Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A Blood Test For The Detection Of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma, Rebecca Slattery

Theses : Honours

Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma is a highly aggressive form of skin cancer that has a tendency to metastasise. In its early stages, the 5-year survival rate of patients is greater than 90% following surgical excision of an in situ tumour. However, following metastasis of the tumour, the 5-year survival rate declines to 5-35%. Due to the correlation between metastasis and declining survival, studies have attempted to identify potential metastasis as early as possible. Molecular markers of melanoma cells in the peripheral blood of CMM patients have been investigated, as the invasion of tumour cells into the blood is one of the …

A Study Of The Parallelisation Of Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithms In A Cluster Environment, Sadeesha Gamhewa

Theses : Honours

The two main issues relating to the use of Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) are the efficiency and effectiveness of the algorithms. As a result of the multiobjective and multi dimensional nature of MOEAs, the overall execution time that is taken to solve real world problems with MOEAs can be significant. Therefore, a few studies have recently been completed to address these performance issues by the use of parallelisation methods. The most widely known parallel Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm (pMOEA) models are the Master-slave, the Island, and the Diffusion models. The Master-slave and the Island models are generally implemented using message passing …

Is It Time To Redesign Hospice? End-Of-Life Care At The User Interface, David J. Casarett

Center for Policy Research

Hospice is a system of end-of-life care that’s not used to its full potential. That is, hospice is not used in the way that would benefit patients and families as much as it could. My argument is that this is an issue of usability, or ergonomics—the science of design. I illustrate how to take what we have learned from the science of usability to make hospice more accessible and approachable, and to increase hospice use among those who would benefit from it. Underneath this discussion, though, there is a more fundamental question: Can we make hospice more usable or do …

The Truth About Moral Hazard And Adverse Selection., Mark V. Pauly

Center for Policy Research

This brief is actually going to have two levels. One level will go with the advertised title, and I’ll tell you my current views on the truth about moral hazard and adverse selection. Adverse selection will serve as somewhat of a handmaid of moral hazard, as you will see. That’s one level. The other level, though, which continues to surprise me, is that these two topics—they’re two buzzwords from insurance theory—have generated an enormous amount of policy interest and, yes, passion. Some people passionately believe some things about moral hazard that others passionately disbelieve. And so as part of this …

Genetic Variations In Interferon-Induced Genes And Hcv Recurrence After Liver Transplantation, Benjamin Cameron Whitehill

Theses and Dissertations

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection represents a worldwide pandemic and is currently the leading cause of cirrhosis and liver transplantation. After transplantation recurrence is almost universal with 96% of patients testing positive for viral RNA and exhibiting histological evidence of infection within the first year. Type I interferons (IFN) and interferon inducible genes are responsible for the innate antiviral state and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within these genes may affect the patients ability to respond post-transplantation. We hypothesize the elucidation of associations between SNPs in Type-I Interferon and Interferon inducible genes and HCV recurrence post-liver transplantation might help to identify …

Identification And Characterization Of Helper Phage Gene Products Involved In Mobilization Of Staphylococcal Pathogenicity Island Sapi1, Sandra Mckenzie Tallent

Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcal pathogenicity island SaPI1 is excised from genomic DNA and extrachromosomal copies are amplified during the vegetative growth of staphylococcal phage 80α. The amplified genetic element is subsequently encapsidated and transduced at very high frequency. Previous studies have demonstrated that the transducing particles have virions with tails that appear identical to those of helper phage 80α but have smaller capsids, commensurate with the smaller genome of the SaPI (Lindsay et.al., 1998). The morphology of the transducing particles, coupled with the observation that the genomic sequence of SaPIl (GenBank U93688) does not reveal any obvious phage structural proteins, has led to …

Effects Of Stress Management Training Of Self-Image Perception Of The Visually Impaired Individuals, Mike Eniola, A.O. Busari

Essays in Education

This study investigates the effects of stress management training on self-image perception of the visually impaired individuals. The participants were thirty-three (33) purposively selected visually impaired students of Federal College of Education (Special) Oyo, Nigeria with age ranging between 18 and 27 years. The research instrument used for data collection was visually impaired stress Questionnaire (VISQ). ANCOVA was the method of data analysis employed. The results of the treatment indicates that there was significant difference between the subjects exposed to treatment and the control group. The results also confirmed that there was significant difference in the level of stress experienced …

