Digital Commons Network^™

Reservoir Characterization And Simulation Of Enhanced Oil Recovery For Bakken, Runxuan Sun

Theses and Dissertations

The Bakken formation is one of the largest unconventional resources in the world with approximately 92 billion barrels of recoverable oil. However, the primary oil recovery factor remains as low as less than 10% of the original oil in place (OOIP). Given the vast Bakken resources and low primary oil recovery, there is a need and enormous potential for the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in Bakken.

Two comprehensive numerical compositional models were built for the simulation CO2 Huff-n-Puff and cyclic surfactant injection in an actual Middle Bakken horizontal well. A good history match of primary production was obtained. Embedded Discrete …

Transformation Or Resistance? A Case Study Of Pre-Service Teachers Engaged In Technology Integration, Leticia De Leon, Janet Martinez, Zulmaris Diaz, Michael Whitacre

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This case study examined the context of one social studies methods course and its use of technology in instruction. The purpose was to determine to what extent pre-service teacher views and practice transformed to embrace technology use in their own teaching. The lens of Transformative Learning Theory (Mezirow, 2012) was used to analyze and describe the results of this embedded single case study. Results suggest that some transformation of beliefs occurred among participants, but that more sustained exposure and experience is needed for practice to change.

Raced Encounter On A Hilltop: A Call For Soulful Justice Alongside Social Justice Work, Pauli Badenhorst

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This provocation begins with an emotionally charged interracial encounter during peak-hour Cape Town traffic. It goes on to consider the manner in which emotional orientations constitute everyday, internal white supremacist structures often camouflaged under the guise of caring. Later, it calls on white educators to earnestly do the work of emotional excavation to avoid the reification, reinforcement, and reproduction of subtle, well-intentioned forms of racism. Ultimately, this piece contends that soulful justice work needs to accompany the social justice investments of white educators.

Probability Of Detection Study For Visual Inspection Of Steel Bridges: Volume 2—Full Project Report, Leslie E. Campbell, Luke R. Snyder, Julie M. Whitehead, Robert J. Connor, Jason B. Lloyd

JTRP Technical Reports

An inspector’s ability to correctly identify surface and internal defects in steel bridge components is critical to protecting public safety. Ensuring that inspectors are properly trained and adequately equipped to detect these defects in locations that are difficult to access and/or in unfavorable environmental conditions must be a high priority. While the Federal Highway Administration and individual state departments of transportation have guidelines for inspector qualifications, trainings, and certifications, there is very little emphasis placed on evaluating or “testing: a given inspector’s capability to characterize defects in the field. As a result, there is also very little, if any, data …

Successful Brace Treatment Of Pectus Carinatum In Osteogenesis Imperfecta Using The Dynamic Compression System., Beth A. Orrick, Amy L. Pierce, Charles L. Snyder, Uri S. Alon

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic disorder of collagen resulting in a "fragile" skeleton with increased fracture risk and other complications, dependent on the specific variant. Pectus deformities of the chest wall, while not common, can be associated with OI. The use of a pectus carinatum brace in a patient with OI poses unknown risks for fractures and adverse treatment outcomes. We successfully applied external compression bracing using the dynamic compression system to one such patient. This case illustrates the ability to treat an OI patient with pectus carinatum using a nonsurgical brace, without complications, resulting in an excellent cosmetic …

Grounding Originalism, William Baude, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

How should we interpret the Constitution? The “positive turn” in legal scholarship treats constitutional interpretation, like the interpretation of statutes or contracts, as governed by legal rules grounded in actual practice. In our legal system, that practice requires a certain form of originalism: our system’s official story is that we follow the law of the Founding, plus all lawful changes made since.

Or so we’ve argued. Yet this answer produces its own set of questions. How can practice solve our problems, when there are so many theories of law, each giving practice a different role? Why look to an official …

“Unknown Symbols”: Online Legal Research In The Age Of Emoji, Jennifer L. Behrens

Faculty Scholarship

Over the last decade, emoji and emoticons have made the leap from text messaging and social media to legal filings, court opinions, and law review articles. However, emoji and emoticons’ growth in popularity has tested the capability of online legal research systems to properly display and retrieve them in search results, posing challenges for future researchers of primary and secondary sources. This article examines current display practices on several of the most popular online legal research services (including Westlaw Edge, Lexis Advance, Bloomberg Law, Fastcase, HeinOnline, and Gale OneFile LegalTrac), and suggests effective workarounds for researchers.

