Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Message Framing On Response To Plastic Reduction Policies, Courtney Milley

Open Access Master's Theses

Academic literature to date has effectively proven the scale of plastic pollution’s harm to the environment. Some scholars have even argued that it should be discussed broadly in society as a crisis (Mæland & Staupe‐Delgado 2019). To reduce plastic pollution, potential policies need widespread support. Existing literature shows framing manipulations can influence opinion and care for plastic pollution but have not been tied to policy support. This study looked to assess the difference in policy support between groups framed with plastic pollution contributing to climate change causing emissions, plastic pollution endangering charismatic animals, or a control framing with simple information …

Cognitive And Perceptual Barriers To Green Infrastructure: Local Decision-Making In Rhode Island, Kyle E. Gray

Open Access Master's Theses

Green infrastructure uses natural and nature-based systems and practices to infiltrate and treat stormwater runoff at its source, lessening the burden and reliance on “gray” piped stormwater networks. Existing academic and governmental literature reports that local decision-makers face complicated cognitive and perceptual barriers that exacerbate other hindrances to green infrastructure implementation. These barriers are understudied at the local level in general, as well as in Rhode Island (“RI”) municipalities in particular. This study employs a literature review, semi-structured interviews with RI municipal officials, and thematic coding to describe the cognitive and perceptual barriers inhibiting wider green infrastructure implementation. Of the …

Three Essays On Interactions Between Poverty And Natural Resources, Mattana Wongsirikajorn

Open Access Dissertations

Using natural resources sustainably while reducing poverty is one of the greatest global challenges, especially in developing countries where rural communities rely on natural resources for their livelihood. In this dissertation, I examine the interactions between poverty and natural resource depletions in the coastal communities of Tanzania. Chapter 1 explores the effects of subsidies and social nudges on collective action by resource users and whether extrinsic motivation crowd out intrinsic motivation for those actions. The results from a framed field experiment conducted in coastal communities in Tanzania reveal that while the subsidies and social nudges themselves motivate the resource users …

Institutionalizing Resilience: Insights From Assessment Initiatives At Seaports, Ellis Kalaidjian

Open Access Master's Theses

Academics and practitioners advocate climate change resilience assessments to guide seaport management, planning, and capital improvements. Yet, questions remain regarding how resilience assessments actually influence planning cultures and result in better prepared seaport organizations. Through 10 case studies of U.S. seaport resilience assessments, this research identifies key benefits and challenges associated with executing resilience assessments, resilience building actions that seaports pursue after completing a resilience assessment, and how resilience assessments enhance seaport adaptive capacity. Results suggest that resilience assessment processes enhanced, inter alia, seaports’ social capital with their internal and external stakeholders, and that seaports frequently identified and pursued infrastructure-related …

Privacy Asymmetries: Access To Data In Criminal Defense Investigations, Rebecca Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

This Article introduces the phenomenon of “privacy asymmetries,” which are privacy statutes that permit courts to order disclosures of sensitive information when requested by law enforcement but not when requested by criminal defense counsel. In the U.S. adversarial criminal legal system, defense counsel are the sole actors tasked with investigating evidence of innocence. Law enforcement has no constitutional, statutory, or formal ethical duty to seek out evidence of innocence. Therefore, statutes that selectively suppress defense investigations selectively suppress evidence of innocence. Privacy asymmetries form a recurring, albeit previously unrecognized, pattern in privacy statutes. They likely arise from legislative oversight and …

Privacy As Privilege: The Stored Communications Act And Internet Evidence, Rebecca Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

This Article exposes a profound and growing injustice that major technology companies have propagated through every level of the judiciary under the guise of protecting data privacy. The Supreme Court has repeatedly proclaimed: “In our judicial system, the public has a right to every [person’s] evidence.” Yet, for over a decade, Facebook, GitHub, Google, Instagram, Microsoft, and Twitter have leveraged the Stored Communications Act (SCA) — a key data privacy law for the internet — to bar criminal defendants from subpoenaing the contents of another’s online communications, even when those communications could exonerate the wrongfully accused. Every appellate court to …

Converging Artificial Intelligence And Blockchain Technologies For Security And Risk Management In Banking, Van Binh Hai Tran

Honors Program Theses

The focus of this thesis is on understanding the potential applications of blockchain and AI technologies in the banking and finance sector for better risk management and cybersecurity. In this thesis, I will do an extensive literature review of research on AI and Blockchain in the top eight information systems journals and some top-rated computer science journals. The intention is to examine the use of blockchain and AI to enhance remote work security and fraud detection in the Banking and Finance sector.

