Digital Commons Network^™

Neutral Business Assistance And The Limits Of Complicity Under International Criminal Law, Nikola R. Hajdin

Michigan Journal of International Law

Business transactions between corporations and actors involved in grave human rights violations present significant challenges for the assessment of corporate criminal liability. This is particularly evident in cases of “neutral business assistance,” which refer to business conduct that appears legitimate on the surface and falls within day-to-day business operations but nonetheless contributes to the crime. An example of neutral business assistance is selling generic goods (for example, computer technology) legally at market rates, without the explicit intent to aid criminal activity, that increases the perpetrator’s capacity to carry out human rights violations. In such cases, discerning the point at which …

Aggressor State, Aggressor Individual, And What International Law Does/Should Protect, Nurbanu Hayır

Michigan Journal of International Law

This note examines the measures taken against Russian citizens in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian War in positive international law and analyzes the rationale for sanctioning individual citizens of an aggressor state. It questions whether the gravity of state aggression by Russia enables measures targeting individuals based solely on their Russian citizenship by investigating whether the blanket denial of asylum and imposition of travel bans for Russian citizens constitutes a breach of norms of international law. It further tests this citizenship link by turning to the legality of denationalization of pro-Russian Ukrainian citizens under international law. Building on this foundation, …

By The Numbers, 2023-2024, Dee J. Kelly Law Library

Documents & Reports

A compilation of data and statistics highlighting the activities and services of the Dee J. Kelly Law Library at Texas A&M University School of Law for 2023-2024.

Economic Status Differences In Industry-Based Certification Attainment Rates Of Texas High School Graduates: A Multiyear, Statewide Analysis, Robert Todd Hicks, John R. Slate, Janene W. Hemmen

School Leadership Review

This statewide, multiyear study was an examination of industry-based certification attainment rates by the economic status of Texas public high school graduates. Data analyzed were provided by the Texas Education Agency via the Texas Academic Performance Reports for the 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school years. Inferential statistical analyses revealed that students who were economically disadvantaged earned industry-based certifications at a lower rate than all Texas high school graduates in aggregate. The gaps in attainment rates between students who were economically disadvantaged and the all student group increased over the three school years of data analyzed. Trends in attainment for both …

Section 9 Of The Canadian Charter & Arbitrary Laws: A Taxonomy, An Organizational Ideal, And A Path Forward, François Tanguay-Renaud

Articles & Book Chapters

One of the conditions for a detention not to be arbitrary under s. 9 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom is that it must be authorized by a law that is itself not arbitrary. The Supreme Court’s pronouncements about what makes a law arbitrary have been brief, question begging and, at times, conflicting. This article takes stock and proposes a path forward.

First, it reviews the Supreme Court’s case law with the goal of developing a taxonomy of its various accounts of arbitrary laws. It identifies three: a formal account (with a procedural check), a purpose-sensitive account, and …

A Framework For Modeling The Impacts Of Adaptive Search Intensity On The Efficiency Of Abundance Surveys., Laura Jiménez, John R Fieberg, Michael Mccartney, Jake M Ferguson

Biology Faculty Publications

When planning abundance surveys, the impact of search intensity on the quality of the density estimates is rarely considered. We constructed a time-budget modeling framework for abundance surveys using principles from optimal foraging theory. We link search intensity to the number of sample units surveyed, searcher detection probability, the number of detections made, and the precision of the estimated population density. This framework allowed us to determine how a searcher should behave to produce optimized density estimates. Using data collected from quadrat and removal surveys of zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in central Minnesota, we applied this framework to evaluate potential …

Clarification Of Our Response To “The Importance Of Diversity In Obesity Articles”, Michelle Cardel, Matthew M. Clark, Thomas A. Wadden, Leanne M. Redman, Michael Jensen

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Closing The Gap Between Evidence And Practice For Childhood Obesity Treatment, Alyssa M. Button, Amanda E. Staiano, Hilary K. Seligman

Population and Public Health Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Identifying Key Environmental Drivers Of Reach-Scale Salmonid Edna Recovery With Random Forest, Shawn A. Melendy, John R. Olson

AES Faculty Publications and Presentations

Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling from rivers has emerged as a promising new method for monitoring freshwater organisms of management concern. However, eDNA sampling cannot yet offer reliable estimates of a target species' abundance/biomass or confident determinations of a species' absence from a river segment. To unlock these abilities—and thereby greatly improve eDNA as a tool for management decision-making—the influence of local environmental factors on eDNA fate must be better understood. At nine river sites across the central California coast, we added a known quantity of novel eDNA (Brook Trout, Salvelinus fontinalis) and collected eDNA at sequential downstream distances for …

