Digital Commons Network^™

A Self-Organizing Hybrid Sensor System With Distributed Data Fusion For Intruder Tracking And Surveillance, Ravishankar Palaniappan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A wireless sensor network is a network of distributed nodes each equipped with its own sensors, computational resources and transceivers. These sensors are designed to be able to sense specific phenomenon over a large geographic area and communicate this information to the user. Most sensor networks are designed to be stand-alone systems that can operate without user intervention for long periods of time. While the use of wireless sensor networks have been demonstrated in various military and commercial applications, their full potential has not been realized primarily due to the lack of efficient methods to self organize and cover the …

Bioinformatic And Sequence Analysis Of Four Resuscitation Promoting Factor (Rpf) Gene Homologues In Mycobacterium Avium Subsp. Paratuberculosis (Mpt), And Expression Of The Putative Mpt Rpfb In Escherichia Coli., David Dale Hedlund

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Mpt), the causative agent of Johne's disease (JD), is a global problem in the agricultural industry. It is estimated that 25% of all U.S. dairy herds are JD positive. One obstacle in the management of JD is the lack a sensitive diagnostic test for use during the early stages of infection. Resuscitation promoting factors (Rpf) are proteins that promote the growth of many species of Actinobacteria. If Rpf proteins could enhance the growth of Mpt, the sensitivity of diagnostic fecal culture could be improved, and the impact of JD on the dairy industry would be significantly …

A Preliminary First Amendment Analysis Of Legislation Treating News Aggregation As Copyright Infringement, Alfred C. Yen

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The newspaper industry has recently experienced economic difficulty. Profits have declined because fewer people read printed versions of newspapers, preferring instead to get their news through so-called "news aggregators" who compile newspaper headlines and provide links to stories posted on newspaper websites. This harms newspaper revenue because news aggregators collect advertising revenue that newspapers used to enjoy.

Some have responded to this problem by advocating the use of copyright to give newspapers the ability to control the use of their stories and headlines by news aggregators. This proposal is controversial, for news aggregators often do not commit copyright infringement. Accordingly, …

Abuse Under The Big Top: Seeking Legal Protection For Circus Elephants After Aspca V. Ringling Brothers, Emily A. Beverage

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The Asian elephants featured in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus are theoretically guaranteed humane treatment by the Animal Welfare Act, which ostensibly protects animals in exhibition, and by the Endangered Species Act, which covers the treatment of animals designated endangered species, including Asian elephants. Nevertheless, circus elephants have suffered extensive abuse because the agencies responsible for implementing the laws--the United States Departments of Agriculture and the Interior, respectively--have not done so aggressively, and because animal advocates have been unable to compel their enforcement or to establish standing to sue private parties. In 2000, animal welfare organizations, including …

Google Books: Page By Page, Click By Click, Users Are Reading Away Privacy Rights, Kathleen E. Kubis

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Google Books will likely become the world's most extensive book and magazine search and browsing resource, library, and bookstore--combined. However, as users necessarily reveal personal identifying information through their book searches and reading habits, this service poses a significant threat to personal privacy.

Because the Google Books Amended Settlement Agreement neglects to meaningfully address user privacy, the only available privacy protections are the limited rights bestowed by the Google Books Privacy Policy and the Google Privacy Policy. Unfortunately, these Privacy Policies protect the interests of Google at the expense of users.

The enactment of federal privacy statutes, which include provisions …

Microhardness And Caries Resistance Of An Infiltrant Resin In A Novel Artificial Mouth, Ian Saad Mugisa

All ETDs from UAB

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Natural Product Substrates For The Synthesis Of Libraries Of Biologically Active, New Chemical Entities, Joshua Bryant Phillips

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Since Alexander Fleming first noted the killing of a bacterial culture by a mold, antibiotics have revolutionized medicine, being able to treat, and often cure life-threatening illnesses and making surgical procedures possible by eliminating the possibility of opportunistic infection. However, during the past 30 years many of the infections that were once easily cured by the proper antibiotic are no longer so due to a precipitous rise in multi-drug resistant organisms. This rise in multi-drug resistant organisms poses a grave threat to the medical advances that have been made in the past century and underscores the need for new antibiotics. …

The Policy Debate Over The Bailout Plan, Kevin Simons

Pepperdine Policy Review

This paper analyzes the policy debate over the Federal Government’s bailout of the financial industry in 2008.

