Digital Commons Network^™

The School Civil Rights Vacuum, Emily Suski

Faculty Publications

Recent cases of pervasive sex abuse at universities, including those committed by Larry Nassar at Michigan State University and by Jerry Sandusky at Pennsylvania State University, demonstrate the limitations of Title IX as a tool for protecting college students. What has gone far less recognized is that in the K–12 public school context, Title IX and other civil rights laws, including the Fourteenth Amendment, are at least as ineffective at protecting students from sexual, physical, and verbal abuse and harassment. Public school students rarely succeed on Fourteenth Amendment or Title IX claims, even in some of the most egregious cases. …

Dismantling The Master's House: Toward A Justice-Based Theory Of Community Economic Development, Etienne C. Toussaint

Faculty Publications

Since the end of the American Civil War, scholars have debated the efficacy of various models of community economic development, or CED. Historically, this debate has tracked one of two approaches: place-based models of CED, seeking to stimulate community development through market-driven economic growth programs, and people-based models of CED, focused on the removal of structural barriers to social and economic mobility that prevent human flourishing. More recently, scholars and policymakers have turned to a third model from the impact investing community — the social impact bond, or SIB. The SIB model of CED ostensibly finds a middle ground by …

Deliberative Multiattribute Valuation Of Ecosystem Services Across A Range Of Regional Land-Use, Socioeconomic, And Climate Scenarios For The Upper Merrimack River Watershed, New Hampshire, Usa, Mark E. Borsuk, Georgia Mavrommati, Nihar R. Samal, Shantar Zuidema, Wil Wollheim, Shannon Rogers, Alexandra M. Thorn, David Lutz, Madeleine Mineau, Curt Grimm, Kevin Gardner

Faculty Publications

We evaluate the relative desirability of alternative futures for the upper Merrimack River watershed in New Hampshire, USA based on the value of ecosystem services at the end of the 21st century as gauged by its present-day inhabitants. This evaluation is accomplished by integrating land-use and socioeconomic scenarios, downscaled climate projections, biogeophysical simulation models, and the results of a citizen-stakeholder deliberative multicriteria evaluation. We find that although there are some trade-offs between alternative plausible futures, for the most part, it can be expected that future inhabitants of the watershed will be most satisfied if land-use planning in the intervening years …

A Novel Sparse Compositional Technique Reveals Microbial Perturbations, Cameron Martino, James T. Morton, Clarisse A. Martoz, Luke R. Thompson, Anupriya Tripathi, Rob Knight, Karsten Zengler

Faculty Publications

The central aims of many host or environmental microbiome studies are to elucidate factors associated with microbial community compositions and to relate microbial features to outcomes. However, these aims are often complicated by difficulties stemming from high-dimensionality, non-normality, sparsity, and the compositional nature of microbiome data sets. A key tool in microbiome analysis is beta diversity, defined by the distances between microbial samples. Many different distance metrics have been proposed, all with varying discriminatory power on data with differing characteristics. Here, we propose a compositional beta diversity metric rooted in a centered log-ratio transformation and matrix completion called robust Aitchison …

Reduction In Hospitals' Readmission Rates: Role Of Hospital-Based Skilled Nursing Facilities, Shivani Gupta, Ferhat D. Zengul, Ganisher Davlyatov, Robert Weech-Maldonado

Faculty Publications

Hospital readmission within 30 days of discharge is an important quality measure given that it represents a potentially preventable adverse outcome. Approximately, 20% of Medicare beneficiaries are readmitted within 30 days of discharge. Many strategies such as the hospital readmission reduction program have been proposed and implemented to reduce readmission rates. Prior research has shown that coordination of care could play a significant role in lowering readmissions. Although having a hospital-based skilled nursing facility (HBSNF) in a hospital could help in improving care for patients needing short-term skilled nursing or rehabilitation services, little is known about HBSNFs’ association with hospitals’ …

Comparing Forward And Backward Chaining In Teaching Olympic Weightlifting, James W. Moore, Laura M. Quintero

Faculty Publications

The popularity of Olympic‐style weightlifting in fitness routines is growing, but participating in these exercises with improper technique places lifters at increased risk for injury. Fitness training professionals have developed multiple teaching strategies, but have not subjected these strategies to systematic evaluation, particularly with novice lifters. Two strategies recommended by professional training organizations are akin to forward and backward chaining, which have been shown effective at teaching other novel, complex behaviors. The present study compared these forward‐ and backward‐chaining‐like strategies to teach novice lifters “the clean” and “the snatch,” two Olympic weightlifting movements frequently incorporated into high‐intensity training programs. Participants …

