Digital Commons Network^™

Believable Victims: Asylum Credibility And The Struggle For Objectivity, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

Asylum adjudication is often the invisible frontline in the struggle by oppressed groups to gain recognition for their plights. Through this process, individual people must tell their stories and try to show that they are genuine victims of persecution rather than simply illegal immigrants attempting to slip through the system. In 2002, because the world had not yet acknowledged the nature of the calamity from which they were escaping, many Darfurian asylum cases would have relied on the ability of each individual to convince government offices to believe their stories. They would have had to be deemed “credible,” or they …

Immigrant Victims, Immigrant Accusers, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

The U Visa program provides an immigration status to noncitizen victims of crime, which is essential to prevent unauthorized immigrants from being afraid to seek help from the police, and thus becoming easy prey for criminals. This visa falls into a category of immigration programs that grant benefits on the basis of victim status, rather than on family or employment connections to the United States. But the federal government structured the U Visa program so that in order to be protected as a victim, a person must also become an accuser. The U Visa thus implicates the rights of third …

A Taxonomy Of Discretion: Refining The Legality Debate About Obama’S Executive Actions On Immigration, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

Broad executive action has been the Obama Administration’s signature contribution to American immigration policy, setting off a furious debate about whether the President has acted outside his constitutional powers. But the legal debate about the scope of the President’s authority to change immigration policy has not fully recognized what is actually innovative about the Obama policies, and thus has not focused on those areas where he has taken executive discretion into uncharted territory. This essay aims to add new focus to the debate about Pres. Obama’s executive actions by defining five different types of presidential discretion: Congressionally-authorized discretion, non-enforcement discretion, …

Homenaje A García Lorca, A Conductor’S Approach, Alejandro Artemio Larumbe Martínez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a conductor’s analysis of the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas’s Homenaje a García Lorca from research of his work and life. Revueltas wrote Homenaje a García Lorca, a chamber orchestral piece, in response to the murder of the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. Homenaje is orchestrated for twelve instruments in three contrasting movements: Baile (dance), Duelo (mourning), and Son (son is the name of a genre of traditional Mexican music). Homenaje is widely regarded as one of Revueltas’s most compelling works. It combines a highly personal …

On The Development Of Analytical Methodologies To Interrogate The Lipid Dynamics And Phase Transition Resulting From The Reduction Of Stimuli-Responsive Vesicles, James Edward Winter

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The potential is great for liposome drug delivery systems that provide specific contents release at diseased tissue sites upon activation by upregulated enzymes; however, this potential will only come to fruition with mechanistic knowledge of the contents release process. NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase type 1 (NQO1) is a target for reductively-responsive liposomes, as it is an enzyme upregulated in numerous cancer tissues and is capable of reducing quinone propionic acid (QPA) trigger groups to hydroquinones that self-cleave from dioleolylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) liposome surfaces, thereby initiating contents release. This research targets the development of analytical methodologies to observe and characterize the dynamics and resulting …

The Multiplicity Of Copyright Laws On The Internet, Marketa Trimble

Scholarly Works

From the early days of the Internet, commentators have warned that it would be impossible for those who act on the Internet (“Internet actors”) to comply with the copyright laws of all Internet-connected countries if the national copyright laws of all those countries were to apply simultaneously to Internet activity. A multiplicity of applicable copyright laws seems plausible at least when the Internet activity is ubiquitous — i.e., unrestricted by geoblocking or by other means — given the territoriality principle that governs international copyright law and the choice-of-law rules that countries typically use for copyright infringements.

This Article posits that …

Nature's Geometry, Lin Feng

LSU Master's Theses

The beauty of the natural world, from the literal to the abstract: color, texture, shape, sounds, plant structure and anatomy, has continuously been the source of inspiration for artists and graphic designers. Our natural environment provides a readily available resource as a basis of visual study and exploration to develop a unique visual language and construct compelling work. Therefore, the aim of my thesis investigation is to create a new visual language and communication based on the inherent beauty within nature and geometric forms found in nature. I began my investigation by developing a family of symbols based on natural …

Synthetic Methods Development Towards The Total Synthesis Of Chlorosulfolipids, Andres Villalpando

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The focus of this dissertation is the development of a novel chlorination reaction utilizing a triphosgene-amine based mixture towards the total synthesis of chlorosulfolipids, a subclass of naturally occurring organohalogen natural products. This novel, mild chlorination reaction will be utilized under a global chlorination strategy to chlorinate multiple alcohol substituents in one synthetic operation. Chapter one details the history of chlorosulfolipids from the early stages of their isolation, relevant structural elucidation techniques, appropriate biosynthetic discoveries, and their biological relevance to a thorough investigation of the total syntheses completed to date. These compounds demonstrate a range of biological activities and have …

