Digital Commons Network^™

Essays On Consumer Shopping Behavior And Price Dispersion, Aleksandr Yankelevich

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Essay 1: "Price-Matching in a Sequential Search Duopoly" While substantial research has tried to determine if price-matching guarantees are anti-competitive, most previous studies have overlooked the effect that these policies have on consumer search behavior. This essay examines how price-matching guarantees affect consumer behavior and prices in a model of sequential price search. By endogenizing consumers' acquisition of price information, I find that price-matching may raise prices in three new ways. First, price-matching diminishes firms' incentives to lower prices to attract consumers who have no cost of search. Second, for consumers with positive search costs, price-matching lowers the marginal benefit …

Coalitions And Incumbency Advantage In Mexico, Samuel Bonilla Licea

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Despite the multi-party feature of the federal electoral system in Mexico, local elections are essentially embedded in a bipartisan system. Literature has thus far assumed that democratic transitions will permeate from the national to the sub-national level. However, in Mexico, even a decade after the democratic transition occurred at the federal level, some states have lagged behind. Most of the work done on this topic, for the Mexican case, analyzes the problem at a macro level that ignores the dynamics of election at local districts, focusing mainly on the link between the federal congress and state governors. I argue that …

Calling Law A 'Profession' Only Confuses Thinking About The Challenges Lawyers Face, Thomas D. Morgan

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

It is appropriate to want lawyers to be mature, moral people and to help legal education reinforce those qualities. It is also appropriate to be sure students understand lawyers’ fiduciary responsibilities and the ways lawyers fall short of meeting them. It only confuses work on those issues, however, to call them part of teaching "professionalism." Law is not a "profession" as that term has traditionally been used. Calling law a profession does not help understanding the challenges lawyers face.

The Changing Face Of Legal Education: Its Impact On What It Means To Be A Lawyer, Thomas D. Morgan

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In recent years, it has become less clear what it means to be a lawyer. Current efforts by the ABA to change accreditation standards for U.S. law schools make it important to think about the ways in which lawyers have common qualities. This paper considers both the changes in law practice and what they are likely to mean for U.S. law schools as they try to equip lawyers for the new reality.

What Should We Do About Administrative Law Judge Disability Decisionmaking?, Richard J. Pierce Jr

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The Social Security Advisory Board, the Congressional Budget Office, and independent researchers at MIT and the University of Maryland have concluded that the Social Security disability programs have become excessively generous and fiscally unsustainable. The percentage of the population that has been determined to be disabled has doubled, the cost of the programs has increased over four-fold, and the programs are predicted to have exhausted their funding sources by 2018. All of the studies attribute the looming crisis in this area in large measure to Social Security Administration (SSA) Administrative Law Judges (ALJs).

In this article, Professor Pierce argues that …

An Empirical Study Of Judicial Review Of Agency Interpretations Of Agency Rules, Richard J. Pierce Jr, Joshua A. Weiss

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In this essay, Pierce and Weiss report the results of a study of judicial review of agency interpretations of agency rules. Prior studies found that, while courts at all levels uphold about 70% of agency actions, the Supreme Court upholds 91% of agency interpretations of agency rules. Pierce and Weiss find that lower courts do not confer this type of super deference on agency interpretations of agency rules. District courts and circuit courts uphold 76% of such agency actions. That is within the range of the findings of prior studies of judicial review of other types of agency actions and …

A Primer On Demand Response And A Critique Of Ferc Order 745, Richard J. Pierce Jr

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This essay is a contribution to the Second Annual Demand Response Conference sponsored by George Washington University and the law firm of Husch Blackwell. Demand response is a term that is used in debates about potential ways of reforming regulation of electricity to provide consumers with the proper incentives to conserve electricity. In this essay, Professor Pierce attempts to describe the basic economic and legal principles that are implicated in the debate in terms that make the debate more accessible to participants, policy makers, and the general public.

The Supreme Court’S Surprising And Strategic Response To The Civil Rights Act Of 1991, Michael Selmi

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This essay, which was prepared for a symposium issue in recognition of the twentieth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, explores the Supreme Court’s response to the Congressional repudiation of its cases reflected in the 1991 Act. Relying on a positive political theory framework, I demonstrate that the Court appears to have responded in a strategically sophisticated manner designed to insulate their decisions from Congressional reversal. The 1991 Act reversed or modified eight Supreme Court decisions, and reflected concern regarding the conservative turn the Court had taken in discrimination cases. After the passage of the Act, plaintiffs have …

The Pii Problem: Privacy And A New Concept Of Personally Identifiable Information, Daniel J. Solove, Paul M. Schwartz

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Personally identifiable information (PII) is one of the most central concepts in information privacy regulation. The scope of privacy laws typically turns on whether PII is involved. The basic assumption behind the applicable laws is that if PII is not involved, then there can be no privacy harm. At the same time, there is no uniform definition of PII in information privacy law. Moreover, computer science has shown that in many circumstances non-PII can be linked to individuals, and that de-identified data can be re-identified. PII and non-PII are thus not immutable categories, and there is a risk that information …

The Update, January/February 2011, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Humanities, Arts And Sciences.

