Digital Commons Network^™

Gravitational Wave Recoil Oscillations Of Black Holes: Implications For Unified Models Of Active Galactic Nuclei, Stefanie Komossa, David Merritt

Articles

We consider the consequences of gravitational wave recoil for unified models of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Spatial oscillations of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) around the cores of galaxies following gravitational wave (GW) recoil imply that the SMBHs spend a significant fraction of time off-nucleus, at scales beyond that of the molecular obscuring torus. Assuming reasonable distributions of recoil velocities, we compute the off-core timescale of (intrinsically type-2) quasars. We find that roughly one-half of major mergers result in a SMBH being displaced beyond the torus for a time of 107.5 yr or more, comparable to quasar activity timescales. Since major …

Moral Intuitions And Organizational Culture, Milton C. Regan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Many efforts to understand and respond to a succession of corporate scandals over the last few years have underscored the importance of organizational culture in shaping the behavior of individuals. This focus reflects appreciation that even if an organization has adopted elaborate rules and policies designed to ensure legal compliance and ethical behavior, those pronouncements will be ineffective if other norms and incentives promote contrary conduct. Responding to the call for creating and sustaining an ethical culture in organizations requires appreciating the subtle ways in which various characteristics of an organization may work in tandem or at cross-purposes in shaping …

The Bridge Volume 31 Number 2

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Negotiating Reality With Anekdoty: Soviet Vs. Post-Soviet Humor Lore, Daniela S. Hristova

Russian Language Journal

As a genre, anekdoty have been among the most popular oral narratives in the Soviet as well as post-Soviet era.2 Similar to other folkloric and literary genres, the post-Soviet social and linguistic liberalization has had an impact on Russian humor lore, but to a much lesser degree than it might seem on the surface. Since effective humor narratives impart laughter by way of reacting to significant sociopolitical phenomena, the changed economic and ideological reality in post- Soviet Russia fostered paradigmatic classes of anekdoty that feature new protagonists. The question, however, is whether what made a Soviet anekdot funny differs from …

Hurricane Effects On South Florida Water Management System: A Case Study Of Hurricane Wilma Of October 2005

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

An unprecedented eight hurricanes (Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma) affected South Florida in 2004 and 2005. These storms resulted in high property losses, high rainfall, high surface water flows, rise in lake water levels and damage to water management infrastructure. The last storm to hit was Hurricane Wilma which passed through the central section of South Florida from the west to the east as a Category 2 hurricane with gust wind speed as high as 180 km h^-1 and widely affected the area. Apart from the extensive costly wind damage, rainfall from Wilma affected the …

Online Genealogical Research Resources, Howard C. Bybee

BYU Studies

More than three million Internet sites offer their services to genealogists and family historians for research. This truly exhausting array of Internet sites makes online genealogical research more convenient and more confusing for beginners and professionals. Keeping up with innovations can easily distract an Internet researcher. Individuals, family organizations, corporations, nonprofit organizations, libraries, and governments continually create more online content, much of it useful for family history and genealogical research. What we used to call genealogy has morphed into family history, and the web serves as both the scholarly publisher and the vanity press for primary and secondary sources used …

The Current State Of Primary Historical Soures Online, Richard Hacken

BYU Studies

As a vital first step in substantiating and documenting historical details, there can be no substitute for a primary source derived from as close and contemporaneous an observation of a given event as possible. A historian unable to consult authoritative and honest voices from the past can verify little but is left to tinker with tradition and supposition. Until quite recently, the main mode of examining a primary source has been one on one—one scholar face-to-face with one original document in one physical space. Historiography has been slowed by travel expenses, time constraints, vagaries in obtaining permission, and other logistical …

Values: The Invisible ‘Ante’ In Information Literacy Learning?, Benjamin R. Harris

Library Faculty Research

Purpose: The ACRL Competency Standards related to learners’ values and value systems has not been interrogated in relation to information literacy theory or practice. This paper analyzes the inclusion of values in these and other guidelines and seeks evidence of the development of this topic in the literature.

Design/Methodology/Approach: A comparative review of information literacy standards related to values/value systems was conducted. An analysis of the literature engaging issues related to personal or community values related to information was completed. Suggestions for continued work were based on these findings.

