Digital Commons Network^™

Access To Consumer Bankruptcy, Pamela Foohey

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This essay examines the state of access to justice in the context of consumer bankruptcy from two vantage points: (1) how people decide that their money problems are legal problems addressable by filing bankruptcy; and (2) the barriers people face in using the consumer bankruptcy system. To shed new light on how people decide to use bankruptcy to address their financial troubles, I analyze a sample of narratives accompanying consumers' complaints about financial products and services submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I also chronicle the evolution of research regarding consumer bankruptcy’s “local legal culture,” systemic racial bias, and …

Patent Pool Outsiders, Michael Mattioli

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Individuals who decline to join cooperative groups — outsiders — raise concerns in many areas of law and policy. From trade policy to climate agreements to class action procedures, the fundamental concern is the same: a single member of the group who drops out could weaken the remaining union. This Article analyzes the outsider problem as it affects patents.

The outsider question has important bearing on patent and antitrust policy. By centralizing and simplifying complex patent licensing deals, patent pools conserve tremendous transaction costs. This allows for the widespread production and competitive sale of many useful technologies, particularly in the …

Judicial Selection And The Search For Middle Ground, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article seeks to transcend perennial election versus appointment debates-including debates over campaign finance and the impact of "dark money"-by taking a closer look at why judicial selection is a contentious mess and discussing how it might be fixed. First, I present the case for elective and appointive systems. Second, I show that the arguments for each system are exaggerated or flawed.Third, I explore why it has been hard for proponents of each system to perceive and acknowledge those exaggerations and flaws, and propose ways to narrow the divide. Although the divide can and should be narrowed, I conclude that …

Innovation Diffusion In The Legal Industry, William D. Henderson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article is adapted from a series of blog posts originally found in my recently-started blog entitled Legal Evolution. The foundational material set forth in this article (and in those blog posts) applies to the legal services market insights gained from disciplines other than law. This article begins by setting forth the well-established theory of an "innovation diffusion curve" and the research that has identified the factors that affect the rate of adoption of innovations. This article identifies why innovation in the legal services market is desirable and applies to the legal services field insights drawn from this research in …

A Decision Tree Analysis Of Nonindigenous Species Risk From Ballast Water To The Lower Columbia River And Oregon Coast, Usa, Danielle Verna, Richard R. Rueb, Crysta Gantz, John Gala, Jeremiah Green, John A. Zalusky, Rian Vanden Hooff

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hazard characterization and risk assessment are commonly used to prioritize vectors of nonindigenous species (NIS) for inspection or other prevention opportunities. Commercial shipping vessels are a target of such vector-based management since ballast water has been known to transport NIS between aquatic ecosystems globally. Here we used a risk-based screening protocol to prioritize vessels discharging ballast water to the lower Columbia River and Oregon coast. We began by adapting established methods of assessing risk factors that influence the initial stages of the invasion process (arrival and survival). We created relative risk scales for each factor using data collected from vessels …

A Multi-City Comparison Of Front And Backyard Differences In Plant Species Diversity And Nitrogen Cycling In Residential Landscapes, Dexter H. Locke, Meghan Avolio, Tara Trammell, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, J. Morgan Grove, John Rogan, Deborah G. Martin, Neil D. Bettez, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Peter M. Groffman, Sharon J. Hall, James B. Heffernan, Sarah E. Hobbie, Kelli L. Larson, Jennifer L. Morse, Multiple Additional Authors

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

We hypothesize that lower public visibility of residential backyards reduces households’ desire for social conformity, which alters residential land management and produces differences in ecological composition and function between front and backyards. Using lawn vegetation plots (7 cities) and soil cores (6 cities), we examine plant species richness and evenness and nitrogen cycling of lawns in Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, Los Angeles (LA), and Salt Lake City (SLC). Seven soil nitrogen measures were compared because different irrigation and fertilization practices may vary between front and backyards, which may alter nitrogen cycling in soils. In addition to lawn-only measurements, …

Effects Of Water Level Increase On Phytoplankton Assemblages In A Drinking Water Reservoir, Yangdong Pan, Shijun Guo, Yuying Li, Wei Yin, Pengcheng Qi, Jainwei Shi, Lanqun Hu, Bing Li, Shengge Bi, Jingya Zhu

