Digital Commons Network^™

China's New Personal Income Tax Return Filing Regime, Wei Cui

All Faculty Publications

In December 2005, as newly authorized under the amended Personal Income Tax Law (PITL), China’s State Council announced that taxpayers with annual income in excess of RMB 120,000 (US$15,000) would be required to file annual tax re-turns.The task of designing the procedures for the new return filing requirement was delegated to the State Administration of Taxation (SAT). On November 6, 2006, 11 months after the new return filing requirement was announced, and less than two months before the first filing season was to begin,the SAT finally issued a set of rules on filing procedures, including a new sample annual tax …

Development Of A Coupled Fluid/Structure Aeroelastic Solver With Applications To Vortex Breakdown-Induced Twin Tail Buffeting, Steven J. Massey

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Simulation of tail buffet is studied for several delta wing-vertical tail configurations. Flow conditions are chosen such that the wing primary-vortex cores experience vortex breakdown and the resulting turbulent wake flow impinges on the vertical tail. The dimensions and material properties of the vertical tails are chosen such that the deflections are large enough to insure interaction with the flow, and the natural frequencies are high enough to facilitate a practical computational solution. This multi-disciplinary problem is solved sequentially for the fluid flow, the elastic deformations and the grid displacements. The flow is simulated by time accurately solving the laminar, …

Assurance Services As A Substitute For Law In Global Commerce, Margaret M. Blair, Cynthia A. Williams, Li-Wen Lin

All Faculty Publications

In this article we examine the rapid emergence and expansion of a private-sector compliance and enforcement infrastructure that we believe may increasingly be providing a substitute for public and legal regulatory infrastructure in global commerce, especially in developing countries where rule of law is weak and court systems are absent or inadequate. This infrastructure is provided by a proliferation of performance codes and standards, and a rapidly-growing global army of privately-trained and authorized inspectors and certifiers that we call the "third-party assurance industry." The growth in the third party assurance business has been phenomenal in the last decade. The business …

Precedent Unbound? Contemporary Approaches To Precedent In Canada, Debra Parkes

All Faculty Publications

This paper examines some key aspects of the contemporary treatment of precedent in Canada, including consideration of the vertical convention of precedent (lower courts being bound by decisions of higher courts) and the horizontal convention of precedent (courts being willing and/or able to overrule or depart from decisions of the same court). On the latter topic of horizontal precedent, particular attention will be paid to three recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada, Ontario Court of Appeal, and Manitoba Court of Appeal respectively, which take a more functional and pragmatic approach to the issue and demonstrate a greater willingness …

A Prisoners' Charter? Reflections On Prisoner Litigation Under The Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms, Debra Parkes

All Faculty Publications

This paper examines over twenty years of prisoner litigation under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, beginning with a brief consideration of the social and political context for prisoners into which the Charter was entrenched in 1982, before moving on to consider a variety of successful and unsuccessful prisoners' Charter claims. The author notes some ways in which the impact of the Charter has been diminished at the prison walls, including through a lack of full and meaningful access by prisoners to courts or other means of independent review of prison decisions and conditions, as well as by the …

Transformational Leadership Practices Of Deans And The Perceived Organizational Culture Of United Arab Emirates Public Universities : A Regression Analysis Study, Mouwafac Sidaoui

Doctoral Dissertations

unavailable

Hearing The Sexual Assault Complaints Of Women With Mental Disabilities: Consent, Capacity, And Mistaken Belief, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant

All Faculty Publications

Women with mental disabilities experience high rates of sexual assault. The authors trace the history of the criminal law's treatment of cases involving such acts in order to evaluate whether the substantive law of sexual assault is meeting the needs of this group of women. In particular, the authors focus on the legal issues of consent, capacity, and mistaken belief. The authors situate this discussion in the context of current debates in feminist and critical disability theory, grounding the theory in scholarly research on sexual assault of women with mental disabilities. In considering the law's treatment of sexual violence against …

