Digital Commons Network^™

Super Wicked Problems And Climate Change: Restraining The Present To Liberate The Future, Richard J. Lazarus

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Climate change may soon have its “lawmaking moment” in the United States. The inherent problem with such lawmaking moments, however, is just that: they are moments. What Congress and the President do with much fanfare can quickly and quietly slip away in the ensuing years. This is famously so for environmental law. Subsequent legislative amendments, limited budgets, appropriations riders, interpretive agency rulings, massive delays in rulemaking, and simple nonenforcement are more than capable of converting a seemingly uncompromising legal mandate into nothing more than a symbolic aspirational statement. Climate change legislation is especially vulnerable to being unraveled over time for …

Conformationally Gated Electron Transfer Studies Of Iso-1-Cytochrome C, Swati Bandi

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Protein folding is important because all proteins must fold to achieve their active conformer. In many cases, misfolding is the cause of disease and thus, understanding folding may lead to cures for disease. This thesis focuses on the dynamics and thermodynamics of partially unfolded states of proteins that lie near the bottom of a folding funnel. Various studies have provided evidence that partially unfolded proteins can be key intermediates in metabolic processes and in aggregation diseases. Partially unfolded proteins also provide insight into the types of structures that guide/misguide the process of protein folding. Less is known about how stability …

Seismic Behavior Of Circular Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns Under Combined Loading Including Torsion, Suriya Prakash Shanmugam

Doctoral Dissertations

"Reinforced concrete (RC) columns of skewed and curved bridges with unequal spans and column heights can be subjected to combined loading including axial, flexure, shear, and torsion loads during earthquakes. The combination of axial loads, shear force, and flexural and torsional moments can result in complex failure modes of RC bridge columns. This study carried out experimental and analytical studies to investigate the seismic performance of circular RC columns under combined loading including torsion. The main variables considered here were (i) the ratio of torsion-to-bending moment (T/M), (ii) the ratio of bending moment-to-shear (M/V) or shear span (H/D), and (iii) …

Educational Travel And Adolescent Development, Ann Saitow

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Educational travel forms the basis for novel learning experiences that enhance adolescent development by enabling students to make choices about their own survival in an unfamiliar setting. This biological adaptation is driven by stimulation of the midbrain which produces high levels of dopamine, the chemical associated with learning. The elements of educational travel that promote sustained adolescent learning are: clear communication, commitment and action, communal trust and respect, maturity developed through assigned responsibilities and exposure to varied life circumstances, flexibility, and transition back to traditional school environments.

American Indians And The United States Patent And Trademark Office: The Native American Tribal Insignia Database, Charles D. Bernholz, Linda G. Novotny, Ana L. Gomez

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The tribal insignia of American Indians offer a distinctive view into the history of these people. Recently, as the result of federal legislation, some of these materials have been brought together, for tribes that are either federally or State recognized entities, as part of the database collection maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This article focuses on the history and use of such images; the policy response by the USPTO to the charge by the Trademark Law Treaty Implementation Act (1998) to examine the USPTO’s specific responsibility to protect such official insignia; and the Office’s resulting …

In My Element, Alisa Hammond Mclaughlin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper conveys the rich background savored from my family’s ranch and how it still deeply affects me, not only in my art, but how I view the world.

My final Creative Pulse project was to intentionally set aside time to create more personal art. This journey of art exploration quickly exposed a strong sense of place that emanated from the ranch of my childhood upbringing. Thus, my journey became threefold; create art with my students, present our art in a gallery showing and investigate the impact place has on people.

