Web page multi-label classification for filtering content from the web

In this paper, we describe a simple approach to filter unwanted web pages, according to their content. The result of this work is a demo of an application that is usable in realtime filtering and in non-real-time indexing of any given web pages. We describe a proposed technique step by step, while discussing possible alternative ways for each part. In the end we discuss the overall quality and proposed next steps that could lead to a fully usable business application

Rights Rhetoric as an Instrument of Religious Oppression in Sri Lanka

Two laws proposed by the Sri Lankan government present a threat to Christians and other religious minorities in the country. Though purportedly designed to prevent “unethical or fraudulent conversions,” the laws are overly broad and ill-defined, giving Sri Lankan officials the latitude to use them to suppress minority religious activities. Indeed, despite being couched in the rhetoric of religious liberty and human rights, the laws are likely to be used by the Buddhist majority as instru ments of oppression over unpopular religious groups

Crowd Crush: How the Law Leaves American Crowds Unprotected

Crowd-related injuries and deaths are startlingly common both in the United States and worldwide. They occur in a wide range of situations and at a vast array of venues: at music concerts, sporting events, retail holiday sales, in and around airports, subway plaorms, and parking lots, among other locations. These crowd crush incidents, however, are extremely underreported and rarely litigated, masking the seriousness of this issue and making it difficult for the few victims who pursue legal recourse to recover damages. Given that there is virtually no statutory law in the United States pertaining to crowd management and control, crowd crush cases are based entirely in common law, most often in the law of negligence. Unfortunately, courts have consistently made a number of analytical errors in these cases, creating a line of jurisprudence that is both scientifically and legally problematic and that reduces incentives for venue owners and event managers to take steps to reduce the likelihood of future crowd injuries. In this paper, I (a) identify the most signiicant of these errors, (b) explain why they contravene crowd science, and (c) make a series of recommendations designed to bring crowd crush jurisprudence in line with modern science and to level the playing field between plaintiffs and defendants in these cases

On Warrants & Waiting: Electronic Warrants & The Fourth Amendment

Police use of electronic warrant (“e-warrant”) technology has increased significantly in recent years. E-warrant technology allows law enforcement to submit, and magistrate judges to review and approve, warrant applications on computers, smartphones, and tablets, often without any direct communication. Police officers report that they favor e-warrants over their traditional, paper counterparts because they save officers a significant amount of time in applying for warrants by eliminating the need to appear in-person before a magistrate. Legal scholars have almost uniformly praised e-warrant technology as well, arguing that use of these systems will increase the number of warrants issued throughout the United States and decrease police reliance on warrant exceptions, a seemingly ideal outcome given the strong constitutional preference for warrants. However, nearly all of this favorable commentary is premised on the assumptions that (1) convenience is a worthy goal of the criminal justice system, and (2) more warrants necessarily mean better police work and greater fidelity to the Fourth Amendment, assumptions that quickly wither under careful scrutiny. Indeed, research shows that the inconvenience of the traditional warrant system incentivizes careful police work and disincentivizes the submission of constitutionally dubious warrant applications. Ewarrants, however, by prioritizing convenience, upend this system and increase the likelihood that police will submit deficient warrant applications and that magistrates will not carefully review them. Worse, the Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that has arisen around warrants over the last fifty years makes it extremely unlikely that, once issued, these hastily issued e-warrants will be deemed invalid or any resulting evidence suppressed. In short, e-warrants amplify all of the existing problems with the warrant system and exacerbate the imbalance of power between police and citizens. Jurisdictions should sharply curtail police use of e-warrant technology by imposing new restrictions on how and when e-warrant systems can be used, and by creating real-time conversation and transparency requirements in situations in which e-warrants are deemed preferable over their traditional counterparts

Compensation at the Crossroads: Autonomous Vehicles & Alternative Victim Compensation Schemes

