Digital Commons Network^™

Criminal Injustice, Edward Rubin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

As its title suggests, Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free is a wide-ranging critique of our criminal justice system. While it is hardly the first, it offers a number of distinctive insights. Most of the now voluminous work on this topic is written by scholars, policy analysts, or journalists and is addressed to the legislature or the executive. This certainly makes sense. External observers are well positioned to critique a system that punishes without purpose, and the major determinants of its dysfunction are the legislature that enacts the criminal law and the executive that enforces it. …

What Property Does, Christopher Serkin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

For centuries, scholars have wrestled with seemingly intractable problems about the nature of property. This Article offers a different approach. Instead of asking what property is, it asks what property does. And it argues that property protects people’s reliance on resources by moderating the pace of change. Modern scholarly accounts emphasize voluntary transactions as the source and purpose of reliance in property. Such “transactional reliance” implies strong, stable, and enduring rights. This Article argues that property law also reflects a very different source of reliance on resources, one that rises and falls simply with the passage of time. This new …

The False Allure Of The Anti-Accumulation Principle, Kevin Stack, Michael Herz

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Today the executive branch is generally seen as the most dangerous branch. Many worry that the executive branch now defies or subsumes the separation of powers. In response, several Supreme Court Justices and prominent scholars assert that the very separation-of-powers principles that determine the structure of the federal government as a whole apply with full force within the executive branch. In particular, they argue that constitutional law prohibits the accumulation of more than one type of power-—legislative, executive, and judicial—-in the same executive official or government entity. We refer to this as the anti-accumulation principle. The consequences of this principle, …

The Ideological Divide On Gun Regulation, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article examines survey results on how ideology and vulnerability affect attitudes toward gun regulation. It finds that ideology is more of a driver of differences in these views than the personal risk of gun violence. Nonetheless, the survey data find majority support among opposed political groups for some gun regulations-- including some of the regulations incorporated in the new federal legislation.

The Hierarchy And Performance Of State Recycling And Deposit Laws, W. Kip Viscusi, Caroline Cecot

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

States can foster recycling of waste materials through a variety of policies. The majority of the states have recycling laws for waste products such as glass, plastic, cans, and paper. These laws vary in terms of stringency. The hierarchy we developed orders the laws as follows: laws that make recycling mandatory, laws that require the provision of recycling opportunities, laws that require the development of a recycling plan, and laws that specify a recycling goal. Based on national recycling data with over 400,000 observations, we find that the amount of recycling households undertake increases with the degree of stringency of …

Equality In The Streets: Using Proportionality Analysis To Regulate Street Policing, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The racially disparate impact and individual and collective costs of stop and frisk, misdemeanor arrests, and pretextual traffic stops have been well documented. Less widely noticed is the contrast between Supreme Court case law permitting these practices and the Court's recent tendency to strictly regulate technologically enhanced searches that occur outside the street policing setting and that--coincidentally or not--happen to be more likely to affect the middle class. If, as the Court has indicated, electronic tracking and searches of digital records require probable cause that evidence of crime will be found, stops and frisks should also require probable cause that …

A Compulsory Solution To The Machine Problem, Cole G. Merritt

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already disrupting and will likely continue to disrupt many industries. Despite the role AI already plays, AI systems are becoming increasingly powerful. Ultimately, these systems may become a powerful tool that can lead to the discovery of important inventions or significantly reduce the time required to discover these inventions. Even now, AI systems are independently inventing. However, the resulting AI-generated inventions are unable to receive patent protection under current US patent law. This unpatentability may lead to inefficient results and ineffectively serves the goals of patent law.

To embrace the development and power of AI, Congress …

Promoting Cost-Effective Grid Modernization, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Recent legislative reforms enacted in several states grant incumbent utilities a right-of-first-refusal (ROFR) over new electric power transmission lines. Regional grid planners, who typically defer to state law, often avoid running competitive solicitations for regional transmission projects located in these states. As a result, state ROFR laws expose customers to excessive regional transmission costs.

