A Material Change to Brady: Rethinking Brady v. Maryland, Materiality, and Criminal Discovery

How we think about the trial process, and the assumptions and beliefs we bring to bear on that process, shape how litigation is structured. This Comment demonstrates why materiality, and the theory of juridical proof informing that standard of materiality, must be redefined for Brady v. Maryland doctrine and criminal process. First, the Comment delineates the theory of explanationism—the revolutionary paradigm shift unfolding in the theory of legal proof. Explanationism conceptualizes juridical proof as a process in which the factfinder weighs the competing explanations offered by the parties against the evidence and the applicable burden of proof. Applying explanationism to criminal process demonstrates that explanationism not only is the more accurate account of juridical proof, but also better frames the criminal discovery process and ensures due process of law. The next section applies explanationism to Brady doctrine to show that the Supreme Court has tip-toed towards a more explanatory view of Brady v. Maryland but also faltered and lapsed back into a probabilistic inquiry at critical junctures. As a result, the efficacy of Brady is diminished where it is undermined by probabilistic theory or language. As a result, the doctrine should embrace explanationism more wholly. Under explanationism, materiality is determined by assessing whether the suppressed evidence could have been used by the defendant to influence the factfinder when presenting her case. To illustrate this argument and its importance in real-world outcomes, this Comment takes state and federal courts of Texas as a case study. In Texas, probabilistic definitions of materiality have thwarted both Brady doctrine and legislative criminal discovery reform. The case study demonstrates the material consequences for not rethinking materiality. Changing our understanding of materiality is critical to protecting the right to due process of law in our courthouses and state legislatures

The Law of Disposable Children: Searches in Schools

It’s the forgotten, discarded, disposable people. That’s so often who you find in jail—the forgotten. —Rev. David Kelly, explaining why he devotes himself to working with children coming out of the juvenile detention system. Many schools treat children as “disposable.” —Francisco Arenas, Juvenile Probation Officer at Cook County Juvenile Probation. Schoolchildren are being strip-searched based on little or no reasonable suspicion, and schoolchildren are being targeted for searches based on their race, disability status, gender, or homelessness. This is possible because the Supreme Court has issued only two opinions in its history about the right of schoolchildren to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures in schools. With those two cases, the Court has established a special test for schoolchildren, far more permissive than that applied to those suspected of serious criminal wrongdoing. Two cases in thirty-five years are not enough to regulate the lower courts’ oversight of literally millions of searches and seizures conducted in schoolhouses throughout the nation every year—a lack of oversight that lower courts have exploited to permit schools extraordinary discretion over schoolchildren and approve highly invasive searches. The existing literature focuses almost exclusively on the Supreme Court’s minimalist jurisprudence; in contrast, this Article uses a combination of methodological approaches to show how the law of searches and seizures in schools operates on the ground by conducting an in-depth case study of one jurisdiction, Illinois. We examine every case decided in Illinois and show that lower courts exploit the porousness of the Supreme Court’s test to permit questionable and sometimes even clearly illegal state actions. Yet even a comprehensive study of lower courts fails to fully grasp the extent of the problem: a minuscule proportion of the intrusions on schoolchildren by the state ever become cases—most internal school procedures are never independently reviewed at all, even if they involve unconstitutional intrusions. To understand how common searches and seizures of schoolchildren are and how often they cross the line into unconstitutionality, we draw on testimony from interviews with experts in the field. These interviews reveal that schools discriminate among students based on factors such as race, disability, homelessness, wealth, and community characteristics; and schools target some students for searches that can result in exclusion from school for shockingly long periods. Multiple interviewees independently described the system as treating some schoolchildren as disposable. The judiciary is failing to provide basic protections to our children, and Supreme Court intervention is imperative

