Digital Commons Network^™

On The Moral Significance Of Sacrifice, Joseph Raz

Faculty Scholarship

The paper offers a few reflections on moral implications of making sacrifices and of possible duties to make sacrifices. It does not provide an exhaustive or a systematic account of the subject. There are too many disparate questions, and too many distant perspectives from which to examine them to allow for a systematic let alone an exhaustive account, and too many factual issues that I am not aware of. Needless to say, the observations that follow are in part stimulated by the popularity of some views that are mistaken. I will not however examine any specific view or account of …

Class Actions In The Era Of Trump: Trends And Developments In Class Certification And Related Issues, John C. Coffee Jr., Alexandra D. Lahav

Faculty Scholarship

In this memorandum prepared for the Annual ABA National Institute on Class Actions, Professors Coffee and Lahav review and assess developments in class certification over recent years, and track trends in approaches to certification. Special attention is given to securities litigation, the use of confidential witnesses, ascertainability, attorney's fees, standing, mootness, statutes of repose, and the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions, including Halliburton II and Spokeo.

Race And The New Policing, Jeffrey Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

Several observers credit nearly 25 years of declining crime rates to the “New Policing” and its emphasis on advanced statistical metrics, new forms of organizational accountability, and aggressive tactical enforcement of minor crimes. This model has been adopted in large and small cities, and has been institutionalized in everyday police-citizen interactions, especially among residents of poorer, often minority, and higher crime areas. Citizens exposed to these regimes have frequent contact with police through investigative stops, arrests for minor misdemeanors, and non-custody citations or summons for code violations or vehicle infractions. Two case studies show surprising and troubling similarities in the …

Probabilistic Compliance, Alex Raskolnikov

Faculty Scholarship

Uncertain legal standards are pervasive but understudied. The key theoretical result showing an ambiguous relationship between legal uncertainty and optimal deterrence remains largely undeveloped, and no alternative conceptual approaches to the economic analysis of legal uncertainty have emerged. This Article offers such an alternative by shifting from the well-established and familiar optimal deterrence theory to the new and unfamiliar probabilistic compliance framework. This shift brings the analysis closer to the world of legal practice and yields new theoretical insights. Most importantly, lower uncertainty tends to lead to more compliant positions and greater private gains. In contrast, the market for legal …

Appellate Jurisprudence In The Internet Age, Michael Whiteman

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

A close examination of the citation practices of the California and United States Supreme Courts from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries reveals that appellate jurisprudence in the Internet age closely resembles that of the pre-Internet age. These findings, coupled with the continued criticism of legal researchers in the Internet age, call for a retrenchment in training future lawyers in the essential skills of “thinking like a lawyer.” The traditional techniques that have been taught by legal research and writing professors, and their doctrinal counterparts, must remain an essential part of our legal education system. Appellate jurisprudence in the Internet age …

Top Tens In 2015: Patent, Trademark, Copyright And Trade Secret Cases, Stephen Mcjohn

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

The Supreme Court significantly affected the dynamics of patent litigation, holding that patent claim interpretation was not always reviewed de novo and that good faith belief that a patent was invalid was not a defense to infringement. The Federal Circuit potentially changed the approach to patent claim interpretation, holding that claims could be interpreted in light of the written description of the invention, even where the claim was not ambiguous. The Federal Circuit also addressed inducement of patent infringement, holding that it was not inducement to suggest consulting a physician who would likely prescribe an infringing treatment. The Federal Circuit …

The Effects Of Alice On Covered Business Method (Cbm) Reviews, Manny Schecter, Shawn Ambwani, Alexander Shei, Robert Jain

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

The frequency of § 101 challenges in Covered Business Method (CBM) filings has undoubtedly increased after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 134 S.Ct. 2347 (2014). It is uncertain, however, whether this shift in petitioners’ preferences will lead to more favorable outcomes from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) post-Alice. This study analyzes CBM outcomes at both the institution and final decision stages by ground to provide an empirical perspective on Alice’s impact that can benefit practitioners, policymakers, patentees, and petitioners alike.

