Digital Commons Network^™

A Critique Of The U.S.-Russian Adoption Process And Three Recommendations For The U.S.-Russian Bilateral Adoption Agreement, Bethanie Barnes

Emory International Law Review

This Comment analyzes and recommends changes to the Adoption Agreement that will regulate intercountry adoption between the United States and the Russian Federation until January 2014. This Adoption Agreement was reached out of concern for the safety of adopted children, due to the number of stories and allegations of abuse at the hands of American parents.

The Transaction Cost Problem In International Intellectual Property Exchange And Innovation Markets, Sonia Baldia

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In recent years, there has been a dramatic surge in cross-border IP exchange transactions driven by globalization, open innovation, and the escalating strategic value of IP to competitive firms, the positive result of which are significantly developed global IP markets. While critical to these global IP markets, international IP exchange remains highly inefficient because parties face excessive transaction costs relative to transaction value, both in transaction design and negotiation and in transaction enforcement. These transaction costs arise from the territoriality of IP laws and low visibility into individual state IP law regimes that IP exchange transactions may implicate, thus imposing …

Myths About Women’S Careers In Law, Patricia M. Wald

University of Baltimore Journal of International Law

Judge Wald discusses several "myths" about women's careers in the law that she has encountered in hers, including the presence of hearty pioneers who despite obstacles and a cold climate pursued satisfying legal careers decades before the "women's movement" of the 1970's; the current status of women in the profession and the impediments to their further advancement, the enduring problems they confront in maintaining the "delicate balance" between marriage, motherhood and careers and the institutional reticence to accommodate their dual role, the need for vigilance to keep the gains they have already made from slipping away, whether men and women …

Depression Symptoms In Early Childhood Teachers: Do Personality, Social Support, And School Climate Play A Role?, Jessica Mclaughlin

Wayne State University Dissertations

Depression among early childhood teachers has received little attention within the United States. For the present study, early childhood teachers were asked to participate in an online survey to investigate the rate of high depression symptoms among teachers, and whether personality, social support, and school climate are related to teachers' depression symptoms. Results showed that 32% of early childhood teachers in the sample were high in depression symptoms, which is significantly higher than rates of depression in the general population. Lower levels of neuroticism and higher levels of extroversion were related to fewer depression symptoms. Perceived social support from an …

Conceptualizing Eu Energy Security Through An Eu Constitutional Law Perspective, Rafael Leal-Arcas, Andrew Filis

Fordham International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Access To Information And To Justice In Eu Environmental Law: The Aarhus Convention, Peter Oliver

Fordham International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Together Old And Young (Toy), Anne Fitzpatrick

Reports

Intergenerational learning involves different age groups learning together or learning from each other in a range of settings. It is viewed as being important in contemporary Europe as it facilitates learning that might otherwise be diminished due to changing family structures, migration, technological changes and growing age segregation. Interest in intergenerational learning stems from new understandings of the process and participation in education and learning. This includes the notions of lifelong and lifewide learning as well as the need to respond positively to the growing separation of generations and the subsequent distance between old and young. It also can be …

Booklet Of Selected Theses From The Ma In Criminology, Ma In Law, Ma In Child, Family And Community Studies, And The International Masters In Early Childhood Education, 2010-2012, Matt Bowden, Carmel Gallagher, Kevin Lalor

Dissertations

This booklet highlights and celebrates the research work of graduates from taught Masters programmes in the School of Social Sciences and Law:

• the MA in Criminology

• the MA in Law

• the MA in Child, Family and Community Studies

• the International Masters in Early Childhood Education, co-delivered with Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (Norway) and the University of Malta (Malta).

The MA in Criminology and the MA in Law commenced in 2006 and the MA in Child, Family and Community Studies commenced in 2007. Each has quickly become established in its field as a …

Thermodynamic And Kinetic Properties Of Cytochromes C And C’ In The Denatured State: Propensity For Residual Structure, Travis Arthur Danielson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

To expand our understanding of helical propensity and residual structure in the denatured state, two approaches have been taken. In the first project, we have engineered serine in place of alanine near the center of the third helix (positions 83 and 87) in cytochrome c’ (Cytc’) and have measured histidine-heme loop formation in 3 M gdnHCl. A series of thirteen variants that include the A83S/A87S substitutions have been engineered with single surface histidine substitutions to provide a range of His-heme loop sizes from 10 to 111 residues and to provide direct comparison to previous studies with pWT Cytc’ . We …

The Influence Of Gender And Aging On The Neural Circuitry Supporing Facial Emotion Processing In Adults With Major Depressive Disorder, Emily Briceno

