Digital Commons Network^™

In Our Glory: A Memory Exhibition, Dayquan Moeller

Whittier Scholars Program

When Susan Sontag wrote in 1977, “to collect photographs is to collect the world,” she could not have predicted how ubiquitous photography would become (Sontag 1977). Not only are we exposed to thousands of photographs each day, but we likely take dozens of them ourselves. In our photo-saturated world it is easy to take these candid images for granted, yet within them lies deep truths.

In Our Glory is an audio-visual installation that seeks to unravel these truths. It is based on interviews with individuals asked to describe a photograph of themselves, with one caveat: they are not allowed to …

Pandemic Review: South Los Angeles, Madeline Carmella Acosta

Whittier Scholars Program

IMPORTANCE The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the discussion on social inequality and vulnerabilities of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community. The understanding is that inequality is a multifaceted issue that stems from the historical mistreatment of BIPOC individuals—their sociodemographic and economic backgrounds are at the most risk in population studies. Many predictors of contracting COVID-19 included employment status (ability to work from home), education level, income (wealth), and housing conditions (environment) (Rozenfeld et al., 2020). Contracting COVID-19 in South Los Angeles was more likely to happen among those from racial and ethnic minorities and those living in …

Delgado Replies, Richard Delgado

Texas A&M Law Review

In Outside Inside, Frank Michelman gives me a pat on the back for two articles setting out the case for a rotten social background (“RSB”) defense. Ultimately, however, my efforts, in his eyes, at best amount to the proverbial good old college try. Because of a host of “establishment concerns,” mainstream judges will shy away from it, even in the most compelling cases. Unless criminal defendants qualify for an accepted defense such as insanity or diminished capacity, judges will see a severely deficient childhood as bearing only on the morality of punishment, not its legality.

Levmore On Simple Rules, Richard A. Epstein

Texas A&M Law Review

In 1995, the Harvard University Press published my book Simple Rules for a Complex World, which set out my world view on a wide range of substantive issues related to, on the private side, the law of property, contract, tort, and restitution; and on the public side, the law of eminent domain and taxation. The framework that I developed in that book relies on key private law baselines to assess, among other things, the efficiency and desirability of various forms of legislation that play off these common law rules dealing with environmental law, land use regulation, and labor law. …

Of Time And Tide, Thomas J. Stipanowich

Texas A&M Law Review

Of Time and Tide

The Right To Have Property, Joseph William Singer

Texas A&M Law Review

Laura Underkuffler has kindly commented on my progressive, social- relations approach to property and property law. I feel humbled, honored, and seen. She notices the core moral commitments manifested in that work. She focuses on my scholarship on discrimination in public accommodations, the violent dispossession and persisting sovereignty of Native nations, and the obligations of the rich toward the poor. She emphasizes my willingness to take a moral stance. And she comments on the fact that I attempt to persuade readers about what the law should be, not just by interpreting authoritative texts, but by making normative arguments that are …

Fineman Speaks To Dobbs, Deborah Dinner

Texas A&M Law Review

It is an honor to comment on the scholarship of the preeminent legal theorist Martha Fineman. Throughout her pioneering career, she has challenged liberal feminist ideals grounded in anti-discrimination principles. She shows how sex neutrality and formal equality in law and policy fail to realize justice for women and children. In the last few decades, she has broadened her analysis to a critique of autonomy as a foundational ideal in law. In its place, she offers an account of the state’s obligation to respond to universal human vulnerability. As an entirety, I have found Fineman’s scholarship important to my own …

Response To Professor Dinner, Martha Albertson Fineman

Texas A&M Law Review

I want to thank the Texas A&M Law Review for including my work in this special Issue and express my appreciation to Professor Dinner for her thoughtful comments concerning the evolution of my scholarship. Professor Dinner raises the question of whether that earlier work is relevant to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion, specifically, and to broader issues of reproductive justice, more generally. For me, Dobbs illustrates—once again—how our American obsession with both individual rights and Supreme Court jurisprudence can distort our sense of the possibilities for achieving social (or reproductive) justice. I see my work as an …

Reflecting On The Foundations Of Latinx Civil Rights: Looking Back And Looking Forward, Rachel F. Moran

