Coherent Rules Research Articles

Implications of the Trans-Pacific Partnership for Food Safety Governance

The depth and breadth of this mega-regional agreement as well as the diversity of its twelve Parties pose a challenge to not only trade policies in the conventional sense but also many other cross-cutting issues. With the innovative institutional designs of the TPP, food safety governance is destined to be configured and reconfigured not only by the SPS Chapter alone, but also by other horizontal rules. For example, while harmonization with international standards, scientific principle, risk analysis, and transparency still serve as the fundamental rubrics of SPS (and SPS-Plus) cooperation among TPP members, cross-cutting regulatory coherence rules — such as notice-and-comment requirement, cost-benefit analysis, and regulatory impact assessment — will come into play with significant relevance and importance. What are the SPS-Plus rights and obligations in the TPP? Will such SPS-Plus provisions pose pro-trade or pro-health ramifications to countries within and beyond the scope of the TPP? How will the rules under the SPS Chapter and the Regulatory Coherence Chapter interact and work together for an optimal institutional design that can strengthen trade liberalization and ensure adequate food safety protection at the same time? What will the diversity of the TPP Parties in terms of legal systems and stages of development bear on the implementation of relevant rules? Last but not least, will the TPP platform for SPS cooperation produce constructive or destructive effects on the WTO multilateral trading system? For their theoretical and practical importance, this paper endeavors to explore questions as such by taking a close look at the TPP Chapters on SPS Measures (and Regulatory Coherence). Part II briefly reviews the negotiation history of the SPS Chapter, sorting out the development of some contentious issues, which then serves as a vintage point to analyze the main provisions of the final text. Part III identifies the SPS-Plus provisions incorporated in the TPP by referencing to the WTO SPS Agreement, and characterizes them along the pro-trade versus pro-health continuum. It moves on to examine the implications of the TPP for global food safety governance, offering some preliminary observations for future discussions in comparable settings. Part IV concludes.

Better Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting for Biofuels: A Key to Biofuels Sustainability

Biofuels are promoted by governments as a replacement for fossil fuels in the transport sector. However, according to current scientific evidence, their use does not necessarily significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This article examines issues related to the regulation of biofuels’ life-cycle ghg emissions. It finds that a regulatory gap exists at the international level, whilst regulation at the domestic level faces limits or is insufficient to fill this gap. It remains to be seen whether, taking into account the scientific complexities, coherent international rules for biofuels will be adopted. Until then, a polycentric regulatory approach on the use of biofuels, which addresses the sustainability problem at multiple scales, thereby enabling experimentation and cross-influence among different levels of standard-setting, will remain in place across the world. The current approach entails a potentially beneficial learning process on how to properly regulate biofuels. However, there is a risk that national regulators will promote biofuels without knowing or accounting exactly for the extent to which they contribute to greenhouse gas reductions.

The lexeme hypotheses: Their use to generate highly grammatical and completely computerized medical records

IntroductionMedical records often contain free text created by harried clinicians. Free text often contains errors which make it an unsuitable target for computerized data extraction. The cost of healthcare can be reduced by creating medical records that are fully computerized at their inception. We examine hypotheses that enable us to construct such records. MethodsWe regard the text of the medical record as being an ordered collection of meaningful fragments. The intellectual content (or “lexeme”) of each text fragment in the record is considered separately from the language that used to express it. We further consider that each lexeme exists as a combination of a lexeme query (defining the issue being addressed) and a lexeme response to that query. The medical record can then be perceived as a stream of these responses. The responses can be expressed in any style or language, including computer code. Examining medical records in this light gives rise to a number of observations and hypotheses. Observations and HypothesesThe physical location and nature of the medical episode (which we term “context”) determines the general layout of the record. The order that lexeme-queries are addressed in within the record is highly consistent (“coherence”). Issues are only addressed if they are logically called-for by the context or by a previously-selected lexeme response (“predicance”), and only to a needed depth of detail (“level”).We hypothesize that all of the lexeme queries required to write any clinical notes can be stored in a large database (“lexicon”) in coherence order, wherein each lexeme query is associated with its own collection of lexeme responses. We hypothesize that the issue a note-writer will need to address next is identifiable purely by using the rules of coherence, level and predicance. Testing the hypotheses and their utilityWe have tested these hypotheses with a computer program which repeatedly offers the user a menu of lexeme responses with associated text. On selection, the program issues the text fragment, and its corresponding computer code, to output files. The program then uses coherence, predicance and level to navigate to the next appropriate lexeme query for presentation to the user. The net result is that the user creates a grammatically correct and completely computerized note at the time of its inception. The value of this approach and its practical implementation to create medical records are discussed.In our work so far, the hypotheses appear not to be false, but further testing is needed using a larger lexicon to establish their robustness in actual clinical practice.