Wayne State University Dissertations

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with decrements in facial emotion processing (FEP). Previous studies investigating the neural substrates of these decrements have often reported hyperactivity of emotion processing circuitry. Neural circuitry supporting FEP has been shown to be different between healthy men and women, and between young and elder adults. However, no prior studies have investigated how gender and aging affect emotion processing circuitry in individuals with MDD. The present study aimed to investigate the influence of gender and aging on emotion processing circuitry in MDD. One hundred-ten adults, grouped into subgroups according to MDD status, gender, and age …

How Atomic Level Interactions Drive Membrane Fusion: Insights From Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Navendu Bhatnagar

Wayne State University Dissertations

This project is focused on identifying the role of key players in the membrane fusion process at the atomic level with the use of molecular dynamics simulations. Membrane fusion of apposed bilayers is one of the most fundamental and frequently occurring biological phenomena in living organisms. It is an essential step in several cellular processes such as neuronal exocytosis, sperm fusion with oocytes and intracellular fusion of organelles to name a few. Membrane fusion is a frequent process in a living organism but is still not fully understood at the atomic level in terms of the role of various factors …

Personal And Social Factors In Risk-Taking Behaviors Of Emerging Adults, Katherine A. Roeser

Wayne State University Dissertations

The transitional period from adolescence to young adulthood is defined as the stage of life that begins at the conclusion of high school and ends with the acceptance of adult roles (i.e., career, marriage, parenthood). The focus of the present study was on college students' excessive use of alcohol and other drugs and participation in high-risk sexual activity and the association between those behaviors and personal and social factors such as sensation seeking, peer influence, perceived general resistance to peer influence, perceived self-efficacy to resist risky behavior, and emotion regulation. The participants were 427 emerging- adult, undergraduate students 18 to …

Development And Optimization Of The First High Throughput In Vitro Fret Assay To Characterize The Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Gpi-T, Sandamali Amarasingha Ekanayaka

Wayne State University Dissertations

DEVELOPMENT AND OPTIMIZATION OF AN IN VITRO FRET ASSAY TO CHARACTERIZE THE SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE GPI TRANSAMIDASE

By

SANDAMALI AMARASINGHA EKANAYAKA

December 2013

Advisor: Dr. Tamara L. Hendrickson

Major: Biochemistry

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The enzyme glycosylphosphatidylinositol transamidase (GPI-T) mediates the attachment of a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor to the C-terminus of specific proteins to produce GPI anchored proteins. This post-translational modification is essential for viability of eukaryotic organisms. However, very little is known about GPI-T and its catalytic activity. Thus, the research described in this abstract was conducted to develop an in vitro assay to monitor GPI-T. A high-throughput assay for …

Diffusion Of Gold Nanoparticles In Synthetic And Biopolymer Solutions, Indermeet Kohli

Wayne State University Dissertations

Soft matter systems of colloidal particles, polymers, amphiphiles and liquid crystals are ubiquitous in our everyday life. Food, plastics, soap and even human body is comprised of soft materials. Research conducted to understand the behavior of these soft matter systems at molecular level is essential for many interdisciplinary fields of study as well as important for many technological applications.

We used gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) to investigate the length-scale dependent dynamics in semidilute poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-water, bovine serum albumin (BSA)-phosphate buffer, dextran and particulate solutions. In case of PEG-water solutions, fluctuation correlation spectroscopy was used to measure the diffusion coefficients …

Hope At The End Of Life Among U.S. Military Veterans, Jaime L. Huffman

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to examine the meaning of hope at the end of life among Veterans. As people enter the terminal phase of life hope becomes especially important. Recent research has been conducted examining hope among various cultural groups and their experiences of the phenomenon. These studies showed that although hope is a universal phenomenon, different cultural groups ascribe different meanings to it. These cultural variations are important for nurses to consider when caring for patients.

Research conducted among Veterans has shown that as a cultural group, Veterans have different experiences and needs throughout their lives …

Screening Of Quantum Dots For Toxicity On The Growth And Viability Of Escherichia Coli, Jeremy Tharkur

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heavy metal (HM) containing quantum dots (Qdots) are increasingly used in commercial products due to their unique electronic, optoelectronic, optical and magnetic properties. Once disposed to the landfill, environmental weathering is likely to compromise HM Qdot integrity, leading to release of heavy metal ions. To minimize any negative environmental impact of HM Qdots, there is an increasing demand for developing HM free or environmentally-friendly surface modified HM Qdot alternatives. In this study, synthesis of HM free ZnS:Mn/ZnS and surface modified HM CdS:Mn/ZnS Qdots (using N-acetylcysteine, NAC, and Dihydrolipoic acid, DHLA) and their potential toxicity assessment using E. coli as a …

The Effect Of Accurate Categorical Activity Selection On The Prediction Of Percent Body Fat When Using The Omron Hbf-306 Bioelectric Impedance Analyzer, Abby Moulton

