Digital Commons Network^™

Disability Advocacy And Atkins, James W. Ellis

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the correlation between the Court's perception and its resolution of the constitutional issues, most dramatically exhibited in Atkins. Part II of this Article briefly examines the history of discrimination against persons with mental retardation. Part III of this Article traces the history of the Court's decisions involving persons with mental retardation, giving special attention to the way in which the Justices' opinions reveal their apparent understanding of mental retardation and the relationship between individuals who have the disability and the law.5 Finally, Part IV addresses the Atkins opinion itself, with emphasis on the Court's understanding of mental …

Perception And Awareness Of Accents In Young Children, C Floccia, F Girard, J Goslin

School of Psychology

This study examines children's metaphonological awareness for accent-related information in connected speech. In the first experiment, 5- to 6-year-old French-speaking children were asked to discriminate between Southern and Northern accented French in a sentence categorization task. It was found that these children were not able to reliably distinguish between these native variations of their own language, but were able to distinguish between their own accent and a strong foreign accent in Experiment 2. These findings were also replicated using a speaker discrimination task in Experiment 3, where children were asked to detect pairs of speakers sharing the same accent amongst …

Uniendo Comunidades By Learning Lessons And Mobilizing For Change, Margaret E. Montoya

Faculty Scholarship

Building community, that is, sustaining our connections to family and our ancestry is often hampered by going to law school. Law schools are highly adept at assimilating you into a profession and a worldview that can be at odds with who you were and how you saw the world before you began law school. Unfortunately, in order to fit in, it can seem advantageous to forget tus ralces, your roots. I began by talking about unigndo comunidades as a progressive objective and have been talking about the second part of your conference theme, learning lessons and mobilizing for change, as …

Shadow War Scholarship, Indigenous Legal Tradition, And Modern Law In Indian Country, Christine Zuni Cruz

Faculty Scholarship

This article documents the purposes and reasons for the development of the Tribal Law Journal, the University of New Mexico School of Laws electronic journal created to promote scholarship on tribal law and the Indigenous legal tradition. It discusses the use of the internet for the work of the journal and of the need to increase an understanding and awareness of the law of Indigenous peoples. The diversity of indigenous peoples, in and of itself, requires unique approaches to the discussion of tribal law. The article considers how the Zapatista Movement in Chiapas utilized the internet. The Zapatista's engagement of …

Old Blood, Bad Blood, And Youngblood: Due Process, Lost Evidence, And The Limits Of Bad Faith, Norman C. Bay

Faculty Scholarship

Under the law of lost evidence, absent a showing of bad faith, no due process violation occurs when the police lose potentially exculpatory evidence. This is so even though the evidence may be critical to the defense and even though post-conviction DNA testing has exonerated more than 200 individuals. Ironically, the case that developed that rule of law, Arizona v. Youngblood, is founded on the conviction of an innocent man. This Article critically examines Youngblood and provides a conceptual framework for examining the constitutional right of access to evidence. Supreme Court precedent reflects two different, sometimes competing, visions of procedural …

Making And Breaking Habits: Teaching (And Learning) Cultural Context, Self-Awareness, And Intercultural Communication Through Case Supervision In A Client-Service Legal Clinic, Antoinette M. Sedillo Lopez

Faculty Scholarship

This Article begins by offering teaching objectives that can be used to focus supervision and education on effective representation of clients from different cultures as issues arise in the course of representation. The Article then discusses the context of student supervision and explains how case supervision sessions can be extremely effective moments during which to pursue those teaching goals. The Article next examines vignettes that grew out of cases handled by the University of New Mexico's Clinical Law Program.

Taxation Without Liquidation: Rethinking "Ability To Pay", Sergio Pareja

Faculty Scholarship

This Article proposes a novel way to tax wealth transfers. Specifically, it suggests that we divide all assets transferred by gift or bequest into two classes--illiquid assets and liquid assets. The recipient should include those assets in income but be allowed two options. With respect to illiquid assets, the recipient should be able to avoid immediate income inclusion if he takes the property with an income-tax basis of zero. With respect to liquid assets, the recipient should be allowed a full income-tax deduction if he rolls the gift or bequest into a deductible IRA. The combination of these simple rules …

Are Blue And Pink The New Brown? The Permissibility Of Sex-Segregated Education As Affirmative Action, Dawinder S. Sidhu

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines segregation and affirmative action in a different context-that of gender. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 ("Title IX") l° prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. The regulations implementing Title IX, however, explicitly permit recipients of federal funding to offer single-sex schools, classes, and extracurricular activities. The regulations also permit recipients to "take affirmative action to overcome the effects of conditions which resulted in limited participation therein by persons of a particular sex.” This Article discusses whether and to what extent the affirmative action provision …

Brief For Respondent Iqubal As Amicus Curiae, Dawinder S. Sidhu, Brian E. Robinson

Faculty Scholarship

Whether a conclusory allegation that a cabinet-level officer or other high-ranking official knew of, condoned, or agreed to subject a plaintiff to allegedly unconstitutional acts purportedly committed by subordinate officials is sufficient to state individual-capacity claims against those officials under Bivens.