A Coherent Rule Mining Method for Incremental Datasets Based on Plausibility

For traditional itemset mining techniques like Apriori and FP-Growth, multiple passes of the dataset is required to mine frequent or rare itemsets. So a clarity based rule mining algorithm is proposed which uses an interesting measure called plausibility. Plausibility is the probability of the assumed facts to be true if the conclusion is true. This proposed algorithm can mine association rules by a single pass through the file. Instead of multiple passes, a knowledge link matrix will be maintained by identifying the whole itemsets. Along with discovering the frequent itemsets, the rules too will be mined based on the plausibility measure. The main advantage of this proposed algorithm is that it will be very useful for incremental datasets. For incremental datasets the data will be always incrementing. Finding rules from these datasets is always challenging. But the single pass benefits the need to update only the matrix in case of incremental datasets. Because of its one time file access, this algorithm is supposed to consume less space compared to the FP-growth algorithm.

Time for coherent rules on EU regulation

ABSTRACTRegulation and legislation are at the very heart of the European Union (EU). EU legislation must be of the very highest quality and the procedures for adopting it must be fully transparent if it is to fulfil its function as the cement binding the Member States and the people of Europe together. Regulation in the EU is currently governed by a complex and confused patchwork of rules, principles, agreements, declarations, guidance and mere convention. In May 2015 the European Commission proposed an updating of just one part of that patchwork, leaving untouched many other parts which are disjointed and outdated. The Commission's proposals do not go nearly far enough.To ensure that EU regulation meets the requirements of quality and transparency the patchwork should be subject to a thorough review to see how much of it is fit for the twenty-first century and then it should be replaced by a new coherent framework covering all aspects of EU regulation, but in particular EU legislation. Structures should be created to oversee that framework, which should be subject to continuing review and adjustment.

Converting treaties into tactics on military operations

AbstractDespite widespread State acceptance of the international law governing military use of force across the spectrum of operations, the humanitarian reality in today's armed conflicts and other situations of violence worldwide is troubling. The structure and incentives of armed forces dictate the need to more systematically integrate that law into operational practice. However, treaty and customary international law is not easily translated into coherent operational guidance and rules of engagement (RoE), a problem that is exacerbated by differences of language and perspective between the armed forces and neutral humanitarian actors with a stake in the law's implementation. The author examines the operative language of RoE with a view to facilitating the work of accurately integrating relevant law of armed conflict and human rights law norms. The analysis highlights three crucial debates surrounding the use of military force and their practical consequences for operations: the dividing line between the conduct of hostilities and law enforcement frameworks, the definition of membership in an organized armed group for the purpose of lethal targeting, and the debate surrounding civilian direct participation in hostilities and the consequent loss of protection against direct attack.

Protection of Plant Varieties in Thailand

Thailand's plant protection regime presents a unique sui generis plant protection system, which is used as a model by several developing nations in Asia. The current Thai Plant Variety Protection (PVP) law has attracted some criticism, and whether or not farmers and breeders actually benefit from the system is in doubt. The questions this situation raises are: has Thailand adopted clear, coherent, and workable rules for plant variety protection in response to the needs of the nation? By highlighting the salient features of the Thai plant protection regime, this article addresses major concerns of the rights of farmers, local communities, and plant breeders. It is suggested that the protection of plant varieties is vital to Thailand, considering the fact that agriculture represents a fundamental economic activity and the livelihood of a large section of the total population; therefore, introducing IPRs in agriculture via the PVP regime is critical to the development of agriculture in Thailand. Thus, a new approach to the IP protection of plant varieties is desirable to ensure the unique needs of the nation, the validity of national legislation, and the long-term promotion of agricultural development and sustainability in Thailand.

