Digital Commons Network^™

Enforcing International Labor Standards: The Potential Of The Alien Tort Claims Act, Marisa A. Pagnattaro

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Professor Pagnattaro argues that courts should allow claims under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) to enforce international labor rights for alien workers. She begins by reviewing the history of the ATCA and the developing jurisprudence in the international labor context, including recent and pending cases involving employee ATCA claims against U.S. multinational corporations. After outlining what is necessary to assert an ATCA claim, including what is required to satisfy jurisdictional requirements, to state a claim under the law of nations, and to hold employers liable for violations of the law of nations, she details international foundations which can be …

Trip-Ping Over Business Method Patents, Vincent Chiappetta

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Professor Chiappetta argues that the current effort to expand substantive international patent law harmonization to include business method patenting is ill-conceived and unsupportable. Such patents cannot be justified on the economic incentive grounds supporting the Western regimes. They are not part of the existing TRIPS agreement, and under present circumstances they should not be added. Any future agreement, bi-lateral or multi-lateral (including an extension of TRIPS), must be based on a better calibrated form of protection (less than patent) and should occur only after the persistent normative differences and the distributional consequences of international substantive harmonization have been addressed.

Equivalence At Law (And Society): Social Status In Korea, Race In America, Ilhyung Lee

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Professor Lee's Article uses a comparison between the evolving role of social status in Korean society and that of race in the United States to explore Korean society and its legal system. Tracing the historical origins of status consciousness from the Confucianism of the Chosun dynasty to its vestiges in contemporary Korean society, Professor Lee notes several important parallels between social status in Korea and race in the United States. Emphasizing that there remain significant differences between the ways each functions in relation to law, Professor Lee argues that considering the two in equivalence is nonetheless analytically useful in both …

Legal And Policy Constraints On The Conduct Of Aerial Precision Warfare, Nathan A. Canestaro

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Focusing his historical analysis on World War II, Mr. Canestaro describes how the substantial legal and policy controls under which the U.S. military conducts its air campaigns meet or exceed the requirements of international treaties and the customary practice of states. Bombing technology has only recently developed to the point of allowing compliance with international legal standards, and the United States has implemented stringent measures in recent conflicts to minimize unintended civilian casualties in warfare. Mr. Canestaro demonstrates that because these self-imposed restrictions go beyond the point of mere compliance, they often constitute a disadvantage to the conduct of U.S. …

Order In The Court: Judicial Stability And Democratic Success In Haiti, Ben J. Scott

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Haiti faces many challenges in its attempt to build a stable, liberal democracy. Haitians have endured a legacy of chaotic and heavy-handed rule in recent decades, and the success of democracy in Haiti is both hoped for and doubted by Haitians and the international community. One reason for the doubts has been the failure of the Haitian government successfully to implement free and fair elections. Citizens and candidates are often hesitant even to participate in elections. Though both were tragic, neither the failed legislative and presidential elections of 2000, nor the subsequent coup d'etat in 2004 that resulted in the …

Reconstruction And Constitution Building In Iraq, A. Kevin Reinhart, Gilbert S. Merritt

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

I would like to thank Vanderbilt Law School and all of the many sponsors for the invitation, and especially the Foreign Service Legal Society whose officers worked so hard to put this together. I appreciate very much the opportunity to talk to you all about Iraq. I need to begin with sort of a prelude: the things that were part of my training are in a way irrelevant to what I was doing this summer. I was not there in a professional capacity, as an Islamicist; I was there instead as a volunteer for the International Rescue Committee (IRC). I …

Labor Standards On Cypriot Ships: Myth And Reality, Iliana Christodoulou-Varotsi, Dmitri A. Pentsov

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article offers a comprehensive comparative analysis of labor and social security standards on Cypriot and Greek ships. Potential cost savings for shipowners who register their ships in one country rather than the other may result from the absence of a given standard in the country of registration, or a lower or more flexible standard in that country than in the other. The authors conclude that the registration of ships in Cyprus does not provide overall advantages (in terms of "inferior" labor standards) over registration in Greece. Broadly speaking, shipowners may gain certain advantages by registering their ships in Cyprus …

Return To Europe? The Czech Republic And The Eu's Influence On Its Treatment Of Roma, Matthew D. Marden

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Czech Republic has faced much criticism in the past fifteen years for the treatment of its Romani minority community. The European Union has successfully applied informal, non-legal means of pressuring the Czech Republic into making some changes necessary to improve living conditions for Roma. With the Czech Republic's recent accession to the European Union, legal human rights institutions will likely play a larger role in ensuring that the Czech Republic continues to improve conditions for Czech Roma. The Author uses a case brought by a group of Roma at the European Court of Human Rights to demonstrate the potential …