Voilà Le Peuple: Reading And The Politics Of Literature; Or, Flaubert For Dark Times, Robert St.Clair

Dartmouth Scholarship

Why does it matter that we try to think through, together, as entrammeled with one another, the act and work of reading and “the political”? What is at stake in the question of textuality in the current context of crises and turns-away (from theorization, from critique) that have come to characterize the humanities as the forms and institutions of higher education find themselves increasingly subsumed by the logics and imperatives of neoliberalism? The present article proposes to think through and tarry with this problem by taking as a case study of sorts the reaction of a certain number of …

College Council Newsletter (September 2024), Dmacc

College Council

No abstract provided.

Seeking Legacy Through Sam's Drive-In (Summer 2024), William Teer

Staff Residencies

William Teer, Program Director for Student Leadership Programs and Financial Well-Being in the Center for Community Engagement, researched and wrote the story of the late West Sanford “Sam” Forsythe, owner of Sam’s Drive-In in Ripley, TN.

Mycelium Leather, Michael Andrew (Andy) Smith

Staff Residencies

Michael Andrew (Andy) Smith, Systems Analyst III in Student Housing, learned how to grow and use mushrooms to make vegan leather.

Explored New Uses For Vintage Items (Summer 2024), Trent Bloodworth

Staff Residencies

Trent Bloodworth, Network Analyst II in Telecommunications, explored new uses for vintage items by repurposing a 1960s refrigerator into a cocktail cabinet.

Amplify (Summer 2024), Amy Evans

Staff Residencies

Amy Evans, Graphic Web Designer in Marketing and Communications, created a series of large oil on canvas paintings.

The Totally Amazing Assassination Adventures Of Jack And Jackie, Laura Cavett

Staff Residencies

Laura Cavett, Project Coordinator in Biology, created a series of paintings combining an absurd narrative with iconic images in cartoon format.

Needlepoint - From Start To Finish (But Never Again) (Summer 2024), Cayce Read

Staff Residencies

Cayce Read, Financial Aid Advisor in the Office of Financial Aid, learned the process of finishing a stitched needlework canvas into a final product.

Glassblowing (Summer 2024), Andrea Drummond

Staff Residencies

Andrea Drummond, Communications Project Coordinator in the Department of Music, learned to work in the medium of glassblowing.

Wild To Mild – A Mustang Horse Story (Summer 2024), Tess Graham

Staff Residencies

Tess Graham, Library Specialist I at the J.D. Williams Library, developed an equine therapy program with Monkey, the horse.

Remembering My Grandmother: Rev. Maggie T. Mosley (Summer 2024), Cassandra Hawkins

Staff Residencies

Dr. Cassandra Hawkins, Associate Director of Data and Quality Management at the Institute of Child Nutrition, pursued a film photography project that invoked a sense of family and introspection about the past and the present.

Somatic Dance (Summer 2024), Rebekah Allen

Staff Residencies

Rebekah Allen, Counselor in Student Affairs in the University Counseling Center, used dance techniques to develop creative movements that enhances mental wellbeing.

The Last Frontier: Fair Procedure In Informal Administrative Adjudication, Michael Asimow

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The federal government engages in massive amounts of informal adjudication - a process that resolves a dispute between the government and a private party by making an individualized and legally binding decision without being required to conduct an evidentiary hearing if the dispute is not settled. This article sketches the highly diverse world of federal informal adjudication and surveys the procedural requirements imposed on it by due process and federal statutes. It proposes a set of best practices for conducting and improving informal adjudication that are rooted in those legal requirements. Agencies should adapt these practices to their individual circumstances …

Rewriting Nepa: Statutory Continuity And Disruption In A Polarized Era, Daniel A. Farber

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

For decades the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 was a paradigm of statutory stability. In 2023 that changed overnight with a major rewrite of NEPA as part of the debt ceiling bill. The text of the statute was hurriedly negotiated between President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy, and then passed with virtually no debate.

