Digital Commons Network^™

Doing Too Much: The Standard Deduction And The Conflict Between Progressivity And Simplification, John R. Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In U.S. federal income tax, the standard deduction, along with the personal exemptions, provides taxpayers with a minimum amount of untaxed income, effectively creating a "zero bracket amount." For historical and political reasons, however, the standard deduction also operates as a simplified substitute for the itemized deductions, such as the deductions for extraordinary medical expenses, charitable contributions, and home mortgage interest. This seemingly reasonable compromise in fact leads to substantial, and surprising, conceptual complexity. In particular, close analysis of each of the two roles shows that their effects, and related criticisms, are often contradictory, which in turn makes it difficult, …

Unearthing The Inner Compass, Kimberly Ann Kapalka

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The process of composing a body of artwork was to prove my artistic ability and prepare work for submission to artist-in-residence programs. To achieve this goal, I committed eleven months to this project. Inspiration for pieces came from my travels, interests in American Indian culture, wildlife, trees, photographs, and still-life objects. I devoted as much time as possible in my make-shift apartment studio working on art. Balancing career and home activities was a habitual challenge. I learned to trust my intuition while creating art making choices that reflected my intended message. Fear of public opinion floated through my mind as …

Empowerment Through Voice: A Case Study In The Leadership Of Restorative Justice, Kim Dalene Harding

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This qualitative case study identified shared leadership as a necessary component in the sustenance of restorative justice, a reform justice model used at Ada County Juvenile Court Services located in Boise, Idaho. Within each of its divisions, ACJCS utilizes this shared leadership model. At this court, leadership capacity was built though encouraging team members to take initiative and show innovation. Community capacity was built by the creation of networks with other private and county agencies, providing both leadership opportunities and community service hours for offending youth. Shared leadership sustains this reform justice model by allowing leaders to become followers and …

Different Challenges And Different Blessings: Life Experiences Of Young Mothers Of Children With Down Syndrome, Janice Driscoll Nugent

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Life experiences of young mothers of preschool aged children with Down syndrome were explored in this qualitative narrative study. Intensive interviews of four purposefully chosen young women were conducted. The findings of this study illustrate the impact of a preschool aged child with Down syndrome on the life of a young woman.

A variety of themes were identified. The primary themes were the background of the woman, including her public school experience, learning of the diagnosis of Down syndrome, supports, the child's medical complications, learning to cope and the impact of that disability on their day-to-day lives.

Child care and …

The Impact Of Nclb Reforms In The Elementary Schools Comparing Perceptions/Practices From 2002 To 2011, Judith L. Gosnell-Lamb

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

With the advent of No Child Left behind in 2002, public education in the United States entered into a reform movement with mounting consequences and ramifications. This unprecedented federal in-road into public education became the umbrella regulator over programs, staff, budgets and students. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine to what extent NCLB had impacted educational leadership and classroom practices as educators have strived to serve their students and the federal mandates at the same time.

A request for participants went out over the internet to over 1000 elementary principals. Asking if they had been in the …

Under The Bridge: A Qualitative Investigation Of Homeless Persons' Perspectives On Substance Abuse And Its Treatment, Amanda Beth Taylor

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Although homelessness is generally thought of as an urban problem, it is also a growing problem in rural areas, such as Missoula, Montana (Jacobson 2010). Studies of urban homelessness indicate that substance abuse is a part of life for many homeless individuals, and the barriers to substance abuse treatment are exacerbated by being homeless (Snow and Anderson 1993; Morrell 2007). “Prevalence studies estimate that the percentage of homeless people with alcohol use disorders to be at 30%-40% and drug abuse at 10%-15%” (Fisk, Raakfeldt, and McCormack 2006: 480). Substance abuse is also common among homeless individuals in rural areas, including …

Wolves And Livestock: A Review Of Tools To Deter Livestock Predation And A Case Study Of A Proactive Wolf Conflict Mitigation Program Developed In The Blackfoot Valley, Montana, Peter Douglas Brown

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The recent recovery of wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) was met with opposition from the ranching communities throughout Montana. This was not surprising, due to the fact that wolves are feared as a predator of livestock and therefore represent a direct economic loss for ranchers that experience depredations by wolves. Wolves are also revered as a native predator that have top down effects upon natural prey species. This in turn affects the web of plants and animals that make up natural ecosystems. This fact, as well as the strong emotional connection that some stakeholders have to wolves creates …

Organic Tracer Analyses And Receptor Modeling Of Pm2.5 In Fairbanks, Alaska, James Kevin Ormord

