Digital Commons Network^™

Quon V. Arch Wireless: The Ninth Circuit Correctly Assess Fourth Amendment Privacy Interests In Workplace Text-Messaging, Marvin A. Liang

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor And Alzheimers Disease, Rangaraj K. Gopalraj

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Since apoE allele status is the predominant Alzheimers disease (AD) genetic risk factor, functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in brain apoE receptors represent excellent candidates for association with AD. Therefore, three low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) SNPs were evaluated by TaqMan allelic discrimination assays for association with AD and I found that certain haplotypes alter the odds of AD. A SNP within LDLR exon 12, rs688, was identified in silico as neutralizing a putative exon splicing enhancer (ESE). Since LDLR is a major apoE receptor in the brain, I hypothesized that rs688 modulates LDLR splicing in neural tissues and associates …

Physiological Genomics Of Spinal Cord And Limb Regeneration In A Salamander, The Mexican Axolotl, James Robert Monaghan

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Salamanders have a remarkable ability to regenerate complex body parts including the limb, tail, and central nervous system. Although salamander regeneration has been studied for several hundred years, molecular-level studies have been limited to a relatively few important transcription factors and signaling molecules that are highly conserved among animals. Physiological genomic approaches were used here to investigate spinal cord and limb regeneration. Chapter 2 reports that hundreds of gene expression changes were identified during spinal cord regeneration, showing that a diverse injury response is activated in concert with extracellular matrix remodeling mechanisms during the early acute phase of natural spinal …

Manufacturing Kleptomania: The Social And Scientific Underpinnings Of A Pathology, Daisy V. Domínguez

Publications and Research

This paper aims to show the ways in which the kleptomania diagnosis expressed displaced societal fears and led to the ostracism and exculpation of groups based on an interesting mix of gender and class biases.

The Momentum Of Posthumous Conception: A Model Act, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

This Article addresses the scenario of when, through advanced medical technology, a procedure is performed resulting in the birth of a child more than three hundred days-a time suggested by some statutes-after the death of the gamete provider. The embryo may result from in vitro fertilization or from a woman being artificially inseminated with the sperm of a deceased male gamete provider. And of course the woman could have predeceased too and left a viable ova, that was then fertilized with the sperm of a living or a deceased male to create an embryo, which was then placed into a …

In Gratitude For What We Are Given: A Common Morality For The Global Age, William J. Wagner

Scholarly Articles

This introduction, first, sets out and evaluates the reciprocal, antiphonal steps of "Vatican initiative" and "university response" at this collection of essays' genesis. Once having done so, it offers the reader not only a basic synthesis of the authors' separate contributions but also of the contours of the collection as a whole. In these ways it offers readers an introductory roadmap to the wealth of insights that the collection contains and those that it may in turn inspire.

Biology Of Ultramafic Rocks And Soils: Research Goals For The Future, R S. Boyd, A R. Kruckeberg, N Rajakaruna

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

At this, the 6th International Conference on Serpentine Ecology, it seems timely to review briefly the present status of the field and to project the needs for future research. Although a great deal of serpentine research was done prior to 1960, as summarized by Krause (1958) and discussed briefly by Brooks (1987), much of our progress in learning how serpentine geology affects plant and animal life occurred in the mid- to late 20th century. In that era, it was the landmark studies of several scientists worldwide that initiated a meteoric increase in published serpentine research. Key players in setting the …

Adiantum Viridimontanum, Aspidotis Densa, Minuartia Marcescens, And Symphyotrichum Rhiannon: Additional Serpentine Endemics From Eastern North America, T B. Harris, N Rajakaruna

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Serpentine outcrops around the world are known to harbor disproportionately high rates of plant endemism. Remarkable cases of serpentine endemism occur in New Caledonia and Cuba, with 3178 and 920 endemic taxa, respectively, found solely on serpentine. Despite the patchy occurrence of serpentine in eastern North America from Québec and Newfoundland south to Alabama, only one taxon, Cerastium velutinum var. villosissimum, has been broadly recognized as a serpentine endemic for the region. Based on reports in the literature, we suggest that Adiantum viridimontanum, Minuartia marcescens, and Symphyotrichum rhiannon be considered endemic to serpentine soils from the east coast of North …

The Tower Clock 2009, Tower Clock

Tower Clock Yearbooks

No abstract provided.

