Digital Commons Network^™

A Slave By Any Other Name Is Still A Slave: The Tilikum Case And Application Of The Thirteenth Amendment To Nonhuman Animals, Jeffrey S. Kerr, Martina Bernstein, Amanda S. Schwoerke, Matthew D. Strugar, Jared Goodman

Animal Law Review

On its face, the Thirteenth Amendment outlaws the conditions and practices of slavery and involuntary servitude wherever they may exist in this country—irrespective of the victim’s race, creed, sex, or species. In 2011, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, on behalf of five wild-captured orcas, sued SeaWorld for enslaving the orcas in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment. The case presented, for the first time, the question of whether the Thirteenth Amendment’s protections can extend to nonhuman animals. This Article examines the lawsuit’s factual, theoretical, and strategic underpinnings, and argues that the district court’s opinion ultimately dismissing the suit failed …

Lukumi At Twenty: A Legacy Of Uncertainty For Religious Liberty And Animal Welafere, James M. Oleske Jr.

Animal Law Review

Twenty years after the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, uncertainty reigns in the lower courts and among commentators over the issue of constitutionally compelled religious exemptions. Despite the Court’s general disavowal of such exemptions in Employment Division v. Smith, Lukumi appeared to breathe life into a potentially significant exception to Smith. Under that exception—which this Article calls the “selective-exemption rule”—the Free Exercise Clause may still require religious exemptions from a law when the government selectively makes available other exemptions from that law. This Article addresses the key unresolved …

The First Animal Law Journal, Twenty Volumes Later, Melissa Young

Animal Law Review

Twenty volumes is no small feat for an independently funded, entirely student-run journal. With a total staff of twenty students, including a small Board comprised of Editor in Chief, James Goldstein, Jr.; Managing Editor, William Fig; Articles Editor, Kelly Jeffries; and Form and Style Editor, Benjamin Allen, Animal Law published the inaugural volume of the world’s first animal law journal in 1995.1 This landmark event was the result of the hard work of Lewis & Clark students, with some key support. In this first volume, Animal Law gave “special thanks to Benjamin Allen for his hard work and dedication in …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Meat Labeling Through The Looking Glass, Bruce Friedrich

Animal Law Review

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates meat labeling under the statutory authority of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA). The FMIA’s labeling preemption clause prohibits labeling requirements beyond federal requirements, and would thus preclude state causes of action on the basis of deceptive labels that were properly approved under federal law. Through the eyes of Kat, a hypothetical consumer concerned with the origins of the meat she purchases for her family, this Article argues that consumers should be able to pursue state law claims based on fraudulent animal welfare labels on packages of meat. This is true for …

Legislation To Protect The Welfare Of Fish, Kelly Levenda

Animal Law Review

This Article examines the marginalization of fish under current animal welfare laws and regulations, explores the treatment of farm-raised fish during transport and slaughter, and proposes legislation and regulations in these two areas. While evidence indicates that fish are capable of experiencing pain, fear, and suffering—the traditional considerations informing concepts of animal welfare—current pre-slaughter transport and slaughter practices are completely uninformed by notions of fish welfare. Comparing the cognitive and sensory capacities of fish to other animals currently receiving animal welfare recognition through official regulation, this Article argues that protections afforded to animals during transport and slaughter should similarly apply …

Not Alll Dogs Go To Heaven: Judaism's Lessons In Beastly Morality, Mark Goldfeder

Animal Law Review

This Essay examines the moral status of animals and the definition of humanity under traditional Jewish law, as contained in Biblical texts and commentaries by ancient and historical Jewish scholars. Examining whether animals are capable of moral behavior, it provides examples from various Judaic sources to support the idea that animals are capable of making conscious, moral choices. This Essay goes on to investigate the effect that morality has on the rights and rewards given to animals under Jewish law, and whether, as conscious moral actors, animals have souls. Turning more broadly to the definition of humanity, this Essay discusses …

Reconciling The Migratory Bird Treaty Act With Expanding Wind Energy To Keep Big Wheels Turning And Endangered Birds Flying, Robert J. Martin, Rob Ballard