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ambient particulate matter (PM) levels are of great importance to many areas around the world for both environmental and health concerns. It is well known that many sources of PM are anthropogenic in nature, including sources such as the combustion of petroleum products and wood. As per the Clean Air Act of 1970, the US EPA has established a National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of 35µg/m3 for a 24 hour average and 15µg/m3 for an annual average of ambient PM2.5 to improve the quality of air and reduce occurrences of respiratory illness resulting from exposure to high levels of …

International Law In A Kaleidoscopic World, Edith Brown Weiss

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

International law is developed and implemented today in a complicated, diverse, and changing context. Globalization and integration, fragmentation and decentralization, and bottom-up empowerment are arising simultaneously among highly diverse peoples and civilizations. Most importantly, this period is characterized by rapid and often unforeseen changes with widespread effects. Advances in information technology make possible ever shifting ad hoc coalitions and informal groups and a myriad of individual initiatives.

Constitutional Hypocrisy, Girardeau A. Spann

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

My legal realist inclinations leave me largely agnostic about the particular provisions that happen to be included in any particular constitution. That is because both written and unwritten constitutions seem more likely to reflect than to prescribe the normative values of the cultures that adopt them. As a result, the substantive, structural, and procedural provisions of the present United States Constitution seem perfectly adequate to promote justice-at least in a culture that is genuinely committed to the cause of justice. No constitution is likely to promote justice in a culture that lacks such a commitment. Nevertheless, there is one change …

Do Ceos And Principal Financial Officers Take A "Bath" Separately Or Together?: An Investigation Of Discretionary Accruals Surrounding Appointments Of New Ceos And Pfos, Marshall A. Geiger, David S. North

Accounting Faculty Publications

This study presents the first targeted examination of changes in financial reporting surrounding the appointment of both new CEOs and Principal Financial Officers (PFOs). We identify companies that appoint new CEOs and PFOs in the period 1995 to 2002 and find that the change in discretionary accruals is negative and significant in the year of hire (from t-1 to t) for firms appointing a new CEO or both a new CEO and PFO (i.e., the "big bath"), but not for firms appointing only a new PFO. We also find that firms appointing both executives in the same year report significant …

Mirabile Dictu: The Bryn Mawr College Library Newsletter 14 (2011), Bryn Mawr College Library

Mirabile Dictu: Newsletter of the Bryn Mawr College Libraries

No abstract provided.

Symposium On Commercial Speech And Public Health, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Does the constitutional protection of commercial speech impair the government's ability to protect and promote public health? Or does the commercial speech doctrine itself enhance consumer education and harness market competition to advance public health? Do First Amendment limitations on regulation of commercial messages unduly retard governmental efforts to safeguard consumers? Or do they properly constrain illiberal paternalism? If the Court has been over-protective of health-related commercial speech, is there a principled place to redraw the line? And how should those governmental agencies entrusted with the power to protect public health and welfare respond to these constitutional constraints?

The editors …

Assessing The Balance: Burkean Frames And Lil' Bush, Elizabeth Anne Sills

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In light of former president George W. Bush’s remarkably low approval ratings during the later years of his administration, the Comedy Central program Lil’ Bush seemed to be a satiric outlet for societal angst. A closer examination of the show, however, reveals that its content is funny, but does more to entertain than it does to criticize. Using the dichotomy of Burke’s comedic and humorous frames as a standard for analysis, this thesis probes the program to determine the nature of its humor. Although the show does include some critiques of George W. Bush and the federal executive branch as …

Addressing Food Insecurity And Developing Social Resources Through Community Garden Projects In Low-Income Areas: Qualitative Interviews With Outreach Coordinators From Three Urban Agriculture Organizations, Elizabeth R. Chalgian

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As urban agriculture organizations become increasingly popular, it is important to understand the impact they have on low-income urban communities. Food security and political power are greatly lacking in these areas. Agriculture endeavors, such as community gardens and urban farms, have a significant potential to decrease these deficits. First, this thesis will address how social inequalities, which are products of structural power, prevent the poor from being properly fed and discuss how urban agriculture programs, specifically community gardens, can reduce food insecurity and build a community’s social resources. Later, the discussion will focus on how low-income populations become involved in …

An Assessment Of The Hiv Prevention Needs Of Men Who Have Sex With Men In Montana, Kelly A. Hart

