Digital Commons Network^™

Usury Law And The Christian Right: Faith-Based Political Power And The Geography Of American Payday Loan Regulation, Steven M. Graves, Christopher L. Peterson

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ferpa In The Twenty-First Century: Failure To Effectively Regulate Privacy For All Students, Lynn M. Daggett

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Immersive Learning Environments In Parallel Universes: Learning Through Second Life, Ken Haycock, Jeremy Kemp

Faculty Publications

Opportunities for more creative and innovative environments for learners continue to develop through distance education. Especially at the post-secondary level, these immersive environments can involve high-end video game technologies to create multi-user virtual worlds that can both replicate and far extend physical classrooms. At San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science, courses offered in and through Second Life develop both competence and comfort in working with library users. Several useful lessons have also been learned.

Evaluation Of The New Jersey Digital Highway, Judy Jeng

Faculty Publications

The aim of this research is to study the usefulness of the New Jersey Digital Highway (NJDH, www.njdigitalhigh way.org) and its portal structure. The NJDH intends to provide an immersive and user-centered portal for New Jersey history and culture. The research recruited 145 participants and used a Web-based questionnaire that contained three sections: for everyone, for educators, and for curators. The feedback on the usefulness of the NJDH was positive and the portal structure was favorable. The research uncovered several reasons why some collections did not want to or could not participate. The findings also suggested priorities for further development. …

University Of South Carolina Discovery Day 2008, University Of South Carolina

Discovery Day Abstracts

No abstract provided.

International Courts Committee, Yulia Andreeva, Lee M. Caplan, Timothy J. Feighery, Carl Magnus Nesser, Ucheora O. Onwuamaegbu, Cesare P.R. Romano

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Russia And Ukraine, Sergey Budylin, Franklin E. Gill, Olena Kibenko

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Towards A Land Conservation Ethic In Zimbabwe: An Ethical And Religio-Cultural Analysis Of Land Conservation Policies And Practices In Communal Areas, Maaraidzo Elizabeth Mutambara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study I analyze the problem of land degradation in Zimbabwe's Communal Areas (CAs) from the viewpoint of the Shona of Zimbabwe with the aim to formulate a land conservation ethic that motivates people in CAs to promote ecological stability. The Shona in CAs are proximate agents as well as victims of environmental degradation. The imperative to survive in a situation characterized by drastic inequalities in the allocation of land and an exploitative global economic system, forces them to engage in unsustainable land use practices. Land conservation policies in Zimbabwe marginalize Shona values and norms, especially as they relate …

Ashes To Ashes: Comparative Law Regarding Survivors’ Disputes Concerning Cremation And Cremated Remains, Eloisa Rodriguez-Dod

Faculty Publications

One should plan for unassuming post-mortem issues, as most state laws do not provide a complete framework when there is no testamentary instruction by the deceased. Judicial determination is often needed, however reported opinions are scarce. Final disposition issues also arise in foreign law. Spain has no civil code regarding disposition of a deceased but delegates its funerary laws to local governments and autonomous communities, while the French have established an order of priority for funerary decisions and provide for a judicial determination and stay of the funerary process in case of dispute.

The author gives a brief history of …

Challenges Of In Situ Conservation Of Crop Wild Relatives, Vernon Hilton Heywood

Turkish Journal of Botany

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) will gain in importance as changing climates put both traditional and advanced cultivars under increasing stress, leading to a need for plant breeding to produce new varieties able to grow under the new climate regimes. Traditionally, the approach to the conservation of CWRs has been ex situ - the collection and maintenance of seed accessions in national, regional, and international germplasm banks, supplemented by field genebanks for species with recalcitrant seeds. More recently the need to maintain CWRs in their natural habitats (in situ) has been advocated. This is very different from on-farm conservation of traditional …

Nebraska Cooperative Fish And Wildlife Research Unit—Usgs: Report Of Activities October 2007 – October 2008

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Annual Reports

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . 1
PERSONNEL AND COOPERATORS . 3
Unit Personnel . 3
Coordinating Committee Members . 5
Cooperators. 6
MILESTONES . 9
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS . 10
THESES AND DISERTATIONS . 10
PROJECTS IN FISHERY SCIENCE . 13
Geographic Trends in Contamination of Nebraska’s Surface Waters as Indexed by Sex Steroids of Common Carp . 15
Impact of White Perch on Walleye at Branched Oak and Pawnee Reservoirs . 16
Population Assessment of Channel Catfish in Nebraska . 17
Predators of White Perch at Branched Oak and Pawnee Reservoirs . 18
Recruitment of Walleye and White Bass in Irrigation …

Power Laws, Discontinuities And Regional City Size Distributions, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, Colin M. Gallagher

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Urban systems are manifestations of human adaptation to the natural environment. City size distributions are the expression of hierarchical processes acting upon urban systems. In this paper, we test the entire city size distributions for the southeastern and southwestern United States (1990), as well as the size classes in these regions for power law behavior. We interpret the differences in the size of the regional city size distributions as the manifestation of variable growth dynamics dependent upon city size. Size classes in the city size distributions are snapshots of stable states within urban systems in flux.