The Chinese brush painting and oil painting adult education …

The European Directive On The Protection Of Groundwater: A Model For The United States, Richard Thomas

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

How States And Municipalities Can Retain The Power To Regulate Rail Carrier-Owned Solid Waste Transfer Facilities In The Context Of The Metro Enviro Transfer, Llc V. Village Of Croton-On-Hudson And Buffalo Southern Railroad, Inc. V. Village Of Croton-On-Hudson Decisions, Christina Hawkins

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Death To Child Erotica: How Mislabeling The Evidence Can Risk Inaccuracy In The Courtroom, Mary Graw Leary

Scholarly Articles

The world of child sexual exploitation is a complex one including many crimes. Research and caselaw indicate that child pornography often is found intertwined with other sexual material demonstrating a sexual interest in children. Such material includes, but is not limited to, sexualized pictures of nude or semi-nude children; surreptitiously recorded videos of children focusing on their breasts or genitals; writings on the most successful methods of facilitating child molestation, etc. That child pornography producers and collectors can often possess some such material is perhaps of no surprise. That criminal courts are referring to such material with the artistic term …

New Homes! (For The "Right" Family): Exclusionary Messages In Subdivision Advertising, Jennifer J. Heneghan

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Segregation is a large and incompletely understood problem in modern American society. By recognizing some of the ways segregation is perpetuated through print media we can gain more of an understanding into why the problem persists. This study of advertising for new subdivisions appearing in Jacksonville, Florida's major daily newspaper from 1960 through 2000 examines the use of potentially exclusionary messages such as use of the Equal Housing Opportunity logo or tagline, the race/ethnicity of human figures, and messages and images associated with particular socioeconomic statuses. Using both quantitative and qualitative data analysis this paper finds that exclusionary messages persist, …

Response, Frames Of Reference And The "Turn To Remedy" In Facial Challenge Doctrine, Kevin C. Walsh

Scholarly Articles

This Symposium on Facial Challenges in the Roberts Court provides an opportunity to chart a path toward greater doctrinal coherence in light of the Court's most recent uses of the distinction between facial and as-applied challenges. In his contribution to this Symposium, David Faigman makes two claims that I address in this response. The first of Professor Faigman's claims is descriptive: "the debate over facial versus as-applied challenges is merely a subcategory of the pervasive issue concerning defining the proper frame of reference for empirical questions arising under the Constitution.'"' As Professor Faigman uses the term, a "frame of reference" …

The Effect Of Zinc On L-Leucine Transport In Lobster Intestine, Anna Lynn Mullins

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study is a characterization of L-leucine absorption across the American lobster intestine in order to determine the likelihood of a bis-complex formation with zinc ([Leu]-Zn-[Leu]) as a possible substrate for PEPT1. This study required isolated lobster intestines to be mounted in a perfusion chamber in order to quantify 3H-L-leucine transport. It was hypothesized that an apical dipeptide transporter, PEPT1, was responsible for uptake of L-leucine via formation of a bis-complex with zinc ([Leu]-Zn-[Leu]) in the form of molecular mimicry, where the bis-complex mimics the normal dipeptide substrate of the proposed carrier system. It was found that L-leucine transport …

Vegetation Response To Restoration Treatments In A Former Pine Plantation In North Florida, Ryan C. Meyer

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the human population in Florida continues to expand, development follows, and tree farms give way to homes and businesses. As parks are established, restoration of these semi-natural plantations may provide critical habitat for species conservation. This study evaluates vegetation response to restoration treatments at two study sites, formerly tree farms, now preserves in NE Florida. Treatments included thinning, clearing, or control (no treatment) within 10m^2 plots. Thinning reduced tree canopy to 20% (2-3 pines/plot) and removed all other vegetation; clearing treatments removed all biomass to bare soil; no herbicides were used. Within these plots richness and abundance was assessed …

Black Like Me, Just Like Me: Enhancing Response To Literature Through Student-Generated Cases, Jennifer Haberling, Brian White

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

No abstract provided.

The Momentum Of Posthumous Conception: A Model Act, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

This Article addresses the scenario of when, through advanced medical technology, a procedure is performed resulting in the birth of a child more than three hundred days-a time suggested by some statutes-after the death of the gamete provider. The embryo may result from in vitro fertilization or from a woman being artificially inseminated with the sperm of a deceased male gamete provider. And of course the woman could have predeceased too and left a viable ova, that was then fertilized with the sperm of a living or a deceased male to create an embryo, which was then placed into a …

Reshaping The Common Good In Times Of Public Health Emergencies: Validating Medical Triage, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

Public health ethics require individuals who are inherently at risk for transmitting communicable disease to be subjected, oftentimes, to isolation, quarantine, or compulsory vaccination - all undertaken, as such, to protect the common good and thereby secure the public-at-law for exposure to the spread of an infectious disease.