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Excessive water level fluctuation may affect physico-chemical characteristics, and consequently ecosystem function, in lakes and reservoirs. In this study, we assessed the changes of phytoplankton assemblages in response to water level increase in Danjiangkou Reservoir, one of the largest drinking water reservoirs in Asia. The water level increased from a low of 137 m to 161 m in 2014 as a part of the South–North Water Diversion Project. Phytoplankton assemblages were sampled four times per year before, during and after the water level increase, at 10 sites. Environmental variables such as total nitrogen as well as phytoplankton biomass decreased after …

Wolbachia Modifies Thermal Reference In Drosophila Melanogaster, Amy Michelle Truitt, Martin Kapun, Rupinder Kaur, Wolfgang J. Miller

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Environmental variation can have profound and direct effects on fitness, fecundity, and host symbiont interactions. Replication rates of microbes within arthropod hosts, for example, are correlated with incubation temperature but less is known about the influence of host-symbiont dynamics on environmental preference. Hence, we conducted thermal preference (Tp) assays and tested if infection status and genetic variation in endosymbiont bacterium Wolbachia affected temperature choice of Drosophila melanogaster. We demonstrate that isogenic flies infected with Wolbachia preferred lower temperatures compared to uninfected Drosophila. Moreover, Tp varied with respect to three investigated Wolbachia variants (wMel, wMelCS and wMelPop). While uninfected individuals preferred …

Ecosystem Services As Boundary Objects For Transdisciplinary Collaboration, Cara Steger, Shana Hirsch, Cody Evers, Benjamin Branoff, Maria Petrova, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Chloe Wardropper, Carena J. Van Riper

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The ecosystem services (ES) framework has potential to bring transdisciplinary teams together to achieve societal goals. Some label ES as “boundary objects” that help integrate diverse forms of knowledge across social groups and organizational scales. However, this classification masks complexities that arise from unique characteristics of ES types (i.e., provisioning, regulating, and cultural), which influence their ability to function as boundary objects. We argue that interpretive flexibility and material structures interact in distinct ways across ES types throughout a boundary object “life cycle.” Viewing a 2015 U.S. federal memorandum as a catalyst, we critically evaluate the evolution of ES and …

Mapping Water Availability, Cost And Projected Consumptive Use In The Eastern United States With Comparisons To The West, Vincent C. Tidwell, Barbie D. Moreland, Calvin R. Shaneyfelt, Peter Kobos

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The availability of freshwater supplies to meet future demand is a growing concern. Water availability metrics are needed to inform future water development decisions. Furthermore, with the help of water managers, water availability was mapped for over 1300 watersheds throughout the 31-contiguous states in the eastern U.S. complimenting a prior study of the west. The compiled set of water availability data is unique in that it considers multiple sources of water (fresh surface and groundwater, wastewater and brackish groundwater); accommodates institutional controls placed on water use; is accompanied by cost estimates to access, treat and convey each unique source of …

Bioassessment Of A Drinking Water Reservoir Using Plankton: High Throughput Sequencing Vs. Traditional Morphological Method, Wanli Gao, Zhaojin Chen, Yuying Li, Yangdong Pan, Jingya Zhu, Shijun Guo, Lanqun Hu, Jin Huang

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Drinking water safety is increasingly perceived as one of the top global environmental issues. Plankton has been commonly used as a bioindicator for water quality in lakes and reservoirs. Recently, DNA sequencing technology has been applied to bioassessment. In this study, we compared the effectiveness of the 16S and 18S rRNA high throughput sequencing method (HTS) and the traditional optical microscopy method (TOM) in the bioassessment of drinking water quality. Five stations reflecting different habitats and hydrological conditions in Danjiangkou Reservoir, one of the largest drinking water reservoirs in Asia, were sampled May 2016. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis showed …

Influence Of Recreational Activity On Water Quality Perceptions And Concerns In Utah: A Replicated Analysis, Matthew J. Barnett, Douglas Jackson-Smith, Melissa Haeffner

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Both social structural factors and direct sensory experiences can contribute to the development of environmental perceptions and concerns. We use two separate surveys of Utah adults to explore the association between sociodemographic characteristics and participation in recreational activities on water quality perceptions and concerns. We find that engaging in outdoor recreation is systematically associated with more positive water quality perceptions and higher levels of concern about impaired water quality. However, water quality perceptions appear to be shaped more by social characteristics (age, education, gender, race, religion, and income) and by generic measures of overall recreation behavior than by indicators of …

