Digital Commons Network^™

Mutation Of H63 And Its Catalytic Affect On The Methionine Aminopeptidase From Escherichia Coli, Sanghamitra Mitra, Brian Bennett, Richard C. Holz

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

In order to gain insight into the mechanistic role of a flexible exterior loop near the active site, made up of Y62, H63, G64, and Y65, that has been proposed to play an important role in substrate binding and recognition in the methionyl aminopeptidase from Escherichia coli (EcMetAP-I), the H63A enzyme was prepared. Mutation of H63 to alanine does not affect the ability of the enzyme to bind divalent metal ions. The specific activity of H63A EcMetAP-I was determined using four different substrates of varying lengths, namely, l-Met-p-NA, MAS, MGMM and MSSHRWDW. For the smallest/shortest …

Arguments In Favor Of The Triumph Of Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Faculty Scholarship

Arbitration is not just another trial procedure. It epitomizes a practical understanding of the purpose and value of adjudicatory procedures. It poses a substantial challenge to adversarial litigation by exposing its underlying irrationality and its destructive impact upon society. It guarantees the rule of law domestically and internationally through affordable access, expedited proceedings, expertise, and bridging the gap between national legal systems. It is a valuable institution that should not become a pawn in the tired and unimaginative political discourse that substitutes 'talking points' for genuine reflection and debate. The gravamen of the current attack on arbitration is not the …

Glass Houses: The Power Of Money In Bioethics Research, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In this paper I explore the power of money in bioethics research and ask whether, while casting stones regarding financial conflicts of interest in health research, bioethics researchers are in fact living in glass houses. I first review the need for money in bioethics research, the sources of money, and key features of the money (specifically, the amount of money involved and the fact that the money often is embedded, encumbered, and required to be matched). Next, I explore a range of possible objectives for the money transfer. I then examine the effects of this transfer and raise some questions …

Evaluating Legal Activism: A Response To Rosenberg, Dara Purvis

Faculty Scholarship

Earlier this year, Gerald Rosenberg updated his canonical work The Hollow Hope to incorporate the battles over same-sex marriage as, in his opinion, further support for his theory that the backlash of legal activism can subvert the intended goals. This Article examines three of Rosenberg’s central claims and, by questioning their premises with further evidence from the history of the same-sex marriage movement, roils the waters of whether the litigational and political record of the same-sex marriage movement bolsters or weakens Rosenberg’s thesis. The Article first questions Rosenberg’s claim that activists seeking to advance same sex marriage erroneously chose the …

Social And Economic Rights In Canada: What Are They And Who Can Best Protect Them?, A. Wayne Mackay

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article examines the development and current status of positive social and economic rights in Canada. Exploring the comparative competence of legislatures, courts and human rights tribunals, Wayne MacKay suggests that courts should depart, with caution, from their traditional deferential role to legislators. Due to their flexibility and accessibility, HR Tribunals should supplement the role of the courts and legislatures in giving effect to social and economic rights, which should form part of a holistic package of human rights in Canada.

Complementary Responses To Mean And Variance Modulations In The Perfect Integrate-And-Fire Model, Joanna R. Wares, Todd W. Troyer

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

In the perfect integrate-and-fire model (PIF), the membrane voltage is proportional to the integral of the input current since the time of the previous spike. It has been shown that the firing rate within a noise free ensemble of PIF neurons responds instantaneously to dynamic changes in the input current, whereas in the presence of white noise, model neurons preferentially pass low frequency modulations of the mean current. Here, we prove that when the input variance is perturbed while holding the mean current constant, the PIF responds preferentially to high frequency modulations. Moreover, the linear filters for mean and variance …

Ethnoracial Land Restitution: Finding Indians And Fugitive Slave Descendants In The Brazilian Northeast, Jan Hoffman French

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

This chapter considers how a desire for land and development can lead to a refashioning of ethnoracial identities and identifications. Debates in development studies have centered on culture as an impediment to development. I turn that debate on its head and argue that new assertions of cultural particularity have in certain settings advanced the equity goals of development. The chapter explores the contrasting responses of two neighbouring communities of related African descended, mixed race rural workers who over a 25-year period (1975- 2000), under new laws, were recognized and given land by the Brazilian government. One was identified as an …

Metals Or Management? Explaining Africa's Recent Economic Growth Spurt, Laura Nyantung Beny, Lisa D. Cook