Dynamics And Rheology Of Biaxial Liquid Crystal Polymers, Sarthok K. Sircar

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we derive a hydrodynamical kinetic theory to study the orientational response of a mesoscopic system of nematic liquid crystals in the presence of an external flow field. Various problems have been attempted in this direction. First, we understand the steady-state behavior of uniaxial LCPs under an imposed elongational flow, electric and magnetic field respectively. We show that (1) the Smoluchowski equation can be cast into a generic form, (2) the external field is parallel to one of the eigenvectors of the second moment tensor, and (3) the steady state probability density function is of the Boltzmann type. …

Nigel Parsons On Israel's Occupation By Neve Gordon. Berkley, Ca: University Of California Press, 2008. 318pp., Nigel Parsons

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Israel's Occupation by Neve Gordon. Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 2008. 318pp.

Smuggling Versus Trafficking: Do The U.N. Protocols Have It Right?, Carolyn Burke

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The terms “human trafficking” and “human smuggling” are often thought of as interchangeable due to their similar connections with irregular migration and the clandestine movement of people. However, trafficking and smuggling maintain their own differences, especially pertaining to their organizational dynamics, their forms, and their voluntary and involuntary natures that revolve around trust and exploitation. Current understandings of these terms stem from the widely accepted United Nations Protocols that were resultant from the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

Narrowing The Scope Of Auditor Duties, David Margulies

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

The tort of “deepening insolvency” refers to an action asserted by a representative of a bankruptcy estate against directors, officers, lenders, or others based on their pre-petition interactions with the debtor. 9 NORTON BANKR. L. & PRAC. 3d § 174:22. Liability under deepening insolvency has been imposed where “the defendant’s conduct, either fraudulently or even negligently, prolongs the life of a corporation, thereby increasing the corporation's debt and exposure to creditors.” In re LTV Steel Co., Inc., 333 B.R. 397, 421 (Bankr. N.D. Ohio 2005). Damages under the theory are sometimes awarded to a bankrupt corporation when, by delaying …

Transcriptional Regulation Of The Porcine Type Ii Gnrh Receptor Gene, Vanessa M. Brauer

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The classical mammalian form of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), GnRH I, is a hypothalamic neuropeptide that functions as a key regulator of reproduction. The interaction between GnRH I and its receptor, GnRH receptor I (GnRHR I), stimulates gonadotropin secretion from the anterior pituitary gland. The gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), act on the gonads to stimulate either steroidogenesis and ovulation or gametogenesis, respectively. The steroid hormones produced in the gonads act through a feedback pathway to regulate the production of both GnRH I from the hypothalamus and gonadotropins from the anterior pituitary.

Another form of GnRH, …

Infectious Agents: Race And Environment In Nineteenth-Century America, Kristen Renee Egan

Dissertations

This dissertation critically examines the relationship between race and nature in nineteenth-century America by analyzing texts that attempt to discover, create, or preserve a pure national identity. Historical events in the nineteenth-century U.S. - such as mass immigration, Native American displacement, industrialization, westward expansion, and the rise of science - frustrated the quest for a unified American identity. While these events seem various, each one exacerbated a nation already bewildered by one central question. What is the traffic between body and space? Nineteenth-century American literature frequently portrays the American environment as an ideal space in need of preservation and at …

The Queer Work Of Fantasy: The Romance In Antebellum America, Zachary Neil Lamm

Dissertations

This project examines the ways in which antebellum writers of romances theorized the relationship between fantasy and queer desire. These writers produced vision of alternative forms of sociality that serve to criticize the heteronormativity of antebellum sexual culture and to promote fantasy as both a mode of critique and a strategy for cultural subversion. Antebellum romances thus represent both a deep dissatisfaction with their author's contemporary culture and a means of envisioning subversive socialities and intimacies that promote freedom of the expression of desire and allow for the queerness that might characterize such expressions if subjects were able to speak …

Moral Reasons Arbitrariness, Brad Seeman

Dissertations

Bradley Nelson Seeman

Loyola University Chicago

MORAL REASONS ARBITRARINESS

The moral philosophies of Allan Gibbard, Christine Korsgaard, and John Post (following Ruth Garrett Millikan's "teleosemantics") each succumb to moral reasons arbitrariness. If a moral philosophy suffers from moral reasons arbitrariness, it fails to establish support relations for moral judgments that uniquely justify those judgments in terms that make essential reference to a person's ability to consider and weigh those support relations in making a moral decision. Moral reasons arbitrariness arises when (1) moral reasons are rooted in factors adventitious to the consideration of support relations, or (2) conflicting moral judgments …

