Digital Commons Network^™

The New(Clear?) Electricity Federalism: Federal Preemption Of States’ “Zero Emissions Credit” Programs, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

This Article proposes and applies a “conscious disregard” test for resolving the upcoming appellate litigation that involves the conflict between federal authority over the electric grid and state laws providing subsidies to nuclear power plants in the form of “zero emissions credits” (ZECs). This test draws upon principles of conflict preemption, as elaborated in three recent Supreme Court decisions on the intersection of state and federal jurisdiction over the electric grid under the Federal Power Act. It provides that if a state law explicitly aims to directly affect wholesale electricity market prices, terms or conditions, its subsidy program is impermissible …

President Donald Trump And Federal Bench Diversity, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

President Donald Trump constantly reminds United States citizens about the myriad circuit and district court appointments that his White House is making to the federal judiciary. Last September, Trump proposed the seventh “wave,” which included three people of color among sixteen judicial nominees. This wave permitted the administration to triple the number of ethnic minority picks whom it had selected, which means that the Executive Branch has proffered ten persons of color in appeals court and district court submissions, yet none is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) individual. Nevertheless, a problematic pattern, which implicates a stunning lack of …

Keeping Promises And Meeting Needs: Public Charities At A Crossroads, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

When a charitable organization cannot fulfill the terms of a charitable gift agreement, it must decide whether to keep a promise or meet a need. That is to say, a charitable organization can either preserve original donor intent, adhering to conditions placed on a gift, or it can attempt to modify the terms of the gift in order to budget and spend the funds more effectively. If an institution chooses to keep a promise, it might be stuck with a fund it cannot use because of conditions placed on the money at the time of the gift. In order to …

Who Benefits From Repealing Tampon Taxes? Empirical Evidence From New Jersey, Christopher A. Cotropia

Law Faculty Publications

Many state and local governments exclude some medical products from the sales tax base, including some that are primarily used by men such as hair growth products. However, tampons and other menstrual hygiene products are subject to sales taxes in most states. A recent social movement advocates for the repeal of these “tampon taxes” and several class action lawsuits have been filed against states citing equal protection violations. In this article, we use the 2005 elimination of menstrual hygiene products from the sales tax base in New Jersey as a natural experiment to study who benefits from the repeal of …

Bespoke Discovery, Jessica M. Erickson

Law Faculty Publications

The U.S. legal system gives contracting parties significant freedom to customize the procedures that will govern their future disputes. With forum selection clauses, parties can decide where they will litigate future disputes. With fee-shifting provisions, they can choose who will pay for these suits. And with arbitration clauses, they can make upfront decisions to opt out of the traditional legal system altogether. Parties can also waive their right to appeal, their right to a jury trial, and their right to file a class action. Bespoke procedure, in other words, is commonplace in the United States.

Far less common, however, are …

Congress Should Sprinkle Some Salt On The Federal Courts, Hayes R. Holderness

Law Faculty Publications

Observers of the state and local tax world regularly note the seemingly irresponsible actions so often taken by state revenue agencies, by state courts, and by state legislatures — a few recent examples of states acting badly are set forth below. In many ways federal law has encouraged these types of actions by placing limited checks on the states. The federal Tax Injunction Act (TIA) and the common law comity doctrine keep federal courts off the states’ backs. Also, the Supreme Court’s South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc. decision and its Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association decision, in which state …

The "Irish Born" One American Citizenship Amendment, Kevin C. Walsh

Law Faculty Publications

Our Constitution has a deferred maintenance problem because we have fallen out of the habit of tending to its upkeep ourselves. The silver lining is a double benefit from any constitutional maintenance projects that we undertake now. These projects are good not only for what they do to our Constitution, but also for making us exercise self-government muscles that have atrophied from civic sloth.

Fortunately, the time has never been better to repeal one of our Constitution’s most pointlessly exclusionary provisions. The President of the United States is married to a naturalized citizen. And nobody can legitimately question the patriotism …

Heterogeneity Among Patent Plaintiffs: An Empirical Analysis Of Patent Case Progression, Settlement, And Adjudication, Christopher A. Cotropia

Law Faculty Publications

This article empirically studies current claims that patent trolls, also known as patent assertion entities (PAEs) or non-practicing entities (NPEs), behave badly in litigation by bringing frivolous patent infringement suits and seeking nuisance fee settlements. The study explores these claims by examining the relationship between the type of patenteeplaintiffs and litigation outcomes (e.g., settlement, grant of summary judgment, trial, and procedural dispositions), while taking into account, among other factors, the technology of the patents being asserted and the identity of the lawyers and judges. The study finds significant heterogeneity among different patent holder entity types. Individual inventors, failed operating companies, …

