47 research outputs found

    An Examination of Guard Detainee Relations in Guantanamo Bay

    Get PDF
    No one among the American guard force, past or present, doubts for a moment that if these \u27worst of the worst\u27 were released they would go right back to the battlefield. Some would make the battlefield right in the United States. While this may be the dominant perspective regarding Guantanamo Bay, additional research has shown that guard detainee relations are incredibly complex. There have been many brutalities on record by guards. Although, there are some accounts of guards being seen as a friend or a helpful figure to detainees while they are in captivity. In this paper, I will explore the question of whether guards are coerced or complicit in their actions regarding detainee abuse. This will be done by using firsthand accounts written by people who have spent time at Guantanamo Bay. Some of these include Guantanamo Diary written by former detainee Mohamedou Ould Slahi and Inside Gitmo: The True Story Behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay by Gordon Cucullu, a retired Army colonel. The guard detainee relations are a critical aspect of any detention center.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_spring2020/1016/thumbnail.jp

    Squaring a Circle: Advice and Consent, Faithful Execution, and the Vacancies Reform Act

    Full text link
    Successive presidents have interpreted the FederalVacancies Reform Act of 1998 to authorize the appointment ofprincipal officers on a temporary basis. Despite serving in amere “acting” capacity and without the Senate’s approval, theseacting principal officers nevertheless wield the full powers ofthe office. The best argument in favor of this constitutionallydubious practice is that an acting principal officer is not reallya “principal officer” under the U.S. Constitution because sheonly serves for a limited period. Although not facially specious,this claim elides the most important legal fact: an actingprincipal officer may exercise the full powers of the office, justlike a Senate-confirmed cabinet officer. This approach broadlyvindicates Article II’s Take Care Clause, which requires thatthe President have the assistance needed to ensure that “thelaws be faithfully executed.” Unfortunately, this approacheffectively reads the Appointments Clause out of theConstitution. For a person to hold a principal office, the Appointments Clause expressly requires that the President firstseek and obtain the “advice and consent” of the Senate. Withoutthe Senate’s approval, a person cannot constitutionally hold aprincipal office (i.e., head a cabinet-level department oragency).This Article proposes a better approach that would vindicateboth the Take Care and Appointments Clauses: federal courtsshould limit the scope of authority acting principal officers mayexercise to the performance of essential and necessary tasks—inother words, an acting principal officer must be a caretaker inboth form and substance. Federal courts should not allowacting principal officers to undertake new discretionaryprogrammatic initiatives. Moreover, if an acting principalofficer attempts to wield the full powers of the office, federalcourts should nullify, as ultra vires, discretionarypolicymaking initiatives that are not clearly essential andnecessary to the performance of core executive functions. Thisapproach would render acting principal officers more plausibly“inferior” under the Appointments Clause, would make themsubordinate to a supervisor other than the President (Article IIIcourts), and would create a powerful incentive for the Presidentto nominate and obtain the Senate’s approval of a principalofficer who could constitutionally exercise the full powers of theoffice

    Against Congressional Case Snatching

    Get PDF
    Congress has developed a deeply problematic habit of aggrandizing itself by snatching cases from the Article III courts. One form of contemporary case snatching involves directly legislating the outcome of pending litigation by statute. These laws do not involve generic amendments to existing statutes but rather dictate specific rulings by the Article III courts in particular cases. Another form of congressional case snatching involves rendering ongoing judicial proceedings essentially advisory by unilaterally permitting a disgruntled litigant to transfer a pending case from an Article III court to an executive agency for resolution. Both practices involve Congress reallocating the business of the Article III courts, and both should be deemed to violate the separation of powers doctrine. Unfortunately, however, the Supreme Court\u27s institutional response to this troubling new trend of congressional reassignment of core judicial business has been (at best) halting, tepid, and weak. In a trio of recent decisions, the Justices have given Congress a green light to direct merits results in pending litigation before the Article III courts (Patchak v. Zinke and Bank Markazi v. Peterson) and also blessed giving disgruntled litigants the unfettered right to remove pending judicial business from an Article III court to an Article II agency (Oil States Energy Services v. Greene\u27s Energy Group). These three decisions reflect a regrettable return to functionalist analysis in separation of powers disputes involving threats to the structural integrity and independence of the Article III courts. Simply put, vesting the judicial power in the federal courts means that judges, not members of Congress, must decide how to interpret and apply the law. This is, after all, the central holding of Marbury v. Madison. Under well-settled separation of powers principles, Congress should not be permitted to aggrandize itself by usurping the decisional authority of the Article III courts. Nor should Congress be empowered to render ongoing federal court proceedings entirely advisory by vesting a litigant who fears an adverse decision with the unilateral power to force a remand of a pending lawsuit to a potentially more sympathetic federal administrative agency. Alexander Hamilton, writing in The Federalist Papers, presciently observed that the judiciary constitutes the least dangerous branch of the federal government. If this is so, it also means that the judiciary is the weakest of the three branches. Separation of powers doctrine and practice must take account of this important structural reality. Vindicating the Madisonian system of checks and balances requires that congressional case snatching, in all of its forms and manifestations, must be categorically resisted and rejected

