Digital Commons Network^™

Into Contract’S Undiscovered Country: A Defense Of Browse-Wrap Licenses

San Diego Law Review

The Internet is important not only because of its popularity, but also because of its power for innovation. The Internet has caused an explosion of new services and innovative types of commerce. The Internet has also changed the contours of the marketplace, creating a connected economy in which anyone with a computer and a phone line can do business directly with a maker of goods anywhere in the world and at any time. The Internet has even changed consumers themselves, empowering them with unlimited information about products. The Internet has also changed the relationship that consumers have with products created …

Violence, Video Games, And A Voice Of Reason: Judge Posner To The Defense Of Kids' Culture And The First Amendment, Clay Calvert

San Diego Law Review

"We are in the world of kids' popular culture. But it is not lightly to be suppressed."' So wrote Judge Richard A. Posner on behalf of a unanimous three judge panel for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2001 in striking down, on First Amendment grounds, an Indianapolis ordinance that blocked minors' access to video games depicting violence. Judge Posner's erudite opinion could not have come at a more important time-a time when the entertainment industries in the United States seemingly are under government siege and when the media blame game is peaking. The judge's cogent reasoning and …

Internet Gambling: Should Fantasy Sports Leagues Be Prohibited?

San Diego Law Review

This Comment will examine fantasy sports leagues as a form of gambling. Part II considers various federal restrictions on gambling. State perspectives on gambling are addressed in Part III. Policy arguments are presented in Part IV, and practical issues are explored in Part V. Part VI concludes that Internet fantasy sports leagues violate gambling prohibitions. Finally, the Appendix sets out the gambling laws of each state.

Ethnography And The Idealized Accounts Of Science In Law, David S. Caudill

San Diego Law Review

n Part I, I confirm the idealizations of science in law and their implications for legal scholarship and practice. In Part II, I describe the ethnographic method used by science studies scholars, with reference to my own ethnographic analysis of interviews with three neuroscientists. I conclude Part II by identifying various social aspects of science that comprise a complex picture of scientific activity. In Part ill, I discuss the implications of ethnomethodology for trial practice, including deposition analysis, Daubert-type hearings, cross-examination techniques, and drafting jury instructions. Part IV addresses anticipated criticisms of my arguments.

California's Duty Of Confidentiality: Is It Time For A Life-Threatening Criminal Act Exception?, Kevin E. Mohr

San Diego Law Review

In August 2001, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association (ABA) voted in favor of a revision to the duty of confidentiality contained in the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, a set of ethics rules that has been adopted in some form by over forty states. Specifically, the House voted to broaden the exception in Model Rule 1.6 that permits a lawyer to reveal confidential information of the client to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes

necessary to prevent likely death or substantial bodily harrn.

It is

uncertain whether that vote will have any effect on the …

Feminist Legal Writing, Kathryn M. Stanchi

San Diego Law Review

Because feminist legal advocates must use legal writing to persuade

their audience and push for change in the law, they must confront the dilemma of whether to follow legal writing conventions and risk altering or losing their feminist message or whether to break from convention and risk losing the legal audience. Feminist legal scholarship, in many different ways, has made great progress in dealing with this dilemma. The focus of this Article, however, is on several pieces of feminist legal scholarship that have confronted the dilemma by pushing the bounds of conventional legal language and legal writing. These pieces, by …

Public Defender's Conundrum: Signaling Professionalism And Quality In The Absence Of Price, Robert J. Aalberts, Thomas Boyt, Lorne H. Seidman

San Diego Law Review

This Essay, the result of an

extensive empirical study in the state of Nevada, attempts to ascertain factors among criminal defendants that may predict how they perceive a level of quality and satisfaction with their lawyers as service providers, as well as policy proposals for improving the perceptions of public defenders.

Remote Sensing: A New Tool For Automobile Inspection And Maintenance, Donald H. Stedman

Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test Publications

Federally-mandated emissions testing of automobiles in Colorado has decreased emissions, albeit much less than predicted. Recent breakthroughs in manufacturing low emitting vehicles and in remote sensing of a moving car’s exhaust could enable Colorado to phase out or drastically increase the efficiency of treadmill-style testing centers. Remote sensing technology now allows a piece of equipment small enough to fit in a van to assess the mass of pollutants per gallon of fuel emitted by a passing car. Once an emissions scofflaw is identified, a number of options exist:

· immediate pullover and ticketing by a police officer;

· a “smart …

Multiple And Symbol Operators: The Battle For Market Leadership In The Irish Grocery Market, Edmund O'Callaghan, Mary Wilcox

Case Studies

The Irish grocery retailing market, one of the most competitive in Europe, has undergone a metamorphosis in recent years. The demise of many small grocers, an increased concentration of multiples and the galvanization of the independent sector through symbol group participation has intensified competitive rivalry. The two largest multiples ie. Tesco Ireland and Dunnes Stores continually vie for number one position nationally. In recent years, Musgrave have galvanised the independent sector and are now in a position to challenge the top multiples for the prized pole position in the market. Recent results show that sales were up 15% vear-on-year, on …

