Digital Commons Network^™

Multiple Lines Of Evidence Support The Species Status Of The Poorly Known Diasporus Tigrillo And The Recently Described Diasporus Citrinobapheus (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae), Adrián García-Rodríguez, Erick Arias, Gerardo Chaves

Neotropical Biodiversity

The genus of direct-developing frogs Diasporus is currently composed of 11 species ranging from Honduras to Ecuador. Body size variability, advertisement call divergence, and polychromatism have all been reported at the interpopulation level, suggesting that the existence of some species may be masked within the current nomenclature of this group. This pattern highlights the need for integrative approaches to resolve the taxonomy of the genus and provide a robust delimitation of the species it contains. Here, we provide novel data on morphology, genetics, habitat use, and bioacoustics for D. tigrillo, the least known species in the genus. Then we use …

Quantifying Muscle Fatigue Of The Low Back During Repetitive Load Lifting Using Lyapunov Analysis, Elias Spyropoulos, Anastasia Kyvelidou, Nicholas Stergiou, George Athanassiou

Journal Articles

Background: Occupational low back disorders are often associated with exposure to work-related physical risk factors such as muscle fatigue in the low back.
Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the possible relationship between the divergence of the kinematic trajectories of the low back system and the different stages of fatigue during the execution of a repetitive lifting task.
Methods: The patterns of the low back system were recorded using markers on specific vertebras during the repetitive load lifting from the floor to a 0.75 m height table. The maximum Lyapunov exponent, λmax of the recorded patterns was …

Treating The New European Disease Of Consumer Debt In A Post-Communist State: The Groundbreaking New Russian Personal Insolvency Law, Jason J. Kilborn

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

This article examines the tumultuous transition from restrictive Communism to the debt-fueled consumer economy of modern Russia. In particular, it surveys Russia’s legal response to severe debt distress, situating it in the context of nearly one thousand years of historical development. Effective 1 October 2015, Russia finally joined most of its European neighbors in adopting a personal bankruptcy law, with characteristics that reflect both evolving international best practices and a series of lessons not learned. This article offers the first detailed exposition in English of the two steps forward represented by this new law, as well as an evaluation of …

Fashion Forward: The Need For A Proactive Approach To The Counterfeit Epidemic, Casey Tripoli

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In the last two decades, the overall activity of the counterfeit market has expanded and risen 10,000 percent. This dramatic shift corresponds to growth of the Internet, which has unified the fascination of obtaining cheap, illegitimate goods with the efficiency of a mouse click. With the expected continued inflation of the counterfeit market comes a host of new concerns, namely, how to determine who is responsible for the distribution of these knockoffs, and who should be ordained to limit them in the marketplace. In both the United States and the European Union, however, outdated laws produce a mélange of inadequate …

Thailand's Ban On Commercial Surrogacy: Why Thailand Should Regulate, Not Attempt To Eradicate, Allison L. Zimmerman

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

International commercial surrogacy is when a person or couple from one country hires a surrogate in a different country. In recent years, this form of reproductive tourism has been a booming industry in Thailand due to the lack of meaningful regulation, relatively low cost, and unavailability in other countries. After a string of scandals involving Thai surrogacy arrangements arose, however, the Thai government enacted the Protection for Children Born Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act (the “ART Act”), prohibiting Thai commercial surrogacy from serving foreign clients, and only allowing Thai heterosexual couples to make use of surrogacy arrangements. As a result, …

A Comparison Between Shale Gas In China And Unconventional Fuel Development In The United States: Water, Environmental Protection, And Sustainable Development, Paolo D. Farah, Riccardo Tremolada

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

China is believed to have the world's largest exploitable reserves of shale gas, although several legal, regulatory, environmental, and investment-related issues will likely restrain its exploitation. China's capacity to face these hurdles successfully and produce commercial shale gas will have a crucial impact on the regional gas market and on China’s energy mix, as Beijing strives to decrease reliance on imported oil and coal, and, at the same time, tries to meet growing energy demand and maintain a certain level of resource autonomy. The development of the unconventional natural gas extractive industry will also provide China with further negotiating power …

The Phase-Out And Sunset Of Travel Restrictions In The International Health Regulations, Sarah R. Goldfarb