Global Governance and “New Governance Theory”: Lessons from Business and Human Rights

ON 16 JUNE 2011, THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL UNANIMOUSLY ENDORSED the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights that I developed over the course of the previous six years in my role as the Secretary-General's special representative for business and human rights. (1) The journey involved nearly fifty international consultations on five continents, numerous site visits to individual firms and local communities, extensive research, and pilot projects to road test key proposals. For the council and its institutional predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, the endorsement was unprecedented. It was the first time that the UN adopted a set of standards on the subject of business and human rights; and it remains the only time the commission or council endorsed a normative text on any subject that governments did not negotiate themselves. Moreover, the uptake of the Guiding Principles (GPs) by other standard-setting bodies, national and international, has been swift and widespread, as has their use as a policy template by companies and business associations as well as an advocacy tool by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and workers' organizations. (2) I have told the story of how this came about in my book, Just Business: Multinational Corporations and Human Rights. (3) Here, I want to relate it to recent conceptual debates in the study of global governance, which I loosely term new governance theory. (4) Governance, at whatever level of social organization it occurs, refers to the systems of authoritative norms, rules, institutions, and practices by means of which any collectivity, from the local to the global, manages its common affairs. Global governance is generally defined as an instance of governance in the absence of government. There is no government at the global level. But there is governance, of variable effectiveness. However, the recent literature has identified a secular trend: an already weak system of global governance apparently becoming more so. Global governance architectures, legal and institutional, are said to be fragmenting. (5) Traditional forms of international legalization and negotiation through universal consensus-based institutions are stagnating. (6) Regime complexes that often embody divergent norms dominate previously coherent rule systems. (7) The decline of the West and the rise of the rest add to the centrifugal pull, not only in material terms but also in animating visions. (8) There may be individual instances of network governance, multilevel governance, private governance, multistakeholder initiatives, and even experimentalist governance. (9) But the ideal solution of comprehensive and integrated regimes, Robert 0. Keohane and David G. Victor contend in the context of climate change, is increasingly unattainable and they urge making the best of this situation. (10) Few would argue that the picture is much different in other policy domains characterized by substantial problem diversity, conflicting interests, and uncertainty regarding risks, gains, and losses--which, of course, describes many of the most serious problems on the global governance agenda. And yet as has been said about Wagner's music, the situation may not be as bad as it sounds. I undertook the strategic construction of the Guiding Principles aware of the (powerful) systemic constraints and (modest) opportunities identified in this literature, to which I have contributed on occasion. (11) Indeed, in my UN reports, I described business and human rights as a microcosm of a larger crisis in contemporary governance: the widening gaps between the scope and impact of economic forces and actors, and the capacity of societies to manage their adverse consequences. The GPs are far from constituting a comprehensive and integrated global regime. But they do demonstrate that it is possible to achieve a significant degree of convergence of norms, policies, and practices even in a highly controversial issue area. …

An Efficient Algorithm for Mining Coherent Association Rules

are many data mining techniques for finding association rules with the predefined minimum support from transaction databases. However, common problems with existing approaches are that an appropriate minimum support is difficult to determine and that the derived rules convey common-sense knowledge. Mining association rules without minimum support threshold is an important approximation of the association rule mining problem, which has been recently proposed(1).In this approach rules are generated based on logical implications and hence fewer and more meaningful rules called coherent rules are reported. An algorithm named ChSearch, is proposed to mine coherent rules for the user specified itemset. In this paper, the same problem is studied with two additional improvements. First, Apriori-based algorithm, namely ECARM for mining all coherent rules is proposed. Second to speed up time consuming candidate generation process an efficient pruning strategy is introduced. The proposed method generates coherent rules in shorter average execution times and fewer database scans, and thereby reduce great amount of I/O time per database scan and hence scaled to large databases. The method has been evaluated using both synthetic and real datasets, and the experimental results demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency.