Update

Inside this issue:

-- Popular NPR Show, From the Top, to tape a broadcast at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center
-- Department News
-- 2010-11 CHFA Major Grants Announced
-- Anderson Summer Geology Field Camp Fund
-- Marks of Process, a UNI Department of Art Alumni Exhibition
-- UNI Interpreters Theatre
-- University of Northern Iowa School of Music Concert Chorale
-- Center of Advanced Bio-Based Binders
-- Student Spotlight: Art: Alex Petersen
-- Student Spotlight: Biology: Benjamin Wohlers
-- WCF Symphony & School of Music Events
-- First Lego League
-- Sigma Gamma Epsilon
-- Forum: a Student Organization …

Product Safety And Security In The Global Supply Chain: Issues, Challenges And Research Opportunities, Ann Marucheck, Noel Greis, Carlos Mena, Linning Cai

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

number of high profile product safety events and recalls have heightened public attention to the safety and security of the products that people consume and use. While product safety isn’t a new topic, the effect of the global supply chain in creating or exacerbating safety risks and vulnerabilities is both timely and relevant. In this essay we focus on how the field of operations management can provide fresh perspectives and insights in addressing the challenges of product safety and security in the global supply chain. We first examine the product safety issues and challenges that arise in five industries that …

Iowa Film Premier

Postville Project Documents

A one-page informational sheet about the Iowa premiere Luis Argueta documentary film "AbUSed: The Postville Raid" at the University of Northern Iowa on Feb. 8, 2011.

Mfa11 (Mfa 2011), Sam Fox School Of Design & Visual Arts, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Buzz Spector, Patricia Olynyk, Marshall N. Klimasewiski, John Talbott Allen, Meghan Bean, Shira Berkowitz, Darrick Byers, Jisun Choi, Zlatko Ćosić, James R. Daniels, Kara Daving, Andrea Degener, Kristin Fleischmann, William Frank, Nicholas Mccullough, Jordan Mcgirk, Zachary Miller, Esther Murphy, Kathryn Neale, Christopher Ottinger, Maia Palmer, Nicole Petrescu, Lauren Pressler, Bryce Olen Robinson, Whitney Sage, Donna Smith

Books and Monographs

Catalogue of a culminating student exhibition held at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, May 6-Aug. 1, 2011. Content includes Introduction / Buzz Spector -- Patricia Olynyk -- Marshall N. Klimasewiski -- John Talbott Allen -- Meghan Bean -- Shira Berkowitz / Maggie Stanley Majors -- Darrick Byers, Bryce Olen Robinson -- Jisun Choi -- Zlatko Ćosić -- James R. Daniels -- Kara Daving -- Andrea Degener -- Kristin Fleischmann / Randi Shapiro -- William Frank / Lawrence Ypil -- Nicholas Kania -- Katherine McCullough -- Jordan McGirk / Aditi Machado -- Zachary Miller -- Esther Murphy / Maggie Stanley …

Book Review: Gene Patents And Collaborative Licensing Models: Patent Pools, Clearinghouses, Open Source Models And Liability Regimes (Ed. Geertrui Van Overwalle), Jonas Anderson

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

A review of Gene Patents and Collaborative Licensing Models: Patent Pools, Clearinghouses, Open Source Models and Liability Regimes.

The typically esoteric world of patents has recently been thrust into the headlines as cases involving patented genes have received an unprecedented amount of press. For decades, academics, scientists, practicing attorneys, and legislators have vigorously debated the merits of granting patents on genes and medical diagnostic procedures. Only recently, however, have the courts entered the fray. For example, in March 2010, Judge Sweet of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York handed down a ruling that invalidated a …

Secret Inventions, Jonas Anderson

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Patent law - and innovation policy more generally - has traditionally been conceptualized as antithetical to secrecy. Not only does the patent system require inventors to publicly disclose their inventions in order to receive a patent, but various patent doctrines are designed to encourage inventors to forego trade secrecy. This Article offers a critique of the law’s preference for patents. In particular, this Article examines whether and under what circumstances the law should prefer patents over secrets, and vice versa.