Advancing A Framework For Regulating Cryptocurrency Payments Intermediaries, Sarah Jane Hughes, Stephen T. Middlebrook

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article looks at competing models for regulating providers of services to individuals and businesses that take cryptocurrencies in payment for goods and services, including operators of online wallets and exchanges, and other cryptocurrency market intermediaries whose functions resemble "money service businesses" or "money transmission." We conclude that, in addition to whatever "money services" or "money transmission "prudential regulation the States or federal government may adopt, the operation of wallets and exchanges requires a new commercial law that lays out rights and liabilities of cryptocurrency users in a robust and transparent fashion. We use Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial …

A Rhetorician’S Practical Wisdom, Linda L. Berger

Scholarly Works

For three years, I had the great good fortune to work in the office next to Jack Sammons. My good fortune extended to a coincidence of timing that allowed me to work with Jack on a co-authored article, The Law's Mystery. During the time I worked next door, I felt cursed by an inability to grasp concepts that to Jack appeared inevitable and essential, whether those inevitabilities and essences were to be found within the law, good lawyering, or good legal education. The curse persisted throughout the writing of The Law's Mystery.

For Jack, the essence of a …

Do Immigrants Have Freedom Of Speech?, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

The Department of Justice recently argued that immigrants who have not been legally admitted to the United States have no right to claim protections under the First Amendment. If the DOJ argument is right, then most of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. could be censored or punished for speaking their minds – as many of them have in support of comprehensive immigration reform and the Dream Act. This Essay explores the complicated and conflicted case law governing immigrants’ free speech rights, and argues that, contrary to the DOJ position, all people in the United States are protected …

A Performer's Guide To Sergei Lyapunov's Concerto For Piano And Orchestra No.1, Op.4, Irina Cunev

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This document is intended to contribute to the ongoing study of Sergei Lyapunov’s work by focusing on his First Piano Concerto, a brilliant work that was once highly esteemed, but which has been unjustly neglected over the years. The main purposes of this study and the accompanying public lecture-recital are threefold: 1) to provide a historical background and to discuss major music trends that shaped Lyapunov’s style, along with biographical information about the composer’s life, 2) to provide a specific descriptive analysis of key stylistic elements utilized in the concerto and 3) to provide a detailed discussion of pianistic techniques …

The Unconstitutional Use Of Restraints In Removal Proceedings, Fatma Marouf

Scholarly Works

This Article challenges the constitutionality of indiscriminately restraining civil immigration detainees during removal proceedings. Not only are immigration detainees routinely placed in handcuffs, leg irons, and belly chains without any individualized determination of the need for restraints, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the prosecuting party, makes the decisions about the use of restraints, rather than the judge. After examining the rationale for the well-established prohibition against the indiscriminate use of restraints during criminal and civil jury trials, and discussing how some courts have extended this rationale to bench trials, this Article contends that ICE’s practice violates substantive and procedural …

Nevada Youth Learn About Voting Rights, Rachel J. Anderson

Scholarly Works

Prof. Rachel Anderson describes the second Youth Voting Rights Project, an event created by Prof. Anderson in collaboration with Dr. Zachary Robbins, Clark County School District principal, to help educate Nevadan high school and middle school students on the topic of election law.

Prof. Anderson also comments on the controversy surrounding Voter ID laws and the question of whether and to what degree the United States has made progress in fulfilling the promise of the Voting Rights Act.

Non-State Armed Groups And The Role Of Transnational Criminal Law During Armed Conflict, Christopher L. Blakesley, Dan E. Stigall

Scholarly Works

With the ascendance of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the international community has struggled to adapt to the new international security context. Among the challenges that are currently being confronted are questions relating to how states may effectively facilitate international cooperation to counter ISIS (especially among countries in the Middle East and North Africa). Within this context, guidance from the United Nations on international cooperation posits that “[t]he universal counter-terrorism conventions and protocols do not apply in situations of armed conflict” – a legal position that would serve to stymie important cooperative …