Researcher Profile: An Interview With Michelle Jeanfreau, Phd, Lmft, Michelle Jeanfreau

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Search For Microbial Martian Life And American Buddhist Ethics, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

Multiple searches hunt for extraterrestrial life, yet the ethics of such searches in terms of fossil and possible extant life on Mars have not been sufficiently delineated. In response, in this essay I propose a tripartite ethic for searches for microbial Martian life that consists of default nonharm toward potential living beings, default nonharm to the habitats of potential living beings, but also responsible, restrained scientific harvesting of some microbes in limited transgression of these default nonharm modes. Although this multifaceted ethic remains secular and hence adaptable to space research settings, it arises from both a qualitative analysis of authoritative …

Vector Tick Transmission Model Of Spotted Fever Rickettsiosis, Tais Berelli Saito, Jeremy Bechelli, Claire Smalley, Shahid Karim, David H. Walker

Faculty Publications

Many aspects of rickettsial infections have been characterized, including pathogenic and immune pathways and mechanisms of rickettsial survival within the vertebrate host and tick vector. However, very few studies are focused on the complex pathogen–vector–host interactions during tick feeding. Therefore, our objective was to develop a tick transmission model of the spotted fever group of rickettsial infections to study the initial events in disease development. The most appropriate strain of mouse was identified for evaluation as a transmission model, and the course of infection, bacterial levels, histopathologic changes, and antibody response during tick transmission in mice infested with Amblyomma maculatum …

Periphytic Algae Decouple Fungal Activity From Leaf Litter Decomposition Via Negative Priming, Halvor M. Halvorson, Jacob R. Barry, Matthew B. Lodato, Robert H. Findlay, Steven N. Francoeur, Kevin A. Kuehn

Faculty Publications

1. Well‐documented in terrestrial settings, priming effects describe stimulated heterotrophic microbial activity and decomposition of recalcitrant carbon by additions of labile carbon. In aquatic settings, algae produce labile exudates which may elicit priming during organic matter decomposition, yet the directions and mechanisms of aquatic priming effects remain poorly tested.

2. We tested algal‐induced priming during decomposition of two leaf species of contrasting recalcitrance, Liriodendron tulipifera and Quercus nigra, in experimental streams under light or dark conditions. We measured litter‐associated algal, bacterial, and fungal biomass and activity, stoichiometry, and litter decomposition rates over 43 days.

3. Light increased algal biomass and …

Board Diversity By Term Limits?, Darren Rosenblum, Yaron Nili

Faculty Publications

Four-fifths of the corporate board seats in the United States are held by men and a shocking number of companies lack any female representation on their boards. While institutional investors have pushed these companies for change, California took a more aggressive step and followed several European countries by mandating a quota for board representation. Heated argument has ensued over what diversity we should prioritize and what mechanisms should be used to promote diversity. Yet could these challenges be avoided altogether through the use of term limits?

This Article is the first academic inquiry exploring the connection between term limits and …

Job Automation In The 1960s: A Discourse Ahead Of Its Time (And For Our Time), Miriam A. Cherry

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

New technologies, such as on-demand platforms, algorithmic management, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, virtual presence, people analytics, and gamification are all beginning to have an impact on the world of work. Many contemporary scholars and policymakers view these trends as provoking an existential clash with the traditional employment relationship, the gateway definition for most labor and employment law. While many portray the concern about technology and the on-demand economy as seemingly brand new issues, these contemporary discussions are fundamentally linked to the past as part of a longstanding dialogue on automation and work.

The concerns raised are cyclical, repetitious, and …

Of Trauma And Power: Celebrity Sexual Misconduct Tribunals, Noa Ben-Asher

Faculty Publications

In fall 2018, shortly after his nomination to the United States Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault. That same year, Professor Avital Ronell was the subject of a Title IX investigation at New York University (NYU), where she served as chair of the Department of German. Both were harshly scrutinized in the court of public opinion. Within several months of each other, these two individuals, at the peak of their prolific careers, were investigated for sexual misconduct by non-judicial tribunals that would determine their fate. Both scandals appeared in the midst of the #MeToo era, during …

A Wall Of Hate: Eminent Domain And Interest-Convergence, Philip Lee

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Donald Trump is no stranger to eminent domain. In the 1990s, Trump wanted land around Trump Plaza to build a limousine parking lot. Many of the private owners agreed to sell, but one elderly widow and two brothers who owned a small business refused. Trump then got a government agency—the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA)—to take the properties through eminent domain, offering them a quarter of what they had previously paid or been offered for their land.

