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Challenges For The Protection Of Fundamental Rights In The Eu At The Time Of The Entry Into Force Of The Lisbon Treaty, Jacqueline Dutheil De La Rochere

Fordham International Law Journal

Concomitant with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on December 1, 2009, many of the alleged weaknesses of the mechanisms of protection of fundamental rights are in the process of being addressed: the Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union ("Charter") has acquired binding force, the European Union is due to accede to the European Convention of Human Rights, and the Fundamental Rights Agency ("Agency") has been established as a European Union ("EU") body in charge of monitoring the correct implementation of fundamental rights throughout the Union. This Essay will address three main questions. First, a …

The Domestic Causes And International Consequences Of The U.S. Government’S Sugar Price Support Programs, Shannon Anderson

Pepperdine Policy Review

Life-long farmer Thomas Jefferson prioritized agriculture in his presidential administration because he envisioned a nation of yeoman farmers laboring upon the fertile New World soil, nourishing the nascent American society with the food they produced. Today, nearly two hundred years removed from the lifetime of Thomas Jefferson, the goal of supporting this noble profession has spawned several agricultural price support programs. However, these numerous programs seem to have a convoluted rationale and, at best, questionable justifications in today‘s neo-liberal trade climate. In fact, they seem to fly in the face of both classical Liberal economic theories and the American tradition …

Teacher Investment In Learner Identity, Jenelle Reeves

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

From a sociocultural perspective, teacher identity is constructed in relation to others, including other teachers and students. Drawing on positioning theory and the concept of investment, this study analyzed the case of a secondary English teacher who negotiated his teacher identity in relation to English language learners (ELLs). Findings indicated that the teacher made an investment in ELLs’ identity by positioning them as like any other student. The desired return on the teacher’s investment was a strengthened self-positioning as a natural and highly competent teacher. The implications of teacher investment in learner identity for teacher practice, learner identity construction, and …

A Sociocultural Perspective On Esol Teachers’ Linguistic Knowledge For Teaching, Jenelle Reeves

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

Within a sociocultural frame, teacher knowledge finds its origin in the entirety of teachers’ lived experiences, not just those experiences within teacher preparation. Teachers’ biographies, including their experiences as language learners, shape their knowledge base for teaching English to speakers of other languages (ESOL). This study interrogates one element of that knowledge base: teachers’ linguistic knowledge for teaching. Cases studies of two early career ESOL teachers with similar language learner biographies, that of first language (L1) Center English speakers with limited second language (L2) learning experienee, provided insight into the ways participants’ language biographies informed their linguistic knowledge for teaching. …

Performance Hero, Craig Derksen, Darren Hudson Hick

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The Guitar Hero series of video games and their spin-offs have provided millions with a new way to interact with music. These games are not only culturally significant but also philosophically significant. Based on the way that these games allow people to interact with music we must decide that either playing a song in one of these games can be a legitimate performance of that song or that our current accounts of performance are inadequate.

Unlimited Additions To Limited Editions, Christy Mag

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

In this paper I target the relationship between two prints that are roughly qualitatively identical and share a causal history. Is one an artwork if and only if the other is an artwork? To answer this, I propose two competing principles. The first claims that certain intentional relations must be shared by the prints (e.g., editioned prints vs. non-editioned prints). The second appeals only to minimal print ontology, claiming that the two prints need only be what I call 'relevantly similar' to one other. In the end, I endorse the second principle. There are no trumping features over and above …

Administrative Detention Of Terrorists: Why Detain, And Detain Whom?, Matthew C. Waxman

Faculty Scholarship

This article aims to reframe the administrative detention debate, not to resolve it. In doing so, however, it aspires to advance the discussion by highlighting the critical substantive choices embedded in calls for legal procedural reform and by pointing the way toward appropriately tailored legislative options. It argues that the current debate’s focus on procedural and institutional questions of how to detain suspected terrorists has been allowed to overshadow the questions of why administratively detain, and whom to detain. Not only are the answers to these questions at least as important as the procedural rules in safeguarding and balancing liberty …

Does Microcredit Facilitate Socioeconomic Development?, Arundhati Pal

Pepperdine Policy Review

In order to assess the effectiveness of microcredit on socioeconomic development, one must evaluate current microcredit loans and practices. The question that must be asked is to what extent are socioeconomic opportunities expanded through supplemental income from microcredit loans? To answer this question, measurable indicators that display characteristics of socioeconomic development need to be utilized. The following indicators are often used in impact assessments as representative of such development: investment in higher education, socioeconomic empowerment of women, access and utilization of health services, and prioritization of savings and investment. This paper will identify the observed deficiencies of the aforementioned indicators …