Mostly Settled, But Right For Now, Corinna Barrett Lain

Law Faculty Publications

Randy Kozel’s book, Settled Versus Right: A Theory of Precedent, is a laudable effort to make the law more stable, more cohesive, more impersonal — an effort to show that the law can endure even as Justices come and go. The core of his contribution is a proposed doctrine of stare decisis that disentangles deference to precedent from the interpretive methodologies that led to the precedent in the first place, and that so often determine the amount of deference a precedent gets. As a purely doctrinal project, Settled Versus Right naturally assumes that if we fix the doctrine, we’ll fix …

Marriage Equality Comes To The Fourth Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Marriage equality has come to America. Throughout 2014, several federal appellate courts and numerous district court judges across the United States invalidated state constitutional or statutory proscriptions on same-sex marriage. Therefore, it was not surprising that Eastern District of Virginia Judge Arenda Wright Allen held that Virginia’s bans were unconstitutional in February. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed her opinion that July. North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia District Judges rejected these jurisdictions’ prohibitions during autumn, and the Supreme Court approved marriage equality the next year. Because marriage equality in the Fourth Circuit presents …

Universal Design For Learning Framework And Supports For Use With Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Jennifer J. Lesh

Faculty and Staff Publications & Presentations

No abstract provided.

Which Truth? Response To Samuel Baker's, “Aristotle On Truth And Practical Truth: Ne Vi.2", Sophia A. Stone

Faculty and Staff Publications & Presentations

No abstract provided.

Taxonomy And Secondary Metabolites Of Selected Endophytic Actinomycete Strains, Nattakorn Kuncharoen

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

A total of 50 endophytic actinomycetes isolated from fourteen plant species collected from six provinces of Thailand including Bangkok, Chachoengsao, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Pathom, Prachinburi and Suphan Buri were taxonomically studied relied on their phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, and the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The isolates were identified as members of the family Streptomycetaceae involving Streptomyces (22 isolates), and the family Micromonosporaceae including Micromonospora (25 isolates), Plantactinospora (1 isolate) and Polymorphospora (1 isolate). Based on phenotypic characteristics, whole genome sequence analysis and DNA-DNA hybridization, 5 novel actinomycete species were proposed consisting of Micromonospora globbae (strain WPS1-2T), Micromonospora azadirachtae (strain …

Preparation And Antimicrobial Activity Of Caprylic Acid Emulsion For Food Coating, Raweewan Bunyovimonnat

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Antimicrobial food coating is the interesting method for food preservation, especially in fruits and vegetables. Previous studies have been reported that the caprylic acid had the antimicrobial activity against a variety of microorganisms. However, little research has been conducted on the use of caprylic acid in the form of food coatings. Therefore, this study aims to determine the optimum conditions for the caprylic acid emulsion preparation and to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the emulsion, including the effect of food coatings with caprylic acid emulsion on physical properties and microbial growth inhibition. Emulsions containing 4% w/v caprylic acid (oil) and …

The Effect Of Mcm-41 Addition To Pva/Pan/Pvp Polymer Electrolyte For Zinc-Air Batteries, Sirinuch Nanthapong

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

A membrane separator is one of the main components in zinc-air batteries playing an important role in controlling the mass transfer for the electrochemical reaction in the battery which determines the battery performance. This work aimed to develop a new membrane separator for the zinc-air battery. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), and their blends were used for the fabrication of separator in this work. In addition, an inorganic nanoparticle with high hydroxide content such as MCM-41 was also applied as the filler for the polymers. The results revealed that the addition of PAN in PVA enhanced the electrolyte …

Flood Damage Assessment: A Case Study In Bakan And Phnom Kravanh Districts, Pursat Province, Cambodia, Chhunleang Rorm

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Flood is still a major climate hazard in Pursat province, a potential province for agricultural development in Cambodia. The consequences of this water-related disaster are social problems such as poverty, food insecurity and health problems, which indirectly prolong the growth of the country's economy. To propose a proper flood mitigation measure, flood damage assessment is considered as a fundamental step to implement so that the value of elements at risk is initially evaluated. The objectives of this research are to assess flood damage in agriculture and affected people in Bakan and Phnom Kravanh districts, Pursat province from 2000 to 2014, …

Peer Mentoring: Enhancing The Transition From Student To Professional, Margaret Fisher, Rachel Stanyer