Masters Theses

Accurate methods for assessing body composition are important in evaluating health risk and fitness levels in individuals. Bioelectric Impedance Analysis has become a popular field method for assessing body composition because it is inexpensive, noninvasive, and easy to administer. The purpose of this study was to compare the activity level settings (Normal vs. Athlete) on the Omron HBF-306 bioelectrical impedance device to the criterion method, air displacement plethysmography, to evaluate the accuracy of the settings for college age females. It was hypothesized that the "Normal" setting would be more accurate for individuals described as normal by FIT index scores and …

Research Project On Biometrics, Alia Hassan, Ingy Nazif

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

As technology evolves, and our personal details become more and more susceptible to hacking, one of the most important concerns we now have is being sure our phones, computers, networks are secure. We have begun to move on from simple password and motion patterns onto using facial recognition, and other forms of biometric recognition technology to protect our private information. The iPhone 5 for example, now presents features to identify uniquely the owner of the device, in the form of fingerprint detection. So we decided to focus on the topic biometrics for this research paper, which is basically how to …

Behavioral Evaluation Of Eight Rat Lines Selected For High And Low Anxiety-Related Responses, Vitor De Castro Gomes, Waseem Hassan, Silvia Maisonnnette, Luke R. Johnson, Andre Ramos, J. Landeira-Fernandez

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Anxiety traits can be stable and permanent characteristics of an individual across time that is less susceptible of influences by a particular situation. One way to study trait anxiety in an experimental context is through the use of rat lines, selected according to contrasting phenotypes of fear and anxiety. It is not clear whether the behavioral differences between two contrasting rat lines in one given anxiety test are also present in others paradigms of state anxiety. Here, we examine the extent to which multiple anxiety traits generalize across selected animal lines originally selected for a single anxiety trait. We review …

White Matter Integrity In Physically Fit Older Adults, B. Y. Tseng, T. Gundapuneedi, M. A. Khan, R. Diaz-Arrastia, B. D. Levine, H. Lu, H. Huang, R. Zhang

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Background: White matter (WM) integrity declines with normal aging. Physical activity may attenuate age-related WM integrity changes and improve cognitive function. This study examined brain WM integrity in Masters athletes who have engaged in life-long aerobic exercise training. We tested the hypothesis that life-long aerobic training is associated with improved brain WM integrity in older adults. Methods: Ten Masters athletes (3 females, age = 72.2 ± 5.3 years, endurance training >15 years) and 10 sedentary older adults similar in age and educational level (2 females, age = 74.5 ± 4.3 years) participated. MRI fluid-attenuated-inversion-recovery (FLAIR) images were acquired to assess …

Characterization Of A Novel Fusion Protein Of Ipab And Ipad Of Shigella And Its Potential As A Pan-Shigella Vaccine, F. J. Martinez-Becerra, X. Chen, Nicholas E. Dickenson, S. P. Choudhari, K. Harrison, J. D. Clements, W. D. Picking, L. L. Van De Verg, R. I. Walker, W. L. Picking

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Shigellosis is an important disease in the developing world, where about 90 million people become infected with Shigella spp. each year. We previously demonstrated that the type three secretion apparatus (T3SA) proteins IpaB and IpaD are protective antigens in the mouse lethal pulmonary model. In order to simplify vaccine formulation and process development, we have evaluated a vaccine design that incorporates both of these previously tested Shigella antigens into a single polypeptide chain. To determine if this fusion protein (DB fusion) retains the antigenic and protective capacities of IpaB and IpaD, we immunized mice with the DB fusion and compared …

Acyl-Lipid Metabolism, Younghua Li-Beisson, Basil Shorrosh, Fred Beisson, Mats X. Andersson, Vincent Arondel, Philip D. Bates, Sébastien Baud, David Bird, Allan Debono, Timothy P. Durrett, Rochus B. Franke, Ian A. Graham, Kenta Katayama, Amélie A. Kelly, Tony Larson, Jonathan E. Markham, Martine Miquel, Isabel Molina, Ikuo Nishida, Owen Rowland, Lacey Samuels, Katherine M. Schmid, Hajime Wada, Ruth Welti, Changcheng Xu, Rémi Zallot, John Ohlrogge

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Acyl lipids in Arabidopsis and all other plants have a myriad of diverse functions. These include providing the core diffusion barrier of the membranes that separates cells and subcellular organelles. This function alone involves more than 10 membrane lipid classes, including the phospholipids, galactolipids, and sphingolipids, and within each class the variations in acyl chain composition expand the number of structures to several hundred possible molecular species. Acyl lipids in the form of triacylglycerol account for 35% of the weight of Arabidopsis seeds and represent their major form of carbon and energy storage. A layer of cutin and cuticular waxes …