Skopos Theory and Legal Translation: A Case Study of Examples from the Criminal Law of the P.R.C.

Legal translation (shortened as LT) has become a principal means to unfold Chinese laws to the world in the global era and the study of it has proved to be of practical significance. Since the proper theory guidance is the key to the quality of LT translation, this paper focuses on the Skopos theory and the strategies applied in the practice of LT. A case study of LT examples from the Criminal Law of the P.R.C. has been made while briefly reviewing the Skopos theory and its principles. Started with short discussion of LT, this paper probes into the applicability of the three principles of Skopos theory, including the Skopos rule, the coherence rule and the fidelity rule, into the legal texts, especially into the translation of the Criminal Law of the P.R.C. and based on the study, the strategies for LT are proposed, with the hope that it can be useful for reference in other legal texts.

Improving Predictions of Multiple Binary Models in ILP

Despite the success of ILP systems in learning first-order rules from small number of examples and complexly structured data in various domains, they struggle in dealing with multiclass problems. In most cases they boil down a multiclass problem into multiple black-box binary problems following the one-versus-one or one-versus-rest binarisation techniques and learn a theory for each one. When evaluating the learned theories of multiple class problems in one-versus-rest paradigm particularly, there is a bias caused by the default rule toward the negative classes leading to an unrealistic high performance beside the lack of prediction integrity between the theories. Here we discuss the problem of using one-versus-rest binarisation technique when it comes to evaluating multiclass data and propose several methods to remedy this problem. We also illustrate the methods and highlight their link to binary tree and Formal Concept Analysis (FCA). Our methods allow learning of a simple, consistent, and reliable multiclass theory by combining the rules of the multiple one-versus-rest theories into one rule list or rule set theory. Empirical evaluation over a number of data sets shows that our proposed methods produce coherent and accurate rule models from the rules learned by the ILP system of Aleph.

Mining high coherent association rules with consideration of support measure

Data mining has been studied for a long time. Its goal is to help market managers find relationships among items from large databases and thus increase sales volume. Association-rule mining is one of the well known and commonly used techniques for this purpose. The Apriori algorithm is an important method for such a task. Based on the Apriori algorithm, lots of mining approaches have been proposed for diverse applications. Many of these data mining approaches focus on positive association rules such as “if milk is bought, then cookies are bought”. Such rules may, however, be misleading since there may be customers that buy milk and not buy cookies. This paper thus takes the properties of propositional logic into consideration and proposes an algorithm for mining highly coherent rules. The derived association rules are expected to be more meanful and reliable for business. Experiments on two datasets are also made to show the performance of the proposed approach.

Logic based Pattern Discovery using the Integral Logical Derivative Rule

Problem Statement: To enhance the pattern discovery process, the multi-level proposional process work extends the pattern discovery process with coherent rule generation framework. The multi-level coherent rule structure produce rules coming from diverse levels and determine highest recurrent item sets at inferior level. The propositional logic process formed the multilevel connection rules from logical rules and utilizes bottom-up progressive extending technique. This method develops the effectiveness of rules with minimum support threshold but takes longer time. Approach: To overcome the above issue, we are going to implement a new technique termed Logic based pattern discovery using Integral Logical Derivative Rules (ILDR). This technique is used to efficiently produce the rule with the short span of time. Results: Performance of Integral Logical Derivative Rules technique to discover the logic based pattern is evaluated in terms of execution time, support threshold based on number of items and memory consumption for pattern discovery. Conclusion: Logical based pattern discovery considers the problem of minimum support threshold. An analytical and empirical result shows the lesser execution time with the efficient integral based pattern discovery of our proposed scheme.