Such state ROFR laws are constitutionally dubious, and ultimately harmful to customers. Customers affected by ROFR laws do not realize the cost savings and other benefits of competition, including superior cost containment and innovative grid modernization solutions. States can promote cost-effective grid modernization by encouraging competitive …

Identifying The Plessy Remainder: State Exploitation Of Private Discriminatory-Impact Actions, Matthew P. Shaw

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Public education in the U.S. is arguably more racially segregated now than it was in 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Brown v. Board of Education "that in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal' has no place." Although scholars may differ in the extent they believe that racial integration might be necessary for educational equality, most agree that educational segregation, whether imposed by law, socioeconomics, or happenstance, is not likely to reverse in any meaningful way in the near future.

In the absence of a recognized federal right to education, federal-court- supervised school …

A World Without Prosecutors, Jeffrey Bellin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Bennett Capers' article Against Prosecutors challenges us to imagine a world where we "turn away from prosecution as we know it," and shift "power from prosecutors to the people they purport to represent." In this world, crime victims decide whether to prosecute their own cases, and public prosecutors play a subsidiary role, taking primary responsibility only for cases "where the state is truly a victim (such as tax fraud)." This leaves a large category of cases - victimless crimes - without any prosecutor at all; Capers singles out drug offenses as "the biggest examples." Without prosecutors championing these and analogous …

Civil Engineering Research In Ireland 2022 And Irish Transport Research Network 2022, Niall Holmes, Caitríona De Paor, Roger West

Other

No abstract provided.

Revisiting The Relationship Between Economic Uncertainty And Suicide: An Alternative Approach, Rawayda Abdou, Damien Cassells, Jenny Berrill, Jim Hanly

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Previous research provides evidence that economic uncertainty is powerful enough to precipitate suicide. This study examines whether the relationship between economic uncertainty and suicide in the US is (i) context dependent and (ii) asymmetric. To answer these questions, we link US monthly total- age- and gender-specific suicide rates to the US Economic Policy Uncertainty index between 1999 and 2019, controlling for month fixed effects, year fixed effects and unemployment rates. We find that the relationship between economic uncertainty and the suicide rates of males in their mid-career (aged 25–54) and late career (aged 55–64) is context dependent. Our results show …

Acute Superior Vena Cava (Svc) Syndrome, An Unusual Occurrence, Muhammad Mohsin Zafar, Christopher Terrell, Imamuddin F. Mohammed, Alan Baggett

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

2022 clinical vignette poster

Agile Teaching And The Agile Manifesto, Trish Isaacs

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The Agile framework and its principles were originally created for software development, not for higher education. The software development environment in which they were created holds many parallels with the environment of higher education today, including the adaptiveness required, increased consumer focus, and pace and complexity of change. Principles outlined in the Agile Manifesto provide a way of dealing with uncertainties and turbulence, and ultimately succeeding in the midst of them. Agile principles can be applied to support and facilitate effective teaching and learning in today’s rapidly changing environment.

Table Of Contents, Russell Carpenter, Jamie Shaffer, Shirley P. O'Brien, Randi Polk, Jason Johnston, Amanda W. Joyce

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Agile Teaching & Learning: Approaches And Applications: Introduction To The 2021 Pedagogicon Proceedings, Russell Carpenter, Kevin Dvorak

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The authors review Agile teaching and learning in light of extant research and offer applications based on presentations shared during the 2021 Pedagogicon.

Agile Course Design: Modeling Flexibility, Empowering Engagement, And Prioritizing Community, Julie A. Rowan, Todd A. Stanislav, Allison C. Bernknopf, Tracy E. Russo

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The Agile Course Design Institute, created for faculty at a regional public university, utilized an agile thinking lens to model flexible, interactive learning. The Institute framework consisted of three core factors: sense of belonging, students’ bandwidth, and interaction and engagement. Faculty participated in online synchronous and asynchronous settings to develop agile courses. In doing so, they gained insights into the experiences their students might have in remote learning. Examples from the Institute and participant work are explored through a “Why” (purpose/outcome), “What” (connections to the ACDI framework), and “How” (tools and strategies) structure.