As an initial step towards a theoretically-supported system of inventor incentives, this Article constructs a framework that attempts to balance …

Historic House Museum Sustainability In The 21st Century: Paths To Preservation, Susan R. Orr

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Cerebral Perfusion In Chronic Stroke: Implications For Lesion-Symptom Mapping And Functional Mri, Jessica D. Richardson, Julie M. Baker, Paul S. Morgan, Chris Rorden, L. Bonilha, Julius Fridriksson

Faculty Publications

Lesion-symptom mapping studies are based upon the assumption that behavioral impairments are directly related to structural brain damage. Given what is known about the relationship between perfusion deficits and impairment in acute stroke, attributing specific behavioral impairments to localized brain damage leaves room for speculation, as impairments could also reflect abnormal neurovascular function in brain regions that appear structurally intact on traditional CT and MRI scans. Compared to acute stroke, the understanding of cerebral perfusion in chronic stroke is far less clear. Utilizing arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI, we examined perfusion in 17 patients with chronic left hemisphere stroke. The …

The History Of Urological Care And Training At Thomas Jefferson University, Max Koppel, Md, Patrick J. Shenot, Md, Dolores Bryne, Phd, Leonard G. Gomella, Md

Department of Urology Faculty Papers

The Department of Urology at Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is generally acknowledged as the oldest formal Department of Urology in the US, formally designated as the Department of Genitourinary Surgery in 1904. The Department has been under the direction of 8 chairmen and has trained over 144 residents and 25 fellows with over 200 Jefferson Medical College graduates specializing in urology. Thomas Jefferson University was originally founded as Jefferson Medical College in 1824. Dr. George McClelland petitioned Jefferson College at Cannonsburg (now Washington and Jefferson College) to add a medical school to their institution. While technically …

The Optimization Of Whole Genome Amplification And Molecular Crowding For Use In Forensic Low Copy Number Samples, Megan Frances Palmer

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Whole genome amplification has been used as a powerful tool to increase the amount of DNA template used for microarrays, STR and SNP assays in clinical and forensic settings. Our laboratory observed that multiple displacement whole genome amplification demonstrated a higher reliability for increasing DNA template than PCR primer extension pre-amplification of human genomic DNA. We also demonstrated a truncated reaction time for whole genome amplification was necessary to decrease artifact, while still increasing authentic DNA species. We determined that molecular crowding using polyethylene glycol and non-human DNA also increased sensitivity of our assays. Combining the modified whole genome amplification …

Evaluating The Effects Of Rail Preemption Strategies On Highway Safety And Operations, Andrew Lee Bratlien

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Previous research related to signal preemption near highway-rail grade crossings has emphasized safety considerations, which are paramount due to the severity of potential train-vehicle collisions. The purpose of this research was to quantify the safety and efficiency implications of several common preemption strategies using the conditions in a small urban context. The research evaluates several important characteristics of rail preemption, including track clearance time, advance preempt time, and dwell cycle strategy, particularly with regard to surface street operational efficiency, that current traffic engineering practice do not adequately address. The context and preemption strategies were modeled using simulation software VISSIM. The …

Deadbeats, Deadbrokes, And Prisoners, Ann Cammett

Scholarly Works

Historically, child support policy has targeted absent parents with aggressive enforcement measures. Such an approach is based on an economic resource model that is increasingly irrelevant, even counterproductive, for many low-income families. Specifically, modern day mass incarceration has radically skewed the paradigm on which the child support system is based, removing millions of parents from the formal economy entirely, diminishing their income opportunities after release, and rendering them ineffective economic actors. Such a flawed policy approach creates unintended consequences for the children of these parents by compromising a core non-monetary goal of child support system – parent-child engagement – as …

The Family Justice Clinic: Increasing Access To Justice For Nevada Families In Need, Ann Cammett, Elizabeth L. Macdowell

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Promise Of Mancari: Indian Political Rights As Racial Remedy, Addie C. Rolnick

Scholarly Works

In 1974, the Supreme Court declared that an Indian employment preference was based on a "political rather than racial" classification. The Court's framing of Indianness as a political matter and its positioning of "political" and "racial" as opposing concepts has defined the trajectory of federal Indian law and influenced common sense ideas about what it means to be Indian ever since. This oppositional framing has had specific practical consequences, including obscuring the continuing significance of racialization for Indians and concealing the mutually constitutive relationship between Indian racialization and Indian political status. This Article explores the legal roots of the political …

