Sanctions and the Inherent Power: The Supreme Court Expands the American Rule\u27s Bad Faith Exception for Fee Shifting-Chambers v. NASCO, Inc.

Confronted with the growing problem of crowded dockets, federal courts have enacted and imposed a variety of rules and sanctions designed to discourage abuse of the judicial proces

Near-optimal adjacency labeling scheme for power-law graphs

An adjacency labeling scheme is a method that assigns labels to the vertices of a graph such that adjacency between vertices can be inferred directly from the assigned label, without using a centralized data structure. We devise adjacency labeling schemes for the family of power-law graphs. This family that has been used to model many types of networks, e.g. the Internet AS-level graph. Furthermore, we prove an almost matching lower bound for this family. We also provide an asymptotically near- optimal labeling scheme for sparse graphs. Finally, we validate the efficiency of our labeling scheme by an experimental evaluation using both synthetic data and real-world networks of up to hundreds of thousands of vertices

El rol del estado en la regulación del crecimiento urbano : Los casos de Buenos Aires y Sydney

La siguiente ponencia plantea algunos aspectos que consideramos centrales para comprender el rol que cumple el Estado como agente regulador del crecimiento urbano en las regiones metropolitanas de Buenos Aires (Argentina) y Sydney (Australia). En la primera parte se repasa cómo fue la evolución histórica de estas ciudades y las características del crecimiento actual. Luego se analizan las proyecciones de población y vivienda para ambas metrópolis y los modos en que pueden absorber el crecimiento propuesto. Por último interesa evaluar el papel diferencial que cumple el Estado en la regulación del desarrollo urbano en ambas ciudades.The following article presents some aspects that are central to understanding the role played by the state as a regulator of urban growth in the metropolitan regions of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Sydney, Australia. In the first part, the historical evolution of these cities is reviewed and the characteristics of current growth patterns. Then the population and housing projections are analysed for both cities, as is the ways they can absorb the projected growth. Finally is assesses the differential role played by the State in the regulation of urban development in both cities.Eje 2: Forma y estructura urbana, organización del territorio, orientación del crecimiento.Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

El rol del estado en la regulación del crecimiento urbano : Los casos de Buenos Aires y Sydney

La siguiente ponencia plantea algunos aspectos que consideramos centrales para comprender el rol que cumple el Estado como agente regulador del crecimiento urbano en las regiones metropolitanas de Buenos Aires (Argentina) y Sydney (Australia). En la primera parte se repasa cómo fue la evolución histórica de estas ciudades y las características del crecimiento actual. Luego se analizan las proyecciones de población y vivienda para ambas metrópolis y los modos en que pueden absorber el crecimiento propuesto. Por último interesa evaluar el papel diferencial que cumple el Estado en la regulación del desarrollo urbano en ambas ciudades.The following article presents some aspects that are central to understanding the role played by the state as a regulator of urban growth in the metropolitan regions of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Sydney, Australia. In the first part, the historical evolution of these cities is reviewed and the characteristics of current growth patterns. Then the population and housing projections are analysed for both cities, as is the ways they can absorb the projected growth. Finally is assesses the differential role played by the State in the regulation of urban development in both cities.Eje 2: Forma y estructura urbana, organización del territorio, orientación del crecimiento.Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

El rol del estado en la regulación del crecimiento urbano : Los casos de Buenos Aires y Sydney

La siguiente ponencia plantea algunos aspectos que consideramos centrales para comprender el rol que cumple el Estado como agente regulador del crecimiento urbano en las regiones metropolitanas de Buenos Aires (Argentina) y Sydney (Australia). En la primera parte se repasa cómo fue la evolución histórica de estas ciudades y las características del crecimiento actual. Luego se analizan las proyecciones de población y vivienda para ambas metrópolis y los modos en que pueden absorber el crecimiento propuesto. Por último interesa evaluar el papel diferencial que cumple el Estado en la regulación del desarrollo urbano en ambas ciudades.The following article presents some aspects that are central to understanding the role played by the state as a regulator of urban growth in the metropolitan regions of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Sydney, Australia. In the first part, the historical evolution of these cities is reviewed and the characteristics of current growth patterns. Then the population and housing projections are analysed for both cities, as is the ways they can absorb the projected growth. Finally is assesses the differential role played by the State in the regulation of urban development in both cities.Eje 2: Forma y estructura urbana, organización del territorio, orientación del crecimiento.Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

Near Optimal Adjacency Labeling Schemes for Power-Law Graphs

An adjacency labeling scheme labels the n nodes of a graph with bit strings in a way that allows, given the labels of two nodes, to determine adjacency based only on those bit strings. Though many graph families have been meticulously studied for this problem, a non-trivial labeling scheme for the important family of power-law graphs has yet to be obtained. This family is particularly useful for social and web networks as their underlying graphs are typically modelled as power-law graphs. Using simple strategies and a careful selection of a parameter, we show upper bounds for such labeling schemes of ~O(sqrt^{alpha}(n)) for power law graphs with coefficient alpha;, as well as nearly matching lower bounds. We also show two relaxations that allow for a label of logarithmic size, and extend the upper-bound technique to produce an improved distance labeling scheme for power-law graphs