Money, Money Everywhere But Not A Drop To Secure: A Proposal For Amending The Perfection Rules For Security Interests In Money And Deposit Accounts, Brian Mccall

Faculty Articles

It is time that the billions of dollars of money and bank account balances held by debtors be made available as security in a manner that is commercially practical. The rules governing the perfection of security interests in money and deposit accounts need to be reformed to allow perfection by filing. This article builds a case for the proposed revisions by addressing the vexing question “what is money.” A brief history, especially drawing upon the history of the UCC, of answers to this question is presented. Various policy rationales are explored including an examination of the different forms of payment …

Functional Neuroimaging And The Law: Trends And Directions For Future Scholarship, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

Under the umbrella of the burgeoning neurotransdisciplines, scholars are using the principles and research methodologies of their primary and secondary fields to examine developments in neuroimaging, neuromodulation, and psychopharmacology. The path for advanced scholarship at the intersection of law and neuroscience may clear if work across the disciplines is collected and reviewed and outstanding and debated issues are identified and clarified. In this article, I organize, examine and refine a narrow class of burgeoning neurotransdiscipline scholarship; that is, scholarship at the interface of law and functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Psychiatric Restraint And Seclusion: Resisting Legislative Solution, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

The use of restraint and seclusion in the American psychiatric setting has a rich history - rich in medical, ethical, legal, and social controversy. For centuries, mental health care providers used movement restrictions and solitary confinement to manage psychiatric patients. Superintendents of eighteenth and early nineteenth century insane asylums and other institutions of confinement believed that strait-waistcoats, "tranquilizer chairs," "maniac beds," chains, shackles, and "quiet rooms" deescalated agitation and promoted self-control. Reforms beginning in the nineteenth century helped make some psychiatric institutions more humane, in part because staff members were trained to find ways to calm potentially violent patients without …

Contents And Abstracts

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Diaphragmatic Breathing To Reduce Situational Anxiety For Basic Course Students, Marlina Marie Howe, Karen Kangas Dwyer

Basic Communication Course Annual

Researchers in physiology and health fields have reported a significant impact from using diaphragmatic breathing (DB) to help individuals reduce anxiety. However, few communication researchers have explored the use of this simple DB technique to help basic course students reduce communication apprehension (CA). Thus, this investigation explored the use of diaphragmatic breathing (DB) in helping students moderate CA. Respondents completed McCroskey’s (1982) Personal Reports of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) after each of four formal classroom speeches. Results indicated the experimental group using DB reported a significant decrease in state anxiety from speech the first two …

Author Biographies

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Gay Marriage In Rhode Island: A Big Issue In A Small State, Joan Catherine Bohl

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Information Governance: A Model For Security In Medical Practice, Patricia A. Williams

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Information governance is becoming an important aspect of organisational accountability. In consideration that information is an integral asset of most organisations, the protection of this asset will increasingly rely on organisational capabilities in security. In the medical arena this information is primarily sensitive patient-based information. Previous research has shown that application of security measures is a low priority for primary care medical practice and that awareness of the risks are seriously underestimated. Consequently, information security governance will be a key issue for medical practice in the future. Information security governance is a relatively new term and there is little existing …

Network And Database Security: Regulatory Compliance, Network, And Database Security - A Unified Process And Goal, Errol A. Blake

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Database security has evolved; data security professionals have developed numerous techniques and approaches to assure data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This paper will show that the Traditional Database Security, which has focused primarily on creating user accounts and managing user privileges to database objects are not enough to protect data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This paper is a compilation of different journals, articles and classroom discussions will focus on unifying the process of securing data or information whether it is in use, in storage or being transmitted. Promoting a change in Database Curriculum Development trends may also play a role …

Book Reviews

Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Personal And Clinical Utility Of Psychiatric Advance Directives: A Qualitative Perspective, Mimi M. Kim, Richard A. Van Dorn, Anna M. Scheyett, Eric E. Elbogen, Jeffrey W. Swanson, Marvin S. Swartz, Laura A. Mcdaniel

