Digital Commons Network^™

Kiobel And Corporate Immunity Under The Alien Tort Statute: The Struggle For Clarity Post-Sosa, Dorothy S. Lund

Faculty Scholarship

In September 2010, a two-judge Second Circuit majority ruled that corporations are immune from liability under the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”). This statute, which grants aliens access to federal district courts, has emerged as a controversial tool for international norm enforcement in the last thirty years. The unexpected decision to foreclose corporate liability has generated a wave of criticism from human rights activists and international law scholars who claim that the decision is grounded in a fundamental misunderstanding of international law.

This commentary examines the Kiobel decision against other recent interpretations of the ATS, especially those following the Supreme Court’s …

A Circuit Split Survey On Violent Felonies And Crimes Of Violence: Where Does The Tenth Circuit Stand?, Megan A. Embrey

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Supreme Court Avoids Crushing The First Amendment: Why The Decision In United States V. Stevens Was Important For The Preservation Of First Amendment Rights, Matthew Broderick

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Meeting Across The River: Why Affirmative Action Needs Race & Class Diversity, Deirdre M. Bowen

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Michigan V. Bryant: Originalism Confronts Pragmatism, William Reed

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Social Network Analysis Of The Video Bloggers' Community In Youtube, Anusha Mogallapu

Masters Theses

"This research studied the structure of the social network of the video blogger community on YouTube. It analyzed the social network structure of friends and subscribers of the 187 video bloggers on YouTube and calculated the social network measures. This thesis compares the results to the structure described by Warmbrodt et al. in 2007 and explains the reasons for the distinctions. The number of video bloggers has increased enormously, and the form of their interactions has changed. As a result, the video blogger social network has evolved from a core/periphery structure to one that is centralized. This indicates that the …

Effect Of Web Atmospheric Cues On Users' Emotional Responses In Ecommerce, Tanvi Joginapelly

Masters Theses

"The internet has revolutionized the shopping experience. As consumers' emotional responses play an important role in predicting behavioral intentions and satisfaction, it is imperative to study e-commerce from an affective perspective and identify the website design features that influence consumers' emotional responses. This research adopted the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to examine the effects of web atmospheric cues. mainly vividness and interactivity, on users' emotional responses in e-commerce, and their influence on users' purchasing intentions.

The study had three stages: First, experts in human computer interaction (HCI) were recruited and asked to evaluate and rate 25 different e-commerce websites on interactivity …

Airline Revenue Management Using A Semi-Markov Critic Algorithm, Ketaki Dilip Kulkarni

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents a novel semi-Markov actor-critic algorithm to solve the airline revenue management (ARM) problem. The ARM problem has been the subject of much research since the deregulation of the airline industry in 1978. Various heuristics and numeric techniques have been developed and continue to be developed for solving this problem, but the search for more efficient techniques is still ongoing. This work focuses on the single-leg ARM problem modeled as a semi-Markov decision problem (SMDP). For Markov decision problems that suffer from the curses of dimensionality and modeling, it is difficult to obtain solutions with classical dynamic programming. …

Improving Student Learning Outcomes Through Personal Response Systems (Clickers), Ran Cai

Masters Theses

"The main purpose of this research was to examine the impact of Personal Response Systems (PRS) or clickers, (as they are commonly called), on student learning outcome. Student learning outcomes as measured by course grades were compared between traditional lecture format and clicker use lecture format. Student perceptions on clicker use were observed in the mean time. Statistical analysis indicated that although student conveyed positive attitude on clicker adoption, there were no significant differences in course scores between students who used clickers and students who did not.

This study also considered the influence of other factors, such as gender, student …

Comprehensive Evaluation Of A Computer Based Learning System, Arun Sharma Chintalapati

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents the results of a comprehensive multi-method evaluation that was conducted on the Rapid Development System (RDS), a computer-based learning environment. The development of the project was funded by a National Science Foundation grant. Prior to this evaluation, the RDS had gone through two iterations.

