Digital Commons Network^™

Applying User-Centered Design In The Development Of A Software Application For The Treatment Of A Mental Health Disorder, Stacey L. Meacham

Theses

The research that follows will provide a process for applying a user-centered design methodology to the development of a virtual environment software application for the treatment of a mental health disorder, specifically post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The goal is to create a screen-based virtual environment product that focuses on the end user rather than the technological aspects of the system. Moreover, past and present treatments in the mental health and healthcare fields and their effectiveness will be analyzed through an extensive literature review.

Implications Of Reading Assessments: Investigating The Developmental Reading Assessment And Dynamic Indicators Of Basic Early Literacy Skills - Oral Reading Fluency As Related To The Terranova 2nd Edition Vocabulary And Comprehension Tasks For Third-Grade Students, Courtney Wheeler

Theses

The present study investigated the relationship between Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Oral Reading Fluency and the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) as related to the TerraNova 2nd Edition Vocabulary and Comprehension. Historical test data gained from 46 third grade participants during 2004- 2005 school year from an urban elementary school was utilized. The DRA protocols were coded and correlations were run to determine the relationship between the three tests. Significant correlations were found consistently between the DIBELS scores with DRA Phrasing and Fluency and DRA Story Level. Of particular interest, the overall best predictor for DIBELS scores …

School Psychologists' Perceived And Ideal Role In Grade Retention Decisions, Sean P. Scott

Theses

This study examined school psychologists' reports of their perceived and ideal roles in retention making decisions. A random national sample of 231 school psychologists completed a questionnaire regarding their perceptions of the rates and trends of retention in their school, as well as their perceived and ideal role in grade retention decisions. The majority (86.6%) of respondents indicated that their school practices retention, whereas 1 9% noted an increase in the amount of retentions. The rate at which respondents agreed that school psychologists should be involved in retention decisions was significantly higher (91.5%) than the percentage of school psychologists that …

Loss Prevention In Retail: Evaluation Of Time Delay Shelf System, Pavan V. Raja

Theses

This thesis studies the effectiveness in theft detterence of an asset control system, called "Time Delay Shelf," in a case study in several CVS/Pharmacy stores

Untitled, Shawn Kosmala

Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between society and its depiction as art. The research will require a look into my own personal everyday life and that of my family and close friends. It will further deal with the emotional connection that is created between the viewer and the image. In art it is not only the subject matter that is important, but the materials and techniques that are used. Through the research of other artists such as Chuck Close, John Singer Sargent, Meriseo Lanzanski, Charles White, Billy Andrews, Philip Pearlstein, Rodin, Egon Schiele it is …

Online Structure, Parameter, And Utility Updating Of Bayesian Decision Networks For Cooperative Decision-Theoretic Agents, Iheanyi Umez-Eronini

Theses

Multi-agent systems, systems consisting of more than one acting and decision making entities, are of great interest to researchers because they have advantages for some specific tasks where it would be more effective to use multiple small and simple robots rather than a large and complex one. One of the major problems with multi-agent systems is developing a means to organize or control the overall behavior of the system. Typically, multi-agent control involves one of two structures. In some designs, there is a hierarchy with some robots being leaders and other followers. Other designs involve robot specialization towards one particular …

Reading First Teachers' Knowledge Of English Phonology And Attitudes Toward Reading Instruction, Courtney Richmond

Theses

The Reading First grant requires teachers to go through professional development and education about reading instruction to improve their teaching methods. The purpose of this study is to determine whether teachers' knowledge of the English language and their attitudes toward explicit reading instruction improved after working in schools that received the Reading First grant. Seventy-six teachers from four schools that received the Reading First grant were surveyed to determine their knowledge of English phonology and attitudes toward explicit and implicit reading instruction. Reading First teachers had more knowledge of English phonology than other teachers, but did not differ in their …

The Role Of Identity Formation And Career Indecisiveness In Effective School-To-Work Transitions For Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disabilities, Elizabeth S. Garfield

Theses

Many school districts devote the majority of their transition resources to those students that are graduating and continuing their education through college. However, only about 15% of ninth grade students go on to graduate high school and obtain a 4-year college degree within six years of their high school graduation. Schools focus their resources and curriculum on the college bound minority instead of the work bound majority. This contributes to ineffective transition planning for those students going directly from school to work; and is especially true for students with Emotional/Behavioral disabilities (ED/BD). These students are leaving school unprepared to be …