Historic Resource Study: Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Gail Evans-Hatch

United States National Park Service: Publications

As steward of many of the United States' most important cultural and natural resources, the National Park Service (NPS) is required to create background documents along with specific plans aimed at managing and protecting these resources for the enjoyment of present and future generations. An important aspect of managing cultural landscapes requires knowing the past of those landscapes. A historic resource study (HRS) project involves researching and presenting the history of a park. A HRS also attempts to identify and evaluate the importance of all cultural resources within that park. Researching and presenting the broader historical context of a park …

The Honors College Phenomenon, Peter C. Sederberg

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs

CONTENTS

Introduction Peter C. Sederberg

Part I: Background
Chapter 1: The Genesis of an Idea Ted Humphrey
Chapter 2: Characteristics of the Contemporary Honors College: A Descriptive Analysis of a Survey of NCHC Member Colleges Peter C. Sederberg

Part II: Alternative Models
Chapter 3: The Honors College in a Two-Year College Setting: Miami Dade College Alexandria Holloway
Chapter 4: The Multi-Collegiate University Setting: Kent State University Larry Andrews
Chapter 5: The Freestanding Honors College: Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University Nancy Kason Poulson
Chapter 6: You Say Tomato; I say Tomahto: Honors College? Who Needs It? Rosalie C. Otero …

Shatter The Glassy Stare: Implementing Experiential Learning In Higher Education: A Companion Piece To Place As Text: Approaches To Active Learning, Peter A. Machonis

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Bernice Braid
Semesters Institute Facilitators
2007–2008 Honors Semester Committee Members

Introduction
Introduction to City as Text™ and Overview of Contents
Joy Ochs, You’re not Typical Professors, Are You?

CHAPTER 1: CAMPUS AS TEXT
Anita R. Guynn, Place as Text: Town and Gown
Mary Lou Pfeiffer, From Cigarette Butts to the “Stacks” and Beyond
Joy Ochs, Campus as Text: a Faculty Workshop

CHAPTER 2: LOCAL NEIGHBORHOODS
Janice Allen, The Lower Ninth Ward: First Impressions, Final Realizations, Future Plans
Peter A. Machonis, Little Haiti as Text

CHAPTER 3: TRAVEL COURSES
Joy Ochs, Adapting an Honors Pedagogy to a …

Whooping Crane Collisions With Power Lines: An Issue Paper, Thomas V. Stehn, Tom Wassenich

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Collision with power lines is the greatest source of mortality for fledged whooping cranes (Grus americana) in the Aransas-Wood Buffalo population (AWBP) that migrate between the Northwest Territories, Canada to the Texas coast. This paper compiles 45 documented whooping crane mortalities from power line strikes in North America and provides known information on crane / power line interactions. A map of the AWBP whooping crane migration corridor was derived with 100 and 200-mile wide corridors delineated showing the location of known mortalities. Recommendations are provided to try to reduce this major threat facing whooping cranes.

The Leaning Object: April 2008, John C. Owens

Leading Object

Perspectives, Newly-opened center allows for closer examination of quilts, McVey named director of Vet Center, Lodl named assistant dean of UNL extension, Ag lending, Navy give Richard Hahn a dual career, Celebration of Success marks CASNR enrollment growth, Follow-up study shows cost of turning switchgrass to ethanol,UNL celebrates launch of eXtension, Four receive OEA Awards, Author addresses children and nature, Kudo Award given to Adams, UAAD award given

Turning Today’S Students Into Tomorrow’S Stars, Aleidine Kramer Moeller, Janine Theiler, Silvia Betta

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Selected Papers from the 2008 Central States Conference

Adeiline J. Moeller, Editor

Janine Theiler, Assistant Editor

Silvia Betta, Assistant Editor

1 The Important Work of Engaging Our 21st Century Learners — Toni Theisen

2 A Model for Teaching Cross-Cultural Perspectives — Susan M. Knight

3 The Stealth Approach to Critical Thinking in Beginning Spanish Classes — Deanna H. Mihaly

4 Teaching About the French Heritage of the Midwest — Randa Duvick

5 Integrating Russian Cuisine with Russian Language and Culture Classes — Marat Sanatullov

6 Preparing a Fotonovela in the Foreign Language Classroom — Carol Eiber

7 Engaging Students through …

Evolutionary History Of Pacific Salmon In Dynamic Environments, Robin Waples, George R. Pess, Tim Beechie

