Raising Points of Law on the Court's Own Motion?

This article examines how judges can raise points of law ex officio in a comparative context. Based on Schlesinger's case oriented factual method, it compares the relevant provisions of Italian, Hungarian, Swiss, French, Belgian, German and Austrian civil procedure. The main conclusion is that there is no common legal solution in Europe and that the national legal systems developed divergent approaches. However, two models can be identified: in the first system, the principle of judicial passivity plays a crucial role, while the second one is based on a general authorization under strict control with special regard to the requirements of a fair trial. Because of this duality, this paper argues that a unified model does not actually exist. However, contrary to the apparent divergences, a common core composed of two elements can be drafted. </jats:p

Continuummechanics – Heat Conduction – Cognition

Starting from the basic equations of solids we have shown one possible construction of the modification method of the law of heat conduction. Based on this method the steps of development can be outlined, the sequence and role of the tasks can be established. As an additional result we managed to highlight some aspects of the cognitive process, which emerge in the course of natural scientific research

Bandit-Aided Boosting

In this paper we apply multi-armed bandits (MABs) to accelerate ADABOOST. ADABOOST constructs a strong classifier in a stepwise fashion by selecting simple base classifiers and using their weighted "vote" to determine the final classification. We model this stepwise base classifier selection as a sequential decision problem, and optimize it with MABs. Each arm represent a subset of the base classifier set. The MAB gradually learns the "utility" of the subsets, and selects one of the subsets in each iteration. ADABOOST then searches only this subset instead of optimizing the base classifier over the whole space. The reward is defined as a function of the accuracy of the base classifier. We investigate how the MAB algorithms (UCB, UCT) can be applied in the case of boosted stumps, trees, and products of base classifiers. On benchmark datasets, our bandit-based approach achieves only slightly worse test errors than the standard boosted learners for a computational cost that is an order of magnitude smaller than with standard ADABOOST

Recent trends in extraterritorial jurisdiction — The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and its implications on sovereignty

This paper endeavors to analyze the current U.S. practice on the field of extraterritorial application of corporate governance law. As it is widely known, sovereignty is one of basic tenets of public international law, and its relevance is considerably debated in our age. Therefore, the main question of the paper is whether this qualitatively new U.S. practice on the field of extraterritoriality can contribute any insight for the better comprehension of the transformation of sovereignty. So, it will basically compare the lessons stemming from the adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to the classical concept of sovereignty.In its first part the paper briefly introduces the reader into the basic notions of extraterritorial jurisdiction. In doing so, it analyzes some theoretical problems, the former U.S. antitrust law practice and the European approach. The second part of the paper deals with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as an emblematic and very actual example of corporate governance law having extraterritorial reach. This part discusses the major provisions of the act in detail as well as examines the different arguments justifying or criticizing it. In the last part the paper tries to reflect the results of the earlier inquires to different dimensions of sovereignty. Through three different prisms-Legislatio, Legitimatio and Subordinatio-the paper compares each aspect of sovereignty to the lessons flowing from the case of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in order to get relevant insights concerning the transformation of sovereignty.In conclusion, the paper argues that the classical 19th century approach of sovereignty is outdated because of the transformation of the global economic and political context. But, sovereignty, as a legal basis and legitimizing factor is still in play if the question is the protection of fundamental national interests. As it exactly happened in the case of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which intends to protect a pillar-the confidence in corporate governance-of the basic structure of U.S. free market system