Findings: Competency standards related to values/value systems are out of place …

Laboratory-Scale Injector Instability Mode Assessment, Robert E. Byrd Jr.

Theses

No abstract provided.

Recension Des Outils De Comparaison Des Solvants, Denis Bégin, Maximilien Debia, Michel Gérin

États de la question, rapports d’expertise et revues de littérature

De nombreux travailleurs sont quotidiennement exposés à divers solvants toxiques ou inflammables. La substitution des solvants constitue le moyen de prévention de choix. Elle consiste à remplacer les solvants indésirables par des produits ou des procédés moins dangereux. La comparaison des solvants de remplacement potentiellement utilisables est une étape cruciale et complexe de la démarche de substitution. L’objectif de ce travail était de recenser les outils disponibles (méthodes, logiciels) utilisés pour effectuer des comparaisons de solvants en prenant en compte les aspects sanitaire, sécuritaire, environnemental et technique d’un projet de substitution. La méthode utilisée a consisté en une revue de …

How Do Securities Laws Influence Affect, Happiness, & Trust?, Peter H. Huang

Publications

This Article advocates that securities regulators promulgate rules based upon taking into consideration their impacts upon investors' and others' affect, happiness, and trust. Examples of these impacts are consumer optimism, financial stress, anxiety over how thoroughly securities regulators deliberate over proposed rules, investor confidence in securities disclosures, market exuberance, social moods, and subjective well-being. These variables affect and are affected by traditional financial variables, such as consumer debt, expenditures, and wealth; corporate investment; initial public offerings; and securities market demand, liquidity, prices, supply, and volume. This Article proposes that securities regulators can and should evaluate rules based upon measures of …

The Intriguing Federalist Future Of Reproductive Rights, Scott A. Moss, Douglas M. Raines

Publications

As the decline of Roe v. Wade inspires renewed efforts to restrict federal constitutional abortion rights, the serious shortcomings of abortion rights advocates' strategies for preserving such rights will become increasingly apparent. Continued reliance on Roe is likely to fail with an increasingly unsympathetic Supreme Court. Even abortion rights supporters have begun to criticize the decision for weak reasoning, which is difficult to remedy at this late stage of federal abortion jurisprudence. Moreover, although autonomy and gender equality arguments for abortion rights would improve upon Roe's privacy rationale, such arguments would require abrogating substantial precedent and are, therefore, of limited …

Why And How To Tax Carbon, Michael Waggoner

Publications

Increased concern about possible global warming due to rising levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide ("CO2") suggests the need to control emissions of CO2. This article explores a system of revenue-neutral carbon taxes as a supplement or alternative to other CO2 control systems such as subsidies, regulation, and cap-and-trade. A system of carbon taxation should be, the Article suggests, sufficiently fairer and simpler and more efficient than the other possible systems of CO2 control and that it merits serious consideration. Because the carbon tax that is suggested would be revenue neutral, it should be politically acceptable. Problems with …

Common Ground: The Case For Collaboration Between Anti-Poverty Advocates And Public Interest Intellectual Property Advocates, Deborah J. Cantrell

Publications

This article examines the previously unappreciated common ground between scholars and advocates who work to eliminate poverty, and scholars and advocates who work on intellectual property issues in the public interest. The article first illustrates how scholars and advocates working on poverty and on public interest intellectual property have relied on rights talk to frame their social movements. Under the conventional narrative, the framing has accentuated differences between the movements. As the Article explains, the two movements share core principles and should recognize shared interests and goals. By developing a new model of how to view public interest movements, the …

The Next Frontier For Network Neutrality, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

The challenge for policymakers evaluating calls to institute some form of network neutrality regulation is to bring reasoned analysis to bear on a topic that continues to generate more heat than light and that many telecommunications companies appear to believe will just fade away. Over the fall of 2007, the hopes of broadband providers that broadband networks could escape any form of regulatory oversight were dealt a blow when it was revealed that Comcast had degraded the experience of some users of Bittorent (a peer-to-peer application) and engaged in an undisclosed form of network management. This incident, as well as …