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

Top Ten Concerns Burdening People With Cancer: Perceptions Of Patients With Cancer And The Nurses Caring For Them, R Endacott, K Mitchell, S Delfont, M Bracey

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Purpose We examined the concerns that nurses perceive patients to have, whether these arecongruent with patients’ concerns and whether they vary according to cancer site. We alsoexamined Distress Thermometer scores according to cancer site.Method A cross-sectional survey design: (i) secondary analysis of an existing Holistic NeedsAssessment (HNA) and Distress Thermometer (DT) dataset was used, (ii) a survey ofspecialist nurse teams to identify their perceptions of patient concerns. Data collectedbetween January 2015 and June 2016 from the HNA database for one NHS Trust in England(n=1233 patients). Specialist nurse teams for breast, colorectal, gynaecology, skin andurology cancers identified the concerns that they …

Importance Of Habitat Selection For Blue Carbon Projects: Doubtful Additionality In A Seagrass Case Study, Anna Lafratta, Oscar Serrano, Pere Masque, Miguel-Angel Mateo, Milena Fernandes, Sam Gaylard, Paul Lavery

Research Datasets

The database compiles published data on biogeochemical characteristics (density, organic carbon, stable carbon isotopes and sediment grain size) of soils underneath seagrass meadows in False Bay, South Australia. Pb-210 concentrations of the first 12-20 cm are included. The dataset compiles data for a total of 12 cores, 80-140 cm-long (5 cores with Pb-210 data, 4 cores with sediment grain size).

Seagrass Soil Archives Reveal Centennial-Scale Metal Smelter Contamination While Acting As Natural Filters, Anna Lafratta, Oscar Serrano, Pere Masque´, Miguel-Angel Mateo, Milena Fernandes, Sam Gaylard, Paul Lavery

Research Datasets

The database compiles published data (in Lafratta et al. 2019, STOTEN) on physical, biogeochemical and chemical characteristics (density, organic carbon, sediment grain size, metals concentration, Pb isotopes ratio) of soils underneath seagrass meadows in Port Pirie, South Australia. Pb-210 concentrations of the first 12 cm are also included. The dataset includes data for a total of two cores, A12 and A15 that are 147 and 96 cm long respectively.

Conservation Systematics Of The Shield-Backed Trapdoor Spiders Of The Nigrum-Group (Mygalomorphae, Idiopidae, Idiosoma): Integrative Taxonomy Reveals A Diverse And Threatened Fauna From South-Western Australia, Michael G. Rix, Joel Huey, Steven J.B. Cooper, Andrew D. Austin, Mark S. Harvey

Research Datasets

Supplementary material from: Rix MG, Huey JA, Cooper SJB, Austin AD, Harvey MS (2018) Conservation systematics of the shield-backed trapdoor spiders of the nigrum-group (Mygalomorphae, Idiopidae, Idiosoma): integrative taxonomy reveals a diverse and threatened fauna from south-western Australia. ZooKeys 756: 1-121. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.756.24397

Supplementary material 1: Atlas of morphology : Explanation note: Atlas of morphology for shield-backed trapdoor spiders of the Idiosoma nigrum-group, illustrating a representative selection of male specimens for each species, in five standard views.

Supplementary material 2: GenBank data : Explanation note: Spreadsheet of specimens sequenced for the molecular analyses, with associated collection data and GenBank accession numbers. …

Managing Seagrass Resilience Under Cumulative Dredging Affecting Light: Predicting Risk Using Dynamic Bayesian Networks, Paul Pao-Yen Wu, Kathryn Mcmahon, Michael A. Rasheed, Gary A. Kendrick, Paul H. York, Kathryn Chartrand, M. Julian Carey, Kerrie Mengerson

Research Datasets

Coastal development is contributing to ongoing declines of ecosystems globally. Consequently, understanding the risks posed to these systems, and how they respond to successive disturbances, is paramount for their improved management. We study the cumulative impacts of maintenance dredging on seagrass ecosystems as a canonical example. Maintenance dredging causes disturbances lasting weeks to months, often repeated at yearly intervals. We present a risk-based modelling framework for time varying complex systems centred around a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN). Our approach estimates the impact of a hazard on a system's response in terms of resistance, recovery and persistence, commonly used to characterise …

Latitudinal Variation In Seagrass Herbivory: Global Patterns And Explanatory Mechanisms, Adriana Vergés, Christopher Doropoulos, Robert Czarnik, Kathryn Mcmahon, Nil Llonch, Alistair G. B. Poore

Research Datasets

Aim: The aim was to quantify latitudinal patterns in seagrass–herbivore interactions in the context of a warming climate.

