Panel III: Implications of the New Telecommunications Legislation

We present a method that employs a tree-based Neural Network (NN) for performing classification. The novel mechanism, apart from incorporating the information provided by unlabeled and labeled instances, re-arranges the nodes of the tree as per the laws of Adaptive Data Structures (ADSs). Particularly, we investigate the Pattern Recognition (PR) capabilities of the Tree-Based Topology-Oriented SOM (TTOSOM) when Conditional Rotations (CONROT) [8] are incorporated into the learning scheme. The learning methodology inherits all the properties of the TTOSOM-based classifier designed in [4]. However, we now augment it with the property that frequently accessed nodes are moved closer to the root of the tree. Our experimental results show that on average, the classification capabilities of our proposed strategy are reasonably comparable to those obtained by some of the state-of-the-art classification schemes that only use labeled instances during the training phase. The experiments also show that improved levels of accuracy can be obtained by imposing trees with a larger number of nodes

Compensating Victims of Hazardous Substance Pollution in the United States and Japan: A Comparative Analysis

Part I of this Note presents an overview of the proposed system for compensation of victims of hazardous substance pollution in the United States. The focus will be on cost allocation, eligibility, the adequacy of compensation and the exclusivity of the remedy, as these factors reflect the goals of compensation and deterrence. Part II describes the Japanese system and experience with these factors. In Part III, the United States proposal is evaluated in light of the Japanese law and the Japanese experience under the law. The two systems are then evaluated in terms of the twin goals of compensation and deterrence. Analysis of the different approaches shows a stress on compensation in the United States proposal, and a mix of compensation and deterrence under the Japanese law. This Note concludes that in the field of hazardous substance pollution the goal of compensation should outweigh the goal of deterrence. The United States proposal reflects this preference