The Sikh Turban: Post-9/11 Challenges To This Article Of Faith, Dawinder S. Sidhu, Hena Singh Gohil

Faculty Scholarship

This essay examines how the turban has transformed from a sacred piece of attire for Sikhs to a target for discriminatory conduct and an object of marginalization after 9/11. Part I provides an introduction to Sikhism, which originated in 17th century South Asia, and discusses the religious significance of the Sikh turban. Part II examines incidents of discrimination in several contexts involving turbaned Sikhs in America. Part III analyzes the debate surrounding assimilation that has been taking place in the West, which implicates conspicuous articles of faith, including the Sikh turban. The essay also explores the legal remedies available to …

The Alchemy Of Exile: Strengthening A Culture Of Human Rights In The Burundian Refugee Camps In Tanzania, Jennifer Moore

Faculty Scholarship

This Article suggests that our analysis of U.S. immigration policy should also be informed by a broader consideration of the experiences of immigrants and refugees in other parts of the world, including those who will never come to the United States. As we examine the moral, legal, and pragmatic imperatives behind the evolution of U.S. immigration policy, we should bear in mind the historical, political, economic, and cultural realities facing developing countries that host refugees from within their own regions. For some observers, such a global perspective might support calls for greater receptivity to immigrants in the United States. For …

A Sports Seminar With A Free Agent Market Exercise, Alfred Dennis Mathewson

Faculty Scholarship

I have taught a seminar in sports law for approximately twenty years. The course has always included an exercise concerning the negotiation of a professional player contract. At one time, I used the baseball salary arbitration exercise that used to be included in previous editions of Ray Yasser's casebook. The negotiation exercise otherwise always has involved the representation of professional basketball players. I use basketball primarily because it is my favorite sport. I have been tempted to try baseball or football, but over time, familiarity with the exercise has created resistance to change.

Latinas/Os' And The Politics Of Knowledge Production: Latcrit Scholarship And Academic Activism As Social Justice Action, Margaret E. Montoya, Francisco Valdes

Faculty Scholarship

In this article, Professors Montoya and Valdes examine various ways of developing Latina/o legal studies in the United States. As background, they first outline and examine the three main models of knowledge-production established within legal academia during the past century or so: 1) the traditional or imperial model; 2) the safe-space or vanguard model, and; 3) the big-tent or democratic model. Using this historical template to contextualize current efforts in Latina/o legal studies both substantively and methodologically, they next review the record of LatCrit theorists over the past dozen years. With this analytical framework in place, they situate the LatCrit …

Sales Gone Wild: Will The Ftc's Business Opportunity Rule Put An End To Pyramid Marketing Schemes?, Sergio Pareja

Faculty Scholarship

This article analyzes the anticipated effect of the FTC's Business Opportunity Rule on pyramid marketing schemes. Pyramid marketing schemes consistently rank in the top ten lists of consumer complaints received by the FTC and state consumer protection divisions, victimizing 1.5 million Americans a year. One recent class action settlement demonstrated that the victims, who are often relatively poor and uneducated, had an average loss of approximately $8,000 each. The FTC has promulgated a new Business Opportunity Rule in an effort to end these abuses. Promotors of business opportunities will be required to comply with the new rule beginning on July …

Leading Change In Legal Education - Educating Lawyers And Best Practices: Good News For Diversity, Antoinette M. Sedillo Lopez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Culturally Effective Legal Interviewing And Counseling For The Mexican Immigrant - A Case Study, Antoinette M. Sedillo Lopez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Western Images In African Media: A Semiotic Investigation Of Three Nigerian-Made Films, Terence Ebi Ekiseh

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study makes a critical analysis of the portrayal of Western images in African-made films as represented in three selected Nigerian home-made movies. In other words, the study seeks to find out how images of Western European and North American cultures are portrayed in African films. The three films selected for the study are Spirit cf Love, Market Seller, and One Dollar. The films were selected on the basis of their popularity among Nigerian film audiences. They were also selected because they are recent, and are produced by renowned Nigerian filmmakers. The study utilized qualitative method to achieve its objective. …

Review Of The Draughtsman's Contract, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2008/07/the-draughtsmans-contract.html

Review Of Pierrot Le Fou, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le fou: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2008/07/pierrot-le-fou.html

