Digital Commons Network^™

Design And Evaluation Of A Virtual Reality Training System For New Underground Rockbolters, David Nutakor

Doctoral Dissertations

"The need for development of better training techniques for underground rock bolters is signified by the fact that a large number of experienced miners (Baby Boomers) will be retiring soon. This means that there will be very little interface time between the new miners and the experienced miners, which could have been used for training the new inexperienced miners. A new generation of workers (Nexters), who have grown up with computers and video games will replace the Baby Boomers, and the most efficient way to introduce them to the safety and health issues of the mining industry is to use …

Energy Efficient Clustering And Secure Data Aggregation In Wireless Sensor Networks, Julia Albath

Doctoral Dissertations

"Communication consumes the majority of a wireless sensor network's limited energy. There are several ways to reduce the communication cost. Two approaches used in this work are clustering and in-network aggregation. The choice of a cluster head within each cluster is important because cluster heads use additional energy for their responsibilities and that burden needs to be carefully distributed. We introduce the energy constrained minimum dominating set (ECDS) to model the problem of optimally choosing cluster heads in the presence of energy constraints. We show its applicability to sensor networks and give an approximation algorithm of O(log n) for solving …

Integrated Process Planning For A Hybrid Manufacturing System, Lan Ren

Doctoral Dissertations

"A hybrid manufacturing system integrated CNC machining and laser-aided layered deposition and achieves the benefits of both processes. In this dissertation, an integrated process planning framework which aims to automate the hybrid manufacturing process is investigated. Critical components of the process planning, including 3D spatial decomposition of the CAD model, improvement of the toolpath generation pattern, repairing strategies using a hybrid manufacturing system, etc., are discussed"--Abstract, page iv.

Predicting And Reducing Warranty Costs By Considering Customer Expectation And Product Performance, Naresh Kumar Sharma

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation develops from quality loss function to warranty loss function in which customer expectation is also considered to be a variable. First, Taguchi's quality loss function for the larger-the-better case, which is different from the smaller-the better and nominal-the-best cases, has been assimilated into the other two by introducing a term called the target-mean ratio. Further topics addressed include the implications of a finite target on the classification of LTB characteristics, a new concept of a "Complementary Characteristic", operating window, complexity, and SN ratio based on complexity. A warranty is a buyer's confidence owing to the seller's assurance to …

System And Ic Level Analysis Of Electrostatic Discharge (Esd) And Electrical Fast Transient (Eft) Immunity And Associated Coupling Mechanisms, Jayong Koo

Doctoral Dissertations

"The exposure of electronic circuits to lightning, electrostatic discharge (ESD), electrical fast transients (EFT) or sine wave signals can reveal RF immunity problems. Typical problems include temporary malfunctions or permanent damage of integrated circuits (ICs). In an effort to reproduce those disturbances, a series of electromagnetic compatibility standards has been developed. However, a complete understanding of the root cause of the immunity problems has yet to be established. This dissertation discusses immunity problems in three papers, starting at the system level, via the coupling path into the IC"--Abstract, page iv.

Mechanics Of Dump Truck Vibrations In High-Impact Shovel Loading Operations, Nassib Aouad

Doctoral Dissertations

"The deployment of large machinery for low cost, bulk surface mine production operations has resulted in high-impact shovel loading operations (HISLO). In extreme cases, shovels load large dump trucks with 100-ton (or more) passes generating high-impact forces under gravity. HISLO generates high-frequency shockwaves that cause severe truck vibrations exposing operators to whole body vibrations (WBV). This WBV levels may exceed the recommended International Standards Organization (ISO) limits resulting in longterm lower-back disorders and other health problems. There is a need for fundamental and applied research to determine HISLO vibration levels for heavy mining machinery, their comparisons to ISO 2631 limits …

Examination Of Practices Used By Rural Georgia School Principals In Hiring Highly Qualified Teachers, Steven Dale Rhodes

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to understand hiring practices used by rural high performance Georgia school principals. The study used a qualitative design. The researcher utilized semi-structured interviews and reviews of documents related to hiring to understand hiring practices currently being used by rural Georgia school principals, hiring practices perceived to be working best to attract teachers, hiring practices most influential to the final selection of the teacher, and principals suggested improvements to the hiring process. Each of the three participants was purposefully chosen for the study, was assured confidentiality, and was given a fictitious name. The accounts of …