A fuzzy coherent rule mining algorithm

In real-world applications, transactions usually consist of quantitative values. Many fuzzy data mining approaches have thus been proposed for finding fuzzy association rules with the predefined minimum support from the give quantitative transactions. However, the common problems of those approaches are that an appropriate minimum support is hard to set, and the derived rules usually expose common-sense knowledge which may not be interesting in business point of view. In this paper, an algorithm for mining fuzzy coherent rules is proposed for overcoming those problems with the properties of propositional logic. It first transforms quantitative transactions into fuzzy sets. Then, those generated fuzzy sets are collected to generate candidate fuzzy coherent rules. Finally, contingency tables are calculated and used for checking those candidate fuzzy coherent rules satisfy the four criteria or not. If yes, it is a fuzzy coherent rule. Experiments on the foodmart dataset are also made to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Commercial Sales: The Common European Sales Law Compared to the Vienna Sales Convention

Abstract: If the Common European Sales Law (CESL) is adopted, commercial parties will have the opportunity to choose between two international legal instruments for the regulation of their international commercial sales contracts. Whereas CESL is available to both consumer and commercial sales contracts, the Vienna Sales Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is intended for commercial sales contracts only. This could suggest that CISG is more suitable for use in commercial sales contracts, as commercial parties usually have different interests compared to consumers. In this article, it is argued that, as CESL remedies major flaws in CISG, in fact CESL is the better choice (also) for commercial parties, in particular because it introduces coherent rules on defects of consent, clearer and more balanced rules regarding the incorporation of standard terms, and a scheme for the testing of the unfairness of standard terms. Résumé: Si le droit commun européen de la vente (CESL) est adopté, les parties commerciales auront la possibilité de choisir entre deux instruments juridiques internationaux pour la régulation de leurs contrats de vente commerciale internationale. Alors que CESL sera disponible dans le cas d'une transaction transfrontalière dans l'espace européen entre professionnels et consommateurs et aussi dans le cas d`une transaction entre deux professionnels, la Convention de Vienne relative à la vente internationale de marchandises vise uniquement les contrats de vente commerciale internationale. Ceci pourrait suggérer que la Convention de Vienne est plus appropriée aux contrats de vente commerciale internationale comme les parties commerciales ont en général des intérêts différents par rapport aux consommateurs. Dans cet article, nous postulons que CESL répare les défauts majeurs dans la Convention de Vienne et propose en fait le meilleur choix pour toutes les parties - professionnels et consommateurs -, en particulier parce que CESL introduit des règles cohérents sur les vices de consentement, contient des règles concernant l'incorporation des conditions générales plus claires et plus équilibrées et introduit des provisions pour tester le caractère abusif des conditions générales. Zusammenfassung: Sollte der Vorschlag über ein Gemeinsames Europäisches Kaufrecht (CESL) angenommen werden, werden Unternehmer die Wahl zwischen zwei Rechtsordnungen haben, die ihren internationalen Kaufverträgen zugrunde liegen können. Während der Anwendungsbereich des CESL sowohl für Verbraucherverträge als auch für Handelsverträge zur Verfügung steht, findet das Wiener Abkommen zum UN-Kaufrecht (CISG) nur für Handelsverträge Anwendung. Man könnte daraus schließen, dass das CISG als Grundlage für Handelsverträge besser geeignet sei, da Händler in der Regel von Verbrauchern abweichende Interessen haben. In diesem Aufsatz wird jedoch argumentiert, dass, da das CESL erhebliche Mängel im CISG behebt, das CESL grundsätzlich die bessere Wahl (auch) für Händler ist. Im Gegensatz zum CISG führt das CESL kohärente Vorschriften über Einigungsmängel ein, sowie klare und ausgewogene Vorschriften für die Einbeziehung und Inhaltskontrolle von Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen.

Towards a unified definition of Minimal Cut Sequences

The growing complexity of systems increases the complexity of reliability modelling and implies the need to model both the dynamics of systems and the reparability of components. The qualitative reliability analyses aim at finding the minimal representation of all the scenarios of failures and repairs of the components, leading to the system failure. This minimal representation is the set of Minimal Cut Sequences. In order to provide a formal definition of these specific scenarios, whatever the risk analysis model used, this paper proposes coherence rules for dynamic and repairable systems whose dysfunctional scenarios are modelled by a finite automaton.

