Digital Commons Network^™

Social Utility Functions-Part I: Theory, Wynn C. Stirling

Faculty Publications

The dominant approaches to utility-based multiagent decision theory rely on the premise of individual rationality-the doctrine that each individual is committed to achieving the best outcome for itself, regardless of the effect doing so has on others. This fundamentally asocial concept is the basis of conventional von Neumann-Morgenstern (vN-M) utilities but is inadequate to characterize truly cooperative artificial systems. Social utility functions differ from conventional vN-M utilities in that they are functions of multiple decision-maker preferences, rather than actions, and thus permit individuals to expand their spheres of interest beyond the self. A logical basis for coherent reasoning in multiagent …

A Context-Sensitive Structural Heuristic For Guided Search Model Checking, Eric G. Mercer, Neha Rungta

Faculty Publications

Software verification using model checking often translates programs into corresponding transition systems that model the program behavior. As software systems continue to grow in complexity and size, exhaustively checking a property on a transition graph becomes difficult. The goal of guided search heuristics in model checking is to find a counterexample to the property being verified as quickly as possible in the transition graph. The FSM distance heuristic builds an interprocedural control flow graph of the program to estimate distance to a possible error state. It ignores calling context and underestimates the true distance to the error.

“Sons Of Adam”: Text, Context, And The Early Modern African Subject, Herman L. Bennett

Publications and Research

Seeking to dislodge the prism that a singular political practice—represented as the story from savage to slave—informed the slave trade, this essay points to a distinct genealogy shaping the earliest encounters between Europeans and Africans.

Burger-Blackmun Relationship: Lessons For Collegiality From The Blackmun Papers, The, Duane Benton, Barrett J. Vahle

Missouri Law Review

The [Blackmun] Papers have extensive correspondence, diaries, and other documents illuminating the relationship between Blackmun and Burger. The general thesis presented by Woodward & Amrstrong, Lewis, Greenhouse, Totenberg, and Munford is accurate. This article examines the Papers in detail, against the backdrop of the literature on collegiality. We find a very complex relationship: in the 1950s and 1960s, Burger provided a vital Washington connection for, and political clout to, Blackmun. During those two decades, Blackmun was a key link back to Minnesota, and a solic supporter for Burger. When the two became colleagues on the Supreme Court in 1970, their …

Lifting The Veil: Justice Blackmun's Papers And The Public Perception Of The Supreme Court, Tony Mauro

Missouri Law Review

The starting point of any discussion of the public perception of the United States Supreme Court is the liklihood that no public perception exists. By and large, the Supreme Court operates at the very outer edges of public awareness; for years, polls have indicated that many more Americans know the names of the three Stooges than any three Supreme Court justices.

Willful Judging Of Harry Blackmun, The, Gregory C. Sisk

Missouri Law Review

As an invited guest at a symposium in which a central place is given to examining the personal papers and judicial life of a jurist who is esteemed and even revered by many of those participating and attending, my playing of a negative note may sound discordant. Indeed, it may appear downright rude. Because my hosts assured me that the academic ideal of balanced perspectives and critical analysis animated this symposium, and that they would expect nothing less than such a countervailing viewpoint from me, I feel less churlish than otherwise I might.

Justice Harry Blackmun And The Phenomenon Of Judicial Preference Change, Theodore W. Ruger

Missouri Law Review

We are fond of putting our judges into neat adjectival boxes, particularly when they sit on the Supreme Court. These typologies often reflect perceived attitudinal or ideological preferences; some Justices are called "liberal" or "conservative" or "moderate," or occasionally some hyphenated combination thereof. Or the labels might seek to capture variations in jurisprudential philosophy or method, such as "formalist," "pragmatist," "originalist," "textualist," or "minimalist." No Justice is immune from this classification game, and the subject of this symposium is an apt example. From the moment of his nomination by President Nixon in 1970, Harry A. Blackmun attracted a bevy of …

Did Roe V. Wade Pass The Arbitrary And Capricious Test, Daniel A. Farber

Missouri Law Review

Justice Blackmun sat on 3,653 cases during his twenty-four terms on the Supreme Court, yet he will surely be best remembered for his role in one case, Roe v. Wade. Seldom has a judicial decision been more controversial. True, many opinions are harshly criticized. But the criticisms of Roe were distinctive. According to critics, Roe was not merely bad law, in some sense it was not law at all. One particularly outspoken critic recently calls Roe "perhaps the most indefensible 'constitutional' decision ever reached by this Court to date' as well as "manifestly and atrociously contrary to the Constitution."

Why Do Supreme Court Justices Succeed Or Fail - Harry Blackmun As An Example, Lawrence S. Wrightsman, Justin R. La Mort

Missouri Law Review

At present, 108 Justices have served on the United States Supreme Court. Some have clearly been successes as judges, while a few have clearly not, and a large number are cast into that middle, "satisfactory" or "average," category. The purpose of this paper is to propose, examine, and evaluate specific factors as determinants of judicial success, and then to consider Justice Harry Blackmun's place on a continuum of successes and failures. The paper is divided into three sections. First, it reviews several ideal qualities and examines the results of several surveys of experts, which classify the Justices into categories based …

Annual Report To The Pastoral Lands Board Of Western Australia: 2004 / 2005 Financial Year, Rod Williams, Philip Thomas

Natural resources published reports

The Department of Agriculture Western Australia has prepared this Annual Report for the financial year 2004 – 2005. The format is consistent with the previous two years, and now encapsulates enhanced detail and a broader range of headings within the report.