Articles

Explanations for Africa's poor long-run growth performance have varied over time. The theories examined include geography (Jeffrey D. Sachs and Andrew Warner 1997); institutions (William Easterly and Ross Levine 1997; Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson 2001, 2002; Nathan Nunn 2007, 2008); health (David Bloom and Sachs 1998; Gregory N. Price 2003); and economic dependency (William Darity 1982). More recently, economists have attempted to explain what The Economist has called Africa's new "period of unparalleled economic success" (The Economist 2008a, 33). Average annual real GDP growth was 1.8 percent between 1980 and 1989 and increased to 4.4 percent between …

The Patient Life: Can Consumers Direct Health Care?, Carl E. Schneider, Mark A. Hall

Articles

The ultimate aim of health care policy is good care at good prices. Managed care failed to achieve this goal through influencing providers, so health policy has turned to the only market-based option left: treating patients like consumers. Health insurance and tax policy now pressure patients to spend their own money when they select health plans, providers, and treatments. Expecting patients to choose what they need at the price they want, consumerists believe that market competition will constrain costs while optimizing quality. This classic form of consumerism is today's health policy watchword. This article evaluates consumerism and the regulatory mechanism …

Thou Good And Faithful Servant, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

Lawmakers are stewards of social resources. A current debate-over screening newborns for genetic disorders-illuminates dilemmas of that stewardship that have particularly plagued bioethics. Recently in the Report, Mary Ann Baily and Thomas Murray told the story of little Ben Haygood. He died from MCADD, a genetic disorder that can make long fasting fatal. Screening at birth would have let doctors alert Ben's parents. "After Ben died," Baily and Murray wrote, "his father became a passionate advocate for expanding Mississippi's newborn screening program to add MCADD and other disorders." Soon, the Ben Haygood Comprehensive Newborn Screening Act increased the number …

Working Group On Chapter 1 Of The Proposed Restatement Of Employment Law: Existence Of Employment Relationship, Dennis R. Nolan, Theodore J. St. Antoine, Joseph E. Slater, Alvin Goldman

Articles

This article presents a critique of chapter 1 of the Proposed Restatement of Employment Law. The critique is organized to follow the organization of the proposed Restatement, which begins with a provision of black letter law, a series of comments and illustrations explaining the meaning and application of the black letter law, and the reporters' notes providing support for the black letter law and the commentary. This critique will follow that structure, with each part focusing on a section of the chapter: the introductory note; section 1.01; section 1.02; section 1.03; and section 1.04. The subdivisions of the parts will, …

Judicial Independence And Party Politics In The Kelsenian Constitutional Courts: The Case Of Portugal, Sofia Amaral-Garcia, Nuno M. Garoupa, Veronica Grembi

Faculty Scholarship

In this paper we test to what extent the Kelsenian-type of constitutional judges are independent from political parties by studying of the Portuguese Constitutional Court. The results yield three main conclusions. First, constitutional judges in Portugal are quite sensitive to their political affiliations and their political party's presence in government when voting. Second, peer pressure is very relevant. Third, the 1997 reform that was enacted to increase judicial independence has had no robust statistically significant effect.

Social Impact, Edward F. Lawler, Ellen Rostand, Michelle Kassman, Julie Kennedy, Jessica Martin, Toky Branding + Design, Donna Boyd, A.J. Agee

Social Impact Publication

From the Dean: Our Work in this Economy.;

Interview: Q&A with Paul C. Brophy;

Bookshelf: Understanding Assets: Two new books explore the impact of ownership and assets on individuals and communities;

Perspectives with Matthew Kreuter: Communication Connections;

Building a New Paradigm: Transdisciplinary Research Comes to the Forefront;

A Sense of Place: Place-Based Initiatives Help Communities and Students;

Notebook: Research: Tutoring Produces Big Gains in Student Learning;

Notebook: Research: Free Exercise and Nutrition Program in Brazil Could Serve as Model in United States;

Notebook: Research: Growing Problem for Veterans-Domestic Violence;

Notebook: Message of Service Drives Surge in Peace Corps Applications;

Notebook: …

Parens Patriae Run Amuck: The Child Welfare System's Disregard For The Constitutional Rights Of Non-Offending Parents, Vivek Sankaran

Articles

Over the past hundred years, a consensus has emerged recognizing a parent's ability to raise his or her child as a fundamental, sacrosanct right protected by the Constitution. Federal courts have repeatedly rejected the parens patriae summary mode of decision making that predominated juvenile courts at the turn of the twentieth century and have instead held that juvenile courts must afford basic due process to parents prior to depriving them of custodial rights to their children. This recognition has led to the strengthening of procedural protections for parents accused of child abuse or neglect in civil child protection proceedings. Yet, …