Metacognitive Teaching–Reflecting On Our Teaching Practice, Stephanie Foote

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

To help students become metacognitive learners, faculty should first consider their own metacognition and the role that plays in their courses. Faculty who take a metacognitive approach to their instruction are aware of their own teaching practices and purpose, and they have an awareness of student engagement and learning and are willing to adapt based on that knowledge (Scharff, 2015). While faculty are often metacognitive in their own discipline, these approaches are not always transferred to teaching (Tanner, 2012). This piece focuses on strategies and approaches faculty can take to use metacognition to reflect on their own teaching practice.

Applying Special Education High Leverage Practices To Enhance Learning In Higher Education Courses, Michelle Gremp, Maria L. Manning, Julie H. Rutland, Mary Jo Krile

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

In response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, new and varied platforms of instruction have become commonplace across all content areas of higher education. As a result, faculty are faced with the challenge of individualizing and differentiating instruction more than ever before. As outlined in High-Leverage Practices for K-12 Special Education Teachers (McLeskey et al., 2017), successful teaching at all levels requires skill in 4 intertwined components of practice: collaboration, assessment, social/ emotional/behavioral practices, and instruction. Incorporating aspects from each component of practice into higher education courses can help faculty improve engagement and enhance learning outcomes for all students.

Literature Genre Effects On Memory And Influence, Katelyn Mcclure, Hung-Tao Chen, Megan Thomas

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Superstructures are text structure relations commonly found in specific types of text such as narrative texts. Superstructures are important from a pedagogical standpoint because learners’ comprehension can be improved when they are taught about superstructures (Baumann & Bergeron, 1993; Calfee & Patrick, 1995; Dymock, 2005). The current study examined three types of texts with distinct superstructures—narrative, expository, and procedural. Undergraduate student participants (n=200) were randomly assigned to read a text that was written in the form of a narrative, expository, or procedural superstructure text. After reading, participants were asked to recall information from the text and rated their compliance level …

The Faculty Scholar Role In Peer Review Of A Journal Article, Cindy Hayden, Renee Causey-Upton, Dana Howell

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Peer review is a process to help ensure publication of high-quality research. Manuscripts submitted for publication are evaluated by others with similar content or methodological expertise, and the feedback is used by editors to determine suitability for publication. Participation in the peer review process may help improve agile teaching as well as contribute to the faculty scholar roles of professional service. This paper describes the process of peer review, including criteria for becoming a reviewer and how to perform a review.

Using Video Technology For Discussion Forums: Building An Engaged Online Community, Shirley P. O'Brien, Steven Shisley Dr.

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Faculty used various multimedia technology delivery methods within higher education in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instructors were urged to be more agile when considering tools to promote student engagement within the forced, online environment. Video technology is a mainstay in both online and hybrid education as well as in the workforce. Flipgrid, an agile learning tool, promotes asynchronous class discussions to reinforce higher levels of thinking in Bloom’s taxonomy of learning. Data collected from three courses suggests that Flipgrid promotes student engagement in a learner-centered approach. Implications are suggested for online learning.

What Have We Learned After One Year Of Remote Teaching And Learning? A Critical Conversation Between Two Language Educators, Marlon Valencia, Miguel Rincón

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

In this critical conversation, two language educators reflect on their experiences of online instruction after nearly two years of teaching during the Covid 19 pandemic. The duoethnographers share the challenges they faced to adapt their teaching and assessment for remote delivery, as well as how their pedagogical orientations transformed to engage with learners online. The discussion focuses on teaching both synchronously and asynchronously, re-thinking language assessment, and the authors’ strategies to manage a sustainable and healthy workflow. This last aspect is of significant importance given how much these two educators had to learn to teach in ways and through media …

Using A Technology Integration Content Plan To Align Course Components For Enhanced Student Learning, Melony Shemberger

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

In education, students simply consuming technology is not sufficient. Rather, we as educators want students to become effective producers of technology. That takes planning. Writing a plan that integrates the right technology to align with course components can assist instructors to design lessons that would encourage and challenge students cognitively. In this article, instructors are guided on constructing lessons that comprise a unit in which a lesson has a technology anchor. A list of free or less expensive tech tools that instructors and students could use is also available.