The Bush-Obama Stimulus Programs And The Future Of American Capitalism, Randall Holcombe

Pepperdine Policy Review

This paper discusses the implications of the measures that the U.S. Federal Government has taken in response to the recent financial crisis. It focuses on the Federal Reserve, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Obama stimulus package, and the bailouts of various industries by the Federal Government. This paper argues that these policies undermine the fundamental incentives of the market economy, but what we can learn from these policies to avoid similar negative consequences in the future.

The Future Of Regulation, Jerry Ellig

Pepperdine Policy Review

This paper discusses the prevalence of regulation in the U.S. It provides the necessary background information on the process for creating regulations, how scholars can measure the increase in regulation, and the different types of regulations. This paper then goes on to discuss the five major recent trends in regulation and the implications of these trends for the future.

The Puzzle Of Problem-Solving Efficacy: Understanding Anxiety Among Urban Children Coping With Asthma-Related And Life Stress, Kara Klein Murdock, Carolyn Greene, Sue K. Adams, William Hartmann, Sally Bittinger, Kelly Will

Human Development and Family Science Faculty Publications

Children with asthma living in urban environments are at risk for experiencing anxiety by virtue of both social context and health-related stressors. Although the use of active coping strategies is generally associated with more optimal psychosocial functioning, there is evidence that active coping is less helpful in response to uncontrollable or severe stress. Expectations that one can fix a problem that is uncontrollable or insurmountable may create distress. Problem-solving efficacy was examined as a moderator of the association between stress and anxiety among children residing in inner-city neighborhoods. It was hypothesized that children's perceptions of high problem-solving efficacy would exacerbate …

Inactivation Of Escherichia Coli By Ozone Treatment Of Apple Juice At Different Ph Levels, Sonal Patil, Vasilis Valdramidis, Patrick J. Cullen, Jesus Maria Frias, Paula Bourke

Articles

This research investigated the efficacy of gaseous ozone for the inactivation of Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and NCTC 12900 strains in orange juice. Orange juice inoculated with E. coli (10⁶ CFU mL^-1) as a challenge microorganism was treated with ozone at 75-78µg mL^-1 for different time periods (0-18 min). The efficacy of ozone for inactivation of both strains of E. coli was evaluated as a function of different juice types: model orange juice, fresh unfiltered juice, juice without pulp, and juice filtered through 500mm or 1mm sieves. Fast inactivation rates for total reduction of E. coli …

Process Optimization For The Developmenht Of A Functional Beverage Based On Lactic Acid Fermentation Of Oats, Shilpi Gupta, Sabrina Cox, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam

Articles

Oats (Avena sativa) have received considerable interest for their high content of soluble and insoluble fibre and for their high fermentability upon applying probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB). In the present study, Box–Behnken optimization design was used to optimize three different levels of oat, sucrose and starter culture concentration on the final viable cell population of Lactobacillus plantarum for the development of a fermented drink. A second-order polynomial response surface equation was developed indicating the effect of the studied variables on L. plantarum growth. Contour maps generated using the response surface equation showed that the experimental variables significantly affected the …

Salvation Or A Lethal Dose? Attitudes And Advocacy In Right To Refuse Treatment Cases, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

The debate surrounding the right to refuse treatment controversy continues unabated in the relevant law and social science literature. However, there are two areas where scant research attention is found. These include the attitudes of patients and staff regarding right to refuse treatment decisions and the adequacy of counsel availed to patients who assert their constitutionally protected right to refuse. This article examines both issues, mindful of what they tell us about sanism and pretextuality with respect to mental disability law and right to refuse treatment jurisprudence.