Investigation Into The Control Of An Upper-Limb Myoelectric Prosthesis, Steven Michael Roberts

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis presents research that extends current knowledge in the area of upper-limb prosthesis design and control. A study of myoelectric signals (MES)'s using both NHS and other equipment has resulted in identification of the signal source and transmission/detection issues. A globally comprehensive and up to date survey of myoelectric research has revealed new and long-term research paths. This thesis challenges the old model in interpreting the MES signals by providing and collecting evidence to suggest a new approach to future investigation. The historical description of a stochastic, non-deterministic MES has been shown by this research to be incomplete. An …

Dynamic Characterisation Of The Head-Media Interface In Hard Disk Drives Using Novel Sensor Systems, Glen Alan Tunstall

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Hard disk drives function perfectly satisfactorily when used in a stable environment, but in certain applications they are subjected to shock and vibration. During the work reported in this thesis it has been found that when typical hard disk drives are subjected lo vibration, data transfer failure is found to be significant at frequencies between 440Hz and 700Hz, at an extreme, failing at only Ig of sinusoidal vibration. These failures can largely be attributed to two key components: the suspension arm and the hard disk. At non-critical frequencies of vibration the typical hard disk drive can reliably transfer data whilst …

Pitch Estimation For Noisy Speech, Azar Khurshid

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

In this dissertation a biologically plausible system of pitch estimation is proposed. The system is designed from the bottom up to be robust to challenging noise conditions. This robustness to the presence of noise in the signal is achieved by developing a new representation of the speech signal, based on the operation of damped harmonic oscillators, and temporal mode analysis of their output. This resulting representation is shown to possess qualities which are not degraded in presence of noise. A harmonic grouping based system is used to estimate the pitch frequency. A detailed statistical analysis is performed on the system, …

Digital Watermarking For Compact Discs And Their Effect On The Error Correction System, Kay Rydyger

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

A new technique, based on current compact disc technology, to image the transparent surface of a compact disc, or additionally the reflective information layer, has been designed, implemented and evaluated. This technique (image capture technique) has been tested and successfully applied to the detection of mechanically introduced compact disc watermarks and biometrical information with a resolution of 1.6um x l4um. Software has been written which, when used with the image capture technique, recognises a compact disc based on its error distribution. The software detects digital watermarks which cause either laser signal distortions or decoding error events. Watermarks serve as secure …

Application Of Stiffness/Strength Corrector And Cellular Automata In Predicting Response Of Laterally Loaded Masonry Panels, Guang Chun Zhou

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This research has introduced a new concept, "stiffness/strength corrector", which more accurately models variation in masonry properties at various locations (zones) within a masonry wall panel. Derivation of these correctors was based on a closer mapping of the laboratory experimental results to those obtained from a non-linear finite element analysis of full-scale masonry panels subjected to a uniformly distributed lateral load. In this research only one panel, which was tested in a previous research, was used as the "base panel" and correctors for new panels with and without openings with various boundary conditions were derived by matching similar regions and …

A Pre-Transfer Assessment Framework For International Technology Transfer, Stephen Hobbs

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

The demands off managing in an international operating environment has changed considerably over the past 20 years due to developments in global markets. Multinational enterprises face fierce international competition and are now tasked not only with developing effective competitive capabilities but also with maximising the knowledge and expertise developed in one part of the organisation by transferring it to another. This work has investigated the position of multinational enterprises in the developing global market and through a broad and thorough review of current literature, identified a gap in the knowledge -a tool for helping the assessment of the transfer of …

A Generic Network And System Management Framework, Martin Hans Knahl

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Networks and distributed systems have formed the basis of an ongoing communications revolution that has led to the genesis of a wide variety of services. The constantly increasing size and complexity of these systems does not come without problems. In some organisations, the deployment of Information Technology has reached a state where the benefits from downsizing and rightsizing by adding new services are undermined by the effort required to keep the system running. Management of networks and distributed systems in general has a straightforward goal: to provide a productive environment in which work can be performed effectively. The work required …

Evaluation Of Lntelligent Medical Systems, Julian Bernard Tilbury

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis presents novel, robust, analytic and algorithmic methods for calculating Bayesian posterior intervals of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and confusion matrices used for the evaluation of intelligent medical systems tested with small amounts of data. Intelligent medical systems are potentially important in encapsulating rare and valuable medical expertise and making it more widely available. The evaluation of intelligent medical systems must make sure that such systems are safe and cost effective. To ensure systems are safe and perform at expert level they must be tested against human experts. Human experts are rare and busy which often severely restricts …