Conservation Of The Brca1 Gene, Matthew Gary Wronkowski

Theses

Most research has been conducted on the structure and function of many individual genes as well as complementary proteins. Many of these studies look at specific population groups' country of origin, geographic location, or ethnicity but do not correlate findings between these groups. In this project I attempted to associate the structural and functional consequences of individual mutations in Human BRCA1 to other organisms. My findings suggest a strong correlation between human geographical isolation and mutation exclusivity. Furthermore strong sequence and mutation conservation as well as structural homology exist between many species.

Environmental Health & Safety Management In The Wake Of Sarbanes-Oxley: A Focus On The Benchmark Alcohol Beverage Industry, Diana V. Vesosky

Theses

In a post-Enron world, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act holds the highest corporate officers of publicly held corporations personally accountable with regard to financial reporting. This project examines the requirements of the law, risks of not complying the law, how Sarbanes-Oxley has impacted environmental health and safety (EHS) management, and what EHS professionals and companies should be doing to comply with the law.

Language Integrated Query In Java For Xml And Relational Database, Anurag Naidu

Theses

XML and relational databases are the most commonly used data-sources for numerous Java-based enterprise applications. The ever-growing dependence of Java-based applications on these technologies calls for developing a uniform means of querying these data-sources in the Java layer such that queries written for any of these technologies look similar and are in fact governed by a single grammar. This thesis implements a new backend system encapsulating querying capabilities over XML and JDBC based relational databases which would complement the translation of queries written using QuEL [1], a language extension to the Java programming language. The QuEL language extension to Java …

Landscapes Of Beethoven's Signature "From The Heart, May It Go To The Heart", Virginia L. Martin

Theses

"Landscapes of Beethoven's Signature, an exhibit consisting of twenty-two works of art in a variety of media, is a tribute to the revolutionary composer Ludwig van Beethoven [...]. Landscapes of Beethoven's Signature comprises a body of visual works showing the hand of Beethoven the Creative Artist. Literal landscapes, which also incorporate Beethoven's calligraphy, have been interpreted in the two larger oil paintings, 'In Moonlight' and 'Look Through These Trees.' Figurative depiction of 'landscape' and 'signature' is represented in a variety of ways within the sculptures, prints, books and calligraphy. For several of the pieces, visual material was derived from Beethoven's …

The Integration Of Graphic Communication And Educational Tools For Children With Dyslexia, Amar Abdulla Behbehani

Theses

Design for education is an important approach in the graphic design field. The intention of this thesis is to conduct further research that can help educators and designers build healthier learning environments for children with learning disabilities. Learning environments are not limited to physical environments such as classroom designs or school architecture; they are extended to cognitive environments that are greatly affected by external influences such as sensory stimulation and learning methods. Children with special educational needs could benefit from effective design solutions for better information processing. This designer attempts to develop typographic solutions to facilitate the reading process of …

Maybe, Kara Canal

Theses

Maybe consists of an installation space embracing three video projections, each presenting the viewer with a series of distilled moments. Every connected element in the installation provides an opportunity for engagement with the intangible memories of adolescence. The video pieces present fragments of narratives and invite viewers to fill in the gaps with their own memories, reflections and experiences. The point of view of the camera in each video positions the viewer as a voyeur—and as such the viewers are granted the opportunity to pause, consider and reflect, and hopefully realize something new about themselves while participating in the actions …

A Theory Of Expressive International Law, Alex Geisinger, Michael A. Stein

Vanderbilt Law Review

What is the "pull of international society" and how does it influence the willingness of States to enter into or comply with international law? Since Grotius first identified the concept that States seek esteem from the broader global community, its parameters have proven illusive. Nonetheless, the notion remains central to discussions of why States comply with international agreements.

Understanding the reputational mechanism that impels State compliance is especially important to human rights treaties. Unlike other regimes, States that ratify and abide by the terms of these instruments receive neither reciprocal nor immediate benefits.

