Digital Commons Network^™

The Case For Mediation Representation Clinics And Externships, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article recommends that law schools offer mediation representation clinics and externship courses to assist self-represented litigants in cases with legally-represented parties. These courses would prepare law students to practice in the modern world. Students would get experience working with real clients, conduct interviews, help clients assess their goals and interests, analyze claims, perform legal research, prepare documents, coordinate with mediators, and negotiate with counterpart attorneys.

The courses would address the needs of multiple stakeholders including self-represented litigants, law students, law schools, courts, attorneys, mediators, and society in general. Law schools would develop these courses in collaboration with many potential …

Black And Latiné Parents' Perspectives On Supporting Their Children's Emotional And Physical Health, Daniel K. Cooper, Jayxa K. Alonzo, Tracey Goldson, Isabel R. Jordan, Fatima Jatoi, Isabella Mallozzi, Francesca Lupini

Faculty Publications

Informed by integrative models of cultural resilience, the purpose of this study was to (a) explore how parents are promoting their children's emotional and physical health, with a focus on race and ethnic-racial socialization strategies, and (b) identify the barriers and challenges parents are experiencing in supporting their children's health. Ethnically racially matched qualitative interviews were conducted with 33 parents (82% women, 64% Black, 36% Latiné). Results of thematic analysis revealed three overarching themes: (a) Strategies for Promoting Children's Physical and Emotional Health, (b) Challenges Promoting Children's Physical and Emotional Health, and (c) Impact of Racism on Parenting and Children's …

The Needless Search For A Founding-Era "Hearsay" Definition, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Publications

Modern Confrontation Clause doctrine permits only unconfronted “out-of-court statements that would have been admissible in a criminal case at the time of the founding.” To operationalize this concept, the Supreme Court identifies “testimonial hearsay” as the Clause’s primary concern. Its opinions regularly dive into the historical record to refine what counts as “testimonial” but ignore that record in defining “hearsay.” This omission cannot last. Cases in the lower courts, and one on the Court’s recent docket, concern testimonial but (arguably) non-hearsay statements. And while confrontation jurisprudence is supposed to be tied to founding-era evidence law, the “hearsay” definition, casually referenced …

The Case For Strategic Case Evaluation And Management Courses, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This short article argues that law schools should substantially increase instruction in pretrial litigation, teaching students how to strategically evaluate and manage cases. Law school graduates generally are unprepared to work with clients, have difficulty communicating with clients, and don’t understand the “big picture” of client matters. They generally aren’t well trained in negotiation, which is essential in modern legal practice. The problem for law students and law schools is exacerbated by the transition to the NextGen bar exam and a movement in various states to use alternative mechanisms for licensing that would require demonstration of practical skills.

To address …

It's Time To Make Important Upgrades To Our Mediation Curriculum, John Lande

Faculty Publications

In the past five decades, mediation practice and teaching have grown in size and sophistication. Inevitably, some ideas that made sense early in this development need revision and updating to reflect evolving realities and improved understandings. This is a moment deserving reflection about what faculty should teach about mediation, especially in light of the NextGen bar exam and changes in various states’ licensing regimes.

This article suggests various upgrades of our mediation instruction. Change is hard but can be worth the effort. The article includes numerous specific suggestions and links to handy resources that faculty can incorporate in their courses …

Oxymorons R Us, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This short article riffs on comments at a program at the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s annual conference to illustrate how oxymoronic the terms “facilitative,” “evaluative,” and “empowerment” have become. It suggests ways that dispute resolution academics and practitioners can avoid speaking oxymoron.

Review Of Colored Television, Michael F. Russo

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Modern Mediation Practice In American Legal Cases, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article provides excerpts of It's Time to Make Important Upgrades to Our Mediation Curriculum. It notes significant changes in mediation practice in the past five decades and highlights the nature of modern mediation practice in American legal cases. It suggests that law school faculty upgrade of our mediation instruction to reflect the realities of modern practice.