Fully autonomous vehicles will become available to consumers within the next five to seven years. Experts predict that these vehicles will be drastically safer than their human-driven counterparts and will save thousands of lives each year in the United States alone. However, crashes will still occur, and when they do, they will raise unique and troubling issues about liability and fault that both negligence and products liability jurisprudence are not yet wellsuited to handle. Whether the civil justice system can adjudicate autonomous vehicle crash cases fairly and efficiently impacts (a) whether manufacturers can afford to produce these vehicles or whether the cost and magnitude of litigation surrounding them will destroy their market, (b) whether consumers will adopt this new technology, and (c) the rate at which they will be willing and able to do so. These issues, in turn, have an impact on how many lives can be saved on U.S. roads each year. It is thus imperative to design a method of compensating victims, protecting manufacturers, and giving courts time and space to develop jurisprudence applicable to this technology if we wish to reap the profound benefits that fully autonomous vehicles stand to offer. Although filing a lawsuit in the civil justice system will always be an option for victims of autonomous vehicle crashes, a specially designed, no-fault victim compensation fund offers a sensible way to address the issues identified above and to resolve these cases in a faster and less costly manner. While the use of victim compensation funds is a fairly recent phenomenon in the United States, these funds have been used with great success in a variety of situations and could be used successfully here. In the model proposed in this paper, an autonomous vehicle crash victim compensation fund would be administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and financed by a tax levied on the sale of all fully autonomous vehicles. Victims who wish to seek compensation from the fund would be able to do so via a simple claim form and an agreement to waive their right to sue. Manufacturers, in turn, would be required to participate in a datasharing and design improvement program as a condition of receiving protection from the fund. This program would both assist NHTSA in gathering the information it needs to regulate autonomous vehicles and reduce the likelihood that a victim compensation fund would undermine manufacturer incentives to improve the safety of their vehicles. Participation by both victims and manufacturers would be voluntary, but the benefits of entering the fund would likely induce high levels of participation from both

Нестандартні ситуації в хірургічній практиці як причина ятрогенних пошкодженнь жовчно-вивідних шляхів