Gender Differences In Antecedents To Academic And Personal Well-Being In Urban Youth: What Is The Role Of Social Support?, Erin Caskey

Dissertations

Urban youth are an important, yet understudied population. Moreover, the vast majority of existing research has focused on negative outcomes. Recently, there has been a trend in the field of adolescent research toward creating models that attempt to understand and explain why some members of at-risk populations are able to overcome adversities and to achieve successful adaptation. The present study investigated the relationships between perceived social support, gender, academic outcomes, and personal well-being in urban youth. Overall, perceived social support was found to be related to many outcome variables for males and females. Gender differences were found in the relationships …

Therapeutic Mentoring: Outcomes For Youth In Foster Care, Sara B. Johnson

Dissertations

This study examined the impact of therapeutic mentoring on youth in foster care. Youth outcomes on the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) measure for four groups of youth were compared. Three treatment groups were divided based on the amount of therapeutic mentoring received and compared on CANS outcome scores as measured from baseline to 6, 12, and 18 months. The fourth group did not receive any therapeutic mentoring. Outcome domains for emotional and behavioral functioning, peer relationships, academic functioning, and community involvement were analyzed. All youth in the study (n = 262) received counseling and support through the …

The Importance Of Comprehensive Clinical Social Work Assessments For Determination Of Older Adult Guardianship Petitions In Cook County Probate Court, Chicago, Illinois, Heather Jones

Dissertations

As our population ages there seems to be a strong current toward seeking surrogate decision-makers for individuals, who appear unable to manage their lives and make clear choices. Guardianship is the most profound course of action when determining that an older adult lacks decisional capacity. Older adults make up the majority of persons adjudicated incapacitated and, in turn, are assigned guardians (Crampton, 2004; Teaster, Schmidt, and Roberto, 2004). There is limited research about older adult guardianship, so this study is opportune because of the increased longevity of the population, with the most rapid growth among the very old, who likely …

Connection, Caretaking, And Conflict: The Recalled, Lived Experience Of Adultdaughters Of Bipolar Mothers, Louise Ribeiro Presley

Dissertations

At present in the United States approximately four million people (1.6%) suffer from bipolar I and bipolar II disorders. About 20% are not helped by medication. Each bipolar person has two parents,and may have siblings, friends, spouses and children. All of these people are affected by the feelings and behavior of the bipolar person. The children are especially vulnerable to behavior disorders, depression, and anxiety, even if protective factors mitigate the family situation.

This qualitative research addresses the events recalled by adult daughters whose mothers are bipolar: what they recalled of what they thought, felt and did in response. Events …

Dying In The Shadows Of The Lowlands : Illuminating The Lao Malaria Crisis Through Leadership And Imagination, Edgar M. Ednacot

Doctoral Dissertations

unavailable

Teachers' Discourse On English Language Learners: Cultural Models Of Language And Learning, Amy Heineke

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

This qualitative case study explores teacher learning about English language learners (ELLs) in a small-group, school-based context at an urban elementary school inArizona. Sociocultural perspectives on teacher learning guided the analysis of teachers’ participation in a teacher study group over six months. The teacher study group aimed to support educators of ELLs at a time of new language policy implementation, which required ELLs to enroll in an English language development (ELD) classroom for four hours of skill-based English language instruction.

In the first semester of language policy implementation, I collected discursive data that showcased the social interaction of teachers and …

Degree Attainment Among Adult Learners, Maureen O'Conor

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to expand understanding and discover knowledge about degree attainment among adult learners. This qualitative inquiry is about what 15 bachelor's degree recipients over the age of 25 felt contributed to their efforts to attain the bachelor's degree.