Hd-Tdcs Over Left Supplementary Motor Area Differentially Modulated Neural Correlates Of Motor Planning For Speech Vs. Limb Movement, Fatemeh Tabari, Celeste Patron, Hope Cryer, Karim Johari

Faculty Publications

The supplementary motor area (SMA) is implicated in planning, execution, and control of speech production and limb movement. The SMA is among putative generators of pre-movement EEG activity which is thought to be neural markers of motor planning. In neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease, abnormal pre-movement neural activity within the SMA has been reported during speech production and limb movement. Therefore, this region can be a potential target for non-invasive brain stimulation for both speech and limb movement. The present study took an initial step in examining the application of high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) over the left …

Transcription Decisions Of Conjoined Independent Clauses Are Equitable Across Dialects But Impact Measurement Outcomes, Janna B. Oetting, Tahmineh Maleki

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Transcription of conjoined independent clauses within language samples varies across professionals. Some transcribe these clauses as two separate utterances, whereas others conjoin them within a single utterance. As an inquiry into equitable practice, we examined rates of conjoined independent clauses produced by children and the impact of separating these clauses within utterances on measures of mean length of utterance (MLU) by a child’s English dialect, clinical status, and age. Method: The data were archival and included 246 language samples from children classified by their dialect (African American English or Southern White English) and clinical status (developmental language disorder [DLD] …

Review Of How To Leave The House, Michael F. Russo

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Application Of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy For Hay Evaluation At Different Degrees Of Sample Preparation, Eun Chan Jeong, Kun Jun Han, Farhad Ahmadi, Yan Fen Li, Li Li Wang, Young Sang Yu, Jong Geun Kim

Faculty Publications

Objective: A study was conducted to quantify the performance differences of the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) calibration models developed with different degrees of hay sample preparations. Methods: A total of 227 imported alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and another 360 imported timothy (Phleum pratense L.) hay samples were used to develop calibration models for nutrient value parameters such as moisture, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, crude protein, and in vitro dry matter digestibility. Spectral data of hay samples prepared by milling into 1-mm particle size or unground were separately regressed against the wet chemistry results of the abovementioned parameters. Results: The …

Secondary Production And Biomass In Mussel Assemblages Relate To Species Richness And Stream Size But Not Life History, Jonathan W. Lopez, Carla L. Atkinson, Angela K. Burrow, Garrett W. Hopper, Wendell R. Haag

Faculty Publications

Increases in species richness with habitat area (species–area relationship, or SAR) and increases in ecosystem function with species richness (biodiversity–ecosystem functioning, or BEF) are widely studied ecological patterns. Incorporating functional trait analysis into assemblage datasets may help clarify interpretations of SAR and BEF relationships in natural ecological systems. For example, life history theory can be used to make predictions about what species are most important in generating ecosystem function given a certain set of environmental conditions. We used quantitative assemblage data for freshwater mussels at nine sites in western Alabama, USA, to test for SAR and BEF relationships. At each …

A Longitudinal Evaluation Of Personalized Intrinsic Network Topography And Cognitive Decline In Parkinson's Disease, Renxi Li, Vincent Pozorski, Kevin Dabbs, Maureen Haebig, Christopher R. Cox, Colleen Pletcher, Alexandra Wey, Amy Barzgari, Frances Theisen, Ozioma Okonkwo, Catherine L. Gallagher

Faculty Publications

Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) offers insight into how synchrony within and between brain networks is altered in disease states. Individual and disease-related variability in intrinsic connectivity networks may influence our interpretation of R-fMRI data. We used a personalized approach designed to account for individual variation in the spatial location of correlation maxima to evaluate R-fMRI differences between Parkinson's disease (PD) patients who showed cognitive decline, those who remained cognitively stable and cognitively stable controls. We compared fMRI data from these participant groups, studied at baseline and 18 months later, using both network-based statistics (NBS) and calculations of …

Wood Ducks And Hooded Mergansers As Interspecific Brood Parasites: An Evaluation Of Parasitic Egg Survival, Dylan L. Bakner, Kevin M. Ringelman, Larry A. Reynolds, Richard M. Kaminski, Scott E. Stephens, J. Brian Davis

Faculty Publications

Conspecific and interspecific brood parasitism are alternate reproductive strategies more pervasive in waterfowl than in any other group of birds. While previous research has measured costs incurred by nest hosts incubating parasitized clutches, few studies have focused on the relative success of parasites. Here, we evaluated the success of wood duck (Aix sponsa) and hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) eggs laid parasitically in Louisiana and Mississippi. We monitored nest boxes, assigned eggs in each nest as host or parasitic, and determined the number of eggs that hatched and failed. Across all study areas (1994–1999 and 2020–2023), we monitored 1750 wood duck …