Joan: A Play With Broken Songs, Colton James Neidhardt

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT This thesis details the writing process, rehearsals and performance of the author‘s devised play, Joan: A Play With Broken Songs. The play aims to reimagine events occurring the evening before the death of French folk hero and Catholic Saint, Joan of Arc. The play exists in the moments between sleep and waking, in which Joan is visited by her own patron Saints (Margaret and Catherine,) as well as the Archangel Michael. The Saints then guide Joan through the dreamscape revealing to her images of the past, present, and future that allow her to come to peace with the sacrifice …

Fairly Pricing Guilty Pleas, Anne R. Traum

Scholarly Works

Building on Professor Andrew Taslitz’s work, this article explores how Fair Price Theory can help us analyze the fairness of guilty pleas. In Judging Jena’s D.A., Professor Taslitz used Fair Price Theory to explore how prosecutors could strive to achieve fairness and reduce the perception of racial stigma. He used Fair Price Theory to propose a system of prosecutorial ethics that takes into account racial stigma. This article considers how Fair Price Theory challenges courts to analyze guilty pleas differently, by focusing on price without relying on the agency of prosecutors. Under current doctrine, a court examines whether the …

A Multi-Theoretical Analysis Of Motivation In College Activity Courses, Louis Hines

LSU Master's Theses

College activity courses present an opportunity for physical educators to increase physical activity among young adults. Facilitating motivation in activity courses may lead to increased engagement and future participation in physical activities. The purpose of this study was to examine motivation in college activity courses utilizing a multi-theoretical approach in order to assess changes in physical self-concept and intention for participation in physical activities. It was hypothesized that a task-involved motivational climate would predict need satisfaction, which would in turn predict self-determined motivation. It was further hypothesized that this motivational sequence would predict changes in physical self-concept and intention to …

The New Era Of Presidential Immigration Law, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

At the dawn of the Obama Administration, Professors Adam Cox and Cristina Rodríguez wrote: “[T]he inauguration of a new President can bring with it remarkable changes in immigration policy.” At the time they wrote that, this proposition was in some ways more a matter of advocacy than a description of reality. As we approach the election of a new president in 2016, we finally live in the world that Professors Cox and Rodríguez advocated. The election of a new President will likely carry significant immediate consequences for immigration policy. My goal in this short space will be to focus on …

Chemically Patterned Surfaces As Test Platforms To Study Magnetic And Solvent-Responsive Properties At The Nanoscale: Investigations Using Scanning Probe Microscopy, Shalaka Kulkarni

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Chemically patterned surfaces were fabricated using a combination of molecular self-assembly and particle lithography to generate billions of nanostructures of organosilane self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Monodisperse mesospheres were used as surface masks to prepare nanostructures on flat surfaces using the simple benchtop chemistry steps of mixing, centrifuging, evaporation, and drying. Periodic arrays of well-defined organosilane nanostructures serve as discrete surface sites for the selective deposition of polymers and magnetic nanoparticles.

In this dissertation, particle lithography approaches for surface patterning provide new directions for studying surface chemistry at the molecular-level using high resolution investigations with scanning probe microscopy (SPM). Atomic force microscopy …

Advanced Math Curriculum - Act Prep And Pre-College Algebra, Lauren Louise Morris

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to create a non-traditional Advanced Mathematics course paired with Math XL® for School (MXL) for senior-level students with low ACT Math scores. The Advanced Math course was created with the purpose of helping students increase their ACT Math scores and preparing them for first-year college math, College Algebra. The course was taught at a private high school in Louisiana for the 2014-2015 school year and is attached to this thesis as an appendix. Upon completion of this course, the participating students achieved an average increase of 3.1 points in their ACT Math scores. After …

Oregon Lake Watch, 2015 Annual Report, Samuel Cimino, Rich Miller, Angela L. Strecker

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

The Oregon Lake Watch (OLW) volunteer monitoring program completed its third year of operation during 2015 with a focus on early detection of aquatic invasive species (AIS) and water quality status and trend assessments for the better management of Oregon’s lakes and reservoirs. AIS surveys emphasized the detection of Watch List aquatic plant and species that can have a negative impacts on the beneficial uses of our waterbodies. Water transparency and temperature measurements were used to track the condition of volunteers' lakes.

