Digital Commons Network^™

An Addendum To Cox And Posner: A Visa To 'Snitch', Eleanor Marie Brown

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Cox and Posner’s landmark contribution is the first article to have highlighted the challenges of information asymmetry in immigration screening. While Cox and Posner have undoubtedly made a significant contribution, there is a critical oversight in their framework: they do not discuss the importance of targeted ex post mechanisms of screening educational elites. This Essay is an attempt to remedy Cox and Posner’s omission. Why is this oversight so problematic? In the post-9/11 world, U.S. immigration policy currently finds itself on the horns of a dilemma. While immigrant educational elites are critical to U.S. economic growth, terrorist networks have stepped …

Video-Rate Fluorescence Molecular Tomography For Hand-Held And Multimodal Molecular Imaging, Metasebya Solomon

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

In the United States, cancer is the second leading cause of death following heart disease. Although, a variety of treatment regimens are available, cancer management is complicated by the complexity of the disease and the variability, between people, of disease progression and response to therapy. Therefore, advancements in the methods and technologies for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic monitoring are critical to improving the treatment of cancer patients.

The development of improved imaging methods for early diagnosis of cancer and of near real-time monitoring of tumor response to therapy may improve outcomes as well as the quality of life of …

“All Textbooks In The Library!” An Experiment With Library Reserves, Tony Greiner

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

In the fall of 2010, a grant of $36,000 allowed Portland Community College Library to purchase and place on reserve a copy of every required text at one of its campuses. A smaller college “center” also placed all required texts on reserve. The program was very popular with students and parts of the reserve collection received heavy use. Compared to the previous fall term, overall use of reserves at the Cascade Campus library rose 35%, and the Southeast Center collection saw an increase of 110%. However, use of the collection was unevenly distributed, with 26% of the books having more …

Mothers’ Perception Of The Influence Of Interactive Media On Children Cognitive And Social Development In Lagos, Nigeria., Ifeanyi Adigwe

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study attempts to investigate mothers’ perception on the influence of interactive media on children cognitive and social development in Lagos Nigeria. It may be surprising, but recent video game research has demonstrated positive, social, and educational related benefits from video game play. However, many parents and teachers fear the negative effect of video games, worrying that video games will turn their children, into mindless, violent, isolated, unhealthy individuals. While some of these concerns are not completely unfounded, video game research has uncovered a wide array of effects of video game play, including many positive influences of video games in …

Faculty Perceptions Of The Value Of Academic Libraries: A Mixed Method Study, Kelly L. Heider, Sandra Janicki, Joann Janosko, Blaine Knupp, Carl Rahkonen

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This article details the findings of a year-long study at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) Libraries which examined IUP faculty members’ perceptions of the value of library resources and services to both their research and teaching. Through a mixed-method study, which included an online survey and follow-up focus groups, the researchers found that faculty were dissatisfied with IUP Libraries’ marketing initiatives but satisfied with its small embedded librarian program. As a result, marketing and growth of the embedded librarian program became the two main focus areas for improvement in the next academic year.

Représentations De La Violence Révolutionnaire Dans La Littérature Et Le Cinéma Français (1928-1986), Antoine Krieger

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

In my dissertation, I study the constants and the variables of the representation of: mostly left-wing) militants in 20th century French literature and film. I demonstrate that they are young idealists seeking personal rejuvenation through political violence. Moreover, I show how those works are a reflection of major trends in French cultural and political history during specific time-periods such as the inter-war period, the occupation of France by Nazi Germany or the Algerian War of Independence. My theoretical approach is a "sociology of literature" influenced by the theories of Lucien Goldmann and Marc Angenot. However, I also occasionally use postcolonial …

Developmental Higher Education: Exploring Time Lapse As A Precursor To Mathematics Developmental Education Placement, Debra Satterfield Holley

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Developmental Higher Education: Exploring Time Lapse as a Precursor to Mathematics Developmental Education Placement: This dissertation attempts to elucidate two of the many factors that could be contributing to the high rate of students who take developmental or remedial mathematics classes. Because many possible causal factors exist, the current focus was on examining the time lapse between the student’s most recent mathematics course and taking a placement test on course placement. Mathematics instructors at a community college in Eastern North Carolina indicated that this factor appears to be significant among the students at the college based on their informal observations. …

Generational Differences In Work Ethic: A Study Of Four Generations In The Workplace, Kathleen J. Barlow

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which differences in work ethic existed among four generations and two genders in the workplace. Data from four subsets of the Multidimensional Work Ethic Profile (MWEP) were examined (delay of gratification, hard work, morality/ethics, and self-reliance). Popular press has raised awareness of differences in work ethic between generations; however, scholars have disagreed about whether generational differences existed in the workplace. The writer used archival data to examine the work ethic of four generations of workers.

