Digital Commons Network^™

Judges Compete Because They Are Human, Merritt E. Mcalister

UF Law Faculty Publications

Judges are human, and they compete for cases because they are susceptible to the same kinds of very human incentives as the rest of us. But what is unusual about federal judges is their workplace: they have a glorious dead-end job that's missing traditional carrots and sticks. This dynamic produces some strange results, including forum selling, where judges seek more work for the same pay. In conversation with Why Do Judges Compete for Cases?, this Response suggests that forum selling (and its attendant risks and harms) is inevitable, because judges, like the rest of us, will act out of …

A Theory Of Corporate Fiduciary Duties, Benjamin B. Johnson

UF Law Faculty Publications

Corporate law lacks a general theory of a board’s power as fiduciary, and consequently, the law governing corporate fiduciary duties is notably unstable. This Article offers a novel theory that grounds corporate fiduciary duties in stronger microeconomic and legal foundations. The theory, coined the Judicial Monitoring Model (JMM), shows that even imperfect judicial monitoring makes shareholders and boards better off, even when there is no claim of a breach of the duties of loyalty or care as currently understood. The JMM synthesizes the law governing corporate fiduciary duties and other doctrines that protect principals, beneficiaries, and creditors from the risk …

Environmental Monitoring Plan: For Work To Be Performed: July 1, 2023, Through June 30, 2024, Tennessee. Department Of Environment And Conservation.

Environmental Monitoring Plans

The Tennessee Department of Enviornment and Conservation, Division of Remediation, Oak Ridge (TDEC DoR-OR), provides the annual Fiscal Year 2023 EMP for the period of July 2, 2023, through June 30, 2024. This report is submitted as a comprehensive plan for TDEC DoR-OR monitoring and assessment activities across the Oak Ridge Reservation, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, (ORR) in accordance with terms of both the Environmental Surveillance and Oversight Agreement (ESOA), as well as in support of activities being conducted under the Federal Facilities Agreement (FFA).

Navigating Success In Higher Education: Generative Ai, Financial Well-Being, And Parental Support, Tanya Gardner

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Postsecondary education is viewed as a sure path to economic mobility. This dissertation contains three essays which examine correlates of postsecondary value. Postsecondary students face a variety of stressors throughout their college career which may impact their ability to be successful. They must complete their coursework and pass their classes while balancing work, social, and familial obligations. Tools such as generative AI may help students achieve their goals even in the face of personal challenges such as low financial stability or the inability to afford the high costs of college. Together these essays add to the body of literature which …

Essays On The Dynamics Of Subnational Public Finance In Indonesia, Much Rosidi

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

This dissertation comprises three essays that collectively explore the intricacies of subnational public finance in Indonesia: vehicle tax amnesty, property tax competition, and corruption. The research aims to understand the dynamics shaping fiscal policies at the subnational level.

In the first essay, I examine vehicle tax amnesty programs in Indonesia that have been very popular in dealing with high delinquency rates. From 2008 to 2020, provincial amnesties occurred every 2.5 years on average. Using the variation in the timing of the province’s amnesty adoptions, I estimate the effect of vehicle tax amnesty on vehicle tax revenue using difference-in-differences. The short-run …

Studying Conspiracy Theory After The (Current) Rise Of Right-Wing Populism, Mark Fenster

UF Law Faculty Publications

The American historian Richard Hofstadter intended his still-influential essay on the “Paranoid Style in American Politics,” which initiated the modern study of conspiracy theories, as a response to the mid-1950s rise of right-wing populism in the US. Reflecting on the lessons we can learn from the insights and weaknesses of Hofstadter’s timely intervention into contemporary politics, as well as the author’s three decades studying conspiracy theories, the chapter asks how current academic work, which takes place within and responds to another rise in rightwing populism, should understand and intervene in the present and prepare for the future.

Compassionless Plea Bargaining, Julian A. Cook Iii

UF Law Faculty Publications

Too often, the guilty plea hearing process practiced in our federal courts fails to adequately ensure the validity of a defendant’s change of plea decision. Rather than engage in colloquies that are sufficiently in-depth and truly aimed at ascertaining voluntariness and defendant comprehension, critical details are frequently glossed over, and defendant guilty pleas are accepted without meaningful inquiry.