Analysis Of Residential And Auto Break-In Records In Taipei City, Afnan Althoupety, Aishwarya Joy, Juchun Cheng, Priyanka Patil, Tejas Deshpande

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Taipei City is the capital of Taiwan. It has population of 2.7 million living in the city area of 271 km2 (104 mi2). There are totally 12 administrative districts in this city. To maintain the safety of the city, Taipei City Police Bureau has arranged regular patrol routes with focus on the high-risk area where residential and auto break-in occurs. Due to limited police resource, resident neighborhood also organized volunteered patrol teams to enhance the security in residential area. Based on past file record history, the Bureau would like to understand the high-risk districts and time schedule to improve their …

Data Warehousing Class Project Report, Gaya Haciane, Chuan Chieh Lu, Rassaniya Lerdphayakkarat, Rudraxi Mitra

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Data mining is widely described or defined as the discipline of: “making sense of the data”. In today’s day and age, the rise of ubiquity of information calls for more advanced and developed techniques to mine the data and come up with insights. Data mining finds applications in many different fields and industries: Whether it is in Embryology, Crops, Elections, or Business Marketing...etc. It is not a wild assumption to consider that every organization in the world has some data mining capabilities or its main activity necessitates it and they have some third party organization doing that for them. One …

What Kinds Of Comparison Are Most Useful In The Study Of World Philosophies?, Nathan Sivin, Anna Akasoy, Warwick Anderson, Gérard Colas, Edmond Eh

Publications and Research

Cross-cultural comparisons face several methodological challenges. In an attempt at resolving some such challenges, Nathan Sivin has developed the framework of “cultural manifolds.” This framework includes all the pertinent dimensions of a complex phenomenon and the interactions that make all of these aspects into a single whole. In engaging with this framework, Anna Akasoy illustrates that the phenomena used in comparative approaches to cultural and intellectual history need to be subjected to a continuous change of perspectives. Writing about comparative history, Warwick Anderson directs attention to an articulation between synchronic and diachronic modes of inquiry. In addition, he asks: If …

Octet Baryons In Large Magnetic Fields, Amol Deshmukh, Brian C. Tiburzi

Publications and Research

Magnetic properties of octet baryons are investigated within the framework of chiral perturbation theory. Utilizing a power counting for large magnetic fields, the Landau levels of charged mesons are treated exactly giving rise to baryon energies that depend nonanalytically on the strength of the magnetic field. In the small-field limit, baryon magnetic moments and polarizabilities emerge from the calculated energies. We argue that the magnetic polarizabilities of hyperons provide a testing ground for potentially large contributions from decuplet pole diagrams. In external magnetic fields, such contributions manifest themselves through decuplet-octet mixing, for which possible results are compared in a few …

Global Constraints On Top Quark Anomalous Couplings, Frédéric Déliot, Ricardo Faria, Miguel C. N. Fiolhais, Pedro Lagarelhos, António Onofre, Christopher M. Pease, Ana Vasconcelos

Publications and Research

The latest results on top quark physics, namely single top quark production cross sections, W-boson helicity and asymmetry measurements are used to probe the Lorentz structure of the Wtb vertex. The increase of sensitivity to new anomalous physics contributions to the top quark sector of the standard model is quantified by combining the relevant results from Tevatron and the Large Hadron Collider. The results show that combining an increasing set of available precision measurements in the search for new physics phenomena beyond the standard model leads to significant sensitivity improvements, especially when compared with the current expectation for the …

Master Integrals For Double Real Radiation Emission In Heavy-To-Light Quark Decay, Roberto Bonciani, Alessandro Broggio, Leandro Cieri, Andrea Ferroglia

Publications and Research

We evaluate analytically the master integrals for double real radiation emission in the b → uW* decay, where b and u are a massive and massless quark, respectively, while W* is an off-shell charged weak boson. Since the W boson can subsequently decay in a lepton anti-neutrino pair, the results of the present paper constitute a further step toward a fully analytic computation of differential distributions for the semileptonic decay of a b quark at NNLO in QCD. The latter partonic process plays a crucial role in the study of inclusive semileptonic charmless decays of B mesons. Our …

The Weizsäcker-Williams Distribution Of Linearly Polarized Gluons (And Its Fluctuations) At Small X, Adrian Dumitru, Vladimir Skokov