Two research questions guided this study:

1. What differences in work ethic, if any, …

Implementation Of A Reading Comprehension Model Designed To Increase Reading Comprehension Of Fifth-Grade Students, Marcia Lim-Tom

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to examine the effectiveness of a computer-based reading program and reciprocal teaching strategies on reading comprehension skills of a group of 5th-grade students. Some 5th-grade students at the research site were deficient in their reading comprehension performance. Results from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and Academy of Reading assessments demonstrated their comprehension deficits. This research was guided by 3 research questions:

1. Will participation in a computer-assisted instruction reading program and reciprocal teaching strategies increase the reading comprehension scores of a group of 5th-grade students by at least 10% as measured by the Standardized …

Exploring The Impact Of Digital Publishing: A Case Study Involving Service-Learning Integrated With Technology, Bridget Ann Bonczyk

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The study explored the long-term academic effects on the educational progress for three students who participated in a technology driven service-learning program. The purpose of the study was to describe the long-term effects of the program on the students’ academic experiences and students’ sense of self-efficacy. The study examined whether or not the associated activities involved in the creation of digital books had an impact on the technology skills the students were presently learning.

The writer developed the child-centered service learning project entitled, RealeWriter and RealeLibrary ~ Leading English Language Learners to Learn and Serve in the spring of 2006. …

Changing Perceptions Of China In 1930s America, Erin Pattison

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

Epistemic Vigilance: The Error Management Of Source Memory And Belief, Brian Bergstrom

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The studies reported here explore some of the cognitive contours of epistemic vigilance--that is, how the mind adaptively tracks and monitors information. These studies ask how the mind considers the source of new information when making epistemic judgments. Four experiments investigate the role of source information in modulating the "truth bias": an automatic tendency to presume new information is true). An evolutionary hypothesis is advanced: that a "support bias" exists for sources with special coalitional relevance: e.g., a best friend) that interacts with the truth bias to produce supportive patterns of recall that are unique to that source. Results partially …

Social Change And Documentary Film In Mexico: Violence, Autonomy, And Cultural Production, Livia Katherine Stone

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The use of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media in the Arab Spring, #Occupy Wall Street, and Mexico's #YoSoy132 student movement have all generated excitement about the new uses of digital technology in organized social movements. This dissertation concerns itself with media and social transformation, but recognizes that even as media content can have a deep impact on society and culture, it is ultimately human beings who create and use technology off screen for our own purposes. This dissertation focuses ethnographically on one social movement, the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra: The Peoples' Front in Defense …

Creating And Maintaining Environmentally Sustainable Organizations: Recruitment And Onboarding, Talya N. Bauer, Berrin Erdogan, Sully Taylor

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

There is a growing realization that economic sustainability is intertwined with environmental sustainable development. The authors explore this topic, how recent changes in the global environment have led companies to realize that by solely focusing on maximization of shareholder financial returns, the long term economic viability of their firms is threatened.

Geomes (Geoscience Educational Opportunities For Motivating Every Student), Jody Stone

K-12 Curriculum Supplements

The intent of the GEOMES materials is to provide earth science teachers with resources and strategies that will generate interest and enthusiasm among students and teachers for the study of earth science. So there you have it—Geoscience Educational Opportunities for Motivating Every Student (GEOMES). The study of earth science should provide individuals with understandings that prepare them to make more intelligent decisions on processing issues. It should provide students with insights that make the interpretation of events in their environment more meaningful.