Resource Constrained Distributed Constraint Optimization Using Resource Constraint Free Pseudo-Tree, Toshihiro Matsui, Marius C. Silaghi, Katsutoshi Hirayama, Makoto Yokoo, Hiroshi Matsuo

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Cooperative problem solving with shared resources is important in practical multi-agent systems. Resource constraints are necessary to handle practical problems such as distributed task scheduling with limited resource availability. As a fundamental formalism for multi-agent cooperation, the Distributed Constraint Optimization Problem (DCOP) has been investigated. With DCOPs, the agent states and the relationships between agents are formalized into a constraint optimization problem. However, in the original DCOP framework, constraints for resources that are consumed by teams of agents are not well supported. A framework called Resource Constrained Distributed Constraint Optimization Problem (RCDCOP) has recently been proposed. In RCDCOPs, a limit …

Application Of Sensor Fusion To Human Locomotor System, John Kweku Avor

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research study proposes a multi-sensor data fusion technique to determine the complex interactions between the sensory, muscular and mechanical components of the human locomotor systems (neuromechanics). The object in this work is to demonstrate the viability in using inertial sensors for accurate gait phase determination and to present the acceleration effect specific body segment contributes in order to establish a functional gait. The current method used in determining gait phases consist of combining ground reaction force and angular data, this method is time consuming and cannot be totally reliable. We found out that gait phases can be determined distinctively …

Women In The High School Principalship: A Study Of Leadership At Three Schools, Kimberly Jane Baxter

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study is about women principals in Texas and their leadership in light of the current context of large high schools. Relatively few recent studies exist of women in the high school principalship since the passage of No Child Left Behind (2002). I attempt to provide insight into how the elements of gender and the contemporary context interact to produce individual experiences for three principals.

The purpose of this study is to provide a deep understanding of the ways in which gender and the modern context of schools interact to produce individual lived experiences for three female principals. This study …

Fatal Passion: The Early American Conspiracy Plot And Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland, Rebecca Bossie

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Using the Bavarian Illuminati scare of 1798, this work attempts to trace how Charles Brockden Brown uses these conspiracy narratives to plot other important eighteenth century narratives in his first novel, Wieland, and its companion piece Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist. This Thesis covers a broad range of topic important to the eighteenth century, but focuses more specifically on eighteenth century politics, historiography, patriarchal and family values, and women's work and voices in literature.

Using The Taguchi Design And The Central Composite Design To Increase The Robustness Of A Process From Its Raw Material Variability, Alvaro Cuevas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research presents an experimental study where four controllable and one noise factor are analyzed using the Taguchi approach and the Central Composite Design (CCD) in order to induce robustness in a process that is being designed to treat residual grease from small restaurants. Three response variables are analyzed separately to establish the parameters conditions to obtain the most robust process output. These suggested conditions are validated conducting confirmation runs that are compared statistically to the predictions from the Taguchi prediction model for the Taguchi approach, and the Response optimizer for the CCD. The accuracy of each method is measured …

Electroweak Scale Neutrinos, Enrique Diaz-Mendez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

We study a model of neutrino mass generation at the Electroweak scale (EW), where Lepton number is broken by the vacuum expectation value of a Standard Model singlet complex scalar field. No energy scales higher than the EW scale are introduced in the model and neutrinos can still get their tiny masses through the general seesaw mechanism. The neutrino Yukawa couplings need not be more suppressed than that of the electron. As part of our results we present the branching ratios of the possible Higgs decays, which should be detectable at near future colliders.

It's Bigger And Hip-Hop: Richard Wright, Hip-Hop, And Masculinity, Marcos Julian Del Hierro

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In Native Son, Richard Wright presents a view of the impoverished, inner-city from an insider's perspective, which reflects the anger and hate brewing towards the rest of the nation as a result of living under harsh, isolating conditions. Wright's main character, Bigger Thomas serves as an archetypal ghetto figure both in his attitudes and the treatment he receives from Anglo Americans. Additionally, the reception of Native Son by a majority white reading audience also reflected the voyeuristic thrill of the bourgeoisie when consuming cultural products by African Americans. The selection of Wright's novel into the Book of the Month …

The Ethics Of The Other, Luis Ruben Diaz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

I consider that our society is going through a globalization process where different vantages are being forced to face other cultures. This process revealed the weakness of our traditional moral systems where conflicts could be solved through a belief system that was accepted by the majority of the individuals of a given society. Since a global society needs to incorporate different beliefs systems in its moral considerations, and this implies that there will undoubtedly be a clash between the different moral codes, we need to find a way where individuals relate to the other in an ethical way. In my …

Effects Of Concurrent Task Performance On Object Processing, Gabriela Durán

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Most research on visual object identification focus on the bottom-up processes of the visual what? and where? pathways. However, such research has not been able to fully account for many visual abilities (e.g., identifying an object among many other objects and across changing conditions). Neurological evidence has shown that feedback from high-level areas (i.e., top-down processing) makes object processing more efficient. However, there are no behavioral studies that have tested this. Thus, four experiments used a concurrent n-back task to occupy higher-level areas and tested its effects on visual object processing relative to a number-repetition control task.