Wood Duck Nest Survival And Duckling Recruitment Is Minimally Affected By Interspecific Brood Parasitism From Hooded Mergansers And Black-Bellied Whistling-Ducks, Dylan L. Bakner, Kevin M. Ringelman, Larry A. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

In the southeastern United States, wood ducks (Aix sponsa) have historically experienced interspecific brood parasitism (IBP) primarily from hooded mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus), but the recent northward expansion of black-bellied whistling-ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis) has added a new complexity to these interactions. We monitored nest boxes in Louisiana to evaluate the influence IBP had on wood duck daily nest survival rate (after, DSR) and duckling recruitment. We monitored 1,295 wood duck nests from 2020−2023 and found 112 (8.7%) were parasitized by hooded mergansers and 148 (11.5%) by whistling-ducks. Parasitic egg-laying by hooded mergansers lowered wood duck DSR, while DSR for nests parasitized …

Potential Effects Of Traffic Noise On Anuran Call Characteristics In Louisiana, Usa During Winter, Jane M. Kunberger, Ty J. Price, Chloe Crawford, Allison A. Vestal-Laborde, Ashley M. Long

Faculty Publications

Urban environments expose wildlife to levels of anthropogenic noise they would not experience in rural areas (e.g., traffic noise), and research suggests that many species adjust their acoustic signals for optimal transmission in urban soundscapes. However, our understanding of anuran (order Anura) responses to noise pollution in urban environments of the southeastern United States is limited, particularly for species that can breed during winter. Our goal was to examine how vocal anuran advertisement call characteristics during winter varied with increasing distance from roadways in bottomland hardwoods of Louisiana, USA. We deployed acoustic recording units at two sites (i.e., rural and …

What's Behind The Dramatic Pre-2020 Declines In Hispanic/Latina Adolescent Childbearing? Decomposing Change By Age, Origin, And Nativity, Reanne Frank, Elizabeth Wildsmith, Rhiannon A. Kroeger, Courtney E. Williams, Akanne Torres Beltran

Faculty Publications

Purpose: To assess whether the large declines in adolescent childbearing among Hispanic adolescents over the period 2000-2019 have been driven by co-occurring changes in the composition of the Hispanic population and, if so, whether they have done so differentially by Hispanic subgroup. Methods: We use birth counts from the United States vital statistics system and population denominators from the United States decennial census long form 5-percent Public Use Microdata and the American Community Survey to conduct a decomposition analysis apportioning observed declines in Hispanic adolescent childbearing to: (1) compositional shifts in nativity, age, and region-of-origin and (2) subgroup changes in …

A Systematic Review On The Path To Inclusive And Sustainable Energy Transitions, Oluwafemi Awolesi, Corinne A. Salter, Margaret Reams

Faculty Publications

This paper surveys the energy literature and systematically reviews the path to an inclusive and sustainable energy transition by exploring factors that drive the current energy transitions, countries with advanced energy transition programs, and the roles of energy literacy and justice in energy transition. Utilizing an exhaustive literature search from 2001 to 2023 via the Scopus database, the study identifies strong policy frameworks, technological advancements, economic incentives, and international collaborations as pivotal factors in successful energy transitions. Case studies from the Nordic countries, Germany, and Poland highlight diverse approaches and significant progress, revealing valuable lessons for global application. Although energy …

Absence Of Quantization In The Circular Photogalvanic Effect In Disordered Chiral Weyl Semimetals, Ang Kun Wu, Daniele Guerci, Yixing Fu, Justin H. Wilson, J. H. Pixley

Faculty Publications

The circularly polarized photogalvanic effect (CPGE) is studied in chiral Weyl semimetals with short-range quenched disorder. Without disorder, the topological properties of chiral Weyl semimetals lead to quantization of the CPGE, which is a second-order optical response. Using a combination of diagrammatic perturbation theory in the continuum and exact numerical calculations via the kernel polynomial method on a lattice model, we show that disorder perturbatively destabilizes the quantization of the CPGE.