Women In Science: Stories From The Margins, Laura Mathis Mulvanity

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Women are significantly underrepresented in the hard sciences and engineering. While the number of women seeking degrees in these fields has increased in the last forty years, a substantial gap still exists between the sexes. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine one area of influence on career choice -- the curriculum. Women scientists are underrepresented in the school curriculum. This dissertation examines the discourse of curriculum and the role it has in the gendering of the field of science. The nature of the development of a curriculum lends itself to the practice of exclusion. The construction of curriculum …

Climate Change In The Supreme Court, Lisa Heinzerling

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court confronted the issue of climate change for the first time. The Court held that the Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate greenhouse gases and that the agency may not decline to exercise this authority based either on factors not present in the statute or inconclusive gestures toward uncertainty in the science of climate change. I had the privilege of serving as the lead author of the winning briefs in this case. This Article provides an insider's perspective on the choices that went into bringing and …

Scottish Common Sense And Nineteenth-Century American Law: A Critical Appraisal, John Mikhail

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

One overriding concern I have with Susanna Blumenthal's insightful and stimulating article, "The Mind of a Moral Agent: Scottish Common Sense and the Problem of Responsibility in Nineteenth-Century American Law," is whether there is anything sufficiently distinctive about Scottish Common Sense philosophy that justifies the role Blumenthal ascribes to it. One could probably replace "Common Sense philosophy" in Blumenthal's formulation with something as diffuse as "The Enlightenment," or even "Western jurisprudence," without significantly altering its import, because the assumption that rational and moral faculties are innate and universal is common to most writers in these traditions. There are subtle differences …

Can Constitutionalism Be Leftist?, Louis Michael Seiman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this essay, written for a symposium on the work of Mark Tushnet, I examine Tushnet’s effort to defend popular constitutionalism in his powerful and subtle book entitled ATaking the Constitution Away from the Courts,” I ask whether the book succeeds in reconciling constitutionalism with leftism. If there is anyone who could accomplish this task, it is Tushnet. He is without question our most thoughtful constitutional leftist. And yet, the book, at least taken at face value, fails to achieve its goal. To the extent that the book argues for constitutionalism, it abandons leftism, and to the extent it is …

Constitutional Clichés, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Popular discourse on constitutional interpretation and judicial review tend to employ a series of catch phrases that have become constitutional clichés. Phrases such as “judicial activism,” “judicial restraint,” “strict construction,” “not legislating from the bench,” “Framers’ intent,” the “dead hand of the past,” and “stare decisis” so dominate public commentary on the Constitution and the courts that quite often that is all one hears. Unfortunately, even law professors are not immune. There was a time when each of these catch phrases meant something and, although each could mean something again, in current debates all have become trite and largely devoid …

Kurt Lash's Majoritarian Difficulty: A Response To A Textual-Historical Theory Of The Ninth Amendment, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Kurt Lash believes that, in addition to individual natural rights, the Ninth Amendment protects collective or majoritarian rights as well. In this essay the author explains why Lash’s majoritarian vision is contrary to the antimajoritarianism of the man who devised the Ninth Amendment, James Madison, and those who wrote the Constitution. Not coincidentally, it is contrary to the individualism of the other amendments constituting the Bill of Rights, and the public meaning of the Ninth Amendment as it was received during its ratification. It is also contrary to the individualist conception of popular sovereignty adopted in the text of the …

Incorporation And Originalist Theory, Lawrence B. Solum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Does the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution incorporate the Bill of Rights contained in the first eight amendments? And how should an originalist answer that question? This paper focuses on the latter question--the issues of originalist theory that are raised by judicial and scholarly debates over what is called "incorporation."

The inquiry proceeds in six parts. Part I answers the questions: "What is incorporation?" and "What is originalism?" Part II examines the theoretical framework for an investigation of incorporation that operates within the narrow confines of interpretation of the linguistic meaning text based on the assumption that the …

The Last Straw: The Department Of Justice's Privilege Waiver Policy And The Death Of Adversarial Justice In Criminal Investigations Of Corporations, Julie R. O'Sullivan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The white-collar criminal defense bar has never been reticent to complain about U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) policies that threaten its clients or the viability of its practice. But nothing--at least in the author's twenty-plus years of involvement in white-collar issues--has consumed the bar as much as the threats posed to the corporate attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine. While commentators have identified a variety of assaults on these protections, the bar is most vocally outraged by the DOJ policy, pursuant to which, it charges, federal prosecutors regularly insist that corporations waive these protections to secure cooperation credit, declination of criminal …