Hearing The Sexual Assault Complaints Of Women With Mental Disabilities: Evidentiary And Procedural Issues, Janine Benedet

All Faculty Publications

When a woman with a mental disability makes a complaint of sexual assault, she must confront a criminal trial process that was not designed in contemplation of her as a witness. The requirements of repeated testimony under oath and the ability to be cross-examined are not always well-suited to the particular needs and capacities of women with mental disabilities. These problems are magnified by the tendency to infantilize women with mental disabilities, thereby diminishing their credibility and depicting them as hypersexual when they engage in any sexual activity. These stereotypes also manifest themselves in the application of evidentiary rules relating …

A Unique Civic Engagement Tool: Americaspeaks: 21st Century Town Meeting, Maria J. D'Agostino

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Individualism And Collectivism In America: The Case Of Gun Ownership And Attitudes Toward Gun Control, Katarzyna Celinska

Publications and Research

A number of sociologists and cultural psychologists claim that the United States is a predominantly individualistic country. This article uses a unidimensional index of individualism and collectivism to analyze one of the most debated sociopolitical issues in America: gun ownership and gun control. It tests the hypothesis that the widespread gun ownership in the United States and prevailing attitudes toward gun control represent competing individualistic and collectivistic cultural traditions, respectively. The findings indicate that the index is one of the predictors of gun ownership and of attitudes about gun permits.

Mode, Melody, And Harmony In Traditional Afro-Cuban Music: From Africa To Cuba., Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Fifth Millennium Anthropomorphic Figurines In Southeastern And Central Anatolia: Comparative Museum Research., Ellen H. Belcher

Publications and Research

The Halaf cultural horizon occurred during the fifth millennium B.C. (uncalibrated) and extended throughout upper Mesopotamia, including southeastern Anatolia. Halaf material culture is well-known for its imaginative and beautifully made architecture, polychrome-painted pottery, geometric stamp seals and figurines. The regional character and variation of Halaf figurine assemblages however, is poorly understood, particularly in southeastern Anatolia. My research and study of these figurines reveals distinct southeastern Anatolian styles and technologies, some of which demonstrate direct connections to central Anatolia.

This article presents preliminary conclusions from a comparative analysis of contemporaneous anthropomorphic figurines belonging to the Halaf and Chalcolithic cultures …

Back-End Sentencing A Practice In Search Of A Rationale, Jeremy Travis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Crime Volume And Law And Order Culture, Steven Stack, Liqun Cao, Amy Adamczyk

Publications and Research

The literature on public opinion about crime and justice has neglected the exploration of macro‐ or community‐level influences on individual‐level attitudes. A key macrofactor that may be related to individual level attitudes is the volume of violent crime. High crime rates can facilitate the development of a culture of “law and order,” a response that may be a practical or instrumental attempt to control crime. The present paper tests the hypothesis that persons residing in nations marked by a high volume of crime will be more likely to adhere to elements of a law and order culture. It employs data …

The Arab Charter On Human Rights 2004, Susan M. Akram

Faculty Scholarship

The Boston University International Law Journal is publishing, for the first time, an English version of the 2004 Arab Charter on Human Rights. A very brief review of how the 2004 Arab Charter came into being introduces this English translation. The drafting history of the Arab Charter on Human Rights begins in 1960. In that year, members of the Union of Arab Lawyers (the oldest NGO in the Arab world) requested the League of Arab States (created in 1945) during their meeting in Damascus to adopt an Arab Convention on Human Rights. Eight years later, participants in the first meeting …

Subways As A Space Of Cultural Intimacy: The Mass Rapid Transit System In Taipei, Taiwan, Anru Lee

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Southern Green Revolution: Urban Environmental Activism In Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Anru Lee

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Devotion And The Political: Sermon And Devotional Literature In The Reigns Of Henri Iv And Louis Xiii, 1598–1643, Jason Sager

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis examines the part played by French sermon and devotional literature during the reigns of Henri IV and Louis XIII in providing a model of political and social order. Shortly after the end of the Wars of Religion the French clergy in the seventeenth century rejected the violent rhetoric of the panic preachers of the sixteenth century. These seventeenth-century preachers emphasized social and political obedience as part of the duty of the Christian. Through collaboration with the crown, the ecclesiastical estate was able to assist in the pacification of French society.