Empowering The Poor: Turning De Facto Rights Into Collateralized Credit, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

The shrinking middle class and the widening gap between the rich and the poor constitute significant threats to social and financial stability. One of the main impediments to upward mobility is the inability of economically disadvantaged people to use their property — in which they sometimes hold only de facto, not de jure, rights — as collateral to obtain credit. This Article argues that commercial law should recognize those de facto rights, enabling the poor to borrow to start businesses or otherwise create wealth. Recognition not only would provide benefits that exceed its costs; it also would be consistent with, …

Reward Type And Performance: An Examination Of Organizational Wellness Programs, William G. Heninger, Steven D. Smith, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

We examine organizational control in the context of wellness programs—organizational initiatives designed to improve the physical and mental health of employees. In a field study setting, we examine the associations of three different types of incentives (cash, gift cards, and tangible rewards) with wellness program performance. We find that employees who successfully complete program challenges are associated with greater weight loss. We also find participants choosing gift cards are associated with the greatest program success, even though cash rewards are selected more than twice as often as gift cards. Tangible rewards are the least frequently selected reward and are associated …

Tobacco And E-Cigarette Use In Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Nicole R. Higgins

Theses and Dissertations

While there has been an extensive amount of research on tobacco use in children and adolescents, very little has been conducted in children with developmental delays, particularly Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Similarly, research examining newer methods of nicotine use, such as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS; ecigarettes) has not yet been conducted in this population. It has previously been assumed that characteristics commonly observed in youngsters with ASDs serve as protective factors for the initiation of tobacco and ENDS use; however, no studies have identified the variables that contribute to a youngster’s intention to smoke/use ENDS in this vulnerable population. …

Disclosure Overload? A Professional User Perspective On The Usefulness Of General Purpose Financial Statements*, Michael S. Drake, Jeffrey Hales, Lynn Rees

Faculty Publications

We survey a broad group of professionals who use financial statements as part of their job to assess the extent to which they believe financial reports suffer from disclosure overload. Consistent with the claims made by regulators, auditors, and preparers, we find that a significant portion of professional financial statement users believe disclosure overload is a problem. However, this group is in the minority, with about twice as many professional users believing that overload is not a problem and that more information should be disclosed in financial statements. This dichotomy presents a difficult challenge to standard setters aiming to improve …

Exoskeletons, Entrepreneurs, And Communities: A Process Model Of Opportunity Co-Construction, Stella K. Seyb, Dean A. Sheperd, Trenton Alma Williams

Faculty Publications

Exoskeletons represent a technological breakthrough that presents a diverse range of potential opportunities to overcome human physical limitations. Drawing on data from 16 exoskeleton prototypes, we develop a model of opportunity co-construction that involves mutual adjustment between the actions and beliefs of entrepreneurs and their communities of inquiry. Our study enhances our understanding of potential opportunities as dynamic entities that are (re)constructed as entrepreneurs and community members seek to resolve key tensions throughout the process. Specifically, we identify tensions relating to technological change, shifting power dynamics, and reduced visibility, and explain how actors seek to resolve those tensions through opportunity …

Who Finances Durable Goods And Why It Matters: Captive Finance And The Coase Conjecture, Justin Murfin, Ryan Pratt

Faculty Publications

We propose that, by financing their own product sales through captive finance subsidiaries, durable goods manufacturers commit to higher resale values for their products in future periods. Using data on captive financing by the manufacturers of heavy equipment, we find that captive-backed models have lower price depreciation. The evidence is consistent with captive finance helping manufacturers commit to ex-post actions that support used machine prices. This, in turn, conveys higher pledgeability for captive-backed products, even for individual machines financed by banks. Although motivated as a rent-seeking device, captive financing generates positive spillovers by relaxing credit constraints.