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Whether and to what extent travel restriction should be implemented during international infectious disease epidemics became a controversial issue, most recently, during the 2014 Ebola outbreak. The primary authority on the manner in which to respond to such epidemics is the International Health Regulations (IHR). The IHR is a treaty, established by the World Health Organization (WHO), which governs and coordinates international responses to international infectious disease epidemics. Despite the WHO's strong advisement to the contrary, many countries who were signatories to the IHR implemented travel bans and other types of travel restrictions to prevent the transmission of the disease …

Australians' "Right" To Be Bigoted: Protecting Minorities' Rights From The Tyranny Of The Majority, Jillian Rudge

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) is a federal statute prohibiting behavior that offends, insults, humiliates, or intimidates people based on their race, nationality, ethnicity, or immigration status. It appropriately limits the right to freedom of expression where the exercise of that right encroaches on other, equally fundamental rights to equality and freedom from discrimination. The RDA is one of Australia’s few human rights laws focused on fighting racism. It is especially important for protecting the rights of minorities since Australia lacks a constitutional or federal bill of rights. Unfortunately, in 2014 and 2015, conservative politicians called for a repulsion of …

The Need For An International Convention On Data Privacy: Taking A Cue From The Cisg, Morgan Corley

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In light of the invalidation of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor, along with the increase in sales of personal data as a commodity, data privacy has become a major concern amongst different nations. The lack of harmonization of data-privacy laws around the world continues to pose obstacles to the free flow of data across national borders. The free flow of data is, nonetheless, essential the international economy. As a result, nations continue to work together to try to create mechanisms by which data can be transferred across borders in a secure manner. This Note examines the current state of data-privacy law …

Free Kick: Fifa’S Unintended Role In Illuminating Jurisdictional Gaps Of International Criminal Courts, Travis L. Marmara

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In the wake of the FIFA corruption scandal of 2015, certain realities have come to light. FIFA’s corruption knows no bounds, but fans of the sport will watch nonetheless. What is less apparent is that the two most prominent international criminal courts—the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) fail to have jurisdiction over the FIFA organization or its officials when they engage in white-collar crimes that sanction human rights abuses abroad. This Note examines how FIFA officials’ acceptance of Qatari bribes to host the 2022 World Cup exposed alarming jurisdictional inadequacies of the ICJ and …

Relative International Legal Personality Of Non-State Actors, William Thomas Worster

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Non-state actors are increasingly being considered international legal persons on a case-by-case basis. This articles argues that the common thread in making decisions on whether to treat a non-state actor as an international legal person is one of the function that the actor is playing in relation to other international actors. Gone is the traditional notion that only states are international legal persons, and it is now well accepted that international organizations are also persons. More controversial is the status of self-determination peoples, National Liberation Movements, indigenous peoples, insurgents, belligerents, combatants, private corporations, non-governmental organizations, religious organizations, and individuals. This …

“Chi S’Aiuta, Dio L’Aiuta”: Balancing Italy’S Right To Utilize Assisted Reproductive Technologies With The Teachings Of The Catholic Church, Erin A. Mcmullan

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Adelina Parrillo never anticipated starting a prolonged legal battle when she requested her embryos be donated for scientific research. The restrictive legislation in place in Italy, inevitably influenced by the Catholic Church, mandated that she either implant the embryos or store them indefinitely. After a long drawn out battle with the Italian courts, she desperately sought assistance from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), a court tasked with protecting the rights of individuals such as Parrillo from the overreaching of Member States. The ECtHR) acknowledged that this decision, to donate her unused embryos to medical research, was within the …

Ay 2015/2016 Fs Meeting Minutes, 2016-02-24, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Tourism And "Quality Of Life" At The End Of Franco's Dictatorship, Eugenia Afinoguénova

Spanish Languages and Literatures Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Customer's Nonwaivable Right To Choose Arbitration In The Securities Industry, Jill I. Gross

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Arbitration has been the predominant form of dispute resolution in the securities industry since the 1980s. Virtually all brokerage firms include predispute arbitration agreements (PDAAs) in their retail customer contracts, and have successfully fought off challenges to their validity. Additionally, the industry has long mandated that firms submit to arbitration at the demand of a customer, even in the absence of a PDAA.