This study contains professional research and expert material on motivation, challenges and barriers, learning preferences, and skills. These areas form the foundation of the study. This research also provides detailed demographic profiles of adult undergraduates and non-traditional-age bachelor's degree recipients, as well as economic data including unemployment, financial aid and debt burden. This inquiry utilizes data, reports …

Comparison Of The Compositional Proclivities Of The Complete Genomes Of Plasmodium Falciparum And Human, April Williams, Yuriy Fofanov, Catherine Putonti

Bioinformatics Faculty Publications

Pathogens and hosts have a dynamic relationship, one that is ever changing at the molecular level - the pathogen influencing the evolutionary path of the host and the host influencing the evolutionary path of the pathogen. The pathogen’s adaptation to a particular host could serve several purposes, e.g. to mimic the host to avoid detection, to take advantage of the host’s cellular machinery, to increase virulence, etc. Recognizing these adaptations is far from trivial, particularly when the size of the pathogen’s and host’s genomes differ by orders of magnitudes. Novel algorithms and data structures have been developed in our laboratory …

Untangling The Biological Contributions To Soil Stability In Semiarid Shrublands, V. Bala Chaudhary, Matthew A. Bowker, Thomas E. O'Dell, James B. Grace, Andrea E. Redman, Mathias C. Rillig, Nancy C. Johnson

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Communities of plants, biological soil crusts (BSCs), and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are known to influence soil stability individually, but their relative contributions, interactions, and combined effects are not well understood, particularly in arid and semiarid ecosystems. In a landscape-scale field study we quantified plant, BSC, and AM fungal communities at 216 locations along a gradient of soil stability levels in southern Utah, USA. We used multivariate modeling to examine the relative influences of plants, BSCs, and AM fungi on surface and subsurface stability in a semiarid shrubland landscape. Models were found to be congruent with the data and explained …

A Rylean Revision To Biological Naturalism, Timothy E. Kunke

Master's Theses

This essay is a contrasting of John Searle's biological naturalist view of the mind with Gilbert Ryle's deconstruction of the problem of mind-body interaction. These two positions are most uniquely suited for this purpose since, together they constitute the best positive theory and criticism of the same problem. It will be argued that consciousness - a feature of human experience which proves to be one of the most difficult to account for, from the perspective of the naturalist can be regarded as a dispositional attribute of a complex biological organism. Considered as such, it is what Searle would term a …

Flow Cytometric Analysis Of Phytoplankton Viability In Elkhorn Slough, California., Sarah Rose Smith

Master's Theses

The phytoplankton community structure of Elkhorn Slough was characterized flow cytometrically and found to be dominated in the upper reaches by small cryptophytes (< 5 microm) and picoeukaryotic phytoplankton (< 3 microm). Cell-specific viability of the small cryptophyte population was quantified along a 5 km transect from the mouth to the shallow upper reaches of Elkhorn Slough using fluorescein diacetate (FDA). Corroborative viability techniques, including SYTOX Green stain and cell digestion assay, were determined to be inappropriate for use in Elkhorn Slough due to indiscriminate staining of suspended particulates and incompatibility with cell target material. Viability analysis with FDA revealed a higher fraction of active cryptophyte cells in the upper reaches, the area of their dominance, and a lower fraction of active cells in the lower slough. It was concluded that cell death (as defined by a lack of FDA-linked esterase enzyme activity) is an important force structuring the phytoplankton community of Elkhorn Slough.

Marine Mammal Response To Ecosystem Variability In Monterey Bay, California., Julia Burrows

Master's Theses

The coastal upwelling ecosystem near Monterey Bay, California is an extremely productive, yet variable, ecosystem and an important foraging area for mobile, apex predators, such as marine mammals. Longer-term studies are required to better understand how marine mammals respond to temporal environmental variability; however, few of these studies exist. We conducted monthly shipboard line-transect surveys in Monterey Bay from 1997 to 2007, concurrent with hydroacoustic and oceanographic sampling. Twenty-two species of marine mammals were identified, and monthly and annual densities were calculated for the 12 most commonly sighted species. Densities varied among years, whereas species richness remained relatively constant. Marine …

Seafood Labeling And Consumer Behavior: A Fishwise Case Study, Sonoma County, Ca., Alicia Ushijima Elsholz

Master's Theses

Decades of unsustainable commercial fishing have resulted in depletion of fish stocks, destruction of ocean habitats, and unintended capture and death of fish and marine mammals. In addition, unsustainable aquaculture practices threaten wild species and pollute surrounding natural habitats. In an attempt to combat these adverse impacts, FishWise, a seafood labeling program, was created to encourage consumers at health food stores and gourmet markets in the US to purchase seafood caught or farm raised in a sustainable manner. This study evaluates FishWise to determine its effectiveness in educating consumers about sustainable fishery issues and in influencing purchases of sustainable seafood …