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Hyper Modularity and Dynamic Materials in the Style of Thomas Kinkade
Get PDFMy thesis is a small treehouse village, built using hyper modularity and designed to style-match Thomas Kinkade’s art. Dynamic materials are integrated into the scene as part of style match. The village, human-sized, is constructed on a massive ancient tree. Magical elements are incorporated throughout the village, brought to life through dynamic materials
Space Resource Development and Property - Clarifying Usufruct
Get PDFThis article examines competing legal frameworks for governing property rights in outer-space resources through a comparative analysis of two distinct approaches: the rule of capture and the concept of usufruct. The increasing interest in commercial space activities, such as mining the Moon and asteroids, has raised questions about the legal frameworks governing property rights in space resources. The growing challenge is that while the Outer Space Treaty (OST) serves as the foundation for space law, it does not explicitly address property rights in the resources humankind increasingly can extract from the space domain.
The rule of capture is a legal principle that allows the first individual to take possession of a resource to obtain ownership. While the rule of capture offers a pragmatic solution, its winner-take-all nature potentially undermines the interests of other space actors. The framework may lead to a race for resources and potential conflicts, undermining the OST’s principles of international cooperation and peaceful uses of outer space. Furthermore, the rule of capture may not adequately protect the interests of non-space-faring nations. In contrast, the usufruct theory, which allows individuals to use and enjoy extracted resources without permanently owning the underlying property from which it originates, presents a more balanced approach, reconciling individual resource utilization with the international community’s stake in preserving resources for future generations.
By examining the Outer Space Treaty’s provisions on stewardship, peaceful use, and equitable access, this article reveals that states have implicitly adopted a usufruct-based approach to space resource development, as evidenced by its provisions on non-appropriation, free access and use of outer space, stewardship duties, and recognition of state jurisdiction over their space activities. State practice, such as national legislation enacted by Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States concerning private ownership of extracted space resources, further supports the conceptual integration of usufruct within the OST.
However, as commercial space activities expand, the international community must further develop appropriate norms and legal frameworks to balance resource preservation with the economic incentives necessary for responsible space development. It is essential to balance the duty to preserve space resources for future generations with the need to incentivize investment in their development. The concept of usufruct appears to be the most suitable framework for distributing resources from outer space into private hands for the benefit of others. This approach aligns with the OST’s objectives and considers the corresponding interests of all actors in space. However, further legal framework development and international cooperation are needed to responsibly promote commercial expansion and build consensus on the equitable benefit of utilizing space resources for humankind
Reclaiming Data to Transform Anti-Trafficking Systems
Get PDFAnnieCannons believes that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution. Yet in the anti-trafficking movement, data about survivors is often collected without survivors. Co-founder and CEO Laura Hackney will discuss how reclaiming data can transform systems of care accountability, and prevention. She will share lessons learned from the development of ResourceFull, a digital platform led and co- designed with trafficking survivors to safely connect individuals to trustworthy services and track outcomes across fragmented care systems. There are ethical, technical, and human-centered challenges of collecting and of using data in a space where safety and trust are paramount, and AnnieCannons navigates these to prioritize survivor privacy and autonomy. The session will include insight into how data can be a tool of empowerment (rather than extraction) driving both service improvements and systemic change, and how survivor-led data systems can determine patterns, close service gaps, and support policy advocacy rooted in dignity, agency, and real-world efficacy
Organizational Forms, Taxation, and Capital: New Evidence
No full textRelative to noncorporations, corporations\u27 double taxation rates in the US have declined since 1987, predicting that investors will reallocate capital among organizational forms. To test the prediction, we investigate a special sample of noncorporations: publicly-traded partnerships (PTPs). As noncorporate tax efficiency declines, measures of PTP capitalization within industries decline, but only after institutional investors obtain passthrough taxation for partnership income after 2004. PTP equity first day returns following initial public offerings are greater after 2004 than before, consistent with underpricing hypotheses. External to PTPs, mergers and acquisitions show capital flows from noncorporations to corporations as corporate taxes decline
Courage in Context: An Ethic of Leadership in a Changing Church
Get PDFIt is my belief that the Church universal, and the United Methodist Church in particular, are both living within a very vulnerable period. Increasingly, reports suggest that there are more people who consider themselves non-religiously affiliated than there are members of religious groups. More specifically, the United Methodist Church has been experiencing a slow decline in membership since its creation. And perhaps worse than church members losing their religion, some younger clergy are leaving the ministry, while other younger church members are resisting a potential call to ministry in the first place. Meanwhile, the average age of United Methodist clergy is at an all-time high according to statistics from the Lewis Center of Church Leadership
How Criminal Offenders Offend Society’s Equality Expectations
Get PDFThe public’s concern over safety and rising crime rates dominated opinion polls and played a significant role in the 2024 presidential election. This article argues that, although much has been written on the offender’s state of mind and the concrete harms offenders impose, what is missing is a more victim-centric understanding of the full scope of crime’s consequences.