Old Man And The Sky: The Brazilian Antitrust Implications For Rupert Murdoch's Expansion Of The Sky Global Satellite Network, Geoffrey Drake

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

To expand its global satellite network to the United States, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation purchased DirecTV in 2003. Brazil's antitrust regulatory body, CADE, has expressed concern about a potential monopoly in the Brazilian satellite market controlled by Murdoch because News' Sky Latin America competes directly with DirecTV. If News opts to combine the two Brazilian satellite services, it will consolidate control of ninety-five percent of Brazil's satellite market, leaving satellite and cable competitors at a disadvantage. The Author argues that CADE should conditionally approve the acquisition because of the combination's ability to benefit Brazilian consumers, the government, and News Corporation …

Modernizing Muslim Family Law: The Case Of Egypt, Lama Abu-Odeh

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

he Author discusses the dynamics of family law reforms in modern Egypt as an instance of similar dynamics of reforms in other Muslim countries. The forces that push for reforms as well as those that try to limit them are also introduced.

The Author begins by describing the historical legal background shared by the vast majority of Muslim countries, including Egypt. An account of the general evolution of Islamic law-from a dominant system existing within an Islamic state to a subordinate system existing within an overall secularized legal system characterized by legal borrowing from European codes-is given. Islamic law has …

The Lives Of Animals, The Lives Of Prisoners, And The Revelations Of Abu Ghraib, Charles H. Brower, Ii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, Professor Brower suggests that the images depicting inhuman treatment of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison contain timely lessons about the function and the importance of legal personality. To illustrate this thesis, the Author first identifies animals as a population condemned to an existence bereft of the protections that accompany legal personality. Next, the Author describes the chilling similarities between the treatment of animals and the treatment of prisoners in Iraq and in the so-called "Global War on Terror." Finally, the Author discusses three potential lessons for a nation widely perceived to have retreated from its commitment …

Taking Back The Trash: Comparing European Extended Producer Responsibility And Take-Back Liability To U.S. Environmental Policy And Attitudes, Megan Short

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note explores the mandates adopted by the European Union and individual European states and examines the feasibility of their implementation in the United States. Part II outlines the current extended producer responsibility schemes in Europe and the current waste disposal system in the United States. Part III examines the societal and cultural differences that account for varying environmental attitudes in Europe and the United States, with a focus on Germany. Part IV discusses the feasibility of developing national take-back requirements in the United States by examining legislative obstacles and other barriers. Part V offers a conclusion and recommendation for …

A Winning Hand: A Proposal For An International Regulatory Schema With Respect To The Growing Online Gambling Dilemma In The United States, John D. Andrle

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

While a multitude of Internet enterprises folded in the 1990s, online gambling websites not only have held strong, but appear to be ready to increase the stakes. No business relating to the Internet currently generates more revenue than online gambling, and that trend does not look like it will change soon. While many Americans desire to participate in this form of cyber-gambling, the current legality of their ability to do so remains vague. For the most part, an American's ability to gamble currently resides under the purview of state law and a hodgepodge of antiquated federal wire acts. The nature …

Not As Easy As Black And White: The Implications Of The University Of Rio De Janeiro's Quota-Based Admissions Policy On Affirmative Action Law In Brazil, Ricardo Rochetti

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note specifically addresses the propriety of affirmative action pertaining to admissions to institutions of higher education. The focus will be on Uerj's quota system because, of all of Brazil's neophyte quota systems, it has received the most publicity and attracted the most scrutiny.

Part II of this Note will analyze Uerj's program and highlight the reasons for its ineffectiveness and the arguments that both proponents and opponents of the program have advanced. Part III will introduce the issues that the Supreme Federal Tribunal, Brazil's highest court, will encounter in deciding the challenge that the National Confederation of Teaching Establishments …

Aids Is Risky Business: Examining The Effect Of The Aids Crisis On Publicly Traded Companies In South Africa And The Implications For Both South African And U.S. Investors, Martha L. Salomon

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Author explores the implications of the AIDS epidemic for South African businesses. She discusses the financial impact of the disease on shareholder investments and what measures can, and should, be taken by South African businesses to assess the extent of the financial damage and to help prevent and treat infected individuals. The Author focuses on a new listing requirement recently passed by the Johannesburg Securities Exchange in South Africa that requires companies to implement corporate governance and responsible HIV/AIDS policies as a prerequisite for listing on the Exchange. In addition, she discusses a new "Socially Responsible Investment" index that …