A pre/post evaluation was conducted using questionnaires and eye tracking. Multi-method evaluation was employed to help triangulate the results and to provide additional insights. Data from the eye tracking was used to study the influence of the RDS interface on the attention and the cognitive workload of students with respect to the learning …

Longitudinal Evaluation Of The Impact Of Placement Development Teams On Student Support In Clinical Practice., Graham R. Williamson, Lynne Callaghan, Emma Whittlesea, Lauren Mutton, Val Heath

School of Nursing and Midwifery

AIMS: To investigate the impact of a new structure for supporting healthcare students and mentors in practice placements (Placement Development Teams). INTRODUCTION: The English Model National Partnership Agreement for healthcare education required Strategic Health Authorities, Higher Education Institutions and National Health Service Trusts to redesign strategies for student support. Placement Development Teams are one English University's response to this. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY: This study was phase 2 of a longitudinal qualitative evaluation of Placement Development Teams. Data were collected after establishment of Placement Development Teams, and compared and contrasted with those collected prior to their implementation. Telephone interviews were conducted …

Construction And Psychometric Testing Of The Empathic Questionnaire Measuring Parent Satisfaction In The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Jos M. Latour, Goudoever Jb Van, Hugo J. Duivenvoorden, Marcel J.I.J. Albers, Dam Nam Van, Eugenie Dullaart, Heerde M Van, Neef M De, Carin W.M. Verlaat, Vught Em Van, Jan A. Hazelzet

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

Managing A Solar Sensor Array Project: Analyzing Insolation & Motivation, Beth A. Yount

Masters Theses

"The renewable power industry is rapidly growing today and is in need of much data to augment the advancement of the field. Photovoltaic technology, while making substantial improvement over the last 60 years, still has some significant hurdles to overcome. When shading, dust, or damaged cells reduce the power output of one panel, the traditional series-parallel configurations make it so every panel in series with that lower current panel, will also have its current lowered; this lowers the overall power output of the array significantly. Advancements in configurations and converters could change this phenomenon and dramatically increase a solar array's …

Contrast Enhancement Of Digital Mammography Based On Multi-Scale Analysis, Muhammad Imran Khan Abir

Masters Theses

"A contrast enhancement algorithm is developed for digital mammograms aiming to assist radiologists in discerning early breast cancer easily. The algorithm is based on a Laplacian pyramid framework image processing technique. The mammogram is decomposed into three frequency sub-bands, low, mid, and high frequency sub-band images. The lower sub-band image contains very fine details and higher level contains coarser features. In this method contrast enhancement is achieved from high and mid sub-bands by decomposing the image based on multi-scale Laplacian pyramid and enhance contrast by image processing. Several mapping functions are applied on sub-band images based on experimental analysis. After …

Eyes Don't Lie: Understanding Users' First Impressions On Website Design Using Eye Tracking, Sirjana Dahal

Masters Theses

"Websites are becoming more prevalent these days. They need to create a favorable first impression on the users during initial exposure. After allocating their attention to stimuli, users form a cognitive representation of the visual information leading to first impression. Hence, first impression is important to evaluate the effectiveness of a website. This research tries to examine the amount of exposure time needed to form first impression; identify the web design factors that influence the formation of users' first impression; study the emotional responses of users on website design; and finally understand the relationship between first impression and eye movement. …

You Can't Go Home Again: The Place Of Tradition In "Firefly's" Dystopian-Utopia And Utopian-Distopia, R Brown

School of Art, Design and Architecture

Science fiction has long been a site in which utopian-dystopian visions have been articulated. This paper uses one exemplar of this genre as a springboard into a discussion of the desire for a return to origin and of flawed attempts to impose an image of that origin, with discursions into illustrations drawn from contemporary conditions. In opposition to the hegemonic and reductive tendencies inherent in such attempts, this paper proposes an alternative which engages with the everyday reality of life. Intrinsic to this proposition is that our traditions and utopias must be founded upon a continual (re)making in the everyday.

Attention Deployment During Memorizing And Executing Complex Instructions., Jens K. Apel, Gavin F. Revie, Angelo Cangelosi, Rob Ellis, Jeremy Goslin, Martin H. Fischer

School of Psychology

We investigated the mental rehearsal of complex action instructions by recording spontaneous eye movements of healthy adults as they looked at objects on a monitor. Participants heard consecutive instructions, each of the form "move [object] to [location]". Instructions were only to be executed after a go signal, by manipulating all objects successively with a mouse. Participants re-inspected previously mentioned objects already while listening to further instructions. This rehearsal behavior broke down after 4 instructions, coincident with participants' instruction span, as determined from subsequent execution accuracy. These results suggest that spontaneous eye movements while listening to instructions predict their successful execution.