    Modeling, Design and Demonstration of 1 ”m Wide Low Resistance Panel Redistribution Layer Technology for High Performance Computing Applications

    Get PDF
    Since 2010, heterogeneous integration (HI) of multiple integrated circuits (ICs) on to a package substrate has become one of the most popular solutions to improve system performance and miniaturization. This HI has emerged to continue Moore’s Law scaling to support high performance computing (HPC) applications such as artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, 5G, cloud computing and wearable devices. Package substrate technology has only just begun to become a huge enabler to system scaling, beyond Moore’s Law, in terms of overall miniaturization, high bandwidth performance and high density of interconnections between heterogeneous dies to enable more operations per second. Redistribution layer (RDL) technology is the main component to interconnecting these ICs on a single package to scale beyond Moore’s Law. Examining RDL technology further it is observed that only back-end-of-line (BEOL) RDL fabricated on silicon can provide the interconnections needed for a high-performance system. However, this technology has reached a fundamental limitation due to the high resistance and capacitance of BEOL RDL that limits the further scaling of system performance. The objectives of this research are to address the scaling limitations of multi-layer polymer RDL down to 1”m and beyond. This research focuses on addressing these challenges by: (A) Electrical Design and Modeling of multi-layer polymer RDL for 4x lower resistance and 4x higher bandwidth than silicon BEOL RDL, (B) Design and demonstration of novel photoresist materials for scaling of polymer RDL well below 1”m using low-cost large panel-based tools and processes, (C) Fundamental evaluation of current substrate integration impacts on the novel photoresist material developed for scaling of polymer RDL, (D) Scaling of the semi-additive process (SAP) that is utilized in the panel-based RDL through fundamental material and process innovations.Ph.D

    Quark Model and Neutral Strange Secondary Production by Neutrino and Antineutrino Beams

    Full text link
    The experimental data on K0K^0 and Λ\Lambda production by Îœ\nu and Μˉ\bar{\nu} beams are compared with the predictions of quark model assuming that the direct production of secondaries dominates. Disagreement of these predictions with the data allows one to suppose that there exists considerable resonance decay contribution to the multiplicities of produced secondaries.Comment: 6 pages, no figures, 2 table

    The total yields of K^+(892), Sigma^+(1385) and Sigma^0 in neutrino-induced reactions at <E_nu> = 10 GeV

    Full text link
    Using the data obtained with SKAT bubble chamber, the total yields of K+(892)K^+(892), ÎŁ+(1385)\Sigma^+(1385) and ÎŁ0\Sigma^0 are estimated for the first time in neutrino-induced reactions at moderate energies ( = 10.4 GeV). It is shown, that the recently observed \cite{ref1,ref2} enhancement of the K0K^0 and Λ\Lambda yields in ÎœA\nu A interactions (as compared to ÎœN\nu N interactions) is contributed only slightly by the K+(892)K^+(892) and ÎŁ+(1385)\Sigma^+(1385) production, respectively. The decay contribution to the K0K^0 and Λ\Lambda yields is found to be in qualitative agreement with higher energy (≄ \geq 40 GeV) data. It is shown, that the energy dependence of the K+(892)K^+(892) mean multiplicity in ÎœN\nu N interactions is approximately linear in the range of ≈ \approx 10-60 GeV, while that for ÎŁ0\Sigma^0 in ÎœA\nu A interactions (for AA = 20-21) is approximately logarithmic in the range of ≈ \approx 10-150 GeV.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

