Digital Commons Network^™

Patent Litigation Reform: The Courts, Congress, And The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure, Paul Gugliuzza

Faculty Scholarship

Barely three years after passing the America Invents Act, Congress is again considering patent reform legislation. At least fourteen patent reform bills were introduced in the recently concluded 113th Congress. Several of those bills focused specifically on patent litigation, proposing, among other things, to impose heightened pleading requirements on plaintiffs, to limit discovery, and to create a presumption that the losing party should pay the winner’s attorneys’ fees. None of the proposals became law, but one of the bills (the Innovation Act) passed the House of Representatives. In addition, scholars continue to call for reform, and Republican members of Congress …

Effects Of Stress On 9-1-1 Call-Takers And Police Dispatchers: A Study At The San Jose Police Department, Kimberly D. Turner

Master's Theses

This research addresses the significant gap in literature related to stress among 9-1-1 call-takers and dispatchers. The relationship between perceived stress and work-life balance, fairness at work, support at home, and work control as well as physiological and psychological outcomes is examined. Survey responses were collected during the summer of 2012 from 89 police 9-1-1 call-takers and radio dispatchers of the San José Police Department Communications Division in San José, California. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, I found those who enjoy a balance between work and personal life experience less stress. Also, greater stress is associated with more psychological and …

Tales Of Archaeological Places: Visualizing Mayan Pre-Colonial Settlement Patterns, Angela Ivanov

Master's Theses

In order to visualize ancient Mayan settlement patterns and demography through time, data derived from 26 published archaeological sites were collected and plotted onto three discrete map media. These data were subdivided into six time periods ranging from Pre-Classic to Post-Classic, and were simulated for each map medium. Specific attention was given during the selection of geographical locations, natural landscape features, map annotation, layers and coordinates. Tabulated information were site names, coordinates, site founding dates, site decline/abandonment dates, and estimated population. Combined with existing country base map layers downloaded from online geographical sources and time series animation (an animated map), …

Walt Kuhn: From Spotlight To Studio, The Art Of Show Business, Emily May Mcewan-Upright

Master's Theses

Walt Kuhn, an American artist born in New York, is often overlooked for his contribution to Modern American Art. Kuhn is typically recognized for his organizational and curatorial role in the 1913 Armory Show, but he was also internationally known in his time for his paintings of show people and as a creative director for several vaudeville and circus acts over his lifetime. During his career as a creative director, Kuhn’s artwork evolved from superficial renderings of theatre scenes to psychologically intense tronies of performers. Kuhn and other American artists, including the Ashcan group and Edward Hopper, examined the relationship …

"They Going To Throw You In Jackson Where You Belong": Depictions Of Mental Disability In The Works Of William Faulkner And Flannery O'Connor, Marie Elizabeth Lawson

Master's Theses

Mentally disabled characters in the works of William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor are often subjected to mistreatment, neglect, and violence at the hands of their families and communities. In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury (1929) and The Hamlet (1940) and Flannery O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” (1955) and The Violent Bear it Away (1960), characters with mental disabilities are depicted in such a way as to evoke sympathy for the characters without the narratives overtly calling for sympathy. This is achieved through the juxtaposition of positive narrative portrayals with negative treatment by the characters’ …

Unfair And Deceptive Robots, Woodrow Hartzog

Faculty Scholarship

Robots, like household helpers, personal digital assistants, automated cars, and personal drones are or will soon be available to consumers. These robots raise common consumer protection issues, such as fraud, privacy, data security, and risks to health, physical safety and finances. Robots also raise new consumer protection issues, or at least call into question how existing consumer protection regimes might be applied to such emerging technologies. Yet it is unclear which legal regimes should govern these robots and what consumer protection rules for robots should look like.