Volunteering as an Occupation in African-American Women in a Rural Community

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Current research in the United States suggests that people over age 65 are more likely to volunteer on a given day than those in any other age group. Given the demographic trends, increased needs for community social services, and the fiscal reality, it is likely that older adults, through their volunteering efforts, will meet some of the unmet needs of the community. There is a dearth in the literature on studies that examine the motivations for volunteering in different racial and/or ethnic groups, in rural and urban low-income areas. The purpose of this study was to understand the factors that influence volunteering in older African American women in a poor, rural and racially segregated community. METHODS: The study used a mixed-methods design with a quantitative and a qualitative component. The Volunteer Functional Inventory was administered to members of the ακα sorority chapter in Clarksdale. Survey results were analyzed by descriptive statistical analysis. The qualitative data was obtained by interviewing six community elders using open-ended questions about volunteering. Framework Analysis guided the data analysis process. Trustworthiness and rigor was established by data triangulation. RESULTS: Qualitative results revealed themes relating to both the individuals and the community of Clarksdale. Overarching themes pertaining to individuals that emerged were related to individual beliefs, values, and benefits of volunteering. Themes that emerged about the community had a temporal aspect; inescapable racial inequality spans the past and present, with the theme of loss of community illustrating the present situation, and the theme of rebuilding community spanning the present and the future. Quantitative results show that the participants were motivated to volunteer by their values, desire for a greater understanding of their community issues, and for enhancing social relationships. Additionally, with increasing age, a desire for enhanced psychological well-being also becomes an important motivator. Satisfaction was ranked high and was unanimous. CONCLUSION: These results provide insights into personal attributes of volunteers as well as the health benefits of volunteering. Physical therapists can promote healthy aging in communities, improve community health and well-being, and thereby fulfill the core values of the profession

High performance ternary solar cells based on P3HT:PCBM and ZnPc-hybrids

Single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) covalently and non-covalently functionalised by zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) were added to P3HT:PCBM blend in order to investigate the effects of these hybrid materials on P3HT:PCBM organic solar cell performance. Adding a small amount of these hybrids to P3HT:PCBM blend does not significantly alter the absorption spectra of the latter nor its structure. ZnPc–rGO and ZnPc–SWCNT hybrid features have appeared on the P3HT:PCBM surface morphology as verified by SEM and AFM images. However these hybrid materials have caused significant effects on the electrical properties of the studied blends. An increase of about two orders of magnitudes has been observed in the electrical conductivity. Space charge limited conduction theory was employed to investigate the charge carriers' mobility whereas a thermionic emission model was used to evaluate the recombination rate based on an estimated diode ideality factor. Solar cell devices based on P3HT:PCBM:ZnPc–SWCNTs-co bonded have demonstrated best device performance with PCE of 5.3%, Jsc of 12.6 mA cm−2, Voc of 0.62 V and FF of 68%. A reference device based on bare P3HT:PCBM blend has exhibited PCE of just under 3.5%, Jsc of 9.3 mA cm−2, Voc of 0.62 V and FF of 60%

Photophysics and photochemistry of conjugated polymer nanoparticles

Nanoparticles prepared by the reprecipitation of conjugated polymers are an exciting development in the field of biological imaging and fluorescence sensing. The colloidal stability of these hydrophobic polymers in aqueous suspension was found to originate from the surface charge density of ~15 mC/m², which is in part attributed to negatively charged functional groups produced by polymer oxidation. The suitability of these nanoparticles in traditional conjugated polymer applications, such as polymer photovoltaics, was also investigated using femtosecond fluorescence upconversion and transient absorption spectroscopies. Polarisation resolved studies of energy transfer in highly compact nanoparticles and extended polymer conformations showed the nanoparticles exclusively undergo intermolecular energy transfer. These observations were supported by energy transfer simulations on polymer structures obtained from coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. Next, the recombination of polarons in composite rr-P3HT/PCBM nanoparticles, dominated by geminate recombination below 10 wt% PCBM, was demonstrated using a one dimensional diffusion model. This model also yielded the P3HT domain size of ~5 nm, which confirms these nanoparticles can serve as a model system for probing charge generation and recombination processes in device-like environments. Finally, the power dependent exciton decay in highly ordered nanowires yielded an exciton diffusion length of 11 ± 3 nm, which is toward the upper limit of diffusion lengths reported for annealed P3HT films. This data indicates the gentle solution based crystallisation of nanowires is a promising route for enhancing the performance of bulk heterojunction devices.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Chemistry and Physics, 2014

A Material Change to Brady: Rethinking Brady v. Maryland, Materiality, and Criminal Discovery