    The A - dependence of K0K^{0} and Λ\Lambda neutrinoproduction on nuclei

    Full text link
    For the first time, the A- dependence of the production of K0K^0, Λ\Lambda and, for comparison, π−\pi^- mesons is investigated in neutrinonuclear reactions, using the data obtained with SKAT bubble chamber. An exponential parametrization (∌AÎČ\sim A^{\beta}) of the particle yields results in ÎČV0=0.20±0.05{\beta}_{V^0} = 0.20 \pm 0.05 for V0V^0 particles (combined K0K^0 and Λ\Lambda), while for π−\pi^- mesons the A- dependence is much weaker, ÎČπ−=0.068±0.007{\beta}_{\pi^-} = 0.068 \pm 0.007. A nuclear enhancement of the ratio K0/π−K^0/\pi^- is found; this ratio increases from 0.055±0.0130.055 \pm 0.013 for ÎœN\nu N- interactions up to 0.070±0.0110.070 \pm 0.011 at A≈21A \approx 21 and 0.099±0.0110.099 \pm 0.011 at A≈45A \approx 45. It is observed, that the multiplicity rise of V0V^0's occures predominantely in the backward hemisphere of the hadronic c.m.s. It is shown, that the A- dependence of the nuclear enhancement of the Λ0{\Lambda}^0 and π−\pi^- yields can be reproduced in the framework of a model, incorporating the secondary intranuclear interactions of pions originating from the primary ÎœN\nu N- interactions, while only (29±\pm9)% of that for K0K^0 at A≈45A \approx 45 can be attributed to intranuclear interactions.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

    A Study of Strange Particle Production in Muon Neutrino Charged Current Interactions in the NOMAD Experiment

    Get PDF
    A study of strange particle production in muon neutrino charged current interactions has been performed using the data from the NOMAD experiment. Yields of neutral strange particles K0s, Lambda, AntiLambda have been measured. Mean multiplicities are reported as a function of the event kinematic variables Enu, W2 and Q2 as well as of the variables describing particle behaviour within a hadronic jet: xF, z and pT2. Decays of resonances and heavy hyperons with identified K0s and Lambda in the final state have been analyzed. Clear signals corresponding to K*+-, Sigma*+-, Xi- and Sigma0 have been observed.Comment: 43 pages, accepted for publication in the Nuclear Physics B as a Rapid Communication in Experimental High-Energy Physic

    Perspectives and challenges for the use of radar in biological conservation

    Get PDF
    Radar is at the forefront for the study of broad-scale aerial movements of birds, bats and insects and related issues in biological conservation. Radar techniques are especially useful for investigating species which fly at high altitudes, in darkness, or which are too small for applying electronic tags. Here, we present an overview of radar applications in biological conservation and highlight its future possibilities. Depending on the type of radar, information can be gathered on local- to continental-scale movements of airborne organisms and their behaviour. Such data can quantify flyway usage, biomass and nutrient transport (bioflow), population sizes, dynamics and distributions, times and dimensions of movements, areas and times of mass emergence and swarming, habitat use and activity ranges. Radar also captures behavioural responses to anthropogenic disturbances, artificial light and man-made structures. Weather surveillance and other long-range radar networks allow spatially broad overviews of important stopover areas, songbird mass roosts and emergences from bat caves. Mobile radars, including repurposed marine radars and commercially dedicated ‘bird radars’, offer the ability to track and monitor the local movements of individuals or groups of flying animals. Harmonic radar techniques have been used for tracking short-range movements of insects and other small animals of conservation interest. However, a major challenge in aeroecology is determining the taxonomic identity of the targets, which often requires ancillary data obtained from other methods. Radar data have become a global source of information on ecosystem structure, composition, services and function and will play an increasing role in the monitoring and conservation of flying animals and threatened habitats worldwide
    corecore