Texas A&M Law Review

I am grateful to Dean Kevin Johnson for his thoughtful and generous review of my scholarship on Latinx civil rights. Dean Johnson has been tremendously influential in the field, and he has led by example through his long tenure as dean at UC Davis School of Law. So his insightful assessment of my contributions is especially meaningful. Like all good retrospectives, Dean Johnson’s got me thinking—not only about the past but also the future. So much has changed since I began writing about Latinx issues at the beginning of my career, and yet much remains the same. Because demography is …

The Siren Of San Francisco, Emily Gage

Whittier Scholars Program

The Siren of San Francisco is a story I have been interested in telling for the longest time focusing on the coming of age of the main character, Mia, and how she deals with change through gaining the power of shapeshifting. A lot of the graphic novel explores the relationships between Mia, her mom, and her close friends and how her relationships with them change during this transitional period.

The driving force behind this story was my enduring interest in relationships, identity, feminism, and how people can shape the people around them, including themselves. I approached this particular story from …

Abortion Law In A Time Of Judicial Adventurism, Michael Boucai

Other Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Legal Writing Handbook For Clinical Students, Nan Haynes

Books

This handbook is for upper-level students enrolled in a clinic, who are expected to draft legal memorandums, briefs, client letters, and pleadings with minimal supervision. Each chapter focuses on a single writing skill. The exercises and examples consistently and cogently employ the techniques and devices advocated in the book.

Clinical students learn by doing. Still, their legal writing experience is limited, so guiding them through written assignments is challenging. They simultaneously need specific feedback on legal writing from their professors, and the opportunity to do as much as possible on their own. I wrote this handbook with that challenge in …

Unm Hslic Organizational Chart 2023, Sally Bowler-Hill

HSLIC Organizational Charts

No abstract provided.

Association Between Ideal Cardiovascular Health And Multiple Disabilities Among Us Adults, Brfss 2017–2019, Debasree Das Gupta, U. Kelekar, M. Abram-Moyle

Kinesiology and Health Science Faculty Publications

Objectives

Cardiovascular health is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Our objective was to estimate the association between ideal cardiovascular health (ICVH) and multiple disabilities among US adults stratified into the three age groups of young (18–44 years), midlife (45–64 years), and older adults (≥65 years).

Study design

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data pooled from the 2017 and 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

Methods

Using American Heart Association's seven-component (four ideal behaviors and three ideal health factors) scoring tool, we identified ICVH as a composite score ≥5 and also computed the …

Biological Capital Estimation For The United States: Datasets For Adauto Rocha's Dissertation, Adauto B. Rocha Jr.

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Excel files with calculations used for chapters in the above dissertation are posted here in the following order:

Ch 1: BIOLOGICAL CAPITAL ESTIMATION FOR ANIMAL CATEGORIES: CAPITAL MEASUREMENT USING DATA ON PRICE OF NEW ASSETS

Dairy capital report US.xls

Beef capital report US.xls

Hog sows capital report US.xls

Ch 2: BIOLOGICAL CAPITAL ESTIMATION FOR ORANGE ORCHARDS: CAPITAL MEASUREMENT USING BUDGET SHEETS

Orange capital report CA.xls

Orange capital report FL.xls

Oranges summary stocks and services.xls

Ch 3: BIOLOGICAL CAPITAL ESTIMATION FOR APPLE ORCHARDS: CAPITAL MEASUREMENT USING BUDGETS

Apple capital report MI.xls

Apple capital report NY.xls

Apple capital report WA.xls

Ch 4: …

Us Public School Demand For Locally Produced Meat And Poultry, Shara Akat

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The objective of the USDA Farm-to-School program is to promote the understanding and use of local food in school education and meals. The hope is that by reconnecting students with how food is raised and purchasing the product from local producers it will increase nutrition and reduce food insecurity and obesity among students while simultaneously increasing economic activity for local producers. Most studies evaluating the federal program have focused on how the economic outcomes for local producers or student related health outcomes and primarily using fresh fruits and vegetables. Fundamental to either of these outcomes is understanding the schools’ demand …

The Role And Implications Of Negotiation In Fed Cattle Transactions, Taralee Hudson