The aim of the work: to generalize the experience of using laparoscopic interventions in patients with urgent and planned surgical pathology and to prevent probable complications.Materials and Methods. In the work, a retrospective analysis of the results of laparoscopic interventions in 8245 patients with gallstone disease (chronic cholecystitis – 4905 patients, gallbladder polyposis – 33 patients, acute cholecystitis – 3307 patients) has been carried out.Results and Discussion. Damage to the bubble duct or choledoch duct occurred in 19 patients (Mirrizi syndrome occurred in 13 patients). The localization of lesions was as follows: total bile duct (I type according to H. Bismuth) – in 8 patients, total liver duct (II type according to H. Bismuth) – in 6 patients, total bile duct along with bifurcation (III type according to H. Bismuth ) – in 4 patients, the total bile duct with damage to the confluence (IV type according to H. Bismuth) – in 1 patient. In 5 patients, iatrogenic damage to the biliary tract was detected during the operation, and in 14 patients – in the early postoperative period. All this led to the solution of extremely difficult and complex problems in the future, since the sequence of use of diagnostic techniques is not the same for all patients. It should be noted that more satisfactory results were then when iatrogenic damage to the biliary tract was detected sub-operatively. In a situation where it is not possible to conduct a standard laparoscopic cholecystectomy there are various complications. Timely conversion is an extremely important moment in preventing injuries to the bile ducts in technically difficult cases, and recovery of bile outflow can be achieved only when an experienced specialist who has methods of restorative and reconstructive surgery is included in the operating team.Цель работы: обобщить опыт использования лапароскопических вмешательств у больных с ургентной и плановой хирургической патологией и предотвратить вероятные осложнения.Материалы и методы. В работе проведен ретроспективный анализ результатов лапароскопических вмешательств 8245 больных с желчекаменной болезнью (хронический холецистит – 4905 больных, полипоз желчного пузыря – 33 больных, острый холецистит – 3307 больных).Результаты исследования и их обсуждение. Повреждения пузырного протока или холедоха имело место у 19 больных (синдром Мирризи имел место у 13 больных). Локализация повреждений была следующей: общий желчный проток (I тип по H. Bismuth) – у 8 больных, общий печеночный проток (II тип по H. Bismuth) – у 6 больных, общий желчный проток вместе с бифуркацией (ІІІ тип по H. Bismuth ) – у 4 больных, общий желчный проток с повреждением конфлюенса (IV тип по H. Bismuth) – у одного больного. У 5 больных ятрогенные повреждения желчевыводящих путей обнаружены во время операции, а у 14 больных – в раннем послеоперационном периоде. Все это приводило к решению чрезвычайно тяжелых и сложных проблем в дальнейшем, так как последовательность использования диагностических приемов не одинакова у всех больных. Следует отметить, что более удовлетворительные результаты были тогда, когда ятрогенные повреждения желчевыводящих путей были обнаружены субоперационно. В ситуации, когда невозможно провести стандартную лапароскопическую холецистэктомию возникают различные осложнения.Своевременная конверсия – очень важный момент предупреждения ранения желчевыводящих путей в технически сложных случаях, а восстановление оттока желчи может быть достигнуто только тогда, когда в операционную бригаду будет включен опытный специалист, который владеет методиками восстановительных и реконструктивных операций.Мета роботи: узагальнити досвід використання лапароскопічних втручань у хворих з ургентною та плановою хірургічною патологією та запобігти ймовірним ускладненням.Матеріали і методи. У роботі проведено ретроспективний аналіз результатів лапароскопічних втручань у 8245 хворих із жовчнокам’яною хворобою (хронічний холецистит – 4905 хворих; поліпоз жовчного міхура –33 хворі; гострий холецистит – 3307 хворих).Результати дослідження та їх обговорення. Пошкодження міхурової протоки або холедоха спостерігали у 19 хворих (синдром Міррізі мав місце у 13 хворих). Локалізація пошкоджень була наступною: загальна жовчна протока (І тип за H. Bismuth) – у 8 хворих, загальна печінкова протока (ІІ тип за H. Bismuth) – у 6 хворих, загальна жовчна протока разом із біфуркацією (ІІІ тип за H. Bismuth) – у 4 хворих, загальна жовчна протока з пошкодженням конфлюенс (ІV тип по H. Bismuth) – у одного хворого. У 5 хворих ятрогенні пошкодження жовчовивідних шляхів виявлено під час операції а у 14 хворих – у ранньому післяопераційному періоді. Все це вимагало вирішення надзвичайно важких та складних проблем у подальшому, оскільки послідовність використання діагностичних прийомів не однакова у всіх хворих. Слід зазначити, що задовільні результати спостерігали, коли ятрогенні пошкодження жовчовивідних шляхів були виявлені субопераційно. У ситуації, коли неможливо провести стандартну лапароскопічну холецистектомію виникають різні ускладнення. Своєчасна конверсія – надзвичайно важливий момент попередження травмування жовчовивідних шляхів у технічно складних випадках, а відновлення відтоку жовчі може бути досягнуто тільки тоді, коли в операційну бригаду буде включений досвідчений фахівець, який володіє методиками відновних та реконструктивних операцій

A Size Effect on the Fatigue Crack Growth Rate Threshold of Alloy 718

Fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) tests were conducted on Alloy 718 in the solution annealed and aged condition at room temperature. In each test, the FCGR threshold was measured using the decreasing (Delta)K method. Initial testing was at two facilities, one of which used C(T) specimens with W = 127 mm. Previous data at the other facility had been obtained with specimens with W = 50.8 mm. A comparison of test results at R = 0.1 showed that the threshold for the 127 mm specimen was considerably higher than that of the 50.8 mm specimen. A check showed that this difference was not due to a heat-to-heat or lab-to-lab variation. Additional tests were conducted on specimens with W = 25.4 mm and at other R values. Data for the various specimens is presented along with parameters usually used to describe threshold behavior