The format of the teaching strategies employed in the GEOMES program is designed to attract the student's interest …

A Complementarity Conundrum: International Criminal Enforcement In The Mexican Drug War, Spencer Thomas

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Drug-related violence in Mexico has claimed over 34,000 lives since Mexican President Felipe Calderon initiated his crackdown on Mexico's drug cartels in 2006 with the deployment of military troops to Michoacan. Somewhat surprisingly, Mexico's drug war has garnered rather little attention from the international community, despite a wealth of headlines in popular media. This Note takes up the question of international criminal enforcement in Mexico against Los Zetas, widely considered Mexico's most violent drug cartel. By setting up a hypothetical--but possible--International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution of Los Zetas cartel leader Heriberto Lazcano, this Note demonstrates that the ICC Prosecutor could …

Law And Development As Anti-Comparative Law, Jedidiah Kroncke

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article asserts that during the twentieth century, American law has predominantly structured its relationship to foreign legal experience through a set of ideas and practices known as "law and development," which is irredeemably antithetical to the practice of comparative law. Centrally, law and development is built on the assumption that American law can be exported abroad to catalyze foreign legal development. The dismal record of such efforts has remained paradoxically popular while the field remains locked in repeating cycles of failure and optimism.

This Article demonstrates that the history of law and development's failures is far older than has …

Stereoselective Carbon-Carbon Bond Construction Using Indium And Bismuth: New Methods In Green Chemistry, Narayanaganesh Balasubramanian

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Selective chemical reactions that can be accomplished with minimal waste using non-toxic catalysts and reagents will allow for new greener chemical processes for future environmentally sustainable technologies. This work will present an account on enantioselective nucleophilic addition to carbon-nitrogen and carbon-oxygen double bonds mediated by the environmentally benign indium and bismuth metals. The dissertation entitled “ Stereoselective carbon-carbon bond construction using indium and bismuth: new methods in green chemistry” is divided into three chapters Chapter one outlines a few concepts in green chemistry and background information on the vital role of indium and bismuth in present day organic synthesis. The …

Enhancement Of Dispersibility Of Zero-Valent Iron Nanoparticles For Environmental Remediation: Entrapment And Surface Modification With Polymers, Sita Krajangpan

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (NZVI) particles have been surface modified and used for contaminant remediation. NZVI tend to agglomerate due to magnetic and van der Waals forces and form larger particles that settle down in aqeous media. Agglomerated particles increase in size and have decreased specific surface area and that lead to decrease in their reactivity. In this research, polymer-based surface modifiers were used to increase dispersibility of NZVI for environmental remediation applications. Ca-alginate was selected to entrap NZVI in beads and used to remove aqueous nitrate. The two-way ANOVA test indicates that there was no significant difference between reactivities (towards …

Alginate Encapsulated Nanoparticle-Microorganism System For Trichloroethylene Remediation, Sai Sharanya Shanbhogue

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (NZVI) particles were encapsulated in calcium alginate capsules for application in environmental remediation. TCE degradation rates for encapsulated and bare NZVI were similar indicating no adverse effects of encapsulation on degradation kinetics. Microorganisms were separately encapsulated and used along with encapsulated NZVI and co-encapsulated in calcium alginate capsules. Batch experiments were performed to test the efficacy of the combined iron-Pseudomonas sp. (PpF1) system. The combined system removed 100% TCE over the first three hours of the experiment followed by 70% TCE removal post TCE re-dosing. Complete reduction of TCE was achieved by NZVI between 0-3 h and …

Silk Cryogels For Microfluidics, Christopher David Hinojosa

Dissertations and Theses

Silk fibroin from silkworm cocoons is found in numerous applications ranging from textiles to medical implants. Its recent adoption as a biomaterial is due to the material's strength, biocompatibility, self-assembling behavior, programmable degradability, optical clarity, and its ability to be functionalized with antibodies and proteins. In the field of bioengineering it has been utilized as a tissue scaffolding, drug delivery system, biosensor, and implantable electrode. This work suggests a new application for porous silk in a microscale chromatography column. We demonstrate in situ cryotropic polymerization of highly porous structures in microscale geometries by freezing aqueous silk with a solvent. The …

Introduction: The Politics Of Hate, Robert L. Tsai

Faculty Scholarship

This is a special issue dedicated to the topic of hate and political discourse. Collectively, the peer-reviewed articles in this volume are concerned with the political aspects of hatred, i.e., psychology, motivations, organization, tactics, and ends. The articles approach the problem from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, history, law, literature, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology. Among the subjects analyzed: group hatred as a heritable trait; hate as an irrational system of thought; Italian fascism's construction of the Communist other; the rise of the English Defence League and its anti-Islam activities; the persistent myth of blood libel; judicial handling …