The property owners fought back and finally won. Although the CRDA named several justifications, from economic development to traffic alleviation and additional …

Strict Liability For Genetic Privacy Violations In The Age Of Big Data, Benjamin Sundholm

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

The ethical issues implicated by the misuse of genetic information have been smoldering for over half a century, and the age of big data has turned them into a five-alarm fire. In recent years, medical researchers and commercial enterprises have been using technological advancements to develop a variety of innovative ways to use genetic information. For example, it is becoming increasingly common for people to learn more about their health and family history by paying direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) companies to analyze their genetic data. DTC companies store the results of these tests electronically and often share them with pharmaceutical companies …

Vaccination Law 101: A Guide For Children’S Lawyers, Christal Cammock, Jennifer Baum

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Today, U.S. children are typically vaccinated against 11 deadly, and formerly common, diseases: diphtheria, Hib disease, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, rubella, pneumococcal disease, tetanus, and varicella (chicken pox). But it wasn’t always so. Vaccines are a relatively recent development in medical history. The world’s first vaccine, for smallpox, was discovered in the late 1700s. A hundred years later, Louis Pasteur discovered the second vaccine, for rabies. By the mid-1900s, technological and medical advances drove more rapid vaccine development, and in 1963, the first measles vaccine was approved.

Before the measles vaccine became available, up to …

Essay: I Choose, You Decide: Structural Tools For Supreme Court Legitimation, Jeremy N. Sheff

Faculty Publications

Efforts to rein in partisanship (or the perception thereof) on the Supreme Court tend to focus on reforms to the selection, appointment, or tenure of Justices. I propose a different (and perhaps complementary) reform, which would not require constitutional amendment. I propose that the selection of a case for the Court’s discretionary appellate docket should be performed by a different group of judicial officers than those who hear and decide that case. The proposal leverages the insight of the “I Cut, You Choose” procedure for ensuring fair division—only here, it manifests as “I Choose, You Decide.” This proposal, rather than …

Offensive Non-Mutual Issue Preclusion Revisited, Edward D. Cavanagh

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Some forty years ago, in Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, the United States Supreme Court held that the rule of mutuality of estoppel was no longer an absolute bar to the invocation of issue preclusion for the benefit of a plaintiff who had been a stranger to the prior (F-1) litigation against a defendant who had been party to both the F-I and present (F-2) cases. In so ruling, the Supreme Court gave its imprimatur to Judge Traynor's dramatic takedown of the mutuality rule in Bernhard v. Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association nearly four decades …

From Warfare To Welfare: Reconceptualizing Drug Sentencing During The Opioid Crisis, Jelani Jefferson Exum

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

The War on Drugs officially began in 1971 when President Nixon decried drug abuse as “public enemy number one.” The goal of the war rhetoric was clear—to cast drug abuse and the drug offender as dangerous adversaries of the law-abiding public, requiring military-like tactics to defeat. Criminal sentencing would come to be the main weapon used in this pressing combat. In continuation of the war efforts, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 was passed under President Reagan, establishing a weight-based, and highly punitive, mandatory minimum sentencing approach to drug offenses that has persisted in some form for the last …

Passive Avoidance, Anita S. Krishnakumar

Faculty Publications

In its nascent years, the Roberts Court quickly developed a reputation—and drew sharp criticism—for using the canon of constitutional avoidance to rewrite statutes in controversial, high-profile cases. In recent years, however, the Court seems to have taken a new turn, quietly creating exceptions or reading in statutory conditions in order to evade potentially serious constitutional problems without expressly discussing the constitutional issue or invoking the avoidance canon. In fact, the avoidance canon seems largely, and conspicuously, missing from many cases decided during the Court’s most recent Terms, playing a significant role in justifying the Court’s construction in only one majority …

Lead Us Not Into Temptation: A Response To Barbara Fedders’S “Opioid Policing”, Anna Roberts