Thirty-one Oregon lakes have been surveyed during the OLW’s three years, 16 of which were surveyed during 2015. …

The Effect Of Teacher Vs. Student-Set Performance Goals On Academic Achievement In A Middle School Science Classroom, Tyne Nicole Courville

LSU Master's Theses

Self-regulation and self-efficacy are both necessary for students to be independent learners. During middle school, students begin to yearn for academic autonomy, but lack the ability to regulate themselves and are unreasonable about their abilities. Goals have been proven to promote the development of these two skills. The purpose of this investigation was to determine which type of performance goal most efficiently promotes the development of self-regulation. The effects of performance goal source were analyzed to determine if teacher-assigned or student assigned performance goals produce greater growth in content knowledge for seventh grade life science students. The effects of goal …

Application Of Discrete Element Method And Computational Fluid Dynamics To Selected Dispersed Phase Flow Problems, Oladapo Olanrewaju Ayeni

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A parallel discrete particle modelling framework (PAR_DPM3D) is applied to study three fundamental multiphase flow problems: The sedimentation of a cluster of particles in a viscous ambient fluid, multiphase flow in a bench-scale fluidized bed and granular segregation and mixing dynamics in a rotating drum. Various phenomena including torus formation and particle cluster breakup are reproduced. We provide new insights into the volume fraction dependence of the dynamic characteristics of a settling particle cluster and find a similar dependence in the simulations as in the theoretical predictions of Nitsche and Batchelor 1. Similarities in the interaction between a system of …

An Analysis Of Risk Perceptions And Attitudes Towards Climate Change Among Residents Of Southeastern Louisiana, Heather Marie Brown

LSU Master's Theses

Climate change is an important issue of concern, as its environmental impacts are already beginning to manifest in various means, such as through sea level rise and increased frequencies of storms. Areas of high vulnerability to the effects of climate change, such as southeastern Louisiana, are prime locations to initiate research in determining what factors influence individual’s risk perceptions towards climate change. This study aims is to identify key factors, specifically in the areas of socioeconomic, demographic, exposure, and attitudinal attributes, which affect climate change risk perceptions. The study area is that of the zip codes around Lake Pontchartrain in …

Factors Influencing Mottled Duck Nest Success On The Atchafalaya River Delta, Brendan Caillouet

LSU Master's Theses

The Atchafalaya River Delta system along with the Wax Lake Outlet Delta and the Mississippi River Delta are the only three areas in Louisiana where land is being gained. Beneficial use of dredge spoil from shipping channel maintenance is used on the Atchafalaya River Delta to supplement natural accretion. These dredge spoil islands have the ability to provide valuable nesting habitat for a variety of waterbirds, including Mottled Ducks. Previous studies on these islands reported mammalian predation to be a significant cause of nest failure for Mottled Ducks. I tested the hypothesis that predator reduction through trapping would increase Mottled …

The Case For Taxing (All Of) Labor Income, Consumption, Capital Income, And Wealth, David Gamage

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Perhaps the most fundamental questions in tax legal scholarship concern debates about what should be the ideal tax base or tax bases. In particular, scholars have vigorously disagreed about (1) whether the United States should follow other developed countries in supplementing its income tax with a value-added consumption tax, and (2) whether governments should seek to tax capital income and wealth or should instead seek to redesign or replace income taxes with progressive consumption taxes.

The prior economics-oriented theoretical literature on these questions has largely focused on analyzing labor supply and savings behaviors. Yet the existing empirical literature does not …

British Masculinity And Propaganda During The First World War, Evan M. Caris

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this research is to address how the issue of masculinity functioned in British propaganda during the First World War, and how it affected individuals. Propaganda relied on prewar conceptions of masculinity to appeal to audiences for reasons such as enlistment or continued support for the war. Propaganda often amplified these conceptions of prewar masculinity, and men would internalize propaganda’s message. The British state, however, did not create propaganda uniformly, and there existed major differences between the goals of propaganda posters and propaganda films. It will be demonstrated that posters and film addressed separate issues despite reaching similar …

Using Taxes To Improve Cap And Trade, Part I: Distribution, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In this article, the first of a series, we analyze the distributional issues involved in implementing U.S. state level cap-and-trade regimes. Specifically, we will argue that the structure of California’s AB 32 regime will unnecessarily disadvantage lower-income Californians under the announced plan to give away approximately half of the permits to businesses and pollution-emitting entities.

The Politics Of Public Relations: Concepts Of Image, Reputation And Authority In Henry Viii’S England, Lyndsi Lewis

LSU Master's Theses

Henry VIII ruled England from 1509-1547, producing some of the most identifiable and enduring figures and events in English history. This was largely due to the king’s skill at image manipulation and communication. This thesis focuses specifically on the period from 1509-1536, during which the whims of the king led to the rise and fall of two queens, the destruction of three ministers, and arguably the most significant religious and political controversies of the sixteenth century. It was the age of humanism, reformation, and the birth of modern political theory and practice. In the midst of this upheaval, the crown …