This article is the first to analyze the amendments. Due to the frenzied enactment process, NEPA is now loaded with overlapping and partially conflicting language, provisions that seem nonsensical if taken literally, and perplexing gaps. The article teases apart these problems, concluding that the …

An Artificial Intelligence Report Card For Judicial Review, Zoe E. Niesel

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The rapid advancement of technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), is creating new challenges for judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). In late 2023, federal administrative agencies publicly disclosed over 700 use cases of AI that employ sophisticated techniques like machine learning and natural language processing. While the APA's flexible judicial review framework certainly allows agencies to utilize new technologies, the APA also requires explainability of agency decisions; thus, agencies must be able to articulate the reasoning and methodology behind AI-enabled decisions for the purpose of judicial review. This Article examines APA judicial review as it applies to agency …

From Columbus To Lansing: Exploring The Prosecution Of Environmental Crimes Within Epa Region 5, Joshua Ozymy, Melissa Jarrell Ozymy

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Transgressions of federal environmental law involving significant harm or culpable conduct can result in criminal prosecution. However, we know very little about how such prosecutions have taken place within EPA Region 5, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. We undertake a content analysis of 2,807 criminal prosecutions that resulted from U.S. EPA criminal investigations from 1983-2022, selecting all 392 prosecutions occurring within Region 5 for analysis. Results show that over $3.4 billion in monetary penalties, 1,039 years of probation, and over 492 years of incarceration were assessed at sentencing. 33 % of prosecutions centered on water pollution, …

Solving The Stranded Asset Problem Of Retiring Coal Plants: An Evaluation Of Regulatory Approaches, Matthew Appel

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Meeting the Biden administration's goal of cutting greenhouse gases by at least 50 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 will necessarily require transitioning the U.S. energy system away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels like coal. However, coal plants that are retiring early in states with regulated electricity markets usually still have undepreciated book value that has not yet been recovered from ratepayers. If not handled correctly, these "stranded assets" could have financial consequences for utility companies and cause them to actively oppose the energy transition. This Note aims to evaluate possible solutions to this problem. Through the prism of ratemaking legal …

Layered Visualization Of Argumentation Frameworks, Yilin Xia, Daphne Oderkerken, Shaun Bowers, Bertram Ludäscher

Computer Science Faculty Scholarship

We propose a new layered visualization in PyArg for grounded labelings of abstract argumentation frameworks. Argument nodes are colored according to their label (IN, OUT, or UNDEC) and have a new length annotation, which is derived from provenance subgraphs. New edge annotations explain an attack-edge’s role in determining the value (label) of nodes in an argumentation framework.

編寫"亡國"歷史記憶 : 徐鉉《吴王隴西公墓志銘》之興亡敘事與李煜論定, Xincheng Zhang

嶺南學報 Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies

本文以墓志銘爲媒介，期以探析趙宋官方對待降君之態度，透視南唐降臣入宋後的處境與心態，進而側觀趙宋君臣如何回憶並編寫征服南唐的歷史記憶，以及如何詮釋被征服者的政治地位。本文鈎沉徐鉉受宋太宗命爲李煜撰墓志銘背後複雜緊張的政治背景，發現徐鉉在把握趙宋官方統一南唐的立場時，也存故主之義，使之同時具有特殊的文學與史學價值。徐鉉構建南唐國亡乃天命所歸的敘事模式，既淡化李煜亡國之君責任，又尊奉揄揚了趙宋承天受命的正統性。徐鉉還粉飾歷史情境中趙宋侵略的主動性，同時還將國覆責任推之於離間趙宋、南唐關係的吴越。而著重敘述南唐被代表正統的趙宋所併，也源於太宗朝對“太平”這一統治目標的追求。徐鉉在對李煜形象與功業進行蓋棺論定時，突顯李煜對内以古道馭民施行仁政，對外謹藩國之度；藉之促使降臣群體再次認同南唐被趙宋征服的歷史事實。徐鉉繼承“燕許”碑取實録的寫作要旨，客觀指出李煜治國時的弊端，也隱含反省規箴之意。在銘文中以騷體描述李煜既葬勒銘的過程，以典奥淒婉之風抒發哀悼；且運散入駢，顯出雄辭逸氣。徐鉉實對北宋文壇具深遠影響，以該文爲取徑重新審視徐鉉駢文價值，明晰北宋廟堂文章倡古道、守法度、重氣格的文學風尚實有源自宋初徐鉉之跡。