The thesis of the Article is that the FTC’s grant of authority and …

Disfluent Fonts Don’T Help People Solve Math Problems, Andrew Meyer, Shane Frederick, Terence C. Burnham, Juan D. Guevera Pinto, Ty W. Boyer, Linden J. Ball, Gordon Pennycook, Rakefet Ackerman, Valerie A. Thompson, Jonathon P. Schuldt

ESI Publications

Prior research suggests that reducing font clarity can cause people to consider printed information more carefully. The most famous demonstration showed that participants were more likely to solve counterintuitive math problems when they were printed in hard-to-read font. However, after pooling data from that experiment with 16 attempts to replicate it, we find no effect on solution rates. We examine potential moderating variables, including cognitive ability, presentation format, and experimental setting, but we find no evidence of a disfluent font benefit under any conditions. More generally, though disfluent fonts slightly increase response times, we find little evidence that they activate …

Experimental Evolution And Economics, Terence C. Burnham, Aimee Dunlap, David W. Stephens

ESI Publications

This is a theory paper that advocates experimental evolution as a novel approach to study economic preferences. Economics could benefit because preferences are exogenous, axiomatic, and contentious. Experimental evolution allows the empirical study of preferences by placing organisms in designed environments and studying their genotype and phenotype over multiple generations. We describe a number of empirical studies on different aspects of preferences. We argue that experimental evolution has the potential to improve economics.

Commitment Problems In Conflict Resolution, Erik O. Kimbrough, Jared Rubin, Roman M. Sheremeta, Timothy W. Shields

ESI Publications

Commitment problems are inherent to non-binding conflict resolution mechanisms, since an unsatisfied party can ignore the resolution and initiate conflict. We provide experimental evidence suggesting that even in the absence of binding contractual agreements individuals often avoid conflict by committing to the outcome of a conflict resolution mechanism. Commitment problems are mitigated to a greater extent for groups that opt-in to the conflict resolution mechanism, but only when opting-in is costly. Although conflict rates are higher when opting-in is costly than when it is free or exogenously imposed, commitment problems are greatly reduced among those groups who choose to opt-in.

Humankind In Civilization’S Extended Order: A Tragedy, The First Part, Bart J. Wilson

ESI Publications

This article is a short, scientific story of the labyrinthian human career, of humankind’s place in the natural order of the world, and of the evolution of moral rules and rule following that make the extended order of civilization possible. Drawing upon work in anthropology, biology, and linguistics, I weave a science-based narrative of how Homo sapiens came to be the only primate to convert enemy aliens into trading friends. It is a Goethean story of the human condition that postulates the common origins of and modern tension between Pleistocene and Anthropocene morality. It is also a Hayekian story of …

Further Towards A Theory Of The Emergence Of Property, Bart J. Wilson

ESI Publications

This article explores the emergence of property as a moral convention. To understand this process I make use of several laboratory experiments on property in its nascence. These experiments illustrate how a rule of property arises from our knowledge of what is morally right, and not vice versa. I also argue that while the ultimate end of property is our interest in using things, the proximate end of property is not losing them, i.e., the end of a rule of property is to secure from morally unfounded harm.

“Building Louder”: An Assessment Of Habitat For Humanity, International’S Government Relations And Advocacy Efforts, Joanna A. Bossi

Student Research – Stevenson Center

This paper examines the role that advocacy and lobbying has in nonprofit organizations and, specifically, makes an assessment of how well Habitat for Humanity, International is utilizing advocacy. This paper reviews the role of nonprofits in the United States, the barriers that keep some nonprofits from utilizing advocacy methods, and the advocacy methods that Habitat for Humanity, International has in place, as well as the methods of other nonprofits of similar size. Recommendations to Habitat for Humanity, International to increase their advocacy capacity are provided.

Who’S Afraid Of Virginia’S Nat Turner? Mesmerism, Stowe, And The Terror Of Things, Christina Zwarg

English Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Polyamorous Marriage Lessons From The Marriage Equality Struggle, Hadar Aviram, Gwendolyn Leachman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Troubled Waters Diana Nyad And The Birth Of The Global Rules Of Marathon Swimming, Hadar Aviram

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Possession As A Natural Right, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