More recently, however, brokerage firms have been arguing that forum selection clauses in their agreements with sophisticated customers (such as institutional investors and issuers) supersede firms’ duty to arbitrate under FINRA Rule 12200. Circuit courts currently are …

Ay 2015/2016 Fs Meeting Minutes, 2016-03-23, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Ay 2015/2016 Sec Meeting Minutes, 2016-01-13, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

From Baby M To Baby M(Anji): Regulating International Surrogacy Agreements, Yehezkel Margalit

Journal of Law and Policy

In 1985, when Kim Cotton became Britain’s first commercial surrogate mother, Europe was exposed to the issue of surrogacy for the first time on a large scale. Three years later, in 1988, the famous case of Baby M drew the attention of the American public to surrogacy as well. These two cases implicated fundamental ethical and legal issues regarding domestic surrogacy and triggered a fierce debate about motherhood, child-bearing, and the relationship between procreation, science, and commerce. These two cases exemplified the debate regarding domestic surrogacy—a debate that has now been raging for decades. A new ethical and legal debate …

Standing Up For Their Data: Recognizing The True Nature Of Injuries In Data Breach Claims To Afford Plaintiffs Article Iii Standing, Andrew Braunstein

Journal of Law and Policy

Over the last several years, data breaches have become increasingly more common, due in no small part to the failures of organizations charged with storing and protecting personal data. Consumers whose data has fallen victim to these breaches are more often turning to federal courts in attempts to be made whole from the loss of their information, whether simple credit card information or, as breaches become more sophisticated, social security information, medical and financial records, and more. These consumers are often being turned away from the courthouse, however, due to a failure of many federal courts to find that the …

Personal Injury Victims As Insurance Collection Agents: Erisa Preemption Of State Antisubrogation Laws, Jonathan P. Connery

Journal of Law and Policy

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was enacted in 1974 to protect the pension rights of employees nationwide. However, due to its broad preemptive powers, ERISA has since developed into a tool used by health insurers to recover millions of dollars in tort damages meant to benefit employees with ERISA health plans. This practice, known as subrogation, has been met with legislative backlash in the form of state antisubrogation statutes, which attempt to limit the enforceability of subrogation clauses found in almost all ERISA health plans. However, many courts have held that ERISA preempts these antisubrogation statutes, thereby affirming …

Share And Share Dislike: The Rise Of Uber And Airbnb And How New York City Should Play Nice, Alexandra Jonas

Journal of Law and Policy

Uber and Airbnb are two companies in the emerging “sharing economy” that provide individuals with a means to become entrepreneurs and benefit from a laissez-faire business model. The problem, however, is that while the benefits to users are great, so too are the risks. The dangers of operating without restraint and circumventing existing law are not only potentially harmful to unapprised users, but also adversely affect the continued use of these businesses. Every aggrieved user complaint has the potential for a lawsuit and every violation creates an opportunity for penalties. Left over are attempts by the courts and city government …

Constitutions As Counter-Curses: Revenue Allocation And The Resource Curse, Tom Brower

Journal of Law and Policy

The resource curse—the paradoxical relationship between natural resource abundances and poorer economic growth, weaker political institutions, and higher levels of conflict—remains one of the most confounding issues in international development. Although the literature has proffered a plethora of institutional solutions to the resource curse, they have been vexed by a common theme: their unsuccessful implementation in developing countries without the proper institutional foundations that act as a bulwark against policy reversal and the perpetuation of rent-seeking behavior. This Article introduces constitutionally protected natural resource revenue allocation institutions as a superior mechanism for a state to allocate rents from natural resources. …

The Hidden World Of Unconscious Bias And Its Impact On The "Neutral" Workplace Investigator, Ashley Lattal

Journal of Law and Policy

Workplace investigations into complaints of harassment, discrimination, and other allegations of workplace misconduct have become a critical method for employers to establish that they have complied with certain obligations to provide a discrimination-free workplace. As a result, the fairness and effectiveness of the workplace investigation process utilized by employers has increasingly come under judicial scrutiny. The nature of workplace investigations rests upon the assumption and expectation that workplace investigators are capable of being impartial in making findings of fact. For this reason, courts have identified the impartiality of the investigator as a key tenet of a fair and effective workplace …

Trying To Fit A Square Peg Into A Round Hole: Why Title Ii Of The Americans With Disabilities Act Must Apply To All Law Enforcement Services, Michael Pecorini

Journal of Law and Policy

Police use of force has been subject to greater scrutiny in recent years in the wake of several high-profile killings of African Americans. Less attention, however, has been paid to the increasingly routine violent encounters between police and individuals with mental illness or intellectual and development disabilities (“I/DD”). This is particularly problematic, as police have become the de-facto first responders to these individuals and far too often police responses to these individuals result in tragedy.