A Metonymic Translation: Bertolt Brecht’S The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Xiaoqing Liu

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The Caucasian Chalk Circle is one of the most important works of the German playwright Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956). It is also one of the most widely performed modern plays in the West. However, this critically acclaimed play is not purely Brecht’s “originality” but is indebted to an ancient Chinese play, Li Xingdao’s Hui Lan Ji (The Story of the Circle of Chalk).¹ Brecht acknowledged his adaptation in the prologue of The Caucasian Chalk Circle in the voice of the singer: “It is called ‘The Chalk Circle’ and comes from the Chinese. But we’ll do it, of course, in a …

Agricultural Management And Labile Carbon Additions Affect Soil Microbial Community Structure And Interact With Carbon And Nitrogen Cycling, Sean T. Berthrong, Daniel H. Buckely, Laurie E. Drinkwater

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

We investigated how conversion from conventional agriculture to organic management affected the structure and biogeochemical function of soil microbial communities. We hypothesized the following. (1) Changing agricultural management practices will alter soil microbial community structure driven by increasing microbial diversity in organic management. (2) Organically managed soil microbial communities will mineralize more N and will also mineralize more N in response to substrate addition than conventionally managed soil communities. (3) Microbial communities under organic management will be more efficient and respire less added C. Soils from organically and conventionally managed agroecosystems were incubated with and without glucose (¹³C) …

Computational Analysis Of The Body In European Fairy Tales, Scott Weingart, Jeana Jorgensen

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This article explores how digital humanities research methods can be used to analyze the representations of gendered bodies in European fairy tales, a flexible and pervasive genre that has influenced Western children's education and acquisition of gender identity for centuries. By blending the theoretical and methodological concerns of folkloristics, gender studies, and large-scale scientific research, this article demonstrates the utility of cross-disciplinary collaboration in asking traditional questions of traditional materials with new methods. To facilitate this research, a hand-coded database listing every reference to a body or body part in the 233 fairy tales was created. Analysis revealed strong indications …

Sorting Out Donkey Skin (Atu 510b): Toward An Integrative Literal-Symbolic Analysis Of Fairy Tales, Jeana Jorgensen

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This article debates the merits of fairy tale interpretive frameworks that privilege the psychological and symbolic, versus those that utilize a literal and feminist orientation. Using ATU 510B as a test case, for its intriguing blend of real-world elements and the fantastic, the author suggests that a synthesis of literal and symbolic theories allows for the fullest understanding of the polyvalent meanings of tale, which is particularly problematic due to its depictions of incest. Drawing examples from canonical as well as contemporary versions of ATU 510B, various psychoanalytic and feminist interpretations of the tale type are put to the test, …

The Black And The White Bride: Dualism, Gender, And Bodies In European Fairy Tales, Jeana Jorgensen

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Fairy tales are one of the most important folklore genres in Western culture, spanning literary and oral cultures, folk and elite cultures, and print and mass media forms. As Jack Zipes observes: ‘The cultural evolution of the fairy tale is closely bound historically to all kinds of storytelling and different civilizing processes that have undergirded the formation of nation-states.’¹⁴³ Studying fairy tales thus opens a window onto European history and cultures, ideologies, and aesthetics.

The Role Of Retrotransposons In Gene Family Expansions: Insights From The Mouse Abp Gene Family, Václav Janoušek, Robert C. Karn, Christina M. Laukaitis

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Background: Retrotransposons have been suggested to provide a substrate for non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR) and thereby promote gene family expansion. Their precise role, however, is controversial. Here we ask whether retrotransposons contributed to the recent expansions of the Androgen-binding protein (Abp) gene families that occurred independently in the mouse and rat genomes. Results: Using dot plot analysis, we found that the most recent duplication in the Abp region of the mouse genome is flanked by L1Md_T elements. Analysis of the sequence of these elements revealed breakpoints that are the relicts of the recombination that caused the duplication, confirming that the …

The Servant-Mentor: Raising Up The Next Generation Of Servant-Leaders, Nathaniel Pearson

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

As a generation nears retirement age, a new generation of leaders prepares to fill the previous generation's place in organizations across the globe. Organizations, both for-profit and not, face the challenge of raising up leaders that possess both the skills and loyalty needed to move forward while maintaining the organization's core values. Contemporaneously, leaders in the twilights of their careers face new questions regarding their lives and legacies. This article begins by providing a brief history of organizational mentoring from both a formal and an informal standpoint. It will then move to thoughts on servant-leadership, creating the foundation for the …

Sibyl 2013, Otterbein University

Otterbein University Yearbooks

No abstract provided.