This paper examines tomb inscriptions as a medium to analyze the Zhao Song dynasty's official attitude toward defeated monarchs, specifically to illuminate the conditions and mindsets of Southern Tang officials after their submission to the Song dynasty. It further observes how the Zhao Song rulers and ministers recalled and constructed the historical memory of their conquest of Southern Tang and interpreted the political status of the conquered. The study delves into the complex and tense political background behind Xu Xuan's commission by Emperor Taizong of Song to compose the tomb inseription for Li Yu of the Southern Tang dynasty. …

新見哈佛大學燕京圖書館藏錢謙益《吾炙集》舊鈔本考論 : 兼談此集的編選與刊刻, Yang Xu

嶺南學報 Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies

錢謙益所輯《吾炙集》作爲清初詩歌選集之重要一種，乾隆間雖曾遭禁毁，仍在清代産生了深遠影響。通過對相關序跋、題詞、評注的解讀，可知《吾炙集》的編選乃本乎真性情，標舉風雅，以見詩家之靈心。從錢氏評語亦可窺見其崇尚自然質樸、反對一味模擬復古的詩學主張，以及晚年對於幽憂衰頽的“亡國之音”的不滿情緒。《吾炙集》初以鈔本形式流傳，因遇文網，故秘而未刊，現存有光緒二十八年刊《怡蘭堂叢書》本、光緒三十三年刊《佚叢甲集》本、民國六年刊《虞山叢刻》本三種，各本跋文略述版本之由來，也存有若干疑點，《吾炙集》是否爲未成之書，所收詩家多寡，前人多謂尚待續考。新見哈佛大學燕京圖書館所藏舊鈔本，爲我們進一步研究提供了重要綫索，今蒐集辨析《吾炙集》刊本、鈔本，又考以相關詩文别集，可知傳世本《吾炙集》應非完帙，集中前二十家當是從錢氏原稿所出，而許友一家則並非原貌。另外，許友目下之末二首可能爲方文佚詩，而卷末評語亦非許友詩評，而是錢謙益評方文詩語。

The Wu Zhi Collection, compiled by Qian Qianyi, is a significant anthology of early Qing poetry. Despite being banned during the Qianlong era, it had a profound impact throughout the Qing Dynasty. Analysis of the prefaces, postscripts, inscriptions, and commentaries associated with the collection reveals that its compilation was rooted in authenticity and genuinity, aiming to showcase elegant tastes and the spiritual essence of poets. Qian's own commentaries also reveal his preference for natural simplicity over slavish imitation of antiquity, as well as his late-life dissatisfaction with the "sounds of a lost nation" (wang Guo zhi yin …

塑造"中國" : 成康大分封與成周王畿區的空間整合, Xianchuang Ye

嶺南學報 Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies

後世多將《詩經．北山》“溥天之下，莫非王土”視爲西周王朝美好政治願景，實際這句話真切反映出周人欲實現大一統的宏圖。而要達成這一政治鵠的，藉由分封制的推廣來重構新的“中心—四土”地理格局勢在必行。西周統治核心區爲《漢書．地理志》所言的“洛邑與宗周通封畿”，與西部宗周王畿的形成不同，東部的成周王畿區是周公東征以來軍政謀略運用下的塑造結果，突出展現在成康大分封時代異姓諸侯的徙封和姬姓子弟的新封中。商末周初異國楚、鄂原居中原要地，因其阻礙周人地盤擴張和核心區穩固，迫其南遷，而姻戚陳國的褒封因不合於成王封建佈局，亦徙封至南土。成王在令康叔徙封至衛以領有殷舊畿大部基礎上，再於中原新封邘、凡、共、柞、密諸姬姓國。康王更進一步將姜姓焦國遷出三門峽，另封以姬姓焦國來穩固兩畿之間，並將本居邢丘的邢國徙封至北土邢臺以抗戎，從而真正起到蕃屏功效。每一分封（含徙封）諸侯的背後，都體現周初統治者精心建構其地緣空間、優化國土結構的高超設計，最終令後世爲華夏代名詞的“中國”區域在成康時代基本奠定下來。

"Under the vast heaven, all is the king's land" a line from The Book of Songs "Beishan" has often been interpreted as an expression of the Western Zhou Dynasty's ideal political vision. However, this phrase more accurately reflects the Zhou people's ambition for great unification. To achieve this political goal, the promotion of the feudal enfeoffment system to restructure the new "center-periphery" geographical pattern was essential. The core ruling area of the Western Zhou was the region described in The Book of Han "Geography Records" as "Luoyi and Zongzhou's joint royal domain." Unlike the formation of the western Zongzhou …