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study was to collect information about the HIV prevention needs of men who have sex with men (MSM) living in Montana. Prevention needs were explored by identifying the environmental factors and behaviors that put MSM at risk for HIV infection, describing the demographic and contextual factors that influence those behaviors, and comparing current prevention needs to existing resources and services. To evaluate the prevention needs, primary qualitative data was collected in the form of four focus groups and nine key informant interviews. Supporting secondary quantitative and qualitative data in the form of an online survey and …

Chinese National Policy Regarding Foreign Experts: Perceptions Of Foreign Affairs Deans, Jun Wang

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This quantitative, non-experimental study described the perceptions of the Deans of the Foreign Affairs Office in public institutions of higher education in China regarding their agreement with, and implementation of, the current national policy concerning the employment of foreign experts. This study utilized a descriptive survey design. Data were collected using a self-designed web-based questionnaire. The sample for this study consisted of 116 participants providing a sample which closely represented the characteristics of the population.

Data were analyzed by comparisons between the categories of the individual demographic variables and the participants' perceptions regarding their agreement with, and implementation of, the …

Governance Of Community-Based Ecotourism In Bhutan: A Case Study Of Nabji Trail In Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, Ugyen Namgyel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A limitation of Bhutan’s controlled tourism policy of “high value, low impact” is that its benefits have not extended to rural communities in remote places. To provide such opportunities, a pilot project on community-based ecotourism known as the “Nabji Trail” was developed and opened in Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park (JSWNP) in November 2006. The trail involves a walking tour across six villages including two ethnic groups, Monpa and Khengpa. Several tourism enterprises, including employment as porters, guides, cooks, selling handicrafts and providing cultural entertainment, are offered by local residents to raise income. Ten percent of all tourism earnings are …

Interactions Between The Glycosylated Gag Protein Of A Murine Leukemia Virus And Murine Apobec3: Novel Insights Into How A Murine Leukemia Virus Counteracts A Restriction Factor, Angelo Kolokithas

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

APOBEC proteins have evolved in mice and humans as potent innate defences against retroviral infections. APOBEC3G (hA3G) in humans and mouse APOBEC3 (mA3) deaminate cytidine in single-stranded DNA which ultimately results in hypermutation of newly synthesized proviral DNA. Other deaminase-independent mechanisms of inhibition have been identified, such as directly inhibiting reverse transcription. Both HIV and murine leukemia viruses (MuLVs) have evolved mechanisms to evade the action of the APOBEC proteins. HIV encodes the Vif protein which binds to hA3G and facilitates its rapid degradation through the proteasome. The mechanism(s) by which exogenous MuLVs evade mA3 inhibitory activity is unknown.

Exogenous …

Life History And Demography Of Trillium Ovatum Pursh. (Liliaceae)In Western Montana, Tarn Ream

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Trillium ovatum is a long-lived, spring ephemeral that grows in moist forest habitats of the western United States. Extensive investigations of Trillium, including T. ovatum, have been accomplished, yet no prior studies of T. ovatum have been conducted at the eastern edge of its distribution in Montana, where populations experience increased aridity and highly variable climatic conditions as compared to other regions where it occurs. This study examines life-history characteristics and demography of T. ovatum in three representative populations that were sampled over 9 growing seasons to determine: 1) life history stages, stage class structure, and yearly transitions among stage …

Multifactorial Screening For Fall Risk In Community-Dwelling Older Adults In The Primary Care Office: Development And Validation Of The Fall Risk Assessment & Screening Tool (Frast), Mindy Oxman Renfro

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Unintentional falls are an increasing public health problem as incidence of falls rises and the population ages. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1 in 3 adults aged 65 years and older will experience a fall this year; 20% to 30% of those who fall will sustain a moderate to severe injury. Physical therapists (PTs) and other primary care practitioners (PCPs) caring for older adults are usually engaged with these patients after the first injury fall and may have little opportunity to abate fall risk before the injuries occur.

Purpose: This manuscript describes the content selection, …

Unnatural Resource Law: Situating Desalination In Coastal Resource And Water Law Doctrines, Michael Pappas

Publications

This Article offers the first legal analysis of desalination, the process of converting saltwater into freshwater. Desalination represents a key climate change adaptation measure because the United States has exploited nearly all of its freshwater resources, freshwater demands continue to grow, and climate change threatens to diminish significantly existing freshwater supplies. However, scholarship has yet to address the legal ambiguities that desalination raises in the context of property, water law, and coastal resource doctrines.

This Article addresses these ambiguities and suggests the legal adaptations necessary to accommodate desalination as a climate change adaptation. Under current legal doctrines, the chain of …

Clearing Civil Procedure Hurdles In The Quest For Justice, Suzette M. Malveaux

Publications

No abstract provided.