While academics have skillfully critiqued the Sixth Amendment and its trial-focused provisions, comparatively scant focus has been expended on the equally, if not more, critical change of plea hearing. Compassionless Plea Bargaining seeks to fill this gap with its focus on a …

The Jawboning Cases End With A Bang Disguised By A Whimper, Derek E. Bambauer

UF Law Faculty Publications

Jawboning is government enforcement through informal channels, where the underlying authority is in doubt. Government actors at all levels have increasingly deployed this tactic to pressure Internet platforms to suppress disfavored speech. Internet jawboning debuted at the Supreme Court in two cases (National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo and Murthy v. Missouri) in 2023. Although the Court disposed of both cases on procedural and standing grounds, rather than offering a new methodology for evaluating jawboning, the opinions offer examples of what a successful jawboning claim looks like and what an unsuccessful claim lacks. Thus, jawboning as a …

Did January 6 Defendants (Including Donald Trump) “Otherwise Obstruct An Official Proceeding”? Linguistic Analysis For The Fischer Case Before The Supreme Court, Clark Cunningham, Ute Römer-Barron

Faculty Publications By Year

When judges, skilled and sophisticated users of the English language, come to opposing conclusions about the “plain” or “ordinary” meaning of a phrase, how can such a conflict be resolved in an objective way? Traditionally courts have resorted to citing dictionary definitions, but in recent years an alternative approach has been gaining attention and respect: the use of corpus linguistics. The supreme courts of Michigan, Idaho, Utah, Vermont have used made use of corpus-based research in their decisions as has the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Both the Sixth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit have requested that …

Repealing Single-Family Zoning Is Not Enough: A Proposal For Removing Existing Parallel Private Covenants For Violating Public Policy, Gerald Korngold

Missouri Law Review

The United States is currently suffering a pervasive and unsettling shortage of housing and increased housing unaffordability. Rents are at an all-time high, which has a disproportionate impact on people of color and people earning lower incomes as these individuals are more likely to rent rather than own their homes. Moreover, people solidly in the middle class are finding it increasingly difficult to purchase residences within their budgets.

The Submerged Administrative State, Gabriel Scheffler, Daniel E. Walters

Articles

The United States government is experiencing a reputation crisis: after decades of declining public trust, many Americans have lost confidence in the government's capacity to perform its basic functions. While various explanations have been offered for this worrying trend, these existing accounts overlook a key factor: people are unfamiliar with the institutions that actually do most of the governing-administrative agencies-and they devalue what they cannot easily observe. The "submerged" nature of the administrative state is, we argue, a central reason for declining trust in government.

This Article shows that the administrative state is systematically submerged in two ways. First, administrative …

Assemblages And Actor Networks In The Borderlands - The Apposition Of Reproductive Rights Along The Mexican-American Border, Madeleine M. Plasencia

Articles

In 1971, Sarah Weddington argued Roe v. Wade as a class action on behalf of pregnant women living in Texas, many of whom, including herself had to flee the State to obtain an abortion in Mexico. In 2021, Texas enacted S. B. 8, otherwise known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, which created a private cause of action for injunctive relief and statutory damages awards against any person assisting in and any physician accused of performing an abortion, thus reigniting the cross-border flows that historically have made Mexico a haven for runaway enslaved people and pregnant persons heading south to freedom. …

Persistence Of Wastewater-Associated Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria In River Microcosms, Aoife P. Mahaney

Theses and Dissertations

The spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) associated with wastewater is a significant environmental concern, but little is known about the persistence and proliferation of these organisms in receiving water bodies after discharge. To address this knowledge gap, we performed a series of microcosm experiments in which river water was amended with either untreated or treated wastewater, and the abundance of viable ciprofloxacin-, Bactrim-, and erythromycin-resistant bacteria was monitored for 72 hours.

Both types of wastewater amendments increased the initial abundance of ARB compared to microcosms containing only river water. The increase was greatest with untreated wastewater, but that effect decreased …

Effects And Mechanisms Of Smartphone-Based Mindfulness Training On Emotional Experience, Polina Beloborodova

Theses and Dissertations

Emotional well-being is an important component of mental and physical health that includes both positive emotions and an absence of emotional symptoms (e.g., depressive- and anxiety-related). In this study, we examine psychological mechanisms that help to explain the effects of an digital mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on emotional states. We conducted a randomized controlled trial wherein undergraduate student participants vulnerable to decreased positive and increased negative affect received a 2-week smartphone-based MBI or a structurally equivalent coping control intervention. Emotional experience, including depressive feelings, anxiety, and happiness, as well as subjective social well-being, including loneliness and felt connection to others, was …

A Walk In The Woods, Caitlin Mclean

Theses and Dissertations

A connection with nature fosters increased appreciation, admiration, and responsibility toward the natural environment, thus encouraging the mindful use of its resources and preservation of both species and their habitats. Defined by Mayer and Frantz (2004) as an “experiential sense of oneness with the natural world”, this connection is more important now than ever in this highly digital era. Studies indicate that limited exposure to nature can negatively impact the activation of neural pathways associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors (Chawla, 2020), while further research shows that engagement with the outdoors during childhood as a significant life experience (Chawla, 1998), …