Got Bacon?: The Use Of A Bioethics Advisory Board In Assessing The Future Of Transgenic Animal Technology, Heath R. Ingram

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

This article assesses the current state of the transgenic modification of animals and the law. It provides an introduction to the science behind transgenics as well as examples of transgenic livestock. This article discusses past federal level Ethics Advisory Boards, how these boards have impacted the development of controversial sciences, and how a new board can advance the use of transgenics. Bioethical arguments for and against the use of transgenics are evaluated. Finally, the article demonstrates how, if properly executed, an Ethics Advisory Board can help shape the national discourse on transgenics and provide a reasoned way forward for this …

Copyright, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter o􀁼ers an overview of copyright in general in common law and civil law countries, with an emphasis on the United States (US) and the European Union (EU). It addresses the history and philosophies of copyright (authors’ right), subject matter of copyright (including the requirement of 􀁿xation and the exclusion of “ideas”), formalities, initial ownership and transfers of title, duration, exclusive moral and economic rights (including reproduction, adaptation, public performance and communication and making available to the public, distribution and exhaustion of the distribution right), exceptions and limitations (including fair use), and remedies. It also covers the liability of …

Every Dollar Counts: In Defense Of The Obama Department Of Education's "Supplement Not Supplant" Proposal, James S. Liebman, Michael Mbikiwa

Faculty Scholarship

Evidence compellingly demonstrates – as Congress famously recognized in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) – that children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds require more educational resources than other students. Yet, a half century later, many school districts still spend less money on high-poverty schools than on more privileged schools. In 2011, a study by the U.S. Department of Education discovered that nationwide, more than forty percent of schools eligible for Title I funding based on their high-poverty status receive less state and local funding for instructional and other personnel costs than non-Title I schools …

The Organization Of Prosecutorial Discretion, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

Contemporary understanding of prosecutorial discretion is influenced by anachronistic conceptions of judgment and organization. These conceptions have lost ground dramatically in professions like medicine, teaching, and social work. Yet, they remain prominent to a unique degree in law. They are embedded both in the general professional culture and in legal doctrine. Innovative prosecutorial practices have emerged in recent decades, but their progress has been inhibited by attachment to these older conceptions.

The older conceptions understand professional judgment as a substantially tacit and ineffable decision by a single professional grounded in a relatively static and comprehensive discipline. The associated model of …

The Globalization Of Entrepreneurial Litigation: Law, Culture, And Incentives, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

The fiftieth anniversary of Rule 23’s adoption in 1966 provides an opportunity to consider how legal change occurs. Law, culture, and incentives all play a role. But which dominates? The adoption of Rule 23 preceded a significant surge in the use of the class action, and some areas of litigation came to depend on Rule 23’s availability (e.g., securities litigation, antitrust litigation, and, for a time, mass torts litigation). Perhaps even more importantly, Rule 23 spurred the growth of the plaintiff’s bar, enabling small firms with a handful of lawyers to develop into major institutional firms of one hundred or …

How Should Justice Policy Treat Young Offenders?: A Knowledge Brief Of The Macarthur Foundation Research Network On Law And Neuroscience, Bj Casey, Richard J. Bonnie, Andre Davis, David L. Faigman, Morris B. Hoffman, Owen D. Jones, Read Montague, Stephen J. Morse, Marcus E. Raichle, Jennifer E. Richeson, Elizabeth S. Scott, Laurence Steinberg, Kim Taylor-Thompson, Anthony Wagner

Faculty Scholarship

The justice system in the United States has long recognized that juvenile offenders are not the same as adults, and has tried to incorporate those differences into law and policy. But only in recent decades have behavioral scientists and neuroscientists, along with policymakers, looked rigorously at developmental differences, seeking answers to two overarching questions: Are young offenders, purely by virtue of their immaturity, different from older individuals who commit crimes? And, if they are, how should justice policy take this into account?

A growing body of research on adolescent development now confirms that teenagers are indeed inherently different from adults, …

Bankrupt Marketplace: First Amendment Theory And The 2016 Presidential Election, Leonard M. Niehoff

Articles

In this article I advance two arguments. The first is that 2016 was a particularly important year for freedom of speech and the press, although not for conventional reasons. The second is that hte events of 2016 revealed that one of the essential components of our democracy - the central role that free expression plays in the democratic process - is in a state of serious dysfunction, if not crisis.