Animal Law Review

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) has proven invaluable in minimizing the destruction of the 240 avian species listed by its enforcement agency, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), as “endangered or threatened” or “birds of conservation concern.”Recently, however, the Act is faced with a new challenge: How can it continue to achieve its objective when a highly desirable domestic source of sustainable energy—wind power—is experiencing unprecedented growth? Ever-larger wind projects propelled by giant turbines have become a serious danger to the existence of migratory birds and their natural habitats. Yet most policy makers strongly welcome and support …

Shocked, Horrified, Sickened: How Cigarettes (And The Lessons From The Tobacco Litigation) Can Take Years Off Animal-Based Food Industries, Amanda Winalski

Animal Law Review

Animal-based food industries—meat, egg, and dairy—have a history of opposing even relatively minor attempts to reduce human consumption of animal-based foods. In the face of growing evidence that eating meat, eggs, and dairy is detrimental to human health, these industries and their supporters maintain the opposite: that these foods are essential for a healthy diet and have no negative impact as normally consumed. Recognizing parallels between animal-based food industries and another industry heavily invested in maintaining the notion that its product was benign as normally consumed, this Article argues the tobacco litigation saga holds instructive lessons for combatting the current …

Prospects And Practices For Crpd Implementation In Africa, Janet E. Lord, Michael Ashley Stein

Book Chapters

African states strongly embraced the adoption of the CRPD, along with its Optional Protocol. The Working Group that developed the foundational text of the treaty included delegations from seven African nations. Likewise, the lone seat allocated within the Working Group to represent national human rights institutions was held by a South African Human Rights Commissioner. Sixteen African countries signed the CRPD on the first day it opened for signature, and 34 have ratified it, contributing to a rapid entry into force. In addition, 18 African states are party to the Optional Protocol to the CRPD, thereby assenting to its complaint …

Uf Law Spring 2013, University Of Florida Levin College Of Law

UF Law Magazine

A Historic Turn; Guns and Justice; Law of Innovation; Devotion to Adoption

Constellation Translation: A Canadian Noh Play, Judy Halebsky

Collected Faculty Scholarship

Daphne Marlatt’s play, The Gull, explores the form and structure of traditional Japanese Noh theatre to expand the possibilities of translating Noh for a Canadian audience. Marlatt developed the play out of her 1974 collection of poems, Steveston, which touches on the experience of Japanese-Canadian residents of the fishing community of Steveston, BC, who were evacuated and interned during World War II. In 2006, under the direction of Heidi Specht, Pangaea Arts staged The Gull through collaboration among Japanese Noh master Akira Matsui, Noh professionals from Tokyo, and Canadian actors. This research demonstrates that the emphasis on maintaining …

Evaluation Of Handling Equipment Sound Pressure Levels As Stressors In Beef Cattle, Christina M. Lyvers

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Sound pressure level (SPL) is known to cause stress in cattle but is often overlooked as a potential source of fear for cattle when designing handling equipment. Current literature does not offer guidelines for the design of equipment with regard to SPL. It is, however, recommended that handling equipment should be designed to minimize the SPL during handling. The purpose of this experiment was to measure stress levels in a group of cattle which were subjected to a series of varying sounds in order to determine a design threshold limit for handling equipment. Treatments included two frequencies, 1 kHz and …

Using Gis To Delineate Headwater Stream Origins In The Appalachian Coal-Belt Region Of Kentucky, Jonathan A. Villines

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Human activity such as surface mining can have substantial impacts on the natural environment. Performing a Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessment (CHIA) of such impacts on surface water systems requires knowing the location and extent of these impacted streams. The Jurisdictional Determination (JD) of a stream’s protected status under the Clean Water Act (CWA) involves locating and classifying streams according to their flow regime: ephemeral, intermittent, or perennial. Due to their often remote locations and small size, taking a field inventory of headwater streams for surface mining permit applications or permit reviews is challenging. A means of estimating headwater stream location …