Incorporating A 'Best Interests Of The Child' Approach Into Immigration Law And Procedure, Bridgette A. Carr

Articles

United States immigration law and procedure frequently ignore the plight of children directly affected by immigration proceedings. This ignorance means decision-makers often lack the discretion to protect a child from persecution by halting the deportation of a parent, while parents must choose between abandoning their children in a foreign land and risking the torture of their children. United States immigration law systematically fails to consider the best interests of children directly affected by immigration proceedings. This failure has resulted in a split among the federal circuit courts of appeals regarding whether the persecution a child faces may be used to …

The Bison: 2009, Howard University

Howard University Yearbooks

This digital object was funded in part through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The digitalization of this object was part of a collaborative effort with the Washington Research Library Consortium and George Washington University.

Getting Real About Race And Prisoner Rights, Michael B. Mushlin, Naomi Roslyn Galtz

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article explores the connection between the dramatic increases in the incarceration of non-whites and the parallel decline in the legal protections for prisoners over the same period. Using the social sciences, the Article suggests that racial tensions play a role in the decisions made by both guards and prison administrators. Further, the authors argue that the communities of these non-white prisoners are the least well equipped to advocate for their well-being. Ultimately, the Article concludes that the law is not currently equipped to confront the possibility of dealing with race-based tensions and structural inequities that are present in the …

Eighth Amedment Gaps: Can Conditions Of Confinement Litigation Benefit From Proportionality Theory?, Alexander A. Reinert

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article focuses on two separate issues deriving from the Eighth Amendment's "cruel and unusual punishment" clause. Specifically, it discusses classic conditions of confinement litigation and sentencing proportionality litigation. Confinement litigation includes cases challenging the lived experiences of prisoners such as overcrowding, excessive force, failure to provide adequate medical care, and deprivation of material needs. Sentencing proportionality litigation involves challenges to the length of a prison sentence or mode of punishment. The Article, unlike modern contemporary scholarship, attempts to draw connections between each doctrinal area, ultimately suggesting ways in which proportionality litigation can invigorate conditions litigation. Part I consists of …

The Path Of Mentally Ill Offenders, William J. Rich

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Beginning with the premise that both the number and percentage of mentally ill inmates as sharply risen in recent years, this Article explores the path of mentally ill offenders in the American criminal justice system. It seeks to identify points of relief from the current crisis, in which a recent report stated that over 40% of state prisoners reported symptoms that met the criteria for mania. The challenge is exacerbated by the fact that prisons now provide a large share of the mental health treatment in the United States, taxing the resources of even the most progressive correctional systems. Part …

Our Bandit Future? Cities, Shantytowns, And Climate Change Governance, Colin Crawford

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article seeks to begin to define a role for cities and their inhabitants in climate change governance. Part I argues that if there is a failure to take into account global urbanization and its defining characteristics, namely extreme squalor and associated social ills, as a central feature of climate change policy, we face a future where cities will experience sustained and perhaps intractable urban violence and social disintegration, a development that can only hasten the separate but related harms caused by climate change on the world’s human and biological populations. Part II explores some of the consequences of the …

Cities And Accessibility: The Potential For Carbon Reductions And The Need For National Leadership, Keith Bartholomew

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article begins by outlining the elements that should be included in the framework for understanding how people interact with their built environments. Part II describes how the framework might be made operational through the use of an emerging technique called land-use transportation scenario planning. Part III assesses how well land-use transportation scenario planning fits within the dictates and limits of U.S. transportation law. The analysis ultimately reveals that it holds substantial promise as a tool that could lead to meaningful cuts in carbon emissions.

The High Cost Of Segregation: Exploring Racial Disparities In High-Cost Lending, Vicki Been, Ingrid Ellen, Josiah Madar

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article argues that policy makers addressing racial disparities in the share of subprime mortgages must take into account the relationship between existing levels of racial segregation and the racial disparities in the types of mortgages homeowners received. The authors examine approximately 200 metropolitan areas across the country and note the significant racial disparities in the percentage of subprime mortgages received by different racial groups. Various mechanisms that explain these racial disparities are also explored. The authors ultimately conclude that residential segregation plays a significant role in shaping lending patterns.

