A Holistic Vision of the Socio-Legal Terrain

Tamanaha discusses Marc Galanter\u27s holistic vision of the socio-legal terrain. Galanter\u27s socio-legal vision has two central overlapping foci, and he always keeps an eye on each and on their interaction. The first focus is the official state legal system, which he examines from every conceivable angle: who becomes lawyers, how are they trained, how many lawyers are there, what are the circumstances of their work environment, who pays for their services. Galanter also focuses on what they are not doing (intentionally or otherwise), inquiring into the implications and consequences of their inaction. These inquiries extend from the official legal system to engage, encompass, and interact with Galanter\u27s second central focus: the social realm of intercourse and regulation. This social realm, in Galanter\u27s vision, is chock full of a plurality of interacting, overlapping, active regulatory systems of every kind-from religious systems, to corporations, to sports leagues, to the family

Image Processing Instrumentation for Giardia lamblia Detection

Currently, the identification and enumeration of Giardia Iamblia cysts are based upon microscopic methods requiring individuals proficient in this area. It is a tedious process which consumes time that could be constructively used elsewhere. This project attempts to alleviate that burden by employing a computer to automatically process Indirect Fluorescent Antibody (IFA) prepared slides using digital image processing techniques. A computer controlled frame grabber, in conjunction with a CCD TV camera mounted on the epi-fluorescence microscope phototube, captures the light intensities of the objects in view under the microscope objective. The captured image is stored as pixels, with each pixel having a numerical value that can be altered using linear contrast enhancement and bit-slicing to emphasize the cysts and eliminate the majority of unwanted objects from the image. The altered image is then analyzed by a vector trace routine for typical area and perimeters characteristic to Giardia lamblia cysts. Objects in the image matching these characteristics are most likely cysts and are added to a running tally of the number of cysts present on the slide

A Cross Sectional Comparison of the Mental Health, Sleep, and Anaerobic Power of Cannabis Users, Cannabidiol Users, and Non Users

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences among groups of individuals who regularly use cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD), or who are non-users with respect to mental health, sleep, and anaerobic power measures. A total of 24 participants (21 males and 3 females) were recruited and placed into groups based on their regular cannabis/CBD or non-cannabis/CBD use. The cannabis user group was using cannabis at least three times per week for the past 8 weeks (CA; n=8), the CBD user group was using CBD at least three times per week for the past 8 weeks (CB; n=8), and the control group was not using any cannabis or CBD product within the past 8 weeks (CO; n=8). Participants completed 2 total visits. During these visits, they completed a body composition evaluation using air displacement plethysmography with a BODPOD (COSMED USA Inc., Concord, CA), a physical activity assessment using the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PARQ) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), mental health evaluation using the Psychological Wellbeing Scale (PWB), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS), and Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index (QOL) surveys, a subjective sleep quality survey using the Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire (LSEQ), and an anaerobic fitness assessment using the Wingate anaerobic power test on a cycle ergometer (Monark Ergomedic 894E, Monark, Varberg, Sweden). Additionally, the participants in the CA group completed a Daily Sessions, Frequency, Age of Onset, and Quantity of Cannabis Use Inventory (DFAQ-CU) to measure cannabis use. Mean PWB scores of CB and CO were significantly higher in the Autonomy (p\u3c0.001; p=0.003), Personal Growth (p\u3c0.001; p\u3c0.001), Positive Relations with Others (p=0.001; p=0.002), Purpose in Life (p=0.003; p=0.003), and Self-Acceptance (p=0.001; p=0.02) subscales, respectively, when compared to CA. There were no significant differences in mean PWB scores between CB and CO in all PWB subscales (p\u3e0.05). Mean QOL score of CB was significantly higher than the mean score of CA (p=0.004), but no significant differences were found between CA and CO (p=0.11) or CB and CO (p=0.48). Mean GAD-7 (p=0.40) and PFS (p=0.25) scores were not significant between groups. Mean LSEQ (p=0.42), GTS (p=0.44), QOS (p=0.29), AFS (p=0.14), and BFW (p=0.14) scores were not significant between groups. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of average peak power (p=0.77), relative peak power (p=0.15), mean power (p=0.97), relative mean power (p=0.30), and anaerobic fatigue (p=0.82) during the Wingate assessment. The present study demonstrated no significant differences between CA, CB, and CO with respect to measures of anxiety, subjective fatigue, perceived sleep quality, and anaerobic power, but revealed significant differences between CA and both CB and CO in measures of psychological wellbeing and quality of life. These results suggest that regular cannabis users may have a lower psychological state and a lower perceived quality of life when compared to CBD users or cannabis and CBD non-users. Findings from this study provide a novel insight into the mental health, subjective sleep, and anaerobic power measures of regular cannabis users, regular CBD users, and a group of non-users

