Ultra Vires Land Use Regulations: A Special Case in Substantive Due Process

The U.S. Supreme Court’s land use jurisprudence establishes that arbitrary land use regulations violate the doctrine of substantive due process. Ultra vires land use regulations-those regulations that exceed the delegated authority of the regulating agency under state law-represent a particular type of arbitrary land use regulation. Lower federal courts that have examined such regulations are split on the question whether they violate substantive due process. This article contrasts two federal court of appeals cases in which property owners alleged that a local government agency deprived them of property without due process of law by enforcing an ultra vires land use regulation against them. The article concludes that, consistent with Supreme Court precedent, ultra vires land use regulations must violate the substantive due process rights of the individuals whom they affect

Petroleum potential of the Tilston interval (Mississippian) of central North Dakota

The Tilston interval sediments were deposited on the eastern flank of the Williston basin of North Dakota, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The interval (Osagian) is composed of a basal carbonate and upper anhy drite in the predominantly carbonate Mississippian Madison Formation. The interval consists of four major facies (subtidal, shoal, tidal flat and supratidal anhydrite), and two geographically restricted facies (lagoonal and elastic) and represents a regressive sequence. Tilston deposition began with the subtidal facies, deposited on a broad, shallow shelf. As the sea regressed this was followed by deposition of the shoal facies. Further regression resulted in the deposition of the tidal flat facies. The final regressive stage of the Tilston is marked by the deposition of the widespread supra tidal anhydrites and a local elastic facies. The western extent of the regression occurs at approximately 102° west longitude. This area is also interpreted to be the position of the shelf break at the end of Tilston deposition. Possibility for additional Tilston production outside of known producing areas is indicated by: (1) the Tilston production in Canada and from the North Souris field near the international border in Bottineau County, North Dakota, (2) the scattered shows throughout the study area, (3) the porous zones or facies in the interval, (4) the impermeable anhydrite cap, and (5) the association with an angular unconformity on the subcrop portion of the interval. The assessment of the petroleum potential of the Tilston interval revealed four potential types of hydrocarbon traps. The first two types, paleogeomorphic and wedge-out, are located at the subcrop portion of the Tilston interval. The third type of trap is due to a combination of a porous zone capped by anhydrite. The fourth type, a stratigraphic trap, is the result of updip porosity change

Ultra Vires Land Use Regulations: A Special Case in Substantive Due Process

The U.S. Supreme Court’s land use jurisprudence establishes that arbitrary land use regulations violate the doctrine of substantive due process. Ultra vires land use regulations-those regulations that exceed the delegated authority of the regulating agency under state law-represent a particular type of arbitrary land use regulation. Lower federal courts that have examined such regulations are split on the question whether they violate substantive due process. This article contrasts two federal court of appeals cases in which property owners alleged that a local government agency deprived them of property without due process of law by enforcing an ultra vires land use regulation against them. The article concludes that, consistent with Supreme Court precedent, ultra vires land use regulations must violate the substantive due process rights of the individuals whom they affect

Is It Time to Bury Barry? Why an Old Change at the Legislature Requires a New Look at Washington\u27s Nondelegation Doctrine

Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court of Washington adopted a relaxed version of the nondelegation doctrine in a case called Barry and Barry v. Department of Motor Vehicles. The Barry rule, which only loosely restricts the delegation of policy-making power from the Legislature to other bodies, is now widely applied in Washington State. However, the Barry Court’s reasons for adjusting the nondelegation doctrine were based on an outdated understanding of the Legislature, especially its regular session schedule. While the Legislature’s regular sessions have changed since 1972—becoming longer and more frequent due to constitutional amendment—the Court has not considered how these changes in legislative operations may have undermined Barry’s lax approach to the delegation of legislative authority. Washington courts should take a fresh look at the Barry rule in the light of today’s legislative realities. A nondelegation doctrine that better aligns with the activities of the modern Legislature would help preserve the separation of powers in Washington State