Publications and Research

The conventional and linearly polarized Weizsäcker-Williams gluon distributions at small x are defined from the two-point function of the gluon field in light-cone gauge. They appear in the cross section for dijet production in deep inelastic scattering at high energy. We determine these functions in the small-x limit from solutions of the JIMWLK evolution equations and show that they exhibit approximate geometric scaling. Also, we discuss the functional distributions of these WW gluon distributions over the JIMWLK ensemble at rapidity Y ∼ 1/α_s. These are determined by a 2d Liouville action for the logarithm of the …

Prompt Photon-Jet Angular Correlations At Central Rapidities In P + A Collisions, Sanjin Benić, Adrian Dumitru

Publications and Research

Photon-jet azimuthal correlations in proton-nucleus collisions are a promising tool for gaining information on the gluon distribution of the nucleus in the regime of nonlinear color fields. We compute such correlations from the process $g → q\bar{q}γ$ in the rapidity regime where both the projectile and target light-cone momentum fractions are small. By integrating over the phase space of the quark which emits the photon, subject to the restriction that the photon picks up most of the transverse momentum (to pass an isolation cut), we effectively obtain a g + A → qγ process. For nearly back-to-back photon-jet configurations we …

Bipartite Field Theories And D-Brane Instantons, Sebastían Franco, Eduardo García-Valdecasas, Angel M. Uranga

Publications and Research

We study D-brane instantons in systems of D3-branes at toric CY 3-fold singularities. The instanton effect can be described as a backreaction modifying the geometry of the mirror configuration, in which the breaking of U(1) symmetries by the instanton translates into the recombination of gauge D-branes, which also directly generates the instanton-induced charged field theory operator. In this paper we describe the D-brane instanton backreaction in terms of a combinatorial operation in the bipartite dimer diagram of the original theory. Interestingly, the resulting theory is a general Bipartite Field Theory (BFT), defined by a bipartite graph tiling a general (possibly …

3d Printing Of 2d N = (0, 2) Gauge Theories, Sebastían Franco, Azeem Hasan

Publications and Research

We introduce 3d printing, a new algorithm for generating 2d N = (0, 2) gauge theories on D1-branes probing singular toric Calabi-Yau 4-folds using 4d N = 1 gauge theories on D3-branes probing toric Calabi-Yau 3-folds as starting points. Equivalently, this method produces brane brick models starting from brane tilings. 3d printing represents a significant improvement with respect to previously available tools, allowing a straightforward determination of gauge theories for geometries that until now could only be tackled using partial resolution. We investigate the interplay between triality, an IR equivalence between different 2d N = …

Baryon Magnetic Moments: Symmetries And Relations, Assumpta Parreño, Martin J. Savage, Brian C. Tiburzi, Jonas Wilhelm, Emmanuel Chang, William Detmold, Kostas Orginos

Publications and Research

Magnetic moments of the octet baryons are computed using lattice QCD in background magnetic fields, including the first treatment of the magnetically coupled Σ⁰- Λ system. Although the computations are performed for relatively large values of the up and down quark masses, we gain new insight into the symmetries and relations between magnetic moments by working at a three-flavor mass-symmetric point. While the spinflavor symmetry in the large N_c limit of QCD is shared by the naïve constituent quark model, we find instances where quark model predictions are considerably favored over those emerging in the large N …

Proceedings Of The Cuny Games Conference 4.0: The Interactive Course, Robert O. Duncan, Joe Bisz, Julie Cassidy, Kathleen Offenholley, Maura A. Smale, Carolyn Stallard, Deborah Sturm, Anders A. Wallace, Cuny Games Network

Publications and Research

Proceedings of the CUNY Games Conference, held from January 22-23, 2018, at the CUNY Graduate Center and Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Critical Play with History (Panel) - Composition & Storytelling - Health & Cognitive Sciences - Gaming Anthropology: Teaching Culture and Power Through Games and Design (Panel) - Twine & Writing Games - Easy Ideas II - STEM Games - Global Games for Change Catalog (Panel) - Comics & Active Learning - Fact Checking & Research - Computer Science & Game Design - SimGlobal: Building a Serious Roleplay Course for the Social Sciences (Panel) - Role Playing Games, Narrative, …