The uses of process modeling : a framework for understanding modeling formalisms

There is wide-spread recognition of the urgent need to improve software processes in order to improve the performance of software organizations. Process models are essential in achieving understanding and visibility of processes and are important for other uses including the analysis of processes for improvement. It has been increasingly difficult to compare and evaluate the variety of process modeling formalisms that have appeared in recent years without a clear understanding of precisely for what they will be used. The contribution of this paper is to provide an understanding and a fairly comprehensive catalog of the applications of process modeling for which formalisms may be used. The primary mechanism for doing this is a guided tour of the literature on process modeling supplemented by recent industrial experience. In the paper, basic definitions concerning processes, process descriptions and process modeling are reviewed and then uses of process modeling are surveyed under the following headings: communication among process participants, construction of new processes, control of processes, process· analysis, and process support by automation. Comments are offered on paradigms for process modeling formalisms and directions for future work to permit evolution of a discipline of process engineering are given

Law’s Evolving Emergent Phenomena: From Rules of Social Intercourse to Rule of Law Society

Law involves institutions rooted in the history of a society that evolve in relation to surrounding social, psychological, cultural, economic, political, technological, and ecological influences. Law must be understood naturalistically, historically, and holistically. In my usage, naturalism views humans as social animals with natural traits and requirements, historicism presents law as historical manifestations that change over time, and holism sees law within social surroundings. These insights inform my perspective in A Realistic Theory of Law. While these propositions might seem obvious, few works in contemporary jurisprudence build around them. In this essay, I draw on the notion of emergence to further elaborate the implications of naturalism, historicism, and holism for legal theory. Emergent phenomena arise in connection with objects or agents whose interactions produce qualitatively new features not found in its constituent parts. Two senses of emergence are contained in this idea: the emergent phenomenon is greater than the sum of its parts, and its emergence is a historical occurrence. Theories of emergence were originally articulated in a late nineteenth and early twentieth century reaction against scientific reductionism. Originating in biological theories of evolution, emergence was extended to explain a range of phenomena, including the transition in levels from physics, to chemistry, to biology, to the emergence of consciousness from material brains, to the emergence of social structures from the actions of individuals. Emergence is enjoying renewed attention as a component of complexity theory. However, I will use the notion of emergence to illuminate aspects of law without grounding the analysis in complexity theory. First, I introduce emergence. Then I describe five emergent aspects of law: fundamental rules of social intercourse; legal systems as organized coercion; specialized legal knowledge; a relatively fixed legal fabric; and a rule of law society. The first three emergent phenomena in combination constitute fundamental features of modern legal systems. The two remaining emergent phenomena relate to law in contemporary society. In the course of describing these aspects of law, I address implications for various important issues in legal theory exposed by seeing them as emergent phenomena

The Tension Between Legal Instrumentalism And The Rule of Law

At the heart of the United States legal culture lie two core notions that exist in deep tension with one another: the idea that law is an instrument, and the rule of law ideal. Although they continue to coexist despite this tension, there are indications that the instrumental view of law is putting a serious strain on the rule of law ideal. The substantive version of the rule of law is the idea that there are legal limits on the government: there are certain things the government cannot do, even when exercising its sovereign lawmaking power. This version of the rule of law ensures the rightness of law in accordance with a preexisting higher standard. The formal version of the rule of law is the idea that the government is bound to abide by legal rules that are publicly set forth in advance, are certain and stable, and are applied equally to all in accordance with their terms. This version of the rule of law ensures the predictability of law, which allows citizens to plan their affairs with knowledge of the legal consequences of their actions. Both versions of the rule of law ideally share the basic proposition that the government and its officials, as well as citizens, operate within legal limits and are bound to follow legal rules. The basic difference is that the former version sets limits on the permissible content of law, whereas in the latter version the law can be whatever the law maker desires, as long as it satisfies the formal requirements set out above. it is important to recognize, the modem shift in liberal societies away from a substantive understanding of the rule of law toward a formal understanding of the rule of law was concomitant with the rise of the instrumental view-they were linked as siblings born of the same complex of factors. Starting with a discussion of former non-instrumental views of law, I will support these assertions by outlining the growth and implications of instrumental views of law for the rule of law