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Contemporary evolution of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) is best viewed in the context of the evolutionary history of the species and the dynamic ecosystems they inhabit. Speciation was complete by the late Miocene, leaving c. six million years for intraspecific diversification. Following the most recent glacial maximum, large areas became available for recolonization. Current intraspecific diversity is thus the product of recent evolution overlaid onto divergent historical lineages forged during recurrent episodes of Pleistocene glaciation. In northwestern North America, dominant habitat features have been relatively stable for the past 5000 years, but salmon ecosystems remain dynamic because of disturbance …

Fifteen Years After ‘‘Wingspread’’—Environmental Endocrine Disrupters And Human And Wildlife Health: Where We Are Today And Where We Need To Go, Andrew K. Hotchkiss, Cynthia V. Rider, Chad R. Blystone, Vickie S. Wilson, Phillip C. Hartig, Gerald T. Ankley, Paul M. Foster, Clark L. Gray, L. Earl Gray

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

In 1991, a group of expert scientists at a Wingspread work session on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) concluded that ‘‘Many compounds introduced into the environment by human activity are capable of disrupting the endocrine system of animals, including fish, wildlife, and humans. Endocrine disruption can be profound because of the crucial role hormones play in controlling development.’’ Since that time, there have been numerous documented examples of adverse effects of EDCs in invertebrates, fish, wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. Hormonal systems can be disrupted by numerous different anthropogenic chemicals including antiandrogens, androgens, estrogens, AhR agonists, inhibitors of steroid hormone synthesis, antithyroid …

Intelligent Environmental Decision Support Systems, M. Sànchez-Marrè, K. Gibert, R. S. Sojda, J. P. Steyer, P. Struss, I. Rodríguez-Roda, J. Comas, V. Brilhante, E. A. Roehl

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Introduction
Complexity of environmental systems
New tools for a new paradigm
Intelligent Environmental Decision Support Systems (IEDSS)
IEDSS development
About Uncertainty Management
Temporal Reasoning
Featuring the problem
Approaches to temporal reasoning
Case-based reasoning for temporal reasoning
Geographic Information and Spatial Reasoning
Understanding spatial reasoning
Kriging and variants
Representing change/time steps/feedback loops
Middleware. blackboards and communication protocols
Multiagent systems
Evaluation of IEDSS and Benchmarking
Benchmarking
Conclusions and Future Trends

Influence Of Fipronil Compounds And Rice-Cultivation Land-Use Intensity On Macroinvertebrate Communities In Streams Of Southwestern Louisiana, Usa, Scott V. Mize, Stephen D. Porter, Dennis K. Demcheck

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Laboratory tests of fipronil and its degradation products have revealed acute lethal toxicity at very low concentrations (LC₅₀) of <0.5 μg/L to selected aquatic macroinvertebrates. In streams draining basins with intensive rice cultivation in southwestern Louisiana, USA, concentrations of fipronil compounds were an order of magnitude larger than the LC₅₀. The abundance (p=-0.64; p=0.015) and taxa richness (r²=0.515, p<0.005) of macroinvertebrate communities declined significantly with increases in concentrations of fipronil compounds and rice-cultivation land-use intensity. Macroinvertebrate community tolerance scores increased linearly (r²=0.442, p < 0.005) with increases in the percentage of rice cultivation in the basins, indicating increasingly degraded stream conditions. Similarly, macroinvertebrate community-tolerance scores increased rapidly as fipronil concentrations approached about 1 μg/L. Pesticide toxicity index determinations indicated that aquatic macroinvertebrates respond to a gradient of fipronil compounds in water although stream size and habitat cannot be ruled out as contributing influences.