Over-Indebtedness, The Subprime Mortgage Crisis, And The Effect On U.S. Cities, A. Mechele Dickerson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article discusses the rise of consumer debt in the United States, and argues that relaxed lending standards resulting in more people buying unaffordable homes. The current financial crisis and its effects on homeowners are examined, as well as policy responses to the crisis. The author suggests that instead of waiting for federal bailouts, localities take proactive steps to prevent the crisis from destroying their cities. Finally, the article stresses that the crisis threatens to leave urban areas with a significant number of abandoned homes and that an increase in distressed neighborhoods may reverse years of urban renewal projects.

Rewriting Contracts, Wholesale: Data On Voluntary Mortgage Modifications From 2007 And 2008 Remittance Reports, Alan M. White

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article examines voluntary efforts by mortgage servicers to resolve the mortgage debt overhang by renegotiating mortgage terms with borrowers. Data from national reports on mortgage modifications, as well as from monthly remittance reports by mortgage servicers to their investors is analyzed. The author provides background of the voluntary plan to resolve the subprime mortgage crisis and previous reports on voluntary loan modifications, and presents data on loan modification outcomes. The author concludes that the voluntary mortgage renegotiation plan, while significantly reducing hardship for individual homeowners temporarily, does little to get at the underlying problem of debt overhang. Furthermore, that …

Public Rights, Global Perspectives, And Common Law, Martha F. Davis

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article sets out the case that common law adjudication involving such claims as contractual breaches, wrongful termination, and tort can be, and often are, public rights litigation. Many common law decisions have significant impacts in the community, and—because of the nature of precedent—become quickly embedded in the law where they contribute to the outcomes of future cases as well. Common law cases are a particularly important aspect of public rights litigation because of the paucity of constitutional protections for economic and social rights. In the absence of constitutional protections for such rights, rigorous enforcement of common law claims addressing …

Restoring Legal Aid To The Poor: A Call To End Draconian And Wasteful Restrictions, Rebekah Diller, Emily Savner

Fordham Urban Law Journal

A growing number of national, state, and local voices have called for reform of the legal services restrictions. Reports by Access to Justice and legal services commissions in eighteen states have identified the restrictions as substantial barriers to justice.Others have spoken out about the harms of the restrictions, and particularly their application to non-LSC funds. Describing a lawsuit filed by Oregon against the “program integrity rule,” Governor Ted Kulongoski said: “The important point is that for the first time a state is now party to a suit that attempts to free Legal Aid from restrictions that serve no purpose other …

The Odyssey Of Palazzolo: Public Rights Litigation And Coastal Change, Laura J. Hatcher, Ph.D.

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The question of whether the state has the right to “take” (in the form of regulation) land in its coastal zones is a much more complex question that the courts, to date, have not been able to manage adequately. The problems faced along the coasts are difficult problems, and will likely not be settled by asking judges to determine the “rightness” of claims made through an adversarial process that tends to oversimplify situations in the process of constructing winnable legal arguments. Nor can we rely simply on administrative agencies or legislatures to protect the rights of individuals or protect them …

"Whistle . . . And You've Got An Audience", Amanda C. Leiter

Fordham Urban Law Journal

One of the questions for discussion today is whether public rights litigation is an effective means of social change. This Article does not attempt an answer but begins to explore a set of issues central to any answer: the extent, types, uses, and potential shortcomings of government whistleblowing. There is considerable sociological and legal literature on government whistleblowing, but little of it addresses the issue from the angle relevant to maximizing the efficacy of public rights litigation. This Article begins to fill that gap. Part I discusses the importance of whistleblowers in the vindication and enforcement of public rights. Part …

Facial And As-Applied Challenges Under The Roberts Court, Gillan E. Metzger

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Resistance to facial challenges is a recurring theme of the Roberts Court’s early years. Yet close analysis of the Court’s decisions suggests that its approach to facial and as-applied challenges is largely consistent with prior practice. Despite occasional description of as-applied challenges in narrow terms, it has expressly preserved the possibility that as-applied challenges could be brought pre-enforcement and allowed an as-applied challenge to be the vehicle for broad relief. It has also followed the Rehnquist Court in asserting wide remedial discretion to sever statutes to fit constitutional requirements, and even its strategic use of the facial/as-applied distinction is not …

A "New Beginning" For Adolescents In Our Criminal Justice System, Judith S. Kaye

Fordham Urban Law Journal

As I step away from the bench, I am feeling more than ever what Dr. Martin Luther King called “the fierce urgency of now.” Now is the time for all of us who care about justice in this country to roll up our sleeves and get to work. We may be in a moment of crisis, but as the saying goes, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. We urgently need to change our focus from jails and prisons to treatment, education, job training. So where is the “new beginning”? The “new beginning” is not a search for new …