In Praise Of Procedurally Centered Judicial Disqualification - And A Stronger Conception Of The Appearance Standard: Better Acknowledging And Adjusting To Cognitive Bias, Spoliation And Perceptual Realities, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Serum Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 In Pancreatic Cancer., Jennifer Sullivan, Qiaoke Gong, Terry Hyslop, Harish Lavu, Galina Chipitsyna, Charles Yeo, Hwyda A Arafat

Department of Surgery Faculty Papers

Background/Aims. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) has etiological association with chronic inflammation. Elevated circulating levels of inflammatory mediators, such as monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), are found in obese individuals. We hypothesized that serum MCP-1 levels are elevated in obese PDA patients. Methods. ELISA was used to analyze MCP-1 serum levels in PDA (n = 62) and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN) (n = 27). Recursive partitioning statistical analysis investigated the relationship between log MCP-1 and clinicopathological parameters. Results. Log MCP-1 values were significantly (P < 0.05) elevated in patients with BMI ≥ 37.5. In patients with BMI < 37.5, average log MCP-1 values were significantly elevated in PDA patients when compared to IPMN patients. Within the IPMN group, higher log MCP-1 levels correlated with increased age. Recursive partitioning analysis of IPMN versus PDA revealed a strategy of predicting characteristics of patients who are more likely to have cancer. This strategy utilizes log MCP-1 as the primary factor and also utilizes smoking status, gender, and age. Conclusion. MCP-1 is a promising biomarker in pancreatic cancer. The potential of using MCP-1 to distinguish PDA from IPMN patients must be studied in larger populations to validate and demonstrate its eventual clinical utility.

Organizational Representation And The Frontiers Of Gatekeeping, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

I spend more than half of my Professional Responsibility (“PR”) survey course discussing issues distinctive to organizational clients. I do so in part to take into account the realities of practice. If we can generalize from John Heinz and Edward Laumann’s Chicago study, about sixty-five percent of lawyering time is devoted to organizational clients. Yet, the PR issues involved in representing organizational clients occupy a comparatively small portion of legal doctrine, casebooks, and scholarship.

Another reason I emphasize organizational clients is that recent developments in this sphere, especially in securities and tax, have great general interest.

Aicpa Annual Report, 2010-2011; Change. Vision. Opportunity, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

AICPA Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Maternal Defense: Breastfeeding Heightens Aggression By Reducing Stress, Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Colin Holbrook, Sarah M. Coyne, E. Thomas Lawson

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Mothers in numerous species exhibit heightened aggression in defense of their young. This shift typically coincides with the duration of lactation in nonhuman mammals, which suggests that human mothers may display similarly accentuated aggressiveness while breast feeding. Here we report the first behavioral evidence for heightened aggression in lactating humans. Breast-feeding mothers inflicted louder and longer punitive sound bursts on unduly aggressive confederates than did formula-feeding mothers or women who had never been pregnant. Maternal aggression in other mammals is thought to be facilitated by the buffering effect of lactation on stress responses. Consistent with the animal literature, our results …

Body Image And Body Type Preferences In St. Kitts, Caribbean: A Cross- Cultural Comparison With U.S. Samples Regarding Attitudes Towards Muscularity, Body Fat, And Breast Size, Peter B. Gray, David Frederick

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

We investigated body image in St. Kitts, a Caribbean island where tourism, international media, and relatively high levels of body fat are common. Participants were men and women recruited from St. Kitts (n = 39) and, for comparison, U.S. samples from universities (n = 618) and the Internet (n = 438). Participants were shown computer generated images varying in apparent body fat level and muscularity or breast size and they indicated their body type preferences and attitudes. Overall, there were only modest differences in body type preferences between St. Kitts and the Internet sample, with the St. Kitts participants being …

Three-Year Ground Based Measurements Of Aerosol Optical Depth Over The Eastern Mediterranean: The Urban Environment Of Athens, E. Gerasopoulos, V. Amiridis, S. Kazadzis, P. Kokkalis, K. Eleftheratos, M. O. Andrae, T. W. Andrae, Hesham El-Askary, C S. Zerefos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Three years (2006–2008) of ground-based observations of the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) in the urban environment of Athens, in the Eastern Mediterranean, are analysed in this work. Measurements were acquired with a Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer at five wavelengths. The daily average AOD at 500 nm is 0.23, and the mean A° ngstro¨m coefficient calculated between 415 and 867 nm is 1.41. The annual variability of AOD has a spring maximum dominated by coarse dust particles from the Sahara (AOD 0.34–0.42), while the diurnal pattern is typical for urban sites, with AOD steadily increasing throughout the day. The greatest contribution …