The Public-Private Distinction In The Conflict Of Laws, William S. Dodge

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Has The Erie Doctrine Been Repealed By Congress?, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Addressing The Evidentiary Sources Of Wrongful Convictions: Categorical Exclusion Of Evidence In Capital Statutes, Rory K. Little

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Transformation Of International Comity, Joel R. Paul

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Improved Bdfe Using A Priori Information For Turbo Equalization, Jingxian Wu, Sang-Yick Leong, Kah-Ping Lee, Chengshan Xiao, Jan C. Olivier

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Turbo equalization improves communication system performance by iteratively exchanging information between soft-input soft-output (SISO) equalizer and SISO channel decoder. The trellis-based maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) algorithm serves as the optimum SISO equalizer for turbo equalization. However, MAP algorithm is unsuitable for systems with large modulation constellation size and severe inter-symbol interference (ISI) due to its prohibitively high computational complexity. In this paper, an improved SISO block decision feedback equalizer (BDFE) is proposed for low complexity turbo equalization. Unlike other sub-optimum equalizers which perform symbol by symbol detection, the proposed equalizer generates the soft output for each data bit by …

Generalized Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman Formulation-Based Neural Network Control Of Affine Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems, Zheng Chen, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we consider the use of nonlinear networks towards obtaining nearly optimal solutions to the control of nonlinear discrete-time (DT) systems. The method is based on least squares successive approximation solution of the generalized Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (GHJB) equation which appears in optimization problems. Successive approximation using the GHJB has not been applied for nonlinear DT systems. The proposed recursive method solves the GHJB equation in DT on a well-defined region of attraction. The definition of GHJB, pre-Hamiltonian function, HJB equation, and method of updating the control function for the affine nonlinear DT systems under small perturbation assumption are proposed. …

Communication And The Knowable Community, Bonnie Brennen

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

This essay draws on Raymond Williams's concept of a knowable community in an effort to understand the myriad of connections that exist between individuals and society. Williams, who sees communication and community as synonymous, suggests that a knowable community may ultimately emerge through the process of communication and that in the discovery of connections between individuals and society, an understanding of historically specific patterns may be shown. This essay also discusses an oral history project with journalists who worked for Gannett in the 1960s as an example of an emerging knowable community that questioned traditional notions of community and challenged …

Nonlinear H(Infinity) Missile Longitudinal Autopilot Design With Theta-D Method, Ming Xin, S. N. Balakrishnan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a new nonlinear H 1 control technique, called μ¡D H 1 method, is employed to design a missile longitudinal autopilot. The μ ¡D H 1 design has the same structure as that of linear H 1 , except that the two Riccati equations that are part of the solution process are state dependent. The μ ¡D technique yields suboptimal solutions to nonlinear optimal control problems in the sense that it provides an approximate solution to the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation. It is also shown that this method can be used to provide an approximate closed-form solution to the …

Equal By Law, Unequal By Caste: The "Untouchable" Condition In Critical Race Perspective, Smita Narula

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Caste-based oppression in India lives today in an environment seemingly hostile to its presence: a nation-state that has long been labeled the “world's largest democracy;” a progressive and protective constitution; a system of laws designed to proscribe and punish acts of discrimination on the basis of caste; broad-based programs of affirmative action that include constitutionally mandated reservations or quotas for Dalits, or so-called “untouchables;” a plethora of caste-conscious measures designed to ensure the economic “upliftment” of Dalits; and an aggressive economic liberalization campaign to fuel India's economic growth.

This Article seeks to answer the question of how and why this …

The Scope Of Criminal Law And Criminal Sanctions: An Economic View And Policy Implications, Roger Bowles, Michael Faure, Nuno Garoupa

Faculty Scholarship

This paper considers why some harm-generating activities are controlled by criminal law and criminal sanctions while others are subject to some other mechanism such as civil law, administrative law, regulation or the tax system. It looks at the question from the perspective of the law and economics approach. We seek to identify the comparative benefits of using the criminal law relative to other enforcement mechanisms and--more broadly--why certain specific behaviours are criminalized. The paper argues that an economic approach emphasizing the relative merits of alternative legal instruments for bringing about harm reduction can provide an explanation for a number of …

A Comparison Of Mlp, Rnn And Esn In Determining Harmonic Contributions From Nonlinear Loads, Jing Dai, Pinjia Zhang, Joy Mazumdar, Ronald G. Harley, G. K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

With the wide use of power electronics devices, harmonic currents are being injected into the power system, known as "harmonic pollution". Although IEEE standards [1][2] have required the utilities and customers to limit the amount of harmonic current and voltage, the practical evaluation is complicated, as it is difficult to separate the contributions from the utilities and customers. a neural network-Based harmonic current prediction scheme was previously proposed by the authors to estimate the true harmonic current attributed to the nonlinearity of the load, instead of the distorted power supply. to test the feasibility of different types of neural networks …