Ecocritical Post-Colonial Studies On Humans, Land, And Animals, Alia Afzal

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Ecocritical post-colonial study is a newly emerged field in literary criticism. The theory combines the study of post-colonial environment in literary work and reveals a relationship between literature and the environment. Before the word ‘Ecocriticism’ was coined in the world of literature, from the beginning, writers were exclusively engaged presenting nature as source of inspiration and a privilege to evolve their ideas and pen them down. With the introduction of the term Ecocriticism in literary criticism by the Association of the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) in 1993, scholars approached the analysis of texts to highlight environmental concerns and …

A Survey Of Butterfly Diagrams For Knots And Links, Mark Ronnenberg

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

A “butterfly diagram” is a representation of a knot as a kind of graph on the sphere. This generalization of Thurston’s construction of the Borromean rings was introduced by Hilden, Montesinos, Tejada, and Toro to study the bridge number of knots. In this paper, we study various properties of butterfly diagrams for knots and links. We prove basic some combinatorial results about butterflies and explore properties of butterflies for classes of links, especially torus links. The Wirtinger presentation for the knot group will be adapted to butterfly diagrams, and we translate the Reidemeister moves for knot diagrams into so-called “butterfly …

The Programmatic Manipulation Of Planar Diagram Codes To Find An Upper Bound On The Bridge Index Of Prime Knots, Genevieve R. Johnson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The “bridge index” of a knot is the least number of maximal overpasses taken over all diagrams of the knot. A naïve method to determine the bridge index of a knot is to perform Reidemeister moves on diagrams of the knot, and this method quickly becomes tedious to implement by hand. In this paper, we introduce a sequence of Reidemeister moves which we call a “drag the underpass” move and prove how planar diagram codes change as Reidemeister moves are performed. We then use these results to programatically perform Reidemeister moves using Python 2.7 to calculate an upper bound on …

Properties Of Left-Separated Spaces And Their Unions, Eric Scheidecker

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Left-separated spaces are topological spaces which can be well ordered such that every initial segment is closed. In this paper, we examine what topological properties imply left-separation, and under what circumstances left-separation is preserved by unions. We also introduce several known theorems regarding elementary submodels as they are one of the primary tools that we use. We prove that for a topological space X;

1. If X has a point-countable base, then X is left-separated if and only if X has closed intersection with any elementary submodel M such that X ∈ M.

2. If every elementary submodel …

An Experimental Study Of Non-Metallic Inclusions Precipitation And Its Effect On Impact Toughness Variations In Low Alloy Steel Subjected To Complex Deoxidation, Pavel Bizyukov

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

A low level of non-metallic inclusions in steel is the key requirement in the concept of clean steel. Although the concept has received its name quite recently, it has been implemented at the large-scale steel mills for more than 40 years. Production of clean steel became possible due active development and adoption of the post-melting treatment of molten metal in the teeming ladle. Ladle metallurgy, an umbrella term for various methods of treatment, includes operations that cannot be performed during primary metallurgical processes such as melting in an electric arc, basic oxygen, or air induction furnace. Initially, the most common …

Improving Learning Center Usage Verification Processes Using Six Sigma, Latricia C. Hylton

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The Academic Learning Center at the University of Northern Iowa provides tutoring and advising services to enrolled students at the university. As Iowa legislatures consider performance based funding, having accurate and timely student usage data is imperative for the Academic Learning Center as the data is used in making funding decisions. The purpose of this research is to improve the student usage verification process and increase the accuracy of data collected by a math and science tutoring center located in the Academic Learning Center. An Access database was designed to record and track the math and science tutoring services provided …

A Master's Recital In Voice, Haley L. Steele

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Haley Steele presented a graduate voice recital on March 30th, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. in Davis Hall of the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center at the University of Northern Iowa. The recital was presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Master of Music degree in voice performance. The program included selections by Hugo Wolf, Joaquín Rodrigo, and early songs by Claude Debussy, in addition to a chamber piece for horn and soprano by Otto Nicolai and selections from a contemporary song cycle titled The Wild Iris by Forrest Pierce. This recital abstract surveys this repertoire with regard to relevant, …

Graduate Recital In Violin, Hannah Rae Howland

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Hannah Howland performed a graduate recital on March 23, 2017 in Graham Chamber Hall. She was assisted by pianist Polina Khatsko. The program included Sonata No. 3 in C major, BWV 1005 by Johann Sebastian Bach, Sonata No. 3, Op. 27, “Ballade,” by Eugène Ysayë, and Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13 by Gabriel Fauré. These three pieces were selected for this performance because they are seminal works of the violin repertoire that represent three distinct styles and require a wide variety of technical and expressive elements for performance.