This was achieved in the following ways. Throughout …

Advanced Controller Design Using Neural Networks For Nonlinear Dynamic Systems With Application To Micro/Nano Robotics, Qinmin Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

"The dissertation focuses on neural network (NN) control designs for nonlinear systems with application to micro/nano robotic. Critical problems in nano scale including thermal drift are also addressed"--Abstract, page iv.

Development Of A Geographic Information System-Based Virtual Geotechnical Database And Assessment Of Liquefaction Potential For The St. Louis Metropolitan Area, Jae-Won Chung

Doctoral Dissertations

"The St. Louis Metropolitan area is the focus the U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazard Program's plan for assessing and reducing the likely risks of an earthquake likely emanating from New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), which is the most active seismic zone in the Midwestern United States. The St. Louis Metropolitan area consists of three counties in Missouri and four in Illinois, which are divided by the state boundary along the Mississippi River. Both of the state's respective geological surveys have produced their own geologic maps and datasets, employing dissimilar geodata information and systems, with differing map units, map scales, and …

The Development And Application Of A Systematic Approach To Evaluating An Academic Department's Brand Meaning, Cassandra C. Elrod

Doctoral Dissertations

"Research of existing literature indicates that below the university level, there has been little effort made in branding academia, namely academic departments. The lack of branding may significantly affect the perceptions that potential students and future employers of these students have about one of these academic units. The impact may be most significant for units where the fields of study that are represented by the department may be unclear, such as in the case of engineering management. However, even in the cases of better-understood fields of study, for example, electrical engineering, the competition for students with other fields of study …

Nonlinear Optimization Approach For Upfc Power Flow Control And Voltage Security: Sufficient System Constraints For Optimality, Radha P. Kalyani

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation provides a nonlinear optimization algorithm for the long term control of Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) to remove overloads and voltage violations by optimized control of power flows and voltages in the power network. It provides a control strategy for finding the long term control settings of one or more UPFCs by considering all the possible settings and all the (N-1) topologies of a power network. Also, a simple evolutionary algorithm (EA) has been proposed for the placement of more than one UPFC in large power systems"--Abstract, page iv.

An Investigation Of Lead And Other Metal Contaminants In The Sediments Of Clearwater Lake, Missouri, Gary W. Krizanich

Doctoral Dissertations

"The purpose of this investigation is to characterize the spatial and temporal distribution and concentration of trace metals in sediments of Clearwater Lake. Understanding how trace metals are released to and transported in aquatic environments is important to the overall understanding of the impacts of mining on the natural environment. The main focus of this research will be on historic sedimentation within Clearwater Lake, which may act as a sink where mining related trace metals are stored. Because of their high preservation rates in basins, sediments can provide detailed chronostratigraphic histories of trace metal inputs in lakes. Sediment records can …

Innovative Solutions In Bridge Construction, Rehabilitation, And Structural Health Monitoring, Fabio Matta

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation includes three technical papers that investigate the development of innovative technologies for bridge construction, rehabilitation, and structural health monitoring, respectively, at different stages of the technology transfer process...The research impact is twofold: first is the introduction of promising innovative technologies in development and implementation projects with the direct involvement of forward-thinking industry partners; second is the demonstration of the validity of these technologies on the basis of a rigorous scientific approach"--Abstract, page iv.