Chain-Link Confidentiality, Woodrow Hartzog

Faculty Scholarship

Disclosing personal information online often feels like losing control over one’s data forever; but this loss is not inevitable. This essay proposes a “chain-link confidentiality” approach to protecting online privacy. One of the most difficult challenges to guarding privacy in the digital age is the protection of information once it is exposed to other people. A chain-link confidentiality regime would contractually link the disclosure of personal information to obligations to protect that information as the information moves downstream. The system would focus on the relationships not only between the discloser of information and the initial recipient, but also between the …

Patent Litigation And The Internet, John R. Allison, Emerson H. Tiller, Samantha Zyontz, Tristan Bligh

Faculty Scholarship

Patent infringement litigation has not only increased dramatically in frequency over the past few decades,¹ but also has also seen striking growth in both stakes and cost.² Although a relatively rich literature has added much to our understanding of the nature, causes, and consequences of patent litigation during the past two decades,³ many interesting questions remain inadequately addressed. The nuances of and trends in patent litigation in different technology fields and industries, for example, are still understudied.⁴ Litigation of patents on new technologies has likewise received a dearth of attention. Here we seek to help begin …

Street Art, Ideology, And Public Space, Tiffany Renée Conklin

Dissertations and Theses

The concept of the city has come to play a central role in the practices of a new generation of artists for whom the city is their canvas. Street art is a complex social issue. For decades, its presence has fueled intense debate among residents of modern cities. Street art is considered by some to be a natural expression that exercises a collective right to the city, and by others, it is seen as a destructive attack upon an otherwise clean and orderly society. This research focuses on various forms of street art from the perspective of the urban audience. …

Ripple Clock Schemes For Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata Circuits, Prafull Purohit

Theses

Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) is an emerging technology for building digital circuits at nano-scale. It is considered as an alternative to widely used complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology because of its key features, which include low power operation, high density and high operating frequency. Unlike conventional logic circuits in which information is transferred by electrical current, QCA operates with the help of coulomb interaction between two adjacent QCA cells. A QCA cell is a set of four quantum-dots that are placed near the corners of a square. Due to the fact that clocking provides power and control of data …

A Study Of The Effects Of Fieldbus Network Inducted Delays On Control Systems., Joseph Mianoo

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fieldbus networks are all-digital, two-way, multi-drop communication systems that are used to connect field devices such as sensors and actuators, and controllers. These fieldbus network systems are also called networked control systems (NCS). Although, there are different varieties of fieldbus networks such as Foundation Field Bus, DeviceNet, and Profibus available in the automation industries, Controller Area Network (CAN) is more widely accepted in automotive applications. The growing popularity of, and demand for, fieldbus networks can be attributed to several advantages they have, such as: reduction in capital costs, interoperability, and greater system functionality. However, as the complexity of modern fieldbus …

A Comparison Of Elementary Mathematics Achievement In Everyday Math And Saxon Math Schools In Illinois, Clayton Roan

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study compared mathematics achievement in Illinois elementary schools using the Everyday Math and Saxon Math curricula. The Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) was used as the measure of student achievement. Multiple correlation analyses showed that the type of curriculum used was a significant predictor of mathematics achievement at the third and fifth grade levels. Everyday Math was found to support greater student achievement in these grades. When holding other variables constant, Everyday Math schools can be expected to have an average of 2.1% more questions correct on the multiple choice portion of the ISAT than Saxon Math schools at …

Behaviors And Perceptions Concerning Online Nutrition Information Among Young Adult Midwest University Students, Brenda Moeckly

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the inception of the Internet, Americans have become increasingly dependent upon this medium for gleaning information, with each new generation being more apt to seek information online. This general trend has affected, among many other things, the search for health and nutrition information. While the Internet can provide a wealth of beneficial information for users, it can pose a myriad of dangers, as well, if users do not know how to look for credible information. The objectives of this study were to determine where university students search for nutrition information and what criteria they use when seeking nutrition information …

Collegiate Student Athlete Perception Of Satisfaction And Comfort With Athletic Training Students, Keith Tebbe

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Title . Collegiate student athlete perceptions of satisfaction and comfort with athletic training students Context . Athletic training students (ATS) and student athletes have a large amount of interaction with one another. Many other medical professions study the interaction that their students have with a patient population. Objective . Investigate student athlete's perception, satisfaction, and comfort with ATSs. Design . Online survey. Setting . Student athletes at CAATE-accredited institutions. Participants . 66 student athletes (20 male, 46 female) from 22 universities Data collection . The survey consisted of 3 yes/no questions, 5 demographic questions, 1 multiple-answer question asking the participant …