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

In “Opioid Policing,” Barbara Fedders contributes to the law review literature the first joint scholarly analysis of two drug policing innovations: Seattle’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program and the Angel Initiative, which originated in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Even while welcoming the innovation and inspiration of these programs, she remains clear-eyed about the need to scrutinize their potential downsides. Her work is crucially timed. While still just a few years old, LEAD has been replicated many times and appears likely to be replicated still further—and to be written about much more. Inspired by Fedders’s call for a balanced take, this …

Arbitration Law Update: 2018-2019, Teresa J. Verges, Elissa Germaine

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

This article summarizes the leading federal and state arbitration cases during the last year that are of particular relevance to the securities arbitration practitioner. The Supreme Court decided three cases related to arbitration involving the “wholly groundless” exception, class arbitration, and arbitrability. Courts also addressed issues concerning arbitrability, vacating arbitration awards, a receiver action on behalf of defrauded investors, the limits of FINRA arbitration over member’s other business activities, and discovery in arbitration.

Geometric Hawkes Processes With Graph Convolutional Recurrent Neural Networks, Jin Shang, Mingxuan Sun

Faculty Publications

Hawkes processes are popular for modeling correlated temporal sequences that exhibit mutual-excitation properties. Existing approaches such as feature-enriched processes or variations of Multivariate Hawkes processes either fail to describe the exact mutual influence between sequences or become computational inhibitive in most real-world applications involving large dimensions. Incorporating additional geometric structure in the form of graphs into Hawkes processes is an effective and efficient way for improving model prediction accuracy. In this paper, we propose the Geometric Hawkes Process (GHP) model to better correlate individual processes, by integrating Hawkes processes and a graph convolutional recurrent neural network. The deep network structure …

Rural Practice As Public Interest Work, Hannah Haksgaard

Faculty Publications

As the rural lawyer shortage continues to grow, rural states and communities must find new ways of attracting law students and graduates to rural practice. This Article explores incentives based on conceptualizing rural private practice as public interest work. Rural lawyers provide public interest lawyering through pro bono cases, mixed practices, community service, and even through providing fee-paid services in rural communities. The Article asserts that law schools and rural communities can capitalize on this view to recruit new lawyers and argues that federal loan forgiveness programs should be expanded to cover rural lawyers.

Blending Surnames At Marriage, Hannah Haksgaard

Faculty Publications

In most states, marrying couples are severely limited in their surname choices at the time of marriage. While recent scholarship has focused on men’s limited surname choices, other important problems with the marital surname process exist. For example, the increasingly popular decision to blend surnames—taking parts of both current surnames to create an entirely new surname—is generally not allowed. Four states explicitly allow for surname blending on the marriage license, and three more allow for any surname to be adopted. This article argues the remaining states should follow suit by allowing surname blending and other surname options. In addition to …

Conflict-Of-Interest-Infected Virtual Representatives And A Cure, Thomas Simmons

Faculty Publications

The general rule that a person cannot be bound by an agreement or a decree unless she received notice encounters practical difficulties where a person is missing, incompetent, a minor, unascertained, or even unborn. In many trust proceedings, all beneficiaries are necessary parties. But short of appointing a guardian ad litem to represent persons who are difficult to notice, uncertainty and inefficiencies would be encountered were it not for the doctrines of representation and virtual representation. Under these common law doctrines persons -- even if not yet in existence -- can be held to be parties to a proceeding "virtually …

At The Sturgis Rally: A Story, Jonathan Van Patten

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Latest Research On Brand Relationships: An Introduction To The Special Issue, Marc Fetscherin, Francisco Guzman, Cleopatra Veloutsou, Ricardo Roseira Cayolla

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

First Mission Outpost: The Family, Alina M. Baltazar, Silvia Bacchiocchi

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Constructing Meaning Through Connection: Religious Perspectives On The Purpose Of Life, Quinn Galbraith, Adam Callister, Heather Kelly

Faculty Publications

Given prior research, which establishes a connection between religiosity and an increased sense of meaning in life, this study draws on qualitative data from interviews with 172 religious individuals living in Ireland and the United Kingdom in order to analyze what religious individuals perceive as their purpose in life. Interviews were conducted in person, recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded utilizing a team-based methodology. Researchers identified three main themes from the data related to the idea that the purpose of life is tied to relationships and connection: love and service toward others, family relationships, and connection with God. An analysis of …