Consequently, the desire for international esteem is …

Special Project+ Privacy, Melody R. Barron

Vanderbilt Law Review

Privacy has long been a matter of particular concern in the minds of Americans. Indeed, privacy concerns were at the crux of the American Revolution. The earliest days of colonial life saw creation of laws protecting the individual against eavesdropping, and the sanctity of one's home. The Bill of Rights also reflects privacy interests. As America grew, technological advances in the dissemination of information caused public demands for protection of privacy rights; I Each year, the Vanderbilt Law Review publishes one issue with notes devoted solely to a topic of current interest. These notes collectively constitute the Special Project.

Toothless Hipaa: Searching For A Private Right Of Action To Remedy Privacy Rule Violations, Joshua D.W. Collins

Vanderbilt Law Review

A Midwestern banker, who also served as a member of his county's health board, cross-referenced a health board's list of patients suffering from various diseases with a list of the bank's customers. He then called due the mortgages of anyone suffering from cancer. In Oregon, computer disks containing the medical records of 365,000 patients were stolen from a car. Along with personal medical information, the records also contained the patients' names, addresses, and Social Security numbers. A Maryland school board member's medical records, revealing that he had been treated for depression, were sent to school officials along with an anonymous …

Rethinking The Substantive Due Process Right To Privacy: Grounding Privacy In The Fourth Amendment, Mary H. Wimberly

Vanderbilt Law Review

Little in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court has spurred as much controversy as the Court's recognition of a constitutional right to privacy. While implicitly acknowledging that such a right is not listed in the text of the Constitution, in Griswold v. Connecticut the Court found that the right existed in the "penumbras" of the amendments to the Constitution.' According to the Court, the right to privacy was present in "emanations" from the guarantees of the Bill of Rights. This reasoning was notoriously extended to abortion in Roe v. Wade. In order to invalidate state regulation of abortion, the Roe …

The Supreme Court And Abortion Rights, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Since the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 abortion-rights decision in Roe v. Wade, the law has taken the lead in defining the contours of the continuing public debate over reproductive liberty. Ever since then, abortion opponents have tried to make abortion more burdensome by limiting Roe, and these continuing challenges are the reason there have been so many Supreme Court decisions about abortion, including the Court's 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, which unexpectedly reaffirmed the core of Roe.

Physicians And Torture: Lessons From The Nazi Doctors, Michael Grodin, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

How is it possible? What are the personal, professional and political contexts that allow physicians to use their skills to torture and kill rather than heal? What are the psychological characteristics and the social, cultural and political factors that predispose physicians to participate in human rights abuses? What can be done to recognize at-risk situations and attempt to provide corrective or preventive strategies? This article examines case studies from Nazi Germany in an attempt to answer these questions. Subjects discussed include the psychology of the individual perpetrator, dehumanization, numbing, splitting, omnipotence, medicalization, group dynamics, obedience to authority, diffusion of responsibility, …

The "Male Problematic" And The Problems Of Family Law: A Response To Don Browning's "Critical Familism", Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

This essay explores the relationship between the male problematic and the problems of family law. The problem of fatherhood, or what religion scholar and marriage movement leader Don Browning calls the male problematic, is a central concern of that movement. The premise is that marriage addresses a core societal challenge - binding men to the mothers of the children they foster and securing men's paternal investment in those children. The essay responds to Browning's review (in 56 Emory Law Journal 1383 (2007)) of my book, The Place of Families: Fostering Capacity, Equality, and Responsibility (Harvard University Press, 2006), in which …

A Search-Costs Theory Of Limiting Doctrines In Trademark Law, Stacey Dogan, Mark A. Lemley

Faculty Scholarship

Trademarks have value because they reduce consumer search costs and thus promote overall efficiency in the economy.

While the search costs theory provides a compelling argument for trademark rights, it also compels an equally important - but often overlooked - set of principles for defining and limiting those rights. Certainly, trademark laws can make it easier and cheaper for consumers to locate products with desired qualities, thus making markets more competitive. Yet if carried too far, trademark law can do the opposite: it can entrench market dominance by leading firms and make it harder for competitors to crack new markets. …

Court Of Law And Court Of Public Opinion: Symbiotic Regulation Of The Corporate Management Duty Of Care, Tamar S. Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