Genetic Diversity Of North American Captive-Born Gorillas (Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla), Noah D. Simmons, Ronald S. Wagner, Joseph G. Lorenz

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are designated as critically endangered and wild populations are dramatically declining as a result of habitat destruction, fragmentation, diseases (e.g., Ebola) and the illegal bushmeat trade. As wild populations continue to decline, the genetic management of the North American captive western lowland gorilla population will be an important component of the long‐term conservation of the species. We genotyped 26 individuals from the North American captive gorilla collection at 11 autosomal microsatellite loci in order to compare levels of genetic diversity to wild populations, investigate genetic signatures of a population bottleneck and identify …

Genetic Analysis Of Putative Familial Relationships In A Captive Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes) Population, Renato Robledo, Joseph G. Lorenz, Jeanne Beck, James Else, Patrick Bender

Anthropology and Museum Studies Faculty Scholarship

Twelve autosomal dinucleotide repeat loci were analyzed in chimpanzees genomes by DNA amplification using primers designed for analysis of human loci. The markers span the entire length of human chromosomes 21 and 22. Nine markers were polymorphic in chimpanzee as well, with a somewhat comparable level of polymorphism and allele size range. Even in the presence of very limited information and in spite of missing samples, it was possible to reconstruct a complex pedigree and to provide molecular data that corroborate family relationships that were deduced from cage history and behavioral data. The conclusions were further supported by mitochondrial DNA …

The Varieties Of Comparative Institutional Analysis, Daniel H. Cole

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This paper, written as a contribution to a festchrift in honor of Neil Komesar, subjects his "comparative institutional analysis" (CIA) to a comparative analysis with various other social-scientific approaches to CIA.

Neil Komesar is among the very few legal scholars who has taken to heart Ronald Coase's call for comparative institutional analysis (CIA) of alternative "social arrangements." While Komesar has plowed a relatively lonely furrow in the legal academy, scholars from across the social sciences have been engaged in CIA (broadly defined), using various terminologies, methodologies, and evaluative criteria. This paper takes a pluralistic approach to understanding the differences in …

Dominion Undeserved: Milton And The Perils Of Creation, Eric B. Song

English Literature Faculty Works

That the writings of John Milton continue to provoke study and analysis centuries after his lifetime speaks no doubt to his literary greatness but also to the many ways in which his art both engaged and transcended the political and theological tensions of his age. In Dominion Undeserved, Eric B. Song offers a brilliant reading of Milton's major writings, finding in them a fundamental impasse that explains their creative power. According to Song, a divided view of creation governs Milton's related systems of cosmology, theology, art, and history. For Milton, any coherent entity a nation, a poem, or even the …

Metaphors And Persuasion, Jonathan Van Patten

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Prevalence Of Vitamin D Deficiency In An Ethnic African Urban Obstetric Population In An Equatorial City Hospital, Raj Hasmukh Dodia

Master of Medicine in Obstetrics and Gynecology

Introduction: Low Vitamin D levels in pregnancy have been associated with an increased risk of gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, bacterial vaginosis, preterm birth, disordered fetal skeletal homeostasis, and impaired offspring lung health. As a result, current public health advice in several countries is to universally supplement Vitamin D during pregnancy. Data regarding the Vitamin D levels of the ethnic obstetric population in Kenya are not available; hence recommendations for Vitamin D supplementation have no scientific basis. Objectives of study: This research was carried out to determine the prevalence of deficiency of Vitamin D in ethnic African obstetric patients who had delivered …

The Adolescent Experience In-Depth: Using Data To Identify And Reach The Most Vulnerable Young People—Rwanda 2010, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

“The Adolescent Experience In-Depth: Using Data to Identify and Reach the Most Vulnerable Young People: Rwanda 2010” is part of a series of Population Council guides that draw principally on data from the Demographic and Health Surveys to provide decisionmakers at all levels—from governments, nongovernmental organizations, and advocacy groups—with evidence on the situation of adolescent girls and boys and young women aged 10–24 years. The data are presented in graphs, tables, and maps (wherever possible), providing multiple formats to make the information accessible to a range of audiences. Section I is the Foreword. Section II offers brief technical notes specific …

