications and has provoked sharp splits among the U.S. federal courts and international tribunals that have faced it.
In 2013, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sent shockwaves through international legal circles when it acquitted former Yugoslav Army chief Momčilo Perišić of aiding and abetting atrocities in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the early 1990s. Influenced perhaps by contemporary examples such as U.S. support for Syrian rebels, the Tribunal ruled that “neutral” support to armed groups engaged in combat activities could not give rise to criminal responsibility absent evidence that the support was “specifically directed” toward the group’s unlawful activities. The aftermath of the ruling has produced widespread criticism, but little clarity on how the law should draw the line between legitimate foreign assistance on the one hand and criminal complicity on the other. Domestic legal systems take different approaches to complicity, and even at the international level the law depends very much on which tribunal—and even which particular judge—happens to be deciding a case.
In this Article, I contribute to the debate over the foreign assistance cases by questioning two of its key premises. First, I challenge the pervasive assumption that the resolution of these cases can and should be determined by recourse to the kind of precedential analysis that has dominated judicial consideration of international aiding and abetting cases. As a descriptive matter, the case law is mistaken to maintain that the historical precedents reveal a consistent approach to aiding and abetting that evidences settled principles of customary international law. As a prescriptive matter, international tribunals’ reliance on precedent—however well-founded—is no substitute for the kind of normative analysis that is necessary to secure adequate protections against injustice.
Second, I contest the assumption that the resolution of individual foreign assistance cases turns on the particular doctrinal choices that have divided judges and commentators. Analysis of the competing approaches to aiding and abetting reveals that there is less at stake in the choice of elements than is commonly supposed, because each approach leaves room for substantial flexibility in interpretation and application. Moreover, the most plausible understandings are also the least determinate, suggesting that the resolution of the foreign assistance cases must inevitably rely on complex moral judgments that resist easy encapsulation in the legal elements that have traditionally served to police the boundaries of criminal responsibility.
The combined effect of these insights reveals an indeterminacy that is both inevitable and familiar to criminal law. I conclude by considering how courts might manage this indeterminacy in a way that renders the assignment of criminal responsibility sufficiently predictable while also maintaining a normatively meaningful distinction between guilt and innocence
Keynote Address: A Sure Bet? The Legal Status of Daily Fantasy Sports
Get PDFToday, I will provide an overview of the legal status of “daily fantasy sports” and explain why the legality—or illegality—of the industry is not a sure bet. I will begin by providing a brief background of the origins of fantasy sports, and then turn to the impact of technologies such as the Internet, and the legal status of these games under both federal and state laws. I will conclude by discussing the recent efforts to regulate “daily fantasy sports” through the courts and legislatio
Controversy Over Information Privacy Arising From the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database Examining the Taiwan Taipei High Administrative Court Judgement No. 102-SU-36 (Tsai v. NHIA)
Get PDFThis article examines the limitations of the application of traditional information privacy theory to disputes relating to modern technologies. If information privacy is understood as an individual’s right to full control over his information, activities involving the collection, process and use of personal data cannot be conducted without the data subject’s consent because his privacy rights would be affected as a result of such activities. Instead of the privacy interest approach, this article introduces a privacy harm approach to reconcile the defects of traditional privacy theory. The privacy interest approach helps identify situations in which an individual’s information privacy conflicts with the free flow of information, and the privacy harm approach comes into play to precisely evaluate and determine the reasonable extent of protection of the respective interest. This article applies this privacy-harm-oriented approach to Taiwan Taipei High Administrative Court Judgment, Tsai v. NHIA, to examine that the modified information privacy theory is helpful to resolve the information privacy dispute at issue.
This article elaborates the reasons why imposing a universal rule that the data controller must obtain the data subject’s consent before using his health data is of no real help in protecting health privacy and is detrimental to medical research. This notion can be supported by the following concepts: 1. shifting the liability of privacy protection to the data subject will increase the risk of privacy invasion; 2. in the multi-faceted privacy interest concept, granting decision-making rights to an individual cannot guarantee privacy protection; 3. it will add unreasonable costs to medical research.
By applying the privacy harm approach, this article further analyzes the importance of considering the likelihood of privacy harm regarding health information. In this approach, because identifiable health information and identified health information are subject to different likelihoods of privacy harm, different degrees of privacy protection and privacy rules should apply to them in their respective contexts
Rights of European Union Depositors Under Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights After the Cyprus Bail-Out
Get PDFBanks in the Republic of Cyprus began to deteriorate in 2010 due to risky investments with Greece. The two largest Cypriot banks, Cyprus Popular Bank (Laiki) and Bank of Cyprus (BoC), undertook losses, which made the country economically unstable. After requesting financial assistance from the Eurogroup and International Monetary Fund, there was an agreement for Cyprus to raise € 4.2 billion in return for a € 10 billion bailout. Part of the agreement in raising the funds was a levy of bank deposits towards the recapitalization needs of the two largest banks.
