The Warren and Burger Courts on State, Parent, and Child Conflict Resolution: A Comparative Analysis and Proposed Methodology

Developing a framework for analyzing children\u27s rights issues is difficult due to the inherent tension between individual freedom and the traditional role of the family in society. The United States Supreme Court has failed to use a consistent framework in resolving conflicts among the child, parent, and the state. Because increasingly complex and controversial children\u27s rights issues are arising, a consistent framework must be developed to assist courts adjudicating these conflicts. This Article proposes a methodology for resolving state-parent- child conflicts. This methodology reduces each state-parent-child conflict to either a state-parent or a state-child controversy. Under this framework, children are treated like adults in similar situations, unless an established reason exists for treating the child differently. Because the framework comports with judicial precedent and traditional notions of the role of the child, cases utilizing the proposed methodology will be decided in a more systematic, accurate, and predictable manner

Domestic Relations Law: Federal Jurisdiction and State Sovereignty in Perspective

Commonly known as the domestic relations exception, the United States Supreme Court\u27s broad disclaimer of federal power over family law matters symbolizes the inherent division of power fundamental to a dual sovereignty. Although the Court announced the disclaimer only in dicta, and no authoritative analysis of its validity exists, federal courts have adamantly declared that the domestic relations exception divests them of jurisdiction over divorce, alimony, and child custody. Within the last twenty years, however, a growing number of federal courts have questioned the validity and contours of the domestic relations exception. This questioning indicates a basic misunderstanding of the role of federal courts in domestic relations law. A reexamination of the domestic relations exception will help to clarify this recent confusion. This investigation necessarily considers the allocation of power between the federal and state governments. After examining the historical development and gradual expansion of the domestic relations exception, this article then explores its validity. This article suggests a framework for analyzing the domestic relations exception. The framework is designed to avoid confusion in the courts, to increase consistency in the application of the exception, and to reach results consistent with the development of the domestic relations exception and principles of comity and federalism

Four viewpoints from the liturgy Symposium

These four papers were initially presented at The Brisbane Archdiocesan Liturgy Symposium , 4th December 2003, in celebration of forty years since the promulgation of The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy , Sacrosanctum Concilium. The occasion was sponsored by St Paul's Theological College and The Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission 1) Of great advantage: The use of the mother tongue (Tom Elich) 2) The warm and living love of scripture (Elizabeth Harrington) 3) Day and night: Made Holy by the praises of God (Ursula O'Rourke) 4) Formation in the sacramental imagination (Orm Rush

Mathematical Methods for studying DNA and Protein Interactions

Deoxyribnucleic Acid (DNA) damage can lead to health related issues such as developmental disorders, aging, and cancer. It has been estimated that damage rates may be as high as 100,000 per cell per day. Because of the devastating effects that DNA damage can have, DNA repair mechanisms are of great interest yet are not completely understood. To gain a better understanding of possible DNA repair mechanisms, my dissertation focused on mathematical methods for understanding the interactions between DNA and proteins. I developed a damaged DNA model to estimate the probabilities of damaged DNA being located at specific positions. Experiments were then performed that suggested that the damaged DNA may be repositioned. These experimental results were consistent with the model's prediction that damaged DNA has preferred locations. To study how proteins might be moving along the DNA, I studied the use of the uniform motion “n-step” model. The n-step model has been used to determine the kinetics parameters (e.g. rates at which a protein moves along the DNA, how much energy is required to move a protein along a specified amount of DNA, etc.) of proteins moving along the DNA. Monte Carlo methods were used to simulate proteins moving with different types of non-uniform motion (e.g. backward, jumping, etc.) along the DNA. Estimates for the kinetics parameters in the n-step model were found by fitting of the Monte Carlo simulation data. Analysis indicated that non-uniform motion of the protein may lead to over or underestimation of the kinetic parameters of this n-step model

Upper Elementary and Middle School U.S. Teachers’ Views of Grammar and Its Instruction

The purpose of this study was to investigate upper elementary (Grades 4–6) and middle school (Grades 6–8) teachers’ views of grammar and its instruction and to determine differences in their views about grammar, its instruction, and its importance to writing proficiency. Participants in this online study were 196 practicing teachers in eight school districts in one western U.S. state. Two thirds of the teachers in the study taught at the elementary level, and one third taught at the middle school level. When asked what they taught when teaching grammar, the large majority of these teachers reported teaching parts of speech, punctuation, and sentence structure. Overall, there were few significant differences between upper elementary and middle school teachers in the instructional strategies and curricular materials they reported using, in their views of how important it was to teach various aspects of grammar, and in their views of the extent to which those aspects of grammar improved writing proficiency. Findings are discussed in relation to prior research, and implications are drawn for the field