Criminal offenders’ selfish, self-directed conduct subjugates the victims’ legally protected interests and conveys that they do not consider their victims’ rights sufficiently important or deserving of conduct-guiding respect. Offenders, in short, differentiate themselves from the social group by adopting the harmful mindset that the rules applicable to everyone else do not equally apply to them.
In so doing, offenders morally betray both their victim and society and, therefore, cannot expect equal respect from the community. The article traces out this dynamic and highlights the distinct injury the offender’s self-elevation-through-subjugation inflicts. It concludes that we, for both evaluative and descriptive reasons, must make this more victim-centered understanding of criminal culpability a part of our criminal justice vocabulary
Ready or Not: How Congressional Dysfunction and \u3cem\u3eLoper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo\u3c/em\u3e will Shift U.S. Regulation of Emerging Technologies to the Federal Bench
Get PDFThis Article is the first in legal academic literature to consider how the power shift generated by Congressional dysfunction and the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo will affect emerging technology law. Power is moving toward the judicial branch of government— and away from the legislative and executive branches. As a result, federal courts will now take a leading role in the evolution of emerging technology law in the United States.
Unfortunately, the federal judiciary is not prepared for this new era. Drawing from the information processing theory, this Article explains why federal judges will be deciding complex and far-reaching cases without a deep understanding of the technologies underlying those cases. An overworked judiciary could create contradictory rulings, while the cost of compliance will increase and may lead to a wealth bias in favor of large technology companies. This situation will upset the delicate policy goal of protecting consumers while promoting innovation.
But the solutions to these problems also lie in the judicial branch. This Article proposes the creation of a specialized “Tech Court” that would increase uniformity and predictability, promote judicial efficiency, and prevent forum shopping. The Article also proposes specific initiatives for improved judicial education and the installation of technology advisers in judicial chambers. In the end, this Article is a call to action: The federal judiciary must get prepared to lead in the post-Chevron era
Sacred Black Motherhood: A Womanist Lens on The Role of the Prophetic Black Church to Construct an Alternative System of Care that Produces Positive Maternal Health Outcomes for Black Women
No full textPregnancy and motherhood are sacred. For Black women, the experience of pregnancy and motherhood is far too often dismissed and disregarded as a result of systemic and systematic racism. As a consequence, there is a Black maternal health crisis in the United States. What is the role of the church in addressing the Black maternal health crisis? Social structures and institutions devalue and dehumanize Black women’s bodies, including the Black Church. The Black maternal health crisis in the United States has a significant impact on birthing women and their families. When it comes to reproductive rights, Black birthing women’s humanity is often diminished. The current political climate and laws place all women, especially Black women, at significant risk of maternal mortality. A hetero-patriarchal society has been and continues to be a breeding ground for stripping body autonomy away from women. The Dobbs Decision of 2022 essentially gave significant power to the states to determine the reproductive rights of women: “Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the 2022 Supreme Court case that reversed Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, the decisions that originally asserted the fundamental right to an abortion prior to the viability of the fetus. Dobbs v. Jackson states that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; and, the authority to regulate abortion is “returned to the people and their elected representatives.” As of December 13, 2024,13 states are enforcing total bans, 28 states are enforcing abortion bans based on gestational duration, 7 states currently ban abortion at or before 18 weeks gestation, and 21 states ban abortion at some point after 18 weeks. “The inequitable harms of abortion bans were highlighted this year by reporting on the preventable deaths of several women denied care due to abortion bans in Georgia and Texas. Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, two Black women in Georgia, died in 2022 because they were denied abortion care or feared seeking care under the state’s abortion ban. Three women in Texas—Porsha Ngumezi, a Black woman, Josseli Barnica, an immigrant from Honduras, and Neveah Crain, a teenager— died after they were denied miscarriage care under the state’s abortion ban.
The Miserly Message of \u3cem\u3eGrants Pass\u3c/em\u3e
Get PDFThe Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Grants Pass v. Johnson condoned states’ attempts to police homeless encampments. This was a significant blow to unhoused individuals and their allies. But the Court’s opinion also continued its march away from the longstanding evolving-standards-of-decency approach in Eighth Amendment cases. Grants Pass was something of an odd case in which to grant certiorari, but it served as an opportunity for the Court to send a quiet message that it would continue narrowing the Eighth Amendment’s scope. As in other recent cases, the Court applied a more historical approach than the one traditionally used in Eighth Amendment cases, focusing on the original meanings of “cruel and unusual” and “punishments.” Further, the Court surreptitiously narrowed the definition of “cruel” to require governmental intent and raised significant questions about the meaning of “punishments.” This is yet another case in which the Court has shown its intent to continue whittling away at defendants’ Eighth Amendment protections
Composition Strategies to Motivate Player Exploration
Get PDFThis thesis examines the impact of different composition techniques on player exploration motivation in open-world games. The Researcher forms assumptions regarding good composition strategies, then utilizes the suggested best practices in a composition-focused level in Metro Exodus using Exodus SDK and validates this hypothesis through analysis of playtest results