Improving Jury Deliberations: A Reconsideration of Lesser Included Offense Instructions

This Note approves of efforts to avoid hung juries by giving lesser included offense instructions but opposes those instructions that restrict juror decisions and coerce minority jurors. Rather, this Note offers a lesser included offense instruction that promotes flexibility and jury compromise without undermining the deliberative process. Part I describes the problem of hung juries and how courts have tried to prevent them with restrictive lesser included offense instructions. Part II analyzes the coercive impact of restrictive lesser included offense instructions and concludes that an instruction conditioning deliberations upon individual juror disagreement better promotes compromises on the merits while reducing hung juries and juror coercion

RISK, GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Nearly all farm business ventures involve financial risk. In some instances, private and public tools used to manage financial risks in agriculture may influence farmers' production decisions. These decisions, in turn, can influence environmental quality. This bulletin summarizes research and provides some perspective on private and public attempts to cope with financial risks and their unintended environmental consequences. Specifically, it examines the conceptual underpinnings of risk-related research, challenges involved with measuring the consequences of risk for agricultural production decisions, government programs that influence the risk and return of farm businesses, and how production decisions influence both the environment and the risk and average returns to farming.risk, agricultural production, government programs, environment, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty,

Master of Science

thesisZoonotic pathogens are infections in wildlife that are transmittable to humans. In natural settings, most wild animals host multiple species of parasitic organisms and other zoonotic pathogens. These parasites may interact and increase host susceptibility to secondary infections including zoonotic agents. Thus, understanding the parasite community of wild animals is important from ecological and public health perspectives, since parasites may increasing the risk of transmission of zoonotic pathogens to humans in close association with wildlife. The purpose of this thesis was to identify the helminth parasites and to document patterns of coinfections between helminths and Sin Nombre virus (SNV) in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) from two distinct ecoregions in Utah. I utilized a long-term database collected over seven years (2003-2009) along with necropsy of freezer-archived deer mice to identify patterns of coinfection between helminths and SNV. In year 2006, I found that SNV prevalence negatively correlated with helminth infection. This result suggests that one infection provides protection against the other. I sought to further elaborate on this study by live-sampling deer mice in a peridomestic habitat in Emigration Canyon, Utah from June 2010 through August 2010. I found similarities between the helminth communities in this study, but I found an additional species Trichuris peromysci. Due to low SNV prevalence, I did not observe SNV / helminth coinfections. Finally, I designed a method to study tradeoffs between mounting a humoral antibody response to SNV antigen and bacterial killing capacity of serum in deer mice. I injected treatment mice with SNV nucleocapsid antigen while control mice received vehicle injection. Both the treatment and control mice significantly increased bacterial killing post injection; there were no significant differences between groups post injection. This suggests there is no tradeoff between mounting a humoral antibody response and the ability to kill bacteria. In summary, this was the first study to consider the role of parasite coinfections on the emerging viral pathogen, Sin Nombre virus. Since parasites can increase susceptibility to secondary infections, it is important for researches to investigate coinfections instead of focusing on a single parasite species

Electric-field Manipulation of the Lande' g Tensor of Holes in In0.5Ga0.5As/GaAs Self-assembled Quantum Dots

The effect of an electric field on spin precession in In0.5Ga0.5As/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots is calculated using multiband real-space envelope-function theory. The dependence of the Lande' g tensor on electric fields should permit high-frequency g tensor modulation resonance, as well as direct, nonresonant electric-field control of the hole spin. Subharmonic resonances have also been found in g tensor modulation resonance of the holes, due to the strong quadratic dependence of components of the hole g tensor on the electric field.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Taxation

This Article reviews significant recent developments in the laws affecting Virginia state and local taxation. Its Parts cover legislative activity, judicial decisions, and selected opinions and other pronouncements from the Virginia Department of Taxation (the “Tax Department” or “Department of Taxation”) and the Attorney General of Virginia over the past year. Part I of this Article addresses state taxes. Part II covers local taxes, including real and tangible personal property taxes, license taxes, recordation taxes, and administrative local tax procedures. The overall purpose of this Article is to provide Virginia tax and general practitioners with a concise overview of the recent developments in Virginia taxation that are most likely to impact their clients. However, it does not address many of the numerous minor, locality-specific, or technical legislative changes to Title 58.1 of the Virginia Code, which covers taxation

SIMULATED IN-TRANSIT VIBRATION DAMAGE TO FRESH MARKET RASPBERRIES

Agribusiness,

Taxation

This Article reviews significant recent developments in the laws affecting Virginia state and local taxation. Its Parts cover legislative activity, judicial decisions, and selected opinions and other pronouncements from the Virginia Department of Taxation (the “Tax Department”) and the Attorney General of Virginia over the past year. Part I of this Article addresses state taxes. Part II covers local taxes, including real and tangible personal property taxes, license taxes, recordation taxes, and administrative local tax procedures. The overall purpose of this Article is to provide Virginia tax and general practitioners with a concise overview of the recent developments in Virginia taxation that are most likely to impact their clients. However, it does not address many of the numerous minor, locality-specific or technical legislative changes to Title 58.1 of the Virginia Code, which covers taxation

Student experiences of virtual reality - a case study in learning special relativity

We present a study of student learning through the use of virtual reality. A software package is used to introduce concepts of special relativity to students in a game-like environment where users experience the effects of travelling at near light speeds. From this new perspective, space and time are significantly different to that experienced in everyday life. The study explores how students have worked with this environment and how these students have used this experience in their study of special relativity. A mixed method approach has been taken to evaluate the outcomes of separate implementations of the package at two universities. Students found the simulation to be a positive learning experience and described the subject area as being less abstract after its use. Also, students were more capable of correctly answering concept questions relating to special relativity, and a small but measurable improvement was observed in the final exam

Chandra Observation of the Radio Source / X-ray Gas Interaction in the Cooling Flow Cluster Abell 2052

We present a Chandra observation of Abell 2052, a cooling flow cluster with a central cD that hosts the complex radio source 3C 317. The data reveal ``holes'' in the X-ray emission that are coincident with the radio lobes. The holes are surrounded by bright ``shells'' of X-ray emission. The data are consistent with the radio source displacing and compressing, and at the same time being confined by, the X-ray gas. The compression of the X-ray shells appears to have been relatively gentle and, at most, slightly transonic. The pressure in the X-ray gas (the shells and surrounding cooler gas) is approximately an order of magnitude higher than the minimum pressure derived for the radio source, suggesting that an additional source of pressure is needed to support the radio plasma. The compression of the X-ray shells has speeded up the cooling of the shells, and optical emission line filaments are found coincident with the brightest regions of the shells.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; for high-resolution color figures, see http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~elb6n/abell2052.htm