Does Doj's Privilege Waiver Policy Threaten The Rationales Underlying The Attorney-Client Privilege And Work Product Doctrine? A Preliminary "No", Julie R. O'Sullivan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

According to white-collar defense practitioners, the demise of the corporate attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine is imminent. While a variety of assaults have been identified, by far the most oft-cited culprit is the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), whose prosecutors, it is charged, have routinely insisted that corporations waive these protections to secure cooperation credit and declination of criminal action against the corporate actor and/or consideration at sentencing. DOJ has, by and large, vigorously defended its policies in this regard. Congress now threatens to inject itself into the debate: legislation entitled the "Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act" has been introduced …

The Inevitability Of Conscience: A Response To My Critics, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay by Professor David Luban is written in response to critics of his book, Legal Ethics and Human Dignity.

In part I Professor Luban addresses the primacy that he assigns conscience over the professional role and focuses mainly on the arguments of his critics, Professors Norman Spaulding and W. Bradley Wendel. Part II explores the challenge of pluralism, replying primarily to Professors Katherine Kruse, Spaulding, and Wendel. Part III, in response to Professors Kruse and William Simon, elaborates on the concept of human dignity. Part IV discusses institutions and ethics, focusing on Professors Susan Carle and Simon. The …

Dual Regulation, Collaborative Management, Or Layered Federalism: Can Cooperative Federalism Models From Other Laws Save Our Public Lands?, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

To realize the goals of conservation biology and ecosystem management, the institutions that govern these systems must be able to work together harmoniously, across political boundary lines and into a biologically uncertain future. The rigidity of the current public lands model creates substantial barriers to the achievement of these goals.

This article's working premise is that unless the current governance structure for the management of public lands changes, the political conflicts over their use and management will continue to blight their future, just as it has marred their past. Further, failing to adapt the management of public lands to our …

Time To Start Over On Deferred Compensation, Michael Doran

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Writing good regulations--"good" in the sense of promoting the public interest--always presents challenges. Regulators must hit a small but important target where private conduct is brought within appropriate government control, but unnecessary compliance burdens and other deadweight costs are minimized. Even if they see the government's objectives clearly, regulators often have only a limited understanding of the underlying private activities. Moreover, regulators may be unaware of how their rules disrupt or distort those activities in socially harmful ways.

Regulators occasionally hit the target exactly. More often, they miss--though not by an intolerably wide margin (good enough for government work, as …

After The Reasonable Man: Getting Over The Subjectivity Objectivity Question, Victoria Nourse

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article challenges the conventional notion of the “reasonable man.” It argues that we make a category mistake when we adopt the metaphor of a human being as the starting point for analysis of the criminal law and instead offers an alternate approach based on heuristic theory, reconceiving the reasonable man as a heuristic that serves as the site for debate over majoritarian norms. The article posits that the debate over having a purely subjective standard and a purely objective standard obscures the commonsense necessity of having a hybrid standard, one which takes into account the characteristics of a particular …

Time To Start Over On Deferred Compensation, Michael Doran

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Government regulators would do well to follow simple heuristics like that. Writing good regulations--"good" in the sense of promoting the public interest--always presents challenges. Regulators must hit a small but important target where private conduct is brought within appropriate government control, but unnecessary compliance burdens and other deadweight costs are minimized. Even if they see the government's objectives clearly, regulators often have only a limited understanding of the underlying private activities. Moreover, regulators may be unaware of how their rules disrupt or distort those activities in socially harmful ways.

Regulators occasionally hit the target exactly. More often, they miss--though not …

Moral Conflict And Conflicting Liberties, Chai R. Feldblum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The authors' goal in this chapter is to surface some of the commonalities between belief liberty and identity liberty and to offer some public policy suggestions for what to do when these liberties conflict. She first wants to make transparent the conflict that she believes exists between laws intended to protect the liberty of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people so that they may live lives of dignity and integrity and the religious beliefs of some individuals whose conduct is regulated by such laws. The author believes those who advocate for LGBT equality have downplayed the impact of such …

The Carbonatite-Hosted Apatite Deposit Of Jacupiranga, Se Brazil: Styles Of Mineralization, Ore Characterization And Association With Mineral Processing, Paula Regina Alves