What follows is, I hope, a tribute both to Friedrich Hayek, for whom this lecture series is named, and Richard Epstein, who was kind enough to invite me to give the lecture. Hayek has long been an inspiration for his insights about the advantages of decentralized decision making and the importance of information in understanding design of institutions. Both are recurring themes in my own work. Richard was my teacher at the University of Chicago Law School and has been a guiding light ever since. His works on nuisance law, takings, and the public trust doctrine, among others, have had …

"Watching To Banish Care": Sleep And Insomnia In Book 1 Of The Faerie Queene, Benjamin Parris

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Commentaire De L'Article 19 De La Convention De Vienne De 1978 Sur La Succession D'État En Matière De Traités: Participation À Des Traités Signés Par L’État Prédécesseur Sous Réserve De Ratification, D’Acceptation Ou D’Approbation, Petros C. Mavroidis, Dr. Vassilis P. Tzevelekos

Faculty Scholarship

Commentary on Article 19 of the Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties: Participation in Treaties Signed by the Predecessor State Subject to Ratification, Acceptance or Approval

French Abstract: Commentaide de l'article 19 de la Convention de Vienne sur la succession d'État en matière de traités. I. CARACTÉRISTIQUES GÉNÉRALES: 1. Les points épineux: à la recherche de fondements a) L’intention du prédécesseur et l’absence de liens suffisants entre le traité multilatéral signé sous réserve de ratification, d’acceptation ou d’approbation et le territoire b) L’absence d’une pratique étoffée II. LA JUSTIFICATION ET L’UTILITÉ DE L’ARTICLE 19: 1. But …

Resiliency Of Multiple-Placed Foster Youth Experiencing Emotional Competence: A Mixed-Methods Study, Audrey Murph-Brown

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to address the resilient processes of multiple placed foster youth to develop age-appropriate emotional competence. Adding texture to the study was the role played by race and culture. Inherent to the study were the voices of successful multiple-placed foster youth. The research attempted to respond to gaps in the literature regarding African American and Hispanic youth placed in foster placements that, if better understood, can positively impact the livelihoods of other multiple-placed foster youth. The minor participants, 10 to 17 years old, selected for this study were no longer wards of the state, having been …

Counting Uncounted Gunshot Injuries: A Capture‐Recapture Study Of People Minding Their Own Business, Zev Balsen

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Objectives. To apply a novel statistical method to create a comprehensive estimate of incidence of firearm related injuries.

Methods. A database of firearms injuries in New Haven, Connecticut, during a five- month period was created with records from law enforcement, emergency departments, emergency medical services (EMS), news media, and the medical examiner. The overlap of these various sources was operationalized in a capture-recapture model to generate an estimate of uncounted firearms injuries, and log linear modeling was used to control for positive and negative dependencies.

Results. The combined data sources revealed 49 firearms injuries occurring during the study period within …

Multimodal Evaluation Of Cerebrospinal Fluid (Csf) Dynamics Following Extradural Decompression For Chiari I Malformation, Jennifer Quon

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Chiari I malformation is a hindbrain abnormality characterized by tonsillar herniation > 5 mm below the level of the foramen magnum. Extradural decompression is a minimally invasive technique for treating Chiari I that involves a suboccipital craniectomy with removal of the outer dural layer. Other techniques the involve opening of the dura, arachnoid or even manipulation of the cerebellar tonsils have since been the mainstay of treatment, but are associated with a higher complication rate and longer hospital stays. While there is no agreement on which surgical method is optimal, mounting evidence demonstrates that extradural decompression effectively treats clinical symptoms with …

The Human Footprint Of Our Daily Consumption: Defetishizing Commodities Through New Media, Kelly Mcguire

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Applications Of Neuroscience In Criminal Law: Legal And Methodological Issues, John B. Meixner Jr.