Finite-valued Logics for Information Processing

We examine the issue of collecting and processing information from various sources, which involves handling incomplete and inconsistent information. Inspired by the framework first proposed by Belnap, we consider structures consisting of information sources which provide information about the values of formulas of classical propositional logic, and a processor which collects that information and extends it by deriving conclusions following from it according to the truth tables of classical logic, applied forward and backward. Our model extends Belnap's in allowing the sources to provide information also about complex formulas. As that framework cannot be captured using finite ordinary logical matrices, if we want to represent each of the relevant logics with a single matrix, we employ Nmatrices for that purpose. In opposition to the approach proposed in our earlier work, we assume that the information sources are reasonable, i.e. that they provide information consistent with certain coherence rules. We provide sound and complete sequent calculi admitting strong cut elimination for the logic of a single information source, and (several variants of) the logic generated by the source and processor structures described above. In doing this, we also provide new characterizations for some known logics. We prove that, in opposition to the variantwith unconstrained information sources considered earlier, the latter logic cannot be generated by structures with any bounded number of sources.

The European Investigation Order: Changing the Face of Evidence-Gathering in EU Cross-Border Cases

This article examines the controversial European Investigation Order – a Belgium-led Member States' legislative initiative whereby a single “mutual recognition” style instrument will replace the existing “mutual legal assistance” regime for cross-border evidence-sharing in EU Member States. The article charts the difficult negotiations on the text so far and details the safeguards still needed if this Directive is to offer adequate protection for fundamental rights. More fundamentally, the article asks whether a “one-size fits all” approach to cross-border investigations and evidence-sharing makes sense in the absence of harmonized, coherent rules on admissibility, data protection and investigative procedures in an EU where equality of arms is not a feature of many legal systems.

Developing a Resilient Co-Management Arrangement for Protected Areas: Field Experience From the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor in Madagascar

In 2003 Madagascar committed to tripling its land in protected areas to conserve its unique biodiversity and essential ecosystem services. Implementing this commitment involved creating a new legal framework, selecting sites, establishing resource use rules, and developing governance arrangements. The Ankeniheny-Zahemana Corridor (CAZ) is among the most advanced in its establishment as a protected area with a co-management governance arrangement. Through literature review, we identified nine elements of good governance: clear resource governance goal, coherent institutional structure, clear rules, participation, transparency, monitoring, enforcement, equity, and transfer of authority. We analyzed the CAZ co-management system to explore the possibilities for improved governance at CAZ. Although the CAZ governance structure was not designed to address the nine theoretical elements of good governance, we found that it has emerged to respond to several of them. Additional research is needed to assess how to make changes that might improve governance based on these elements.

Governance of Intellectual Resources and Disintegration of Intellectual Property in the Digital Age

The Supreme Court's decision in eBay v. MercExchange brought into focus whether intellectual property policy should follow reflexively in the wake of tangible property doctrines or instead look to the distinctive market failures and institutional features of intellectual resources. Professor Richard Epstein argues in a recent article that virtually all of the current malaise in dealing with both tangible and intellectual property stems from the failure to keep to the coherent rules of acquisition, exclusion, alienation, regulation, and condemnation that are called for by the classical liberal system . Professor Epstein purports to validate what he calls the carryover hypothesis: that principles governing tangible property do, and should, influence the growth of intellectual property law, and that apart from durational limits on patents and copyrights, there are essentially no significant departures from the private property mold needed to optimize intellectual property. This Article responds to Professor Epstein's premises, framework, and analysis and provides a broader and richer analytical framework for promoting innovation and creativity in the digital age. In so doing, it demonstrates that intellectual property does not and should not resemble Professor Epstein's idealized classical liberal cathedral. To the contrary, disintegration characterizes the intellectual property landscape and hewing to a classical liberal private property paradigm overlooks valuable prescriptions for the evolution of the intellectual property field. While the institution of private property that has developed for tangible resources provides valuable insights into how to encourage efficient economic development, it is not a panacea for all resources, contexts, and societies. Careful consideration of the characteristics of intellectual resources, comparative institutional analysis, and empirical research provide the keys to promoting innovation and creativity. CO 2012 Peter S. Menell t Robert L. Bridges Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law; Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. I thank Tom Grey and Mark Lemley for comments on an earlier draft. Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline (http://heinonline.org) 12th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference 595 BERKELEY TECHNOLOGY LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 26:1523