This article tests the extent to which public health emergencies necessitate a reinterpretation or reshaping of the common good and proceeds to analyze the extent to which the medical principle of triage is a relevant construct for allocating scarce medical resources during contemporary public health emergencies. The article proceeds to test the …

The Flawed Nature Of The False Marking Statute, Elizabeth I. Winston

Scholarly Articles

In 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rendered a decision on an “issue of first impression” interpreting a one hundred sixty-three year old provision of the United States Code - the “false marking” statute embodied in 35 U.S.C. § 292. It is false marking to mark as patented an unpatented article if done with the intent to deceive the public and, as such, is a fineable offense. The false marking statute remains one of only a handful of qui tam actions left intact from a rich history of varied incentives provided by the government for …

Learning Neuroscience The Hard Way: The Terri Schiavo Case And The Ethics Of Effective Representation, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

Part I of this article looks at the three main "narratives" that are commonly employed to describe the Schiavo case, and it recounts the basic facts concerning Terri Schiavo's brain injury and the early, but quickly-abandoned, attempt at rehabilitation. Part II is an examination of how the demise of one of the most profoundly harmful dogmas in the history of medicine-the theory that the brain is "hard-wired" and that no amount of rehabilitation can cause the brain to rewire itself-occurred too late in the litigation for the judges or advocates in either Schiavo or Englaro to understand that Terri and …

Introduction: Intellectual Property In The Age Of The Internet, Susanna Frederick Fischer

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Confrontation, Forfeiture, And Giles V. California: An Interim User’S Guide, Clifford S. Fishman

Scholarly Articles

This Article examines the implications of Giles v. California. It begins in Part II by examining the Confrontation Clause before Giles, and explains how Crawford v. Washington upended the Clause's prior interpretation in Ohio v. Roberts, by excluding all "testimonial" statements, however "trustworthy" a court might consider them to be. It then provides a brief explanation of the forfeiture doctrine and its endorsement in Crawford. Part III consists of a detailed examination and critique of the Court's resolution of the central issue in Giles: that the forfeiture doctrine applies only when the prosecution can show that the defendant killed …

Weighing Medical Judgments: Explaining Evidentiary Preferences For Treating Physician Opinions In Erisa Cases After Black & Decker Disability Plan V. Nord, Roy F. Harmon Iii, A.G. Harmon

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Real-Time And Portable Microwave Imaging System, Mohammad Tayeb Ahmad Ghasr

Doctoral Dissertations

"Microwave and millimeter wave imaging has shown tremendous utility in a wide variety of applications. These techniques are primarily based on measuring coherent electric field distribution on the target being imaged. Mechanically scanned systems are the simple and low cost solution in microwave imaging. However, these systems are typically bulky and slow. This dissertation presents a design for a 2D switched imaging array that utilizes modulated scattering techniques for spatial multiplexing of the signal. The system was designed to be compact, coherent, possessing high dynamic range, and capable of video frame rate imaging. Various aspects of the system design were …

One Strike And You're Out: Alcohol In The Major League Baseball Clubhouse, Steven B. Berneman

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In the past decade, much has been written about Major League Baseball's (MLB) mistaken policies regarding performance-enhancing substance abuse by players. MLB executives are shortsighted, however, if they believe that steroids are the only substances being abused by players. Along with performance-enhancing drugs, professional baseball has a long-standing history of alcohol abuse. Steroids may provide better headlines--Congress has never held an investigation into alcohol abuse by professional athletes--but professional baseball faces a real danger from the unchecked liability of allowing players to overindulge at the ballpark and drive home shortly thereafter. By serving beer in the clubhouse after games, clubs …

