1,940 research outputs found

    United States v. Payton: Redefining the Reasonableness Standard For Computer Searches and Seizures

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    This Note examines United States v. Payton and the issue of when it is reasonable to search a computer if it is not expressly authorized on the search warrant. Part I discusses the background facts of Payton and the Fourth Amendment. Part II analyzes why the Ninth Circuit ultimately decided Payton correctly but focused on the wrong underlying reason in its holding. The reasonableness standard for computer searches should be whether the computer “could” contain the evidence, rather than the stricter standard of “would” contain the evidence announced in Payton. However, because computers are different from traditional containers, they should be subject to judicial supervision and a defined search protocol as expressed through a warrant. Part III explains how the Ninth Circuit in Payton ultimately did what it had said it would not do in United States v. Giberson: create a distinctive category for computers separate from traditional containers and imply a bright-line rule mandating that a computer may not be searched without a warrant. Part IV proposes a practical reasonableness standard that balances the special needs of a computer search with the flexibility found under traditional container theories of searches and seizures. This Note proposes a specific set of guidelines to establish a protocol for properly seizing a computer that will effectively balance the government’s interest in searching and seizing a computer with the computer owner’s privacy interests

    United States v. Payton: Redefining the Reasonableness Standard For Computer Searches and Seizures

    Get PDF
    This Note examines United States v. Payton and the issue of when it is reasonable to search a computer if it is not expressly authorized on the search warrant. Part I discusses the background facts of Payton and the Fourth Amendment. Part II analyzes why the Ninth Circuit ultimately decided Payton correctly but focused on the wrong underlying reason in its holding. The reasonableness standard for computer searches should be whether the computer “could” contain the evidence, rather than the stricter standard of “would” contain the evidence announced in Payton. However, because computers are different from traditional containers, they should be subject to judicial supervision and a defined search protocol as expressed through a warrant. Part III explains how the Ninth Circuit in Payton ultimately did what it had said it would not do in United States v. Giberson: create a distinctive category for computers separate from traditional containers and imply a bright-line rule mandating that a computer may not be searched without a warrant. Part IV proposes a practical reasonableness standard that balances the special needs of a computer search with the flexibility found under traditional container theories of searches and seizures. This Note proposes a specific set of guidelines to establish a protocol for properly seizing a computer that will effectively balance the government’s interest in searching and seizing a computer with the computer owner’s privacy interests

    Spatial and environmental patterns of rare lotic macroinvertebrate diversity : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ecology at Massey University, Manawatū, Palmerston North, New Zealand

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    Stream macroinvertebrate communities comprise a few common taxa and many rare ones. Small populations of rare taxa can be more vulnerable to environmental change than those of common taxa. However, they are often discarded from community analyses on the grounds that they complicate data interpretation. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the effect of rare taxa on assessing ecosystem health and on interpreting biodiversity patterns based on lotic macroinvertebrate communities. I assessed the effect of multiple types of rare taxa exclusion on biomonitoring, using macroinvertebrate data collected for the National River Water Quality Network of Aotearoa New Zealand. I compared the effect of different sampling methods on biodiversity patterns of rare taxa in pristine streams in the Tongariro National Park and determined the local environmental variables most strongly linked with common and rare taxa. Finally, I evaluated the effect dispersal processes and local environment have on structuring the common and rare components of lotic communities, considering the position within the stream network and the dispersal mode of the invertebrates. Exclusion of rare taxa led to significant misclassifications of ecological quality by biomonitoring tools that use presence-absence data, such as the Macroinvertebrate Community Index, and often masked their relationship with nutrient stressors. Different sampling methods collected clearly differentiated rare components of lotic assemblages, depending on the habitat sampled (riffles, non-riffles) and the life-stage of the invertebrates (benthic larvae, flying adults). A comprehensive species inventory can be compiled by combining methods, with benthic samples as the basis. Biodiversity metrics of the common and rare components of macroinvertebrate communities were related to similar environmental variables. While the structure of the two components was related to different variables, in combination they revealed a greater number of relationships with the environment. Rare taxa assemblages were not structured clearly by either local environment or dispersal processes, however their inclusion was necessary to demonstrate that the complete communities were determined by the local environment. Overall, I did not find any reason to exclude rare taxa from lotic macroinvertebrate studies, but rather found they can facilitate community analyses. Given the increasing threats on lotic macroinvertebrate biodiversity, it is also crucial to include them in such studies, hopefully so we can prevent their complete extinction

    Flow and wakes in large wind farms in complex terrain and offshore

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    Power losses due to wind turbine wakes are of the order of 10 and 20% of total power output in large wind farms. The focus of this research carried out within the EC funded UPWIND project is wind speed and turbulence modelling for large wind farms/wind turbines in complex terrain and offshore in order to optimise wind farm layouts to reduce wake losses and loads

    Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    This paper presents measurements of the W+μ+νW^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu and WμνW^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

    Measurement of the production of a W boson in association with a charm quark in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    The production of a W boson in association with a single charm quark is studied using 4.6 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√ = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. In events in which a W boson decays to an electron or muon, the charm quark is tagged either by its semileptonic decay to a muon or by the presence of a charmed meson. The integrated and differential cross sections as a function of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W-boson decay are measured. Results are compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD calculations obtained from various parton distribution function parameterisations. The ratio of the strange-to-down sea-quark distributions is determined to be 0.96+0.26−0.30 at Q 2 = 1.9 GeV2, which supports the hypothesis of an SU(3)-symmetric composition of the light-quark sea. Additionally, the cross-section ratio σ(W + +c¯¯)/σ(W − + c) is compared to the predictions obtained using parton distribution function parameterisations with different assumptions about the s−s¯¯¯ quark asymmetry

    Search for squarks and gluinos with the ATLAS detector in final states with jets and missing transverse momentum using √s=8 TeV proton-proton collision data

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    A search for squarks and gluinos in final states containing high-p T jets, missing transverse momentum and no electrons or muons is presented. The data were recorded in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment in s√=8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, with a total integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1. Results are interpreted in a variety of simplified and specific supersymmetry-breaking models assuming that R-parity is conserved and that the lightest neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle. An exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the gluino is set at 1330 GeV for a simplified model incorporating only a gluino and the lightest neutralino. For a simplified model involving the strong production of first- and second-generation squarks, squark masses below 850 GeV (440 GeV) are excluded for a massless lightest neutralino, assuming mass degenerate (single light-flavour) squarks. In mSUGRA/CMSSM models with tan β = 30, A 0 = −2m 0 and μ > 0, squarks and gluinos of equal mass are excluded for masses below 1700 GeV. Additional limits are set for non-universal Higgs mass models with gaugino mediation and for simplified models involving the pair production of gluinos, each decaying to a top squark and a top quark, with the top squark decaying to a charm quark and a neutralino. These limits extend the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded by previous searches with the ATLAS detector
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