Experiment 1 examined …

Beam-Energy And System-Size Dependence Of Dynamical Net Charge Fluctuations, B. I. Abelev, M. M. Aggarwal, Z. Ahammed, B. D. Anderson, D. Arkhipkin, G. S. Averichev, Y. Bai, J. Balewski, S. Bueltmann, Star Collaboration

Physics Faculty Publications

We present measurements of net charge fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at √sNN=19.6, 62.4, 130, and 200 GeV, Cu+Cu collisions at √sNN=62.4 and 200 GeV, and p+p collisions at √s=200GeV using the dynamical net charge fluctuations measure ν_+−,dyn. We observe that the dynamical fluctuations are nonzero at all energies and exhibit a modest dependence on beam energy. A weak system size dependence is also observed. We examine the collision centrality dependence of the net charge fluctuations and find that dynamical net charge fluctuations violate 1/N_ch scaling but display approximate 1/N_part scaling. We also study the azimuthal and …

Igos And Juridical Organs, Janeth Diaz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Do the number of members, the level of democracy, and the level of institutionalization contribute to the creation and use of a juridical organ in IGOs? This study utilizes 495 IGOs in order to answer this question and examine which of these three elements, or all of them, are relevant to the creation and use of any type of juridical mechanism in an IGO. For each of these characteristics five dependent variables were tested. Empirical results indicate that neither the level of democracy nor the number of membership contributes to the creation and use of a juridical mechanism. In contrast, …

Sustainable Development Extension Plan (Sudex): Community Mobilization Through Proactive Participation And Synergistic Alliance To Alliviate Poverty And Achieve Sustainable Self Sufficiency, Stephen Forbes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation describes a sustainable development extension plan (Sudex Plan) to help communities in developing countries achieve Goal 1 of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Goal 1 focuses on reducing poverty and hunger by 50% by the year 2015, but all the MDG are interrelated and one can not be achieved without considering the others, and to attain any is an empty accomplishment without ways to ensure that they can be sustained and continuously improved with the means to pass on the information, knowledge and lessons learned from community to community, generation to generation. The Sudex Plan is …

The Constant Jugglers- Single Mothers Amidst Patriarchy And University, Christopher Bordon Goldsmith

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This case study juxtaposes feminist literature with an examination of single mothers pursuing an undergraduate degree in teacher education. The Patriarchy and the English language emerged as definers of cultural norms that are oppressive to outsiders. Three single mothers living on the U.S.-Mexico border were interviewed. Their stories were compared to the literature of the Patriarchy. The status quo was examined in its roles as lawmaker and as rights taker. Patriarchy and the English language emerged as definers of cultural norms that are impacting and controlling the choices of these women. Themes that emerged from the data are dependence vs. …

Identification Of Human Gait Using Genetic Algorithm Tuned Fuzzy Logic, Abdallah Abdel-Rahman Hassan Mahmoud

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Data mining is concerned with the discovery of useful hidden information in large databases. Classification is a data mining task producing rules in which a set of attributes in data predict the value of a class attribute. Classifiers usually produce a large number of rules, most of which are not interesting to the user. Rule interestingness is a decisive factor. However, evaluating rule interestingness is challenging as it involves both objective (data-driven) and subjective (user-driven) aspects.

In this research, a fuzzy genetic algorithm is proposed to discover classification rules that are both accurate and interesting. Continuous attributes are fuzzified so …

Evaluation Of A Community-Based Cervical Cancer Education Program On Perceptions And Knowledge Of Screening Among Low-Income Hispanic Women, Claudia S. Lozano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Cervical cancer affects Hispanic women disproportionately in comparison to their non-Hispanic white counterparts. In 2004, the incidence rate was 12.2 per 100,000 persons among Hispanic women compared to 7.5 per 100,000 among non-Hispanic white women (U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group, 2007). Although this form of cancer is easily diagnosed through recommended screening tests, Hispanic women are often less likely to get screened (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). Research based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) examining attitudes and beliefs about cervical cancer and screening among Hispanic women has demonstrated that non-compliance with Pap smear screening was attributed …