The Separation Of Voting And Control: The Role Of Contract In Corporate Governance, Gabriel Rauterberg

Faculty Scholarship

The default rules of corporate law make shareholders’ control rights a function of their voting power. Whether a director is elected or a merger is approved depends on how shareholders vote. Yet, in private corporations shareholders routinely alter their rights by contract. This phenomenon of shareholder agreements — contracts among the owners of a firm — has received far less attention than it deserves, mainly because detailed data about the actual contents of shareholder agreements has been lacking. Private companies disclose little, and shareholder agreements are thought to play a trivial or nonexistent role in public companies.

I show that …

Rock Hill Bottle And Artifact Collection - Accession 1650, Rock Hill, Sc, Carson Cope

Manuscript Collection

This collection consists of glass bottles, jars, ink well, and other glass containers excavated near the Rock Hill Printing and Finishing Company (The Bleachery) in Rock Hill, SC. There is also a horseshoe that was excavated as well. Many of the items were manufactured in Rock Hill, however some were made in other cities in the United States. These artifacts represent a snapshot into the history of the city by reflecting the habits of Rock Hill inhabitants from the early to mid-1900s.

Rock Hill School District Records - Accession 1696, Rock Hill School District

Manuscript Collection

The Rock Hill School District Records consists of records and materials related to the operation of the Rock Hill School District from 1888 through 1938. The materials consists of administrative, financial, and operational records and includes bylaws, minutes, correspondence, reports, newspaper articles, photographs, architectural drawings, and other records. The Rock Hill School district was founded in 1888 with the establishment of the Rock Hill Graded School which was the first public, tax supported school in Rock Hill, SC.

The Land We Love Magazine Collection - Accession 1738, The Land That We Love, New Eclectic, Daniel Harvey Hill

Manuscript Collection

The Land We Love was a monthly Charlotte, NC based magazine that was founded and edited by ex-Confederate general Daniel Harvey Hill (1821-1889) and published monthly from May 1866 through March 1869. In March 1869 this publication was absorbed by the New Eclectic which was based in Baltimore, Maryland. The magazine was literary in nature and consists of short stories, articles, poems, and throughout there are advertisements from the era. The publication focused mostly on history, agriculture, politics, and the military. According to a Julian Mason article titled “The Land We Love” (2006) “The Land We Love’s greatest …

Beta Sigma Phi Rock Hill Chapter Scrapbook Collection - Accession 900, Beta Sigma Phi, Epsilon Chapter, Beta Sigma Phi, Xi Delta Chapter, Beta Sigma Phi, Preceptor Zeta Chapter

Manuscript Collection

This collection consists of six scrapbooks related to three Rock Hill, SC chapters of Beta Sigma Phi. Beta Sigma Phi is a non-academic social organization that was founded in 1931 “for the social, cultural, and civic enrichment of its members.” Rock Hill at one time has nine chapters: Phi Pi; Epsilon; Beta Upsilon; Delta Delta; Beta Theta; Xi Alpha Theta; Xi Alpha Xi; Xi Delta; Preceptor Zeta; The scrapbooks in this collection were made by the Epsilon Chapter that was organized on May 2, 1940, the Xi Delta Chapter which was charted on July 15, 1948, and the Preceptor Zeta …

Quilters's Oral History Project Collection - Accession 1278, Dottie Moore, Quilters, Piecing A Quilt Of Life, Women Artists

Manuscript Collection

This collection contains materials related to Dottie Moore’s oral history project for the organization “Piecing a Quilt of Life.” Dottie Moore is a fiber artist from Rock Hill, SC. Mrs. Moore that specializes in quilt art. She has been featured in many art and craft shows and is the author of Lives in Process: Creativity in the Second Fifty Years and has been published in numerous magazines and newsletters. She is also the founder of Piecing a Quilt of Life, “an international project dedicated to empowering senior women by recognizing their creative abilities.” Through this project Mrs. Moore interviewed over …

Gilti Regulations: The Intended Effects Compared To The Actual Results, Carson Lee Ehrenberg

Honors Program Theses

In this thesis, the proposed effects of GILTI have been analyzed and compared to the true effects of GILTI. Research has been done to see if GILTI is actually influencing firm’s choices on investment location, if companies are involving themselves in even more creative tax 2 planning, or if firms are simply absorbing the cost. This research will be important to show whether or not the current U.S. tax system is achieving its proposed goals. This research will also be useful for those that are looking to assess the success of Congress’ actions when it comes enacting new tax legislation. …

Spreading Awareness And Gaining Donor Support For Uni Dance Marathon, Hannah Marie Dash