Greenwashed?: Developers, Environmental Consciousness, And The Case Of Playa Vista, Matthew J. Parlow

Faculty Publications

While many businesses are becoming greener, development corporations may have the greatest incentive to integrate environmental values into their everyday business practices. With the effects of urbanization, suburbanization, and sprawl, cities are increasingly requiring environmental mitigation measures for approval of new development. In response, some development corporations may become greenwashed to obtain discretionary land use approvals to build their proposed developments. Others may build greener developments to meet the market demand from environmentally conscious buyers. An increasing number of developers, however, adopt environmentally responsible business practices for, at least in significant part, altruistic reasons. A prime example of this phenomenon …

From Engineering Electromagnetics To Electromagnetic Engineering: Using Computational Electromagnetics For Synthesis Problems, Anton G. Tijhuis, Martijn C. Van Beurden, Bastiaan P. De Hon, Hubregt J. Visser

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this paper, a two-stage approach is proposed for using computational electromagnetics in antenna engineering. First, stochastic optimization techniques are used in combination with approximate models. Second, line-search techniques are combined with full-wave modeling. For the first stage, we show an illustrative example. The second stage is considered in detail; both the acceleration of the underlying field computations and the implementation of the optimization are discussed.

A Summary Of Recent Developments On Metamaterial-Based And Metamaterial-Inspired Efficient Electrically Small Antennas, Aycan Erentok, Richard W. Ziolkowski

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This paper summarizes our recent research efforts to realize efficient electrically small antenna (EESA) systems based on ideal analytical and numerical metamaterial-based antenna systems, and physically realized metamaterial-inspired antenna designs. Our theoretical and numerical studies of the radiation and resonance behaviors of the proposed metamaterial-based EESA systems, as well as our efforts to conceptualize structures which might be used to build them, have led to the discovery of several realizable metamaterial-inspired EESA systems. The measurement results confirm the numerical performance predictions.

Narcissism, Over-Optimism, Fear, Anger, And Depression: The Interior Lives Of Corporate Leaders, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Enigma Of Standing Doctrine In Texas Courts, William V. Dorsaneo Iii

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article examines federal and Texas standing doctrine and makes recommendations for the principled application of the traditional non-jurisdictional approach of the procedural defense of standing under Texas law for common law claims and statutory rights of action and for the concomitant restriction of the jurisdictional aspects of standing to litigation brought by private persons and governmental units to enforce public rights or compel the performance of public duties. This Article also explains how the concepts of standing and capacity can be reconciled and harmonized.

The Quest For Number One In College Football: The Revised Bowl Championship Series, Antitrust, And The Winner Take All Syndrome, C. Paul Rogers Iii

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Beyond the varying opinions and critiques of the BCS, a more fundamental issue regarding the system is whether it is legal. Specifically, does it violate the antitrust laws? This is not a specious question. The Senate Judiciary Committee conducted hearings on the legality of the BCS in October 2003, and the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection conducted similar hearings in December 2005. Another important aspect of the BCS is its prominent place as a visual symptom of America's winner-take-all society. Is extreme competition, where everyone strives to be the best but very few actually achieve that goal, …

Voluntarism, Vulnerability, And Criminal Law: A Response To Professors Hills And O'Hear, Ethan J. Leib, Dan Markel, Jennifer M. Collins

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Response addresses the criticisms of our project by Professors Rick Hills and Michael O'Hear. Before we address those challenges, we first want to reiterate our gratitude to the B.U. Law Review for hosting an exchange based on our article, Punishing Family Status (forthcoming BU LR, December 2008), and to Professors Hills and O'Hear for their careful and subtle analysis of that article.

Additionally, it's worth recapitulating what our bottom-line conclusions are so we can better see if there are any practical disagreements with our critics. Summarizing quickly: we support decriminalization in the cases of parental responsibility laws (based on …

Ndsu Magazine : Spring 2008

NDSU Magazine

No abstract provided.