Links Between Optical And X-Ray Light In Cygnus X-2, Alexander B. Igl, R. I. Hynes, K. S. O'Brien, E. L. Robinson, C. T. Britt

Faculty Publications

We observed the low-mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2 for a total of 18 nights over two observing runs in July and September of 2006, using the Otto Struve Telescope at McDonald Observatory and the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. Using discrete cross-correlations, we found peaks occurring at near-zero lags in the flaring branch of the colour-colour diagram, which could signify reprocessing, in addition to an anticorrelation within the normal branch. When comparing optical flux to the system's placement on the Z track, two distinct behaviours were seen: (1) a state with no correlation, and (2) a multivalued (horizontal and normal branches)/correlated …

Constraining Possible Γ-Ray Burst Emission From Gw230529 Using Swift-Bat And Fermi-Gbm, Samuele Ronchini, Suman Bala, Joshua Wood, James Delaunay, Simone Dichiara, Jamie A. Kennea, Tyler Parsotan, Gayathri Raman, Aaron Tohuvavohu, Naresh Adhikari, Narayana P. Bhat, Sylvia Biscoveanu, Elisabetta Bissaldi, Eric Burns, Sergio Campana, Koustav Chandra, William H. Cleveland, Sarah Dalessi, Massimiliano De Pasquale, Juan García-Bellido, Claudio Gasbarra, Misty M. Giles, Ish Gupta, Dieter Hartmann, Boyan A. Hristov, Michelle C. Hui, Rahul Kashyap, Daniel Kocevski, Bagrat Mailyan, Christian Malacaria, Hiroyuki Nakano, Giacomo Principe, Oliver J. Roberts

Faculty Publications

GW230529 is the first compact binary coalescence detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration with at least one component mass confidently in the lower mass gap, corresponding to the range 3-5 M ⊙. If interpreted as a neutron star-black hole merger, this event has the most symmetric mass ratio detected so far and therefore has a relatively high probability of producing electromagnetic (EM) emission. However, no EM counterpart has been reported. At the merger time t 0, Swift-BAT and Fermi-GBM together covered 100% of the sky. Performing a targeted search in a time window [t 0 − 20 s, t 0 + …

Grb 180128a: A Second Magnetar Giant Flare Candidate From The Sculptor Galaxy, Aaron C. Trigg, Eric Burns, Oliver J. Roberts, Michela Negro, Dmitry S. Svinkin, Matthew G. Baring, Zorawar Wadiasingh, Nelson L. Christensen, Igor Andreoni, Michael S. Briggs, Niccolò Di Lalla, Dmitry D. Frederiks, Vladimir M. Lipunov, Nicola Omodei, Anna V. Ridnaia, Peter Veres, Alexandra L. Lysenko

Faculty Publications

Magnetars are slowly rotating neutron stars that possess the strongest magnetic fields known in the cosmos (10¹⁴-10¹⁵ G). They display a range of transient high-energy electromagnetic activity. The brightest and most energetic of these events are the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) known as magnetar giant flares (MGFs), with isotropic energies Eiso10⁴⁴10⁴⁶ erg. Only seven MGF detections have been made to date: three unambiguous events occurred in our Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds, and the other four MGF candidates are associated with nearby star-forming galaxies. As all seven identified MGFs are bright at Earth, additional weaker …

An Ixpe-Led X-Ray Spectropolarimetric Campaign On The Soft State Of Cygnus X-1: X-Ray Polarimetric Evidence For Strong Gravitational Lensing, James F. Steiner, Edward Nathan, Kun Hu, Henric Krawczynski, Michal Dovčiak, Alexandra Veledina, Fabio Muleri, Jiri Svoboda, Kevin Alabarta, Maxime Parra, Yash Bhargava, Giorgio Matt, Juri Poutanen, Pierre Olivier Petrucci, Allyn F. Tennant, M. Cristina Baglio, Luca Baldini, Samuel Barnier, Sudip Bhattacharyya, Stefano Bianchi, Maimouna Brigitte, Mauricio Cabezas, Floriane Cangemi, Fiamma Capitanio, Jacob Casey, Nicole Rodriguez Cavero, Simone Castellano, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Sohee Chun, Eugene Churazov, Enrico Costa, Niccolò Di Lalla, Alessandro Di Marco

Faculty Publications

We present the first X-ray spectropolarimetric results for Cygnus X-1 in its soft state from a campaign of five IXPE observations conducted during 2023 May-June. Companion multiwavelength data during the campaign are likewise shown. The 2-8 keV X-rays exhibit a net polarization degree PD = 1.99% ± 0.13% (68% confidence). The polarization signal is found to increase with energy across the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer’s (IXPE) 2-8 keV bandpass. The polarized X-rays exhibit an energy-independent polarization angle of PA = −25.°7 ± 1.°8 east of north (68% confidence). This is consistent with being aligned to Cyg X-1’s au-scale compact radio …