Seth Nordin In Recital, Matthew Seth Nordin

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This recital was prepared in collaboration with Dr. Polina Khatsko, Brent Mead, Nathaniel Welshons, and Tom Rauch. It was presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the University of Northern Iowa's Master of Music degree. The works presented were carefully chosen to showcase the performer's instrumental proficiency and understanding of a variety of solo tenor and alto trombone literature and chamber music. They are, in order, Concerto for Alto Trombone and Piano by Georg Christoph Wagenseil, selections from Dichterliebe by Robert Schumann, Improvisation No. 1 by Enrique Crespo, Fantasy for Trombone by Sigismond Stojowski, Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra …

Graduate Recital In Viola, Isaak Walter Sund

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Isaak Walter Sund performed his Master of Music Recital in viola on March 29th, 2017, at 8:00 pm in the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center’s Davis Hall. He was assisted by pianist Serena Hou. The program selected included Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor BWV 1011 by Johann Sebastian Bach, Sonata op. 120 for Clarinet and Piano (Version for Viola) by Johannes Brahms, and Viola Concerto by William Walton. This program’s repertoire was chosen for the variety of different styles and to explore the subtleties between characters, stylistic elements and core technical development of the viola.

Graduate Voice Recital Abstract, Makayla Mcdonald

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

MaKayla McDonald, soprano, presented her graduate voice recital at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday March 28, 2017. This performance took place in Davis Hall of the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center at the University of Northern Iowa. Given in partial fulfillment of the Master of Music degree, the recital was performed in collaboration with pianist James Jenkins. The program consisted of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Gabriel Fauré, Lori Laitman, and Gaetano Donizetti. This abstract provides a brief analysis of the music, text, and salient musical characteristics for each piece as it appeared in the recital.

A Master's Recital In Flute, Azeem Zakiyy Ward

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Azeem Zakiyy Ward performed a graduate flute recital at six o’clock in the evening of Thursday, April 20, 2017 in Davis Hall in the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. Collaborating with Mr. Ward on selected works were pianist Mariya Akhadjanova, trumpeter Ryan Garmoe, and guitarist Tanner O’Connor. The recital was presented in partial fulfillment of a Master of Music in flute performance. The program opened with the Sonata in A Minor for solo flute by Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, followed by three movements of Astor Piazzolla’s Historie du Tango for flute and guitar. The first portion of the program concluded …

The Sum Is More Public Domain Than Its Parts: Us Copyright Protection For Works Of Applied Art Under Star Athletica's Imagination Test, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

In Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve confusion in the lower courts regarding the "separability" predicate to copyright protection of decorative features of useful articles. Adopting the Gordian imagery evoked by other appellate courts, the Sixth Circuit in Varsity Brands lamented "[c]ourts have twisted themselves into knots trying to create a test to effectively ascertain whether the artistic aspects of a useful article can be identified separately from and exist independently of the article's utilitarian function." Star Athletica involved the "surface decorations" of stripes, chevrons, and color blocks applied to cheerleader uniforms. While the …

Criminal Deterrence: A Review Of The Literature, Aaron Chalfin, Justin Mccrary

Faculty Scholarship

We review economics research regarding the effect of police, punishments, and work on crime, with a particular focus on papers from the last twenty years. Evidence in favor of deterrence effects is mixed. While there is considerable evidence that crime is responsive to police and to the existence of attractive legitimate labor-market opportunities, there is far less evidence that crime responds to the severity of criminal sanctions. We discuss fruitful directions for future work and implications for public policy.

Antitrust Via Rulemaking: Competition Catalysts, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

In its March 26, 2016 issue, The Economist magazine announced that "America needs a giant dose of competition." Its study of industry concentration and profits suggested that, after decades of consolidation, competition had decreased across a broad range of the American economy. An April 2016 issue brief by the Council of Economic Advisors reached similar conclusions, stating that "competition appears to be declining" due to "increasing industry concentration, increasing rents accruing to a few firms, and lower levels of firm entry and labor market mobility."

The promotion of competition in the American economy is a task that has traditionally fallen …

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It, Kathryn Judge

Faculty Scholarship

A prescription is only as good as the diagnosis on which it is based. This is just as true in finance as it is in medicine. And, in Hal Scott's assessment, the reforms adopted in the wake of the 2007-09 financial crisis ("Crisis") are based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the reasons for that crisis. The future is accordingly bleak.