Pilot Program To Assess Seismic Hazards Of The Granite City, Monks Mound, And Columbia Bottom Quadrangles, St. Louis Metropolitan Area, Missouri And Illinois, Deniz Karadeniz

Doctoral Dissertations

"Three 1:24000 scale quadrangles were selected for a pilot program intended to evaluate seismic site response across the spectrum of geologic conditions underlying the St. Louis Metropolitan area, using the Granite City, Monks Mound and Columbia Bottom quadrangles. These evaluations included assessments of: i) site amplification distributions; ii) probabilistic hazard analysis of PGA, 0.2 second and 1.0 second spectral accelerations for 2%, 5% and 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years; iii) two scenario earthquakes and their associated PGA, 0.2 sec, and 1 sec spectral accelerations; and v) sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. These hazard maps were prepared using a fully-probabilistic …

An Indirect Loss Estimation Methodology To Account For Regional Earthquake Damage To Highway Bridges, Chakkaphan Tirasirichai

Doctoral Dissertations

"This study proposes an integrated framework to estimate the indirect economic loss due to damaged bridges within the highway system from an earthquake event. The framework is designed to be general and convenient to apply to other study regions. In this dissertation, a simulated earthquake scenario centered in St. Louis Missouri with a magnitude 7.0 was used as a case study. The research results have clearly shown that the indirect losses are significant when compared to the direct loss. Policymakers can apply this study framework and the results as a guide and decision tool for developing an appropriate preventive action …

Mobile Array Designs With Anserlin Antennas And Efficient, Wide-Band Peec Models For Interconnect And Power Distribution Network Analysis, Michael A. Cracraft

Doctoral Dissertations

"A mobile, wide-band antenna system has been developed around the ANSERLIN antenna element and a 3-dB splitter design. The size of the antenna elements was reduced over previous versions by introducing dielectric substrates. Additionally, new variations of the antenna were designed to influence radiation characteristics. To further reduce the number of components in the array, a very low profile splitter was designed and mounted below one of the antenna elements, doubling as the return plane for the antenna. The partial-element equivalent circuit (PEEC) method has been used for 3D interconnect analysis and numerous other applications. Being based on the same …

Modeling Network Traffic On A Global Network-Centric System With Artificial Neural Networks, Douglas K. Swift

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation proposes a new methodology for modeling and predicting network traffic. It features an adaptive architecture based on artificial neural networks and is especially suited for large-scale, global, network-centric systems. Accurate characterization and prediction of network traffic is essential for network resource sizing and real-time network traffic management. As networks continue to increase in size and complexity, the task has become increasingly difficult and current methodology is not sufficiently adaptable or scaleable. Current methods model network traffic with express mathematical equations which are not easily maintained or adjusted. The accuracy of these models is based on detailed characterization of …

Experimental And Analytical Evaluation Of Frp-Confined Large Size Reinforced Concrete Columns, Silvia Rocca

Doctoral Dissertations

"Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) jacketing of Reinforced Concrete (RC) columns, as a rapidly growing strengthening technique, requires appropriate design methods. However, the current available design guides are based on models, in their majority semi-empirical, and calibrated with small-scale plain concrete specimens. These models might not be reliable in predicting the strength and ductility enhancement sought through FRP-confinement in RC columns with geometric and material properties as found in practice. This dissertation presents the research conducted in three technical papers. In the first paper, the performance of 22 FRP-wrapped RC columns of medium- and large-scale is studied. The results of the …

Detection Algorithms For Spatial Data, Spandan Tiwari

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation addresses the problem of anomaly detection in spatial data. The problem of landmine detection in airborne spatial data is chosen as the specific detection scenario. The first part of the dissertation deals with the development of a fast algorithm for kernel-based non-linear anomaly detection in the airborne spatial data. The original Kernel RX algorithm, proposed by Kwon et al. [2005a], suffers from the problem of high computational complexity, and has seen limited application. With the aim to reduce the computational complexity, a reformulated version of the Kernel RX, termed the Spatially Weighted Kernel RX (SW-KRX), is presented. It …