Now & Then (Volume 24, Issue 01, 2008), Center Of Excellence For Appalachian Studies And Services, East Tennessee State University

Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine

Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine, Volume 24, Issue 01, published in 2008. The theme of this issue is Urbane. This issue examines the urban and cosmopolitan dimensions of Appalachian life, challenging the notion that the region is defined solely by rural traditions. Articles explore city culture, historic resorts, independent bookstores, intentional communities, and public arts initiatives, while also reflecting on places such as Pittsburgh, Asheville, Chattanooga, and Birmingham as centers of cultural exchange and innovation. Through essays, poetry, and features on music, food, and literature, the issue presents Appalachia as a region where urban life, cultural sophistication, and …

University Of Nebraska- Lincoln: Fact Book 2007-2008

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Administration: Reports, Papers, Publications, and Presentations

Fact Book Table of Contents

General Information

UNL Core Values .............................................................................. 4

Role and Mission Statement ............................................................. 5

Institutional & Professional Accreditations ..................................................... 8

UNL Organizational Chart ................................................................... 10

Student Credit Hours

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Fall & Spring Semester, by College, 5 Year Trend ................... 11

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Fall, by College, 5 Year Trend .................................................. 12

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Spring, By College, 5 Year Trend ............................................. 13

Summer Sessions Student Credit Hours ...................................................... 14

Retention, Degrees and Majors

UNL Student Retention & Graduation Rate Analysis ...................................... 15

Total Degrees Conferred by UNL Fiscal …

Norwegian Natural Dyeing: Art, Craft, Gender And Innovation - Natural Dyes As A Tradition In Norway, Mette Biering

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper describes how the knowledge about natural dyes survived the introduction of aniline dyes to Norway in the last quarter of the nineteenth-century. How this happened involved women, for there was a great campaign to keep the traditional colors alive for the continued use in woven cloth, coverlets, tapestries and folk costumes. At the beginning of the nineteenth century great efforts were made by women to restore and re-design traditional folk costumes; they were therefore in a position to keep the dye knowledge in the face of industrial competition. There was a country-wide search to gather dye recipes from …

The Quilt Index: Communicating Stories In The Stitches, Mary Worrall, Marsha Macdowell, Justine Richardson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Investigations into the historical, cultural and sociological roles of quilts have become a focus for scholars across a range of disciplines. Scores of grassroots state and regional quilt documentation projects have focused on documenting quilts’ personal and community contexts, as well as capturing the history of their production, ownership, use, and describing their physical appearance. Enabling both scholars and a broad general audience to access this information is central to furthering the role that these ubiquitous textiles can play in such scholarship.  The Quilt Index (www.quiltindex.org) is a comprehensive, digital library that provides access to extensive documentation on quilts and …

Expressions Of Power – Luxury Textiles From Early Medieval Northern Europe, Sonja Marzinzik

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper focuses on luxury textiles from archaeological and non-archaeological contexts in northern Europe from approximately the 5th to 11th centuries A.D. Due to the preservation bias against organics in the archaeological record, today we only catch glimpses of the crucial role that textiles played in the Germanic world. Careful analysis of often minute remains of textiles, supplemented by examination of historical sources underlines their importance. Hence, textiles are not only a source of knowledge for early medieval social and economic relations but they are also markers of long-distance exchange between the North and the Mediterranean and beyond.

Select examples …

Mud And Dirt: Australian Soil As Self-Expression, Di Mcpherson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

I was born in Tasmania, Australia’s island state, and that geographical reality is the primary feature of my art work and my dyeing. Although I have also lived and worked in Britain, and in Africa, the natural world around me has colored my aesthetic sense. Dye research and conference participation, and dye workshops I have taught and attended in Canada, the USA, Japan, India, and elsewhere, have helped me integrate my artistic ideas with the ecology of the natural environment which sustains the organisms I use for dyeing. That environment also sustains and supports me, as a fiber artist, physically, …

“I’Ve Got A Feeling We’Re Not In Kansas, Anymore:” Cross-Cultural Design In Peruvian Connection’S Textiles, Margarete Ordon

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Peruvian Connection, a high-end clothing company, has built its reputation on selling clothes made from finely crafted textiles using luxury fibers.  Self-consciously marketing itself as a celebration of cross-cultural exchange, the company appropriates designs from Andean textiles and fuses them with elements from Western fashion and other global textile practices.  Through transnational and transcultural design, production, and distribution, the company simultaneously stresses distance and connection, difference and sameness, in a constant tug of war over the designs, skills, labor, materials, and products.  In exploring Peruvian Connection’s cultivation of its cross-cultural textiles, I analyze how the company promotes the design, production, …

A New Start: Re-Thinking The Display And Interpretation Of African Textiles At The Detroit Institute Of Arts, Howard Sutcliffe

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In November 2007 the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) will open its doors to the public after several years of renovation and rebuilding.  In a radical departure from the traditional chronological and geographical approach to art history the new DIA will provide its visitors with an innovative experience that focuses as much on the stories and connections behind the art as the art itself.  Textiles from the DIA’s encyclopedic collection will play a large and integral role in this new vision, from European tapestry to Native American beadwork textiles will feature prominently in almost every new gallery.

This paper will …