Using Fmri To Measure Stimulus Generalization Of Software Notification To Security Warnings, Brock Kirwan, Bonnie Anderson, David Eargle, Jeffrey Jenkins, Anthony Vance

Faculty Publications

This paper examines how habituation to frequent software notifications may carry over to infrequent security warnings. This general process— known as stimulus generalization or simply generalization—is a well-established phenomenon in neurobiology that has clear implications for information security. Because software user interface guidelines call for visual consistency, software notifications and security warnings have a similar look and feel. Consequently, through frequent exposure to notifications, people may become habituated to security warnings they have never seen before. The objective of this paper to propose an fMRI experimental design to measure the extent to which this occurs. We also propose testing security …

The Relationship Between Perceived Stress And Problematic Social Networking Site Use Among Chinese College Students, Xiang-Ling Hou, Hai-Zhen Wang, Tian-Qiang Hu, Douglas A. Gentile, James Gaskin, Jin-Liang Wang

Faculty Publications

Background and aims: Perceived stress has been regarded as a risk factor for problematic social networking site (SNS) use, yet little is known about the underlying processes whereby confounding variables may mediate or moderate this relationship. To answer this question, this study examined whether depression and anxiety mediated the relationship between perceived stress and problematic SNS use, and whether these mediating processes were moderated by psychological resilience and social support. Methods: Participants were 641 Chinese college students who completed anonymous questionnaires measuring perceived stress, depression/anxiety, psychological resilience, social support, and problematic SNS use. Results: The results showed that (a) depression/anxiety …

Improving Compassion Measurement In The Workforce By Analyzing Users’ Mouse-Cursor Movements, Jeffrey L. Jenkins, Haley Kirk, Joseph S. Valacich

Faculty Publications

Compassion is often an important characteristic of effective employees in the workplace. To measure improvements in employee compassion, identify shortcomings, and even screen applicants, researchers and practitioners have sought reliable measures of compassion. Measuring compassion, however, can be very difficult because people are hesitant reporting a lack of compassion, due to their desire to be viewed favorably by others. We draw on the domain of human-computer interaction to help address this issue. Namely, we propose a theoretically-grounded methodology for helping differentiate between high and low compassion by monitoring users’ mouse-cursor movements in specialized online surveys. We find that people with …

Extended Abstract: Comparison Of Peer And Instructor Qualitative Feedback On Presentations, Matthew J. Baker, William H. Baker

Faculty Publications

New presentation-feedback technologies enable peers and instructors to provide real-time qualitative feedback on oral presentations. Previous research suggests that summative quantitative ratings of peers and instructors tend to be moderately reliable, but no research exists on how substantive qualitative ratings compare. Analyzing the substantive qualitative feedback from 10 students and 10 instructors on two professional presentations, this study analyzes differences in the message- and messenger-related comments of peers and instructors. Findings suggest that instructors provide proportionally more messenger-related feedback.

Expropriation In The Name Of Rights: Transferable Development Rights (Tdrs), The Bundle Of Sticks And Chinese Politics, Shitong Qiao

Faculty Scholarship

Through an in-depth empirical investigation, this article discloses for the first time how and why land reform programs in the name of empowering and enriching farmers have been serving the purpose of Chinese local governments to compromise the rights revolution in the Chinese national expropriation regime. The concept of “transferable development rights” (TDRs) is simple: development rights from one parcel of land are lifted up and transferred to another. Upon a detailed examination of land tickets in Chongqing and Chengdu, the southwestern Chinese application of TDRs, this article reveals that local governments in both cities have created schemes of land …

Legislation And Comment: The Making Of The § 199a Regulations, Shu-Yi Oei, Leigh Osofsky

Faculty Scholarship

In 2017, Congress passed major tax legislation at warp speed. After enactment, it fell to the Treasury Department to write regulations clarifying and implementing the new law. To assure democratic legitimacy in making regulations, administrative law provides that an agency must issue a notice of proposed rulemaking, followed by an opportunity for the public to comment (so-called “notice and comment”). But, after the 2017 tax overhaul, many sophisticated actors did not wait until the issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking to comment, instead going to the Treasury Department immediately with comments designed to influence the regulations.