Masters Theses

"The carbonatite-hosted apatite deposit of Jacupiranga is located in southeastern Brazil. The major styles of apatite mineralization are veins or veinlets, small pods or patches, disseminated apatite, and massive aggregates (locally). The concentration of apatite involves grinding of the carbonatite, removal of magnetite with a magnet drum, size classification with cyclones, and flotation to suppress carbonates and collect apatite. Samples of carbonatite were collected from more recent exposures of the mine and drill holes. This study utilized a variety of microscopy methods, namely transmitted and reflected light, cathodoluminescence (CL), and scanning electron microscopy (with wavelength-dispersive spectrometers for mineral compositions)"--Abstract, page …

Business Risk In Early Design: An Approach, Rahul Basavaraj Patil

Masters Theses

"The Business Risk in Early Design (B-RED) method is a tool used to determine the potential risks in business, in the early business development stages. In order to launch a successful business in today's competitive market environment, the business should equip itself to face the risks involved in business. If the potential risks are identified even before the launch of the business, then there is an opportunity to avert risks with little or no impact to the budget and schedule. The B-RED method presented in this thesis helps entrepreneurs and people with little or no experience in business to identify …

Analysis Of Access-To-Space Missions Utilizing On-Board Energy Management And Entropic Analysis, Tyler Winter

Masters Theses

"The overall objective of this study is the thermodynamically consistent quantification of second-law and performance losses for vehicle configurations implemented or suggested for access-to-space missions and the development of the relationships between the mission entropy generation and overall mission performance. The detailed theory which allows thermodynamically rigorous loss accounting (entropy generation and direct relationship to vehicle performance) is developed and discussed for aerospace vehicles. A full vehicle trajectory code utilizing simplified models for multi-stage rockets and air-breathing propulsion systems is developed and validated specifically for use as a testbed for second law-based theory and concepts. Results are shown in which …

Image Analysis Techniques For Vertebra Anomaly Detection In X-Ray Images, Mohammed Das

Masters Theses

"In this research, imaging techniques are investigated for the analysis and detection of abnormalities in cervical and lumbar vertebrae. Detecting vertebra anomalies pertaining to osteoarthritis such as claw, traction and anterior osteophytes can aide in treatment plans for the patient. New size invariant features were developed for the detection of claw, traction and anterior osteophytes in cervical spine vertebrae. Using a K-means clustering and nearest centroid classification approach, the results were generated that were capable of discriminating cervical vertebrae for presence of anomalies related to osteophytes. The techniques developed can be integrated into systems based on querying spine images to …

Codes And Hypertext: The Intertextuality Of International And Comparative Law, Marylin J. Raisch

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The field of information studies reveals gaps in the literature of international and comparative law as part of interdisciplinary and textual studies. To illustrate the kind of theoretical and text-based work that could be done, this essay provides an example of such a study. Religious law texts, civil law codes, treaties and constitutional texts may provide a means to reveal the nature of hypertext as the new format for commentary. Margins used to be used for commentary, and now this can be done with hypertext and links in footnotes. Scholarly communication in general is now intertextual, and texts derive value …

A Running Start: Getting “Law Ready” During A Presidential Transition, James E. Baker

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

We are headed for our first wartime Presidential transition in forty years. The good news is that this has prompted uncommon attention to the process of transition. The bad news is that transitions are difficult in the best of circumstances; forewarned does not always equal prepared. The United States handles transitions well on a strategic level. Strategic continuity is found in the Constitution. Transition is also part of the rhythm of government. The intelligence community, for example, has a sound tradition of briefing candidates and Presidents-elect. However, there is tactical vulnerability. An outgoing administration may hesitate to initiate all but …

The Twenty Year Test: Principles For An Enduring Counterterrorism Legal Architecture, James E. Baker

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The United States faces three enduring terrorism-related threats. First, there is the realistic prospect of additional attacks in the United States including attacks using weapons of mass destruction (“WMD”). Second, in responding to this threat, we may undermine the freedoms that enrich our lives, the tolerance that marks our society, and the democratic values that define our government. Third, if we are too focused on terrorism, we risk losing sight of this century’s other certain threats as well as the capacity to respond to them, including the state proliferation of nuclear weapons, nation-state rivalry, pandemic disease, oil dependency, and environmental …

Torture And The Professions, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper examines the roles played by the learned professions in torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment carried out by the United States in the war on terrorism. It takes lawyers, physicians, psychologists, and anthropologists as its case studies. It originated as the keynote speech at the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics annual meeting in 2007.