Faculty and Staff Publications

Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) are legal tools that allow competent individuals to declare preferences for future mental health treatment when they may not be capable of doing so as a result of a psychiatric crisis. PADs allow individuals to maintain self–determination during times when they are most vulnerable to loss of autonomy and in need of assistance to make their preferences known and honored. This article describes the content of twenty–eight open–ended, semi–structured qualitative interviews of adults with PADs who have experienced psychiatric crises. The qualitative analysis revealed three major themes from the interviews: (1) PADs as tools for empowerment …

Threading The Eye Of The Erisa Needle: Erisa Preemption And Alternative Legal Schemes To Fill The Regulatory Vacuum,, Bernard D. Reams Jr., Michael P. Forrest

Faculty Articles

Popular consensus suggests that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) is a mess, and one of historic proportions. ERISA’s comprehensive reach to protect employer-provided benefits has in practice produced unintended, if not contradictory, results.

Congress passed ERISA over thirty years ago to protect the rights of employees who benefit from employer pension and welfare benefit plans. It did so with a series of regulations that promote uniformity in litigation across the various states through “strong preemption language.” The goal of uniformity arguably benefits workers by imposing regular standards of conduct which lend predictability to the scope of litigation, or …

Absentee Landlords, Rent Control, And Healthy Gentrification: A Policy Proposal To Deconcentrate The Poor In Urban America, Jorge O. Elorza

Law Faculty Scholarship

Empirical data overwhelmingly suggests that the presence of middle- and working-class homeowners is beneficial for inner-city communities. Yet, absentee landlords have a systematic financial advantage over resident landlords when it comes to purchasing homes in blighted neighborhoods. This advantage has disastrous effects for inner cities, as the communities with the greatest need for the stabilizing presence of middle- and working-class homeowners are the ones least likely to attract them. The lack of in-moving homeowners and the resulting increase in poverty cause declining neighborhoods to fall deeper into downward spirals. In this Article, I propose a rent control plan designed to …

A Study For The Improvement Of The Sellback Program, David Clive, Daniel Harris, Megan Hopkins, Wade Whiting

Student Works

Our marketing group conducted a research project for the BYU Bookstore to help the company develop a strategy to improve the Textbook Sellback program. After meeting with Tom Hirtzel, the manager of textbook operations for the BYU Bookstore, we determined the basic objectives of the project to be: To understand students' motivation in textbook sellback, To make recommendations of how to increase the number of textbooks sold back to the BYU Bookstore, To gather marketing information on the benefits of having remote locations to sell back textbooks around BYU campus. Marketing research team is comprised of David Clive, Daniel Harris, …

Aribex Nomad: Customer Satisfaction Report, Burke Alder, Alan Arthur, Ben Rasmussen

Student Works

The purpose of this project and therefore this report is to provide feedback to Aribex Corporation concerning the satisfaction of companies or individuals who have purchased and currently use the hand-held x-ray device called the Nomad. Research team is comprised of Burke Alder, Alan Arthur, and Ben Rasmussen.

Aribex Nomad Veterinary: A Study Of The Role Of X-Ray Technology In The Veterinary Industry, J. Elliott Dozier, Eric Lopez, Dharshaun Turner

Student Works

J. Elliott Dozier, Eric Lopez, and Dharshaun Turner (hereafter referred to as BYU Vet team) conducted a marketing research project for Aribex Inc, to help the company learn more about the veterinary industry and determine a market entry strategy, Representatives at Aribex gave the BYU Vet team the following objectives to determine the scope of the research: 1. Understand the Veterinary market and practices 2. Discover current Radiography practices 3. Discover technology imperfections/limitations 4. Determine acceptance/concern for NOMAD 5. Propose market entry strategy BYU Vet Team is comprised of J. Elliot Dozier, Eric Lopez, and Dharshaun Turner.