Burnout-Depression Overlap: Nomological Network Examination And Factor-Analytic Approach, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Burnout has been defined as a condition in which individuals are left exhausted by a long-term confrontation with unmanageable job stressors. The question of whether burnout reflects anything other than depressive responses to unresolvable stress remains an object of debate. In this 911-participant study (83% female; mean age: 42.36), we further addressed the issue of burnout-depression overlap. Burnout was assessed with the exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) and depression with the PHQ-8. The relationships of burnout and depression with three jobrelated variables – illegitimate work tasks, work-nonwork interference, and job satisfaction – and three “context-free” variables …

Economic Efficiency Of Occupational Health And Safety Investments At Agricultural Cooperatives, Thilani Kaushalya Wearaduwa Vidana Kankanamge

Agribusiness and Applied Economics

Industries related to agricultural cooperatives record some of the highest injury rates in the U.S. Therefore, agricultural cooperatives are highly motivated to invest in occupational health and safety (OHS). This thesis examines the economic efficiency of OHS investments at agricultural cooperatives and identifies cooperative characteristics leading to greater economic efficiency of OHS investments. A multiple input-output data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to estimate technical efficiency. The effects of cooperative characteristics on the efficiency of OHS investments are estimated using ordinary least squares, censored regression, truncated regression, and the Simar and Wilson (2007) bootstrap procedure. Results show that the mean …

Winter Rain Versus Snow In Headwater Catchments: Responses Of An Unconfined Pumice Aquifer, South-Central Oregon, Usa, Michael L. Cummings, David A. Eibert

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Winter precipitation in two headwaters catchments (elevation ~1600 m) in the rain shadow of the Cascades volcanic arc in south-central Oregon normally falls as snow. However, in water year 2015, winter precipitation fell mainly as rain. An eight year study of the unconfined pumice aquifer allowed inter-annual comparison of groundwater recharge during the freshet and discharge during the growing season. During these water years precipitation ranged from 67% (WY2014) to 132% (WY2017) of the 30 year average, and included the rain dominated winter of WY2015 when precipitation during the water year was 98% of the 30 year average. Change in …

The Littlefield Rhyolite And Associated Mafic Lavas: Bimodal Volcanism Of The Columbia River Magmatic Province, With Constraints On Age And Storage Sites Of Grande Ronde Basalt Magmas, Brian Mcculloch Webb, Martin J. Streck, William C. Mcintosh, Mark L. Ferns

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present data that distinguishes the long-known Littlefield Rhyolite of eastern Oregon (northwestern United States) into two distinct, voluminous, Snake River–type, high-temperature rhyolite lava packages that erupted in short sequence overk.y., with minimum volumes of 100 and 150 km3 respectively, contemporaneous with flood basalt volcanism of the Grande Ronde Basalt phase of the Columbia River Basalt Group. Contemporaneity of rhyolites with flood basalts is exceptionally demonstrated within the Malheur Gorge by intercalated mafic units belonging to the Grande Ronde Basalt that are stratigraphically constrained by underlying and overlying Littlefield Rhyolite flows, and the underlying Dinner Creek Tuff (unit 1). Our …

Bidding Competition And Supply Chain Risk In Soybean Exports, Seth Charles Bisbee

Agribusiness and Applied Economics

Commodity trading at both domestic and international levels involves many sources of supply chain risk and uncertainty. Risk management techniques are utilized by industry participants; however, there are unknown risks that can arise throughout the supply chain making effective risk management a difficult task. This study aims to address supply chain risk in soybean exports. A framework is created for a competitive bidding environment in which firms participate in an international import tender. Monte Carlo simulation is used to represent stochastic variables and derive an optimal bid under various scenarios. Sensitivity analysis is then conducted to measure the impact of …

Robust Capital Asset Pricing Model Estimation Through Cross-Validation, Kekoura Sakouvogui

Agribusiness and Applied Economics

Limitations of Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) continue to present inconsistent empirical results despite its rm mathematical foundations provided in recent studies. In this thesis, we examine how estimation errors of the CAPM could be minimized using the cross-validation technique, a concept that is widely applied in machine learning (CV-CAPM). We apply our approach to test the assumption of CAPM as a well-diversified portfolio model with data from S&P500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Our results from the CV-CAPM validate that both S&P500 and DJIA are well-diversified market indices with statistically insignificant variation in unsystematic risks during and after …