Too Stubborn To Ever Be Governed By Enforced Insanity: Some Therapeutic Jurisprudence Dilemmas In The Representation Of Criminal Defendants In Incompetency And Insanity Cases, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

Little attention has been paid to the importance between therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) and the role ofcriminal defense lawyers in insanity and incompetency-to-stand-trial (IST) cases. That inattention is especially noteworthy in light of the dismal track record of counsel providing services to defendants who are part of this cohort of incompetency-status-raisers and insanity-defense-pleaders. On one hand, this lack of attention is a surprise as TJ scholars have, in recent years, turned their attention to virtually every other aspect of the legal system. On the other hand, it is not a surprise, given the omnipresence of sanism, an irrational prejudice ofthe same …

Methademic: Drug Panic In An Age Of Ambivalence, Deborah Ahrens

Faculty Articles

The story of criminal sanctions in modern America is a familiar-and depressing narrative. According to the narrative, we live in an era where the dynamics of popular politics, the practices of the media, and the (often racialized) anxieties of modern life combine to create a one-way ratchet, in which we identify perceived new threats to public order and respond unthinkingly with harsh new criminal sanctions. On the surface, the wave of concern over methamphetamine that swept the nation in the middle part of this decade followed this script, as a media panic led to substantial popular concern and significant new …

Brilliant Disguise: An Empirical Analysis Of A Social Experiment Banning Affirmative Action, Deirdre M. Bowen

Faculty Articles

The notion of a colorblind society captured the imagination of voters who passed propositions banning affirmative action in higher education admissions in California, Washington, more recently in Michigan, and on November 4th, in Nebraska. Affirmative action is no longer required, proponents assert, because society no longer judges people by their skin color. They argue that the need for affirmative action is a vestige of a bygone era, and such a policy only creates resentment and stigma. This paper confronts the colorblind ideal myths of stigma and resentment, which appear at much greater rates in anti-affirmative action states. In analyzing data …

Lifting Burdens: Proof, Social Justice, And Public Assistance Administrative Hearings, Lisa Brodoff

Faculty Articles

In "Lifting Burdens: Proof, Social Justice, and Public Assistance Administrative Hearings," Lisa Brodoff describes the administrative hearing system for public assistance recipients and applicants, and asserts that it is the primary social justice system for the poor. She discusses why public assistance appellants are always placed at a significant disadvantage in this system. The article proposes that the best way to even out the inequities in adjudications is to always place the burdens of production and persuasion by clear and convincing evidence on the government in these hearings. She argues that policy, efficiency, and fairness require a consistent and heavy …

Rodrigo's Portent: California And The Coming Neocolonial Order, Richard Delgado

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Motive, Duty, And The Management Of Restricted Charitable Gifts, John K. Eason

Faculty Articles

Set against the backdrop of fiduciary duties governing nonprofit organization management, this article explores donor restrictions imposed upon gifts made to charitable recipients. The particular focus falls upon charitable gift restrictions that prove difficult for the recipient organization’s management to implement as time passes from the date of the gift. This article examines the trust doctrine of cy pres as the traditional remedial device for addressing such concerns, but ultimately finds that doctrine wanting - particularly so in an environment of increasingly corporate charitable governance. After explaining the long-noted vagaries of cy pres in practical application, this article reveals the …

Lawyering And Learning In Problem-Solving Courts, Paul Holland

Faculty Articles

The introduction of Drug Courts and other problem-solving courts has brought significant change to the American criminal justice system. This change has required lawyers working in these courts to re-examine their role and to re-consider and re-calibrate the nature of their interactions and relationships with their clients and all of the other actors in the system. This article looks beyond the rhetorically charged debate that has marked these changes and offers instead a close examination of the actual experience of lawyers, judges, and most importantly, defendant-participants, in these courts. This examination demonstrates that many of the traditional values embedded in …

One Is The Loneliest Number: The Single Taxpayer In A Joint Return World, Lily Kahng

Faculty Articles

The United States is one of the few developed countries to retain the joint income tax return, available for heterosexual married couples only. Since its adoption in 1948, its underlying assumptions have been challenged on many valid grounds, and yet it remains firmly embedded in mainstream political and policy discourse. In recent years, most of the debate surrounding the joint return has focused on reducing marriage penalties, bonuses, and determining who among the universe of couples ought to be extended the benefit of the marriage bonuses. The treatment of single people has received almost no attention. The scant attention paid …