In this Article, …

Constituencies And Control In Statutory Drafting: Interviews With Government Tax Counsels, Shu-Yi Oei, Leigh Z. Osofsky

Faculty Scholarship

Tax statutes have long been derided as convoluted and unreadable. But there is little existing research about drafting practices that helps us contextualize such critiques. In this Article, we conduct the first in-depth empirical examination of how tax law drafting and formulation decisions are made. We report findings from interviews with government counsels who participated in the tax legislative process over the past four decades. Our interviews revealed that tax legislation drafting decisions are both targeted to and controlled by experts. Most counsels did not consider statutory formulation or readability important, as long as substantive meaning was accurate. Many held …

Brief Of Public Law Scholars As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioners, Chris Dove, Ernest A. Young

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Combating Silence In The Profession, Veronica Root Martinez

Faculty Scholarship

Members of the legal profession have recently taken a public stance against a wave of oppressive policies and practices. From helping immigrants stranded in airports to protesting in the face of white nationalists, lawyers are advocating for equality within and throughout American society each and every day. Yet as these lawyers go out into the world on behalf of others, they do so while their very profession continues to struggle with its own discriminatory past.

For decades, the legal profession purposefully excluded women, religious minorities, and people of color from its ranks, while instilling a select group of individuals with …

The Compliance Process, Veronica Root

Faculty Scholarship

Even as regulators and prosecutors proclaim the importance of effective compliance programs, failures persist. Organizations fail to ensure that they and their agents comply with legal and regulatory requirements, industry practices, and their own internal policies and norms. From the companies that provide our news, to the financial institutions that serve as our bankers, to the corporations that make our cars, compliance programs fail to prevent misconduct each and every day. The causes of these compliance failures are multifaceted and include general enforcement deficiencies, difficulties associated with overseeing compliance programs within complex organizations, and failures to establish a culture of …

The Law And Politics Of Socially Inclusive Trade, Timothy Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Do Heads Roll?: An Empirical Analysis Of Ceo Turnover And Pay When The Corporation Is Federally Prosecuted, Brandon L. Garrett, Nan Li, Shivaram Rajgopal

Faculty Scholarship

Does the criminal prosecution of a corporation affect the CEO? Or do criminal actions directed at the organization itself pose few consequences for the individuals at the top, and the CEO in particular? While CEO’s are rarely themselves prosecuted, organizations could discipline CEO’s through paycuts or outright replacing the CEO in response to a criminal prosecution. We sought to examine whether and how that occurs. We focus our analysis on a dataset of public companies that settled criminal cases brought by federal prosecutors from 2001 to 2014. We compared those companies to a matched control group, focusing on CEO compensation …

Successor Ceos, Yaron Nili

Faculty Scholarship

Recent years have seen a push towards separating the roles of CEO and chairperson of the board. While many companies still maintain a combined CEO-chair role, investors consistently express their concern that the dual CEO-chair position jeopardizes the independence and effectiveness of the board. Yet, while investors and academic research have focused on one channel for achieving such separation—through the appointment of an independent director as chair—a second has been left relatively unexplored. In fact, in many cases, as this Article documents, the separation of CEO-chair has occurred through the second channel: the current CEO-chair steps down as CEO while …

Beyond The Numbers: Substantive Gender Diversity In Boardrooms, Yaron Nili

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Judging Risk: The Use Of Risk Assessment In Sentencing, Brandon L. Garrett, John Monahan

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Symposium On Transnational Futures Of International Labor Law, Adelle Blackett, Laurence R. Helfer

Faculty Scholarship

The centenary of the international organization whose constitution proclaims that social justice is indispensable for universal and lasting peace is too pivotal to go unnoticed. Established during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the International Labour Organization (ILO) was once a paradigmatic subject of study by international legal scholars and international relations theorists. A uniquely tripartite institution whose governance structure comprises workers, employers, and governments, the ILO survived the beleaguered League of Nations to become the first United Nations specialized agency in 1946. Its staff narrowly escaped the rise of fascism in Europe and settled into a wartime home at …

Recreation Trends, Service Utilization, And Future Directions For Morale, Welfare, And Recreation Programs, Camilla Hodge, Karen Melton, Mat D. Duerden

Faculty Publications

In 2017, nearly 97% of Americans had time for leisure or recreation each day, and on average, that daily time for recreation (i.e., the time outside of work and household activities) exceeded five hours (“Average hours per day spent in selected leisure and sports activities by age,” n.d.). Where and how Americans use time for recreation has far-reaching implications for their physical and mental health (Payne, Ainsworth, & Godbey, 2010). Physical and mental health are key components related to the readiness and retention of military service members; therefore, Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) services are positioned to support the readiness …