Gas profiling in quasi-closed pressure regulated anaerobic fermentation systems

Fermentation of organic materials by microorganisms is an essential component in a variety of medical, industrial and agricultural applications. Many of these fermentations take place in quasi-closed pressure regulated anaerobic fermentation systems and involve the production of different gases. These gases are highly indicative as they are identifiable with biological processes and different bacteria species. Profiling gas components in such systems can assist with their microbial activities analysis, diagnosis and monitoring. However, methods for gas profiling in such fermentation systems lack real-time, accurate, simple, portable and cost-effective gas profiling technologies for continuously measuring gases in both anaerobic headspaces and in liquid media. The aim of this PhD research is to enhance the understanding, diagnosis and monitoring of these systems and their associated applications using gas components. This was specifically achieved by resolving the limitations and inadequacies of gas profiling in quasi-closed pressure regulated anaerobic fermentation systems. Firstly, the author of this thesis thoroughly reviewed the methods utilized for accurate profiling of gas components. Specifically, he focused on profiling intestinal gases produced in-vitro during fecal incubation. Secondly, the author investigated the calculation methods for profiling the production of these gases and their kinetics. Finally, the author explored gas profiling in both liquid and gas phases for in-situ monitoring of anaerobic digestion fermentation systems. The first stage involved addressing limitations of profiling intestinal gases produced by incubation of fecal matters in-vitro. The past available technologies for sensing colonic gases in-vitro were either bulky, expensive, offline or included only limited number of gas types. In addition, the gut environment in-vitro is generally simulated with N2 as an inert gas where the supplementation of important fermentation gases, such as CO2 and H2, was not understood. As such, the author developed a low-cost, portable and real-time gas sensing technology for monitoring CO2, CH4, H2, H2S and NOx simultaneously in the anaerobic headspace of fecal fermentation systems in-vitro. The author demonstrated the performance of the new technology on healthy human fecal samples and validated the new technology for both accuracy and reproducibility. The author also explored the impact of the initial headspace environment composition on the fermentation gas profiles. It was found that supplying the reactor with CO2 enhanced CH4 and H2 production and inhibited H2S production. Furthermore, it was shown that fecal incubation together with high fermentable fibre could suppress H2S production. Finally, the author found that healthy human fecal samples did not produce NOx spontaneously. In the second stage, the author investigated the calculation methods for profiling the production of gases and their kinetics in quasi-closed pressure regulated anaerobic fermentation systems. Surprisingly, the author discovered that there was no existing standardized or comprehensive method for such calculations. Therefore, the author developed a rigorous gas fermentation model and a novel mass-flow equation for accurately profiling the produced gases and introduced these into the literature. This new model was designed to match the commonly used commercial fermentation systems, making the new technology readily available for many applications and studies. The author demonstrated the performance of the new model for human fecal sample incubation using the in-vitro technology developed in the first stage and validated its accuracy. Moreover, the author found that the contribution of newly introduced components in the mass-flow equation exceeded 9.1% of the overall gas profile. In the final stage, the author researched the monitoring capability of anaerobic digestion processes using in-situ measurements of gas components in both liquid and gas phases. As an integral part of the microbial activity of anaerobic digestion processes, gas components have the potential of providing the necessary information for monitoring such processes effectively. However, current technologies for gas sensing in liquid-phase have been inadequate. Previously, Real-time profiling of gas components in both phases simultaneously has not been thoroughly studied due to lack of the required technology. This has possibly hindered important insights about the system’s health. In order to conduct this research, the author developed a novel, relatively simple, low-cost technique for measuring gas components in both phases simultaneously. Using this technique, dissolved gases were measured in-situ using membrane protected gas sensors which, in comparison to other approaches, eliminated many complications, delays or sample contamination. The author demonstrated the performances of the new technology on a series of anaerobic digestion batch experiments and confirmed its accuracy, longevity and reproducibly. Utilizing the new technique, the author identified patterns and signatures that were associated with process imbalances but not clearly observed in commonly used indicators such as volatile acids and pH. The author also explored the impact of inoculum age on the process and showed that, relative to freshly collected inoculum, processes using aged inoculum had a higher potential to enter imbalanced states and failure. It is the position of this author that the insights and technological advances achieved in this PhD research have contributed significantly to the advancement of the field of anaerobic fermentation. In particular, this was achieved by creating new, simple, accurate and reliable technologies, while adding significantly to the knowledge of quasi-closed, pressure regulated anaerobic fermentation systems and their applications