"I Call Them Supermoms": Therapists' Reflections On The Impact Of Youth Sexual Offending On Latina Mothers, Mauricio P. Yabar

Theses and Dissertations

Families of youth who have sexually offended often suffer significant collateral consequences following the discovery of the sexual offense. Samples in research with these families disproportionately consist of mothers and other female parental figures. This is rarely acknowledged in the literature, and the experiences of these mothers have not been explicitly examined. In addition, research on the experiences of these families has largely ignored factors related to race and ethnicity. This is a significant oversight considering the prevalence of systemic racism and discrimination in the United States, particularly in the systems with which these families must interact (e.g., juvenile justice …

Protecting Electronic Health Records After Dobbs, Francis, Leslie P.

Santa Clara Law Review

In the aftermath of Dobbs, states are taking dueling approaches to abortion prohibitions. Some states are enacting draconian criminal penalties for abortion providers or those helping patients seeking abortion services. Other states are doing all they can to protect patients receiving services within their borders and those who help them. Medical records are at the heart of these conflicts as they provide the best evidence of the patient’s condition and care provided. This article assesses the likely efficacy of state efforts to protect information in electronic health records from use in prosecutions or suits for damages in abortion restrictive states. …

Investigation Of Fancd2 Function Utilizing A Multi-Omic Approach, Justin Blaize

Open Access Dissertations

Fanconi Anemia (FA) is a rare genetic disease characterized by congenital abnormalities, bone marrow failure, and a predisposition to cancer. FA is caused by a mutation in one of 23 genes, the protein products of which function in a pathway to repair DNA and maintain genome stability. While an important role for the FA proteins in the repair of DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) has been established in vitro, there is still much to be learned about the function of the pathway, and the endogenous sources of ICLs in FA patients. In this work we study FANCD2, a key protein …

Effective Leader Practices To Leverage School Librarians As Leaders In One-To-One Computing, Mary Moen

Graduate School of Library and Information Studies Faculty Publications

Research on one-to-one computing often overlooks the role of the school librarian even though they are trained with the knowledge and skills to effectively support technology initiatives. Using the Unified Model of Effective Leader Practices, this case study explored the intersection of leader practices, technology, and school librarians in a large district’s shift to one-to-one computing. The findings indicate that leader practices include: incorporating the library in the vision, building the professional capacity of school librarians, engaging them as partners in curriculum and instruction development, and leveraging their expertise to procure, create, and access quality digital resources to support learning …

Exploring The Needs Of College Students Experiencing Housing Instability, Sandy D. Dawoud

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This qualitative study explored the needs and experiences of college students who have aged out of the foster care system and facing housing instability at a large public institution. The study explores the participants' pre-college experiences and college journey to identify challenges they faced, sources of support, and unmet needs impacting their education. Analysis of 14 individual interviews highlighted key themes related to motivations, obstacles, and desired assistance across areas like finances, mental health, academics, and support systems. This work has implications for implementing tailored institutional support, community partnerships, transition programs, and advocacy efforts to promote resilience and success for …

Values Integration And The Professional Counselor, Rebecca Randall

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This qualitative study, informed by narrative inquiry, examined how counselors described the interplay of values in professional practice. Participant narratives highlighted the challenges they experience in the process of values integration, defined as counselors’ awareness and management of personal values in counseling processes. Participants often made value judgments that occurred rapidly and beneath awareness and only became aware as a result of discordance in the counseling relationship. They further struggled in skillfully working through values conflicts. These findings reveal that values integration is a developmental process that challenges counselors beyond the training years and thus requires an infrastructure that supports …

Beyond Coming Out And Queer Tragedy : How Julie Ann Peters, Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera, And Aiden Thomas Navigate Through The Spectrum Of Queer Representation, Jacqueline Carey

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In recent years, readers, critics and activists have recognized the importance of more inclusive storytelling, especially in young adult literature. This thesis explores how Julie Peters, Becky Albertalli, Aiden Thomas, and Adam Silvera diversify queer representation within the realm of young adult literature. Drawing on literary analysis, queer theory, and sociocultural perspectives, this thesis will explore how queer representation manifests in each of these works to challenge and complicate representational norms. Ultimately, this thesis seeks to contribute to the ongoing conversations surrounding the importance of having diverse stories that foster a more inclusive literary environment.