Agile Learning And Teaching With Miro Boards, Camille Skubik-Peplaski, Steven Shisley Dr., Jennifer Edick, Whitney Cook

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Educators use agile and transparent learning procedures that require students to analyze, assess and critique theoretical perspectives. This paper highlights the use of Miro board technology, allowing students to engage in collaborative team work to create a visual representation of a theory, increasing their proficiency as a theory driven occupational therapist. Students reported that Miro boards decreased feelings of isolation, created a sense of community, encouraged creativity, and promoted a collaborative, meaningful learning experience. Effective teaching during the COVID pandemic provided learners multiple opportunities to track their learning progress with substantive and timely feedback.

Give ‘Em Something To Smile About: Connecting With Online Students Through Humor, John Huss

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Humor and higher education are infrequently mentioned in the same conversation, but much empirical evidence supports the contention that the use of humor is related to positive student perceptions of the instructor and learning environment (Banas et al., 2011; Garner, 2006; James, 2004; Suzuki & Heath, 2014). The literature certainly establishes a foundation to consider humor as a critical element of any instructor’s online teaching arsenal and such an inclusion may be particularly pertinent at this time, given the undeniable shift in higher education dynamics as more institutions, both by choice and circumstance, witness unprecedented growth in their web-based programs. …

Let’S Talk: Learning To Communicate Well In Emergency Online Learning, Kim Cuny, Jenny M. Southard, Erin Ellis-Harrison

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

In this article, we use the lens of Tinto’s (1987) separation and transition phases to reflect on lessons learned when moving classes with oral communication components from in-person to online. We believe that being mindful and intentional in how we include oral communication instruction, opportunities for improvement, and incorporating feedback can positively impact retention and persistence of students. First, we describe the timelines of events, then we connect Tinto’s essential features of effective retention programs to oral communication pedagogy, and finally offer resources and strategies for incorporating oral communication into courses.

The Importance Of Building A Social Presence In The Online Classroom, Amanda W. Joyce

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

While important, many of the guidelines put in place to prevent disease transmission during the Covid-19 pandemic (social distancing, quarantining, facial coverings, etc.) have created challenges to building student-student and student-faculty relationships. However, these relationships are, according to the Community of Inquiry model (Garrison et al., 2000), essential to learning. The purpose of this piece is to explore strategies to build social presence in the classroom to benefit students and faculty alike. Strategies such as the strategic use of discussion boards, collaborative assignments, class announcements, extra credit, and more are discussed in the context of improving student learning without significantly …

Amplifying Agency And Presence Of Native American Women In 21st Century Literature, Rachel Mitchell

Dissertations and Theses

This project analyzes Native American women's voices and agency through their presence in a variety of 21st-century literary genres. The texts illuminate a clear presence of Native American authors who actively write Native American female characters that are powerful and take agency over their bodies and stories. The examples of Native American female characters allow readers to see more realistic and relatable figures within literature. Chapter one focuses on the empowering Native American female protagonists in Larissa FastHorse’s What Would Crazy Horse Do? (2019) and Mary Kathryn Nagle’s Sovereignty (2020). The playwrights offer crucial insight into more empowering and complex …

Design And Validation Of A Uniaxial Multi-Measurement Imager, Aaron J. Pung

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

A compact, uniaxial sensor is presented. The sensor system consists of a lens column, a light redistribution optic (LRO), a filter array, and an array of detectors. Built upon existing camera systems, each component within the optical system is rotationally symmetric about the optical axis. The LRO redirects light exiting the lens column towards detector arrays circumferentially located along the inside surface of a rectangular camera housing. Based on the significant increase in the number of available detectors, the uniaxial sensor is able to record multiple optically filtered images from a single viewpoint, providing a unique real-time diagnosis of the …