The Rhetoric Of Rush Limbaugh: An Analysis Of Diversity Issues, Jim Schnell

Iowa Journal of Communication

Rush Limbaugh's controversial comments regarding race and the sports media on ESPN in September, 2003 put a spotlight on his rhetoric in relation to diversity issues. This article will describe how C-SPAN videotapes can be used in the classroom to enhance student learning of issues related to diversity and rhetoric. The rhetoric of Rush Limbaugh is focused on in this particular classroom case study. Study of Limbaugh is relevant due to the success of his daily radio talk show, "The Rush Limbaugh Show." He has his fans and critics. One of the controversial areas associated with Limbaugh is his position …

Flow Cytometry Used To Assess Genetic Damage In Frogs From Farm Ponds, Bartholomew L. Bly, Melinda G. Knutson, Mark B. Sandheinrich, Brian R. Gray, Dean A. Jobe

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Flow cytometry (FC) is a laboratory method used to detect genetic damage induced by environmental contaminants and other stressors in animals, including amphibians. We tested FC methods on three species of ranid frogs collected from farm ponds and natural wetlands in southeastern Minnesota. We compared FC metrics for Rana clamitans between ponds with direct exposure to agricultural contaminants and reference (unexposed) ponds. Concentrations of atrazine in water from our farm ponds ranged from 0.04 to 0.55 ppb. We found that R. clamitans from exposed ponds had DNA content similar to frogs from unexposed ponds. Pond-averaged C-values (a measure of DNA …

The New Look Of Shareholder Litigation: Acquisition-Oriented Class Actions, Robert B. Thompson, Randall S. Thomas

Vanderbilt Law Review

Now, however, a new form of shareholder litigation has emerged that is distinct from derivative or securities fraud claims: class action lawsuits filed under state law challenging director conduct in mergers and acquisitions. The empirical data reported in this article show that these acquisition-oriented suits are now the dominant form of corporate litigation and outnumber derivative suits by a wide margin.

Are these acquisition-oriented class actions just another deadbeat in the corporate governance debate? Should policymakers take action to cut back on the development of this new form of shareholder litigation? In this paper, we argue that, just as with …

Gender Assignment To English Words In The Spanish Of Southern Arizona, Elise M. Dubord

Faculty Work

This paper examines the gender assignment of English words in the Spanish of Southern Arizona based on the categories of biological sex, phonological gender, and analogical gender. It is determined that biological sex is the greatest indicator of gender assignment, followed by phonological gender and lastly by analogical gender. There was a small (7.9%) proportion of variation in gender assignment to English words in the corpus that is attributed to a combination of words that are neither phonologically nor socially integrated into the Spanish lexicon and the linguistic insecurity of the participants.

Let's Dump The 1916 Antidumping Act: Why The 1994 Gatt Provides Better Price Protection For U.S. Industries, Nicole Disalvo

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The U.S. Congress is currently considering a vote to repeal the 1916 Antidumping Act. The 1916 Antidumping Act makes the importation of foreign goods that were sold below market prices illegal if the foreign company had the "intent [to] destroy or injure an industry in the United States." Few claims have been adjudicated under the 1916 Act since its passage, and no plaintiff has won a case based solely on the 1916 Antidumping Act. Commentators reason that the strict intent requirement or the availability of remedies in other antitrust statutes has contributed to this phenomenon. Recently, there has been debate …

Enhancing The Legitimacy Of The World Trade Organization, Andrea Greisberger

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has faced harsh criticism from developing nations in recent years. Many developing nations feel that the promises they received when they joined the WTO have not been fulfilled. These nations feel that wealthy, industrialized nations like the United States and the members of the European Union are the only ones that have benefited from the organization. Moreover, they feel that these developed nations have benefited at their expense through the WTO's dispute settlement process. Many improvements to the WTO have been proposed. However, the one that seems the most able to help developing nations, the …

Perpetuation Of The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, Hale E. Sheppard

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article discusses Section 911 of the Internal Revenue Code, also known as the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), as an example of a provision that has been sustained, not on the basis of sound economic analysis and compliance with established U.S. international tax policy, but rather because of effective lobbying and political circumstance. First providing an overview of the U.S. system of worldwide taxation, and the place of the FEIE within that framework, Mr. Sheppard explores the forces underlying the perpetuation of the FEIE. He demonstrates that FEIE is inconsistent with each of the primary components of U.S. international …

Are Parties True To Their Word? Platform Politics In The 1996 Election, Catherine Louise Olexa

Honors Program Theses

There is a certain cynicism that prevails in our American culture when it comes to politics. Many people view politicians in a negative light, believing that a politician will say whatever voters want to hear while he or she is on the campaign trail, but that those promises are not made good upon after the election. It is for this reason that l chose to write on this issue of political promises. Despite the common attitude of skepticism, the question must be posed: Do parties and politicians keep their promises? There is no easy way to answer this question, because …

From Relations To Rules: A Theoretical Explanation And Empirical Evidence, Shaomin Li, Daniel A. Bell (Ed.), Hahm Chiahark (Ed.)