Circadian Rhythmicity Of Mood : An Exploratory Study, Mara Ashley Cohen

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Human circadian rhythms are widely observed to fluctuate across the 24-hour circadian period, spanning cognitive, behavioral, and physiological domains. Circadian rhythm (CR) systems, particularly the sleep-wake cycle, are widely studied. Dysregulation of the sleep-wake cycle, common in shift work and mood disorders, diminishes mood regulation, resulting in increased negative mood or inappropriate mood responses. Although emotions have been investigated in the context of circadian variability in the sleep-wake cycle, circadian effects on emotional state per se have infrequently been examined. Previous studies suggest an increase in Positive Affect (PA) and decrease in Negative Affect (NA) as the day progresses, while …

Exploring Instability In Dream-Based Narratives : A Comparative Analysis Of “Vanilla Sky” And "Inception", Sara Glemaud

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This thesis aims to dissect the deliberate destabilization that emerges from Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky and Christopher Nolan’s Inception. By stripping away stabilizing elements and weaving intricate dream sequences, Nolan and Crowe craft a cinematic experience that blurs the distinction between reality and imaginary. The means in which Nolan and Crowe execute this is through several ways. Firstly, through the exploration of the symbiotic relationship between the characters' bodies and minds within the dream narrative. Secondly, through the deliberate creation of spatial and temporal instability, which blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy or the imaginary. Lastly, both films deliberately …

Answering The Call Through An Inquiry Circle : English Educators Embark On A Journey To Become Antiracist, Lisa V. Kenny

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study examines a group of four English educators, two women of color and two white women, who self-identified as teachers for social justice as they formed a teacher inquiry group, called a teacher inquiry circle, as they attempt to become antiracist. The purpose of the inquiry circle was to answer the call to action for more equitable racially just schools that permeated the nation during the Covid-19 pandemic and after the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. To conduct the study a feminist practitioner action research methodology was used, and a racial literacy framework was applied …

Transcultural Experiences Of Becoming A Teacher Educator : Using Self-Study To Understand The Identity Development Of A Sojourner Doctoral Student In The U.S., Kate Meza Fernandez

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

As I became a teacher educator abroad, I wondered how my teacher educator identity changed since becoming a Ph.D. student in the U.S. This self-study focused on understanding my teacher educator identity development using arts-based methods to generate data and then narrating the intricacies of my transcultural in-depth and analyzed journey. Using a third space construct, my self-study contributes to the body of literature on the becoming of a teacher educator from an international perspective. It presents the analysis of my learning experiences as an international student, originally from Peru and enrolled in a teacher education and teacher development Ph.D. …

Beyond Print : The Web Of Egan’S Narrative Universe, Cassandra Sardo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Jennifer Egan’s website greatly rewards readers and literary critics interested in A Visit from the Goon Squad and The Candy House. It hosts an interactive timeline filled with details like when and where she wrote each chapter of Goon Squad, a digital counterpart to her famous PowerPoint chapter, and excerpts from her handwritten first drafts of The Candy House. These digital epitexts, however, have been largely overlooked by critics, and a comprehensive analysis and close reading of Egan’s work in this important context remains uncharted territory. My thesis aims to bridge this gap by exploring the technological elements within Egan’s …

2024-25 Executive, Managing And Editorial Boards, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

GJICL Editorial Boards

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of The Impact Of Various Feature Extraction Techniques On The Effectiveness Of Music Genre Classification In Neural Network Models., Sabhdh Grace

ICT

This research focuses on Music Genre Classification (MGC) using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and various datasets, including raw audio files (WAV) and extracted features such as Mel Spectrograms (MS), Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), and Chroma Features (CF). The study employs Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods (ESMM), combining qualitative research and experimental analysis to explore different model inputs and their performance. Several CNN-based models, including 2D CNN, 2D CNN-LSTM, 1D CNN, and 1D CNN-LSTM, were tested. However, the models generally underperformed, with most achieving accuracy of 10% or lower, and the best model (raw audio 1D CNN) reaching only 20%. The research …

Using Machine Learning To Identify Hate Speech And Offending Language On Twitter., Mayara Lorens, Thayene Lorens

ICT

This project focuses on applying Machine Learning (ML) techniques to detect hate speech and offensive language on Twitter, addressing ethical concerns like cyberbullying and fostering a safer online environment. The topic is chosen for its societal significance and business relevance, as hostile online behaviour negatively impacts user experiences and platform credibility.

To achieve this, the study implements four distinct ML models to develop an automated system capable of identifying and categorising content as offensive, non-offensive, or neutral. The system aims to contribute to mitigating harmful interactions on social media and improving user safety by effectively classifying potentially problematic content.

The …