Who Killed The Hybrid Car? State And Local Green Incentive Programs After Metropolitan Taxicab V. City Of New York, Jonathan Skinner

Publications

Unnecessarily broad preemption ruling under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act discourages other states and municipalities from pursuing innovative, environmentally beneficial policies.

Studies On Major Ion Chemistry And Hydrogeochemical Processes Of Groundwater In Port Harcourt City, Southern Nigeria

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

Of recent, the rapid deterioration of groundwater quality in Port Harcourt, Southern Nigeria due to unregulated exploitation resulting from increasing growth in the oil and gas production activities has become a major concern. The predisposition of groundwater to pollution and the realization of its serious health and economic consequences demand knowledge of the ambient groundwater quality and of the processes leading to an improved understanding of the groundwater in the area. Groundwater samples were collected from eighteen (18) representative boreholes spread over the Port Harcourt City. This was done to assess and determine the geochemical processes occurring within the aquifer …

Porn, Popery, Mahometanism, And The Rise Of The Novel: Responses To The London Earthquakes Of 1750, Samara Anne Cahill

Religion in the Age of Enlightenment

In February and March of 1750, two earthquakes hit London, provoking panic in the population and generating a great deal of providentialist rhetoric from religious authorities and selfproclaimed prophets alike. Public figures used the earthquakes as didactic opportunities to structure domestic identity and national security along gridlines of reason, faith, and national guilt. Such representations indicate not only that religious identity and faith remained important to Britons throughout the eighteenth century but also that, although Britons used Christian belief to structure their national identity, they were by no means convinced of the superiority of actual Christian behavior compared to that …

Securitizing Gender: Identity, Biometrics, And Transgender Bodies At The Airport, Paisley Currah, Tara Mulqueen

Publications and Research

It is widely assumed that the more information surveillance apparatuses can collect about an individual, the less risk she poses. In this article, we examine how gender figures into and potentially disrupts the link between identity and security. Our analysis centers on one very particular event: the confusion that erupts at the airport when US Transportation Security Administration agents perceive a conflict between the gender marked on one's papers, the image of one's body produced by a machine, and/or an individual's perceived gender presentation. Gender has been so deeply naturalized—as immutable, as easily apprehended, and as existing before and outside …

The Effect Of Optional Summer Transition To High School Program Participation And Required School Year Long Placement On A Core Content Team On Ninth-Grade Students At-Risk Measured Achievement, Engagement, And Behavior Outcomes, Frances K. Pokorski

Student Work

No significant difference in beginning ninth-grade pretest compared to ending ninth-grade posttest comparisons of American History t (17) = 0.34, p = .37 (one-tailed), d = 0.09, English t (17) = 1.40, p = .09 (one-tailed), d = 0.34, and Biology (t (17) = -1.58, p = .07 (one-tailed), d = -0.22, course grade scores were observed for students at-risk who accepted optional summer transition to high school program participation and completed the required school year long placement on a core content team. Students at-risk who refused optional summer transition to high school program participation but completed the required …

Growing Up Policed In The Age Of Aggressive Policing Policies, Brett G. Stoudt, Michelle Fine, Madeline Fox

Publications and Research

Spray-painted atop an old tenement building in the East Village of Manhattan is a large fossilized graffiti image of a tyrannosaurus rex that reads: “NYC EATS ITS YOUNG.” With its ribs exposed and mouth open, this image represents symbolically what many young people in the neighborhood already know intimately and have experienced: New York City (NYC) is not an easy place to grow up. Their social safety nets are being dismantled and the public institutions they rely on every day often fail them. In NYC, public school budgets are being slashed each year even though the high school dropout/push-out rates …

Nitrogen Addition Shapes Soil Phosphorus Availability In Two Reforested Tropical Forests In Southern China, Xiankai Lu, Jiangming Mo, Frank S. Gilliam, Hua Fang, Feifei Zhu, Yunting Fang, Wei Zhang, Juan Huang

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Scant information is available on how soil phosphorus (P) availability responds to atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, especially in the tropical zones. This study examined the effect of N addition on soil P availability, and compared this effect between forest sites of contrasting land-use history. Effects of N addition on soil properties, litterfall production, P release from decomposing litter, and soil P availability were studied in a disturbed (reforested pine forest with previous understory vegetation and litter harvesting) and a rehabilitated (reforested mixed pine/broadleaf forest with no understory vegetation and litter harvesting) tropical forest in southern China. Experimental N-treatments (above ambient) …