Management Faculty Publications

(First Paragraph) There is a general perception that people in the East rely more on guanxi (relations, or informal social networks) to govern economic transactions and manage business activities than people in the West. A large quantity of literature on the difference has been produced. One of the dominant views argues that the difference is due to culture, which is treated as an exogenous variable.1 These studies on culture as the determinant of different management and governance style have helped us gain insight on how businesses are conducted in different regions of the world and on how cultures differ through-out …

Collection Management As Risk Management, Mary F. Casserly

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

Risk and technological changes are inexorably linked, and librarians, as experts, must communicate these risks to lay persons and develop appropriate risk management strategies. This paper identifies some of the risks to library primacy, library and professional values, collection integrity, and scholarly communication and the information marketplace that those involved in collection development and acquisition of library materials may encounter. The sources of these risks are briefly described, and the author suggests some risk management strategies.

The Role Of Soil Water Availability In Potential Rainfed Rice Productivity In Bangladesh: Applications Of The Ceres-Rice Mode, Rezaul Mahmood, David R. Legates, Mark Meo

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Soil water stress and its impact on the monsoon season potential rainfed rice productivity in Bangladesh is investigated. A crop growth simulation model, CERES-Rice, is applied to 16 locations representative of the major rice growing regions of Bangladesh to determine the impact of soil water stress on the regional scale potential yield for four transplanting dates: 1 June, 1 July, 15 July, and 15 August. A quantified estimate of potential yield loss for four regions and for Bangladesh as a whole is calculated for water stress during flowering and maturing stages. For example, in Bangladesh, average potential yield for 1 …

Skill Acquisition And Transfer In A Simple Algebraic Task, Charan J. Singh

Theses : Honours

Speelman's (\999) finding that performance of a skill is based to some extent on the conter.t in which it is performed, rather than simply on the acquired skill itself, is not accounted for by the basic skill acquisition theories like ACT -R Theory or Instance Theory. The purpose of the current experiment was to examine whether the degree of change in context influences the degree of reduction in transfer. Forty participants were trained on an algebraic task and then tested in two different transfer conditions. Condition one included one new item and condition two included two new items in the …

Construction Of Male Identity : The Relationship Between Cancer Support Groups And Identity For Men Who Are Living With Cancer, Kathryn M. Chegwidden

Theses : Honours

A diagnosis of cancer may have many meanings for a man in terms of the impact that cancer has on various aspects of his life, including his identity as a man. Subsequent membership of a cancer support group may support men negotiating their changing identity. A review of the relevant literature examines the impact of cancer and its treatments for men, and the various changes resulting from men's experiences with cancer and cancer treatments. An overview of support groups, their function, composition, and benefits is provided with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of professional and member facilitated cancer …

The Abject In The Technological Other, Alex Bradley

Theses : Honours

A photographic project and exegesis demonstrating artificial intelligence and artificial life as occurrences of the abject. In the photographic project '0=2', the technologies of artificial intelligence and artificial life are examined in relation to identity, via an elaboration of the psychoanalytic concert of the 'abject'. An exegesis of the creative project contains an investigation of computer technologies in regard to identity, an analysis of the basic concepts and paradigms of the sciences of artificial intelligence and artificial life, and an elaboration of the psychoanalytic concept of the abject - demonstrating A.l. and a-life as cultural instantiations of abjection. In addition, …

Towards An Understanding Of The Grey Nomad Consumer, Mandy Pickering

Theses : Honours

This exploratory study applied a grounded approach to the collection and analysis of data. The study investigated the consumption behaviours utilised by a sample of Grey Nomads who subscribed to an eco·camping philosophy and who occupied their own caravans for accommodation whilst travelling. The aim was to examine the growing phenomenon of Grey Nomads who travelled in Western Australia in order to obtain insight into the group as consumers. Thirty nine informants (n=39) were interviewed where an understanding of the primary concerns of informants could be achieved. Informants were recruited who were over 60 years of age, travelled for a …