Out Of Time Order Correlation Of The Hubbard Model With Random Local Disorder, Chakradhar Rangi, Juana Moreno, Ka Ming Tam

Faculty Publications

The out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) serves as a powerful tool for investigating quantum information spreading and chaos in complex systems. We present a method employing non-equilibrium dynamical mean-field theory and coherent potential approximation combined with diagrammatic perturbation on the Schwinger-Keldysh contour to calculate the OTOC for correlated fermionic systems subjected to both random disorder and electron interaction. Our key finding is that random disorder enhances the OTOC decay in the Hubbard model for the metallic phase in the weakly interacting limit. However, the current limitation of our perturbative solver restricts the applicability to weak interaction regimes.

Predicting Superior Crosses In Winter Wheat Using Genomics: A Retrospective Study To Assess Accuracy, Carolina Ballén-Taborda, Jeanette Lyerly, Jared Smith, Kimberly Howell, Gina Brown-Guedira, Noah Dewitt, Brian Ward, Md Ali Babar, Stephen A. Harrison, Richard E. Mason, Mohamed Mergoum, J. Paul Murphy, Russell Sutton, Carl A. Griffey, Richard E. Boyles

Faculty Publications

In plant breeding, selecting cross-combinations that are more likely to result in superior lines for cultivar development is critical. This step, however, is subjective with decisions being based on available genomic and phenotypic data for prospective parents. Genomic prediction (GP) provides new opportunities to accelerate genetic gain for a target trait by identifying superior crosses through simulation of progeny performance. In this context, this study deployed GP using the phenotype and genotype of potential parents to predict the progeny genetic variance (VG) and means of overall, inferior 10%, and superior 10% (μ, μip, and μsp, respectively). This retrospective experimental design …

Modeling Interactions Of Planting Date And Phenology In Louisiana Rice Under Current And Future Climate Conditions, Sajad Jamshidi, Teresa Murgia, Ana G. Morales-Ona, Tommaso Cerioli, Adam N. Famoso, Davide Cammarano, Diane R. Wang

Faculty Publications

The performance of novel genetic combinations under untested environmental scenarios and management practices can be virtually examined using process-based crop models. Indeed, there has been a long-standing interest in the crop modeling community to expand the utility of process-based models to broader germplasm panels (e.g., breeding lines or diversity panels). Yet, there is often a misalignment between data needed to parameterize process-based crop models and data routinely collected by breeding programs. To address this gap, we leverage a dataset from a long-term trial on advanced experimental lines and released varieties from the Louisiana rice breeding program to calibrate and evaluate …

Selective Antineoplastic Potential Of Fractionated Caribbean Native Ganoderma Species Extracts On Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Luz V. Arroyo-Cruz, Sebastián Sagardía-González, Kurt Miller, Taotao Ling, Fatima Rivas, Michelle M. Martínez-Montemayor

Faculty Publications

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype characterized by the absence of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 expression. It is known for its high malignancy, invasiveness, and propensity for metastasis, resulting in a poor prognosis due to the absence of beneficial therapeutic targets. Natural products derived from mushrooms have gained significant attention in neoplastic therapy due to their potential medicinal properties. The therapeutic potential of Ganoderma lucidum in breast cancer has been highlighted by our group, suggesting its use as an adjuvant treatment. The present study aims to assess the potential antineoplastic …

Horse-Racing Pooh-Bah: C.W. Williams And His Kite-Shaped Track, Roy R. Behrens

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

In Vitro Culture Alters Cell Lineage Composition And Cellular Metabolism Of Bovine Blastocyst, Hao Ming, Mingxiang Zhang, Sandeep Rajput, Deirdre Logsdon, Linkai Zhu, William B. Schoolcraft, Rebecca L. Krisher, Zongliang Jiang, Ye Yuan

Faculty Publications

Profiling bovine blastocyst transcriptome at the single-cell level has enabled us to reveal the first cell lineage segregation, during which the inner cell mass (ICM), trophectoderm (TE), and an undefined population of transitional cells were identified. By comparing the transcriptome of blastocysts derived in vivo (IVV), in vitro from a conventional culture medium (IVC), and in vitro from an optimized reduced nutrient culture medium (IVR), we found a delay of the cell fate commitment to ICM in the IVC and IVR embryos. Developmental potential differences between IVV, IVC, and IVR embryos were mainly contributed by ICM and transitional cells. Pathway …