Towards Training the Extended Voltage Manifold Computer (EVMC) using Particle Swarm Optimization

poster abstractExtended Analog Computers (EAC) have been explored as a substrate for unconventional computing techniques since the early 1990s. A particular strength of the technique is the near instantaneous speed it solves computational problems. However, application of the EAC and specific EAC classes, as the Extended Voltage Manifold Computer (EVMC), to real-world problems await the development of methods to program EACs. A property of the EVMC is that each output voltage can be described by a class of radial basis functions (RBF). Linking multiple EVMCs, a neural network called a radial basis function network (RBFN) can be implemented. The specific aim of this work is to develop the means to train EVMCs and networks of EVMC based RBFNs. The strategy employed in the present work is to develop a method using EVMCs implemented as finite element method (FEM) simulations to define the error state-space and error gradient of the untrained EVMC manifold. Once defined the EVMC simulation can be recursively configured to reduce the error in a Hebbian sense. Furthermore, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is being explored to improve the speed of convergence. FEM simulations were constructed using COMSOL Multiphysics to model EVMC manifolds in different states. In parallel, a particle swarm optimizer was altered to demonstrate training of simple RBF manifolds. Examination of FEM simulations verified the kernel function as hyperbolic and radially based. These preliminary findings indicated that the EVMC can be accurately modeled and manipulated using COMSOL, and PSO can be used once the error manifold is defined. From this we can take the possibility of improving the speed of training the EVMC via PSO. The next step to verify this possibility is to combine the COMSOL and Python codes to confirm the EVMC can be trained

Global Kidney Exchange: Analysis and Background Papers from the Perspective of Medical Anthropology

Global Kidney Exchange (GKE) is a program aimed at facilitating trans-national kidney donation. Although its proponents aim at reducing the unmet demand of kidneys in the United States through the trans-nationalization of kidney exchange programs, the World Health Organization (WHO) and The Transplantation Society (TTS) have expressed concerns about its potential effect on black markets of organs and transnational organ trafficking, as well as on low- or middle-income countries health systems. For GKE to be implemented, it would need to be permitted to operate in at least some low- or middle-income countries. Should a low- or middle-income country allow GKE’s implementation? With the aim of answering this question, the eighteen University of Denver students in the Medical Anthropology course I [Alejandro Cerón] taught in autumn 2017, identified and researched the different aspects that would affect this issue, and delved in a holistic analysis we present in this report. Based on our analysis, health authorities in low- or middle-income countries faced with decisions about GKE need to consider the following aspects: the country’s current and projected needs related to kidney transplant, as well as the capacity for addressing those needs; the country’s current situation related to organ trafficking, transplant tourism and black markets of organs; the current and projected legislation related to both organ donation and human trafficking; the prevailing ethical considerations that inform the practice of all professionals related to organ transplant in the country; analyze end-stage renal failure as a preventable disease needing public health measures; and the sociocultural aspects that surround organ donation in the country. We consider that the concrete configuration of these aspects would influence the effects of implementing GKE. Additionally, we identified some issues of concern that are beyond the level of influence of local authorities: the unmet demand of kidneys in high-income countries is a reality that incentivizes organ trade and transplant tourism, and this is a problem in need of solutions; transnational organ trafficking as well as human trafficking with the purpose of organ donation are problems that need more visibility; for a global exchange of organs to be implemented, it would need to rely on supranational or transnational regulation and oversight; and the global epidemic of chronic kidney disease needs to be addressed through a public health perspective that emphasizes prevention

Variability of wavefront aberration measurements in small pupil sizes using a clinical Shack-Hartmann aberrometer

BACKGROUND: Recently, instruments for the measurement of wavefront aberration in the living human eye have been widely available for clinical applications. Despite the extensive background experience on wavefront sensing for research purposes, the information derived from such instrumentation in a clinical setting should not be considered a priori precise. We report on the variability of such an instrument at two different pupil sizes. METHODS: A clinical aberrometer (COAS Wavefront Scienses, Ltd) based on the Shack-Hartmann principle was employed in this study. Fifty consecutive measurements were perfomed on each right eye of four subjects. We compared the variance of individual Zernike expansion coefficients as determined by the aberrometer with the variance of coefficients calculated using a mathematical method for scaling the expansion coefficients to reconstruct wavefront aberration for a reduced-size pupil. RESULTS: Wavefront aberration exhibits a marked variance of the order of 0.45 microns near the edge of the pupil whereas the central part appears to be measured more consistently. Dispersion of Zernike expansion coefficients was lower when calculated by the scaling method for a pupil diameter of 3 mm as compared to the one introduced when only the central 3 mm of the Shack – Hartmann image was evaluated. Signal-to-noise ratio was lower for higher order aberrations than for low order coefficients corresponding to the sphero-cylindrical error. For each subject a number of Zernike expansion coefficients was below noise level and should not be considered trustworthy. CONCLUSION: Wavefront aberration data used in clinical care should not be extracted from a single measurement, which represents only a static snapshot of a dynamically changing aberration pattern. This observation must be taken into account in order to prevent ambiguous conclusions in clinical practice and especially in refractive surgery