How we think about the trial process, and the assumptions and beliefs we bring to bear on that process, shape how litigation is structured. This Comment demonstrates why materiality, and the theory of juridical proof informing that standard of materiality, must be redefined for Brady v. Maryland doctrine and criminal process. First, the Comment delineates the theory of explanationism—the revolutionary paradigm shift unfolding in the theory of legal proof. Explanationism conceptualizes juridical proof as a process in which the factfinder weighs the competing explanations offered by the parties against the evidence and the applicable burden of proof. Applying explanationism to criminal process demonstrates that explanationism not only is the more accurate account of juridical proof, but also better frames the criminal discovery process and ensures due process of law. The next section applies explanationism to Brady doctrine to show that the Supreme Court has tip-toed towards a more explanatory view of Brady v. Maryland but also faltered and lapsed back into a probabilistic inquiry at critical junctures. As a result, the efficacy of Brady is diminished where it is undermined by probabilistic theory or language. As a result, the doctrine should embrace explanationism more wholly. Under explanationism, materiality is determined by assessing whether the suppressed evidence could have been used by the defendant to influence the factfinder when presenting her case. To illustrate this argument and its importance in real-world outcomes, this Comment takes state and federal courts of Texas as a case study. In Texas, probabilistic definitions of materiality have thwarted both Brady doctrine and legislative criminal discovery reform. The case study demonstrates the material consequences for not rethinking materiality. Changing our understanding of materiality is critical to protecting the right to due process of law in our courthouses and state legislatures

How can a kindergarten teacher improve the writing performance of students by implementing benchmarks of Minnesota Academic Standards during writer\u27s workshop

The research question addressed in this project was, how can the writing performance levels of kindergarten children increase if the teacher specifically implements benchmarks of Minnesota Academic Standards during Writer\u27s Workshop approach. The capstone details how a daily, structured writing routine in the kindergarten classroom can help increase student achievement and attitudes in writing. The study incorporated the components of Writer\u27s Workshop while using the Minnesota Academic Standards as a guide while observing kindergarten writers. After finding related research, the author studied kindergarten writing for eight weeks. Although there were limitations and areas to improve in future studies, results compiled demonstrated an increase in student achievement and attitude in all of the students in the study

Femtosecond dynamics of excitons and hole-polarons in composite P3HT/PCBM nanoparticles

The dynamics of charge separation in aqueous suspensions of regioregular P3HT nanoparticles containing PCBM were investigated for the first time using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. This investigation is supported by the recently reported use of regioregular P3HT/PCBM nanoparticles as charge trapping and storage devices. In this study, the presence of excited-state and charge-separated species, including singlet excitons, polymer polarons and free charges, generated in rr-P3HT/PCBM nanoparticles was identified through visible pump and visible/near-infrared probe femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy at a range of electron acceptor concentrations. The decrease of the singlet exciton lifetime by charge transfer to PCBM is well described by a one-dimensional diffusion model with a P3HT domain size of approximately 5 nm for 5-50 wt % PCBM. This model also indicates that bimolecular recombination is the dominant charge recombination mechanism at 20 wt % PCBM and above.Scott N. Clafton, David M. Huang, William R. Massey, and Tak W. Ke

Molecular-level details of morphology-dependent exciton migration in poly(3-hexylthiophene) nanostructures

The morphology dependence of exciton transport in the widely used conjugated polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is elucidated by combining an accurate mesoscale coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation model of P3HT structure with a Frenkel -Holstein exciton model. This model provides a more realistic representation than previously achieved of the molecular-level details of exciton transport on large length scales relevant to electronic applications. One hundred 300-monomer regioregular P3HT chains are simulated at room temperature for microseconds in two implicit solvents of differing solvent quality in which the polymer chains adopt contrasting morphologies: nanofiber-like aggregates or well-separated extended conformations. The model gives reasonable quantitative agreement with steady-state absorption and fluorescence and time-resolved fluorescence experiments, and provides valuable insight into the mechanism of exciton transport in conjugated polymers. In particular, exciton transfer in nanofiber aggregates is shown to occur mainly through interchain hops from chromophores on the aggregate surface toward the aggregate core, a behavior with important implications for organic electronic applications. Furthermore, the counterbalancing effects of greater orientational order and faster exciton transport in nanofiber aggregates than in extended chains are found to explain the puzzling observation of similar fluorescence anisotropy decay rates in nanofibers and free chains.Patrick C. Tapping, Scott N. Clafton, Kyra N. Schwarz, Tak W. Kee, and David M. Huan