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Within the past three decades, a significant evolution has occurred in how fed cattle are bought and sold. Driven by changes in the quality of beef and consumer health preferences, the beef industry began to advocate for “value-based marketing,” resulting in the development of grid pricing and eventually formula transactions. Alternative marketing arrangements (AMAs) have become the predominant method used for the sale of fed cattle, ultimately resulting in fewer transactions in the negotiated cash market. Such market conditions have recently reignited concerns among industry stakeholders about potentially uncompetitive outcomes for beef producers, particularly after the occurrence of sequential Black …

The Effect Of The Environmental Protection Agency’S Exhaust Emissions Standards On Diesel Tractor Fuel Efficiency, Jerin Tekolste

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Since its inception the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been tasked with the assessment, research, and education, of the nation’s environment while also maintaining and enforcing national standards. A characteristic display of this agency’s work is the Exhaust Emission Standards for Nonroad Compression-Ignition Engines that began in 1995. Since the introduction of exhaust emissions standards in 1995, no study has fully examined the subsequent impact on fuel efficiencies.

In this paper we analyze the resulting fuel efficiency caused by the EPA’s exhaust emission standards. We identify the impact of the emissions standards on tractor fuel efficiency through a statistical …

Irrigation-As-A-Service For Smallholder Farmers, Ishani Lal

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Irrigation is a crucial management practice that can help increase food security among smallholders globally while mitigating climate change impacts. High-efficiency irrigation technologies such as drip kits and sprinkler systems are relatively expensive and smallholder farmers cannot afford them to buffer crop yields against low precipitation. In many developing countries, farmers participate in robust informal markets for renting and sharing of irrigation equipment. Such services may be operated by farmers or via a third party such as irrigation start-ups, water user associations, non-governmental organizations, or even government agencies. These services are referred to collectively as Irrigation-as-a-Service (IaaS).

The objective of …

Women In Conflict: The Psychological Effect Of Propaganda In Conflict, Elizabeth Valerio-Boster

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In conflicts across the world, propaganda is used to encourage people to support causes whether than be freedom, revolution, or political or economic changes. Previous research has shown that propaganda that targets preexisting notions is particularly effective. Women have been found to be particularly susceptible to propaganda that has emotional implications. My research has been conducted to discover if propaganda that is centered around female empowerment is more effective in getting women to participate in conflict. I use accounts from women participating in conflicts to learn about the roles they play, and the number of women involved. These numbers are …

Undergraduate And Graduate Student Wellness At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln: Current Trends And Future Directions, Emma Farson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This study examined the impact of time and personal demographics on student well-being at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. This was exploratory research looking to identify any disparities in wellness among different demographics of individuals, if there were certain times within a semester that wellness was impacted, and if there were certain dimensions of well-being that are significantly impacted by being a student. A large sample of 3,837 surveys were used to evaluate these questions. None of the 10 dimensions of Wellness (Career, Creative, Cultural, Emotional, Environmental, Financial, Intellectual, Physical, Social, and Spiritual) were significantly impacted by different times in the …

Nintendo Strategic Audit, Stephanie Herridge

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Nintendo is a Japanese-based multinational company that is one of the primary competitors in the video game industry. It has smaller headquarters located in North America and Europe and continues to pursue new markets and customers. Having remained successful for over a century, Nintendo pursues unique forms of strategy to maintain relevance for current generations of consumers. This strategic audit seeks to dissect Nintendo’s long-term profitability by analyzing the company’s history, competitive resources and advantages, and the current challenges and trends in the video game industry as a whole. The tools used to explore the industry include Porter’s Five Forces …

Summer Bridge Programs In National And Local Context, Osvaldo Palma Vargas

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Research suggests that summer bridge programs (SBPs) meet their intended goal, which is to improve first-generation students’ academic outcomes as defined by first-year retention and GPA. However, we know little about whether, and if so, how SBPs optimize the implementation of known best practices and how they are perceived by participating students. This thesis compares evidence regarding key practices of SBPs at a selection of Land Grant institutions, to identify commonalities and differences. In addition, this thesis compares the key practices of these peer institutions with a local SBP in place at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, known as the Nebraska …

Magnetic Properties Of Polycrystalline Spinel Oxides From Solid State Reaction, Camden Olds

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Spinel crystal materials of nickel, cobalt, and iron oxides have seen abundant research for their strong conductivity, ferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties, and their catalytic uses. These can be synthesized by a number of means. This project explores the use of the solid state synthesis method, which benefits from simplicity, of this family of materials, looking for interesting phase shift lines in the triangle between of varying compositions of these three metals.