Trait Approach To Leadership In Campus Organizations: The Hogan Personality Inventory As A Predictor, Christyn Nicolle Collum

Masters Theses

"The trait approach to leadership has been researched extensively and applied to several fields. This study examined whether or not student leadership in registered student organizations is related to personality traits on the Missouri University of Science and Technology campus from spring semesters 2008, 2009, and 2010. It also explored whether or not traits are related to students joining organizations, during these same semesters. The students' personalities were evaluated using the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPJ), which entering freshmen voluntarily completed. The seven scales of the HPJ are Adjustment, Ambition, Sociability, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Prudence, Inquisitiveness, and Learning Approach. Personality results were …

Management Of Patient Adherence To Medications: Protocol For An Online Survey Of Doctors, Pharmacists And Nurses In Europe, W Clyne, C Mshelia, S Hall, S Mclachlan, Et Al

Peninsula Medical School

Introduction It is widely recognised that many patients do not take prescribed medicines as advised. Research in this field has commonly focused on the role of the patient in non-adherence; however, healthcare professionals can also have a major influence on patient behaviour in taking medicines. This study examines the perceptions, beliefs and behaviours of healthcare professionals—doctors, pharmacists and nurses—about patient medication adherence. Methods and analysis This paper describes the study protocol and online questionnaire used in a cross-sectional survey of healthcare professionals in Europe. The participating countries include Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, Italy …

Learning Associations Between Action And Perception: Effects Of Incompatible Training On Body Part And Spatial Priming, Alison J. Wiggett, Matt Hudson, Steve P. Tipper, Paul E. Downing

School of Psychology

No abstract provided.

A Framework For Transparent Depression Classification In College Settings Via Mining Internet Usage Patterns, Raghavendra Kotikalapudi

Masters Theses

Depression is a serious mental health problem affecting the mind and body of people in our society. As of today, depression affects about 5 to 7% of the American population, which roughly translates to 14 million people! A particularly worrying concern these days is the increasing incidence of depression among college students. The problem is so severe that many US campuses have dedicated centers with mental health professionals catering to students needs. Although there are very effective treatments for depression, studies report that ~80% of depressed students do not seek any help due to the lack of perception of the …

Defining Torture And Cruel, Inhuman, And Degrading Treatment, David Weissbrodt, Cheryl Heilman

Articles

Declaring a “war against terror,” the United States has detained foreign nationals suspected of terrorist activities and has interrogated them at various locations outside the United States. As the United States seeks to bring charges against the detainees, serious questions have arisen regarding the interrogation methods used to obtain evidence. Federal laws enacted to meet the United States' obligations under treaties prohibit the use of evidence obtained through torture or through cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. What legal standards should be applied to determine whether interrogation methods or conditions of confinement constitute torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment? Is …

Regulatory Contrarians, Brett Mcdonnell, Daniel Schwarcz

Articles

This Article explores the role that “regulatory contrarians” can play in promoting more adaptive financial regulation. Such contrarians have several distinguishing features. First, they possess persuasive authority by virtue of their position, access to media and officials, or speaking engagements and reports. Second, they are affiliated with, and enjoy privileged access to, a regulatory entity but are nonetheless independent, as reflected in their budget, staffing, and/or priorities. Finally, they are tasked with studying the regulatory process, policy positions, and the regulated market and in some way reporting on deficiencies and potential improvements. The Article argues that regulatory contrarians can modestly …

Compromised Fiduciaries: Conflicts Of Interest In Government And Business, Claire Hill, Richard W. Painter

Articles

In the present financial crisis, the government has become extensively involved in managing companies, at times undertaking massive bailouts. The results of government involvement in business are at best mixed. Moreover, its involvement has generated significant criticism. But government involvement in managing companies is sometimes inevitable. It is therefore important to consider how it can be improved. One critical reason why government might perform poorly is conflicts of interest. Given the conflicts that arise at multiple levels of decisionmaking in both government and private companies, it should not be surprising that government management of companies is often problematic. In both …