Polymerically Modified Layered Silicates: An Effective Route To Nanocomposites, Jinguo Zhang, Evangelos Manias, Charles A. Wilkie

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Polymer/clay nanocomposites have been under an extensive investigation for about 15 years. Traditional methods to modify the clay are usually limited to small organic cations, preferably containing long alkyl chain(s), which are exchanged with the inorganic cations in the clay gallery. This article provides a comprehensive review on the strategies for clay modification using polymeric surfactants or polycations: from the synthesis of such surfactants, through the preparation of the polymerically modified clays, and to the fabrication of the respective polymer nanocomposites and their properties.

Choice Of Law In Veil Piercing Litigation: Why Courts Should Discard The Internal Affairs Rule And Embrace General Choice Of Law Principles, Gregory S. Crespi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

When a corporate creditor seeks to "pierce the corporate veil" to hold an individual shareholder personally liable for the corporation's obligations, a question is often presented as to which state's body of law should be applied to resolve the controversy. Most courts currently regard such a controversy as primarily an "internal affair" between the corporation and the shareholder that should be resolved by law of the state of incorporation. This article argues that this is an undesirable result that is based primarily upon an incorrect judicial interpretation of Section 307 of the Restatement (Second) of Conflicts of Law, and that …

The Curious Appellate Judge: Ethical Limits On Independent Research, Elizabeth G. Thornburg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Appellate judges in the twenty-first century find themselves in a world in which litigation - both civil and criminal - involves a vast array of complex and technical factual disputes. These lawsuits, in turn, may cause judges to seek a greater level of expertise in order to deal competently with the evidence that will be relevant to the disputes. At the same time, advances in communication technology have brought the world's library to the courthouse, requiring no onerous trips across town or index searches but only the click of a mouse. This combination of felt need and ready access has …

Judicial Hellholes, Lawsuit Climates, And Bad Social Science: Lessons From West Virginia, Elizabeth G. Thornburg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) was founded in 1986 by the American Medical Association and American Council of Engineering Companies, and now has hundreds of corporate members. Every year, ATRA releases a list of Judicial Hellholes: court systems alleged to be unfair to defendants. The name is definitely catchy: the thought of a judicial hellhole invokes images of Kafka, Satan and the Queen of Hearts. No wonder ATRA's hellhole campaign has embedded itself in media vocabulary. And no wonder state courts and state legislatures bend over backwards to get out from under the hellhole label. Similarly, the U.S. Chamber …

Release And Removal Of Microcystins From Microcystis During Disinfection Treatments, Jie Ding

Masters Theses

"The presence of algal toxins, or cyanotoxins, in surface water has been increasingly reported. These highly hazardous toxins are potential threat to both human health and animals by contaminating drinking water sources over the world. In this research project, inactivation of Microcystis aeruginosa cells and release and removal of intracellular microcystins during several oxidative and physical treatments was studied. The results of this study show that chlorine dioxide, sonication, low salinity and quick blending with tissuemiser caused immediate release of microcystin-LR to water after treatment. No significant increase of toxin level was observed after treatment with free chlorine, ozone, permanganate, …

Electromagnetic Modeling Of Distributed Coaxial Cable Crack Sensors In Reinforced Concrete Members, Mei Wang

Masters Theses

"Distributed crack sensors were recently developed with coaxial cables that are composed of inner and outer conductors as well as dielectric layer in between. These sensors were designed based on the change in topology of the cable outer conductor structure under strain effects. Various tests of reinforced concrete (RC) beams and columns indicated that the newly designed sensors are 10~50 times more sensitive than commercial cables to the longitudinal elongation applied on their cable structures. The spatial resolution of the sensors is approximately 50 mm. Limited numerical simulations with the transmission line theory and the finite difference time domain model …

A Systematic Approach To Project Portfolio Selection For Economic Development In Municipalities: A Case Study In Vienna, Missouri, Amanda Danielle Alpaugh

Masters Theses

"Economic development is essential for the survival of all municipalities in the United States. Economic growth, created through project implementation, brings new capital into municipalities by increasing the tax base. Smaller municipalities often struggle to implement projects that promote economic growth. These municipalities run into problems because they lack resources to hire an economic consultant and capabilities to independently complete the strategic planning process. This thesis describes an easy-to-use and easy-to-implement systematic ten-step approach to project portfolio selection for economic growth within smaller municipalities...The ten-step approach was employed in a case study performed in Vienna, Missouri. The case study involved …