Nickel cobaltite and other related spinels were synthesized from two different solid state approaches and characterized using XRD and SQUID magnetometry. The range 0.5-0.6 of molar ratios of nickel …

The Importance Of Mood And Motivation Of An Individual In The Success Of Physical Therapy, Spencer Wagner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Physical therapy is a health profession that helps people improve their movement and range of motion in certain body areas. Since the time it was founded, physical therapists have mainly focused on the physical health of the patient. While that is their job, they may not have been as successful because they neglected the mental health of the patient. The mindset of an individual, particularly their mood and motivation, can influence how they progress through physical therapy and how successful they are in regaining functionality in their affected body area. The purpose of this study is to determine how the …

Exploring Gene Expression Patterns For Resilient Maize Lines Under Nitrogen Stress, Alice Guo

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Nitrogen plays a major role in the proper growth and development of maize and is therefore essential to crop production, being the most critical nutrient for achieving optimal yield. In previous field and greenhouse studies, we have found maize lines that differ in their resiliency to nitrogen stress. To identify the potential genomic regions associated with the differences in nitrogen deficiency resilience, Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) were conducted. Based on a previous study, the most consistently resilient maize inbred lines within the Goodman-Buckler diversity panel have been identified as the lines A619 and A661, while the non-resilient inbred lines have …

Engineering Of Microparticle Encapsulated Antioxidant To Mitigate Oxidative Stress In Vitro And In Vivo, Kayla Ney

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is one of the leading causes of years lived with disability in the United States. Current treatments for cLBP have variable results across the patient population, and many patients struggle to find consistent relief. Most current treatments focus on the symptom of pain, not the root cause. In painful degenerated discs, oxidative stress and inflammation function in a vicious cycle and perpetuate degeneration, damage, and pain. Therefore, oxidative stress and inflammation are important targets in addressing the source of pain. This work characterizes an antioxidant, BuOE, encapsulated in a chondroitin sulfate microparticle as a novel …

Modeled Uranium Series Disequilibria In A Heterogeneous Mantle Underlying Iceland, Dana Andersen

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Regional lithologic heterogeneities in Earth’s mantle may significantly contribute to variations in magma productivity and crustal generation. Such heterogeneities may be a key factor in the anomalously high rates of magmatism and thickened crust of Iceland, which are not fully explained by the presence of a mantle plume. However, the exact lithologic composition of the mantle underlying Iceland is largely unknown. Recent trace element modeling has suggested a two-component melt source beneath Iceland, consisting of a typical upper mantle peridotite mixing with one of several compositions of pyroxenitic material. This study further investigates these potential melt sources by calculating U-series …

An Exploration Of Influences On Consumers' Behaviors/Decisions In Relation To Animal Agriculture, Abigail Durheim

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Animal agriculture provides many daily resources for consumers around the globe. While the average American is at least three generations removed from agriculture, they still hold power to influence the industry with the dollar and their vote. The purpose of this study was to identify influences on consumer behaviors/decisions in relation to animal agriculture. Seven hundred four complete and usable responses were collected via a researcher-developed online survey. Using branding concepts as a framework, the first study evaluated how visual stimuli influenced consumers' intention to purchase Nebraska beef products. Researchers found that visual stimuli did influence respondents to choose Nebraska …

The Impact Of An Inquiry-Based Learning Professional Development Has On Science And Agricultural Teachers' Intent To Use Animal Science Concepts As A Context For Teaching Science, Kasey Harmon

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There is an emerging need for Tennessee and Nebraska high school students to increase their science proficiency. It is important that students are science literate to equip them with basic science skills needed for the workforce. Science literacy enables students to problem solve efficiently, appropriately assess societal issues, and make informed decisions. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a teaching strategy that has been shown to positively impact students’ ability to critically think and make informed decisions. Since IBL and agricultural education are centered around experiential learning, combining them gives students the opportunity to learn science in a real-world context. However, previous …