In In re Walt Disney Co. Derivative Litigation the Delaware court exonerated the defendants for their handling of the Ovitz Affair, and yet condemned them. It is a classic example of how a court of law can make law without making law. By an obiter dictum, the Chancellor established the facts of the case and footnoted the sources much like a treatise or a casebook, recounted the general principles of the law, used strong words to describe the defendants' behavior, delved into the moral and business judgment of the defendants, and assisted the market in judging and enforcing its best …

There’S Just One Hitch, Will Smith: Examining Title Vii, Race, Casting, And Discrimination On The Fortieth Anniversary Of Loving V. Virginia, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

In this Symposium Essay, I use Loving v. Virginia as a backdrop for exploring why our society allows, without legal challenge, customer preference or discrimination to unduly influence casting decisions for actors paired in romantic couples in movies and television. In so doing, I examine how existing anti-discrimination law in employment can and should be used to address these improper influences within the entertainment industry. In Part I of the Essay, I first survey the growing practice of casting intraminority couples casting in films and television and examine how such casting, despite its appeal on the surface, may work to …

Medicine And Public Health: Crossing Legal Boundaries, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

In 2006, New York City began a mandatory reporting system for laboratories to submit blood sugar (A1c) test results (primarily for diabetes) to the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene without the patient's consent. This article examines whether this new program is an innovative way to improve New Yorkers' health, an invasion of medical privacy, or usurpation of the physician's role. The registry is an example of public health initiatives in chronic diseases, which challenge the limits of laws governing medicine care and public health programs by blurring the historical boundaries between them.

Reservoirs Of Danger: The Evolution Of Public And Private Law At The Dawn Of The Information Age, Danielle K. Citron

Faculty Scholarship

A defining problem at the dawn of the Information Age will be securing computer databases of ultra-sensitive personal information. These reservoirs of data fuel our Internet economy but endanger individuals when their information escapes into the hands of cyber-criminals. This juxtaposition of opportunities for rapid economic growth and novel dangers recalls similar challenges society and law faced at the outset of the Industrial Age. Then, reservoirs collected water to power textile mills: the water was harmless in repose but wrought havoc when it escaped. After initially resisting Rylands v. Fletcher's strict liability standard as undermining economic development, American courts and …

Property Rules, Liability Rules, And Immunity: An Application To Cyberspace, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

This Article sets out a theory of torts and cyberspace wrongs. My goal is to provide a sparse theoretical account of tort law and apply it to cyberspace torts, both negligent and intentional. I approach this goal by applying the framework of property rules and liability rules to cyberspace torts. That framework suggests that trespass doctrine is appropriate in instances of cyber invasions of private information resources, such as the breaking of codes to access private information on the web. However, trespass doctrine should play no role in cyber-invasions of public information resources, such as the sending of spam email. …

Cancer And The Constitution: Choice At Life's End, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

J. M. Coetzee's violent, anti-apartheid Age of Iron, a novel the Wall Street Journal termed “a fierce pageant of modern South Africa,” is written as a letter by a retired classics professor, Mrs. Curren, to her daughter, who lives in the United States. Mrs. Curren is dying of cancer, and her daughter advises her to come to the United States for treatment. She replies, “I can't afford to die in America. . . . No one can, except Americans.” Dying of cancer has been considered a “hard death” for at least a century, unproven and even quack remedies have been …

Tort Negligence, Cost-Benefit Analysis, And Tradeoffs: A Closer Look At The Controversy, Kenneth Simons

Faculty Scholarship

What is the proper role of cost-benefit analysis in understanding the tort concept of negligence or reasonable care? A straightforward question, you might think. But it is a question that manages to elicit groans of exasperation from those on both sides of the controversy.

For most utilitarians and adherents to law and economics, the answer is obvious: to say that people should not be negligent is to say that they should minimize the sum of the costs of accidents and the costs of preventing accidents. Under the economic formulation of the famous Learned Hand test, they should take a precaution …

Biomedical Ethics And The Law: A Critical Perspective, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

Health law, a fast growing field of scholarship, appears to consist largely of two schools. One focuses on health care antitrust, taking as its fundamental premise the notion that health care markets should be distinguished from and treated differently than other markets. This premise underlying health care antitrust is based on a few recurring features of health care markets, such as informational asymmetry, that are taken as sufficient bases for treating them differently.¹ The other school of health law is biomedical ethics, which has taken on increasing importance in view of the many tradeoffs that arise when health care …