Location: We carried out a global meta‐analysis combined with a field experiment across 1,700 km and 12° of latitude in Western Australia.

Time period: 1984–2014. Major taxa studied: Seagrasses.

Methods: We first synthesized the global literature on herbivore exclusion experiments in seagrasses to test whether differences in herbivore impacts are related to latitude and sea surface temperature. We then quantified leaf production and consumption rates in the field at nine meadows of the seagrass Amphibolis antarctica across 1,700 km, from tropical to …

Optimal Soil Carbon Sampling Designs To Achieve Cost-Effectiveness: A Case Study In Blue Carbon Ecosystems, Mary A. Young, Peter I. Macreadie, Clare Duncan, Paul E. Carnell, Emily Nicholson, Oscar Serrano, Carlos M. Duarte, Glenn Shiell, Jeff Baldock, Daniel Ierodiaconou

Research Datasets

Researchers are increasingly studying carbon (C) storage by natural ecosystems for climate mitigation, including coastal ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems. Unfortunately, little guidance on how to achieve robust, cost-effective estimates of blue C stocks to inform inventories exists. We use existing data (492 cores) to develop recommendations on the sampling effort required to achieve robust estimates of blue C. Using a broad-scale, spatially explicit dataset from Victoria, Australia, we applied multiple spatial methods to provide guidelines for reducing variability in estimates of soil C stocks over large areas. With a separate dataset collected across Australia, we evaluated how many samples are needed …

Sécurité Des Machines Et Mode De Fonctionnement À Énergie Réduite : Démarche Pour Le Choix De Valeurs Sécuritaires, Barthélemy Aucourt, Yuvin Chinniah

Guides

No abstract provided.

Machine Safety And Reduced-Energy Operating Mode: Determining Safe Values, Barthélemy Aucourt, Yuvin Chinniah

Guides

No abstract provided.

Re-Interpreting Late Pleistocene Mammoth Kills : A Model For Gender Roles In A Social Context, Morgan Amsley-Benzie

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Efficient Interconnectivity Among Networks Under Security Constraint, Pankaz Das, Rezoan A. Shuvro, Mahshid Rahnamay-Naeini, Nasir Ghani, Majeed M. Hayat

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Interconnectivity among networks is essential for enhancing communication capabilities of networks such as the expansion of geographical range, higher data rate, etc. However, interconnections may initiate vulnerability (e.g., cyber attacks) to a secure network due to introducing gateways and opportunities for security attacks such as malware, which may propagate from the less secure network. In this paper, the interconnectivity among subnetworks is maximized under the constraint of security risk. The dynamics of propagation of security risk is modeled by the evil-rain influence model and the SIR (Susceptible-Infected-Recovered) epidemic model. Through extensive numerical simulations using different network topologies and interconnection patterns, …

Efficiency Improvement Of Fault-Tolerant Three-Level Power Converters, Ramin Katebi, Jiangbiao He, Waqar A. Khan, Nathan Weise

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Fault-tolerant power converters play a critical role in the transportation electrification. However, fault-tolerant operation, high efficiency, and low cost usually result in design criteria that have conflicting constraints and goals. The majority of the fault-tolerant power converter topologies presented in the literature confirm these conflicts. In this paper, three types of fault-tolerant neutral-point clamped (NPC) converters are investigated. Various modulation strategies are explored to reduce the losses of the redundant phase leg. The simulation and experimental results show that the Switching Frequency Optimal Phase opposition Disposition modulation strategy is the most effective approach in minimizing the losses in the redundant …

Detection And Quantification Of Multi-Analyte Mixtures Using A Single Sensor And Multi-Stage Data-Weighted Rlse, Karthick Sothivelr, Florian Bender, Fabien Josse, Edwin E. Yaz, Antonio J. Ricco

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This work reports the development and experimental verification of a sensor signal processing technique for online identification and quantification of aqueous mixtures of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes (BTEX) and 1, 2, 4-trimethylbenzene (TMB) at ppb concentrations using time-dependent frequency responses from a single polymer-coated shear-horizontal surface acoustic wave sensor. Signal processing based on multi-stage exponentially weighted recursive leastsquares estimation (EW-RLSE) is utilized for estimating the concentrations of the analytes in the mixture that are most likely to have produced a given sensor response. The initial stages of EW-RLSE are used to eliminate analyte(s) that are erroneously identified as present in …