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study was to discover new ways to spread awareness of UNI DM in order to increase support for children and families connected to the local CMN hospital - The UI Stead Hospital. The project explored how nonprofit organizations effectively teach others about their missions, as well as fundraising efforts that contribute to a donor’s decision on if and where to give donations. This new information will help UNI DM discover new and improved ways to expand knowledge of the cause and increase donor participation, which will enhance the financial and emotional support that the organization offers …

Homeownership By Race: Factors That Explain The Homeownership Gap Between Blacks And Whites, Sarah Madsen

Honors Program Theses

A key source of wealth and a symbol of hard work, homeownership is at the heart of the American Dream. The disparity of homeownership between whites and blacks has existed for decades and has only increased. The homeownership rate gap is wider now than before the 1968 Fair Housing Act, with about a 30-percentage point gap. This paper investigates the reasons for the homeownership rate gap by discussing policies history, discriminatory practices, and other minority disadvantages.

Defining Crime, Delegating Authority – How Different Are Administrative Crimes?, Daniel C. Richman

Faculty Scholarship

As the Supreme Court reconsiders whether Congress can so freely provide for criminal enforcement of agency rules, this Article assesses the critique of administrative crimes though a federal criminal law lens. It explores the extent to which this critique carries over to other instances of mostly well-accepted, delegated federal criminal lawmaking – to courts, states, foreign governments, and international institutions. By considering these other delegations through the lens of the administrative crime critique, the Article destabilizes the critique’s doctrinal foundations. It then suggests that if one really cares about liberty – not the abstract “liberty” said to be protected by …

Conundra Of The Berne Convention Concept Of The Country Of Origin, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

This essay explores one of the most important, but occasionally intractable, issues under the Berne Convention, the concept of Country of Origin. Article 5(4) of that treaty defines a work’s country of origin, but leaves out several situations, leaving those who interpret and apply the treaty without guidance in ascertaining the country of origin. I will call those situations the “Conundra of the country of origin,” and will explore two of them here. First, what is the country of origin of an unpublished work whose authors are nationals of different countries? Second, what is the country of origin of a …

The 100-Year Life And The New Family Law, Elizabeth S. Scott, Naomi Cahn

Faculty Scholarship

This draft book chapter, prepared as part of a symposium on The 100-Year Life by Linda Gratton and Andrew Scott, reflects on the future of family law in an era of longer lives. Our analysis leads us to conclude that the 100-year life is indeed likely to have an impact on the nature, scope, and definition of family law, but that families will continue to function as the primary setting for intimacy and for caregiving and caretaking, whatever form those families take. Further, the importance to both individual and social welfare of family support throughout life points to a need …

The Uncertain Future Of Administrative Law, Jeremy K. Kessler, Charles F. Sabel

Faculty Scholarship

A volatile series of presidential transitions has only intensified the century-long conflict between progressive defenders and conservative critics of the administrative state. Yet neither side has adequately confronted the fact that the growth of uncertainty and the corresponding spread of guidance – a kind of provisional “rule” that invites its own revision – mark a break in the development of the administrative state as significant as the rise of notice-and-comment rulemaking in the 1960s and 1970s. Whereas rulemaking corrected social shortsightedness by enlisting science in the service of lawful administration, guidance acknowledges that both science and law are in need …

Presidential Progress On Climate Change: Will The Courts Interfere With What Needs To Be Done To Save Our Planet?, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

The Biden Administration is undertaking numerous actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition away from fossil fuels as part of the fight against climate change. Many of these actions are likely to be challenged in court. This paper describes the various legal theories that are likely to be used in these challenges, assesses their prospects of success given the current composition of the Supreme Court, and suggests ways to minimize the risks.

Cleaning Corporate Governance, Jens Frankenreiter, Cathy Hwang, Yaron Nili, Eric L. Talley

Faculty Scholarship

Although empirical scholarship dominates the field of law and finance, much of it shares a common vulnerability: an abiding faith in the accuracy and integrity of a small, specialized collection of corporate governance data. In this paper, we unveil a novel collection of three decades’ worth of corporate charters for thousands of public companies, which shows that this faith is misplaced.