Scholarly Works

The use of neuroscience in criminal law applications is an increasingly discussed topic among legal and psychological scholars. Over the past 5 years, several prominent federal criminal cases have referenced neuroscience studies and made admissibility determinations regarding neuroscience evidence. Despite this growth, the field is exceptionally young, and no one knows for sure how significant of a contribution neuroscience will make to criminal law. This article focuses on three major subfields: (1) neuroscience-based credibility assessment, which seeks to detect lies or knowledge associated with a crime; (2) application of neuroscience to aid in assessments of brain capacity for culpability, especially …

When Faith Falls Short: Bankruptcy Decisions Of Churches, Pamela Foohey

Scholarly Works

What does a church do when it is about to go bust? Religious organizations, like any business, can experience financial distress. Leaders could try to solve their churches’ financial problems on their own. Perhaps leaders do not view the problems as addressable with law. Or perhaps they do not think, as a moral or spiritual matter, that they should resort to the legal system, such as bankruptcy, to deal with their churches’ inability to pay its debts. Yet about ninety religious organizations seek to reorganize under the Bankruptcy Code every year. This Article relies on interviews with forty-five of these …

Rethinking Religious Minorities' Political Power, Hillel Y. Levin

Scholarly Works

This Article challenges the assumption that small religious groups enjoy little political power. According to the standard view, courts, because of their countermajoritarian qualities, are indispensable for protecting religious minority groups from oppression by the majority. But this assumption fails to account for the many and varied ways in which the majoritarian branches have chosen to protect and accommodate even unpopular religious minority groups, as well as the courts’ failures to do so.

The Article offers a public choice analysis to account for the surprising majoritarian reality of religious accommodationism. Further, it explores the important implications of this reality for …

The Idea Of The Casebook: Pedagogy, Prestige, And Trusty Platforms, Joseph S. Miller, Lydia Pallas Loren

Scholarly Works

Independently published, electronically delivered books have been the future of the law school casebook for some time now. Are they destined to remain so? We sketch an e-casebook typology then highlight some features of law professor culture which suggest that, although e-casebook offerings will surely expand, the trust credential that the traditional publishers provide plays a durable, central role in the market for course materials that law professors create.

Return Of The Jrad, Jason A. Cade

Scholarly Works

Ignacio Diaz Aguilar’s felony conviction for document forgery made him a priority for deportation and disqualified him from the possibility of discretionary relief from removal, despite apparently significant equities and mitigating factors. And yet, when Federal District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein sentenced Mr. Aguilar, he recommended that the government not deport him, even though no legal rules provided him with a route to that result. This essay places Judge Weinstein’s recommendation in a broader context, explaining its importance within the modern deportation regime. Statutory reforms and new agency practices have made criminal history the primary marker of noncitizen undesirability. …

Population Differentiation And Habitat Selection Of A Montane Red Fox Population In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Patrick Cross

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montane red fox (Vulpes vulpes) populations across the western United States are genetically and morphologically distinct from foxes at lower elevations. These montane populations also share a preference for subalpine forest habitats. One hypothesis is that they stem from boreal forest-associated ancestors that expanded during the Pleistocene when boreal forests extended farther south than they do today. Forest habitat selection may therefore aid the persistence of native populations surrounded by non-native conspecifics. Alternatively, this behavior may be an avoidance mechanism in response to competition with larger coyotes (Canis latrans), or a product of the fox's natural adaptability. The red fox …

The Piegan View Of The Natural World, 1880-1920, Rosalyn R. Lapier

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation is a new interpretation of the stories told by the Piegan people (now known as the Blackfeet) from 1880-1920, about their relationship with the natural world. It is a history of the transition to reservation life, the economy of the reservation, individual Piegan who told stories, the ethnographers who recorded the stories and what those stories tell us about Piegan views of the natural world. It is a blend of different methodologies within history: archival research, ethnohistory, oral history and first-person narrative. This new interpretation argues that although the transition to reservation life was difficult, the Piegan worked …

Equality And Singapore’S First Constitutional Challenges To The Criminalization Of Male Homosexual Conduct, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In 2013, i Lim Meng Suang and Kenneth Chee Mun-Leon v Attorney-General and Tan Eng Hong v Attorney-General, the High Court of Singapore delivered the first judgments in the jurisdiction considering the constitutionality of section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalizes acts of gross indecency between two men, whether they occur in public or private. The Court ruled that the provision was not inconsistent with the guarantees of equality before the law and equal protection of the law stated in Article 12(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore. The result was upheld in 2014 by the Court …