The Department of Agriculture’s services to the Board are outlined and environmental indicators are presented at the regional and property scales. New information being presented to the Board in this report includes Pastoral Lease property transfers, an explanation of the emerging Natural Resource Management program in the rangelands, the Australian Collaborative Rangeland Information System (ACRIS), an introduction to Carnarvon …

Dural Metastases Presenting As An Extradural Hematoma: A Rare Presentation, Muhammad Shahzad Shamim, Muhammad Ehsan Bari, S. Ather Enam

Department of Surgery Docs

Abstract

We report a case of an elderly man who presented with hemiparesis and plain CT scan findings highly suggestive of an extradural hematoma as the underlying cause. This patient was later found to have dural metastases secondary to bronchogenic carcinoma. Dural metastases are rare, usually presenting as dural mass, but may also present as chronic subdural or extradural hematoma on non contrast CT scan, leading to an erroneous diagnosis in the unsuspecting.

Mustang Daily, October 31, 2005

Cal Poly Student Newspaper

Student newspaper of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.

The Ticker, October 31, 2005

The Ticker

The Ticker is the student newspaper of Baruch College. It has been published continuously since 1932, when the Baruch College campus was the School of Business and Civic Administration of the City College of New York.

Lanthorn, Vol. 40, No. 20, October 31, 2005, Grand Valley State University

Volume 40, July 14, 2005 - June 15, 2006

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Public Administration And Shared Power: Understanding Governance, Networks, And Partnerships, H. George Frederickson, David Matkin

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Starting with the “consolationist” and “fragmentationist” arguments in American local government and contemporary patterns of increasing jurisdictional cooperation and regionalization, this paper examines patterns of jurisdictional cooperation and power sharing in metropolitan regions, and analyses the influence of extrajurisdictional benefits on local government decisions to engage in regional agreements. Our findings are based on a survey of local government officials in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. Cooperation is examined using an Axelrod-type prisoner’s dilemma scenario. Participants include elected officials, chief administrative officers, and department-level administrators—Police Chiefs, Parks and Recreation Directors, Fire Chiefs, and Public Works Directors. Results point to differences …

Interlocal Contractual Arrangements In The Provision Of Public Safety, Simon A. Andrew

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

The range of interlocal contractual arrangements in the realm of public safety in Florida provides a research site to examine the extent to which these arrangements have been used by local governments. We developed a contractual perspective on interlocal contractual arrangements as relational contracts by arguing that their institutional designs are partly an effort of involved parties to reduce transaction costs that are the product of the properties of the services themselves; and partly by state statutes that allowed mix approaches to contractual arrangements. A relational contract is advantageous because it specified the activities to be rendered without unnecessarily intruding …

Which Local Governments Cooperate On Public Safety?: Lessons From Michigan, Jered B. Carr, Kelly Leroux

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Despite the increased interest in voluntary services cooperation, little is known about the factors that encourage local governments to enter into collaborative services arrangements with each other. This paper addresses this question through an analysis of interlocal contracting arrangements for police and fire services reported by 464 local governments in Michigan. While the contracting of public services is increasing common in local governments across the country, collaborations on police and fire services have proved far more difficult to achieve. Public safety contracting presents a dilemma for public managers. On one hand, local governments devote a substantial part of their budgets …

Elements Of Successful Interlocal Agreements: An Iowa Case Study , Kurt Thurmaier

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This paper explores the factors that contribute to successful interlocal agreements. Success is defined in terms of achieving agreement objectives, increasing the effectiveness of the public service, and increasing the efficiency of the public service. Influential factors of interest include the reason the interlocal agreement was created, the estimated costs and benefits of participation in the agreement, and the types and levels of communication between the parties to the agreement. The paper reports results from a survey of local governments (including cities, counties, school districts) in Iowa that have filed an agreement with the state. The sample of about 1250 …

Cooperation Costs And The Economics Of Intergovernmental Partnerships, Soji Adelaja, Laila A. Racevskis

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Increasingly, state and local governments are promoting intergovernmental coordination, cooperation, and/or outright consolidation (3Cs) based on the perceived economies of scale advantages of such joint actions. However, the growing public finance and political science literature on interregional cooperation highlights the fact that transactions or other cooperation costs may preclude the realization of economies of scale benefits. Despite this evidence, some proponents go as far as to view such collaborative actions as effective policy tools for enhancing regional economic development and competitiveness. The role of cooperation costs and their relationship to economies of scale are not well documented in the literature. …

Commonwealth Times 2005-10-31

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Citizens For Health V. Secretary Hhs

2005 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Koval V. Director Owcp

2005 Decisions

Agency

Smalis V. Atty Gen Pa

2005 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Kuswadi V. Atty Gen Usa

2005 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Usa V. Bibbs

2005 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

People V. Weiss

Colorado Supreme Court Records and Briefs Collection

No abstract provided.

Current, October 31, 2005, University Of Missouri-St. Louis

Current (2000s)

No abstract provided.

October 31, 2005, James Madison University

The Breeze, 2000-2009

The Breeze is the student newspaper of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Belizaire V. Atty Gen Usa

2005 Decisions

USDC for the District of New Jersey

2005 October 31 - Graduate Council Minutes, College Of Graduate And Continuing Studies, East Tennessee State University

Graduate Council Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.