Slums, Slumdogs, And Resistance, Tayyab Mahmud

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Justice Stevens And The Seattle Schools Case: A Case Study On The Role Of Righteous Anger In Constitutional Discourse, Andrew Siegel

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Be Professional!, Dean Spade

Faculty Articles

In 2010, the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender published a series of letters between Adrienne Davis and Bob Chang entitled, "Making Up Is Hard to Do: Race/Gender/Sexual Orientation in the Law School Classroom," along with three response pieces by Adele Morrison, Darren Rosenblum and Dean Spade. "Be Professional!" is written in letter form like "Making Up Is Hard to Do" and discusses Spade's experience becoming and being a trans law professor, as well as broader questions about activism, academia, professionalism and the neo-liberal academy.

Asian Americans And The Road To The White House: Musings On Being Invisible, Robert S. Chang

Faculty Articles

In October 1993, the Asian Law Journal published its inaugural issue, featuring its first article entitled "Toward an Asian American Legal Scholarship: Critical Race Theory, Post-structuralism, and Narrative Space." I ASIAN L.J. 1 (1993). With this opening salvo, the Asian Law Journal (now the Asian American Law Journal) launched only the second law journal in the United States dedicated to Asian American Jurisprudence. The author of this landmark article is none other than Professor Robert S. Chang, one of the most recognized figures in Asian American Jurisprudence and Critical Race Theory. To celebrate the fifteen years since the publication of …

Physician-Assisted Suicide And Dementia: The Impossibility Of A Workable Regulatory Regime, John B. Mitchell

Faculty Articles

Currently, four-and-a-half million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease, accounting for roughly half the cases of adult dementia, and fourteen million cases are projected by mid-century. With the coalescence of the baby boomers, managed health care, and increasingly scarce health care resources, our society must brace to face a social and legal policy challenge of enormous importance and complexity. In this circumstance, the inevitable call for access to physician-assisted suicide, likely triggered through some form of living will, will need to be considered within a context far different than the current focus of the assisted-suicide debate on terminal illness. Asserting …

Rethinking Tax Priorities: Marriage Neutrality, Children, And Contemporary Families, James Puckett

Faculty Articles

Tax scholarship has long struggled with whether married taxpayers should be taxed differently from unmarried taxpayers. Currently, married taxpayers are subject to different tax rates than unmarried taxpayers, and may file a joint tax return. A married couple may pay a higher or lower amount of tax than an unmarried couple with the same total income, and a single person generally pays more tax on a given income than a married couple with a single earner with the same income. These outcomes are difficult to reconcile with a commitment to income tax progressivity, which in theory requires that higher incomes …

On (Cr)Edibility: Why Food In The United States May Never Be Safe, Denis Stearns

Faculty Articles

Most critiques of regulation are premised on the concepts of “free markets” and “market failures” as justifying, or not, the need for government interventions and control of the marketplace. Using the market for food as an example, this article questions not only the possibility of a buyer being a free actor when buying food, but also whether it is meaningful to speak in terms of a “free” market at all. One centerpiece of this questioning is the author’s coining of the term “(cr)edibility” to stand for the twinned ideas of credibility and edibility as defining the nature of all commercial …

Communalism Predicts Prenatal Affect, Stress, And Physiology Better Than Ethnicity And Socioeconomic Status, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Belinda Campos, Clayton J. Hilmert, Tyan Parker Dominguez, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The authors examined the relevance of communalism, operationalized as a cultural orientation emphasizing interdependence, to maternal prenatal emotional health and physiology and distinguished its effects from those of ethnicity and childhood and adult socioeconomic status (SES). African American and European American women (N = 297) were recruited early in pregnancy and followed through 32 weeks gestation using interviews and medical chart review. Overall, African American women and women of lower socioeconomic backgrounds had higher levels of negative affect, stress, and blood pressure, but these ethnic and socioeconomic disparities were not observed among women higher in communalism. Hierarchical multivariate regression analyses …