Environmental Law in the United States

Environmental law in the United States comprises a complex patchwork of federal, state, and local statutes and regulations, along with the traditions of common law. Most statutory environmental programs emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. In the 1960s, writings such as Rachel Carson\u27s Silent Spring (1962) fueled environmental awareness in the United States; the first Earth Day, celebrated on April 22, 1970, symbolized the birth of vironmental law entered a new era in 1970, when President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act and the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments. In the next decade, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments (1972), the Coastal Zone Management Act (1972), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA, 1972), the Endangered Species Act (1973), the Toxic Substances Control Act (1976), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976), the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (1977), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or Superfund law (1980), formed the body of modern environmental law. Environmental regulation in the United States derives primarily from federal and state legislation and is normally implemented by administrative agencies. Environmental law protects human health and property and natural ecosystems from air and water pollution, toxic contamination and exposure, and other harms arising from myriad commercial, industrial, and governmental activities

The state of peer-to-peer network simulators

Networking research often relies on simulation in order to test and evaluate new ideas. An important requirement of this process is that results must be reproducible so that other researchers can replicate, validate and extend existing work. We look at the landscape of simulators for research in peer-to-peer (P2P) networks by conducting a survey of a combined total of over 280 papers from before and after 2007 (the year of the last survey in this area), and comment on the large quantity of research using bespoke, closed-source simulators. We propose a set of criteria that P2P simulators should meet, and poll the P2P research community for their agreement. We aim to drive the community towards performing their experiments on simulators that allow for others to validate their results

Programmable Switched Capacitor Finite Impulse Response Filter with Circular Memory Implemented in CMOS 0.18μm Technology

This paper presents a programmable multi-mode finite impulse response (FIR) filter implemented as switched capacitor (SC) technique in CMOS 0.18μm technology. Intended application of the described circuit is in analog base-band filtering in GSM/WCDMA systems. The proposed filter features a regular structure that allows for elimination of some parasitic capacitances, thus significantly improving the filtering accuracy. Due to its modularity that allows for dividing the circuit into two separate sections, the circuit can be easily reconfigured to work as either infinite impulse response (IIR) or as finite impulse (FIR) filter. One of the key components that allows for this multi-mode operation is the proposed programmable and ultra low power multiphase clock circuit. The 24-taps filter for the sampling frequency of 30MHz dissipates power of 4.5mW from a 1.8V suppl

Positive Example Learning for Content-Based Recommendations: A Cost-Sensitive Learning-Based Approach

Existing supervised learning techniques can support product recommendations but are ineffective in scenarios characterized by single-class learning; i.e., training samples consisted of some positive examples and a much greater number of unlabeled examples. To address the limitations inherent in existing single-class learning techniques, we develop COst-sensitive Learning-based Positive Example Learning (COLPEL), which constructs an automated classifier from a singleclass training sample. Our method employs cost-proportionate rejection sampling to derive, from unlabeled examples, a subset likely to feature negative examples, according to the respective misclassification costs. COLPEL follows a committee machine strategy, thereby constructing a set of automated classifiers used together to reduce probable biases common to a single classifier. We use customers’ book ratings from the Amazon.com Web site to evaluate COLPEL, with PNB and PEBL as benchmarks. Our results show that COLPEL outperforms both PNB and PEBL, as measured by its accuracy, positive F1 score, and negative F1 score

Understanding the Properties of the BitTorrent Overlay

In this paper, we conduct extensive simulations to understand the properties of the overlay generated by BitTorrent. We start by analyzing how the overlay properties impact the efficiency of BitTorrent. We focus on the average peer set size (i.e., average number of neighbors), the time for a peer to reach its maximum peer set size, and the diameter of the overlay. In particular, we show that the later a peer arrives in a torrent, the longer it takes to reach its maximum peer set size. Then, we evaluate the impact of the maximum peer set size, the maximum number of outgoing connections per peer, and the number of NATed peers on the overlay properties. We show that BitTorrent generates a robust overlay, but that this overlay is not a random graph. In particular, the connectivity of a peer to its neighbors depends on its arriving order in the torrent. We also show that a large number of NATed peers significantly compromise the robustness of the overlay to attacks. Finally, we evaluate the impact of peer exchange on the overlay properties, and we show that it generates a chain-like overlay with a large diameter, which will adversely impact the efficiency of large torrents

Forever Wild: Journeys Through the North Fork

The North Fork of the Flathead River runs for eighty-five miles, starting in southeastern British Columbia and ending in Flathead Lake in northwestern Montana. The river flows through a rugged valley that plays a vital role in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. In the United States, the North Fork is Glacier National Park’s western boundary. It is a National Wild and Scenic River and a critical migratory route for an amazing array of wild animals. There is no electricity on either side of the border except for the southernmost fifteen miles in the U.S., and the only access from anywhere is via rough dirt roads. In Canada, there are no permanent human inhabitants, only a handful of outfitter cabins. In the U.S., prescient and determined land owners have worked for decades to preserve the character of the valley on the sliver of private land that hugs the river. Development is there but limited. Despite these protections, the river and its valley are vulnerable. Just north of the International Border, the British Columbian land management plan ranks mining as the best use. Though the valley is only thirty miles away from Waterton Lakes National Park, it is almost directly north of Glacier. There are minerals there, to be sure. Coal mining has been proposed in various forms since the 1980s and as recently as 2005. And the rocks beneath include gold and methane gas too. In 2006, I began a journey into the North Fork that continues today – travelling to Canada as a volunteer, researching and studying as a master’s degree candidate, and finally passing through as an explorer in search of a deeper connection. Throughout, I have wanted to build the case for conserving this place and finally making the Crown of the Continent officially whole and functioning. This thesis puts those experiences into words and stories. I am by no means an expert on the North Fork, and these words include many of my own thoughts and philosophies, unrelated to the river itself. Take from them what you will. It is my hope that they inspire you to learn more and help keep the entire North Fork forever wild

Elsewhere: In Defense of Daydreaming

Much like music, organic life is an absurd, improbable, and serendipitous instance. I set circular, electric, acoustic, and magnetic forces in motion and allow them to coalesce freely in the hopes of synthesizing unexpected moments of beauty, connection, and harmony