Étude De Suivi Des Adolescentes Migrantes Employées De Maison Ayant Participé À La Première Cohorte Du Programme Filles Éveillées, Sarah Engebretsen

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

La migration circulaire (du milieu rural au milieu urbain et retour), est courante parmi les adolescents et adolescentes d'Afrique occidentale, la principale motivation étant la quête de débouchés économiques, y compris le travail domestique. Les données d’efficacité programmatique disponibles s’interrompent généralement au moment de la conclusion des programmes, sans suivi des adolescents à plus longue échéance. Cette étude suit un sous-échantillon d'adolescentes migrantes employées de maison au Burkina Faso après leur participation à la première cohorte du programme pilote Filles Éveillées. Ce programme a été conçu pour offrir aux filles migrantes employées de maison l’occasion de renforcer leurs réseaux sociaux …

A Broken Shield: A Plea For Formality In The Juvenile Justice System, Robin Walker Sterling

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Discovery Of Novel Prognostic Biomarkers Of Acute Kidney Injury, Joseph Lee Alge

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Background: Acute kidney injury is a cause of significant morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Prognostic biomarkers that predict at the time of diagnosis which patients will develop severe AKI and its complications would facilitate timely intervention and could lead to improved outcomes. The urinary proteome is a logical source of candidate biomarkers of kidney injury. Methods: Urine was collected from rodents and human subjects with AKI secondary to diverse etiologies, including cardiac surgery, ischemic/hypoxic injury, and nephrotoxicity. Shotgun proteomics was used to identify candidate biomarkers in four separate discovery phase experiments. These candidates were then verified in a larger …

How I Rode The Bus To Become A Professor At The University Of Denver Sturm College Of Law; Reflections On Keyes's Legacy For The Metropolitan, Post-Racial, And Multiracial Twenty-First Century, Tom I. Romero Ii

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

From A Legal Organization Of Militants Into A Law Firm For The Latino Community: Maldef And The Purposive Cases Of Keyes, Rodriguez, And Plyler, Michael A. Olivas

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Outsider Within: The Radical, Not-So-Scary Feminist Jurisprudence Of Ann Scales, Kathryn Abrams

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Automatic Performance Level Assessment In Minimally Invasive Surgery Using Coordinated Sensors And Composite Metrics, Sami Taha Abu Snaineh

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Skills assessment in Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) has been a challenge for training centers for a long time. The emerging maturity of camera-based systems has the potential to transform problems into solutions in many different areas, including MIS. The current evaluation techniques for assessing the performance of surgeons and trainees are direct observation, global assessments, and checklists. These techniques are mostly subjective and can, therefore, involve a margin of bias.

The current automated approaches are all implemented using mechanical or electromagnetic sensors, which suffer limitations and influence the surgeon’s motion. Thus, evaluating the skills of the MIS surgeons and trainees …

Context Aware Privacy Preserving Clustering And Classification, Nirmal Thapa

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Data are valuable assets to any organizations or individuals. Data are sources of useful information which is a big part of decision making. All sectors have potential to benefit from having information. Commerce, health, and research are some of the fields that have benefited from data. On the other hand, the availability of the data makes it easy for anyone to exploit the data, which in many cases are private confidential data. It is necessary to preserve the confidentiality of the data. We study two categories of privacy: Data Value Hiding and Data Pattern Hiding. Privacy is a huge concern …

A Novel Computational Framework For Transcriptome Analysis With Rna-Seq Data, Yin Hu

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

The advance of high-throughput sequencing technologies and their application on mRNA transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) have enabled comprehensive and unbiased profiling of the landscape of transcription in a cell. In order to address the current limitation of analyzing accuracy and scalability in transcriptome analysis, a novel computational framework has been developed on large-scale RNA-seq datasets with no dependence on transcript annotations. Directly from raw reads, a probabilistic approach is first applied to infer the best transcript fragment alignments from paired-end reads. Empowered by the identification of alternative splicing modules, this framework then performs precise and efficient differential analysis at automatically detected …