Buckling Of Dome Structure With Opening, Under Wind Load, Anup Ramesh Marathe

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Double layered parabolic dome structure, with opening in roof is analyzed for buckling under wind load. Domes with three different opening sizes are used and external wind load is applied from different directions without changing the position of the opening. Dead load and internal wind pressure is also applied. The dead load and internal wind pressure is kept constant. The internal wind pressure is applied as per the ASCE building requirement that is once in positive direction which is towards the surface and once in negative direction which is away from the surface. The data for this project was sent …

Detection Of Gas/Odor Based On Quartz Crystal Microbalance Sensors And Fuzzy Similarity Measure, Yi-Chen Lo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this research, an array of six Quartz Crystal Microbalance sensors (QCM) using fuzzy similar measurement is proposed to recognize different gases and the percentage of those gases in a mixed gas. The experiment suggests three different gases, oxygen, helium, and argon as test gases and the nitrogen as the reference gas. Six QCMs in this array are coated respectively with six different specific polymers that are selected based on Linear Solvation Energy Relationship (LSER) method, in order to absorb gas molecules so as to recognize responses of resonant frequency changes from QCMs. Testing with different gases results in different …

Using A Radiative Transfer Model In Conjunction With Uv-Mfrsr Irradiance Data For Studying Aerosols In El Paso-Juarez Airshed, Richard Medina Calderon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Most air quality studies have focused on sites located in either rural or urban areas. However, many regions are affected by air from both, such as the city of El Paso. Adjacent to the neighboring city of Juarez, Mexico, and in close proximity to rural areas, El Paso is affected by desert particles, as well as biogenic and anthropogenic emissions. Determination of aerosol optical properties is vital for a better understanding of the aerosols present in an urban‐rural interface region, e.g. the El Paso‐Juarez Airshed [Pearson, et. al., 2007]. Using wavelengths in the ultraviolet range, and studying the sensitivity of …

Spatio-Temporal Ecg Analysis For Localization Of Arrhythmias Using Precordial Ecg Leads And 128-Lead Systems, Eduardo Morales

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A novel and state-of-the-art approach for the analysis of cardiac arrhythmias is proposed. Currently, the analysis of the electrocardiogram is only performed in the time-domain. The proposed method improves the electrocardiogram analysis by adding spatial properties. The spatial properties added to the electrocardiogram allow for the analysis of specific regions inside the human heart where cardiac arrhythmias are suspected to have occurred. In this Dissertation, the concept of electrocardiography was extended using advanced bioelectromagnetism theory. In concrete, the multiple dipole model of the human heart was used to extend the concept of electrocardiography from a temporal analysis to a spatial-temporal …

Towards More Reliable Extrapolation Algorithms With Applications To Organic Chemistry, Jaime Nava

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

One of the main objectives of science and engineering is to predict the results of different situations. For example, in Newton's mechanics, we want to predict the positions and velocities of different objects (e.g., planets) at future moments of time.

In this Thesis, as a case study, we take the problem of predicting the properties of new chemical substances. One of the main objectives of chemistry is to design new molecules (and, more generally, new chemical compounds) which are useful for various practical tasks. New substances have already resulted in new materials for buildings and for spaceships, new explosives and …

Three-Dimensional Electronics Packaging Integration Of Stereolithography And Direct Print, Misael Navarrete

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Traditional placement of components and routing in electronic devices has been constrained to two dimensions in printed circuit board technology. Routing of electrical signals in these devices has been extended to two and half dimensions by virtue of additional routing layers which are connected through vertical vias (i.e. four layer printed circuit boards or CMOS chips with seven layers of metal routing), however, truly three dimensional off axis component placement and routing have not yet been explored. Solid freeform fabrication provides the means of creating a dielectric substrate suitable for these electronics with sockets for components and channels for interconnect. …

The Isotopological Homodesmotic Reaction: A Further Refinement To The Quantification Of Aromaticity, Marco Olguin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Aromaticity imparts a significant energetic stabilization to various chemical systems as a result of cyclic pi-electron delocalization. One of the most widely used methods for the quantification of the Aromatic Stabilization Energy (ASE) of a molecule is the formulation of a Homodesmotic reaction. The following research employs a refined Homodesmotic approach based on previous work by Herndon and Mills which utilized Isotopological Homodesmotic Reactions (IHR) to determine the Aromatic Stabilization Energy (ASE) of a flourenyl cation. The advantage of employing an IHR for an ASE calculation is that the strain energy contribution from the sigma framework of reactant and product …