Medical Imaging Research Study: Prepared For Klas Enterprises, Llc, Presented March 27, 2007, Trina Hsieh, Ginger Fairbanks

Student Works

The purpose of this research project is to determine upcoming trends/issues around specific areas of medical imaging in addition to gaining an understanding of what impact the DRA is having on imaging centers nationwide. From this research, we will answer the following questions: 1. What specific investments are being made around cardiology imaging for the next two years? 2. What specific investments are being made around women's health for the next two years? 3. What specific investments are being made around nuclear medicine for the next two years? 4. How is the DRA affecting imaging centers? 5. What is the …

Publishing Ltd Whole-Plant Mineral Partitioning Throughout The Life Cycle In Arabidopsis Thaliana Ecotypes Columbia, Landsberg Erecta, Cape Verde Islands, And The Mutant Line Ysl1ysl3, Brian M. Waters, Michael A. Grusak

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

• Minimal information exists on whole-plant dynamics of mineral flow through Arabidopsis thaliana or on the source tissues responsible for mineral export to developing seeds. Understanding these phenomena in a model plant could help in the development of nutritionally enhanced crop cultivars. • A whole-plant partitioning study, using sequential harvests, was conducted to characterize growth and mineral concentrations and contents of rosettes, cauline leaves, stems, immature fruit, mature fruit hulls, and seeds of three WT lines (Col-0, Ler, and Cvi) and one mutant line (Col-0::ysl1ysl3). • Shoot mineral content increased throughout the life cycle for all minerals, although tissue-specific mineral …

Digestibility, Rumen Metabolism, And Site Of Digestion For Finishing Diets Containing Wet Distillers Grains Or Corn Oil, Kyle J. Vander Pol, Matt K. Luebbe, Grant Crawford, Galen E. Erickson, Terry J. Klopfenstein

Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports

Five ruminally and duodenally fistulated, Holstein steers were used in a 5X5 Latin square metabolism experiment to evaluate digestibility of wet distillers grains plus solubles (WDGS) compared with corn fiber and corn oil in finishing diets. Treatments were a 40% WDGS diet, a composite of corn fiber and corn protein (COMP), COMP plus corn oil to equal the distillers diet (COMP+OIL), and dry-rolled corn control diets without (CON) or with corn oil (CON+OIL). Cattle fed WDGS had numerically lower rumen pH compared with cattle fed other treatments. Cattle fed the WDGS had greater propionate, lower acetate:propionate ratios, greater total tract …

Houses Great And Small: Reevaluating The 'House' In Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Carrie Heitman

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

In recent years, a growing number of archaeologists have explored the potential of expanding Lévi-Strauss’ concept of house societies to better understand specific archaeological contexts. Looking specifically at the classificatory distinction between “great houses” and “small houses” within Chaco Canyon (A.D. 850–1180), I suggest this theoretical model might yield new insights with regard to four symbolic dimensions of house construction: the use of wood, directional offerings, resurfacing practices, and the bones of ancestors. Using Puebloan ethnographic literature and cross-cultural comparisons, I suggest a house model analysis may serve to integrate anomalous “ceremonial” dimensions of house construction in an effort to …

Effect Of Sorting And Feeding Optaflexx On Performance And Economics Of Long Yearling Steers, William A. Griffin, Terry J. Klopfenstein, Galen E. Erickson, Dillon M. Feuz, Kyle J. Vander Pol, Matthew A. Greenquist

Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports

A two-year experiment evaluated the effects of sorting long yearling steers by initial feedlot BW and supplementing 200 mg/steer of Optaflexx daily the last 28 days of the feeding period on ADG, F/G, carcass characteristics and profitability. Feedlot ADG, F/G, and profitability were not effected by sorting. However, sorted cattle exhibited increased fat thickness, increased ribeye area, and increased percentage of carcasses with a yield grade of four or higher. Supplementing Optaflexx the last 28 days of the feeding period had no effect on feedlot performance, carcass characteristics, or profitability.

Vcu Gives Back, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Michal Zivan Coffey, Patricia Flanagan, Justin Harris, Ella Maokhamphiou, Debbie Quick, Melissa Tyler, Shawn Utsey

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

We propose the establishment of an organization wide series of community service events beginning at homecoming and culminating in April during National Volunteer Week with a large scale event, in an effort to bring a sense of unity among the students, faculty and staff within the organization while helping the communities surrounded by VCU.

Taking The Right To Abortion In Croatia Seriously - One Of The Basic Constitutional Rights Or A Rudiment Of The Right To Reproduction?, Dalida Rittossa

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.