The "Spiritual Temperature" Of Contemporary Popular Music, Tracy Reilly

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The purpose of this Article is to contribute to the volume of legal scholarship that focuses on popular music lyrics and their effects on children. This interdisciplinary cross-section of law and culture has been analyzed by legal scholars, philosophers, and psychologists throughout history. This Article specifically focuses on the recent public uproar over the increasingly violent and lewd content of death-metal and gangsta-rap music and its alleged negative influence on children. Many legal scholars have written about how legal and political efforts throughout history to regulate contemporary genres of popular music in the name of the protection of children's morals …

Is It Really Possible To Do The Kessel Run In Less Than Twelve Parsecs And Should It Matter? Science And Film And Its Policy Implications, Dov Greenbaum

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The entertainment media influences our lives in a myriad of different ways--from the way we dress, to the language we use, to the products we buy. What might be less obvious are its influences on national policies. This Article, an introductory foray into the effects of media on policy, focuses on the effect that movies have on science policies in the United States and around the world. Through an analysis of both classic and recent blockbuster films and concurrent events involving science policies, this Article argues that Hollywood exerts an inordinate amount of influence on national science policies, and even …

Respect My Authority! South Park's Expression Of Legal Ideology And Contribution To Legal Culture, Kimberlianne Podlas

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Article recognizes that television programs outside of the law genre can engage in legal discourse: to wit, South Park. South Park has been called one of the most profane programs on television, as well as one of the most ideological. Indeed, through sophisticated, no-holds-barred satire, South Park contemplates a number of American culture's most complex and contentious legal issues. This Article systematically analyzes the legal ideologies conveyed by South Park, combining an interpretive ethnographic analysis with quantitative content analyses. Ultimately, these examinations reveal that South Park communicates a libertarian ideology of law. In doing so, however, it does not …

Solidifying The Defensive Line: The Nfl Network's Current Position Under Antitrust Law And How It Can Be Improved, Ethan Flatt

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In the United States, the broadcasting of professional sporting events is a multi-billion dollar industry, and the National Football League (NFL) alone earned more than $3 billion from television contracts during its 2008 season. Considering the massive revenues that broadcast rights can generate, it is no surprise that some major professional sports leagues have recently developed their own television networks. While it was not the first league-owned television network, the NFL Network has certainly generated the most attention. Since it started broadcasting a select number of NFL regular season games in 2006, the NFL Network has been subject to media …

Over The Counter But Under The Radar: Direct-To-Consumer Genetics Tests And Fda Regulation Of Medical Devices, Lauren B. Solberg

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Direct-to-consumer genetic tests are laboratory-developed tests that are marketed and sold directly to consumers. They typically do not require a prescription or any other involvement from a consumer's health care provider. Consumers order these tests online and return a specimen, usually a saliva sample, directly to the laboratory. The results are mailed directly to the consumer, and no health care provider or insurance company need ever learn the contents of these results. The FDA does not currently regulate direct-to-consumer genetic tests, though tests for hundreds of different diseases are readily available to the public.

The FDA's approach to regulating genetic …

We're Friends, Right? Client List Misappropriation And Online Social Networking In The Workplace, Brian V. Wyk

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn have grown tremendously over the past decade, and today they claim over 200 million users between the three services. A great number of smaller social networks have also appeared, and new services are constantly being created. With the vast growth of social networking has come the use of social networking in business. As businesses have sought to exploit the wealth of information that social network users share over these networks, businesses have encountered the problem of protecting the compilations of information they have produced. The problem became clear in 2008 when a …

Patenting Games: Baker V. Selden Revisited, Shubha Ghosh

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Patents are meant to protect the functional aspects of an invention. But patents, particularly patents on processes or methods, can cover non-functional, or expressive, activity. This Article explores this possibility in the context of patents covering games of various types. Patents on games can cover the actual play or use of a game with consequent implications for user-generated content produced by playing games. The Article documents this possibility in the area of fantasy sports and video games and proposes two solutions. The first solution relies on the Federal Circuit's recent decision in In "re Bilski," which restricts the patenting of …