The Development Of A Novel Suspension Arm With 2-Dimensional Actuation, For Use In Advanced Hard Disk Drives, Chibesa Chilumbu

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

As magnetic computer disks are developed to ever-greater data storage densities, the accuracy required for head positioning is moving beyond the accuracy provided by present technology using single-stage voice-coil motors in hard disk drives. This thesis details work to develop a novel active suspension arm with 2-dimensional actuation for use in advanced hard disk drives. The arm developed is capable of high-bandwidth data tracking as well as precision head flying height control motion. High-bandwidth data tracking is facilitated by the use of piezoelectric stack actuator, positioned closer to the head. The suspension arm is also capable of motion in the …

The Development Of Party Systems And The Determinants Of Partisan Voting In English Local Government Elections 1973-1998, Lawrence Ware

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

This thesis takes a quantitative approach to the study of the development of party systems in English local government following its reorganisation in the early 1970s. Aggregate data, including local election results and census information, are used to identify the determinants of partisan support and the subsequent effects upon variations in local party systems. The study develops the first major classification of local party systems between 1973 and 1998, focussing principally upon factors accounting for variations in the evolution of such systems. This study provides the first clear evidence that the operation of local electoral systems contributes towards the production …

The Process Of Design Is Almost Like Writing An Essay, Susan Orr, Margo Blythman

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

Addressing Racial Diversity In A Writing Center: Stories And Lessons From Two Beginners, Nancy Barron, Nancy Grimm

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

Guilt-Free Tutoring: Rethinking How We Tutor Non-Native-English-Speaking Students, Susan Blau, John Hall, Sarah Sparks

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

Writing Center Users Procrastinate Less: The Relationship Between Individual Differences In Procrastination, Peer Feedback, And Student Writing Success, Beth Rapp Young, Barbara A. Fritzsche

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

International Writing Centers Association

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

The Development Of A Novel Electro-Magnetic Force Microscope, James Frederick Charles Windmill

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis describes the development of a new type of Magnetic Force Microscope (MFM) probe based on a unique electromagnetic design. In addition the design, construction and testing of a new MFM system, complete in both hardware and software, is also described. The MFM allowed initial tests on prototypes of the new probe, and is to provide a base for future new probe integration. The microscope uses standard MFM micro-cantilever probes in static modes of imaging. A new computer hosted DSP control system, software, and its various interfaces with the MFM have been integrated into the system. The system has …

Development Of Improved Head-Disk Spacing Measurement Methods For Magnetic Disk Drives, Xinqun Liu

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

A detailed review of existing flying height or head disk spacing testing techniques has been made, and in-depth analyses of the working principles of the currently popular optical interferometry flying height testing methods are presented with simulation results. A new dual-beam normal incidence polarisation inteferometry method is then proposed. One advantage of this dual-beam polarisation interferometry is that it can be used for both the direct spacing measurement (DSM) method and relative displacement measuring (RDM) method. The RDM method is a good way to measure the head-disk spacing and the slider pitch or roll when a real magnetic disk is …

Spread Spectrum-Based Video Watermarking Algorithms For Copyright Protection, Cristian Vasile Serdean

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Digital technologies know an unprecedented expansion in the last years. The consumer can now benefit from hardware and software which was considered state-of-the-art several years ago. The advantages offered by the digital technologies are major but the same digital technology opens the door for unlimited piracy. Copying an analogue VCR tape was certainly possible and relatively easy, in spite of various forms of protection, but due to the analogue environment, the subsequent copies had an inherent loss in quality. This was a natural way of limiting the multiple copying of a video material. With digital technology, this barrier disappears, being …

Linking Performance Requirements With Process Improvement Actions For Business Process Re-Design, Cita Lorraine Wood

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis presents research that extends current knowledge in the area of business process re-design, with a specific focus on the 'Make Product' process within manufacturing organisations. Current business process re-design approaches offer only limited guidance on the specific changes that can be made to a process when re-designing it to achieve the desired performance improvements and often overlook any strategically derived performance requirements when re-designing the process. Case experience suggests that practitioners do not consider the performance requirements of their business processes when re-designing them and that the actions they take to achieve performance improvements are not selected with …

A Meeting Of Minds Across The Workspace: Common Ground In Collaborative Design, Susan Elizabeth Reed

School of Psychology Theses

This thesis reports an exploration of how the use and construction of external representations through methods of signalling and conversational grounding, support the sharing of ideas for spatial design tasks and how that support changes as a function of access to a shared works pace, external representations and memory support. Further aims of the study were to develop a coding scheme to identify the use of language in establishing and maintaining mutual understanding between collaborators. Pilot studies identified appropriate tasks relating to visual problem-solving design tasks for use in the main studies. For the main studies, video recordings were obtained, …

Using A Toolkit To Support Practioner Evaluation, Jen Harvey, Grainne Conole, Ed Crew, Martin Oliver

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.