The Cyprus bail-in was unpopular and received much criticism because of its unprecedented and seemingly unfair condition. In this paper, I will investigate to what extent Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Charter) protects European Union depositors from a ‘bail-in’ obligation using Cyprus as a case study. I believe that the levying of bank deposits, as a condition of a bail-out of Cyprus by the EU did not violate Article 17 of the Charter. However, I will argue that while the obligation was legal, the European Union should hold a higher standard for bank deposits with regard to Article 17 protection because of the special nature of bank deposits, and for the preservation of confidence in the EU banking system
A Modular Integrated Syntactic/Semantic XML Data Validation Solution
No full textA Modular Integrated Syntactic/Semantic XML Data Validation Solution Data integration between disparate systems can be difficult when there are distinct data formats and constraints from a syntactic and semantic perspective. Such differences can be the source of miscommunication that can lead to incorrect data interpretations. What we propose is to leverage XML as means to define not only syntactic constraints, but also semantic constraints. XML having been widely adopted across multiple industries, is heavily used as a data protocol. However, commonly used XML parsers have only embedded syntactic validation. In other words, if semantic constraints are needed, these come into play after a parser has validated the XML message. Furthermore, semantic constraints tend to be declared inside the client system, either in the code itself or in some other form of persistent storage such as a database. Our solution to this problem is to integrate the syntactic and semantic validation phases into a single parser. This way, all syntactic and semantic rules can be configured outside the client system. For our purposes, semantic rules are defined as co-constraints. Co-constraints are when the value, presence or absence of an element or attribute is dependent on the value, presence or absence of another element or attribute in the same XML message. Using this same concept, we have also built a parser that, based on co-constraints, can express business constraints that transcend the message definition. Our research provides a reusable modular middleware solution that integrates syntactic and semantic validation. We also demonstrate how the same semantic validating parser can be used to execute business rules triggered by semantic rules. Combining semantic and syntactic validation in the same XML parser or interpreter is a powerful solution to quick integration between disparate systems. A key of our proposal is also to have the syntax definition and semantic definitions separate, allowing them to evolve independently. One can imagine how syntax might not change between systems, but the semantic constraints can differ between message consumers
Avoiding Overtreatment at the End of Life: Physician-Patient Communication and Truly Informed Consent
Get PDFThis paper’s primary focus will be on considering how best to ensure that patients have the tools to make both informed and authentic choices about their care at the end of life. We will argue that truly informed decision making can help to reduce excessive end-of-life care by any measure. Most importantly for dying patients, better informed decisions can help reduce unnecessary suffering and result in care that aligns with their well-considered values and preferences.
In the first part of this paper, we will explain that, by any of these measures, many dying patients are receiving too much therapy and life-prolonging care. We will also briefly discuss the many factors that contribute to this state of affairs: the culture of denial of death, physicians’ professional culture and attitudes toward treatment, physicians’ fear of liability, physician avoidance of discussions about prognosis, and the impact of payment incentives that encourage overutilization of medical technologies.
In the second part of this paper, we will explain that, under the doctrine of informed consent, physicians have an ethical and legal obligation to provide patients with timely and accurate information that will enable patients to make informed decisions about end-of-life care. Yet compliance with informed consent law does not ensure that patients’ decisions are truly informed and, in practice, the norm is still to provide too much care. In the third part of the paper, we discuss several tools and techniques that are available to help physicians and patients achieve the goal of truly informed decision making, including training to promote the practice of shared decision making and the use of decision aids
Cell Phone Searches After Riley: Establishing Probable Cause and Applying Search Warrant Exceptions
Get PDFPart I of this note discusses the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizures and its probable cause requirement. The Fourth Amendment’s text remains the same since its enactment. However, interpretation of the Fourth Amendment continues to evolve in order to stay current with society. Interpretation of the Fourth Amendment also varies based on state constitutional law since states can provide its citizens with greater protection than the United States Constitution. This is why the United States Supreme Court, federal district courts, and state courts have all undergone thorough Fourth Amendment analyses when applying the true meaning of the Fourth Amendment to the advanced issue of cell phone searches.
At first, Riley’s groundbreaking holding seems like a bright- line rule for law enforcement and courts to follow. However, the decision left open areas for additional legal analysis. For example, how does the Riley decision effect the issue of establishing probable cause? Part II of this note addresses the Fourth Amendment’s probable cause requirement. Specifically, this note discusses how the Riley decision lacks guidance to determine what is sufficient to establish probable cause to obtain a warrant to search a cell phone. Under United States constitutional law, courts apply a totality of the circumstances approach to determine if probable cause exists. However, some states, like New York, reject the totality of the circumstances approach and apply a strict Aguilar-Spinelli analysis to determine probable cause