This Note argues that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires law enforcement to provide reasonable accommodations during their interactions with and seizures of individuals with …

Not Yet Enough: Why New York's Sexual Assault Law Does Not Provide Enough Protection To Complainants Or Defendants, Nicolo Taormina

Journal of Law and Policy

Title IX requires colleges to investigate and adjudicate allegations of sexual assault between students. New York State has recently passed a new law called “Enough is Enough,” which strengthens Title IX’s requirements. However, neither Title IX nor “Enough is Enough” provides strict guidelines for the procedures colleges must use when adjudicating complaints. This means that colleges across New York employ different procedures and offer different sets of rights to their students. After examining federal and state law, some examples of college procedures and the effects they have on students, this Note concludes that “Enough is Enough” must be amended to …

Organ Transplantation Eligibility: Discrimination On The Basis Of Cognitive Disability, Tien-Kha Tran

Journal of Law and Policy

Congress passed the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 in response to the extensive history of discrimination Americans with disabilities have faced. These federal statutes provide that no individual is to be precluded from enjoying the programs provided by certain entities solely on the basis of their disability. However, this is difficult in regards to organ transplantation and individuals with cognitive disabilities. The issue lies where a physician is faced with the difficult decision in pursuing their moral and ethical obligations to preserve life while determining whether a specific cognitive disability is a contraindication …

The Great Chain Of Being: Manifesto On The Problem Of Agency In Science Communication, Carolyn R. Miller, Lynda Walsh, James Wynn, Ashley Rose Kelly, Kenneth C. Walker, William J. White, Emily Winderman, Bonnie Tucker

School of Economics and Business Administration Faculty Works

This manifesto presents positions arrived at after a day-long symposium on agency in science communication at the National Communication Association Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, NV, November 18, 2015. During morning sessions, participants in the Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine preconference presented individual research on agency in response to a call to articulate key problems that must be solved in the next five years to better understand and support rhetorical agency in massively automated and mediated science communication situations in a world-risk context. In the afternoon, participants convened in discussion groups around four topoi that emerged …

Analysis Of Middle Level Trade Books With Gender And Sexual Minority Content, Jena Borah

Masters Theses

Middle school is often the time students become aware of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and in many schools, perceived nonheteronormative behavior is penalized through bullying. One way schools can reduce bullying and increase successful learning environments is to include trade books that feature gender and sexual minorities. State and national standards set expectations for social and emotional learning as well as critical analysis of high quality reading materials. This research analyzed trade books from the 2013 and 2014 Rainbow Lists which were chosen by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association as …

A Quantitative Study Of The Source Of Stress For First Generation Freshman Female College Students, Amber Byrley

Masters Theses

This study compared the sources of stress between first-generation and continuing-generation freshman female students, Caucasian and non-Caucasian freshman female students, and straight and non-straight freshman female students. This study was conducted at a rural, Midwestern, four-year, public institution, 101 first time freshman students living in on-campus housing participated in this study. A quantitative study was designed using Higbee and Dwinell's (1992) Developmental Inventory of the Sources of Stress (DISS) questionnaire which measures stress in five sub-categories including time management, physical lifestyle, academics, interactions, and chemical stressors. Results of the study indicated that overall, first-generation freshman females experience more total stress …

An Investigation Of The Nexus Between Poverty And The Informal Sector In Developing Economies: A Case Study Of Nigeria, Omotara Adeeko

Masters Theses

This paper examines the relationship between poverty and the informal sector in Nigeria. In order to achieve this objective both primary and secondary sources of data mostly spanning from 1980 to 2014 are utilized. The methodology follows three stages. First, the Granger causality test is performed to determine the direction of causality. Using that information, a baseline model, along with several variants, is built on the next stage. Lastly, a robustness check is completed to ensure that the results do not exhibit severe spuriousness problems.

Granger causality tests indicate that the informal sector causes poverty. Overall, nine models including some …