We make three principal contributions to the literature. First, we label our corpus for a variety of firm- and state-level governance features. Doing so reveals significant infirmities within the most well-known corporate governance datasets, including an error rate exceeding …

The Legal Framework For Offshore Carbon Capture And Storage In Canada, Romany M. Webb, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Averting catastrophic climate change requires immediate action to prevent additional carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. However, even that may not be sufficient, with many scientists now warning that it will likely also be necessary to reduce the existing atmospheric carbon dioxide load. That could be achieved using negative emissions technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store or utilize it in some way. One promising technology is direct air capture (“DAC”) which uses liquid chemical solutions or solid sorbent filters to capture carbon dioxide from the air and concentrate it into a …

Judges And The Deregulation Of The Lawyer's Monopoly, Jessica K. Steinberg, Anna E. Carpenter, Colleen F. Shanahan, Alyx Mark

Faculty Scholarship

In a revolutionary moment for the legal profession, the deregulation of legal services is taking hold in many parts of the country. Utah and Arizona, for instance, are experimenting with new regulations that permit nonlawyer advocates to play an active role in assisting citizens who may not otherwise have access to legal services. In addition, amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct in both states, as well as those being contemplated in California, now allow nonlawyers to have a partnership stake in law firms, which may dramatically change the way capital for the delivery of legal services is raised as …

Re-Reading Chevron, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

Though increasingly disfavored by the Supreme Court, Chevron remains central to administrative law doctrine. This Article suggests a way for the Court to reformulate the Chevron doctrine without overruling the Chevron decision. Through careful attention to the language of Chevron itself, the Court can honor the decision’s underlying value of harnessing comparative institutional advantage in judicial review, while setting aside a highly selective reading that unduly narrows judicial review. This re-reading would put the Chevron doctrine – and with it, an entire branch of administrative law – on firmer footing.

Principles Of International Law And The Adoption Of A Market-Based Mechanism For Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Shipping, Hillary Aidun, Daniel J. Metzger, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Emissions from shipping are a significant driver of human-induced climate change. International action to date has not succeeded in setting those emissions on a sustainable trajectory. The International Maritime Organization has committed to implementing an effective, international approach to tackle international shipping’s contribution to climate change.

This paper considers international law principles, exploring whether and how these principles may provide a basis for the IMO to address those contributions. The polluter pays principle, which counsels that whoever produces pollution should cover the costs their pollution imposes on others, is a doctrine of international law that offers strong support for the …

Mine The Gap: Using Racial Disparities To Expose And Eradicate Racism, James S. Liebman, Kayla C. Butler, Ian Buksunski

Faculty Scholarship

For decades, lawyers and legal scholars have disagreed over how much resource redistribution to expect from federal courts and Congress in satisfaction of the Fourteenth Amendment's promise of equal protection. Of particular importance to this debate and to the nation given its kaleidoscopic history of inequality, is the question of racial redistribution of resources. A key dimension of that question is whether to accept the Supreme Court's limitation of equal protection to public actors' disparate treatment of members of different races or instead demand constitutional remedies for the racially disparate impact of public action.

For a substantial segment of the …

Rbg: Nonprofit Entrepreneur, David M. Schizer

Faculty Scholarship

It is exceedingly rare for one person to change the world almost single-handedly, but Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of those people. Even before her distinguished judicial career, RBG was a trailblazing advocate for women’s rights during the 1970s. She persuaded the Supreme Court that gender discrimination violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, winning five of the six cases she argued there. To lead this historic effort, RBG served as general counsel of the ACLU and as co-founder and the first director of its Women’s Rights Project from 1972 until she became a judge in 1980. …

Elected-Official-Affiliated Nonprofits: Closing The Public Integrity Gap, Richard Briffault

Faculty Scholarship

Recent years have witnessed the growing use by elected officials, particularly state and local chief executives, of affiliated nonprofit organizations to advance their policy goals. Some of these organizations engage in public advocacy to advance a governor’s or mayor’s legislative program. Others operate more like conventional charities, raising philanthropic support for a range of governmental social welfare programs. Elected officials fundraise for these organizations, which are often staffed by close associates of those elected officials, and the organizations’ public communications frequently feature prominently the name or likeness of their elected-official sponsor. As these organizations do not engage in electioneering, they …

A Perfectly Empty Gift, Christina D. Ponsa-Kraus

Faculty Scholarship

“Almost citizens.” What does that even mean? It’s like being “kind of pregnant,” isn’t it? In other words, nonsense. Citizenship isn’t an “almost” kind of thing. It’s all or nothing. Unless, I suppose, the word “almost” is used in a simple temporal sense – as in, “Our naturalization ceremony is tomorrow. We’re almost citizens! Yay!” There, the phrase “almost citizens” makes sense. Otherwise not. Right?

Wrong. “Almost citizens,” in a sense as ambiguous as it sounds, is what Almost Citizens: Puerto Rico, the U S Constitution, and Empire is about. “Almost citizens” describes what Puerto Ricans were from 1898, when …