BankXX: Supporting legal arguments through heuristic retrieval

The BankXX system models the process of perusing and gathering information for argument as a heuristic best-first search for relevant cases, theories, and other domain-specific information. As BankXX searches its heterogeneous and highly interconnected network of domain knowledge, information is incrementally analyzed and amalgamated into a dozen desirable ingredients for argument (called argument pieces), such as citations to cases, applications of legal theories, and references to prototypical factual scenarios. At the conclusion of the search, BankXX outputs the set of argument pieces filled with harvested material relevant to the input problem situation.This research explores the appropriateness of the search paradigm as a framework for harvesting and mining information needed to make legal arguments. In this article, we describe how legal research fits the heuristic search framework and detail how this model is used in BankXX. We describe the BankXX program with emphasis on its representation of legal knowledge and legal argument. We describe the heuristic search mechanism and evaluation functions that drive the program. We give an extended example of the processing of BankXX on the facts of an actual legal case in BankXX's application domain — the good faith question of Chapter 13 personal bankruptcy law. We discuss closely related research on legal knowledge representation and retrieval and the use of search for case retrieval or tasks related to argument creation. Finally we review what we believe are the contributions of this research to the understanding of the diverse disciplines it addresses.This research was supported in part by grant No. 90-0359 from the Air Force Office of Sponsored Research and NSF grant No. EEC-9209623 State/University/Industry Cooperative Research on Intelligent Information Retrieval.     

Effects of oxygen on biodegradation of benzoate and 3-chlorobenzoate in a denitrifying chemostat

A mixed microbial culture degraded a mixture of benzoate (863 mg/L), 3-chlorobenzoate (3-CB) (69.7 mg/L), and pyruvate (244 mg/L) under denitrifying conditions in a chemostat. Biodegradation under denitrifying conditions was stable, complete (effluent concentrations below detection limits), and proceeded without the production of toxic intermediates like chlorocatechols. The addition of oxygen at mass input rates of 6.2%, 15.5%, and 43.9% of the mass input rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD) (337 mg COD/h) did not induce the synthesis of aerobic biodegradation pathways and thus did not disrupt biodegradation. Rather, the oxygen was used as a terminal electron acceptor, displacing a stoichiometric amount of nitrate, leading to microaerobic conditions (dissolved oxygen concentration <0.050 mg/L) in which oxygen utilization and denitrification occurred simultaneously. The reduction of nitrate occurred fully to N₂ gas with no accumulation of nitrite, nitrous oxide, or nitric oxide, although the ability of the culture to transfer electrons to the nitrogen oxides decreased as the oxygen input was increased. The anoxic benzoate uptake capability was unaffected by the increase in oxygen addition, but the anoxic 3-CB uptake capability increased, as did the level of benzoyl-CoA reductase in the cells.     

Synthesis of comb-type amphiphilic graft copolymers derived from chlorinated poly(ɛ-caprolactone) via click reaction

This work refers to the synthesis of a series of novel chlorinated poly(?-caprolactone) (PCL) for further functionalization of PCL. For this aim, chlorine gas was passed through into the chloroform solution to obtain chlorinated polycaprolactone. The chlorine contents in chlorinated PCL were between 0.9 and 1.6 mol%. The molecular weights of the polymers (M _n) changed from 4853 to 9497 g/mol. As the amount of passing chlorine gas increases, the molecular weight of the chlorinated PCL was found to decrease. Pendant chloride groups of PCL were reacted with sodium azide to prepare PCL with pendant azide groups (PCL-N₃). Poly-(ethylene glycol) methyl ether (mPEG) was reacted with propargyl chloride to achieve alkynyl mPEG (mPEG-alkyn). Click reaction was then carried out by the reaction between PCL-N₃ and mPEG-alkyn to obtain PCL-g-PEG comb-type amphiphilic graft copolymer. Interestingly, SEM images of the PCL-g-PEG comb-type amphiphilic graft copolymers showed the highly microporous structure. The resulting products were characterized by ¹H NMR, FT-IR, gel-permeation chromatography, SEM, surface tension, contact angle and water uptake measurements, differential scanning calorimeter and thermogravimetric analyses techniques.     

Drop‐and‐catch (DnC) calorimetry using aerodynamic levitation and laser heating

Design, calibration, and operation of a system for drop‐and‐catch (DnC) calorimetry on oxides from temperature above 1500°C are described. This system allows the measurement of heat contents and heats of fusion by drop calorimetry of small (100 mg or less) samples held by containerless levitation at high temperature and dropped in a calorimeter at room temperature. The spheroids, 2‐3 mm in diameter, prepared by laser melting of powders, are aerodynamically levitated in a splittable nozzle levitator and laser heated to the desired temperature monitored by radiation thermometry. The sample is dropped by splitting the nozzle and caught by splittable water‐cooled calorimetric plates at 25°C, which provide complete enclosure of the sample to avoid heat loss by radiation. The drop time is ~0.1 seconds, calorimeter equilibration time after the drop is ~15 minute. DnC experiments are automated with software‐controlled laser power and programmable delay between splitting the nozzle and catching the sample. The fusion enthalpy of Al₂O₃ measured by DnC calorimeter, 120 ± 10 kJ/mol, agrees well with previously reported values. The system can be used for measurements of fusion enthalpies of refractory oxides amenable to laser heating as well as for splat quenching of oxide melts.     

The study of deuterium permeability of film-forming inhibitors with the addition of fullerenes

In this work, the results of the hydrogen permeability study of a composite film-forming inhibitor are considered. Film-forming inhibitor consists of polyether urethane and synthesized fullerenes C60 and C70 in pure form. Two types of samples were used: uncoated and coated stainless steels with composite polyether urethane/fullerene varnish. The experimental work was based on the study of the dependence of the permeation reduction factor on the temperature in the reactor. For the coated sample, the minimum temperature was 623 K at which the deuterium flux was registered. Here we assume that at temperatures below 573 K the output pressure caused by the deuterium flow through the sample is less than 10^?10 Pa. The rate of steady-state flow through a coated sample is significantly lower than for an uncoated one at temperatures 573–673 K. The deuterium penetration rates through the two samples increase and reach similar stationary values starting at 723 K.     

Statistical analysis of excitonic transitions in single,free-standing GaN nanowires: Probing impurity incorporation in the poissonian limit

Single, free-standing GaN nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy have been investigated with low temperature micro-photoluminescence. The quantitative analysis of the luminescence spectra of around 100 nanowires revealed that each nanowire exhibits its own individual spectrum. A significant fraction of nanowires exclusively emits at energies corresponding to either surface-donor-bound or free excitons, demonstrating that optical properties of individual nanowires are determined by a few impurity atoms alone. The number of impurities per nanowire and their location within the nanowires varies according to Poissonian statistics.     

PREFACE SOMER SYMPOSIUM SERIES I

The T method is a newly developed one in distillation calculations which belongs to the class of methods which apply a partitioning of the whole system of equations to be solved

It is similar in nature to the well known B.P. method or theta method, even if, when compared with them, it shows a higher efficiency in reaching the solution

Following the basic ideas of the theta method, the T convergence promoter gives a better estimate of the liquid and vapor molar fractions profiles

As a matter of fact, a better estimate of the temperature profiles, and physical properties is obtained. This situation allows the method to approach the solution by means of quicker convergence

Some explanatory examples will be shown in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.